1560s in England:

Other decades

1540s 1540s in England Events from the 1540s in England.-Incumbents:Monarch - King Henry VIII , King Edward VI-Events:* 1540** January - Dunstable Priory closed down as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries....  | 1550s 1550s in England Events from the 1550s in England.-Incumbents:Monarch* King Edward VI * Lady Jane Grey * Queen Mary I and Philip * Queen Elizabeth I-Events:* 1550...  | 1560s | 1570s 1570s in England Events from the 1570s in England.-Events:* 1570** 25 February - Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England with the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis....  | 1580s 1580s in England Events from the 1580s in England.-Events:* 1580** 6 April - Dover Straits earthquake.** June - England signs a commercial treaty with the Ottoman Empire.** 6 July - New building banned within three miles of the City of London....

Events

• 1560
  • 6 July - Treaty of Edinburgh
    Treaty of Edinburgh
    The Treaty of Edinburgh was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, and French representatives in Scotland to formally conclude the Siege of Leith and replace the Auld Alliance with France with a new...
    
     between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland and recognise Elizabeth I of England
    Elizabeth I of England
    Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
    
    .
• 1561
  • May - St. Paul's Cathedral in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
    
     is badly damaged by fire and the spire is destroyed after being struck by lightning.
  • Reform of coinage
    Coin
    A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
    
     to combat debasement
    Debasement
    Debasement is the practice of lowering the value of currency. It is particularly used in connection with commodity money such as gold or silver coins...
    
    .
• 1562
  • 18 January - First performance of Thomas Norton
    Thomas Norton
    Thomas Norton was an English lawyer, politician, writer of verse — but not, as has been claimed, the chief interrogator of Queen Elizabeth I.-Official career:...
    
     and Thomas Sackville
    Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset
    Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset was an English statesman, poet, dramatist and Freemason. He was the son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer.-Biography:...
    
    's play Gorboduc
    Gorboduc (play)
    Gorboduc, also titled Ferrex and Porrex, is an English play from 1561. It was performed before Queen Elizabeth I on 18 January 1562, by the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple...
    
    before Queen Elizabeth I
    Elizabeth I of England
    Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
    
    . It is the first known English tragedy
    Tragedy
    Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
    
     and the first English language play to employ blank verse
    Blank verse
    Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
    
    .
  • 20 September - Treaty of Hampton Court
    Treaty of Hampton Court (1562)
    The Treaty of Hampton Court was signed on 22 September 1562 between Queen Elizabeth and Huguenot leader Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé. The treaty was concluded by François de Beauvais, Seigneur de Briquemault. Based on the terms of the accord, 3000 English troops were summoned to occupy Le...
    
     between Queen Elizabeth and Huguenot
    Huguenot
    The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
    
     leader Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé
    Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé
    Louis de Bourbon was a prominent Huguenot leader and general, the founder of the House of Condé, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon.-Life:...
    
    .
  • October - John Hawkins
    John Hawkins
    Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander, merchant, navigator, and slave trader. As treasurer and controller of the Royal Navy, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588...
    
     initiates the trans-Atlantic slave trade, shipping slaves from Sierra Leone
    Sierra Leone
    Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
    
     to Hispaniola
    Hispaniola
    Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
    
    .
  • 4 October - English troops occupy Le Havre
    Le Havre
    Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
    
     in France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
    
     in aid of the Huguenots.
  • Church of England
    Church of England
    The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
    
     approves the Thirty-Nine Articles
    Thirty-Nine Articles
    The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...
    
     of Religion, defining its doctrinal stance.
• 1563
  • March - Poor Relief Act requires wealthier parish
    Parish
    A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
    
    es to help their poorer neighbours.
  • April - Parliament passes laws requiring Justices of the Peace
    Justice of the Peace
    A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
    
     to arbitrate trade disputes and conditions of apprenticeship
    Apprenticeship
    Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
    
    .
  • June to October - Outbreak of plague
    Black Death
    The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
    
     in London kills over 20,000.
  • Publication of Foxe's Book of Martyrs
    Foxe's Book of Martyrs
    The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, more accurately Acts and Monuments, is an account from a Protestant point of view of Christian church history and martyrology...
    
    , John Foxe
    John Foxe
    John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...
    
