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1587
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1587 the book 1587, a Year of No Significance
1587
200px|thumb|February 8: Mary, the former Queen of Scotland, is executed for conspiring to assassinate Queen Elizabeth of England.
thumb|200px|October 31: Leiden University Library is opened.
1587
Events
January–March
January 7 – Sir Walter Raleigh appoints John White to be the Governor of the Roanoke Colony, to be established later in the year by English colonists on Roanoke Island off the coast of the modern-day U.S. state of North Carolina.Andrew Lawler, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke (Doubleday, 2018) pp.90, 181-182 White and 121 other colonists depart from Portsmouth on three ships on May 8 and arrive at Croatoan Island on July 22.
January 14 – In Japan, Chancellor of the Realm Toyotomi Hideyoshi ends Portugal's control of the port of Nagasaki after six years. Omura Sumitada had leased the fishing village to Portuguese Jesuits on August 15, 1580.Charles Boxer, The Great Ship From Amacon: Annals of Macao and the Old Japan Trade, 1555-1640 (Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1959) p. 50
February 5 (1st waxing of Tabaung 948 ME) – King Nanda of Burma appoints his eldest son and heir apparent, Minye Kyawswa II, as Viceroy of Ava, later part of upper Burma, with a capital at Inwa (located in the modern-day Mandalay Region of Myanmar).
February 8 – Mary, Queen of Scots, the monarch of Scotland from 1542 to 1567, is beheaded in front of 300 witnesses at Fotheringhay Castle, seven days after the signing of a death warrant by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England. Mary has been convicted of treason for her role in the Babington Plot, a conspiracy to overthrow the English government and to assassinate Elizabeth.Hugh Chisholm James Louis Garvin The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature & General Information https://books.google.com/books?id=i4dGAQAAIAAJ 1926 Encyclopædia Britannica Company, Limited 823
February 12 – A period of exceptionally severe cold begins in western Europe and lasts until February 24.Cornelius Easton Les hivers dans l'Europe occidentale: étude statistique et historique sur leur température, discussion des observations thermométriques, 1852–1916 et 1757–1851, tableaux comparatifs, classifications des hivers, 1205–1916, notices historiques sur les hivers remarquables Brill Archive 1928 98
February 27 – Sir Anthony Cope, a member of the English Parliament, is imprisoned in the Tower of London after presenting a Puritan revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir John Puckering.Cope, Sir Anthony http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6251?docPos=2 2004 10.1093/ref:odnb/6251 30 October 2017 He is released on March 23.
March 6 – In west Africa, Álvaro II Nimi a Nkanga becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, with a capital at São Salvador in what becomes the city of M'banza-Kongo in the northern part of the Republic of Angola, and including parts of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alvaro II claims the throne upon the dath of his father, Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba.
March 15 – English sailor Sir Francis Drake accepts a privateering commission from Queen Elizabeth to disrupt shipping routes in order to slow supplies from Italy and Andalucia to Lisbon, to trouble enemy fleets in their home ports, to capture Spanish treasure ships and to attack the Spanish Armada if it were to sail for England. On 12 April, his fleet sails from Plymouth.
April–June
April 20 (14th waxing of Kason 949 ME) – Burmese–Siamese War (1584–1593): Burma's siege of Ayutthaya (now in Thailand), capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, fails after six months as the troops of Burma's King Nanda Bayin begin their withdrawal.Maha Yazawin (2006) p. 97
April 29 – Singeing the King of Spain's Beard: On his expedition against Spain, English sailor Sir Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking or capturing at least 30 ships of the Spanish fleet, delaying by a year the sailing of the Spanish Armada for England.
May 8 – The second expedition to establish an English colony at Roanoke Island in North America departs from England with two ships, supplies, and 121 people under the command of John White.David B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584–1606 (University of North Carolina Press) pp268-269
May 19 – John Davis sets out from Dartmouth, Devon, for a third attempt to find the Northwest Passage.
