istoryworld
All Events
Tobacco is grown in Europe's physic gardens for its medicinal qualities
A year after Mary has become queen of France, her husband Francis II dies
Mary Queen of Scots returns from France to Edinburgh, and to an inevitable clash with John Knox
Philip II begins construction of the palace and monastery known as the Escorial
The Northern Seven Years' War breaks out between Denmark and Sweden
The bishop of Transylvania, Ferenc Dávid, preaches that only God the Father is divine, launching the Unitarian faith
Marlowe and Shakespeare are born in the same year, with Marlowe the older by two months
Gabriele Fallopia invents the condom
Pieter Brueghel the Elder depicts biblical events taking place among the peasants of the Netherlands countryside
Mary Queen of Scots marries her Catholic cousin, Henry Darnley
Mary Queen of Scots' secretary, David Rizzio, is dragged from her presence and stabbed to death
Mary Queen of Scots' husband Darnley is treacherously involved in the murder of her secretary, Rizzio
The mathematician, astrologer and alchemist John Dee moves to a house in Mortlake on the site of the building now known as the Queen’s Head
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588
Darnley is murdered, almost certainly at the instigation of Mary Queen of Scots' lover, Bothwell, whom she marries just three months later
The duke of Alba introduces a reign of terror in the Spanish Netherlands, by means of a tribunal known as the Council of Blood
A casket of letters seems to incriminate Mary Queen of Scots herself in the murder of her husband, Darnley
The events of this year give the Protestant nobility the occasion and opportunity of deposing Mary Queen of Scots
On the removal of Mary from the Scottish throne, her one-year-old son succeeds her as James VI
Discovery of the Solomon Islands by a Spanish ship prompts interest in a possible Terra Australis Incognita ('unknown southern land')
Mary Queen of Scots flees across the border to seek the help of her English cousin, Elizabeth, but finds herself kept under close guard
A rebellion in the north of England aims to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne
Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator publishes a map of the world, using the projection now known by his name
Privateers frequent the Spanish main to plunder the richly laden caravels on their way home to Europe
The Ashanti establish a powerful kingdom in present-day Ghana, with their capital at Kumasi
