1590s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1560s 1570s 1580s – 1590s – 1600s 1610s 1620s
Years:	1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1590s: events by year

Contents: 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599

January–June

• January 11 – The Cortes of Castile approves a new subsidy, the "millones".
• March – Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, takes Breda by concealing 68 of his best men in a peat-boat to get through the impregnable defences.
• March 14 – Battle of Ivry: Henry IV of France again defeats the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne.
• May–August – Henry IV of France unsuccessfully attempts to besiege Paris. Henry is forced to raise the siege when the Duke of Parma comes to its rescue with a Spanish army.
• May 17 – Anne of Denmark is crowned queen of Scotland.
• May 21 – Treaty of Istanbul

July–December

• August 18 – John White, governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted. After the unsuccessful search, he returned to England on October 24.
• September 15 – Urban VII succeeds Sixtus V as the 228th pope; he dies of malaria twelve days later.
• September 15 – The Neulengbach earthquake causes significant damage and some loss of life in Lower Austria and Vienna; effects felt as far as Bohemia Silesia
• December 5 – Gregory XIV succeeds Urban VII as the 229th pope.
• December 7 – Agnes Sampson is questioned by King James VI of Scotland and confesses to practising witchcraft.

Date unknown

• Orthodox Patriarch Meletius I of Alexandria succeeds Silvester.
• Japan is united by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
• The Spanish are pushed out of southern Gelderland by the Dutch forces.
• A group of English merchants gains the right to trade in Ottoman territory in return for supplying the sultan with iron, steel, brass and tin for his war with Persia.

January–June

• January 30 – Pope Clement VIII (born Ippolito Aldobrandini) succeeds Pope Innocent IX, who died one month earlier, as the 231st pope.
• February 8 – George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, sets fire to Donibristle Castle and murders James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray.
• April 4 – The future Henry IV of France, King designate of Henry III of France, announces in a declaration, so-called "Expedient," his intention to follow instructions in and convert to the Catholic religion.
• April 13 – The Siege of Busan (Part Of the first Japanese invasions of Korea) begins.
• March 14 – The largest correspondance between calendar dates and significant digits of pi since the introduction of the julian calendar.
• April 24 – Battle of Sangju: The Japanese are victorious over the Koreans.
• April 28 – Battle of Ch'ungju: Japan inflicts a decisive defeat on Korea.
• May 7 – The Battle of Okpo is another naval victory for Korea over Japan.
• May 29 – Turtle ships make their first appearance in action at the Battle of Sacheon.

July–December

• July 30 – Alonso de Sotomayor petitions the viceroy of Peru for more troops to help resist attacks by Indians and English pirates.
• August 14 – The Koreans are victorious over the Japanese in the naval Battle of Hansan.
• August 15 – (or 19) The Portuguese galleon Madre de Deus, laden with treasure, is captured by English privateers.
• October 5 – The Koreans are victorious over the Japanese in the naval Siege of Jinju (1592).
• November 17 – John III is succeeded by his son Sigismund as King of Sweden.

Date unknown

• The Collegium Melitense is founded by Bishop Garagallo.
• Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland's oldest university, is founded.
• The Seven-Year War between Korea and Japan starts.
• William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is taken seriously ill.
• Negotiations begin for the dissolution of the childless marriage of Henry IV of France and Marguerite de Valois.
• The Confucian shrine of Munmyo is destroyed by fire.

January–June

• January – Siege of Pyongyang (1593): A Japanese invasion is defeated in Pyongyang by a combined force of Korean and Ming troops.w
• June 22 – Battle of Sisak in Croatia: The Habsburgs defeat the Ottoman Empire.
• July 29 - The Long War breaks out in Hungary, between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans.

Date unknown

• Mihai Viteazul becomes prince of Walachia.
• Henry Constable's Spiritual Sonnetts are written.
• The book Controversiae written by Robert Bellarmine.

January–June

• February 27 – Henry IV is crowned King of France at Chartres.
• March 21 – Henry IV enters his capital of Paris for the first time.
• April 16 – Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby is found murdered. At the time of his death, he was, after his mother, second in line to the throne of England.
• April 17 – Saint Hyacinth is canonized.
• May – The Banat Rebellion of Serbs against Ottoman rule ends with the public burning of Saint Sava's bones in Belgrade, Serbia.
• June – Sir Richard Hawkins arrives in the Bay of San Mateo, where he is attacked and captured by two Spanish ships.
• June 11 – Philip II of Spain recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves the way for the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía.

