Directory

1574 CE

The fort of Narnala in the Deccan falls to the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, and with it the Berar sultanate is annexed by Ahmadnagar. A plot to assassinate John III of Sweden is discovered, headed by Charles de Mornay and implicating Charles Dancay, Hogenskild Bielke, Gustaf Banér, Pontus De la Gardie, Princess Elizabeth of Sweden, Princess Cecilia of Sweden, and Duke Charles. The Juan Fernández Islands in the South Pacific Ocean are discovered by Spanish sailor Juan Fernández.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • June 10 – Manila, Philippines gains cityhood.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 29 – Off of the coast of the Netherlands, the Battle of the Scheldt is fought between the Spanish Fleet and a combined Dutch and English fleet of ships. The Spanish Navy loses 15 ships and 1,200 men are killed, wounded or captured.source
  • February – The fifth War of Religion against the Huguenots begins in France.source
  • March 2 – Swedish troops attack Wesenberg Castle in Estonia and lose at least 1,000 men in attempting to capture it from the Russian Army.source
  • March 17 – Within the Swedish Army, a fight between Scottish and German mercenaries is fought. By the end of the battle, several hundred Scots are dead, compared to 30 Germans.source
  • April 14 – Battle of Mookerheyde: Spanish forces under Sancho de Avila defeat the rebel forces of Louis of Nassau, who is killed.source
  • April – The fort of Narnala in the Deccan falls to the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, and with it the Berar sultanate is annexed by Ahmadnagar.source
  • July 12 – Selim II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, launches the attempt to reclaim Tunis from control of the Holy Roman Empire with more than 250 warships and 100,000 troops, and to restore North Africa to Muslim control.source
  • August 24 – The Tunisian port of La Goulette falls to Ottoman troops after six weeks.source
  • September 13 – The last Holy Roman Imperial defenders surrender Tunis to the Ottoman General Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha.source
  • September – A plot to assassinate John III of Sweden is discovered, headed by Charles de Mornay and implicating Charles Dancay, Hogenskild Bielke, Gustaf Banér, Pontus De la Gardie, Princess Elizabeth of Sweden, Princess Cecilia of Sweden, and Duke Charles.source
  • October 3 – The city of Leiden, besieged by the Spanish, is relieved by a Sea Beggars fleet under Louis Boisot.source
  • November 29 – Limahong and Juan de Salcedo quarrel during the Battle of Manila.source
  • Prince El-Mirza of Kakheti is defeated in his bid for the throne by his half-brother, Alexander II.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • July 26 – Kılıç Ali Pasha begins construction of an Ottoman fortress on the coastline of Morocco, directly across Andalusia in mainland Spain.source
  • November 22 – The Juan Fernández Islands in the South Pacific Ocean are discovered by Spanish sailor Juan Fernández.source

Religion & Belief

  • August 30 – Guru Ram Das becomes the fourth of the Sikh gurus.source
  • The Liturgical Battle royal between the Reformation and Counter Reformation begins in Sweden, and continues until the Uppsala Synod of 1593.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • June 10 – Construction of The White Tower begins in the Czech Republic.source

Crime & Justice

  • December 15 – Selim II, the 50-year-old Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, is killed after becoming drunk, falling, and fracturing his skull on the floor of the Topkapi Palace.source
  • December 22 – Prince Murad bin-Selim of the Ottoman Empire completes the murders, by strangulation, of his four younger brothers, Süleyman, Abdüllah, Osman, and Cihangir.source

Culture & Society

  • July 13 – In Berlin, John George, Elector of Brandenburg, orders the founding of the Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, which remains 450 years later as one of the most prestigious preparatory schools in Germany.source
  • December 27 – Murad III, eldest son of Selim II, is formally enthroned as the Ottoman Sultan after eliminating his other brothers as rival claimants to the throne.source
  • La Alameda, Seville, is laid out in Spain, as Europe's first public garden.source

Births

  • January 17 – Robert Fludd, English Rosicrucian and Paracelsian physicist (d. 1637)source
  • February 17 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna, Spanish nobleman and politician (d. 1624)source
  • March 5 – William Oughtred, English mathematician and Anglican minister (d. 1660)source
  • April 27 – Philip Rubens, Flemish lawyer and older brother to painter Peter Paul Rubens (d. 1611)source
  • July 1 – Joseph Hall, English bishop and satirist (d. 1656)source
  • July 2 – Dorothea Maria of Anhalt, Duchess consort of Saxe-Weimar (1602–1605) (d. 1617)source
  • August 7 – Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, English explorer and geographer (d. 1649)source
  • August 30 – Albert Szenczi Molnár, Hungarian translator (d. 1634)source
  • September 6 – Luis Sotelo, Spanish Franciscan friar who died as a martyr in Japan (d. 1624)source
  • September 18 – Claudio Achillini, Italian philosopher, theologian, mathematician, poet, jurist (d. 1640)source
  • September 29 – Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, Scottish nobleman and politician (d. 1624)source
  • November 10 – Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, Austrian archduchess (d. 1621)source
  • December 8 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria (d. 1616)source
  • December 12 – Adam Wenceslaus, Duke of Cieszyn (d. 1617)source

Deaths

  • January 22 – Mohammed II becomes the new Sultan of Morocco upon the death of his father, Abdallah al-Ghalib.source
  • January 27 – At Agra, Bhagwant Das becomes the new Maharaja of the Kingdom of Amber in what is now India's state of Uttar Pradesh, upon the death of his grandfather, the Raja Bharmal.source
  • January 30 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher (b. 1502)source
  • April 21 – Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)source
  • April 30 – Joseph Boniface de La Molle, Provençale lover of Marguerite de Valois (b. 1530)source
  • May 14 – Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (b. 1479)source
  • May 30 – On the death of King Charles IX of France of a tubercular condition at the Château de Vincennes, he is succeeded by his brother King Henry of Poland, who becomes King Henry III of France. His mother, Catherine de' Medici, acts as Regent, until Henry arrives from Poland.source
  • June 12 – Renée of France, French princess (b. 1510)source
  • June 27 – Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter and architect (b. 1511)source
  • August 27 – Bartolomeo Eustachi, Italian anatomistsource
  • September 17 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Spanish admiral and explorer (b. 1519)source
  • September 28 – Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Italian condottiero (b. 1514)source
  • October 1 – Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch painter (b. 1498)source
  • December 4 – Georg Joachim Rheticus, German mathematician and cartographer (b. 1514)source