    's account of Protestant persecution during the reign of Mary I of England
    Mary I of England
    Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
    
    .
  • Publication of John Shute
    John Shute
    John Shute was an English artist and architect. His book, The First and Chief Grounds of Architecture, was the first work in English on classical architecture. Shute's patron was John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, for whom he built a residential wing at Dudley Castle.- References :*Morris,...
    
    's The First and Chief Groundes of Architecture, the first work in English
    English language
    English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
    
     on architecture
    Architecture
    Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
    
    .
• 1564
  • Treaty of Troyes
    Treaty of Troyes
    The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of the Battle of Agincourt...
    
    : England receives monetary compensation for renouncing its claims to Calais
    Calais
    Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
    
    .
• 1565
  • Thomas Gresham
    Thomas Gresham
    Sir Thomas Gresham was an English merchant and financier who worked for King Edward VI of England and for Edward's half-sisters, Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I.-Family and childhood:...
    
     founds the Royal Exchange
    Royal Exchange (London)
    The Royal Exchange in the City of London was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham to act as a centre of commerce for the city. The site was provided by the City of London Corporation and the Worshipful Company of Mercers, and is trapezoidal, flanked by the converging streets of Cornhill and...
    
     in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
    
    .
  • College of Physcians of London
    Royal College of Physicians
    The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
    
     first licensed to carry out human dissection
    Dissection
    Dissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components....
    
    .
  • John Hawkins brings the first tobacco
    Tobacco
    Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
    
     to England.
• 1566
  • Henry Sidney
    Henry Sidney
    Sir Henry Sidney , Lord Deputy of Ireland was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent, which became the...
    
     leads a punitive expedition
    Punitive expedition
    A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
    
     to Ulster
    Ulster
    Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
    
    .
  • Autumn - Probable completion of the Exeter Canal
    Exeter Canal
    The Exeter Ship Canal, sometimes just called the Exeter Canal, downstream of Exeter, Devon, England was built in the 1560s which means it pre-dates the "canal mania" period and is one of the oldest artificial waterways in the UK.-History:...
    
    , the first in England, and with the first use of a Pound lock in England (engineer: John Trew of Glamorgan
    Glamorgan
    Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
    
    ).
• 1567
  • 2 January - Parliament dissolved as Queen Elizabeth refuses to name a successor.
• 1568
  • 19 May - Mary, Queen of Scots, flees from Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
    
     to England but is taken prisoner and put in Carlisle Castle
    Carlisle Castle
    Carlisle Castle is situated in Carlisle, in the English county of Cumbria, near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. The castle is over 900 years old and has been the scene of many historical episodes in British history. Given the proximity of Carlisle to the border between England and Scotland, it...
    
    .
  • 28 May - Incorporation of two monopolies
    Monopoly
    A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
    
     in metalliferous mining
    Mining
    Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
    
    , the Society of Mines Royal
    Society of Mines Royal
    The Society of Mines Royal was one of two mining monopoly companies incorporated by royal charter in 1568, the other being the Company of Mineral and Battery Works.-History:...
    
     and the Company of Mineral and Battery Works
    Company of Mineral and Battery Works
    The Company of Mineral and Battery Works was, , one of two mining monopolies created by Queen Elizabeth I of England in the mid-1560s. The Company's rights were based on a patent granted to William Humfrey on 17 September 1565. This was replaced on 28 May 1568 by a patent of incorporation, making...
    
    .
  • 26 September - Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
    
     seizes English ships off the coast of Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
    
    , and confiscates their cargo.
  • December - English seize bullion from Spanish ships at Plymouth
    Plymouth
    Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
    
    .
  • The Bishops' Bible
    Bishops' Bible
    The Bishops' Bible is an English translation of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and this revised edition was to be prescribed as the base text for the Authorized King James Version of...
    
     (The Holie Bible) published.
• 1569
  • 11 January - The first known lottery
    Lottery
    A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
    
     in England is drawn outside St Paul's Cathedral
    St Paul's Cathedral
    St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
    
    .
  • 20 January - Mary, Queen of Scots, detained at Tutbury Castle
    Tutbury Castle
    Tutbury Castle is a largely ruinous medieval castle at Tutbury, Staffordshire, England, in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is a Grade I listed building...
    
    .
  • November–December - Rising of the North
    Rising of the North
    The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.-Background:When Elizabeth I succeeded her...
    
    : Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland
    Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland
    Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland was an English nobleman and one of the leaders of the Rising of the North in 1569....
    
     and Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland
    Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland
    Blessed Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, 1st Baron Percy, KG , led the Rising of the North and was executed for treason. He was later beatified by the Catholic Church.-Early life:...
    
     lead a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I in an attempt to place the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne. Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
    Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
    Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, KG , an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantation of Ulster, where he ordered the massacre of Rathlin Island...
    
     drives the Earls out of England.

Births

• 1560
  • 3 January - John Bois
    John Bois
    John Bois was an English scholar, remembered mainly as one of the members of the translating committee for the Authorized Version of the Bible...
    
    , Bible translator (died 1643
    1643 in England
    Events from the year 1643 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 January - English Civil War: Leeds falls to Parliamentary forces.* 13 March - English Civil War: The Roundheads routed the Cavaliers at the First Battle of Middlewich....
    
    )
• 1561
  • 22 January - Francis Bacon, philosopher, scientist, and statesman (died 1626)
  • 24 August - Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
    Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
    Admiral Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, KG, PC was a son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, the daughter and heiress of the 1st Baron Audley of Walden....
    
     (died 1626)
  • 27 October - Mary Sidney
    Mary Sidney
    Mary Herbert , Countess of Pembroke , was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, poetic translations and literary patronage.-Family:...
    
    , writer, patroness and translator (died 1621)
  • 9 December - Edwin Sandys
    Edwin Sandys (American colonist)
    Sir Edwin Sandys was an English politician, a leading figure in the parliaments of James I of England. He was also one of the founders of the proprietary Virginia Company of London, which in 1607 established the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States in the colony of...
    
    , founder of the colony of Virginia (died 1629)
  • John Harington, writer (died 1612)
  • Samuel Harsnett
    Samuel Harsnett
    Samuel Harsnett , born Samuel Halsnoth, was an English writer on religion and Archbishop of York from 1629.- Early life :...
    
    , Archbishop of York (died 1631)
  • Stephen Bachiler
    Stephen Bachiler
    Stephen Bachiler was an English clergyman who was an early proponent of the separation of church and state in America.-Early life:...
    
    , non-conformist minister and pioneer settler of New England (died 1656
    1656 in England
    Events from the year 1656 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* 2 April - Anglo-Spanish War: King Philip IV of Spain signs a treaty with Charles II of England for the reconquest of England.* 17 September** The Second Protectorate Parliament assembles....
    
    )
• 1562
  • 19 October - George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury
    Archbishop of Canterbury
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
    
     (died 1633)
  • John Bull
    John Bull (composer)
    John Bull was an English composer, musician, and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer of the virginalist school and most of his compositions were written for this medium.-Life:...
    
    , composer (died 1628)
  • Henry Constable
    Henry Constable
    Henry Constable was an English poet, son of Sir Robert Constable. He went to St John's College, Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1580. Becoming a Roman Catholic, he went to Paris, and acted as anagent for the Catholic powers. He died at Liège...
    
    , poet (died 1613)
  • Samuel Daniel
    Samuel Daniel
    Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian.-Early life:Daniel was born near Taunton in Somerset, the son of a music-master. He was the brother of lutenist and composer John Danyel. Their sister Rosa was Edmund Spenser's model for Rosalind in his The Shepherd's Calendar; she eventually married...
    
    , poet and historian (died 1619)
  • Francis Godwin
    Francis Godwin
    Francis Godwin was an English divine, Bishop of Llandaff and of Hereford.-Life:He was the son of Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath and Wells, born at Hannington, Northamptonshire...
    
    , writer and prelate (died 1633)
  • Richard Neile
    Richard Neile
    Richard Neile was an English churchman, bishop of several English dioceses and Archbishop of York from 1631 until his death.-Early life:...
    
    , churchman (died 1640
    1640 in England
    Events from the year 1640 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 12 January - Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.* 17 January - John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal....
    
    )
  • Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire
    Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire
    Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, later styled Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire was an English noblewoman...
    
     (died 1607)
  • Henry Spelman
    Henry Spelman
    Sir Henry Spelman was an English antiquary, noted for his detailed collections of medieval records, in particular of church councils.-Life:...
    
    , antiquary (died 1641
    1641 in England
    Events from the year 1641 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 January - Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow appointed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.* 29 January - Oliver St John appointed Solicitor General....
    
    )
• 1563
  • 5 March - John Coke
    John Coke
    Sir John Coke was an English politician.Coke, the son of Richard and Mary Coke of Trusley, Derbyshire, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge...
    
