John III, King of Portugal dies; succeeded by his grandson Sebastian I
DL :
State bankruptcy in Spain and France
LT :
The Sack-Full of Newes, first English play to be censored
ED :
Gonville College, Cambridge, refounded as Gonville and Caius College
ST :
Robert Recorde: Whetstone of Wit, first Eng. treatise on algebra
ED :
Repton School, Derbyshire, founded
ED :
Accademia di San Luca, Rome
ST :
Thomas Tusser: A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie
DL :
Influenza epidemic throughout Europe
1558
PH :
Ferdinand I assumes the title of Holy Roman Emperor
PH :
Ex-Emperor Charles V dies
PH :
Queen Mary I of England dies; succeeded by Elizabeth I
DL :
John Knox: The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women
RP :
Zohar, cabbalistic work of Jewish mysticism (13th-century), printed
ED :
University of Jena founded
M :
Gioseffo Zarlino: Institutioni harmoniche, definitions of modern major and minor scales
DL :
Thomas Gresham suggests reform of Eng. currency (Gresham's Law)
DL :
Hamburg Exchange founded
DL :
Portuguese introduce Europeans to the habit of taking snuff
PH :
French retake Calais
1559
PH :
King Christian III of Denmark and Norway dies; succeeded by Frederick II
PH :
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I
PH :
King Henry II of France killed in a tournament; succeeded by his son Francis II, whose wife Mary, Queen of Scots, assumes title Queen of England
PH :
Margaret of Parma, sister of Philip II, Regent in the Netherlands
LT :
Thomas Sackville: Induction, introducing the new age of Elizabethan literature
RP :
Elizabethan Prayer Book
RP :
Mattias Flacius: Ecclesiastica historica
RP :
Pope Paul IV dies; Giovanni Angelo de'Medici elected Pope Pius IV
ED :
University of Geneva founded
ST :
Realdo Colombo describes position and posture of human embryo
1560
RP :
Huguenot conspiracy at Amboise; liberty of worship promised in France
PH :
King Francis II of France dies; succeeded by Charles IX with Catherine de'Medici, his mother, as regent
RP :
Church of Scotland founded
RP :
Francesco Patrizi: Della historia, on the philosophy of history
RP :
Beginnings of Puritanism in England
ED :
Westminster School, London, founded
VA :
The Uffizi at Florence founded
ST :
First scientific society founded at Naples by Giambattista della Porta
PH :
Madrid becomes capital of Spain
DL :
Tobacco plant imported to Western Europe by Jean Nicot
DL :
Visiting cards used for the first time by Germ. students in Italy
1561
PH :
Edict of Orleans suspends persecution of Huguenots
PH :
Baltic states of the Order of the Teutonic Knights secularised
RP :
First Calvinist refugees from Flanders settle in England
ST :
Gabriele Fallopius: Observations anatomicae
DL :
Ruy López develops in Spain the modern technique of chess playing
ST :
Forerunners of hand grenades made for the first time
ED :
Merchant Taylors' School, London, founded
VA :
St. Paul's Cathedral, London, badly damaged by fire
DL :
Tulips from the Near East first come to Western Europe
1562
M :
John Dowland born
PH :
Shane O'Neill rebels in Ireland
PH :
Emperor Ferdinand I signs eight-year truce with Suleiman I of Turkey
PH :
Maximilian, son of Ferdinand I, becomes King of Bohemia
RP :
Third session of Council of Trent convenes
RP :
1,200 Fr. Huguenots slain at Massacre of Vassy; first War of Religion begins
RP :
Eng. Articles of Religion of 1552 reduced to the Thirty-Nine Articles
M :
Gasparo Bertolotti da Salò moves to Brescia to become first great Ital. violin maker
ST :
French attempt to colonise Florida
ST :
John Hawkins makes his first journey to the New World; begins slave trade between Guinea and West Indies
DL :
Milled coins introduced in England
DL :
Plague in Paris
M :
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck born in April
1563
LT :
Michael Drayton born
RP :
Peace of Amboise ends first War of Religion in France; the Huguenots are granted limited toleration
PH :
Charles IX of France (at 13) is declared of age
PH :
