1580s

January–March

• January 31 – Portuguese succession crisis of 1580: The death of Henry, King of Portugal, with no direct heirs, leads to conflict between his potential successors, including King Philip II of Spain and Infanta Catherine, Duchess of Braganza. ^[1]
• February 16 – The massacre of 20 artists at the Mardi Gras festivities at the annual Carnaval de Romans during the festival takes place in France at Romans-sur-Isère. ^[2]
• February 28 – Three Jesuit priests from Portuguese Goa, including Rodolfo Acquaviva, arrive in Agra on the mainland of India as guests of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great, who is curious about Christianity. The Emperor grants land to the Jesuit fathers for the building of the first Roman Catholic Church in the Mughal Empire. ^[3]
• March 1 – Michel de Montaigne signs the preface to his most significant work, Essays . They are published later this year. ^[4]
• March 3 – George de Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg defects from the Union of Utrecht and the Dutch Republic, and turns over the province of Groningen to King Philip II of Spain.
• March 25 – Iberian Union: King Philip II of Spain becomes King of Portugal under the name Philip I, following the death without heirs of King Henry of Portugal, in a personal union of the crowns, thus maintaining Portuguese independence (in Europe and throughout the Portuguese Empire). ^[1] The Philippine Dynasty rule lasts until 1640.

April–June

• April 6 – The Dover Straits earthquake occurs. ^[5]
• April 9 – English Fury at Mechelen: English and Scottish mercenaries, assisting the Dutch Republic, storm the Spanish Netherlands city of Mechelen (now in Belgium), killing 60 civilians and plundering the town's houses and churches. ^[6]
• May 29 – Stephen Báthory is formally crowned as Grand Duke of Lithuania at the Vilnius Cathedral. ^[7]
• May – The Lipizzan stud is established by Charles II, Archduke of Austria.
• June 5 – In the Kingdom of Golconda (now part of the Indian state of Telangana), 15-year-old Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah is proclaimed as the new Sultan upon the death of his father, Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali.
• June 9 – Rebels of the Dutch Union of Utrecht, aided by French soldiers, make a surprise attack on the Spanish Netherlands city of Diest in the Duchy of Brabant, and overwhelm the strategic location, now in Belgium, in one day. ^[8]
• June 11 – Within the Viceroyalty of Peru in South America Spanish explorer Juan de Garay founds the first permanent Spanish settlement at what is now the capital of Argentina, on the Rio de la Plata. Garay, who came on an expedition down the Paraná River from Asunción (now in Paraguay), arrives at the site of the failed Spanish settlement of Ciudad de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre, that had been created by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536 and abandoned in 1542. Garay names the new settlement "Santísima Trinidad" but the city eventually takes the name of the port, which he calls "Puerto de Santa María de los Buenos Aires." ^[9]
• June 21 – (8 Cemazi ul-evvel 988 AH) England signs a commercial treaty with the Ottoman Empire, and Sultan Murad III sends a letter to Queen Elizabeth I informing her, "Just as the merchants of Poland and France and Venice come and go, the merchants of your domain also shall bring wares to our Well-Protected Domains and take away wares." ^[10] In return, Murad III is able to purchase English metals (iron, brass and tin) for his war with Persia. ^[11]
• June 25 – The Book of Concord , a collection of Lutheran confessional documents, is published.

July–September

• July 12 – The Ostrog Bible , the first complete printed Bible translation into a Slavic language (Old Church Slavonic), is first printed at Ostroh in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (modern-day Ukraine) by Ivan Fyodorov. ^[12]
• July 24 – Portuguese succession crisis of 1580: António, Prior of Crato, a grandson of the late King Manuel by Manuel's second son, the Duke of Beja is proclaimed King of Portugal by his supporters in the city of Santarém, and popular acclamation follows in Lisbon and other locations. ^{[13] [14]} Portugal's parliament, the Cortes, refuses to acknowledge Antonio and he is defeated 32 days later at Alcântara.
• August 25 – Battle of Alcântara: Spanish armies, led by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, defending the claim of King Philip II of Spain to the Portuguese throne, defeat the armies of Portuguese claimant António, Prior of Crato. ^[15]
• September 26 – Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England from his voyage of circumnavigation (westbound) on the Golden Hind , ^[16] the second completed in a continuous voyage, and the first under its original commander.
• September 29 – Five of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic (with the exception of Zeeland and Holland) sign the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours, recognizing Francis, Duke of Anjou as the Republic's sovereign.

October–December

• October 4 – Lorenzo Suárez de Mendoza, the Spanish Count of Coruña, arrives in Mexico City to take office as the Viceroy of New Spain, administering Mexico and Central America on behalf of King Philip II. ^[17]
• October 15 (5th waning of Tazaungmon 942 ME) – King Bayinnaung of Bruma dispatches a naval force of 200 ships and 8,000 soldiers to invade the Kingdom of Mrauk U (now in the Rakhine State of Myanmar), but the attempt fails after a year. Burmese troops are ordered withdrawn after Bayinnaung dies and is succeeded by his son Nanda Bayin. ^[18]
• October 18 – The Siege of Steenwijk in the Dutch Republic is started by the Spanish Netherlands. The siege will last four months and the Spanish troops will capture Steenwijk on February 23.
• October 24 – The War of the Portuguese Succession comes to an end as Spanish forces crush the final Portuguese resistance in the last stronghold in mainland Portugal, Porto. For the next 60 years, Portugal will be ruled by the Kings of Spain.
• November 10 – Second Desmond Rebellion: The Siege of Smerwick (now Ard na Caithne in County Kerry, Ireland) ends after three days when their commander surrenders to the English. Members of a group of at least 400 freelance soldiers, and perhaps as many as 700, for the Papal States are summarily executed on orders of the English Lord Deputy of Ireland, Baron Grey de Wilton. ^[19]
• December 31 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, formerly the regent for King James VI of Scotland, is arrested during a meeting of Scotland's Privy Council at Holyrood on the accusation of James Stewart, Earl of Arran that the Earl of Morton had participated in the 1567 murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots and father of King James. ^[20] Morton is taken to Dumbarton Castle and convicted of conspiracy to murder, and executed on June 2.

