Directory

1595 CE

The Principality of Transylvania (now encompassing most of Romania) joins the Holy League alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in a war against the Ottoman Empire, as Stephen Bocskai signs a treaty at Prague on behalf of Prince Sigismund Báthory. In India, Prince Man Singh I, Maharaja of Amber within the Mughal Empire, becomes the Mughal Governor (subahdar) of Bengal in what is now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. He lays the foundations of a new capital of Bengal, Akbarnagar (now Rajmahal, Jharkhand state). What is probably the first performance of William Shakespeare's play, Richard II, takes place in London.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 16 – Mehmed III succeeds Murad III, as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and begins a reign of almost nine years. Upon ascending the throne, Mehmed orders that all 19 of the other sons of Murad III are to be strangled to death.source
  • January 28 – The Principality of Transylvania (now encompassing most of Romania) joins the Holy League alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in a war against the Ottoman Empire, as Stephen Bocskai signs a treaty at Prague on behalf of Prince Sigismund Báthory.source
  • May 18 – The Treaty of Teusina brings to an end the Russo-Swedish War (1590–95).source

Conflict & Security

  • January 17 – During the French Wars of Religion, King Henry IV of France declares war on Spain, ordering Henry, Duke of Bouillon to lead armies through Luxembourg for an attack on the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).source
  • February 6 – Despite a string of military victories over the Serbian rebels, Koca Sinan Pasha is dismissed as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mehmed III, and banished to Malkara. He is replaced by Serdar Ferhad Pasha, whom he replaces on July 7.source
  • February 16 – In northern Ireland, Art MacBaron O'Neill successfully conducts the assault on the Blackwater Fort, an English military outpost located in County Armagh and captures it.source
  • March 20 – After a siege of 13 days, the French town of Huy (now in Belgium) is captured by the army of the Spanish Netherlands, as the General Charles de Héraugière surrenders to the Baron de la Motte.source
  • March 26 – Thado Dhamma Yaza III, who has served since 1589 for the Kingdom of Pegu as the Burmese Viceroy of Prome (now in the Bago Region of Myanmar), declares himself to be the King of Prome during the invasion by the Kingdom of Siam and breaks relations with his father King Nanda Bayin of Pegu.source
  • April 8 (March 29 O.S.) – Combined Taungoo–Lan Na armies break the rebel Thado Dhamma Yaza's siege of Taungoo, in modern-day Myanmar.source
  • June 9 – Battle of Fontaine-Française: Henry IV of France defeats the Spanish, but is nearly killed due to his rashness.source
  • July 23 – The Spanish raid Cornwall, England.source
  • August 23 – Battle of Calugareni: The Wallachians, led by Michael the Brave, accomplish a great tactical victory against a vast army of Turks, led by Sinan Pasha.source
  • October 26 – Battle of Giurgiu: Michael the Brave, led by Transylvanian Prince Sigismund Báthory, again defeats the Turkish army led by Sinan Pasha, pushing them on the east side of the Danube.source
  • November 8 – The Battle of Guadalupe Island is fought between nine English Navy warships (led by Sir Francis Drake) and eight Spanish frigates off in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Spanish force wins the battle, capturing one ship and killing 45 English sailors. Both sets of ships proceed toward Puerto Rico.source
  • November 22 – The Battle of San Juan is fought off of the island of Puerto Rico as an English fleet of 27 ships and 2,500 men, led by Francis Drake, attempts to invade the Spanish colony. In a three-day battle, the English lose at least eight ships and 400 men, including Admiral John Hawkins. Drake's fleet withdraws and attempts to conquer Panama.source
  • December 14 – Sultan Murad, 4th son of Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire invades Ahmednagar Sultanate which is defended by Chand Bibi.source
  • Many sugar plantations in São Tomé are destroyed by a large slave uprisingsource
  • The Austrians incite a rebellion against the Ottomans in Bulgaria.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 6 – Sir Walter Raleigh of England departs from Plymouth to begin an expedition to South Americasource
  • April 15 – Sir Walter Raleigh travels up the Orinoco River, in search of the fabled city of El Dorado.source
  • May 29 – George Somers and Amyas Preston travel to aid Raleigh's El Dorado expedition but failing to meet him instead raid the Spanish Province of Venezuelasource
  • July 21 – A Spanish expedition of four ships, led by navigator and explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, makes the first European landing in Polynesia, on the Marquesas Islands. Despite an initially good reception with the natives, fighting begins and the Mendaña ships leave after two weeks. One of the ships, the Santa Ysabel, disappears during the voyage toward the Solomon Islands.source
  • September 8 – The first European colony in the South Seas is established as Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña claims Nendö Island (one of the Solomon Islands) and claims it for Spain as the colony of Santa Cruz. Malaria, a mutiny of some of the Spanish soldiers, and a fight with the indigenous people kills 47 of the settlers, including Mendaña on October 18.source
  • October 30 – The surviving members of Spain's Mendaña expedition to Santa Cruz, including Mendaña's widow Isabel Barreto, decide to abandon the Santa Cruz colony in the South Pacific.source
  • November 7 – Portuguese explorer Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho, who had departed from the Philippines on the ship San Agustin on July 5 with cargo of Asian silk, porcelain, and almost 100 passengers and crew, drops anchor at Drakes Bay in what is now the U.S. state of California. He and some of his crew come ashore, where they are greeted by Native Americans. A gale in a few weeks later sinks the San Agustin, killing at least 7 people and ruining the ship's cargo. The crew salvages a launch that they had brought with them.source
  • December 8 – A group of 80 people from the sunken ship San Agustin, are able to leave California on the launch which they had brought along, which they name the San Buenaventura. The group sails past San Francisco Bay and arrives at Chacala in Mexico on January 17.source