    , politician (died 1644
    1644 in England
    Events from the year 1644 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* King Charles I opens a Royalist 'parliament' at Oxford.* 26 January - First English Civil War: At the Battle of Nantwich the Parliamentarians defeat the Royalists....
    
    )
  • 1 June - Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
    Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
    Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
    
    , statesman and spymaster (died 1612)
  • 19 November - Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester
    Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester
    Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester , second son of Sir Henry Sidney, was a statesman of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. He was also a patron of the arts and an interesting poet...
    
    , statesman (died 1626)
  • 19 December - Lord William Howard
    Lord William Howard
    Lord William Howard was an English nobleman and antiquary, sometimes known as "Belted or Bauld Will".-Life:...
    
     (died 1640
    1640 in England
    Events from the year 1640 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 12 January - Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.* 17 January - John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal....
    
    )
  • Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire
    Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire
    Charles Blount , 8th Baron Mountjoy and 1st Earl of Devonshire was an English nobleman and soldier who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I, then as Lord Lieutenant under King James I.-Early life:...
    
     (died 1606)
  • John Dowland
    John Dowland
    John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
    
    , composer (died 1626)
  • Michael Drayton
    Michael Drayton
    Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...
    
    , poet (died 1631)
  • Robert Naunton
    Robert Naunton
    Sir Robert Naunton was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1606 and 1626.-Life:...
    
    , politician and writer (died 1635)
  • Joshua Sylvester
    Joshua Sylvester
    Joshua Sylvester was an English poet.-Biography:Sylvester was the son of a Kentish clothier. In his tenth year he was sent to school at King Edward VI School, Southampton, where he gained a knowledge of French...
    
    , poet (died 1618)
• 1564
  • 26 February (baptised) - Christopher Marlowe
    Christopher Marlowe
    Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
    
    , poet and dramatist (died 1593)
  • 26 April (baptised) - William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
    
    , poet and dramatist (died 1616)
  • 27 April - Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
    Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
    Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland KG was an English aristocrat. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Henry was a long-term prisoner in the Tower of London. He is known for the circles he moved in as well as for his own achievements...
    
     (died 1632)
  • 24 September - William Adams
    William Adams (sailor)
    William Adams , also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama and Miura Anjin , was an English navigator who travelled to Japan and is believed to be the first Englishman ever to reach that country...
    
    , navigator and samurai (died 1620)
  • 22 November - Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
    Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
    Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham was an English peer who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of England.- Life :...
    
    , peer and traitor (died 1619)
  • Henry Chettle
    Henry Chettle
    Henry Chettle was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer of the Elizabethan era.The son of Robert Chettle, a London dyer, he was apprenticed in 1577 and became a member of the Stationer's Company in 1584, traveling to Cambridge on their behalf in 1588. His career as a printer and author is...
    
    , dramatist (died 1607)
  • Thomas Morton
    Thomas Morton (bishop)
    Thomas Morton was an English churchman, bishop of several dioceses.-Early life:Morton was born in York on 20 March 1564. He was brought up and grammar school educated in the city and nearby Halifax. In 1582 he became a pensioner at St John's College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a BA in...
    
    , churchman (died 1659
    1659 in England
    Events from the year 1659 in England.-Events:* 16 February - The first known cheque is written.* 22 April - Lord Protector Richard Cromwell disbands the Parliament of England....
    
    )
  • Thomas Shirley
    Thomas Shirley
    Sir Thomas Shirley was an English adventurer.The son of Sir Thomas Shirley and elder brother of Sir Anthony Shirley, he was educated at Hart Hall, Oxford. He served in the English forces in the Low Countries, and was knighted in 1589 while serving in Ireland under Sir William Fitz-William...
    
    , pirate (died 1620)
• 1565
  • Edward Blount
    Edward Blount
    Edward Blount was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras, noted for his publication, in conjunction with William and Isaac Jaggard, of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623....
    
    , printer (died 1632)
  • 10 November - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
    Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
    Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
    
    , politician (died 1601)
  • Ferdinando Gorges
    Ferdinando Gorges
    Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...
    
    , colonial entrepreneur (died 1647
    1647 in England
    Events from the year 1647 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 30 January - Scots hand over King Charles I to England in return for £40,000 of army back-pay.* March - Folk dancing and bear-baiting banned....
    
