1580
Philip II of Spain sends an army into Portugal uniting the countries under his kingship.

Poet Edmund Spenser is appointed secretary to Arthur Lord Grey, the new lord deputy of Ireland. He also begins writing his most important work, The Faerie Queen.

The leaders of Poland’s Jewish communities create the Council of Four Countries. The group is created to discuss the Jewish affairs of Poland’s four provinces.

Juan de Garay reestablishes Buenos Aires, Argentina. This settlement is more prosperous than the previous one established almost 50 years earlier.

1580: Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe.

Francis Drake returns to England after circumnavigating the globe. He is the second to make the trip; Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet of ships was the first.

Galileo discovers the isochronous swing of pendulums while he is studying at the University of Pisa. Galileo uses his pulse to time the swing of a lamp during an earthquake. He recognizes that the constant swing can be used in mechanical equipment.

The first two books of Michel de Montaigne’s Essais are published. These present Montaigne’s views on ideas, customs and values and establish the written essay as a literary genre.

The Seventh War of Religion between the Catholics and the Huguenots in France ends with the Peace of Felix.

1581

The Levant Company is established in England to promote trade with Mediterranean nations.

The Netherlands declares its independence from Spain.

The Cossacks led by Yermak Timofeyevich invade Siberia, which is under Asian control.

English Jesuit Edmund Campion is executed at Tyburn, England, on charges of treason. Campion refuses to renounce the Pope to Elizabeth I. Campion was the author of Challenge to the Privy Council (otherwise known as “Campion’s Brag”), which stated his desire to defend Catholicism in England.

English schoolmaster Richard Mulcaster publishes the first of his two books. The books, Positions and The First Part of Elementarie (1582), are the first to introduce special training for teachers and a thorough comprehension of the English language. They are not widely accepted until two centuries after publication.

1582

Russia ends its war with Poland after 25 years of conflict. Under the resulting Peace of Jam-Zapolski, Russia loses access to the Baltic and surrenders Livonia and Estonia.

After 14 years of rule, Japanese leader Oda Nobunaga is murdered by military general Akechi Mitsuhide. Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotmi Hideyoshi, kills Mitsuhide.

Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci arrives in China to preach Christianity and study Chinese culture and language.

William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.

Pope Gregory XIII proclaims the use of a new calendar, known as the Gregorian Calendar, which eliminates 10 days from October and moves the spring equinox to 21 March. Under the old Julian calendar, the Easter holiday continued to wander away from the spring season.

Dutchman Pieter Morice invents a method of pumping water from the River Thames to the city of London by using a water wheel on the side of London Bridge.

Geographer Richard Hakluyt publishes Divers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America, which outlines the travels of various explorers to the New World.

1583

The first English colony in North America is established in Newfoundland by Humprhey Gilbert. He drowns on his return to England.

Andrea Cesalpion publishes De Plantis Libri XVI. It is the first and one of the most important books of botany, providing the first scientific classification of plants.

Historian and philologist Joseph Scaliger creates a new method to measure time. The Julian Period of 7,980 years is calculated by multiplying the lunar cycle, the solar cycle and the Roman indication. This system is still used by astronomers.

The Duke of Anjou fails to capture Antwerp in the French Fury, a military attempt to gain control over the Netherlands. William of Orange had granted Anjou limited lordship over the lower provinces.

1584

Francis Throckmorton is tried and executed in England for the plot that bears his name. He attempted to overthrow Elizabeth I and restore papal authority. Philip II of Spain is alleged to have also participated in the plot.

Ivan the Terrible, Czar of Russia, dies while preparing to play a game of chess. He is succeeded by his son, Fyodor I, but Ivan’s brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, takes control.

Walter Raleigh and his expedition land on the southeastern coast of North America. He names the area Virginia after Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. Raleigh is knighted the following year.

Catholic fanatic Balthasar Gerard assassinates the Protestant William the Silent, prince of Orange. William was partly responsible for Dutch independence and was an enemy of Philip II of Spain.

The Duke of Anjou, younger brother to the childless Henry III of France, dies. The Valois line is without a successor resulting in conflicts among Henry III, his cousin Henry of Navarre and Henri, Duke of Guise, head of the Catholic Holy League.

Italian philosopher and astronomer Giordano Bruno begins writing his six dialogues on moral philosophy and astronomical theory. In these dialogues he suggests the universe is infinite, the Bible should only be used for moral teachings and not astronomical studies and suggests there is a moral connection between human souls and universal souls.

1585

Elizabeth I signs the Treaty of Nonsuch and sends aid to the Netherlands to fight against Spain.

Sixtus V succeeds Gregory XIII as Pope.

Henry of Navarre, a Huguenot, becomes heir to the French throne. Roman Catholics of the Holy League refuse to accept a Protestant king. Subsequently, Henry of Navarre fights for his right to the throne in the War of the Three Henries with the support of Henry III against League leader Henri, Duke of Guise.

Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin introduces the decimal system in his work Die Thiende, replacing the old system based on counting in twelves. His experiments, which studied gravity, preceded Galileo’s theories by at least three years.

Roanoke Island becomes the first English settlement in the present-day US.

1586

Anthony Babington is tried and executed in England. He plotted to rescue the captive Mary, Queen of Scots and assassinate Elizabeth I. This plot leads to Mary’s trial and execution the following year.

Less than a year after their arrival, English colonists leave Roanoke Island. Colonists are discouraged by a lack of supplies and Indian attacks.

Stephen Bathory, king of Poland and prince of Transylvania, dies. Sigismund III succeeds him.

Akbar the Great, shah of Persia, establishes his own faith, Din Ilahi. The faith, which combines components of various religions, endures until the 18th century.

1587

The Rose Theatre opens on the bank of the Thames in London. The first works of Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are performed here.

The first performance of Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great takes place.

Japanese ruler Hideyoshi expels Christians from the country, though not all Christians leave.

The Banco di Rialto, the first public banking system in Europe, opens in Venice.

Mary, Queen of Scots is executed by order of Elizabeth I for her alleged part in the Babington Plot, an attempt to remove Elizabeth from the English throne. Sir Walter Raleigh establishes a second colony in Roanoke. The colonists disappear within three years.

Virginia Dare is born in Roanoke. She is the first child of English parentage born in the present-day US.

English navigator John Davis discovers a strait linking the Atlantic to the Baffin Sea during an attempt to find the Northwest Passage.

1588: Catherine de Medici dies.

1588: Work begins on the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

1588

Catherine de Medici, dowager Queen of France, dies at the age of 70.

Sultan Mohammed, shah of Persia, hands over the throne to his son Abbas I.

Architect Antonio da Ponte begins work on the Rialto Bridge in Venice. The bridge was a high point of Renaissance architecture and remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal by foot until the 1854 construction of the Academia Bridge.

Eleven-year-old Christian IV becomes the king of Denmark after the death of Frederick II.

An Anglican bishop in Wales, William Morgan, translates the Bible into Welsh. This publication ensures the survival of Welsh literature. Morgan’s Bible is used well into the 20th century.

Philip II sends the Spanish Armada to secure the English Channel. The Armada is defeated by the English and severe storms.

Issihak II becomes ruler of the Songhai Empire in West Africa. The once-great empire begins a steady decline under Issihak’s rule.

1589

Henry of Navarre becomes the first Bourbon king of France after the assassination of Henry III.

An English clergyman, William Lee, invents the stocking frame. It is the first knitting machine.

Continuing his writing on English exploration in the New World, Richard Hakluyt publishes The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation.

This article originally appeared as part of a larger piece on the 1580s in our October/November 2001 issue.

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