Religion & Belief

  • November 17 – In the remodeling of the Church of Saint Sylvester in Rome, the ashes of Pope Anterus are discovered almost 1,360 years after his death. Anterus had served as Pope for six weeks before dying on January 3, 236.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • August 28 – Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins depart from England, on their final voyage to the Spanish Main, which ends in both of their deaths.source

Culture & Society

  • February 25 – The Goa state archives are established at the city of Panaji in Portuguese India (now India's Goa state) by historian Diogo do Couto.source
  • May 24 – The Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.source
  • November 9 – In India, Prince Man Singh I, Maharaja of Amber within the Mughal Empire, becomes the Mughal Governor (subahdar) of Bengal in what is now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. He lays the foundations of a new capital of Bengal, Akbarnagar (now Rajmahal, Jharkhand state).source
  • December 9 – What is probably the first performance of William Shakespeare's play, Richard II, takes place in London.source
  • Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's plays Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream in London.source
  • The Riksdag of the Estates at Söderköping in Sweden elects the Lutheran Duke Charles as the country's regent, in place of Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland and Sweden.source

Births

  • January 15 – Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician (d. 1661)source
  • March 21 – Ferdinando Ughelli, Italian Cistercian monk and church historian (d. 1670)source
  • March 23 – Bevil Grenville, English royalist soldier (d. 1643)source
  • April 6 – Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, Prince of France (d. 1663)source
  • April 30 – Henri II de Montmorency, French nobleman and military commander (d. 1632)source
  • June 9 – King Wladislaus IV of Poland (d. 1648)source
  • June 13 – John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare, English politician and Earl (d. 1666)source
  • June 19 – Guru Har Gobind, the Sixth Sikh Guru (d. 1644)source
  • August 29 – Joachim Ernest, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1622–1671) (d. 1671)source
  • August 31 – Georges Fournier, French Jesuit mathematician and geographer (d. 1652)source
  • December 1 – Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1677)source
  • December 4 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle (d. 1674)source
  • December 11 – Hŏ Mok, Korean politician, poet and scholar (d. 1682)source
  • December 27 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of Ukraine (d. 1657)source

Deaths

  • January 24 – Matthias of Habsburg is appointed by his brother Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, to become the Archduke of die Vorlande, the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs in Southern Germany outside of Austria, also called Further Austria (Vorderösterreich). The appointment follows the death of their uncle, Ferdinand II. Matthias will later become Archduke of Austria (in 1608) and the Emperor in 1612.source
  • January 24 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, regent of Tyrol and Further Austria (b. 1529)source
  • February 20 – Archduke Ernest of Austria, Governor-General of the Habsburg Netherlands (now Belgium), dies at the age of 41 and is temporarily replaced by his Spanish assistant, Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes.source
  • February 21 – Robert Southwell, Jesuit priest and poet (b. 1561)source
  • April 25 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (b. 1544)source
  • May 4 – Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle, Cardinal and 52nd Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1531)source
  • May 25 – Philip Neri, Italian Roman Catholic priest and saint (b. 1515)source
  • July 10 – Udai Singh of Marwar, Ruler of Marwar (b. 1538)source
  • August 26 – Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)source
  • September 2 – Battle of the Lippe (Eighty Years' War): Spanish cavalry, led by Cristóbal de Mondragón (aged over 80), defeat combined forces of the Dutch Republic and England led by Philip of Nassau (who dies of wounds received), on the banks of the river Lippe in Germany.source
  • October 18 – Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Spanish navigator and explorer (b. 1542)source
  • October 19 – Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (b. 1537)source
  • October 23 – Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, Italian-French dignitary and diplomat (b. 1539)source
  • November 4 – Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, Bishop of Fiesole (b. 1531)source