    )
  • George Kirbye
    George Kirbye
    George Kirbye was an English composer of the late Tudor period and early Jacobean era. He was one of the members of the English Madrigal School, but also composed sacred music....
    
    , composer (died 1634)
  • Francis Meres
    Francis Meres
    Francis Meres was an English churchman and author.He was born at Kirton in the Holland division of Lincolnshire in 1565. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a B.A. in 1587 and an M.A. in 1591. Two years later he was incorporated an M.A. of Oxford...
    
    , churchman and author (died 1647
    1647 in England
    Events from the year 1647 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 30 January - Scots hand over King Charles I to England in return for £40,000 of army back-pay.* March - Folk dancing and bear-baiting banned....
    
    )
  • Francis Tanfield
    Francis Tanfield
    Sir Francis Tanfield was Proprietary Governor of the South Falkland colony of Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland, his cousin's husband. Tanfield was to establish a colony at Renews and left England in 1623 with an unknown number of colonists. The settlers were harassed by migratory fishermen who...
    
    , Governor of the South Falkland colony (year of death unknown)
  • Edmund Whitelocke
    Edmund Whitelocke
    Edmund Whitelocke was an English soldier, royal courtier and suspected conspirator.-Life:He was born in the parish of St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street, London, on 10 February 1565, the eldest son of Richard Whitelocke, merchant. The judge Sir James Whitelocke was a younger brother...
    
    , soldier and courtier (died 1608)
  • Robert Wintour, conspirator (died 1606)
• 1566
  • 19 June - King James I of England
    James I of England
    James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
    
     (died 1625)
  • 1 September - Edward Alleyn
    Edward Alleyn
    Edward Alleyn was an English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of Dulwich College and Alleyn's School.-Early life:...
    
    , actor (died 1626)
  • 20 December - Edward Wightman
    Edward Wightman
    Edward Wightman was an English radical Anabaptist, executed at Lichfield for his activities promoting himself as the divine Paraclete and Savior of the world...
    
    , Baptist martyr (died 1612)
• 1567
  • 12 February - Thomas Campion
    Thomas Campion
    Thomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.-Life:...
    
    , poet and composer (died 1620)
  • November - Thomas Nashe
    Thomas Nashe
    Thomas Nashe was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, playwright, poet and satirist. He was the son of the minister William Nashe and his wife Margaret .-Early life:...
    
    , poet (died 1600)
  • William Alabaster
    William Alabaster
    William Alabaster was an English poet, playwright, and religious writer. His surname is one of the many variants of "arbalester", a crossbowman....
    
    , poet (died 1640
    1640 in England
    Events from the year 1640 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 12 January - Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.* 17 January - John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal....
    
    )
  • Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley
    Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley
    Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley inherited the lordship of Dudley from his father, also Edward Sutton, and was the last of his name to bear the title. He was married to Theodosia Harrington...
    
     (died 1643
    1643 in England
    Events from the year 1643 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 January - English Civil War: Leeds falls to Parliamentary forces.* 13 March - English Civil War: The Roundheads routed the Cavaliers at the First Battle of Middlewich....
    
    )
  • Thomas Lake
    Thomas Lake
    Sir Thomas Lake was Secretary of State to James I of England. He was a Member of Parliament in 1604, 1614, 1625 and 1626....
    
    , Secretary of State to King James I (died 1630)
• 1568
  • Richard Baker
    Richard Baker (chronicler)
    Sir Richard Baker was the English author of the Chronicle of the Kings of England and other works.-Life:He was probably born at Sissinghurst in Kent, the grandson of Sir John Baker, the first Chancellor of the Exchequer. He entered Hart Hall, Oxford, as a commoner in 1584...
    
    , chronicler (died 1645
    1645 in England
    Events from the year 1645 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* January - A group of ministers appointed by the Long Parliament draws up the Directory of Public Worship which replaces the Book of Common Prayer...
    
    )
  • Barnabe Barnes
    Barnabe Barnes
    Barnabe Barnes , was an English poet. He is known for his Petrarchan love sonnets and for his combative personality, involving feuds with other writers and culminating in an alleged attempted murder.-Early life:...
    
    , poet (died 1609)
  • Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester
    Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester
    Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester was the younger brother of Arthur Chichester, Baron Chichester. He was knighted in 1616, and after his brother's death in 1625 was in his memory ennobled as Viscount Chichester, of Carrickfergus in the County of Antrim, and Baron Chichester, of Belfast in...
    
