1580s in England:

Other decades

1560s 1560s in England Events from the 1560s in England.-Events:* 1560** 6 July - Treaty of Edinburgh between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland and recognise Elizabeth I of England.* 1561** May - St...  | 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 | 1590s 1590s in England Events from the 1590s in England.-Events:* 1590** Publication of Edmund Spenser's poetry The Faerie Queene and his satire Mother Hubbard's Tale.** First production of William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, part 1.* 1591...  | 1600s 1600s in England Events from the 1600s in England.-Incumbents:Monarch - Queen Elizabeth I , King James I. Elizabeth was the last Tudor Monarch of England.-Events:* 1600...

Events

• 1580
  • 6 April - Dover Straits earthquake
    Dover Straits earthquake of 1580
    Though severe earthquakes in the north of France and Britain are rare, the Dover Straits earthquake of 6 April 1580 appears to have been one of the largest in the recorded history of England, Flanders or northern France...
    
    .
  • June - England signs a commercial treaty with the Ottoman Empire
    Ottoman Empire
    The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
    
    .
  • 6 July - New building banned within three miles of the City of London
    City of London
    The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
    
    .
  • 7 July - Robert Parsons
    Robert Parsons (priest)
    Robert Persons , later known as Robert Parsons, was an English Jesuit priest.-Early life:...
    
     and Edmund Campion
    Edmund Campion
    Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...
    
     begin a Jesuit mission in an attempt to restore Roman Catholicism to England, having landed the previous month.
  • 26 September - Francis Drake
    Francis Drake
    Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
    
     returns to 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...
    
     from his voyage of circumnavigation
    Circumnavigation
    Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
    
     on the Golden Hind
    Golden Hind
    The Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for its circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake...
    
    .
  • First recorded appearance of the ballad Greensleeves
    Greensleeves
    "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of...
    
    .
• 1581
  • March - Act against Reconciliation to Rome establishes heavy fines for recusancy
    Recusancy
    In the history of England and Wales, the recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services. The individuals were known as "recusants"...
    
     or attending Catholic Mass
    Mass (liturgy)
    "Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
    
    .
  • 4 April - Drake knighted by 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...
    
    .
  • 1 December - Execution of the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion
    Edmund Campion
    Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...
    
     for treason.
• 1582
  • May–August - Robert Browne and his Brownist
    Brownist
    The Brownists were English Dissenters and followers of Robert Browne who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England in about 1550.-Origins:...
    
     congregationalist companions are obliged to leave England and go to Middelburg
    Middelburg
    Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...
    
     in the Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
    
    .
  • 29 November - Marriage of 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"...
    
     and Anne Hathaway
    Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)
    Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. They were married in 1582. She outlived her husband by seven years...
    
     at Temple Grafton
    Temple Grafton
    Temple Grafton is a village and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, situated about east of Alcester and West of the county town of Warwick. The place name is misleading, the Knights Templar never having any association with the place but owing to a naming error made...
    
    .
  • Publication of Richard Hakluyt
    Richard Hakluyt
    Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
    
    's Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America.
  • Publication of the first part of Richard Mulcaster
    Richard Mulcaster
    Richard Mulcaster , is known best for his headmasterships and pedagogic writings. He is often regarded as the founder of English language lexicography.-Educational achievements:...
    
    's textbook on the teaching of 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...
    
    , the Elementarie.
• 1583
  • 10 March - Queen Elizabeth's Men
    Queen Elizabeth's Men
    Queen Elizabeth's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre. Formed in 1583 at the express command of Queen Elizabeth, it was the dominant acting company for the rest of the 1580s, as the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men would be in the decade that...
    
     troupe of actors founded.
  • August - John Whitgift
    John Whitgift
    John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...
    
     enthroned as 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...
    
    .
  • 5 August - Sir Humphrey Gilbert
    Humphrey Gilbert
    Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...
    
    , in what is now the city of St John's, Newfoundland, claims the island of Newfoundland on behalf of England.
  • December - Francis Throckmorton
    Francis Throckmorton
    Sir Francis Throckmorton was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England.He was the son of Sir John Throckmorton and a nephew of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's diplomats. Sir John had held the post of Chief Justice of Chester but was removed in 1579, a year before his death...
    
    's plot to invade England with the assistance of Henry I, Duke of Guise
    Henry I, Duke of Guise
    Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu , sometimes called Le Balafré, "the scarred", was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este...
    
     and replace Elizabeth with Mary, Queen of Scots, is discovered by Francis Walsingham
    Francis Walsingham
    Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
    
    .
  • Lord Chamberlain's Men
    Lord Chamberlain's Men
    The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a playing company for whom Shakespeare worked for most of his career. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronised by James I.It was...
    
     troupe of actors formed.
  • Publication of Philip Stubbs
    Philip Stubbs
    Philip Stubbs , English pamphleteer, was born about 1555.He was from Cheshire, possibly the area near Congleton. According to Anthony Wood he was educated at Cambridge and subsequently at Oxford, but did not take a degree and his name is not in university records. He is reputed to have been a...
    