June 8 – Sir Francis Drake captures Portuguese carrack the São Filipe, laden with treasure from the Indies, off the Azores. Its cargo is valued at £108,000 (UK 108,000 1587 eq £),Robert Leng Sir Francis Drake's memorable service done against the Spaniards in 1587 1863 50 of which 50% goes to Queen Elizabeth and 10% to Drake;Hans P. Kraus Sir Francis Drake: A pictorial biography Amsterdam N. Israel 1970 it also includes valuable documents relating to the Indies trade.
June 11 (Tensho 15, 6th day of 5th month) – Most of Kyushu is surrendered to Toyotomi Hideyoshi by Yoshihisa Shimazu, 32 days after Hideyoshi's siege of Kagoshima began (on the 3rd day of the 4th month). Hideyoshi follows on July 24 (19th day of the 6th month of Tensho 15) with an order banishing all European Christian missionaries from the province.
June 20 – Gabriel VIII becomes the new Pontiff of the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt, being enthroned as Pope Gabriel VIII and filling a vacancy that had existed for nine months since the death of Pope John XIV of Alexandria. Gabriel will reign until his death on May 14, 1603.
July–September
July 22 – Roanoke Colony: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off North Carolina, to re-establish the deserted colony.Travis Elborough Atlas of Vanishing Places: The lost worlds as they were and as they are today https://books.google.com/books?id=UqOfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 17 September 2019 White Lion Publishing 978-1-78131-895-9 79
August 18 – According to legend, Saul Wahl is named king of Poland; he is deposed the following day.https://books.google.com/books?id=_XspAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA566 Medieval Jewish Statesman Wasserzug D. 1904 New Era Illustrated Magazine 564–574 4 October 2010
August 19 – Polish and Lithuanian nobles elect Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden, as the ruler of the after the death in December of the previous King of Poland and Duke of Lithuania, Stephen Báthory.R. Nisbet Bain Slavonic Europe: A Political History of Poland and Russia from 1447 to 1796 https://books.google.com/books?id=xi3IFuapWOwC&pg=PA102 13 June 2013 Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-63691-0 102
August 22 – A small group of nobles who oppose Sigismund Vasa as King vote to proclaim Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria, as ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a decision supported by the Primate of Poland, Stanisław Karnkowski. The divide begins the War of the Polish Succession.Daniel Stone, The Polish-Lithuanian state, 1386-1795 (University of Washington Press, 2001) pp. 131–132
August 27 – Governor John White leaves the Roanoke Colony to get more supplies from England.
September 9 – In the Burgundian Netherlands (part of modern-day Belgium), the faculty at the University of Leuven publishes a condemnation of the 34 propositions drawn up by the Jesuit scholar Michel Baius, leading to a campaign by traditional Belgian Catholics against the Jesuits.Congregatio de Auxiliis https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04238a.htm Antonio Astrain The Catholic Encyclopedia New York Robert Appleton Co 1913 2025-10-11
September 22 – The coronation of Vincenzo Gonzaga as Duke of Mantua in Italy takes place.
September 28 – At Gremi in the modern-day Republic of Georgia, King Alexander II of Kakheti signs an oath of allegiance to Feodor I, the Tsar of all Russia.W.E.D. Allen, Russian Embassies to the Georgian Kings (1589-1605) (Cambridge University Press, 1970) pp.60-61
October–December
October 1 – Shāh ‘Abbās I "The Great" succeeds as Shahanshah of Iran.Chambers Biographical Dictionary 0-550-18022-2 1 Thorne J. O. Collocott T. C. 1984 Chambers
October 7 – Sigismund Vasa and a fleet of Swedish ships land in Poland to confront an invasion by Maximilian III and an Austrian Army.Józef Szujski, Dzieła Józefa Szujskiego: Dzieje Polski (in Polish). Vol. 3. Kraków: (Szujski-Kluczycki, 1894) pp.139-140
October 14 – War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588): Archduke Maximilian of Austria begins the siege of Kraków, while Jan Zamoyski, hetman of the Polish Army, begins the defense of the city.
