History
1581
General
Population: 525 Million*
- Entertainment: Writers include George Peele (pastoral play), Richard Mulcaster (educational treatise), Lancelot Popeliniere (contemporary history),
English translation of treatise on courtesy and good behavior,
Art includes Caravaggio "Martyrdom of St. Maurice",
Music includes Corsoso (treatise on ballet techniques), Ballet given to French court,
Vincenzo Galilei writes dialogue on modern music, Anthology of Dutch songs written,
- Fashion: Sedan chairs come into general use
- Religion: Pope Gregory XIII attempts to reconcile Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches,
- Science: William Borough writes discourse on the variation of magnetic compass
Galileo Galilei discovers isochronous property of the pendulum
- Deaths: Jesuit missionary Edmund Campion tried for treason and executed
Europe
- General: Portuguese Cortes submits to Philip II of Spain
- England: Earl of Morton executed for complicity in Lord Darnley's murder
Elizabeth I knights Francis Drake at Deptford
Edmund Campion the English Jesuit missionary tried for treason and executed
Gaol fever (typhus) outbreak
- Holland: Union of Utrecht (Republic of Seven United Netherlands) declares itself the Dutch Republic (independent of Spain) and elects William of Orange as its ruler
- Poland: Stephen Bathroy the King of Poland invades Russia
- Russia: Russian conquest of Siberia
Poland invades
Ivan the Terrible kills eldest son in fit of rage
- Scotland: James VI of Scotland signs Second Confession of Faith
Middle East
- General: Akbar of India conquers Afghanistan
England creates the Turkey Trading Company to trade with Middle East
- Persia: Persia desolated by famine and plague