Maximilian II elected King of Hungary
ST :
First printing presses in Russia
LT :
Blossoming of Span. mystic poetry
RP :
John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, first Eng. edition
RP :
Council of Trent ends
RP :
Counter Reformation begins in Bavaria
RP :
Term "Puritan" first used in England
VA :
John Shute: First and Chief Grounds of Architecture
ST :
Gerardus Mercator draws the first accurate map of Lorraine
ST :
Ambroise Pare: Cinq livres de chirugie
DL :
Eng. Parliament passes acts for relief of the poor and for regulating apprentices
DL :
General outbreak of plague in Europe kills 20,000 people in London
1564
PH :
Peace of Troyes ends war between England and France
PH :
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor since 1556 dies; succeeded by his son Maximilian II
RP :
Council of Trent's Professio Fidei confirmed by Pope Pius IV
RP :
Counter Reformation begins in Poland
RP :
Index librorum prohibitorum published after receiving papal approval
RP :
Philip Neri founds the Congregation of the Oratory in Rome
RP :
Scots' Psalter
ST :
Bartolommeo Eustachio: Opuscula anatomica
DL :
Horse-drawn coach introduced in England from Holland
VA :
Artist Michelangelo de Buonarotti
dies in Rome
LT :
William Shakespeare born 23 April
1565
RP :
Jacobus Anconcio: Stratagemata Satanae, advocating religious toleration
ED :
Thomas Cooper: Thesaurus linguae Romanae et Britannicae
RP :
Pierre de la Place: Histoire de nostre temps
RP :
Pope Pius IV dies
ST :
Royal College of Physicians, London, empowered to carry out human dissections
ST :
Bernardino Telesio: De rerum natura, foreshadowing empirical methods of science
DL :
Sir Thomas Gresham founds the Royal Exchange, London
DL :
Pencils manufactured in England
DL :
Sir John Hawkins introduces sweet potatoes and tobacco into England
1566
PH :
Suleiman I dies; succeeded by Selim II as Sultan of Turkey
RP :
Calvinist riots in the Netherlands; Regent Margaret of Palma abolishes Inquisition
PH :
Sigismund III, King of Poland
PH :
Turko-Hungarian war renewed in spite of truce of 1562
RP :
Jean Bodin: Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem, on the philosophy of history
RP :
Heinrich Bullinger unites Calvinism with Zwinglianism in Second Helvetian Confession
RP :
Cardinal Michaele Ghislieri becomes Pope Pius V
DL :
Notizie Scritte, one of first newspapers, appears in Venice
1567
PH :
Queen Mary forced to abdicate; makes her stepbrother, the Earl of Moray, regent
PH :
Duke of Alba arrives as military governor in the Netherlands and begins reign of terror; Margaret of Parma resigns regency
PH :
In Japan Nobunaga deposes shogunate and centralises government
ED :
Francesco Guicciardini: Storia d'Italia (posth.)
RP :
Maximilian II establishes monastery council to superintend clergy
ED :
University of Helmstedt, Brunswick, founded
ST :
Alvaro Mendana de Neyra discovers Solomon Islands in Pacific Ocean
PH :
Rio de Janeiro founded
DL :
Two million Indians die in S. America of typhoid fever
M :
Claudio Monteverdi born 15 May
1568
PH :
Peace between Selim II and Maximilian II
PH :
Treaty of Longjumeau ends second War of Religion in France
PH :
Swedes declare Eric XIV unfit to reign and proclaim John III king
DL :
First modern eisteddfod for Welsh music and literature held at Caerwys
RP :
First translation of the Bible into Czech
RP :
Archbishop Parker's Bishop's Bible
ED :
English College founded at Douai by William Allen to train Jesuit missionaries for work in England
RP :
Jesuit missionaries welcomed in Japan
RP :
Pope Pius V issues revised Brevarium Romanun
ST :
Gerardus Mercator devises cylindrical projection for charts
ST :
Costanzo Varolio studies the anatomy of the human brain
DL :
Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, London, invents bottled beer
VA :
Jan Brueghel the Elder born
1569
PH :
Sigismund II of Poland unites Poland with Lithuania; Union of Lublin
ST :
Tycho Brahe begins at Augsburg construction of a 19-foot quandrant and a celestial glove, five feet in diameter