October 18 – Landing of the first Filipinos: The first Filipinos in North America land in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo in modern-day California.
October 20 – Battle of Coutras: Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry III of France; Joyeuse is killed.
October 31 – Leiden University Library opens its doors, after its founding in 1575.Elfriede Hulshoff Pol The First Century of Leiden University Library https://books.google.com/books?id=Ns03AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA402 1975 Brill Archive 402
November 4 – During the circumnavigation of the world by Thomas Cavendish, the English ships capture the Spanish galleon Santa Ana and its treasure of 100 troy pounds of gold (worth 122,000 Spanish pesos) and a total treasure worth 2.1 million pesos.Joyce E. Chaplin, Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit (Simon and Schuster, 2013) pp.63-64
November 14 – Davide Vacca is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa in Italy in a vote by the Grand Council of the Republic.Sergio Buonadonna and Mario Marcenaro, Rosso doge: I dogi della Repubblica di Genova dal 1339 al 1797 (De Ferrari Editore, 2000)
November 22 – A final Austrian attack on Kraków by Archduke Maximilian III is repelled by the Polish defenders.
November 29 – Maximilian III withdraws his forces and the siege of Kraków ends.
December 27 – Sigismund III Vasa is formally crowned as King Zygmunt Waza of Poland and Duke of Lithuania in a coronation ceremony at Kraków."Sigismund III, 1587-1632", by F. Nowak, in The Cambridge History of Poland: From the Origins to 1696 (Cambridge University Press, 1950) pp. 452–453.
Date unknown
A severe famine breaks out in Ming dynasty China.
The Rose (theatre), the first on Bankside in London, is built by Philip Henslowe and functioning by the year's end.
Pope Sixtus V establishes the canon law office of 'Promoter of the Faith' (promotor fidei), popularly known as the "Devil's advocate" (advocatus diaboli).https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01168b.htm Burtsell Richard Advocatus Diaboli The Catholic Encyclopedia 1 New York Robert Appleton Co 1907 2025-10-17
The chapbook Historia von D. Johann Fausten, printed by Johann Spies in Frankfurt, is the first published version of the Faust story.
Everard Digby's De Arte Natandi, the first treatise on swimming in England, is published.
St. Dominic's Church, Macau is established.
Hailuoto, an island in the Bothnian Bay, is separated from the grand parish of Saloinen into an independent parish.Hailuodon historia – Luontoon (in Finnish)Paimenmuisto: Hailuoto (Carlö, Karlö) – Kansallisbiografia (in Finnish)
Births
thumb|right|110px|Jan Pieterszoon Coen
thumb|right|110px|Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna
thumb|right|110px|Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger
January 2 – Anders Arrebo, Danish writer (d. 1637)
January 5 – Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer and geographer (d. 1641)
January 6 – Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish politician (d. 1645)
January 8
Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629)
Johannes Fabricius, Frisian/German astronomer (d. 1616)
January 12 – John Winthrop, English Puritan lawyer (d. 1649)
February 1 – Pál Esterházy, Hungarian noble (d. 1645)
February 3 – Dorothea Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst (d. 1609)
February 20 – Emanuel Sueyro, Dutch historian, translator, spymaster (d. 1629)
February 26 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
March 17 – David Lindsay, 1st Lord Balcarres, Scottish politician and noble (d. 1642)
April 1 – Sir John Mill, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1648)
April 2 – Virginia Centurione Bracelli, Italian saint (d. 1651)
April 18 – Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet, Member of the Parliament of England (d. 1628)
April 26
Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1626)
Abraham van der Haagen, Dutch painter (d. 1639)Abraham van der Haagen in the RKD
April 28 – Krzysztof Ossoliński, Polish nobleman (d. 1645)
April 29 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)
April 30 – Éléonore de Bourbon, Dutch princess (d. 1619)
May 7 – Richard Newport, 1st Baron Newport, English politician (d. 1651)
May 8 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
