1570s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1540s 1550s 1560s – 1570s – 1580s 1590s 1600s
Years:	1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1570s: events by year

Contents: 1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579

January–June

• January 9 – Ivan the Terrible starts the Massacre of Novgorod.
• January 23 – The assassination of regent James Stewart, Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war.
• February 8 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurs in Concepción, Chile.
• February 15 – Venus occults Jupiter; this will next happen in 1818.
• February 25 – Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England with the bull Regnans in Excelsis.
• May 20 – Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.

July–December

• July 14 – Pope Pius V issues Quo Primum, promulgating the 1570 edition of the Roman Missal
• August 8 – The Peace of Saint-Germain ends the Third War of Religion in France. Again, the Huguenots are promised religious freedom and political autonomy.

Date unknown

• The Kingdom of Livonia is established.
• The Andean population of Peru reaches 1.3 million.
• The Ottomans conquer Cyprus.
• Whitechapel Bell Foundry known to be in existence in London. By the early 21st century it will be the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain.
• Andrea Palladio publishes I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura in Venice.

January–June

• January 16 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
• April 1 – The Sea Beggars, Netherlandish Calvinist rebels, capture the port city of Brielle. This leads to a wave of uprisings in Holland and Zealand, leaving most of those provinces (with the exception of Amsterdam), under rebel control.
• May 13 – Pope Gregory XIII succeeds Pope Pius V as the 226th pope.
• June 25 – The Sea Beggars capture the city Gorkum. Several Roman Catholic priests are put into a prison.

July–December

• July 9 – The Sea Beggars hang 19 previously imprisoned Roman Catholic priests at Brielle.
• July 29–August 2 – A large Crimean Tatar–Ottoman army which invaded Russia is routed in the battle of Molodi
• August 18 – Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre marries Marguerite de France, sister of King Charles, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
• August 24 – St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: Catholics in Paris murder thousands of Protestants, including Gaspard de Coligny, at the order of King Charles IX. Henry of Navarre and the Prince of Condé barely escape the same fate. This brings about the Fourth War of Religion in France.
• 24 August In Paris to celebrate the wedding of Marguerite of Valois , the daughter of Catherine de Medici Bourbon Huguenot, Henry of Navaree thousans of Huguenots are slaughtered with Catherine's connivance
• November 9 – Siege of Sancerre: Catholic forces of the king lay siege to Sancerre, a Huguenot stronghold in central France. The fortified city holds out for nearly eight months without bombard artillery. It was one of the last times that slings were used in European history.
• November 11 – Tycho Brahe first observes the supernova SN 1572 in Cassiopeia.
• December – The Duke of Alva, Spanish commander in the Netherlands, lays siege to Haarlem.

Date unknown

• The Muromachi period ends in Japan.
• Vilcabamba, the last independent remnant of the Inca Empire, is conquered by Spanish.
• Geronimo Mercuriali from Forlì (Italy) writes the work De morbis cutaneis ("On the diseases of the skin"), well known as the first scientific tract about dermatology.
• Imaginary numbers defined by Rafael Bombelli.
• Portugal's national epic Os Lusíadas by Luís Vaz de Camões was first published.

January–June

• January – Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning religious freedom in Poland.
• January 25 – Japan – Battle of Mikatagahara: Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• January 28 – The Croatian and Slovenian peasant revolt breaks out against the oppressive nobility; the revolt is quelled violently by February 15; Matija Gubec, leader of the rebellion, is publicly executed in Zagreb.
• February–March – The Siege of Noda occurs in Japan.

July–December

• July 6 – Córdoba, Argentina is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
• July 12 – Spanish forces under the Duke of Alva capture Haarlem after a seven month siege.
• August–October – Alva unsuccessfully besieges Alkmaar.
• August 27 – Oda Nobunaga drives the 15th Ashikaga shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki out of Kyoto, effectively destroying the Ashikaga shogunate and historically ending the Muromachi period. The Azuchi-Momoyama period of Japan begins.
• September 8–September 16 – Siege of Hikida, Siege of Ichijō ga dani in Japan: The Asakura clan is eliminated by Oda Nobunaga.
• September 22–September 26 – Japan – Siege of Odani: The Azai clan is eliminated by Oda Nobunaga.
• October 8 – Spaniards abandon siege on the city of Alkmaar in North Holland
• November 15 – Santa Fe, Argentina is founded by Juan de Garay.
• November – Alva resigns as Spanish Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in the Netherlands, and is succeeded by Luis de Requesens, who attempts to pursue a more conciliatory policy.

Date unknown

• Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys, Barnet, England, is formed.
• The Fourth War of Religion begins in France.
• Sarsa Dengel, emperor of Ethiopia, defeats the Oromo in a battle near Lake Zway.
• The first Spanish galleon, laden with silver for the porcelain and silk trade with the Ming Dynasty of China, lands at Manila in the Philippines. This occasion marks the beginning of the Spanish silver trade to China that will trump that of the Portuguese, the latter of whom acted as an intermediary between the silver mines of Japan and the luxury items in China to be purchased with that silver. Most of the silver entering China comes from what is now Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru in the New World.
• Wanli starts to rule in China.
• The Portuguese are expelled from the Maldives.
• Turkish New Hammam (Török Fürdö) built in Çorum Province.

January–June

• February 23 – The fifth War of Religion against the Huguenots begins in France.
• April 14 – Battle of Mookerheyde: Spanish forces under Sancho de Avila defeat the rebel forces of Louis of Nassau, who is killed.
• May 30 – On the death of King Charles IX of France, he is succeeded by his brother King Henry of Poland, who becomes King Henry III of France. His mother, Catherine de' Medici, acts as Regent until Henry arrives from Poland.
• June 10 – Manila gains cityhood.