ST :
Mercator: Cosmographia, and map of the world for navigational use
DL :
40,000 inhabitants of Lisbon die in carbuncular fever epidemic
DL :
Public lottery held in London to finance repairs to the port
VA :
Pieter Bruegel the Elder dies
1570
PH :
Peace of St. Germain-en-Laye ends third civil war in France; Huguenots gain amnesty
PH :
Peace of Stettin: Denmark recognises independence of Sweden
PH :
Imperial Diet meets at Speyer
DL :
Japan opens port of Nagasaki to overseas trade
PH :
Turks declare war on Venice
LT :
Lodovico Castelvetro demands introduction of Aristotelian principles to contemporary drama
M :
Jean Antoine de Baïf founds Académie de Poésie et de Musique, Paris
ED :
Roger Ascham: The Scholemaster, manual on education
RP :
Consensus of Sendomir: Calvinists, Lutherans and Moravian Brothers of Poland ally against Jesuits
RP :
Blaise de Monluc: Commentaires on Fr. politics
RP :
Pope Pius V issues bull, Regnans in Excelsis, excommunicating Elizabeth I
RP :
Missale Romanum issued by Pius V
M :
Earliest known music festival to honour St. Cecilia, in Normandy
M :
Culminating point of vocal polyphonic a cappella style (Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso)
ST :
Abraham Ortelius (Antwerp): Theatrum orbis terrarum, first modern atlas, with 53 maps
DL :
Nuremberg postal services begin
1571
PH :
Sigismund II of Poland dies; end of Jagellon dynasty
PH :
Reconciliation between Charles IX of France and Huguenots
DL :
Act of Parliament forbids export of wool from England
RP :
Act of Parliament enforces subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles among clergy
ED :
Bibliotheca Laurenziana in Florence opened to the public
RP :
Hugh Latimer: Frutefull Sermons
RP :
Francesco Patrizi: Discussiones peripateticae, anti-Aristotelian arguments
ED :
Harrow School founded by John Lyon
ED :
Jesus College, Oxford, founded by Hugh Price
1572
LT :
John Donne born
PH :
Dutch War of Independence begins
PH :
Estates of Poland declare the monarchy elective
RP :
Massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day in Paris: 2,000 Huguenots murdered there
PH :
Fourth War of Religion begins in France
ED :
Annibale Caro: Lettere Familiari, history of Tuscan literary language in Italy
ED :
Jean de Serres: Commentaqrii de statu religionis et reipublicae, survey of Fr. Wars of Religion
ED :
Henri Estienne: Thesaurus linguae Graecae
RP :
Mathew Parker: De antiquitate Britannicae ecclesiae
RP :
Pope Pius V dies; Cardinal Ugo Buoncompagni elected Pope Gregory XIII
M :
"Il Re", one of the earliest cellos by Andrea Amati of Cremona
ST :
Artis auriferae quam chemium vocant, one of the earliest books on alchemy, published in Basel
ST :
Tycho Brahe discovers the "New Star" in the Milky Way
ST :
Society of Antiquaries founded in London
DL :
Pigeons carrying letters used by Dutch during Span. siege of Haarlem
VA :
Bronzino dies
LT :
Ben Jonson born 11 June
1573
PH :
Peace of Constantinople ends war between Turks and Venice
PH :
Henry, Duke of Anjou, elected King of Poland; returns to France to succeed his brother Charles IX
PH :
Fourth Fr. War of Religion ends; Huguenots granted an amnesty
PH :
Wan-Li begins reign as 13th emperor of the Ming dynasty in China
ED :
Collegium Germanicum established in Rome
RP :
François Hofman: Francogallia, a treatise on election and deposition of kings
M :
Orlando di Lasso: Patrocinium musices
ST :
Francis Drake sees Pacific Ocean for first time
VA :
Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio) born
1574
PH :
Charles IX of France dies; succeeded by his brother Henry III, King of Poland
PH :
Selim II, Sultan of Turkey dies; succeeded by Murad III
PH :
Fifth French War of Religion
RP :
First auto-da-fé in Mexico
RP :
Jean Bodin: Discours sur les causes de l'extrême cherté en France, on luxury
RP :
Hubert Languet: Vindiciae contra tyrannos, political theories of the Huguenots
ED :
University of Berlin founded