     (died 1648
    1648 in England
    Events from the year 1648 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 17 January - The Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the Second English Civil War....
    
    )
  • Gervase Markham
    Gervase Markham
    Gervase Markham was an English poet and writer, best known for his work The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman first published in London in 1615.-Life:Markham was the third son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham, Nottinghamshire, and was...
    
    , poet and writer (died 1637)
  • Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester
    Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester
    Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, KG, Earl Marshal was an English aristocrat. He was an important advisor to King James I, serving as Lord Privy Seal....
    
     (died 1628)
  • Henry Wotton
    Henry Wotton
    Sir Henry Wotton was an English author and diplomat. He is often quoted as saying, "An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." -Life:The son of Thomas Wotton , brother of Edward Wotton, 1st Baron Wotton, and grandnephew of the diplomat...
    
    , author and diplomat (died 1639)
• 1569
  • 16 April - John Davies
    John Davies (poet)
    Sir John Davies was an English poet and lawyer, who became attorney general in Ireland and formulated many of the legal principles that underpinned the British Empire.-Early life:...
    
    , poet and lawyer (died 1626)
  • September - Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells
    Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells
    Arthur Lake was Bishop of Bath and Wells and a translator of the King James Version of The Bible.Arthur Lake was born in Southampton in September 1569 the son of Almeric Lake. He attended King Edward VI School, Southampton until he was twelve and on 28 December 1581 he was elected a scholar of...
    
    , one of the translators of the King James Bible (died 1626)
  • Tobias Hume
    Tobias Hume
    Tobias Hume was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier.Little is known of his life. Some have suggested that he was born in 1569 because he was admitted to the London Charterhouse in 1629, a pre-requisite to which was being at least 60 years old, though there is no certainty over this...
    
    , composer (died 1645
    1645 in England
    Events from the year 1645 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* January - A group of ministers appointed by the Long Parliament draws up the Directory of Public Worship which replaces the Book of Common Prayer...
    
    )
  • William Monson, admiral (died 1643
    1643 in England
    Events from the year 1643 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 January - English Civil War: Leeds falls to Parliamentary forces.* 13 March - English Civil War: The Roundheads routed the Cavaliers at the First Battle of Middlewich....
    
    )
  • John Suckling
    John Suckling (politician)
    Sir John Suckling was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1601 and 1626.Suckling was the son of Robert Suckling mayor and MP of Norwich and his wife Elizabeth Barwick, daughter of William Barwick. He entered Gray's Inn on 22 May 1590. He was elected...
    
    , politician (died 1627)

Deaths

• 1560
  • 8 September - Amy Robsart
    Amy Robsart
    Amy Dudley was the first wife of Lord Robert Dudley, favourite of Elizabeth I of England. She is primarily known for her death by falling down a flight of stairs, the circumstances of which have often been regarded as suspicious...
    
    , noblewoman (born 1532)
  • John Sheppard, composer and organist (born 1515)
• 1561
  • 1 September - Edward Waldegrave
    Edward Waldegrave
    Sir Edward Waldegrave was an English courtier and recusant.-Life:Waldegrave was the son of John Waldegrave and a maternal nephew of Robert Rochester...
    
    , policitian and recusant (born c. 1516)
• 1562
  • Nicholas Grimald
    Nicholas Grimald
    Nicholas Grimald , English poet, was born in Huntingdonshire, the son probably of Giovanni Baptista Grimaldi, who had been a clerk in the service of Empson and Dudley in the reign of Henry VII....
    
    , poet and theologian (born 1519)
• 1563
  • 9 June - William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
    William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
    William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
    
    , statesman (born 1506)
  • 17 September - Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland
    Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland
    Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, 14th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG was the son of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. He also held the title of 14th Baron de Ros of Hamlake, a title to which he acceded in 1543....
    
    , soldier (born 1526)
  • Elizabeth Seymour, noblewoman (born 1513)
  • John Shute
    John Shute
    John Shute was an English artist and architect. His book, The First and Chief Grounds of Architecture, was the first work in English on classical architecture. Shute's patron was John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, for whom he built a residential wing at Dudley Castle.- References :*Morris,...
    
