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Contents: political eventsexploration, colonization religion education literature art music food and drink |
Protestant rebels in the Lowlands meet at Breda in February with the Spanish governor-general, Luis de Requesens y Zuñiga. The emperor Maximilian II mediates, and Requesens agrees to withdraw troops and officials from the Netherlands (but see 1576).
French Catholic troops under Henri I de Lorraine, 3rd duc de Guise, defeat a Protestant army in October at the Battle of Dormans. The duc d'Alençon then allies himself with Henri de Navarre against the duke's brother Henri III. The king dresses in sweeping skirts, paints his face, douses himself in perfume, and surrounds himself with young male mignons following the death from puerperal fever of his maitresse en titre, the princess of Condé. His sister Marguerite and her husband, Henri de Navarre, are dependent on the king for money, and he is so profligate with the mignons that little is left for Marguerite and Henri.
English troops in Ireland massacre the family of Scots-Irish Ulster chieftain Somhairle Buidhe (Sorley Boy) MacDonnell, now 70, who raids Carrickfergus and reasserts his authority in the Glynns and the Route (see 1574). Queen Elizabeth acts on the advice of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and orders Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, to "break off his enterprise" (see 1576).
Poland's nobility elects a new king December 14. Influenced by the grand chamberlain Jan Zamojski, 34, they choose Transylvania's prince Stephen Bathóry, 42, who has Turkish support and will reign until 1586.
Piedmontese soldier-jurist Pierino Belli dies at Turin December 31 at age 73.
The Battle of Tukaroi in western Bengal March 3 ends in victory for the Mughal army of Akbar the Great. The Afghan sultan of Bengal Da'ud Khan helps Akbar's general Mun'im Khan scatter the Bengali army (see 1576).
Luanda is founded by Portuguese colonists in West Africa.
Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, dies at Lambeth, London, May 17 at age 71 after a primacy of 14½ years in which he has supervised the revision of former Archbishop Cranmer's 43 doctrinal articles of 1553 and organized a new translation of the Bible. Edmund Grindal, bishop of London, has opposed Parker's desire to enforce the requirement that Anglican priests wear the surplice and other relics of "popery," but Grindal will be appointed to the archbishopric next year in hopes that he will be able to intervene between moderate Puritans and more militant ones; Heinrich Bullinger dies at Zürich September 17 at age 71.
The University of Leyden has its beginnings in a college founded at the Dutch town.
Poetry: Jerusalem Delivered (Gerusalemme Liberata) by Torquato Tasso is an epic of the First Crusade.
Painting: El Greco arrives in Spain, having left his native Crete to study in Italy. Kyriakos Theotokopoulos, 34, has studied under Titian and will remain in Spain, settling at Toledo.
Sculpture: Mercury (bronze) by Flemish-born Italian sculptor Giovanni Bologna (Jean Bologna), 46, who has been attached to the Florentine court of the Medici family since 1558.
England's royal organist Thomas Tallis (or Tallys), 60, and his fellow organist-composer William Byrd, 33, receive a 21-year license January 22 from Elizabeth to print and sell music and music paper. They issue their joint work Cantiones quae ab arguments Sacrae vocantur,quinque et sex partium containing 16 motets by Tallis and 18 by Byrd, some of which will be given English translations and be sung for centuries as Anglican cathedral anthems.
The first European porcelain is created by order of Tuscany's Grand Duke Francesco Maria de' Medici, 34, but is far inferior to the Chinese porcelain imported by Portuguese caravels. Almost all Europeans eat off earthenware plates or wooden trenchers (see d'Entrecolles, 1712).
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