ST :
Ulissi Aldovrandi: Antidotarii Bononiensis epitome, a treatise on drugs
ST :
Conrad Dasypodius builds the famous Strasbourg clock
VA :
Giorgio Vasari dies
1575
M :
Thomas Tallis : Motets, Cantiones sacrae
published jointly with William Byrd
M :
William Byrd : Cantiones Sacrae
(joint collection with Thomas Tallis
PH :
King Henry III of France crowned at Rheims
PH :
Stephen Báthory of Transylvania becomes King of Poland
PH :
Freedom from arrest granted by Eng. Parliament for its members and their servants
DL :
State bankruptcy in Spain
ED :
University of Leiden founded by William of Orange
ST :
Tycho Brahe constructs an observatory at Uraniborg for Frederick II of Denmark
ST :
George Turberville: Book of Falconrie
DL :
Outbreaks of plague in Sicily, spreading through Italy up to Milan
1576
PH :
Act of Federation between Holland and Zeeland signed in Delft
RP :
Edict of Beaulieu tolerating Reformed religion in France
PH :
Emperor Maximilian II dies; succeeded by his brother Rudolf II
ED :
Académy du Palais founded in Paris by Henry III, associated with Baïf's Académie of 1570
RP :
Jean Bodin: La république, advocating constitutional change
RP :
League of Torgau, supporting opinions of the Lutherans, draws up Articles of Faith
ED :
University of Warsaw, Poland, founded
ST :
Clusius publishes his treatise on flowers of Spain and Portugal; beginning of modern botany
ST :
Robert Norman, English hydrographer, discovers magnetic 'dip', or inclination
ST :
François Viète introduces decimal fractions
VA :
Titian dies
1577
PH :
Henry of Navarre recognised head of Huguenot party
PH :
Perpetual Edict to settle civil war in the Netherlands issued by Don John of Austria; rejected by William of Orange
PH :
Sixth Fr. War of Religion breaks out
PH :
Peace of Bergerac ends sixth War of Religion
RP :
William Allot: Thesaurus Bibliorum
ED :
Richard Eden: History of Travel in East and West Indies
RP :
Lutheran Book of Concord drafted
ED :
William Harrison: Description of England
VA :
Peter Paul Rubens born
1578
PH :
Sebastian, King of Portugal, killed at Alcazar during invasion of Morocco
PH :
John III of Sweden secretly converted to Catholicism
PH :
Mohammed Khudabanda becomes Shah of Persia
PH :
Otomo Yoshishige, one of chief rulers of Japan, converted to Christianity
ED :
Jacques Cujas: Commentaries on Roman Law
ED :
Eng. College of Douai removed to Rheims
ST :
Catacombs of Rome discovered
DL :
Work begun on Pont Neuf, oldest bridge over Seine River, Paris
1579
PH :
Signing of Union of Utrecht marks foundation of Dutch Republic
LT :
Stephen Gosson: The Schools of Abuse, against the theatre
LT :
Thomas Lodge: A Defense of Poetry, Music and Stage Plays, answer to Gosson
RP :
St. John of the Cross: Dark Night of the Soul
1580
PH :
Seventh Fr. War of Religion breaks out
PH :
Ivan IV, The Terrible, kills his son and heir with his own hands
RP :
Last performance of a miracle play in Coventry
RP :
Jean Bodin: Démonomanie des sorciers, against witchcraft
RP :
Jesuits Edmund Campion and Robert Parson land in England, begin Jesuit mission
ED :
François de la Noue: 24 Discours politiques et militaires, Huguenot point of view on Fr. Wars of Religion
RP :
Michel de Montaigne: Essais
ST :
Francis Drake returns to England from voyage of circumnavigation
DL :
Venice imports coffee from Turkey to Italy
DL :
Earthquake in London
DL :
New building banned in London to restrict growth of city
VA :
Frans Hals born (year approximate)
1581
RP :
Edmund Campion, Eng. Jesuit, tried for treason and executed
RP :
Pope Gregory XIII attempts to reconcile Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches
PH :
James VI of Scotland signs Second Confession of Faith
ED :
Lancelot Popelinière: Premier Livre de l'idée de l'histoire accomplieé, contemporary history
M :
Vincenzo Galiglei: Dialogo della musica antica e moderna
ST :
William Borough: A Discourse on the Variation of the Compass or Magneticall Needle
ST :
Elizabeth I knights Francis Drake at Deptford