Date unknown

• The Billy Mitchell volcano, on the island of Bougainville, undergoes a catastrophic eruption (VEI 6).
• The first session of the Jewish Vaad (Council of Four Lands) is held in Lublin, Poland; 70 delegates of Jewish local qahals meet to discuss taxation, and other issues important to Jewish communities.
• The Old City of Zamość is established in Poland, by Jan Zamoyski.
• An influenza pandemic sweeps the world, starting in Asia and moving rapidly through Africa, Europe, and eventually the Americas. More than 10% of the population of Rome dies, and whole towns in Spain are depopulated. ^[21]

January–March

• January 11 – Chandrasen Rathore, ruler of the Kingdom of Marwar (now part of the state of Rajasthan in India) dies at the age of 39, leaving a power vacuum that allows the Mughal Empire to take control of the kingdom. ^[22]
• January 14 – The Treaty of Drohiczyn is concluded, ending the Livonian War and adding the conquered city of Riga to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ^[23]
• January 23 – The Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours between the Duchy of Anjou and most of the states of the Dutch Republic is ratified at Bourdeaux, granting François, Duke of Anjou executive authority over the Republic with the title "Protector of the Liberty of the Netherlands". ^[24]
• February 8 – (7th waxing of Tabaung 942 ME) Prince Shin Thissa, later to become King of Burma in 1599 as Nyaungyan Min, receives his first executive job when he is appointed to be Governor of Nyaungyan by his father, King Bayinnaung. ^[25]
• February 23 – The Spanish Army is forced to abandon the siege of Steenwijk in the Netherlands after more than four months.
• March 18 – The Parliament of England's Act against Reconciliation to Rome imposes heavy fines, for practising Roman Catholicism. ^[26]
• March 25 – Iberian Union: Philip II of Spain is crowned Philip I of Portugal.

April–June

• April 4 – Following his circumnavigation of the world, Francis Drake is knighted by Elizabeth I of England. ^[16]
• May 15 – Zsigmond Báthory, the 8-year-old son of Kristóf Báthory, ruler of the Principality of Transylvania, is elected by the Diet of Transylvania as the new voivode at the request of Kristóf, who dies 12 days later. ^[27]
• May 26 – (10th waning of Nayon 943 ME) In Burma, Thiri Thudhamma Yaza of Martaban becomes the new Viceroy of Martaban (now Mottama in the Mon State of Myanmar) after the demise of Minye Nandameit. ^[28]
• June 2 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, the last regent for Scotland from 1572 to 1578 during the minority of King James VI, is beheaded at Edinburgh using the "Scottish Maiden", after being convicted of conspiracy in the 1567 murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots and father of King James." ^[29]
• June 14 – The representatives of the States General of the Netherlands vote to declare that the throne of the Union of Utrecht is vacant because of the erratic behavior of King Philip II. ^[30]

July–September

• July 11 – The Knights Hospitaller depose Jean de la Cassière as Grandmaster and appoint Mathurin Romegas in his place. ^[31]
• July 14 – English Jesuit Edmund Campion is arrested.
• July 22 At a meeting of the States General of the Union of Utrecht at Antwerp, the representatives vote to proclaim their independence from Spain in the Act of Abjuration, abjuring loyalty to Philip II of Spain as their sovereign, and appointing Francois, Duke of Anjou, as the new sovereign of the Netherlands; public practice of Roman Catholicism is forbidden.
• July 26
  • The Act of Abjuration is signed at The Hague by representatives of eight Dutch provinces as a declaration of independence from Spanish rule and a secession from the Union of Utrecht. The signing confirms a decision made in a July 22 meeting of the States General in Antwerp. King Philip II of Spain refuses to acknowledge the Abjuration.
  • A meteorite strikes the Earth in Thuringia in the Holy Roman Empire. ^[32]
• July 27 – Capture of Breda: After a surprise attack the day before, Spanish troops under the command of Claude de Berlaymont, Lord of Haultepenne, take the walled city Breda in the Netherlands. Once inside the gates, the Spanish troops overcome the defenders and carry out the massacre of 584 citizens in the "Haultepenne Fury". ^[33]
• August 28 – The army of King Stephen Báthory of Poland begins its siege of the Russian garrison of Pskov.
• September 6 – A mercenary army of Sweden, under Pontus De la Gardie, captures Narva from Russia. ^[34]
• September 23 – Martín Enríquez de Almanza arrives in Lima and becomes the new Viceroy of Peru, replacing Francisco de Toledo, who was summoned home by King Philip II. ^[35]
• September 30 – In Japan, warlord Oda Nobunaga invades the Iga Province. ^[36] With 42,000 troops under his command against 10,000 defenders led by Takino Jurobei, Nobunaga controls most of central Japan within eight days.

October–December

• October 8 – The Tenshō Iga War ends in Japan with the surrender of Kashiwara Castle to Oda Nobunaga. ^[37]
• October 10 – King Bayinnaung of Burma, who created the largest empire in mainland southeast Asia, dies at age 65.
• October 15 – Ballet Comique de la Reine , the first narrative ballet, devised by Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III of France, and choreographed by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, opens in its first performance at the court of Catherine de' Medici, in the Louvre Palace in Paris, as part of the wedding celebrations for Marguerite of Lorraine.
• November 4 – Jean de la Cassière is restored as Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller, by Pope Gregory XIII.
• December 1 – In England, Jesuit priest Edmund Campion is executed for treason. ^[38]

Date unknown

• The Ming Dynasty Chancellor of China, Chief Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng, imposes the Single Whip Reform, by which taxes are assessed on properties recorded in the land census, and paid in silver, as the accepted medium of exchange.
• The Trier witch trials begin.
• John Dee practices angel magic with Barnabas Saul, but with no success.
• Guru Arjan Dev becomes the fifth Guru of Sikhs, succeeding his father Guru Ram Das.
• The last Bishop of Meissen, John IX of Haugwitz, resigns his office in the wake of the Reformation.

January–March

• January 2 – University of Würzburg is refounded. ^[39]
• January 15 – Russia cedes its conquered areas in Livonia (Northern Latvia and Southern Estonia), to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• February 10 – François, Duke of Anjou, arrives in the Netherlands, where he is personally welcomed by William the Silent.
• February 24 – Pope Gregory XIII proclaims the Gregorian Calendar, to come into effect in October. Under the order, the date on the Julian calendar will be advanced by 10 days in order to synchronize the calendar date back to the equinoxes and solstices, since the gap has been increasing by one day every 100 years since the 6th century and is 10 days off schedule. ^[40]
• March 9 – Scryer Edward Kelley arrives at John Dee's house in London. They practice angelic magic together and Dee develops the Enochian language. ^[41]
• March – The New Testament of the Douai Bible , the translation into English by Father Gregory Martin from Latin of the New Testament, for use in the Roman Catholic Church, is published. Martin had started his work on October 16, 1578. ^[42]

