Discover

Year '1581' was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Contents

Events of 1581

Undated

Births

Deaths

Events of 1581

★ January 16 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism

★ April 4 - After circumnavigating the world Sir Francis Drake is knighted by Elizabeth I.

★ July 26 - The Northern Netherlands proclaim their independence from Spain in the Oath of Abjuration. They abjure loyalty to Philip II of Spain as their sovereign and become a Republic.

Undated

★ Robert Browne and his Brownist companions were obliged to leave England and went to Middelburg, in the Netherlands. See Congregational church

★ Russia begins the conquest of Siberia.

★ A mercenary army of Sweden under Pontus de la Gardie capture Narva from Russia.

★ Finland becomes a grand duchy.

Births

★ January 4 - James Ussher, Anglo-Irish priest and scholar (died 1656)

★ February 17 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest (d. 1653)

★ March 16 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian (died 1647)

★ October 9 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (died 1638)

★ October 21 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (died 1641)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Gasparo Aselli, Italian physician (died 1626)

★
★ Jeremias Drexel, Jesuit writer of devotional literature

★
★ Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (died 1621)

★
★ Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, French monk who introduced Jansenism into France (died 1643)

★
★ Charles Malapert, Belgian Jesuit writer (died 1630)

★
★ Łukasz Opaliński (1581-1654), Polish nobleman (died 1654)

★
★ Thomas Overbury, English poet and essayist (died 1613)

★
★ Johannes Rudbeckius, bishop at Västerås (died 1646)

★
★ Choghtu Khong Tayiji, ruler of the Khalkha Mongols (died 1637)

★ ''probable''

★
★ Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist (died 1639)

★
★ Sisto Badalocchio, Italian painter and engraver (died 1647)
: ''See also .''

Deaths

★ April 25 - Okabe Motonobu, Japanese warrior

★ May 31 - Jan Kostka (1529-1581), Polish noble (b. 1529)

★ June 2 - James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland (born 1525)

★ July 11 - Peder Skram, Danish senator and naval officer (b. 1500)

★ July 22 - Richard Cox, English bishop (b. 1500)

★ August 21 - Sakuma Nobumori, Japanese retainer and samurai (b. 1527)

★ September 1 - Guru Ram Das, fourth Sikh Guru (born 1534)

★ September 30 - Hubert Languet, French diplomat and reformer (b. 1518)

★ October 9 - Saint Louis Bertrand, Spanish missionary to Latin America, patron saint of Colombia (b. 1526)

★ October 23 - Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1529)

★ November 7 - Richard Davies, Welsh bishop and scholar (b. c1505)

★ December 1

★
★ Edmund Campion, English Jesuit (martyred) (b. 1540)

★
★ Ralph Sherwin, English Catholic saint (martyred) (born 1550)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Christopher Báthory, prince of Transylvania (b. 1530)

★
★ Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish conquistador (b. c1492)

★
★ Guillaume Postel, French linguist (b. 1510)

★
★ Nicholas Sanders, English Catholic propagandist (b. 1530)
: ''See also .''