1578

This article is about the year 1578.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1540s  1550s  1560s  – 1570s –  1580s  1590s  1600s
Years:	1575 1576 1577 – 1578 – 1579 1580 1581

1578 by topic

Arts and science

Architecture - Art - Literature - Music - Science

Lists of leaders

Colonial governors - State leaders

Birth and death categories

Births - Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments - Disestablishments

Works category

Works

1578 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1578 MDLXXVIII
Ab urbe condita	2331
Armenian calendar	1027 ԹՎ ՌԻԷ
Assyrian calendar	6328
Bahá'í calendar	-266–-265
Bengali calendar	985
Berber calendar	2528
English Regnal year	20 Eliz. 1 – 21 Eliz. 1
Buddhist calendar	2122
Burmese calendar	940
Byzantine calendar	7086–7087
Chinese calendar	丁丑年十一月廿四日 (4214/4274-11-24) — to — 戊寅年十二月初四日 (4215/4275-12-4)
Coptic calendar	1294–1295
Ethiopian calendar	1570–1571
Hebrew calendar	5338–5339
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1634–1635
- Shaka Samvat	1500–1501
- Kali Yuga	4679–4680
Holocene calendar	11578
Iranian calendar	956–957
Islamic calendar	985–986
Japanese calendar	Tenshō 6 (天正6年)
Korean calendar	3911
Minguo calendar	334 before ROC 民前334年
Thai solar calendar	2121

August 4: Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir.

Year 1578 (MDLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

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.

Births

• March 2 – George Sandys, English traveller (d. 1644)
• April 1 – William Harvey, English physician (d. 1657)
• April 14 – King Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
• May 16 – Everard Digby, English conspirator (d. 1606)
• July 9 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1637)
• August 5 – Charles de Luynes, first duke of Chaulnes (d. 1621)
• August 17 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
• November 1 – Dmitry Pozharsky, Russian prince (d. 1642)
• December 2 – Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer (d. 1640)
• date unknown
  • Giambattista Andreini, Italian actor and playwright (d. 1650)
  • Catharina Belgica of Nassau, regent of Hanau-Münzenberg (d. 1648)
  • Yamada Arinaga, Japanese retainer of the Shimazu clan (d. 1668)
  • Benedetto Castelli, Italian scientist (d. 1643)
  • Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, English lawyer (d. 1640)
  • Robert Cushman, Plymouth Colony settler (d. 1625)
  • Iwasa Matabei, Japanese painter (d. 1650)
  • Samuel Jordan, American colonial legislator (d. 1623)
  • Grzegorz IV Radziwiłł, Polish magnate (d. 1613)
  • François Ravaillac, killer of Henry IV of France (d. 1610)
  • Ambrose Rokewood, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (d. 1606)
  • Francis Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland (d. 1632)
  • Horio Tadauji, Japanese daimyo (d. 1604)

Deaths

• February 5 – Giambattista Moroni, Italian painter (b. 1510)
• March 3 – Sebastiano Venier, Doge of Venice (b. 1496)
• March 7 – Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (b. 1515)
• March 29 – Arthur Champernowne, English admiral (b. 1524)
• March 29 – Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1527)
• April 14 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1535)
• April 19 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)
• June 20 – Thomas Doughty, English explorer (executed)
• August 4
  • King Sebastian I of Portugal (b. 1554)
  • Thomas Stucley, English adventurer (b. 1525)
  • Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi, King of Morocco
  • Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, King of Morocco
• August 8 – Amago Katsuhisa, Japanese nobleman (b. 1553)
• August 11 – Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician (b. 1502)
• October 1 – Don John of Austria, military leader (b. 1547)
• date unknown
  • Jane Lumley, English translator (b. 1537)
  • Giulio Clovio, Italian painter (b. 1498)
  • Cornelis Cort, Dutch engraver (b. 1536)
  • Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor (b. 1501)
  • Ikeda Katsumasa, Japanese military commander (b. 1539)
  • Juraj Julije Klovic, Dalmatian painter (b. 1498)
  • Pierre Lescot, French architect (b. 1510)