May 17 – Esaias van de Velde, Dutch painter (d. 1630)
May – Esaias van de Velde, Dutch landscape painter (died 1630)Wouter T. Kloek Hessel Miedema J. Bruyn Christian Schuckman Dawn of the Golden Age: Northern Netherlandish Art, 1580-1620 https://books.google.com/books?id=CKPy1pt2H-wC&pg=PA320 1 January 1993 Rijksmuseum 978-0-300-06016-4 320
May 26 – Susan de Vere, Countess of Montgomery, English noblewoman (d. 1628)
June 2 – Willem Bontekoe, skipper in the Dutch East India Company (d. 1657)
June 5 – Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658)
June 11 – Sir Thomas Jervoise, English politician (d. 1654)
June 15 – Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1640)
June 21 – Kaspar von Barth, German philologist and writer (d. 1658)
June 24
William Arnold, American settler (d. 1676)
Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger, Danish architect (d. 1639)
July 4 – Magdalene of Bavaria, Consort of Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg (d. 1628)
August 16 – Khusrau Mirza, Mughal prince (d. 1622)
August 18 – Virginia Dare, Virginia colony settler
August 23 – Johann Friedrich, Count Palatine of Sulzbach-Hilpoltstein (1614–1644) (d. 1644)
August 28 – Christian William of Brandenburg, administrator of bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt (d. 1665)
September 1 – Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, 3rd Duke of Feria, Spanish general (d. 1634)
September 3 – Countess Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, Landgravine of Hesse-kassel (d. 1643)
September 18 – Francesca Caccini, Italian composerRonald James Alexander The Secular Monodies of Francesca Caccini's "Il Primo Libro Delle Musiche" Edition and Commentary https://books.google.com/books?id=4k8cDEOZ0Z4C 1989 U. of Calif., Davis 1
September 19
Robert Sanderson, English theologian and casuist (d. 1663)
Mu Zeng, Chinese politician (d. 1646)
October 8 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire, English politician (d. 1669)
October 17 – Nathan Field, English dramatist and actor (d. 1620)
October 18 – Philippe-Charles, 3rd Count of Arenberg (d. 1640)
October 19 – Thomas Dacres, English politician (d. 1668)
October 22 – Joachim Jungius, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1657)Patrick Bonner Change and Continuity in Early Modern Cosmology https://books.google.com/books?id=xPq0Bv5Kz4EC&pg=PA171 1 February 2011 Springer Science & Business Media 978-94-007-0037-6 171
October 23 – Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Baronet of Harrow on the Hill, English politician (d. 1670)
November 3 – Samuel Scheidt, German composer (d. 1653)Lindsey C. Harnsberger Essential Dictionary of Music: Definitions, Composers, Theory, Instrument & Vocal Ranges https://books.google.com/books?id=lrjbxAuZYeYC&pg=PA247 October 1996 Alfred Music Publishing 978-0-88284-728-3 247
November 17
Charles Lallemant, French Jesuit (d. 1674)
Joost van den Vondel, Dutch dramatist and poet (d. 1679)
November 25 – Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1666)
December 13 – Emmanuel Stupanus, Swiss physician (d. 1664)
December 19 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey (1618–1645) (d. 1645)
December 30 – Simon VII, Count of Lippe-Detmold (1613–1627) (d. 1627)
date unknown
William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh (d. 1643)
Francis Kynaston, English courtier and poet (d. 1642)https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/kynaston-sir-francis-1587-1649 Kynaston, Sir Francis (1587-c.1649), of Oteley, Ellesmere, Salop Houses of Parliament Online March 23, 2021
Yun Sŏndo, Korean politician and poet (d. 1671)
Song Yingxing, Chinese encyclopedist (d. 1666)
George Yeardley, English colonial administrator in America (d. 1627)
Deaths
thumb|110px|Juraj Drašković
thumb|110px|Mary, Queen of Scots
thumb|110px|right|Ralph Sadler
thumb|110px|Godfried van Mierlo
thumb|110px|Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
January 31 – Juraj Drašković, Croatian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1525)
January – Thomas Seckford, English official (b. 1515)
February 8 – Mary, Queen of Scots (executed) (b. 1542)Ewan Elizabeth The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004 https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ewan limited 2006 Edinburgh Univ. Press Edinburgh 0-7486-1713-2 400 Reprinted.