    ' tract The Anatomie of Abuses.
• 1584
  • 10 July - Execution of Francis Throckmorton.
  • 19 October - Bond of Association
    Bond of Association
    The Bond of Association was a document created in 1584 by Francis Walsingham and William Cecil, Lord Burghley after the failure of the Throckmorton Plot in 1583.-Contents:The document obliged all signatories to execute any person that:...
    
    ; thousands pledge to defend Queen Elizabeth, and avenge any successful assassination attempt.
  • December - Jesuits and seminary
    Seminary
    A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
    
     priests banned.
  • Emmanuel College, Cambridge
    Emmanuel College, Cambridge
    Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...
    
     established by Walter Mildmay
    Walter Mildmay
    Sir Walter Mildmay was an English statesman who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of England under Queen Elizabeth I, and was founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.-Early life:...
    
    .
  • Publication of the cookbook
    Cookbook
    A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...
    
     A Booke of Cookry.
• 1585
  • 6 January - Walter Raleigh
    Walter Raleigh
    Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
    
     knighted.
  • 2 March - William Parry
    William Parry
    William Parry was a Welsh doctor who considered assassinating Elizabeth I of England.In the household of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke until the Earl's death in 1570, Parry then entered the Queen's service...
    
     executed for plotting Queen Elizabeth's murder.
  • 19 May - 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 in Spanish ports.
  • 7 July - England establishes the Roanoke Colony
    Roanoke Colony
    The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
    
     in North America
    North America
    North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
    
    .
  • 14 August - Queen Elizabeth establishes a protectorate over the Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
    
    .
  • 20 August - The Treaty of Nonsuch
    Treaty of Nonsuch
    The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Netherlands on 10 August 1585 at Nonsuch Palace in Surrey.-Background:The treaty was provoked by the signing of the Treaty of Joinville in 1584 between Philip II of Spain and the Catholic League in France in which Philip II promised...
    
     is signed, committing England to support for the Dutch Revolt
    Dutch Revolt
    The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
    
     against Habsburg
    Habsburg
    The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
    
     rule.
• 1586
  • 4 February - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
    Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
    Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
    
     accepts the title governor of the Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
    
    .
  • July - Thomas Cavendish
    Thomas Cavendish
    Sir Thomas Cavendish was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and return by circumnavigating the globe...
    
     sets out on a voyage of circumnavigation.
  • 1 July - Treaty of Berwick
    Treaty of Berwick (1586)
    The Treaty of Berwick was a 'league of amity' or peace agreement made on July 6, 1586 between Queen Elizabeth I of England and King James VI of Scotland....
    
     agreed between Queen 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...
    
     and King James VI of Scotland.
  • 17 July - Walsingham uncovers the Babington Plot
    Babington Plot
    The Babington Plot was a Catholic plot in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, on the English throne. It led to the execution of Mary. The long-term goal was an invasion by the Spanish forces of King Philip II and the Catholic league in...
    
     to murder Elizabeth.
  • 28 July - Thomas Harriot
    Thomas Harriot
    Thomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...
    
     returns from a voyage to Colombia
    Colombia
    Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
    
     with the first potato
    Potato
    The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
    
    es.
  • 20 September - Execution of Anthony Babington
    Anthony Babington
    Anthony Babington was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots...
    
    , John Ballard
    John Ballard
    John Ballard was an English Jesuit priest executed for being involved in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Babington Plot.John Ballard was the son of William Ballard of Wratting, Suffolk...
    
    , Chidiock Tichborne
    Chidiock Tichborne
    Chidiock Tichborne is remembered as an English conspirator and poet.-Biography:He was born in Southampton sometime after 24 August 1562 to Roman Catholic parents, Peter Tichborne and his wife Elizabeth . His birth date has been given as circa 1558 in many sources, though unverified, and thus...
    
    , Thomas Salisbury
    Thomas Salisbury
    Sir Thomas Salisbury was one of the conspirators executed for his involvement in the Babington Plot....
    
     and the other conspirators in the Babington Plot.
  • 22 September - Philip Sidney
    Philip Sidney
    Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
    
     mortally wounded at the Battle of Zutphen
    Battle of Zutphen
    The Battle of Zutphen was a confrontation of the Eighty Years' War on 22 September 1586, near Zutphen , the Netherlands. It was fought between forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided by the English, against the Spanish, who sought to regain the northern Netherlands.Important...
    
