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Former English lord lieutenant of Ireland Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd earl of Sussex, dies at London June 9 at age 57 (approximate). Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th (or 15th) earl of Desmond, leads Irish insurgents against the brutal oppression by their English overlords but is killed in a minor skirmish at Glenageenty, County Kerry, November 11 at age 45 (approximate), ending the hostilities that have devastated Munster.
Another plot to overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth comes to light following the return from the Continent of Roman Catholic conspirator Francis Throckmorton (or Throgmorton), 29, who has conspired with exiles to have Henri I de Lorraine, 3rd duc de Guise, lead a French invasion force which would release Mary, Queen of Scots, and restore papal authority. Sir Francis Walsingham uncovers the conspiracy, Throckmorton is arrested in November, and when tortured on the rack he makes full confession (see 1584).
Dutch forces from the seven United Provinces sympathetic to Spain occupy the mouth of the Scheldt River, blocking Protestant-held Antwerp from sea trade (see 1581; 1584).
Humphrey Gilbert takes possession of Newfoundland in the name of Elizabeth August 5 (see 1578). He tries to make the first English settlement in the New World but is lost on his return voyage. The colonists he has left behind in Newfoundland will disappear (see Virginia, 1584).
England's minister to Turkey, William Harborne, trades English woolens, tin, mercury, and amber for spices, cotton goods, silks, and dyes.
Spain dominates the world sugar trade and sells Brazilian sugar at high prices for use by European aristocrats and capitalists.
The first life insurance policy of record is issued January 18 on the life of "William Gybbons, citizen and salter of London." The annual premium is £32, and when Gybbons dies within the year his beneficiaries will collect £400 (see Tontine, 1653).
Italian mathematician Galileo Galilei, 19, attends services at the Pisa Cathedral and notices that a lamp suspended from the ceiling swings irregularly, alternating between wide arcs and narrow ones as breezes catch it in the drafty building. Measuring seconds by his own pulse, he observes that each swing takes exactly the same amount of time, whether the arc is wide or narrow. This will prove to be true only for relatively small swings, but the observation will lead to the use of pendulums in clocks, reducing the average timing error from 15 minutes per day to less than 10 seconds (see 1586; technology [pendulum clock], 1640).
De Plantis by Italian physician-botanist Andrea Cesalpino, 64, contains the first modern classification of plants based on a comparative study of forms (see Linnaeus, 1737).
A landmark book on eye surgery by German physician Georg Bartisch is published at Dresden.
Edmund Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury, dies at Croyden, Surrey, July 6 at age 64 (approximate), having alienated the queen in his 6 years as archbishop; he is succeeded by John Whitgift, 53, bishop of Worcester, who reverses Grindel's policy of trying to conciliate Puritans. Whitgift does not persecute them, but sends his chaplain to look for those practicing Presbyterianism in secret, find those responsible for circulating the Puritan Marprelate tracts, and persuading them to conform.
Nonfiction: The Names of Christ (De los Nombres de Cristo) by Spanish poet-theologian Fray Louis Ponce de León, 56, who was imprisoned by the Inquisition in 1572 but was absolved in 1576. His work is a Platonic discussion of the nature of Christ; The Perfect Wife (La Perfecta Casada) by Fray Louis is a handbook on the duties of a wife (his poetry will not be published until 1631); Study on the Improvement of Time (Opus emendatatione tempore) by French philologist-historian Joseph Justus Scaliger, 43, compares computations of time made by various civilizations in antiquity, corrects their errors, and places chronology for the first time on a scientific basis. Scaliger moved to Geneva after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre 12 years ago but returned to France 2 years later.
Sculpture: Rape of the Sabine Women by Giovanni da Bologna for the court of the Medicis at Florence. The marble work stands 13 feet six inches high.
Architect-painter-landscape gardener Pirro Ligorio dies at Ferrara in October at age 73 (approximate), having designed the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, the Casino of Pope Pius IV in the Vatican Gardens, and other works, decorating them with a profusion of stucco ornament.
An English manual says, "Picke not thy teeth with a forkette," but few people eat with forks (see Coryate, 1611; Washington, 1747).
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