April–June

• April 2 – 1582 Ancuancu earthquake: Ancuancu (in modern-day La Paz Department, Bolivia) is struck by an earthquake that reportedly buries all of the inhabitants, except for one chief, who reportedly loses the ability to speak. ^{[43] [44]} On the place where the village had stood, the Jacha Kalla (Achocalla) valley is formed as a result of the earthquake. ^[45]
• April 3 – Battle of Temmokuzan: Unable to reverse the collapse of Takeda clan, Takeda Katsuyori and his household commit suicide.
• April 14 – King James VI of Scotland signs a charter creating the Tounis College, which becomes the University of Edinburgh.
• April 16 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.
• April 17 – Siege of Takamatsu: In Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi departs from the Himeji Castle in what is now the Hyōgo Prefecture and begins his march westward with 20,000 soldiers to the Bitchū Province in what is now the Okayama Prefecture. Along the way, he stops at the Kameyama Castle where he makes a rendezvous with the Ukita clan and 10,000 additional forces before proceeding toward the Takamatsu Castle. ^[46]
• May 17 – The Siege of Takamatsu begins as Hideyoshi attacks the forces of Shimizu Muneharu, who has twice as many soldiers. Hideyhoshi orders an engineering project to block the Ashimori River and divert its waters to flood Takamatsu Castle. ^[46]
• June 8 – Siege of Takamatsu: Heavy rains and the dikes built by Hideyoshi's forces turn the area around Takamatsu Castle into a lake. ^[46]
• June 21 – (2nd day of the sixth month, Tenshō 10) The Honnō-ji Incident occurs in Kyoto in Japan, as Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga, on the verge of unifying Japan under his rule, is assassinated following a betrayal by a rebel subject, Akechi Mitsuhide. ^[47]
• June 23 – After learning of the assassination of his commander, Oda Nobunaga, Shimizu Muneharu surrenders Takamatsu Castle to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and, in return for the pledge that the castle's defenders will be spared, commits the ritual suicide of sepukku. ^[48]

July–September

• July 2 – Battle of Yamazaki: Counterattacking forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi decisively defeat Akechi Mitsuhide's smaller army; Akechi is killed while retreating to his domain.
• July 26 – Battle of Ponta Delgada (War of the Portuguese Succession): Spanish admiral Santa Cruz decisively defeats a larger mercenary fleet from France, England, supporters of the Portuguese claimant António, Prior of Crato, and the Dutch Republic, under Filippo di Piero Strozzi (who is killed) off the Azores, the first engagement between large fleets of galleons, operating at any great distance from the mainland. ^[49]

• August 23 – Raid of Ruthven in Scotland: Presbyterian nobles led by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie kidnap King James VI of Scotland, the kingdom's 16-year-old ruler, while he is hunting in Perthshire. The Earl of Gowrie imprisons the King at Ruthven Castle as part of a coup d'etat to reform the Scottish government. ^[50]
• September 28 – Ruthven and his co-conspirators arrange for John Maxwell, 8th Lord Maxwell, heir to former regent James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, to be installed as Scotland's regent. Douglas had been executed in 1581 for the 1567 murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and father of King James VI, who is imprisoned at Ruthven's castle.

October–December

• October 4 – The Julian calendar is discarded at the end of the day in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain as Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In the nations where the calendar is accepted, the day after Monday, October 4, is followed by Friday, October 15. ^[40]
• October 26 (Julian) (November 5 Gregorian) – General Yermak Timofeyevich completes the Russian conquest of Siberia in the Battle of Chuvash Cape as Kuchum Khan abandons Qashliq, the capital of the Khanate of Sibir. ^[51] The Qashliq fortress will be torn down and a new town, Tobolsk will be built 11 miles (18 km) further up the Irtysh river.
• November 29 – Ten years before he begins writing his first known plays, William Shakespeare, 18 years old, marries 26-year-old Anne Hathaway in Worcester, England.
• December 9 (Julian) (December 19 Gregorian) – France discards the Julian Calendar at the end of the day and adopts the Gregorian Calendar at midnight. Thursday, December 9 is followed the next day in France by next day Monday, December 20. ^[40]

Date unknown

• Kumbum is founded in Tibet.
• In Ming Dynasty China:
  • Jesuit Matteo Ricci is allowed to enter the country.
  • The earliest reference is made to the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing.
• The sultanate of Morocco begins to press southward, in search of a greater share of the trans-Saharan trade.
• The Cagayan battles in the Philippines, the only recorded clashes between European regular soldiers and samurai warriors.

January–March

• January 1 – The Duchy of Savoy adopts the Gregorian Calendar, replacing the Julian Calendar. ^[52]
• January 18 – François, Duke of Anjou, attacks Antwerp.
• February 4 – Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, newly converted to Calvinism, formally marries Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben, a former canoness of Gerresheim, while retaining his position as Archbishop-Elector of Cologne.
• February 7 – In the Netherlands, the siege of Eindhoven by the Spanish Army begins. ^[53] by The walled city will fall in April.
• March 10 (February 28 O.S.) – The Queen Elizabeth's Men troupe of actors is founded in England by order of Queen Elizabeth to Edmund Tilney, the royal Master of the Revels. ^[54]

April–June

• April 9 – A Burmese Army force of 16,000 men, commanded by Thado Dhamma Yaza II of Prome and Nawrahta Minsaw of Lan Na to suppress the rebellious of the Shan States in what is now the Yunnan province of China, is welcomed by King Nanda Bayin at the royal capital, Pegu, after a successful punitive expedition. The commanders bring with them the rebel chief from the Sanda state. ^[55]
• April 19 – Queen Elizabeth dissolves the English Parliament, which had been convened in 1572 but last met in 1581. ^[56]
• April 23
  • The Kingdom of England establishes its first diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire. ^[57]
  • After a siege of 75 days, Dutch Republic commander Hendrik van Bonnivet surrenders Eindhoven to the Spanish Netherlands. ^[53]
• April 25 – In a clash between a 50,000-man Persian Empire force and the Ottoman Empire for control of the Caucasus region in what is now Russia, the Ottomans are routed. ^[58]
• May 11 – In what is now Russia, on the Caspian Sea, the three-day "Battle of Torches" ends as Ottoman Empire troops defeat forces the Perisan Empire.
• May 21 – Battle of Shizugatake in Japan: Shibata Katsuie is defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who goes on to commence construction of Osaka Castle. ^[59]
• May 22 – Ernest of Bavaria is elected as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, in opposition to Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. The opposition rapidly turns into armed struggle, the Cologne War within the Electorate of Cologne, beginning with the Destruction of the Oberstift.
• May 28 – The first installment of the translation by Jurij Dalmatin of the Bible into the Slovene language, Bibilija, tu je vse svetu pismu stariga inu noviga testamenta ("The Bible, featuring the complete Old and New Testaments"), is published in Wittenberg. ^[60]
• June 17 – Spanish troops under the command of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma overwhelm a combined army of Dutch, French and English soldiers at the Battle of Steenbergen in what is now the Netherlands. The multinational force sustains 3,200 people killed or wounded. ^[61]
• June 18 – In England, the first known life insurance policy is issued. The Royal Exchange of London accepts a premium from William Gibbons, agreeing to pay a group of 30 beneficiaries a total of £383, 6s. 8d if he dies on or before June 17, 1584. Gibbons dies on May 29, 1584, and the Royal Exchange refuses to pay until a court rejects the insurer's argument that a month is actually four weeks or 28 days. ^[62]
• June 27 – Ten months after being taken hostage on August 23, 1582 in the Raid of Ruthven, the 17-year-old King James VI of Scotland is able to escape Falkland Prison and flees to safety in St. Andrews. ^{[63] [64]}

