- Jan 29 Deventer and Zutphen surrender to Spain
Mary Queen of Scots Death Warrant
Feb 1 Queen Elizabeth I of England signs death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots
Queen of Scots Beheaded
Feb 8 Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot
- Mar 1 Puritan English parliamentary leader Sir Peter Wentworth confined in London Tower
Singeing the King of Spain's Beard
Apr 29 English naval officer Francis Drake sails into Cadiz, Spain and sinks the Spanish fleet, thereby "Singeing the King of Spain's Beard" and delaying the Spanish invasion by a year
Sigismund III
Aug 19 Sigismund III becomes King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
- Oct 20 Battle at Coultras: Henri van Navarra beats Catholic League
- Oct 31 Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575
- Nov 24 Battle at Auneau: Henri de Guise wins
- Nov 27 Dutch county of Groningen flooded by failure of dyke
- Dec 17 The Earl of Leicester's army leaves Netherlands
Gregory I
Gregory XIII
Julius II
Julius III
Leo X
Pius V