ST :
Galileo Galilei discovers isochronous property of the pendulum
DL :
Sedan chairs in general use in England
1582
PH :
Raid of Ruthven: James VI kidnapped by Protestant nobles
DL :
Gregorian Calendar adopted in Papal States, Spain, and Portugal, France and the Netherlands and Scandinavia
PH :
Nobunaga, ruler of Japan, assassinated
PH :
Venetian Constitution amended; authority of Council of Ten restricted
ED :
George Buchanan: Rerum Scoticarum historiae
RP :
Jesuit mission founded in China
ED :
Utrecht Library founded
ED :
University of Edinburgh founded
ED :
Richard Hakluyt: Divers Voyages Touching the Discovery of America
ST :
Urbain Hémand investigates the anatomy of the teeth
DL :
Royal Navy gets graduated pay according to rank
DL :
London's first waterworks founded; water wheels installed on London Bridge
1583
DL :
England adopts Gregorian Calendar
PH :
James VI of Scotland escapes from hands of Ruthven raiders after 10 months
LT :
Queen's Company of Players formed in London by Sir Edmund Tilney
RP :
Francesco Sansovino: Del Governo et ammistrazione di diversi regni et republiche
ED :
Joseph Justus Scaliger: Opus de emendatione temporum, foundation of modern chronology
RP :
Sir Thomas Smith: De repubica Anglorum, on government machinery in England
DL :
First known life insurance in England, on life of William Gibbons
M :
Girolamo Frescobaldi born in September
1584
PH :
Ivan IV, The Terrible, dies; succeeded as Czar of Russia by his son Fyodor, who relinquishes most of his powers to his brother-in-law Boris Godunov
ED :
Foundation of Accademia dei Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Lucca
RP :
Giordano Bruno: Spaccio della bestia trionfante
RP :
Nicholas Sanders: De origine ac progressu schismatis Anglicani
RP :
Reginald Scot: The Discoverie of Witchcraft, attacking superstition
ED :
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, founded by Sir Walter Mildmay
ED :
Uppingham School founded
DL :
Dutch trading post founded at Archangel, Russia
ST :
Sir Walter Raleigh discovers and annexes Virginia
DL :
Banco di Rialto founded in Venice
ST :
Oldest extant wave-swept lighthouse erected at Cordouan, at the mouth of the Gironde River
1585
PH :
Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England decline sovereignty of the Netherlands; but Elizabeth takes the Netherlands under her protection
PH :
Hideyoshi sets up dictatorship in Japan
LT :
Teatro Olimpico, in Vicenza, opened
RP :
Pope Gregory XIII dies; Cardinal Felice Peretti becomes Pope Sixtus V
ED :
Jesuit University founded in Graz, Austria
ST :
Simon Stevin formulates the law of equilibrium
ST :
Lucas Janszoon Waghearen: Spiegel der Zeevaart, a book of sailing directions
ST :
Bartholomew Newsam constructs first Eng. travelling and standing clocks
M :
Heinrich Schütz born 9 October
M :
Thomas Tallis dies 23 November
1586
PH :
Mary, Queen of Scots, tried for treason at Fotheringay; sentence is pronounced against her; Elizabeth confirms it
PH :
Abbas I becomes Shah of Persia
PH :
Stephen Báthory, King of Poland, dies
LT :
Beginning of Kabuki theatre, Japan
LT :
William Webbe: Discourse of English Poetrie
RP :
Caesar Baronius: Annales ecclesiastici, history of the Roman Catholic Church
PH :
Ludwig Pfyffer forms League of the Seven Swiss Catholic Cantons
ED :
William Camden: Britannia, guide to the counties of Britain
RP :
Pope Sixtus V fixes number of cardinals at 70; issues bull, "Detestablilis", forbidding usury
DL :
Corn severely short in England
1587
M :
Samuel Scheidt born
M :
Claudio Monteverdi : Book I of Madrigals
PH :
Mary, Queen of Scots, executed at Fotheringay
PH :
A son of King John of Sweden succeeds Stephen Báthory as Sigismund III of Poland
RP :
Pope Sixtus V proclaims Catholic crusade for invasion of England
LT :
First company of Eng. players in Germany
RP :
Antonio Agustino: Dialogo de medallas y inscriciones, on numismatics (posth.)
RP :
John Knox: Hystory of the Reformation in Scotland (posth.)
