Directory

1585 CE

English explorer John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in Baffin Island, in his quest for the Northwest Passage. In the Ottoman Empire, the rebellion of An-Nasir al-Hasan bin Ali in Yemen is ended when An-Nasir is betrayed and turned over to the Turkish Ottoman governor. An-Nasir spends one year in prison in Sanaa and then brought to Turkey. Enraged by the disrespect shown to him by Yousuf Shah Chak, the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, orders the invasion of Kashmir with 5,000 men.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • July 7 – The Treaty of Nemours forces King Henry III of France to capitulate to the demands of the Catholic League, triggering the Eighth War of Religion (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) in France.source
  • August 14 – Queen Elizabeth I of England agrees to establish a protectorate over the Netherlands.source
  • August 20 – The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt, thus entering the Eighty Years' War.source
  • The Kingdom of Luba is founded by Kongolo Mwamba in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 10 – The Spanish Army, commanded by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, obtains the surrender of Brussels after a siege that began the year before.source
  • May 19 – Spain seizes English ships in Spanish ports, precipitating the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).source
  • June – Toyotomi Hideyoshi begins the invasion of the Japanese island of Shikoku with an army of 113,000 men on 703 ships. The troops are divided into three groups, with 60,000 commanded by Hashiba Hidenaga and Hashiba Hidetsugu toward the provinces of Awa and Tosa; 23,000 under Ukita Hideie at the province of Sanuki; and 30,000 under Kobayakawa Takakage and Kikkawa Motoharu for the province of Iyo.source
  • July 12 – Invasion of Shikoku: The final battle of the invasion, the siege of Ichinomiya Castle, begins.source
  • August 6 – (11th day of the 7th month of Tenshō 13) Invasion of Shikoku: In Japan, Chōsokabe Motochika surrenders the island of Shikoku to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, after a 26 day siege of the Ichinomiya Castle by 40,000 men.source
  • September 11 – In the Ottoman Empire, the rebellion of An-Nasir al-Hasan bin Ali in Yemen is ended when An-Nasir is betrayed and turned over to the Turkish Ottoman governor. An-Nasir spends one year in prison in Sanaa and then brought to Turkey.source
  • October 15 – In Arnhem in the Netherlands, the siege of IJsseloord is completed after nine days as English and Dutch forces recapture the city from Spanish occupiers.source
  • November 18 – In Mexico City, Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga becomes Viceroy of New Spain after being appointed by King Philip II of Spain.source
  • November 28 – Anglo-Spanish War: The island of Santiago in Cape Verde is captured by Francis Drake.source
  • December 20 – Enraged by the disrespect shown to him by Yousuf Shah Chak, the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, orders the invasion of Kashmir with 5,000 men.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • July 29 – Aboard the English ship Tiger, Roanoke expedition leader Ralph Lane negotiates an agreement with the Secotan people, who are represented by Granganimeo, the brother of the Secotan leader, King Wingino. Although the Secotans grant Lane's request to allow the English to live on Roanoke Island, he is told that they will receive no assistance from the natives, because of problems the previous year with Walter Raleigh.source
  • August 8 – English explorer John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in Baffin Island, in his quest for the Northwest Passage.source
  • August 17 – The Roanoke colonists complete their construction of a fort under the direction of Ralph Lane to make the first permanent English settlement in North America.source
  • History of chocolate in Spain: First recorded commercial importation of chocolate to Europe, from Veracruz in Mexico to Seville in Spain.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 21 – Robert Nutter, Thomas Worthington, and 18 other Roman Catholic priests are "perpetually banished" from England by order of Queen Elizabeth, placed on the ship Mary Martin of Colchester, and transported to France.source
  • February 16 – Pachomius II is deposed by fellow bishops from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and replaced by the Metropolitan of Philippoupolis, Theoleptus II.source
  • April 21 – The papal conclave begins at the Vatican in Rome on Easter Sunday, with only 42 of the 60 cardinals attending. Early voting favors Cardinals Pier Donato Cesi and Guglielmo Sirleto, neither of whom receives a majority.source
  • April 24 – Cardinal Felice Piergentile of the church of San Girolamo dei Croati is unanimously elected as the 227th Pope, and takes the regnal name Pope Sixtus V.source
  • May 1 – The coronation of Pope Sixtus V takes place in Rome.source
  • September 15 – English Catholic priest John Adams is banished from England along with 72 other Catholic priests, and transported by ship to Boulogne in France.source
  • September 21 – King Henry III of Navarre, who is also the heir presumptive to France's King Henry III, is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Sixtus V, who effectively declares that French Catholics are not required to recognize his claim to the throne.source

Economy & Finance

  • The Frankfurt Stock Exchange was founded.source

Climate & Environment

  • June 11 – The 9.2 magnitude Aleutian Islands earthquake unleashes a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, killing many people in Hawaii and reportedly striking Japan.source
  • November 27 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, and serves a foreshock and a trigger to a deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake on January 18 that will kill 8,000 people.source

Culture & Society

  • February 21 – King Johan III of Sweden, widowed since 1583, marries Gunilla Bielke in a ceremony at Västerås, which the King's siblings refuse to attend. The coronation of Queen consort Gunilla takes place the next day. Over the next seven years, she works on changing the Catholic government's attitude towards Protestants.source
  • December 1 – Hadim Mesih Pasha is appointed the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Murad III.source

Births

  • January 9 – Sir Richard Grosvenor, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1645)source
  • January 23 – Mary Ward, English Catholic Religious Sister (d. 1645)source
  • February 2 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare's only son (d. 1596)source
  • February 2 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare's youngest daughter (d. 1662)source
  • April 28 – George Goring, 1st Earl of Norwich, English soldier and politician (d. 1663)source
  • May 1 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Polish-Lithuanian noble (d. 1612)source
  • June 13 – Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, Peruvian and Paraguayan linguist (d. 1652)source
  • September 9 – Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman and 4th Prime Minister of France (d. 1642)source
  • October 4 – Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1618)source
  • October 28 – Cornelius Jansen, French bishop of Ypres and religious reformer (d. 1638)source
  • November 1 – Jan Brożek, Polish mathematician, physician and astronomer (d. 1652)source
  • December 4 – John Cotton, clergyman in England and the American colonies, founder of Boston (d. 1652)source
  • December 13 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (d. 1649)source
  • December 25 – Christian, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen (1588–1637) (d. 1637)source

Deaths

  • January 16 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)source
  • March 10 – Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (b. 1517)source
  • April 22 – Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück and Paderborn (b. 1550)source
  • June 18 – Jacques de Savoie, Duke of Nemours, French nobleman and soldier (b. 1531)source
  • June 21 – Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, English nobleman and conspirator, suicide (b. 1532)source
  • July 28 – Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, English nobleman, soldier and politician (b. 1527)source
  • August 5 or August 6 – Yermak Timofeyevich, Cossack leader and explorer of Siberiasource
  • October 19 – Johannes Crato von Krafftheim, German humanist and physician (b. 1519)source
  • October 29 – Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha, Ottoman (Turkish) grand vizier (b. 1526)source
  • November 2 – Tachibana Dōsetsu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1513)source
  • November 23 – Thomas Tallis, English composer (b. c. 1510)source
  • December 4 – John Willock, Scottish reformer (b. c. 1515)source
  • December 27 – Pierre de Ronsard, French poet (b. 1524)source
  • Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm, Vietnamese administrator, educator, poet, sage and later a saint of the Cao Dai religion (b. 1491)source