July–September

• July 25 – Cuncolim Revolt: The first documented battle of India's independence against a European colonial ruler is fought by the Desais of Cuncolim in Goa, against the Portuguese.
• August 5 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on the site of the modern-day city of St John's, Newfoundland, claims the island of Newfoundland on behalf of England, marking the beginning of the British Empire.
• August 19 – Petru Cercel enters Bucharest, and becomes Prince of Wallachia.
• August 29 – English ship Delight, with Humphrey Gilbert's expedition, becomes the first of over 350 ships over time to run aground and be wrecked on Sable Island in the North Atlantic. ^[65]
• September 4 – King James VI of Scotland orders a gift to Colonel William Stewart in recognition of Stewart's rescue of the King from prison. Colonel Stewart is presented some of the jewelry of the king's mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. ^[66]
• September 9 – HMS Squirrel, the flagship of the English explorer, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, sinks in a storm with all hands along with all but one of Gilbert's colonial expedition."Fairfax Eighth Eclogue", by W. W. Greg, Modern Language Quarterly (July 1901). Gilbert and his men had been returning from North America claiming after claiming Newfoundland in the name of Queen Elizabeth. ^[67]

October–December

• October 14 – In Scotland, the University of Edinburgh holds its first classes, accepting more than 80 students as "Tounis College". ^[68] In continuous operation for more than 440 years, the University will have more than 41,000 students. ^[69]
• October 16 – King Philip II of Spain orders the transfer of Abada the rhinoceros from the Casa de Campo public park of Madrid, to the menagerie at his residence at El Escorial. ^[70]
• October 17 – In what is now Romania, Peter the Lame becomes Prince of Moldavia for the third and last time, reigning until 1591. ^[71]
• October 18 – In South America, the Third Council of Lima comes to an end after two months after being convened to provide a consistent doctrine for the Roman Catholic Church in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Among other things, the Council approves the treatment of the native population "not like slaves but as free men" as part of evangelism and conversion to Christianity, as well as the use of the Quechua language and the Aymara language to spread the gospel. The use of the Latin is ordered for church services, and Latin is forbidden.
• October 24 – Jan van Hembyze becomes the last leader of the Calvinist Republic of Ghent after a coup d'etat against the ruling Count of Flanders. ^[72] Hembyze's action leads days later to the siege of Ghent by Spanish General Alexander Farnese.
• November 4
  • Francis Throckmorton, instigator of the Throckmorton Plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England, is arrested. Convicted of treason, he is executed on July 10, 1584. ^[73]
  • Gerolamo Chiavari is elected as to a 2-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa to succeed Gerolamo De Franchi Toso.
• November 5 – Willem IV van den Bergh, the Stadtholder of Guelders for the Dutch Republic is arrested along with his family, and charged with treason on suspicion of having allowed the Spanish Army to seize Zutphen. ^[74] Imprisoned for five months, he is released in March after promising to retire from public service. ^[75]
• November 13 – In India, the city of Allahabad (now Prayagraj in the state of Uttar Pradesh) is founded as a strategic fortress by Akbar, Emperor of the Mughal Empire.Surendra Nath Sinha (1974). ^[76]
• November 24 – Philippe Hurault de Cheverny is appointed as the new Chief Minister of France by King Henri IV upon the death of René de Birague, who had governed for nine years. Hurault will serve until 1589.
• December 17 – Cologne War: The Siege of Godesberg (begun on November 18) concludes, when Catholic forces under Prince-elector-archbishop Ernest of Bavaria capture the strategic position, from defenders of the Calvinist convert Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg.

Date unknown

• The world's oldest, intact, still-surviving amusement park, Dyrehavsbakken , is founded north of Copenhagen.
• The Bunch Of Grapes Pub is built on Narrow Street, London. ^[77] Referred to by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend as "The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters", it still stands in the 21st century, much rebuilt and renamed The Grapes .

January–March

• January 11 – Sir Walter Mildmay is given a royal licence to found Emmanuel College, Cambridge in England. ^[78]
• January 16 – Roman Catholic priest George Haydock, imprisoned in the Tower of London since 1582, states during an interrogation that he claimed that Queen Elizabeth, leader of the Church of England, was a heretic. Convicted of treason, he is executed on February 12. ^[79]
• February 2 – (6th waning moon of the Magha, BE 2126 In what is now Thailand, Prince Naresuan, the Uparaja of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and the son of King Mahathammarachathirat carries out the orders of Burma's King Nanda Bayin, and leads an army to suppress a rebellion by the Viceroy of the Ava Kingdom, Thado Minsaw. Arriving in April, Naresuan learns that King Nanda has ordered Naresuan to be assassinated, and begins his own rebellion against Burma, the Burmese–Siamese War. ^[80]
• February 22 – After being falsely accused of various charges, Jeremias II Tranos, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, is deposed by his fellow bishops and exiled to the island of Rhodes. Jeremias is replaced by Pachomius II Patestos. ^[81]
• March 5 – The city of Karlstad, Sweden gaines city status. ^[82]
• March 28 (O.S. March 18) – Ivan the Terrible, ruler of Russia since 1533, dies; he is succeeded as Tsar by his son, Feodor.

April–June

• April 24 – (1st waning of Kason 946 ME) In what is now Myanmar, Prince Naresuan of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (now Thailand) suppresses the rebellion of Thado Minsaw of the Ava Kingdom. ^[80]
• April 28 – (Tenshō 12, 18th day of the 3rd month) In Japan, the Battle of Komaki begins as fight between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu when Ieyasu, commander of 100,000 men, begins the occupation of the Komakiyama Castle, prompting Hideyoshi to advance from Osaka with 30,000 troops.
• May 17 – (Tenshō 12, 8th day of the 4th month) The conflict between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu culminates in the Battle of Nagakute.
• June 1 – With the death of the Duc d'Anjou, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre becomes heir-presumptive to the throne of France.
• June 4 – Walter Raleigh sends Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Outer Banks of Virginia (modern-day North Carolina), with a view to establishing an English colony; they locate Roanoke Island. ^[83]
• June 11 – Walk (modern-day Valka and Valga, towns in Latvia and Estonia respectively), receives city rights from Polish king Stefan Bathory.