RP :
Rederijckkunst, Dutch manual on rhetoric
M :
Zeminoth Israel publishes early collection of Jewish songs
DL :
Construction of Rialto Bridge, Venice, by Antonio da Ponte
1588
M :
William Byrd : Psalmes, Sonets & Songs
PH :
Frederick II of Denmark dies; succeeded by Christian IV
PH :
Henry, Duke of Guise, and his brother Louis, Cardinal of Guise, assassinated by order of Henry III; another brother, the Duke of Mayenne, becomes leader of Catholic League
RP :
William Morgan's translation of the Bible into Welsh
RP :
Jan Blahoslav's Czech translation of New Testament incorporated in Kralice Bible
RP :
Thomas Stapleton: Tres Thomae, controversial Roman Catholic tract
ED :
Vatican Library opened in Rome
ST :
Joachim Camerarius: Hortus medicus
ST :
Timothy Bright: An Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character, manual of shorthand
VA :
Paolo Caliari (Veronese) dies
1589
M :
William Byrd : Songs of Sundrie Natures
M :
William Byrd : Cantiones Sacrae
PH :
Henry III, King of France, last of the house of Valois, assassinated; on his deathbed he recognises Henry, King of Navarre, as his successor, who, as Henry IV, is the first Burbon to become King of France
PH :
House of Commons first appoints a Standing Committee for Privileges
LT :
Thomas Nashe: Anatomie of Absurdities, criticism of contemporary literature
LT :
George Puttenham: The Arte of English Poesie
RP :
Amador Arrais: Dialogues de Dom Frei Amador Arraiz, Port. conversations on moral and religious themes
PH :
Boris Godunov asserts Moscow's religious independence of Constantinople
RP :
Justus Lipsius: Politicorum sive Civilis Doctrinae
ED :
Kiev Academy founded
ED :
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, founded
M :
Thoinot Arbeau: Orchésographie, early treatise on dancing, with several dance tunes
ST :
Richard Hakluyt: The Principall Navigations and Discoveries of the English Nation
DL :
Forks used for the first time at Fr. court
DL :
The Reverend William Lee (Cambridge) invents the stocking frame, first knitting machine
1590
LT :
William Shakespeare: Henry VI
PH :
Catholic League proclaims Cardinal de Bourbon King Charles X of France in Jan; he dies in May
PH :
Shah Abbas I of Persia makes peace with Turkey
LT :
Ital. Commedia dell' arte company, "I Accesi", begins activities
RP :
Pope Sixtus V dies; Cardinal Giambattista Castagna succeeds him as Pope Urban VII and dies 12 days later; Cardinal Niccolò Sfondrato becomes Pope Gregory XIV
RP :
José de Acosta: Historia natural y moral de las Indias
ST :
Galileo: De Motu, description of experiments on dropping of various bodies
ST :
Coal mining begins in the Ruhr
1591
LT :
Michael Drayton: Harmonie of the Church
M :
William Byrd : My Ladye Nevells Book
collection of keyboard pieces
M :
William Byrd : Cantiones Sacrae
PH :
Henry IV of France excommunicated by Pope Gregory XIV
PH :
Christian I of Saxony dies; succeeded by his eight-year-old son Christian II
RP :
Giordano Bruno: De immenso et innumerabilis seu de universo et mundis
RP :
Pope Gregory XIV dies; Cardinal Antonio Facchinetti becomes Pope Innocent IX
ED :
Trinity College, Dublin, founded by Elizabeth I
ST :
François Viète: In Artem analyticam isagoge, on using letters for algebraic quantities
DL :
Skittle alleys, in use since the end of the 12th century, become popular in Germany
LT :
Robert Herrick born in August
1592
LT :
William Shakespeare: Richard III and The Comedy of Errors
LT :
John III of Sweden dies; succeeded by Sigismund III of Poland
LT :
Emperor Rudolf II makes peace with Poland
LT :
Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini elected Pope Clement VIII
LT :
Thomas Sanchez: De sacramento matrimonii, on religious and legal aspects of marriage
LT :
Lodovico Zacconi: Prattica di musica, original edition
LT :
Galileo: Della scienza mechanica, problems of raising weights