    ; he dies on 17 October.
  • 15 October to 25 October - Mary, Queen of Scots, placed on trial for corresponding with Babington; sentenced to death.
  • William Camden
    William Camden
    William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
    
     publishes his pioneering antiquarian
    Antiquarian
    An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
    
     study Britannia.
• 1587
  • 8 February - Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringay Castle.
  • 1 March - Peter Wentworth
    Peter Wentworth
    Peter Wentworth was a prominent Puritan leader in the Parliament of England. He was the elder brother of Paul Wentworth, and first entered as member for Barnstaple in 1571. He later sat for the Cornish borough of Tregony in 1572, and for the town of Northampton in the parliaments of 1586–7, 1589,...
    
     imprisoned for demanding freedom of speech
    Freedom of speech
    Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
    
    .
  • 19 April - Sir Francis Drake raids Cádiz
    Cádiz
    Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
    
     in 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...
    
     delaying the sending of the Spanish Armada
    Spanish Armada
    This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
    
    .
  • 22 July - Roanoke Colony
    Roanoke Colony
    The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
    
    : A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island
    Roanoke Island
    Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....
    
     off North Carolina
    North Carolina
    North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
    
     to re-establish the deserted colony.
  • 21 December - Lord Howard of Effingham given command of both army and navy in the war against Spain.
  • The Rose
    The Rose (theatre)
    The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre , the Curtain , and the theatre at Newington Butts The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577),...
    
     theatre is founded 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...
    
     by Philip Henslowe
    Philip Henslowe
    Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
    
    .
  • 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...
    
    's play Tamburlaine the Great
    Tamburlaine (play)
    Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur 'the lame'...
    
    first performed in London.
• 1588
  • 31 May - Spanish Armada sets sail from Tagus
    Tagus
    The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
    
     estuary in attempted invasion of England.
  • 19 July - The Armada is sighted off The Lizard
    The Lizard
    The Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
    
     in Cornwall
    Cornwall
    Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
    
    ; the news is relayed to 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...
    
     via a series of beacons built along the south coast.
  • 8 August
    • Queen Elizabeth makes her speech to the Troops at Tilbury
      Speech to the Troops at Tilbury
      The Speech to the Troops at Tilbury was delivered on 9 August Old Style, 19 August New Style 1588 by Queen Elizabeth I of England to the land forces earlier assembled at Tilbury in Essex in preparation of repelling the expected invasion by the Spanish Armada....
      
      .
    • The English fleet defeats the Armada near Gravelines
      Gravelines
      Gravelines is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies at the mouth of the river Aa 15 miles southwest of Dunkirk. There is a market in the town square on Saturdays. The "Arsenal" approached from the town square is home to an extensive and carefully displayed art collection....
      
      .
  • Marprelate Controversy
    Marprelate Controversy
    The Marprelate Controversy was a war of pamphlets waged in England and Wales in 1588 and 1589, between a puritan writer who employed the pseudonym Martin Marprelate, and defenders of the Established Church....
    
    : a war of pamphlets between Presbyterians
    Presbyterianism
    Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
    
     and supporters of the established church.
  • Nicholas Hilliard
    Nicholas Hilliard
    Nicholas Hilliard was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, up to about ten inches tall, and at least two famous...
    
    's portrait miniature
    Portrait miniature
    A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolour, or enamel.Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th century and 18th century...
    
     Young Man Among Roses painted.
• 1589
  • 13 April - An English Armada
    English Armada
    The English Armada, also known as the Counter Armada or the Drake-Norris Expedition, was a fleet of warships sent to the Iberian Coast by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1589, during the Anglo-Spanish War...
    
     led by Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norreys
    John Norreys
    Sir John Norreys , also frequently spelt John Norris, was an English soldier of a Berkshire family of court gentry, the son of Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys a lifelong friend of Queen Elizabeth....
    
     sets sail to attack Spain.
  • Publication of first edition of Richard Hakluyt
    Richard Hakluyt
    Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
    
    's The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation.

Births

• 1580
  • February - John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol
    John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol
    John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol , was an English diplomat and a moderate royalist during the English Civil War.- Early career :...
    
    , diplomat (died 1653
    1653 in England
    Events from the year 1653 in the Commonwealth of England.-Events:* 28 February–2 March - First Anglo–Dutch War: Battle of Portland.* 14 March - First Anglo–Dutch War: A Dutch fleet defeats the English at the Battle of Leghorn...
    
    )
  • 8 April - William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
    William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
    William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, KG, PC was the son of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and his third wife Mary Sidney. Chancellor of the University of Oxford, he founded Pembroke College, Oxford with King James. He was warden of the Forest of Dean, and constable of St Briavels from 1608...
    
    , courtier (died 1630)
  • 15 April - George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
    George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
    Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, 8th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I...
    