July–December

• July 22 – After a 2-month siege, the city of Groningen submits to Dutch troops, bringing the whole northern Netherlands under the Republic

Date unknown

• St. Paul's College, Macao is founded in Macau by Jesuits, being the first western style university in the far east.
• In Amsterdam, the Compagnie van Verre is created, with the goal of breaking the Portuguese monopoly on spice trade.

January–June

• May 18 – The Treaty of Tyavzino brings to an end the Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595).
• May 24 – The Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
• June 9 – Battle of Fontaine-Française: Henry IV of France defeats the Spanish, but is nearly killed due to his rashness.

July–December

• July 21 – A Spanish expedition led by navigator and explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira makes the first European landing in Polynesia, on the Marquesas Islands.
• August 13 – Battle of Calugareni: The Wallachians, led by Michael the Brave, accomplish a great victory against the vast army of the Turks, numbering over 150,000 men, led by Sinan Pasha. Wallachian tactical victory.
• October 26 – Battle of Giurgiu: Michael the Brave again defeats the Turkish army led by Sinan Pasha, pushing them on the right side of the Danube.

Date unknown

• Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's plays Richard II, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream in London.
• Mehmed III succeeds Murad III as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
• The Austrians incite a rebellion against the Ottomans in Bulgaria.

January–June

• February 14 – Archbishop John Whitgift begins building his hospital at Croydon.
• April 9 – Spanish troops capture Calais.
• May 18 – Willem Barents leaves Vlie on his third and final Arctic voyage.
• June – Sir John Norreys and Sir Geoffrey Fenton travel to Connaught to parley with the local Irish lords.
• June 10 – Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk discover Bear Island.
• June 17 – Barents discovers Spitsbergen.

July–December

• July 5 – An English fleet, commanded by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Lord Howard of Effingham, sacks Cádiz.
• July 14 – King Dominicus Corea (Edirille Bandara) is beheaded by the Portuguese in Colombo, Ceylon.
• September 17 – The Spanish capture Amiens.
• September 20 – Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey, Mexico.
• October 8–October 10 – The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church west of the Dnipro becomes known as the Ukrainian rite of Catholicism, whereas the East officially renounces the authority of the Pope.
• October 24–October 26 – Battle of Keresztes: The Turks defeat a combined Habsburg–Transylvanian army.

Date unknown

• Elizabeth I of England decrees that all Africans should be removed from the British realm in reaction to the food crisis.
• The first water closet, by Sir John Harington, is installed in a manor near Kelston in England.
• King Sigismund III Vasa moves the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw.
• Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge is founded.
• The Black Death hits parts of Europe.
• Dutch ships, commanded by Frederick de Houtman, reach Sumatra and Java for the first time.
• The 4th of a 5 year run of poor harvests, largely caused by the weather, a pattern typical of the last third of the century. This causes famine throughout Europe, which leads to food riots in Britain.

January–June

• January 24 – Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas in the Netherlands.
• February 5 – In Nagasaki, Japan, 26 people are martyred. They practiced Catholicism and were taken captive after all forms of Christianity were outlawed the previous year.
• February 8 – Sir Anthony Shirley, England's "best-educated pirate", raids Jamaica.
• March 11 – Amiens is taken by Spanish forces.
• March 18 – Tycho Brahe's stipend is stopped.
• March 29 – Tycho Brahe leaves Ven and moves to Copenhagen (Farvergården).
• April 4 – Christian Friis and Axel Brahe go to Ven to check complaints, and a commission is established to investigate Tycho Brahe's leadership.
• April 22 – The vicar on Ven is dismissed: he had followed Tycho's orders not to perform an exorcism.
• April 23 – Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.
• April 27 – Johannes Kepler marries Barbara Muhleck.
• June – Tycho Brahe is not allowed to make observations from The Watermill Tower, and he is not allowed to perform chemical experiments at his house in Farvergade.
• June 1 – Tycho writes a recommendation supporting Longomontanus, who is planning to study in Germany.
• June 2 – Tycho leaves Copenhagen and goes to Rostock.
• June 10 – Tycho is removed from his job working at Epiphany Chapel in Roskilde.
• June 24 – The first Dutch voyage to the East Indies reaches Bantam (on Java).

