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. •
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. •
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. 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.
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. •
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. •
May 1 – The coronation of
Pope Sixtus V takes place in Rome. •
May 19 – Spain seizes English ships in Spanish ports, 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. •
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.
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. •
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. •
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. •
August 20 – The
Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the
Dutch Revolt, thus entering the
Eighty Years' War. •
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. 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. •
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. •
November 18 – In Mexico City,
Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga becomes
Viceroy of New Spain after being appointed by King
Philip II of Spain. •
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. •
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.
Date unknown • The
Kingdom of Luba is founded by
Kongolo Mwamba in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. •
History of chocolate in Spain: First recorded commercial importation of
chocolate to Europe, from
Veracruz in Mexico to
Seville in Spain. • The
Frankfurt Stock Exchange was founded. == Births ==