    , politician and colonizer (died 1623)
  • 18 April - (baptism) Thomas Middleton
    Thomas Middleton
    Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
    
    , playwright (died 1627)
  • 24 August - John Taylor
    John Taylor (poet)
    John Taylor was an English poet who dubbed himself "The Water Poet".-Biography:He was born in Gloucester, 24 August 1578....
    
    , poet (died 1654
    1654 in England
    Events from the year 1654 in The Protectorate.-Events:* 5 April - Signing of the Treaty of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War, and the Dutch agree to observe the Navigation Acts.* 11 April - England signs a treaty of commerce with Sweden....
    
    )
  • 4 December - Samuel Argall
    Samuel Argall
    Sir Samuel Argall was an English adventurer and naval officer.As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown, and made numerous voyages to the New World...
    
    , adventurer and naval officer (died 1626)
  • Edward Fairfax
    Edward Fairfax
    Edward Fairfax was a translator, the natural son of Sir Thomas Fairfax the elder, of Denton in Yorkshire, and thus a half-brother of Sir Thomas Fairfax.Fairfax lived at New Hall, Fewston...
    
    , translator (died 1635)
• 1581
  • Edmund Gunter
    Edmund Gunter
    Edmund Gunter , English mathematician, of Welsh descent, was born in Hertfordshire in 1581.He was educated at Westminster School, and in 1599 was elected a student of Christ Church, Oxford. He took orders, became a preacher in 1614, and in 1615 proceeded to the degree of bachelor in divinity...
    
    , mathematician (died 1621)
  • Thomas Overbury
    Thomas Overbury
    Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
    
    , poet and essayist (died 1613)
• 1582
  • 28 May - William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
    William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
    William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele was born at the family home of Broughton Castle near Banbury, in Oxfordshire. He was the only son of Richard Fiennes, seventh Baron Saye and Sele...
    
    , statesman (died 1662
    1662 in England
    Events from the year 1662 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 17 March - Two old women are hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft at the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial.* 2 May/3 May - Catherine of Braganza marries Charles II of England...
    
    )
  • John Bainbridge, astronomer (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....
    
    )
  • Richard Corbet
    Richard Corbet
    Richard Corbet was an English bishop in the Church of England. He was also a poet of the metaphysical school who, although highly praised in his own lifetime, is relatively obscure today.-Life:...
    
    , poet (died 1635)
  • William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh
    William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh
    William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh was an English naval officer and courtier.William Feilding was the son of Basil Fielding of Newnham Paddox in Warwickshire, , and of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Walter Aston and his wife, Elizabeth Leveson.The descent of the Feildings from the house of Habsburg,...
    
     (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....
    
    )
  • Phineas Fletcher
    Phineas Fletcher
    Phineas Fletcher was an English poet, elder son of Dr Giles Fletcher, and brother of Giles the younger. He was born at Cranbrook, Kent, and was baptized on 8 April 1582.-Life:...
    
    , poet (died 1650
    1650 in England
    Events from the year 1650 in England.-Events:* 1 May - The future King Charles II of England signs the Treaty of Breda with the Scottish Covenanters.* 23 June - Charles arrives in Scotland where he signs the Covenant....
    
    )
  • William Juxon
    William Juxon
    William Juxon was an English churchman, Bishop of London from 1633 to 1649 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1660 until his death.-Life:...
    
    , 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 1663
    1663 in England
    Events from the year 1663 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 10 January - The Royal African Company is granted a Royal Charter.* February - Parliament pressures King Charles into withdrawing a proposed Declaration of Indulgence....
    
    )
  • Thomas Moulson
    Thomas Moulson
    Sir Thomas Moulson , an alderman and member of the Grocers' Company, was a Sheriff of London in 1624 and Lord Mayor of London in 1634....
    
    , Lord Mayor of London (died 1638)
  • Francis Windebank
    Francis Windebank
    Sir Francis Windebank was an English politician who was Secretary of State under Charles I.The only son of Sir Thomas Windebank of Hougham, Lincolnshire, who owed his advancement to the Cecil family, Francis entered St John's College, Oxford, in 1599, coming there under the influence of the...
    
    , politician (died 1646
    1646 in England
    Events from the year 1646 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Battle of Bovey Heath: Parliament secures a significant victory over the Royalists in Devon.* 13 March - Parliament captures Cornwall after Royalists surrender at Truro....
    
    )
• 1583
  • 3 March - Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury
    Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury
    Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Chirbury was an Anglo-Welsh soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher of the Kingdom of England.-Early life:...
    
    , diplomat, poet and philosopher (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....
    
    )
  • 17 December - Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey
    Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey
    Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey was an English peer, soldier and courtier.-Early life:...
    