ST :
Ruined Roman city of Pompeii discovered
DL :
Plague kills 15,000 people in London
DL :
Windmills used in Holland to drive mechanical saws
1593
LT :
William Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew
LT :
Michael Drayton: Idea, the Shepherd's Garland and Peirs Gaveston
M :
Thomas Morley : Canzonets
PH :
Rudolf II renews war against Turkey
PH :
Henry IV becomes a Roman Catholic, hearing Mass at St. Denis: "Paris is well worth a mass"
LT :
London theatres closed because of the plague
RP :
Pierre Charron: Les Trois Vérités, Fr. theological treatise
ST :
First Fr. botanical gardens established by University of Montpellier
ST :
Giambattista della Porta: De refractione, optices parte, with an account of binocular vision
DL :
Sant' Ambrogio Bank founded in Milan
LT :
George Herbert born 3 April
VA :
Artemisia Gentileschi born
1594
LT :
William Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labor's Lost, King John
LT :
Michael Drayton: Matilda and Idea's Mirror
M :
Thomas Morley : Madrigals to Four Voyces
PH :
Henry IV, having been crowned King of France at Chartres, enters Paris
RP :
Edict of St. Germain-en-Laye grants Huguenots freedom of worship
LT :
London theatres open again in May
ST :
Giordano Bruno seized by the Vatican for supporting Copernican theory of the universe
RP :
Richard Hooker: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (vols 1-4)
ED :
Piere Matthieu: Histoire des derniers troubles de France
M :
Elizabeth I sends a Thomas Dallam organ to Sultan of Turkey
M :
Dafne, by Jacopo Peri, first opera
ST :
Galileo's Golden Rule
VA :
Tintoretto dies
M :
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina dies 2 February
VA :
Nicolas Poussin born
M :
Orlande de Lassus dies 14 June
1595
LT :
William Shakespeare: Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream
LT :
Michael Drayton: Endymion and Phoebe
M :
Thomas Morley : First Book of Canzonets to Two Voyces
M :
Thomas Morley : First Book of Balletts
PH :
Henry IV declares war on Spain
PH :
Dutch begin to colonise E. Indies
PH :
Sultan Murad III of Turkey dies; succeeded by Mohammed III
PH :
Peasant revolt in Upper Austria
PH :
Pope Clement VIII absolves Henry IV, recognising him as King of France
ED :
Andrew Maunsell: The Catalogue of English Printed Books
ST :
Andreas Libavius: Opera omnia medicochymica
ST :
Mercator's atlas published (posth.)
ST :
English army abandons bow as weapon of war
DL :
First appearance of heels on shoes
DL :
Warsaw, capital of Poland
1596
LT :
William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
LT :
Michael Drayton: Robert, Duke of Normandy and Mortimeriados
PH :
Decrees of Folembray end war of Catholic League in France
PH :
Pacification of Ireland
PH :
Peace between Japan and China after Japanese fail to invade Korea
RP :
Caesar Baronius: Martyrologum Romanum
ED :
Gresham College, London, founded
ST :
Galileo invents thermometer
ST :
J.Kepler: Di admirabili proportione coelestium orbium
ST :
G.D. Rheticus: Trigonometric Tables (posth.)
ST :
Ludolph van Ceulen's "Van den Circkel" gives ration of the diameter to the circumference of a circle to twenty places
DL :
Tomatoes introduced in England
DL :
First water closets installed at the Queen's Palace, Richmond
1597
LT :
William Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor
LT :
Michael Drayton: England's Heroical Epistles
M :
Thomas Morley : Canzonets
or Little Short Airs to Five and Six Voices
M :
John Dowland : First Booke of Songes or Ayres
PH :
Second Span. Armada leaves for England; scattered by storms
PH :
Philip II opens peace talks with Henry IV
PH :
Re-Catholicisation of Upper Austria effected by force
PH :
William V, Duke of Bavaria, abdicates in favour of his son Maximilian I, then retires to a monastery
ED :
Aldine Press, Venice, founded 1494, ceases after publication of 908 works.