July–December

• August 30 – Guru Ram Das becomes the Fourth Sikh Guru/Master.
• October 3 – The city of Leiden, besieged by the Spanish, is relieved by a Sea Beggar fleet under Louis Boisot.
• November 22 – The Juan Fernández Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, are discovered by Spanish sailor Juan Fernández.

Date unknown

• Murad III succeeds ala lang Selim II as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

January–June

• February 13 – Henry III of France is crowned at Reims.
• February 14 – Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont.
• June 24 – William I of Orange marries Charlotte of Bourbon.
• June 28 – Battle of Nagashino: Oda Nobunaga defeats Takeda Katsuyori in Japan's first 'modern' battle.

July–December

• July 7 – Raid of the Redeswire: Sir John Carmichael defeats Sir John Forster. Last battle between England and Scotland.
• July 26 – Edmund Grindal succeeds Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• August 5 – Henry Sidney is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
• October 10 – Battle of Dormans: Catholic forces under Henry I, Duke of Guise defeat the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
• December 15 – Stephen Báthory becomes king of Poland.
• December 16 – Valdivia earthquake.

Date unknown

• Russians occupy Pernau in Western Estonia and the fortress of Weissenstein.
• Portugal founds the city of Luanda, Angola.
• Seat of the Audiencia Real in Chile moves from Concepción to Santiago.
• William I of Orange founds Leiden University.
• Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a monopoly on producing printed sheet music to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
• Abraham Ortelius becomes geographer to Philip II of Spain.
• The bubonic plague decimates Venice.
• Gaspar da Cruz, a Portuguese Dominican friar, writes about his travels to the Ming Dynasty of China, including the Chinese civil service handbook The Bureaucratic System of the Ming Dynasty, and how the Chinese draw lots to determine which days of the year are most auspicious or most ill-fated to travel upon.

January–June

• May 5 – The Peace of Beaulieu or Peace of Monsieur (after Monsieur, the Duc d'Anjou, brother of the King, who negotiated it) ends the Fifth War of Religion. Once again, the Protestants are granted freedom of worship.

July–December

• August 11 – English navigator Martin Frobisher, on his search for the Northwest Passage, enters the bay now named after him.
• November 2 – Rudolf II becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• November 4 – Eighty Years' War: In the Low Countries, mutinous Spanish soldiers sack Antwerp (after three days, the city is nearly destroyed).
• November 8 – Eighty Years' War – Pacification of Ghent: The States-General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose pillaging Spanish mutineers.

Date unknown

• The Sixth War of Religion begins in France.
• An early example of autobiography is written in English by Thomas Wythorne.
• Dartford Grammar School is founded by William d'Aeth, Edward Gwyn and William Vaughn.
• Sutton Valence School is founded by William Lambe.
• Konstanty Ostrogski founded Ostroh Academy – first university-like school in Eastern Europe.

January–June

• March 17 – The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold.
• May 28 – The Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings, is published. The earlier version, known as the Torgau Book (1576), had been condensed into an Epitome; both documents are part of the 1580 Book of Concord.

July–December

• September 17 – The Treaty of Bergerac is signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots.
• December 13 – Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

Date unknown

• The church in San Pedro de Atacama is built in the Atacama Desert in Chile .
• The Union of Brussels is formed, first without the Protestant counties of Holland and Zeeland (which is accepted by king Philip II of Spain), later with the Protestants, which means open rebellion of the whole of the Netherlands.

January–June

• January 31 – Battle of Gembloux: Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese defeat the Dutch. Alexander Farnese begins to recover control of the French-speaking Southern Netherlands.
• April 27 – The Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two favorites of Henry III of France and two favourites of Henry I, Duke of Guise.
• May 31 – Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.

July–December

• August 4 – Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir: The Moors defeat the Portuguese. King Sebastian I of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
• October 1 – Alessandro Farnese succeeds Don John as Spanish Governor-General of the Netherlands.

Date unknown

• Martin Frobisher holds the first celebration of Thanksgiving by Europeans in North America at Newfoundland by the Frobisher Expedition.
• Sonam Gyrso receives from prince Atlan Khan the title of Talaï, and becomes the third Dalai Lama of Tibet.
• Battle of Wenden: The Russians are defeated by the Swedes, who proceed to take Polotsk.
• The Ottoman Empire conquers Abkhazia.
• The sixth and so far last outbreak of the sweating sickness occurs in England.
• Emperor Sarsa Dengel of Ethiopia kills Bahr negus Yeshaq, finally ending his rebellion.
• Francis Drake on his voyage of circumnavigation passed through the Strait of Magellan.

January–June

• January 6 – The Union of Atrecht unites the southern Netherlands under the Duke of Parma, governor in the name of king Philip II of Spain.
• January 23 – The Union of Utrecht unites the northern Netherlands in a confederation called the United Provinces. William I of Orange becomes Stadtholder, and the Duc d'Anjou, younger brother of Henry III of France, is invited to become hereditary sovereign.
• March – Maastricht is captured by the Spanish under Parma.
• May 25 – Japan – Battle of Mimaomote: Doi Kiyonaga defeats the forces of Kumu Yorinobu.
• June 17 – Sir Francis Drake, during his circumnavigation of the world, lands in what is now California, which he claims for Queen Elizabeth I. With an English claim here and in Newfoundland, it becomes the basis for English colonial charters which will claim all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from "sea to sea." Drake's claim is called "Nova Albion" (New England), and subsequent maps will show all lands north of New Spain and New Mexico under this name.

July–December

• July 13 – Karlovac is founded.

Date unknown

• Akbar abolishes jizya.
• The municipality of Boac in Marinduque, Philippines is founded.