    , adventurer and soldier (killed in battle) (died 1642
    1642 in England
    Events from the year 1642 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 January - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape...
    
    )
  • 25 December - Orlando Gibbons
    Orlando Gibbons
    Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
    
    , composer (died 1625)
  • John Beaumont, poet (died 1627)
  • Philip Massinger
    Philip Massinger
    Philip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
    
    , dramatist (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....
    
    )
  • Aurelian Townshend
    Aurelian Townshend
    Aurelian Townshend was a seventeenth-century English poet and playwright.-Life:Very little is well established about Townshend's life...
    
    , poet (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....
    
    )
• 1584
  • 29 March - Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron
    Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron
    Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron , English parliamentary general.-Early life:He was born in Yorkshire the eldest son of Thomas Fairfax, whom Charles I in 1627 created Lord Fairfax of Cameron in the Peerage of Scotland and received a military education in the Netherlands. Two of his...
    
    , parliamentary general (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....
    
    )
  • 13 August - Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk
    Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk
    Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, KG was an English nobleman and politician.Born at the family estate of Saffron Walden, he was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his second wife Catherine Knyvet of Charlton, and succeeded his father in 1626.Sir Theophilus Howard was named in...
    
    , politician (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....
    
    )
  • 16 December - John Selden
    John Selden
    John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
    
    , jurist (died 1654
    1654 in England
    Events from the year 1654 in The Protectorate.-Events:* 5 April - Signing of the Treaty of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War, and the Dutch agree to observe the Navigation Acts.* 11 April - England signs a treaty of commerce with Sweden....
    
    )
  • William Baffin
    William Baffin
    William Baffin was an English navigator and explorer. Nothing is known of his early life, but it is conjectured that he was born in London of humble origin, and gradually raised himself by his diligence and perseverance...
    
    , explorer (died 1622)
  • Francis Beaumont
    Francis Beaumont
    Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
    
    , dramatist (died 1616)
  • John Hales
    John Hales
    John Hales was an English theologian born in St. James's parish, Bath, England. As eminent divine and critic, his singular talents and learning have procured him by common consent the title of the "Ever-memorable".-Life:...
    
    , theologian (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....
    
    )
  • Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull
    Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull
    Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull was an English nobleman-Family:He was the second son of Sir Henry Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire, and Frances Cavendish, daughter of the Rt. Hon. Sir William Cavendish and Elizabeth Hardwick...
    
     (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 Pym
    John Pym
    John Pym was an English parliamentarian, leader of the Long Parliament and a prominent critic of James I and then Charles I.- Early life and education :...
    
    , parliamentarian (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....
    
    )
• 1585
  • October – John Ball
    John Ball (Puritan)
    John Ball was an English puritan divine.-Life:He was born in Cassington, Oxfordshire.After taking his BA degree from St Mary Hall, Oxford, in 1608, he went into Cheshire to act as tutor to the children of Lady Cholmondeley...
    
    , puritan divine (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....
    
    )
• 1586
  • 17 April - John Ford
    John Ford (dramatist)
    John Ford was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.-Life and work:...
    
    , dramatist and 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....
    
    )
  • 7 July - Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
    Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
    Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel KG, was a prominent English courtier during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculpture,...
    
    , courtier (died 1646
    1646 in England
    Events from the year 1646 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Battle of Bovey Heath: Parliament secures a significant victory over the Royalists in Devon.* 13 March - Parliament captures Cornwall after Royalists surrender at Truro....
    
    )
  • 14 August - William Hutchinson, founder of Rhode Island (died 1642
    1642 in England
    Events from the year 1642 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 January - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape...
    
    )
  • Giles Fletcher
    Giles Fletcher
    Giles Fletcher was an English poet chiefly known for his long allegorical poem Christ's Victory and Triumph ....
    
    , poet (died 1623)
  • Gerard de Malynes
    Gerard de Malynes
    Gerard de Malynes was an independent merchant in foreign trade, an English commissioner in the Spanish Netherlands, a government advisor on trade matters, assay master of the mint, and commissioner of mint affairs.-Books:...
    
    , merchant (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....
    
    )
  • John Mason, explorer (died 1635)
• 1587
  • 5 June - Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
    Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
    Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick was an English colonial administrator, admiral, and puritan.Rich was the eldest son of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and his wife Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich, and succeeded to his father's title in 1619...
    
    , colonial administrator and admiral (died 1658
    1658 in England
    Events from the year 1658 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* 4 February - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Second Protectorate Parliament.* April - First stage coach services advertised; 4-day trips from London to Exeter, York, and Chester....
    
    )
  • July - George Yeardley
    George Yeardley
    Sir George Yeardley was a plantation owner and three time colonial Governor of the British Colony of Virginia. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for 10 months in 1609-10, he is best remembered...
    
