1590 • Publication of
Edmund Spenser's poetry
The Faerie Queene and his
satire ''Mother Hubbard's Tale''. • Publication of
Thomas Lodge's prose tale
Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie. •
1591 • 10 April – Merchant
James Lancaster sets off on a voyage to the
East Indies. • 30 August–1 September –
Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604):
Battle of Flores off
Flores Island (Azores) – the fleet of
Spain is victorious over the English;
English ship Revenge is captured on 1 September (and
Richard Grenville fatally wounded) but soon afterwards is among many ships lost with all hands in a week-long Atlantic hurricane. • 11 September – Completion of
My Ladye Nevells Booke, a manuscript anthology of keyboard music by
William Byrd. • 3 November – Rebel Irish lord
Brian O'Rourke is
hanged at
Tyburn having been
extradited from
Scotland and tried in London for
treasons committed in Ireland. •
John Harington translates
Ludovico Ariosto's
Orlando furioso into English. and writing of
Henry VI, Part 2 and
Part 3; approximate date of writing of
Richard III. • 3 November – Sir
John Perrot, former
Lord Deputy of Ireland, dies in the
Tower of London awaiting sentence for a conviction for
high treason. •
Henry Constable's
Diana, one of the first
sonnet sequences in English, is published in London. • approximate date – First performance of Shakespeare's play
Richard III. • 18 April –
Anglo-Spanish War: Naval
Battle of Blaye in the
Gironde estuary sees a Spanish victory over the blockading English fleet, allowing the Spanish to relieve the French Catholic garrison of
Blaye. • After April –
William Shakespeare's poem
Venus and Adonis probably becomes his first published work, printed in London from his own manuscript. In his lifetime it will be his most frequently reprinted work: at least nine times. • 5 May – "Dutch church libel": bills posted in
London threatening Protestant refugees from
France and the
Netherlands allude to
Christopher Marlowe's plays. • 12 May – Arrest of dramatist
Thomas Kyd in connection with the "Dutch church libel". "
Atheist" literature found in his home is claimed to be Marlowe's. • 18 May – A warrant for the arrest of
Christopher Marlowe is issued. On 20 May he presents himself to the
Privy Council. • 29 May – Execution of the
Welsh Protestant
John Penry suspected of involvement with the
Marprelate Controversy. • Sir
Thomas Tresham designs and begins construction of
Rushton Triangular Lodge in
Northamptonshire, symbolic of his
Catholic recusancy. •
1594 • May –
Nine Years' War: in
Ireland,
Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and
Hugh Roe O'Donnell form an alliance to try to overthrow English domination. • First known performances and publication of Shakespeare's
Titus Andronicus in London. •
Richard Hooker's
Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie commences publication. •
Bevis Bulmer sets up a system at
Blackfriars to pump water to London. His
Saint Peters Complaint, with Other Poemes is published in three editions posthumously. • 23 July – Spanish
raid burns
Penzance and
Mousehole in Cornwall. under the supervision of Archbishop
John Whitgift. • John Whitgift begins building
his hospital at
Croydon. • June – Sir
John Norreys and Sir
Geoffrey Fenton travel to
Connaught to parley with the local
Irish lords. • 21 November –
Bartholomew Steer attempts to launch a rebellion on
Enslow Hill in
Oxfordshire. • First production of Shakespeare's
Merchant of Venice. • Approximate date of the first performance of the Shakespeare plays
Henry IV, Part 1,
Henry IV, Part 2 and
King John. • c. July/September – first performance of
Ben Jonson's play
Every Man in His Humour, at the
Curtain Theatre,
Shoreditch. • 22 September – Ben Jonson kills actor
Gabriel Spenser in a duel at
Hoxton in London and is briefly held in
Newgate Prison but escapes capital punishment by pleading
benefit of clergy. • c. September – Publication of
Francis Meres'
Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury, including the first critical discussion of Shakespeare's works. • 28 December – In London,
The Theatre is dismantled. • 12 March –
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex is appointed
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Queen
Elizabeth I. • Spring/Summer –
Globe Theatre built in
Southwark utilising material from
The Theatre. • Approximate date of the first performances of the Shakespeare plays
As You Like It,
Much Ado About Nothing,
Henry V and
Julius Caesar. • The publisher
William Jaggard issues
The Passionate Pilgrime, poems attributed to "W. Shakespeare". • Henry Buttes publishes his cookbook
Dyets Dry Dinner. ==Births==