July–September

• July 3 – The Siege of Antwerp by the Spanish Army begins ^[84] and lasts for 13 months until Antwerp's surrender on August 17, 1585. ^[85]
• July 5 – The Maronite College is established in Rome.
• July 10 – Willem van Oranje, the most leader of the Dutch Republic as Stadtholder of Holland, is assassinated in Delft. Balthasar Gérard, who bought two wheel-lock pistols and then made an appointment with at the Prinsenhof, shoots William in the chest at close range and fatally wounds him, making William the first head of state to be assassinated with a handgun. ^[86]
• August 6 – Russian conquest of Siberia: Russian General Yermak Timofeyevich, who had been dispatched by Ivan the Terrible in 1582 to conquer the Khanate of Sibir, is killed along with all but one member of his invading force in an ambush commanded by Kuchum Khan, the ruler of Siberia. ^{[87] [88]}
• August 7 – In Lima in the Viceroyalty of Peru, Italian printer Antonio Ricardo is receives official permission to set up the first printing press in South America, and prints the first publication there, Pragmatica, a four-page outline of how the new Gregorian calendar (adopted 1582) works. ^[89]
• August 11 – (Tenshō 12, 16th day of the 7th month) The Tenshō embassy, Japan's first diplomatic mission to Europe, arrives in Portugal with four teenagers— Julião Nakaura, Mancio Itō, Martinho Hara and Miguel Chijiwa— who had become converts to Christianity. ^[90]
• September 17 – In what is now Belgium, the Calvinist Republic of Ghent comes to an end after seven years when its capital, Ghent, falls following a siege of 13 months. Jan van Hembyze, leader of the republic since October 1583, surrenders the city to Alexander Farnese, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. ^[91]

October–December

• October 26 – At the Battle of Slunj in the Kingdom of Croatia, an Ottoman invasion led by Ferhad Pasha Sokolović is turned back by Croatian forces, aided by troops of the Habsburg monarchy. ^[92]
• November 23 – In the wake of the Throckmorton plot to overthrow her government, Queen Elizabeth convenes a new session of the English House of Commons since 1581. John Puckering is appointed by her as the Speaker of the House of Commons, which has 460 members. The parliament passes the Safety of the Queen Act and the Jesuits Act 1584, ^[93]
• November 24 – Albert Fontenay sends an enciphered letter to Mary, Queen of Scots that will become the chief evidence against her in her trial for treason during the Babington Plot. After becoming a witness for the English government in return for immunity from prosecution, Jérôme Pasquier will decipher the letter in 1586, leading to Mary's conviction for an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and to overthrow the English government. ^[94]
• December 31 – The Treaty of Joinville is signed secretly between the French Catholic League and Spain. ^[95]

Date unknown

• Ratu Hijau becomes queen regnant of the Malay Patani Kingdom. ^[96]
• Belgian cartographer and geographer Abraham Ortelius features Ming dynasty-era Chinese carriages with masts and sails, in his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; concurrent and later Western writers also take note of this peculiar Chinese invention.
• This year, according to Italian heretic Jacopo Brocardo, is regarded as an apocalyptic inauguration of a major new cycle.

January–March

• January 21 – Robert Nutter, Thomas Worthington, and 18 other Roman Catholic priests are "perpetually banished" from England by order of Queen Elizabeth, placed on the ship Mary Martin of Colchester, and transported to France. ^[97]
• February 16 – Pachomius II is deposed by fellow bishops from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and replaced by the Metropolitan of Philippoupolis, Theoleptus II. ^[98]
• February 21 – King Johan III of Sweden, widowed since 1583, marries Gunilla Bielke in a ceremony at Västerås, which the King's siblings refuse to attend. ^[99] The coronation of Queen consort Gunilla takes place the next day. Over the next seven years, she works on changing the Catholic government's attitude towards Protestants.
• March 10 – The Spanish Army, commanded by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, obtains the surrender of Brussels after a siege that began the year before. ^{[100] [101]}

April–June

• April 10 – Pope Gregory XIII, known for promulgating the Gregorian calendar within the Roman Catholic nations of the world in 1582, dies after a reign of almost 13 years. A papal conclave is convened 11 days later to elect a successor.
• April 21 – The papal conclave begins at the Vatican in Rome on Easter Sunday, with only 42 of the 60 cardinals attending. Early voting favors Cardinals Pier Donato Cesi and Guglielmo Sirleto, neither of whom receives a majority. ^[102]
• April 24 – Cardinal Felice Piergentile of the church of San Girolamo dei Croati is unanimously elected as the 227th Pope, and takes the regnal name Pope Sixtus V. ^[103]
• May 1 – The coronation of Pope Sixtus V takes place in Rome.
• May 19 – Spain seizes English ships in Spanish ports, ^[26] precipitating the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).
• June 11 – The 9.2 magnitude Aleutian Islands earthquake unleashes a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, killing many people in Hawaii and reportedly striking Japan. ^[104]
• June – Toyotomi Hideyoshi begins the invasion of the Japanese island of Shikoku with an army of 113,000 men on 703 ships. The troops are divided into three groups, with 60,000 commanded by Hashiba Hidenaga and Hashiba Hidetsugu toward the provinces of Awa and Tosa; 23,000 under Ukita Hideie at the province of Sanuki; and 30,000 under Kobayakawa Takakage and Kikkawa Motoharu for the province of Iyo. ^[105]

July–September

• July 7 – The Treaty of Nemours forces King Henry III of France to capitulate to the demands of the Catholic League, triggering the Eighth War of Religion (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) in France. ^[106]
• July 12 – Invasion of Shikoku: The final battle of the invasion, the siege of Ichinomiya Castle, begins.
• July 29 – Aboard the English ship Tiger, Roanoke expedition leader Ralph Lane negotiates an agreement with the Secotan people, who are represented by Granganimeo, the brother of the Secotan leader, King Wingino. Although the Secotans grant Lane's request to allow the English to live on Roanoke Island, he is told that they will receive no assistance from the natives, because of problems the previous year with Walter Raleigh. ^[107]
• August 6 – (11th day of the 7th month of Tenshō 13) Invasion of Shikoku: In Japan, Chōsokabe Motochika surrenders the island of Shikoku to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, after a 26 day siege of the Ichinomiya Castle by 40,000 men. ^[108]
• August 8 – English explorer John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in Baffin Island, in his quest for the Northwest Passage.
• August 14 – Queen Elizabeth I of England agrees to establish a protectorate over the Netherlands. ^[26]
• August 17
  • Antwerp, now in Belgium, is captured by Spanish forces commanded by the Duke of Parma. The Duke orders all Protestants to leave the city. As a result, over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces. Furthermore, upon hearing of the capture of Antwerp, a relief fleet sent to raise the siege instead blockades the Scheldt River, preventing any and all ships from reaching Antwerp for two centuries. This effectively destroys Antwerp's position as an important trade city and de facto capital of the Dutch provinces. Its position is taken over by various northern cities, most prominently Amsterdam.
  • The Roanoke colonists complete their construction of a fort under the direction of Ralph Lane to make the first permanent English settlement in North America. ^[107]
• August 20 – The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt, thus entering the Eighty Years' War. ^[11]
• September 11 – In the Ottoman Empire, the rebellion of An-Nasir al-Hasan bin Ali in Yemen is ended when An-Nasir is betrayed and turned over to the Turkish Ottoman governor. ^[109] An-Nasir spends one year in prison in Sanaa and then brought to Turkey.
• September 15 – English Catholic priest John Adams is banished from England along with 72 other Catholic priests, and transported by ship to Boulogne in France. ^[110]
• September 21 – King Henry IV of Navarre, who is also the heir presumptive to France's King Henry III, is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Sixtus V, who effectively declares that French Catholics are not required to recognize his claim to the throne.