    , architect
• 1565
  • 14 October - Thomas Chaloner
    Thomas Chaloner (statesman)
    Sir Thomas Chaloner was an English statesman and poet.-Life:He was the son of Roger Chaloner, mercer of London, a descendant of the Denbighshire Chaloners...
    
    , statesman and poet (born 1521)
  • Katherine Champernowne
    Katherine Champernowne
    Katherine Ashley née Champernowne was governess to Elizabeth I and was a close friend in later life, known to the Queen as 'Kat'. She should not be confused with her niece Catherine Champernowne, mother of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert.-Early life:Katherine Champernowne’s parentage...
    
    , Governess of Elizabeth I (year of birth unknown)
• 1566
  • Richard Edwards, poet (born 1523)
  • Thomas Hoby
    Thomas Hoby
    Sir Thomas Hoby was an English diplomat and translator. He was born in 1530, the second son of William Hoby of Leominster, Herefordshire, by his second wife, Katherine, daughter of John Forden. He matriculated at St. John's College, Cambridge in 1546...
    
    , diplomat and translator (born 1530)
• 1567
  • 26 January - Nicholas Wotton
    Nicholas Wotton
    Nicholas Wotton was an English diplomat-Life:He was a son of Sir Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe, Kent, and a descendant of Nicholas Wotton, lord mayor of London in 1415 and 1430, and member of parliament for the city from 1406 to 1429.He early became vicar of Boughton Malherbe and of Sutton...
    
    , diplomat (born c. 1497)
  • 12 June - Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich
    Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich
    Sir Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich , was Lord Chancellor during the reign of King Edward VI of England. He was the founder of Felsted School with its associated alms houses in Essex in 1564....
    
    , Lord Chancellor
    Lord Chancellor
    The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
    
     (born 1490)
  • Thomas Beccon
    Thomas Beccon
    Thomas Beccon was a British Protestant reformer from Norfolk. He studied under Hugh Latimer and was ordained in 1533. He was arrested for Protestant preaching and was forced to recant around 1540. He then began to write under the pen name of "Theodore Basille." When Edward VI came to the...
    
    , Protestant reformer (born 1511)
  • Lawrence Sheriff
    Lawrence Sheriff
    Lawrence Sheriff was an Elizabethan gentleman and grocer to Elizabeth I who founded Rugby School.Not much is known about Lawrence Sheriff's early life, but it thought that he was born near St. Andrew's Church in Rugby, Warwickshire...
    
    , gentleman and grocer to Elizabeth I (born 1510)
• 1568
  • 15 January - Catherine Carey
    Catherine Carey
    Katherine Carey, often spelt Catherine Carey, after her marriage Katherine Knollys and later Lady Knollys, pronounced "Noles" Katherine Carey, often spelt Catherine Carey, after her marriage Katherine Knollys and later Lady Knollys, pronounced "Noles" Katherine Carey, often spelt Catherine Carey,...
    
    , Chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I (born c. 1526)
  • 20 January - Myles Coverdale
    Myles Coverdale
    Myles Coverdale was a 16th-century Bible translator who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English.-Life:...
    
    , Bible translator (born c. 1488)
  • 26 January - Lady Catherine Grey
    Lady Catherine Grey
    Lady Catherine Grey , Countess of Hertford, was the younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. A granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary, she was a potential successor to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, but incurred Elizabeth's wrath by her secret marriage to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford...
    
    , Countess of Hertford (born 1539)
  • 7 July - William Turner, ornithologist and botanist (born 1508)
  • 23 August - Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton
    Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton
    Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton was an English nobleman and a follower of King Henry VIII of England. He is best known for his victory at Solway Moss on 24 November 1542 for which he was given a barony.-Early life:...
    
     (born 1495)
  • 23 December - Roger Ascham
    Roger Ascham
    Roger Ascham was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his promotion of the vernacular, and his theories of education...
    
    , tutor of Elizabeth I (born 1515)
  • Henry Sutton Dudley
    Henry Sutton Dudley
    Henry Sutton Dudley, also known as Henry Dudley, was an English soldier, sailor, diplomat, and conspirator of the Tudor period....
    
    , soldier and sailor (born 1517)
• 1569
  • 5 September - Edmund Bonner
    Edmund Bonner
    Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London, was an English bishop. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonized by the Protestant reforms introduced by Somerset and reconciled himself to Roman Catholicism...
    
    , Bishop of London (born c. 1500)