    , colonial administrator in America (died 1627)
  • Nathaniel Field
    Nathaniel Field
    Nathan Field was an English dramatist and actor; his father was the Puritan preacher John Field and his brother Theophilus Field became the Bishop of Llandaff...
    
    , dramatist and actor (died 1620)
  • Francis Kynaston
    Francis Kynaston
    Sir Francis Kynaston or Kinaston was an English courtier and poet, noted for his translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde into Latin verse ; he also made a Latin translation of Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid.-Life:He was born at Oteley, near Ellesmere, Shropshire, eldest son...
    
    , courtier and poet (died 1642
    1642 in England
    Events from the year 1642 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 January - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape...
    
    )
  • Robert Sanderson
    Robert Sanderson
    Robert Sanderson was an English theologian and casuist.He was born in Sheffield in Yorkshire and grew up at Gilthwaite Hall, near Rotherham. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford. Entering the Church, he rose to be Bishop of Lincoln.His work on logic, Logicae Artis Compendium , was long a...
    
    , Bishop of Lincoln (died 1663
    1663 in England
    Events from the year 1663 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 10 January - The Royal African Company is granted a Royal Charter.* February - Parliament pressures King Charles into withdrawing a proposed Declaration of Indulgence....
    
    )
  • Virginia Dare
    Virginia Dare
    Virginia Dare was the first child born in the Americas to English parents, Eleanor and Ananias Dare. She was born into the short-lived Roanoke Colony in what is now North Carolina, USA. What became of Virginia and the other colonists remains a mystery...
    
    , Roanoke colonist
• 1588
  • 5 April - Thomas Hobbes
    Thomas Hobbes
    Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
    
    , philosopher (died 1679
    1679 in England
    Events from the year 1679 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 24 January - King Charles II dismisses the Cavalier Parliament over the Exclusion crisis.* 6 March - Charles II's third Parliament assembles and is led by the Privy Council Ministry....
    
    )
  • 11 June - George Wither
    George Wither
    George Wither was an English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist. He was a prolific writer who adopted a deliberate plainness of style; he was several times imprisoned. C. V...
    
    , poet and satirist (died 1667
    1667 in England
    Events from the year 1667 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 27 April - The blind, impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10....
    
    )
  • 18 June - Robert Crowley
    Robert Crowley (printer)
    Robert Crowley also Robertus Croleus, Roberto Croleo, Robart Crowleye, Robarte Crole, and Crule , was a stationer, poet, polemicist and Protestant clergyman who was among the Marian exiles at Frankfurt...
    
    , printer and poet
  • 10 September - Nicholas Lanier
    Nicholas Lanier
    Nicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere was an English composer, singer, lutenist and painter....
    
    , composer (died 1666
    1666 in England
    Events from the year 1666 in England. This is the first year to be designated as an Annus mirabilis, in John Dryden's 1667 poem so titled, celebrating England's failure to be beaten either by fire or by the Dutch.-Events:...
    
    )
  • John Danvers
    John Danvers
    Sir John Danvers was an English courtier and politician. He was one of the signatories of the death warrant of Charles I.-Life:Danvers was third and youngest son of Sir John Danvers of Dauntsey, Wiltshire, by Elizabeth Danvers...
    
    , politician (died 1655
    1655 in England
    Events from the year 1655 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* 22 January - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the First Protectorate Parliament.* 11 March–14 March - Penruddock uprising: a Royalist uprising in Wiltshire is quickly defeated....
    
    )
  • Robert Filmer
    Robert Filmer
    thumbnail|150px|right|Robert Filmer Sir Robert Filmer was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings...
    
    , political writer (died 1653
    1653 in England
    Events from the year 1653 in the Commonwealth of England.-Events:* 28 February–2 March - First Anglo–Dutch War: Battle of Portland.* 14 March - First Anglo–Dutch War: A Dutch fleet defeats the English at the Battle of Leghorn...
    
    )
  • Accepted Frewen
    Accepted Frewen
    Accepted Frewen was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of York from 1660 to 1664.He was born at Northiam, in Sussex, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where in 1612 he became a Fellow. In 1617 and 1621 the college allowed him to act as chaplain to Sir John Digby, ambassador...
    
    , churchman (died 1664
    1664 in England
    Events from the year 1664 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 12 March - Province of New Jersey becomes an English colony in North America.* 5 April - Passing of the Triennial Act....
    
    )

Deaths

• 1580
  • 30 November - Richard Farrant
    Richard Farrant
    Richard Farrant was a composer of English church music, also a choirmaster, playwright and theatrical producer noted for creating the Blackfriars Theatre that hosted children's companies.Very little is known about him...
    
