1590

1590 (MDXC) was a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Julian calendar, the 1590th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 590th year of the 2nd millennium, the 90th year of the 16th century, and the 1st year of the 1590s decade. As of the start of 1590, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1918.

Events

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 Charles, Duke of Mayenne.
• May–August – Henry IV of France unsuccessfully attempts to besiege Paris. Henry is forced to raise the siege when Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma comes to its rescue with a Spanish army.

May 17: Anne of Denmark

• May 17 – Anne of Denmark is crowned queen consort of Scotland at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh.
• May 21 – The Treaty of Constantinople is signed.

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 returns 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; the effects are felt as far as Bohemia and Silesia.
• December 5 – Gregory XIV succeeds Urban VII as the 229th pope.
• December 7 – North Berwick witch trials: Agnes Sampson is questioned by King James VI of Scotland and confesses to practising witchcraft.

Date unknown

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

• 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.

Births

January–June

Emperor Ahmed I born on April 18

John Albert of Mecklenburg and Jakub Sobieski born on May 5

• January 9 – Simon Vouet, French painter (d. 1649)
• January 13 – Arthur Bell, English Franciscan martyr (d. 1643)
• January 27 – Charles Caesar, English politician and judge (d. 1642)
• January 30 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676)
• February 7 – Barthold Nihus, Roman Catholic priest (d. 1657)
• March – Roger Ludlow, one of the founders of the colony (later the state) of Connecticut (d. 1664)
• March 6 – Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament, French Discalced Carmelite nun (d. 1660)
• March 10 – Dietrich Reinkingk, German (d. 1664)
• March 18 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Spanish and Portuguese historian and poet (d. 1649)
• March 29 – Michael Reyniersz Pauw, Dutch businessman (d. 1640)
• April 7
  • Louis de Dieu, Dutch theologian (d. 1642)
  • John Upton, English politician (d. 1641)
• April 18 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
• May – William Cecil, 17th Baron de Ros (d. 1618)
• May 3 – Franco Burgersdijk, Dutch logician (d. 1635)
• May 5
  • John Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1636)
  • Jakub Sobieski, Polish noble (d. 1646)
• May 12 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)
• May 31 – Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset (d. 1632)
• June 1 – Isaac Manasses de Pas, Marquis de Feuquieres, French soldier (d. 1640)
• June 9 – Caspar Sibelius, Dutch Protestant minister (d. 1658)
• June 19 – Philip Bell, British colonial governor (d. 1678)
• June 24 – Samuel Ampzing, Dutch linguist and historian (d. 1632)
• June 29 – Edward Rodney, English politician (d. 1657)

July–December

Pope Clement X born on July 13

• July 3 – Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana, Italian singer and composer (d. 1662)
• July 13 – Pope Clement X (d. 1676)
• July 26 – Johannes Crellius, Polish–German theologian (d. 1633)
• August 6 – John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, Count (d. 1653)
• August 7 – Charles of Austria, Bishop of Wroclaw (d. 1624)
• August 9 – John Webster, Colonial settler and governor of Connecticut (d. 1661)
• August 19 – Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (d. 1649)
• August 27 – Ferruccio Baffa Trasci, Italian bishop (d. 1656)
• August 30 – Anthony Stapley, English politician (d. 1655)
• September 12 – María de Zayas, Spanish writer (d. 1661)
• September 15 – Erasmus Earle, English barrister and politician (d. 1667)
• October 3 – Anna of Pomerania, Duchess-Consort of Croy and Havré (d. 1660)
• October 11 – William Pynchon, English colonist and fur trader in North America (d. 1662)
• November 25 – Juan Alonso de Cuevas y Davalos, Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Mexico and Antequera (d. 1665)
• December 3 – Daniel Seghers, Jesuit brother, painter (d. 1661)
• December 14 – John West, Colonial governor of Virginia (d. 1659)
• December 18 – William Louis, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (d. 1640)
• date unknown
  • Isaac de Caus, French landscaper (d. 1648)
  • Boris Morozov, Russian statesman and boyar (d. 1661)
  • Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese adventurer (d. 1630)
• probable
  • William Bradford, English leader of Plymouth Colony (d. 1657)
  • William Browne, English poet (d. 1645)
  • Theophilus Eaton, Puritan colonial merchant (d. 1658)
  • Kösem Sultan (d. 1651)
  • Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, Irish chronicler (d. 1643)
  • Marie Vernier, French actress (d. 1627)
  • Caterina Assandra, Italian composer (died c. 1618)
  • Magdalena Andersdotter, Norwegian-Faroese shipowner (d. 1650)
  • Teofila Chmielecka, Polish military role model (d. 1650)
  • Marie Fouquet, French medical writer and philanthropist (d. 1681)

Deaths

Saint Catherine de Ricci died on February 1, 1590

Pope Sixtus V died on August 27, 1590

Pope Urban VII died on September 27, 1590

• January 7 – Jakob Andreae, German theologian (b. 1528)
• February 1
  • Lawrence Humphrey, president of Magdalen College, Oxford (b. 1527)
  • Catherine of Ricci, Catholic prioress and saint (b. 1522)
• February 4 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian music theorist and composer (b. 1517)
• February 12
  • François Hotman, French Protestant lawyer and writer (b. 1524)
  • Blanche Parry, personal attendant to Elizabeth I of England (b. c. 1508)
• February 18 – Asahi no kata, Japanese lady, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's sister (b. 1543)
• February 21 – Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, English nobleman and general (b. 1528)
• April 6 – Francis Walsingham, English spymaster (b. 1530)
• May 9 – Charles de Bourbon French cardinal and pretender to the throne (b. 1523)
• May 27 – Richard Hill, Richard Holiday, John Hogg and Edmund Duke, executed Roman Catholic priests
• June 19 – Mogami Yoshimori, Japanese warlord (b. 1521)
• June 28 – Hori Hidemasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1553)
• July 10 – Charles II, Archduke of Austria, regent of Inner Austria (b. 1540)
• August 10
  • Hōjō Ujimasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1538)
  • Hōjō Ujiteru, Japanese warlord (b. 1540？)
• August 27 – Pope Sixtus V (b. 1521)
• September 20 – Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (b. 1534)
• September 27 – Pope Urban VII (b. 1521)
• September 29 – Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, Dutch politician and theologian (b. 1522)
• October 4 – Jacques Cujas, French legal expert (b. 1520)
• October 12 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter (b. 1543)
• October 23 – Bernardino de Sahagún, Franciscan missionary (b. 1499)
• November 18 – George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, English statesman (b. 1528)
• November 29 – Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin, German philologist and poet (b. 1547)
• December 20 – Ambroise Paré, French surgeon (b. 1510)
• date unknown
  • Nicholas Bobadilla, one of the first Jesuits (b. 1511)
  • Roger Dudley, British soldier (b. 1535)
  • Sorley Boy MacDonnell, Irish chieftain (b. 1505)
  • Juan Bautista de Pomar, Spanish colonial historian and writer
  • Catherine Salvaresso, Wallachian regent
  • Maddalena Casulana, Italian composer, lutenist and singer (d. 1590)
• probable – Bernard Palissy, French potter (b. 1510)

References