1584
1584 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. As of the start of 1584, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
- January-March - Archangelsk is founded as New Kholmogory in northern Russia, by Ivan the Terrible.
- January 11 - Sir Walter Mildmay is given a royal licence to found Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
- March 18 - Ivan the Terrible, ruler of Russia since 1533, dies; he is succeeded as Tsar by his son, Feodor.
- May 17 - The conflict between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu culminates in the Battle of Nagakute.
- June 1 - With the death of the Duc d'Anjou, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre becomes heir-presumptive to the throne of France.
- June 4 - Walter Raleigh sends Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Outer Banks of Virginia, with a view to establishing an English colony; they locate Roanoke Island.
- June 11 - Walk, receive city rights from Polish king Stefan Bathory.
July–December
- July - The Siege of Antwerp begins.
- July 5 - The Maronite College is established in Rome, Papal States.
- July 10 - William I of Orange is assassinated.
- September 17 - Ghent falls into the hands of Alexander Farnese, governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
- December - The Treaty of Joinville is signed secretly between the French Catholic League and Spain.
Date unknown
- Ratu Hijau becomes queen regnant of the once Malay Pattani Kingdom.
- Belgian cartographer and geographer Abraham Ortelius features Ming Dynasty-era Chinese carriages with masts and sails, in his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; concurrent and later Western writers also take note of this peculiar Chinese invention.
- This year, according to Italian heretic Jacopo Brocardo, is regarded as an apocalyptic inauguration of a major new cycle.
Births
- January 1 - Charles de Lorme, French physician
- January 7 - Karan Singh II, Maharana of Mewar
- January 29 - Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
- February 9 - Francesco Maria Richini, Italian architect
- February 12 - Caspar Barlaeus, Dutch polymath
- February 18 - Philippe de Carteret II, son of Philippe de Carteret I
- February 19 - Angelo Nardi, Italian painter
- February 26 - Albert VI of Bavaria
- March 15 - Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
- March 22 - Grégoire de Saint-Vincent, Flemish Jesuit and mathematician
- March 26 - John II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
- March 29 - Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English parliamentary general
- April 6 - Bridget de Vere, Countess of Berkshire, English countess
- April 10 - Sibylle Elisabeth of Württemberg, Duchess consort of Saxony
- April 20 - Sir John Langham, 1st Baronet, English Member of Parliament
- April 23 - Jorge de Cárdenas y Manrique de Lara, Spanish noble
- April 29 - Melchior Teschner, German cantor, composer and theologian
- May 17 - John Jacob Hess, Swiss minister
- May 23 - Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff, Austrian diplomat
- May 27 - Michael Altenburg, German composer
- June 6 - Yuan Chonghuan, Chinese politician, military general and writer
- June 15 - Anna Sophie of Anhalt, German noblewoman
- June 16 - Archduchess Maria of Austria
- June 25 - Richard Strode, English politician
- June 26 - Robert Cholmondeley, 1st Earl of Leinster, English politician
- July 17 - Agnes of Brandenburg, Duchess of Pomerania, later Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg
- July 26 - Gaspard III de Coligny, Marshal of France
- August 1 - Emanuel Scrope, 1st Earl of Sunderland, English earl
- August 10 - John Casimir, Count of Erbach-Breuberg
- August 11 - Philip Ernest, Count of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
- August 13 - Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician
- August 28 - Richard Treat, American city founder
- August 29 - Patrick Young, Scottish librarian
- September 11 - Thomas van Erpe, Dutch Orientialist, cartographer
- September 13 - Francis Julius of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prince
- September 15 - Georg Rudolf Weckherlin, German poet
- September 16 - Giulio Roma, Italian Catholic cardinal
- September 17 - John Finch, 1st Baron Finch, English judge
- October 10 - Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
- November 3 - Jean-Pierre Camus, French Catholic bishop
- November 10 - Catherine of Sweden, Countess Palatine of Kleeburg
- November 16 - Barbara Sophie of Brandenburg, duchess consort and later regent of Württemberg
- November 18 - Gaspar de Crayer, Flemish painter
- December 15 - Queen Inmok, Korean royal consort
- December 16 - John Selden, English jurist
- December 25 - Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain
- December 27 - Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania
- December 28 - Juan de Dicastillo, Spanish theologian
- date unknown
- *William Baffin, English explorer
- * Francis Beaumont, English dramatist
- * Antonio Cifra, Italian composer
- * Matthias Gallas, Austrian soldier
- * Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese samurai, artist, philosopher
- * John Hales, English theologian
- * Hu Zhengyan, Chinese artist, printmaker, calligrapher and publisher
- * Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull
- * Mathieu Molé, French statesman
- * Herman Wrangel, Swedish soldier and politician
- * Chiara Varotari, Italian Baroque painter
Deaths
- January 4 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and drawer
- January 11 - Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish constiquador
- January 15 - Martha Leijonhufvud, politically active Swedish noble
- February 18 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer
- February 19 - Anna de' Medici, Tuscan princess
- March 10 - Thomas Norton, English politician and writer
- March 18 - Tsar Ivan IV of Russia
- May 10 - Luigi Cornaro, Italian Catholic cardinal
- March 12 - Kasper Franck, German theologian
- May 18 - Ikeda Tsuneoki, Japanese daimyō and military commander
- May 25 - Prospero Spani, Italian sculptor
- June 10 - François, Duke of Anjou
- June 13 - János Zsámboky, Hungarian scholar
- July - Francis Throckmorton, conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England
- July 10 - William I of Orange
- July 12 - Steven Borough, English explorer
- July 14 - Balthasar Gérard, French assassin of William I of Orange
- July 23 - John Day, English Protestant printer
- August 22 - Jan Kochanowski, Polish writer
- October - Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll, Scottish nobleman and politician
- November 3 - Charles Borromeo, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and saint
- November 17 - Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- December 26 - Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Italian Catholic cardinal
- date unknown
- *Jan Borukowski, royal secretary of Poland
- * Yi I of Joseon, Korean Confucian scholar
- * Elena Anguissola, Italian painter and nun
- *Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł, Polish magnate
- *Carolus Sigonius, Italian humanist
- *Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, viceroy of Peru
- *Michal Wisniowiecki, prince at Wiśniowiec
- probable - James Balfour of Pittendreich, Scottish judge and politician