RP :
Sir Francis Bacon: Essays, Civil and Moral
ED :
Jean de Serres: Inventaire général de l'histoire de France
RP :
James VI of Scotland: Demonologie, on witchcraft
M :
John Dowland: First Book of Songes
M :
Thomas Morley: A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musick
DL :
Engl. Act of Parliament prescribes sentences of transportation to colonies for convicted criminals
DL :
Eng. merchants expelled from Holy Roman Empire in retaliation for treatment of the Hanseatic League in London
ST :
First field hospitals and field dispensaries
1598
LT :
William Shakespeare: Henry IV, Much Ado About Nothing
LT :
Ben Jonson: Every Man in His Humour
PH :
Fyodor I of Russia dies; Boris Godunov, seizing throne, formally elected Czar of Russia by national assembly
PH :
Treaty of Ponts de Cé ends civil war in France
PH :
Peace of Vervins: Philip II resigns claim to Fr. crown; country united under Henry IV as single sovereign
PH :
King Philip II of Spain dies; succeeded by Philip III
PH :
Hideyoshi of Japan dies; his successor, Ieyasu Tokugawa, restores shogunate which endures until the revolution of 1867-68
RP :
Juan de Mariana: De rege et regis institutione, on kingship
RP :
Edict of Nantes grants Fr. Huguenots freedom of worship (revoked, 1685)
ED :
John Florio: A World of Wordes, Eng.-Ital. dictionary
RP :
John Manwood: Treatise on the Laws of the Forest
RP :
Philibert Mareschal: Le Guide des arts et sciences
ED :
Francis Meres: Palladis Tamia, anthology of quotations for 125 Eng. writers
ED :
Sir Thomas Bodley begins rebuilding of library at Oxford
ED :
Reorganisation of the University of Paris by Henry IV
ST :
Carlo Ruini: Dell' anatomia e dell' infirmità de cavallo, e suoi remedii, manual of veterinary science
ST :
Korean Admiral Visunsin invents iron-clad warship
ST :
Tycho Brahe: Astronomicae Instauratae Mechanica, account of his discoveries and description of his instruments
VA :
Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini born
1599
LT :
William Shakespeare: Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It
LT :
William Shakespeare: Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It
LT :
Ben Jonson: Every Man Out of His Humour
PH :
Duke of Sully, Fr. superintendent of finances, reforms taxation, economic policy, overseas trade and agriculture
PH :
Swedish Diet, deposing Sigismund III, proclaims Charles of Södermanland ruler as Charles IX
LT :
Building of the Glove Theatre, Southwark, London, where Shakespeare's plays are performed
RP :
James VI of Scotland: Basilikon doron, on divine right of kings
ST :
Ulissi Aldrovandi, Ital. naturalist, publishes his studies in ornithology
ST :
In Marseilles first chamber of commerce founded
DL :
Outbreak of plague in Spain
DL :
First postal rates fixed in Germany
VA :
Anthony van Dyck born
VA :
Diego Velázquez born
1600
LT :
William Shakespeare: Hamlet
LT :
Ben Jonson: Cynthia's Revels
LT :
Michael Drayton: The First Part of Sir John Oldcastle
M :
Thomas Morley : First
Book of Ayres
M :
John Dowland : Ayres
Vol.II
PH :
Henry IV marries Maria de'Medici
PH :
Ieyasu, defeating his rivals at Sekigahara, sets himself up as unquestioned ruler in Japan; he moves capital from Kyoto to Ydo (Tokyo)
LT :
Fortune Theatre, London, opened
RP :
Giordano Bruno burned as heretic in Rome
RP :
Persecution of Catholics in Sweden under Charles IX
ED :
Scottish College founded in Rome
M :
Harps used in orchestras
M :
Recorder becomes popular in England
ST :
William Gilbert: De Magnete, treatise on magnetism and electricity
ST :
Ger. Athanasius Kircher invents magic lantern
ST :
Dutch opticians invent the telescope
DL :
Amsterdam Bank founded
DL :
Wigs and dress trains become fashionable
1601
LT :
William Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida
LT :
Ben Jonson: The Poetaster
M :
Thomas Morley : Triumphs of Oriana
PH :
Earl of Essex leads revolt against Elizabeth I; is tried for treason and executed
PH :
Michael, Prince of Moldavia, assassinated by Hungarians
PH :
Elizabeth I, in her "Golden Speech" to Parliament, surveys achievements of her reign
DL :
Abolition of monopolies in England
PH :
The "False Dmitri", claiming to be a son of Czar Ivan IV, appears in Poland, winning support for an invasion of Russia
RP :
Pierre Charron: De la sagesse, a system of Stoic philosophy
ED :
University of Parma founded
M :
Caccini's new vocal style: "Nuove musiche"
ST :
Kepler becomes astronomer and astrologer to Emperor Rudolf II
ST :
John Lancaster leads first East India Company voyage from Torbay to Sumatra
RP :
Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci admitted to Peking
DL :
Postal agreement between Germany and France
DL :
Many Ger. "Badestuben" (type of brothel) closed by authorities, owing to spread of venereal disease
1602
LT :
William Shakespeare: All's Well that Ends Well
PH :
War between Persia and Turkey
LT :
Thomas Campion Observations in the Art of English Poesie
RP :
Conrad Kircher: A Concordance to the Septuagint
RP :
Emperor Rudolf II, continues persecution of Protestants in Hapsburg lands, Moravian Brethren meetings suppressed