October–December

• October 15 – In Arnhem in the Netherlands, the siege of IJsseloord is completed after nine days as English and Dutch forces recapture the city from Spanish occupiers. ^[111]
• November 18 – In Mexico City, Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga becomes Viceroy of New Spain after being appointed by King Philip II of Spain. ^[112]
• November 27 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, and serves a foreshock and a trigger to a deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake on January 18 that will kill 8,000 people.
• November 28 – Anglo-Spanish War: The island of Santiago in Cape Verde is captured by Francis Drake.
• December 1 – Hadim Mesih Pasha is appointed the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Murad III. ^[113]
• December 20 – Enraged by the disrespect shown to him by Yousuf Shah Chak, the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, orders the invasion of Kashmir with 5,000 men. ^[114]

Date unknown

• The Kingdom of Luba is founded.
• History of chocolate in Spain: First recorded commercial importation of chocolate to Europe, from Veracruz in Mexico to Seville in Spain. ^[115]

January–March

• January 7 – Sir Walter Raleigh appoints John White to be the Governor of the Roanoke Colony, to be established later in the year by English colonists on Roanoke Island off the coast of what is now the U.S. state of North Carolina. ^[116] White and 121 other colonists depart from Portsmouth on three ships on May 8 and arrive at Croatoan Island on July 22.
• January 14 – In Japan, Chancellor of the Realm Toyotomi Hideyoshi ends Portugal's control of the port of Nagasaki after six years. Omura Sumitada had leased the fishing village to Portuguese Jesuits on August 15, 1580. ^[117]
• February 5 – (1st waxing of Tabaung 948 ME) King Nanda of Burma appoints his eldest son and heir apparent, Minye Kyawswa II, as Viceroy of Ava, now part of upper Burma, with a capital at Inwa (located in what is now the Mandalay Region of Myanmar.
• February 8 – Mary, Queen of Scots, the monarch of Scotland from 1542 to 1567, is beheaded in front of 300 witnesses at Fotheringhay Castle, seven days after the signing of a death warrant by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England. Mary had been convicted of treason for her role in the Babington Plot, a conspiracy to overthrow the English government and to assassinate Elizabeth. ^[118]
• February 12 – A period of exceptionally severe cold begins in western Europe and lasts until February 24. ^[119]
• February 27 – Sir Anthony Cope, a member of the English Parliament, is imprisoned in the Tower of London after presenting a Puritan revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir John Puckering. ^[120] He is released on March 23.
• March 6 – In west Africa, Álvaro II Nimi a Nkanga becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, with a capital at São Salvador in what is now the city of M'banza-Kongo in the northern part of the Republic of Angola, and including parts of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alvaro II claims the throne upon the dath of his father, Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba.
• March 15 – English privateer accepts a commission from the Kingdom to disrupt Spanish freighters trading with italy.

April–June

• April 20 – (14th waxing of Kason 949 ME) Burmese–Siamese War (1584–1593): Burma's siege of Ayutthaya (now in Thailand), capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, fails after six months as the troops of Burma's King Nanda Bayin begin their withdrawal. ^[121]
• April 29 – Singeing the King of Spain's Beard : On an expedition against Spain, English privateer Sir Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet.
• May 8 – The second expedition to establish an English colony at Roanoke Island in North America departs from England with two ships, supplies, and 121 people under the command of John White. ^[122]
• May 19 – John Davis sets out from Dartmouth, Devon, for a third attempt to find the Northwest Passage.
• June 11 – (Tensho 15, 6th day of 5th month); Most of Kyushu is surrendered to Toyotomi Hideyoshi by Yoshihisa Shimazu, 32 days after Hideyoshi's siege of Kagoshima began (on the 3rd day of the 4th month). Hideyoshi follows on July 24 (19th day of the 6th month of Tensho 15) with an order banishing all European Christian missionaries from the province.
• June 20 – Gabriel VIII becomes the new Pontiff of the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt, being enthroned as Pope Gabriel VIII and filling a vacancy that had existed for nine months since the death of Pope John XIV of Alexandria. Gabriel will reign until his death on May 14, 1603.

July–September

• July 22 – Roanoke Colony: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off North Carolina, to re-establish the deserted colony. ^[123]
• August 18 – According to legend, Saul Wahl is named king of Poland; he is deposed the following day. ^[124]
• August 19 – Polish and Lithuanian nobles elect Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden, as the ruler of the after the death in December of the previous King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania, Stephen Báthory. ^[125]
• August 22 – A small group of nobles who oppose Sigismund Vasa as King vote to proclaim Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, as ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a decision supported by the Primate of Poland, Stanisław Karnkowski. The divide begins the War of the Polish Succession. ^[126]
• August 27 – Governor John White leaves the Roanoke Colony to get more supplies from England.
• September 9 – In the Burgundian Netherlands (now part of Belgium, the faculty at the University of Leuven publishes a condemnation of the 34 propositions drawn up by the Jesuit scholar Michel Baius, leading to a campaign by traditional Belgian Catholics against the Jesuits. ^[127]
• September 22 – In Italy, the coronation of Vincenzo Gonzaga as Duke of Mantua takes place.
• September 28 – At Gremi in what is now the Republic of Georgia, King Alexander II of Kakheti signs an oath of allegiance to Feodor I, the Tsar of all Russia. ^[128]