    , composer (born 1530)
  • Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel
    Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel
    Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel was an English nobleman, who over his long life assumed a prominent place at the court of all the later Tudor sovereigns, probably the only person to do so.-Court career:...
    
    , nobleman (born 1511)
  • Thomas Tusser
    Thomas Tusser
    Thomas Tusser was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557. It contains the lines...
    
    , poet and farmer (born 1524)
  • John Heywood
    John Heywood
    John Heywood was an English writer known for his plays, poems, and collection of proverbs. Although he is best known as a playwright, he was also active as a musician and composer, though no works survive.-Life:...
    
    , dramatist (born 1497)
• 1581
  • 22 July - Richard Cox
    Richard Cox (bishop)
    Richard Cox was an English clergyman, who was Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Ely.-Biography:Cox was born of obscure parentage at Whaddon, Buckinghamshire, in 1499 or 1500....
    
    , bishop (born 1500)
  • 1 December
    • Edmund Campion
      Edmund Campion
      Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...
      
      , Jesuit (executed) (born 1540)
    • Alexander Briant
      Alexander Briant
      Saint Alexander Briant was an English Jesuit and martyr, executed at Tyburn.He was born in Somerset, and entered Hart Hall, Oxford , at an early age...
      
      , Jesuit priest (executed) (born 1556)
    • Ralph Sherwin
      Ralph Sherwin
      Saint Ralph Sherwin was an English Roman Catholic martyr and saint. He was born at Rodsley, Derbyshire, and was educated at Eton College...
      
      , Catholic priest (executed) (born 1550)
  • Nicholas Sanders
    Nicholas Sanders
    Nicholas Sanders was an English Roman Catholic priest and polemicist.-Early life:Sanders was born at Chariwood , Surrey, the son of William Sanders, once sheriff of Surrey, who was descended from the Sanders of Sanderstead...
    
    , Catholic priest and historian (born 1530)
• 1583
  • 9 June - Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex
    Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex
    Thomas Radclyffe 3rd Earl of Sussex was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland during the Tudor period of English history, and a leading courtier during the reign of Elizabeth I.- Family:...
    
    , Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1525)
  • 6 July - Edmund Grindal
    Edmund Grindal
    Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...
    
    , 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...
    
     (born 1519)
  • 9 September - Humphrey Gilbert
    Humphrey Gilbert
    Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...
    
    , English explorer (born c. 1537)
• 1584
  • 10 March - 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:...
    
    , politician and writer (born 1532)
  • 10 July - Francis Throckmorton
    Francis Throckmorton
    Sir Francis Throckmorton was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England.He was the son of Sir John Throckmorton and a nephew of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's diplomats. Sir John had held the post of Chief Justice of Chester but was removed in 1579, a year before his death...
    
    , conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I (born 1554)
  • 12 July - Steven Borough
    Steven Borough
    Steven Borough , English navigator, was born at Northam, Devon.In 1553 he took part in the expedition which was dispatched from the Thames under Sir Hugh Willoughby to look for a northern passage to Cathay and India, serving as master of the Edward Bonaventure, on which Richard Chancellor sailed as...
    
    , explorer (born 1525)
  • 23 July - John Day
    John Day (printer)
    John Day was an English Protestant printer. He specialised in printing and distributing Protestant literature and pamphlets, and produced many small-format religious books, such as ABCs, sermons, and translations of psalms...
    
    , Protestant printer (born 1522)
• 1585
  • 16 January - Edward Fiennes Clinton, admiral (born 1512)
  • 6 February - Edmund Plowden
    Edmund Plowden
    Sir Edmund Plowden was a distinguished English lawyer, legal scholar and theorist during the late Tudor period.-Life:...
    
    , legal scholar (born 1518)
  • 3 April - Thomas Goldwell
    Thomas Goldwell
    Thomas Goldwell was an English bishop, the last of those who had refused to accept the English Reformation.-Life:He began his career as rector of Cheriton in 1532, after graduating BA and then MA at All Souls College, Oxford.He became chaplain to Cardinal Pole and lived with him at Rome, was...
    
    , ecclesiastic
  • 21 June – Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland
    Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland
    Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 2nd Baron Percy was an English aristocrat and conspirator.-Life:He was born at Newburn Manor about 1532, was second of the two sons of Sir Thomas Percy, who was executed in 1537 as a chief actor in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and Eleanor Harbottle...
    
     (born 1532)
  • 6 July - Thomas Aufield
    Thomas Aufield
    The Blessed Thomas Aufield , also called Thomas Alfield, was an English Roman Catholic martyr. He was born in Gloucestershire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He then converted to Roman Catholicism and in 1576 fled to the English College at Douai, France. He was ordained...
    
    , Catholic martyr (born 1552)
  • 28 July – Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
    Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford
    Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG was an English nobleman, soldier and politician and godfather to Sir. Francis Drake.-Early life:...
    