February 9 – Vincenzo Ruffo, Italian composer (b. 1510)
February 13 – Dorothea of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (b. 1563)
February 22 – Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach, princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1535)
February 26 – Magdalene of Lippe, Countess of Lippe by birth, and Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1552)
March 15 – Caspar Olevian, German theologian (b. 1536)Samuel Macauley Jackson Lefferts Augustine Loetscher The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, and Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Biography from the Earliest Times to the Present Day https://books.google.com/books?id=tpLYAAAAMAAJ 1949 Baker 235
March 30 – Ralph Sadler, English statesman (b. 1507)
April 10 – Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (b. 1542)
April 11 – Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530)
April 8 – John Foxe, English author (b. 1516)John Foxe George Townsend The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe: With a Life and Defence of the Martyrologist https://books.google.com/books?id=zs9DAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA91 1870 G. Seeley 91
April 14 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1549)
April 16 – Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (b. c. 1510)John Nichols John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: Volume III: 1579 to 1595 https://books.google.com/books?id=_VacAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA386 2014 OUP Oxford 978-0-19-955140-8 386
May 9 – Jakob Schegk, German physician (b. 1511)
May 17 – Gotthard Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (b. 1517)
May 29 – Ignatius Ni'matallah, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch (b. 1515)Borbone Pier Giorgio 2017 From Tur 'Abdin to Rome: the Syro-Orthodox presence in Sixteenth-Century Rome Syriac in its Multi-cultural Context: First International Syriac Studies Symposium Peeters 283 Herman Teule Elif Keser-Kayaalp Kutlu Akalin Nesim Dorum M. Sait Toprak
June 11 – Ōtomo Sōrin, Japanese Christian daimyō (b. 1530)
June 15 – Frederick II, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (b. 1568)
June 23 – Ōmura Sumitada, Japanese Christian daimyō (b. 1533)
July 7 – Joachim of Zollern, Titular Count of Hohenzollern (b. 1554)
July 28 – Godfried van Mierlo, Dutch Dominican friar and bishop (b. 1518)
August 14 – Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (b. 1538)
August 29 – Vincenzo Bellavere, Italian composer (b. c. 1540)"Vincenzo Bellavere," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. 1-56159-174-2
September 3 – Henry Cheyne, 1st Baron Cheyne, English politician and baron (b. 1540)
September 9 – George Douglas (martyr), Scottish secular priest and martyr (b.c. 1540)Basil Watkins The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary https://books.google.com/books?id=kE6TCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 19 November 2015 Bloomsbury Academic 978-0-567-66456-3 196–
September 19 – Jacobus Pamelius, Belgian bishop (b. 1536)Charles George Herbermann Edward Aloysius Pace Condé Bénoist Pallen The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church https://books.google.com/books?id=tQkjAQAAIAAJ 1913 Encyclopedia Press 435 en
October 19 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)
October 20 – Anne de Joyeuse, Duke of Joyeuse, French commander, (b. 1560)
November 1 – Alfonso d'Este, Lord of Montecchio, Italian nobleman (b. 1527)
November 10 – Abe Motozane, Japanese warlord (b. 1513)
November 13 – Hai Rui, Ming Dynasty "model official" (b. 1514)
December 11 – Andreas Gaill, German jurist and statesman (b. 1526)
date unknown
Dudley Fenner, English Puritan divine (b. c. 1558)
Jan Tarło, Polish nobleman (b. 1527)
probable – George Whetstone, English writer (b. 1544)
References
Huang, Ray. 1587, a Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (Yale University Press, 1982), on China during the Ming dynasty.
Ott, Michael R. Fünfzehnhundertsiebenundachtzig: Literatur, Geschichte und die Historia von D. Johann Fausten (Frankfurt am Main, 2014) online.