October–December

• October 1 – Shāh ‘Abbās I "The Great" succeeds as Shahanshah of Iran. ^[129]
• October 7 – Sigismund Vasa and a fleet of Swedish ships land in Poland to confront an invasion by Maximilian III and an Austrian Army. ^[130]
• October 14 – War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588): Archduke Maximilian of Austria begins the siege of Kraków, while Jan Zamoyski, hetman of the Polish Army, begins the defense of the city.
• October 18 – Landing of the first Filipinos: The first Filipinos in North America land in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo in modern-day California.
• October 20 – Battle of Coutras: Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry; Joyeuse is killed.
• October 31 – Leiden University Library opens its doors, after its founding in 1575. ^[131]
• November 4 – During the circumnavigation of the world by Thomas Cavendish, the English ships capture the Spanish galleon Santa Ana and its treasure of 100 troy pounds of gold (worth 122,000 Spanish pesos) and a total treasure worth 2.1 million pesos. ^[132]
• November 14 – In Italy, Davide Vacca is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa in a vote by the Grand Council of the Republic. ^[133]
• November 22 – A final Austrian attack on Kraków by Archduke Maximilian III is repelled by the Polish defenders.
• November 29 – Maximilian III withdraws his forces and the siege of Kraków ends.
• December 27 – Sigismund III Vasa is formally crowned as King Zygmunt Waza of Poland and Duke of Lithuania in a coronation ceremony at Kraków. ^[134]

Date unknown

• A severe famine breaks out in Ming dynasty China.
• The Rose (theatre) is founded in London by Philip Henslowe.
• The chapbook Historia von D. Johann Fausten , printed by Johann Spies in Frankfurt, is the first published version of the Faust story.
• Everard Digby's De Arte Natandi, the first treatise on swimming in England, is published.
• St. Dominic's Church, Macau is established.
• Hailuoto, an island in the Bothnian Bay, is separated from the grand parish of Saloinen into an independent parish. ^{[135] [136]}

January–March

• January 22 – Pope Sixtus V issues the papal bull Immensa aeterni Dei , a major reorganization of the Roman Curia creating 15 congregations of cardinals, including the Congregation of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the Church list of forbidden books; the Congregation of the Inquisition; and the Congregation of the Vatican Press. ^[137]
• January 24 – War of the Polish Succession: The Battle of Pitschen takes place at Pitschen (now Byczyna in Poland, with Polish and Lithuanian troops commanded by the Polish hetman Jan Zamoyski defending against an invading Austrian force commanded by Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria. After his army is routed, Archduke Maximilian surrenders and is taken as a prisoner of war, and will be held for more than a year until his release is compelled by the intervention of Pope Sixtus V. ^[138]
• February 9 – The sudden death of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, in the midst of preparations for the Spanish Armada, forces King Philip II of Spain to re-allocate the command of the fleet.
• February 18 – In what is now Sri Lanka, the siege of Colombo by King Rajasinha I of Sitawaka ends when Portuguese Admiral Pedro Teixeira arrives with a fleet of 80 ships and frees the capital of Portuguese Ceylon. King Rajasinha and his troops flee back to his capital at Seethawakapura. ^[139]
• March 20 – The ascension of Shah Abbas I as Emperor in Iran, of the Safavid Empire, is made official on the first day of the New Year on the Zoroastrian Caledar. Abbas has ruled since October 16, 1587. ^[140]
• March 25 – The English Army begins the recruitment of volunteers to prepare for the expected invasion by Spain. On April 10, 1593, the English Parliament will enact the first military pension, "An Acte for relief of Soudiours", providing that "forasmuch as it is agreable with Christian Charity Policy and the Honor of our Nation, that shuch as have since the 25th day of March 1588, adventured their lives and lost their limbs or disabled their bodies, or shall hereafter adventure the lives, lose their limbs or disable their bodies, in defence and service of Her Majesty and the State, should at their return be relieved and rewarded to the end that they may reap the fruit of their good deservings, and others may be encouraged to perform like endeavors..." ^[141]

April–June

• April 14 – Christian IV becomes king of Denmark–Norway, upon the death of his father, Frederick II.
• May 12 – Day of the Barricades in Paris: Henry I, Duke of Guise seizes the city, forcing King Henry III to flee. ^[142]
• May 28 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set sail from the Tagus estuary, under the command of the Duke of Medina Sedonia and Juan Martínez de Recalde, heading for the English Channel (it will take until May 30 for all of the ships to leave port). ^[143]
• June 18 – Sailing across the South Atlantic Ocean towards England, near the end of their voyage around the world, Thomas Cavendish and his East India Company fleet stumble across the Portuguese-controlled island of Saint Helena. ^[144] While Saint Helena has been under the control of Portugal for 80 years, England had been unaware of its existence. ^[145]
• June 19 – Twenty days after departing from Spain, the Spanish Armada receives a foreshadowing of disaster to come during the summer as a storm scatters part of the fleet, postponing the invasion. ^[146] Alonso de Guzmán y Sotomayor, Duke of Medina Sidonia and commander of the Spanish expedition, returns the fleet to the port of Coruna for repairs, and writes a letter to King Philip, urging him to abandon plans for invasion of England, and to reach an honorable settlement, but the King refuses. The Spanish expedition resumes on July 21.

July–September

• July 15 – At Rouen, King Henry III of France gives in to the latest demands of the Catholic League and the Duke of Guise, and signs the Edict of Union, agreeing to not allow French Protestants to participate in government, in return for being able to return to Paris.
• July 31 – The first engagement between the English and Spanish fleets (off of Plymouth) results in a victory for the English, under command of Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.
• August 2 – The English fleet defeats the Spanish fleet, off the Isle of Portland.
• August 6 (July 29 Old Style) – Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English naval force off the coast of Gravelines, in the Spanish Netherlands (modern France).
• August 7 – The English fleet defeats the Spanish fleet off the coast of Flanders.
• August 9 – The Duke of Medina Sidonia, commander of the Spanish Armada, decides to return the fleet to Spain after two days of trying to reach the coast of Flanders, to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma.
• August 12 – Much of the Spanish Armada is destroyed by storms during an attempt to around Scotland and Ireland. The fleeing Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English call off their pursuit, avoiding the storm entirely.
• August 29 (8th day of the 7th month, Tensho 16) – In Japan, the Chancellor of the Realm, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, issues an edict for the katanagari (the sword hunt), the confiscation of swords from any persons thought to be opposed to his rule.
• September 1 – The Ganja Fortress in what is now Azerbaijan is captured by Ottoman general Serdar Ferhad Pasha.
• September 9 – English captain Thomas Cavendish and a fleet of ships complete sailing around the world in a record time of 781 days, returning to Plymouth more than two years after setting off on July 21, 1586. The previous record had been 1,018 days by the expedition of Sir Francis Drake from 1577 to 1580. By the time of his return, Cavendish has only his flagship, Desire , after having started with the two other vessels, the warship Content, and the 40-ton supply ship Hugh Gallant.
• September 13 – Dutch General Charles III de Croÿ captures the German city of Bonn in the Electorate of Cologne.