     (born 1527)
  • 23 November - Thomas Tallis
    Thomas Tallis
    Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
    
    , English composer (born c. 1510)
• 1586
  • 24 March - Margaret Clitherow
    Margaret Clitherow
    Saint Margaret Clitherow is an English saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church. She is sometimes called "the Pearl of York".-Life:...
    
    , Catholic saint and martyr (born 1556)
  • 5 May - 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...
    
    , Lord Deputy of Ireland (born 1529)
  • 12 July - Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley
    Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley
    Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley was an English nobleman and soldier. Contemporary sources also refer to him as Sir Edward Dudley.-Life:...
    
     (born 1525)
  • 20 September
    • Sir Anthony Babington
      Anthony Babington
      Anthony Babington was convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots...
      
      , Catholic conspirator (executed) (born 1561)
    • Chidiock Tichborne
      Chidiock Tichborne
      Chidiock Tichborne is remembered as an English conspirator and poet.-Biography:He was born in Southampton sometime after 24 August 1562 to Roman Catholic parents, Peter Tichborne and his wife Elizabeth . His birth date has been given as circa 1558 in many sources, though unverified, and thus...
      
      , conspirator and poet (executed) (born 1558)
  • 17 October - Sir Philip Sidney
    Philip Sidney
    Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
    
    , English poet, courtier, and soldier (born 1554)
• 1587
  • January - Thomas Seckford
    Thomas Seckford
    Thomas Seckford was an official at the court of Queen Queen Elizabeth I.Born near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, Seckford was educated at Cambridge, and in 1540 entered Gray's Inn, Thomas became one of Queen Elizabeth I’s two Masters in Ordinary of the Court of Requests which dealt with poor men’s...
    
    , official (born 1515)
  • 30 March - Ralph Sadler
    Ralph Sadler
    Sir Ralph Sadler, PC, Knight banneret was an English statesman of the 16th century, and served as a Secretary of State for King Henry VIII.-Background:...
    
    , statesman (born 1507)
  • 8 April - 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...
    
    , author (born 1516)
  • 14 April - Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
    Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland
    Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland, 15th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG was the son of Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, whose titles he inherited in 1563....
    
     (born 1548)
  • 16 April - Anne Stanhope
    Anne Stanhope
    Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of his nephew King Edward VI, through whom Anne was briefly the most powerful woman in England...
    
    , Duchess of Somerset (born 1497)
  • Dudley Fenner
    Dudley Fenner
    Dudley Fenner was an English puritan divine. He helped popularize Ramist logic in the English language. Fenner was also one of the first theologians to use the term "covenant of works" to describe God's relationship with Adam in the Book of Genesis.-Life:He was born in Kent and educated at...
    
    , puritan divine (born c. 1558)
  • George Whetstone
    George Whetstone
    George Whetstone was an English dramatist and author.He was the third son of Robert Whetstone , a member of a wealthy family that owned the manor of Walcot at Barnack, near Stamford, Lincolnshire...
    
    , writer (born 1544)
• 1588
  • 18 June - Robert Crowley
    Robert Crowley (printer)
    Robert Crowley also Robertus Croleus, Roberto Croleo, Robart Crowleye, Robarte Crole, and Crule , was a stationer, poet, polemicist and Protestant clergyman who was among the Marian exiles at Frankfurt...
    
    , London stationer (born 1517)
  • 30 August - Margaret Ward
    Margaret Ward
    Saint Margaret Ward was an English Catholic martyr who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I for helping a priest to escape from prison. Her date of birth is unknown, but she was born in Congleton, Cheshire....
    
    , saint (year of birth unknown)
  • 3 September - Richard Tarlton
    Richard Tarlton
    Richard Tarlton , an English actor, was the most famous clown of his era.His birthplace is unknown, but reports of over a century later give it as Condover in Shropshire, with a later move to Ilford in Essex...
    
    , actor (born 1530)
  • 4 September - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
    Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
    Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...
    
    , politician (born 1532)
  • 1 October - Edward James
    Edward James (martyr)
    Blessed Edward James Blessed Edward James Blessed Edward James (born at Barton, Breaston, near Long Eaton, Derbyshire, c. 1557, executed at Chichester, Sussex, 1 October 1588, was an English Catholic priest and martyr.-Education:...
    
    , Catholic martyr, executed at Chichester
    Chichester
    Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
    
     (born c. 1557)
  • Edwin Sandys
    Edwin Sandys (archbishop)
    Archbishop Edwin Sandys was an English prelate.He was Anglican Bishop of Worcester , London and Archbishop of York during the reign of Elizabeth I of England...
    
    , prelate (born 1519)
• 1589
  • 21 February - Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
    Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick
    Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester...
    
     (born c. 1528)