July–December

• July – The Isle of Dogs (a play now lost) is written by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, and performed at the Swan Theatre.
• July 10 – Tycho Brahe's famous letter to the king Christian IV is sent from Rostock.
• July 14 – Scottish poet Alexander Montgomerie is declared an outlaw after the collapse of a Catholic plot.
• August 13 – Beginning of the Siege of Namwon.
• August 17 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.
• August 24 – Christian IV of Denmark refuses to let Tycho Brahe return to Denmark.
• August 28 – Battle of Chilcheollyang: The Japanese fleet defeats the Koreans. It is the only Japanese naval victory in the Imjin War.
• September – Tycho Brahe leaves Rostock, where plague is spreading, and travels to Wandsbæk.
• October – John Gerard, a Jesuit priest, escapes from the Tower of London.
• October 20 – Tycho starts new observations in Wandsbæk, where he writes his famous elegy.
• October 26 – Battle of Myeongnyang: The Koreans, commanded by Yi Sunsin, are victorious over the Japanese.
• December 15 – Johannes Kepler writes a letter to Tycho about his book, Mysterium Cosmographicum.
• December 31 – Tycho writes his preface to the Emperor Rudolf II in his book, Mecanica.

Date unknown

• Jacopo Peri writes Dafne, now recognised as the first opera.
• Bali is discovered by the Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman.
• Abbas I ends the Uzbek raids on his lands.
• Yaqob succeeds his father Sarsa Dengel as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• The first edition of Francis Bacon's Essays is published.
• 12 million pesos of silver cross the Pacific. Although it is unknown just how much silver flowed from the Spanish base of Manila in the Philippines to the Ming Dynasty of China, it is known that the main port for the Mexican silver trade—Acapulco—shipped out 150,000 to 345,000 kg (4 to 9 million taels) of silver annually from this year to 1602.
• A Dutch Expedition commanded by Frederick de Houtman returns to Amsterdam after having successfully reached the Spice Islands. This achievement opens the Spice trade, which had until then been monopolised by the Portuguese, to the Dutch, who in the next years launch several more expeditions to the Indies.

January–June

• January 7 – Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia, following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I; the Time of Troubles starts.
• April 13 – Edict of Nantes: Henry IV of France grants French Huguenots equal rights with Catholics; this is considered the end of the French Wars of Religion.
• April 30 – Spanish conquistador Don Juan de Oñate holds America's first Thanksgiving celebration
• May – Tycho Brahe's star catalogue Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica, listing the positions of 1,004 stars, is published.
• May 2 – The Peace of Vervins ends the war between France and Spain.

July–December

• August – Battle of the Yellow Ford: The Irish rebellion against English rule gains a victory.
• September 13 – Philip III of Spain starts to rule.
• September 25 – Battle of Stångebro: The Catholic King Sigismund of Sweden and Poland is defeated in his attempt to resume control of Sweden by the Protestant forces of his uncle, Charles Albert. Sigismund is deposed shortly thereafter.
• Autumn – Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: After being separated from the main Dutch fleet of Admiral Wybrand Van Warwyck, three ships under Jacob Cornelisz. van Neck land on the island which they name Mauritius, after Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and sight the Dodo.
• November 19 (lunar calendar) – Battle of Noryang Point: The China and Korean Allied Forces defeat the Japanese navy, ending the Seven-Year War.
• December 16 – Battle of Noryang Point: The China and Korean Allied Forces are victorious over Japan.
• December 21 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spaniards troops in southern Chile; all Spanish cities south of the Biobio river are eventually taken by the Mapuches, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceases, until the 1870s "Pacification of Araucania".

Date unknown

• Philosopher Tommaso Campanella organizes an uprising in Calabria against the rule of the Spanish viceroy; he is captured, tortured and sentenced to 27 years in jail.
• The Parliament of England passes an act that allows transportation of convicts to colonies.
• Illustrations of Ottoman Turkish and European riflemen, with detailed illustrations of their firearms, appear in Zhao Shizhen's book Shenqipu in this year, during the Ming Dynasty of China.

January–June

• January 8 – The Jesuit educational plan known as the Ratio Studiorum is issued.
• March 12 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth I of England.
• April 23 – The Earl of Essex arrives in Dublin at the head of 16,000 troops, the largest army ever seen in Ireland.
• May 29 – Essex takes Cahir Castle, supposedly the strongest in Ireland, after a short siege.
• June 20 – The Synod of Diamper is convened.

July–December

• July 24 – The Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is dethroned by his uncle Duke Charles, who takes over as regent of the realm until 1604, when he becomes King Charles IX.
• August 15 – First Battle of Curlew Pass: Irish forces defeat the English.
• September 21 – The first performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at the Globe Theatre in London, is reported by Swiss traveller Thomas Platter the Younger.
• September 28 – The Earl of Essex arrives back in England, disobeying the Queen's strict orders.
• November – A Persian embassy arrives in Moscow.

Date unknown

• The Globe Theatre opens in London.
• The first Capuchin friar is entombed in the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo.
• A Dutch fleet returns to Amsterdam, carrying 600,000 pounds of pepper and 250,000 pounds of cloves and nutmeg.