October–December

• October 7 – The first biography of Nicolaus Copernicus (d.1543) is completed by Bernardino Baldi.
• November 13 – Dutch Republic and English forces capture Bergen op Zoom, a fortress in the Spanish Netherlands, after a siege of 41 days.
• November 15 – The English Navy ship Great Spaniard , formerly the Spanish Armada ship San Salvador until its capture on August 1, sinks off of the coast of England's Isle of Purbeck, with the loss of 23 of the 57 crew. The survivors are rescued by an English man-o-war boat. ^[147]
• December 5 – The Order of Augustinian Recollects is formally recognised as a separate province from the Order of Saint Augustine, an event later known as the Día de la Recolección or Day of Recollection.
• December 23 – Henry III of France strikes his ultra-Catholic enemies, having the Duke of Guise and his brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, killed, and holding the Cardinal de Bourbon a prisoner. As a result, large parts of France reject Henry III as their king, forcing him to side with Henry of Navarre.

Unknown

• William Morgan's Welsh translation of the Bible is published. ^[148]
• The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I of England is created, to celebrate the English defeat of the Spanish Armada, and to assert the strength of Elizabeth herself.

January–March

• January 5 – The reign of Catherine de' Medici as Countess of Auvergne ends after 64 years and she is succeeded by her grandson, Charles de Valois.
• January 7 – The College of Sorbonne votes a resolution that it is just and necessary to depose King Henry III of France, and that any private citizen is morally free to commit regicide. ^[149]
• January 17 – The French city of Chartres closes its gates to King Henry III and subsequently recognizes 65-year-old Charles I, Cardinal de Bourbon as King Charles X.
• January 26 – Job of Moscow is elected as the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
• February 6 – King Philip of Portugal issues an order to the Viceroy in Portuguese India (Goa) for the arrest of explorer João da Gama, but da Gama continues toward Mexico without being aware of the order.
• February 26 – Valkendorfs Kollegium is founded in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• March 6
  • Ralph Fitch becomes the first known person from England to set foot on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and stays five days. ^[150]
  • The Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier is set up as the third of the five admiralties in the Dutch Republic.
• March 8 – England prohibits the construction of a cottage on any property that isn't at least four acres in size, with the passage of the Erection of Cottages Act 1588. ^[151]
• March 9 – The Treaty of Bytom and Będzin is signed between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austria, ending the War of the Polish Succession. Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, renounces his claims to the thrones of Poland and Lithuania and acknowledges Sigismund III Vasa of Sweden as the heir to the throne. ^[152]

April–June

• April 13 – An English Armada, led by Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norreys, and largely financed by private investors, sets sail to attack the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic coast, ^[153] but fails to achieve any naval advantage.
• May 2 – Girolamo Bargagli's play The Pilgrim Woman is given its first performance, premiering in Florence, three years after Bargagli's death. ^[154]
• May 4 – In Spain, María Pita leads the defense of La Coruña against the English Armada after her husband is killed by a crossbow." ^[155]
• May 11 – The Earl of Bothwell, accused of treason against the Crown of Scotland, surrenders along with the Earl of Huntly and is imprisoned at Holyrood Palace. Convicted on May 24, the conspirators are never sentenced and set free by King James VI.
• May 17 – Ercole Grimaldi becomes the new Lord of Monaco upon the death of his older brother Charles II.
• June 28 – On the island of Sumatra in what is now Indonesia, the Sultan of Aceh Darussalam, Ali Ri'ayat Syah II, is assassinated by a group of nobles dissatisfied with his rule. He becomes the fourth Sultan in a row to be murdered. ^[156] Sayyid al-Mukammal is approved by the nobles as the new Sultan of Aceh. ^[157]

July–September

• July 1 – The English Armada, commanded by Sir Francis Drake, returns to Portsmouth after almost three months of pillaging the Spanish kingdoms. ^[158]
• July 4 – Jeremias II Tranos is appointed as the Patriarch of Constantinople, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by Ottoman Sultan Murad III. ^[159]
• July 8 – Jan Zamoyski, the Hetman of Poland since 1581, establishes the largest family trust in the Kingdom. The Zamoyski family trust will last for more than 350 years until being abolished in 1944.
• July 17 &ndash (Tensho 17, 5th day of 6th month); The Battle of Suriagehara takes place in Japan between the Date and Katakura clans and the Ashina, Satake and Nikaido clans. Date Masamune leads the two clans to victory over Satake Yoshinobu. ^[160]
• July 23 – Abbas the Great, who has recently become the Safavid Emperor of Persia, arranges the assassination of his benefactor, the Viceroy Murshid Qoli Khan at a banquet. ^[161]
• August 1 – King Henry III of France is assassinated by a fanatical Dominican friar Jacques Clément, who approaches the King on the pretext of delivering a secret message. Henry tells his guards to stand aside, and Clément approaches and fatally stabs the King. Clément is subsequently killed by the guards. King Henry dies the next day. ^[162]
• August 2 – Following the death of Henry III of France, his army is thrown into confusion and an attempt to retake Paris is abandoned. Henry of Navarre succeeds to the throne as King Henry IV of France, but is not recognized by the Catholic League, who acclaim the imprisoned Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, as the rightful King of France, Charles X.
• August 20 – King James VI of Scotland, the future James I of England, contracts a proxy marriage with the 14-year-old Anne of Denmark at Kronborg. ^[163] The formal ceremony takes place on November 23 at the Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo.
• September 21 – Battle of Arques: King Henry IV of France's forces defeat those of the Catholic League, under Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne (younger brother of Henry I, Duke of Guise).

October–December

• October 22 – King James VI of Scotland sails to Norway to meet his bride, Anne of Denmark as part of a fleet of six Scottish Navy ships, and is accompanied by Lord Maitland of Thirlestane, the Lord Chancellor of Scotland. ^[164]
• October 26 – Japanese warlord Date Masamune and his forces capture the Sukagawa Castle, defended by his aunt Onamihime Nikaido, after her assistant Hodohara Yukifuji betrays her.
• November 1 – Henry IV of France is repulsed in an attempt to capture Paris from the Catholic League.
• November 21 – At Oslo, Patrick Vans, Lord Barnbarroch ratifies the marriage contract between King James VI of Scotland, and Anne of Denmark.
• December 10 – In India, Man Singh I becomes the new raja of the Kingdom of Amber (now part of the Rajasthan state) upon the death of his father, Bhagwant Das. ^[165]
• December 25 (Christmas Day) – The monks of the Pechenga Monastery, the northernmost in the world, are massacred by Swedes, led by a Finnish peasant chief, in the course of the Russo-Swedish War.

Date unknown

• San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, is completed by Domenico Fontana.
• Hiroshima is founded, by the Japanese warlord Mōri Terumoto.
• The Hofbräuhaus is founded, by William V, Duke of Bavaria, in Munich.