1592
1592 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. As of the start of 1592, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
- January 30 - Pope Clement VIII succeeds Pope Innocent IX, who died one month earlier, as the 231st pope.
- February 7 - George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, sets fire to Donibristle Castle in Scotland and murders James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray.
- March 3 - Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland's oldest university, is founded.
- March 14 - Ultimate Pi Day: the largest correspondence between calendar dates and significant digits of pi since the introduction of the Julian calendar.
- April 4 - The future Henry IV of France, King designate of Henry III of France, announces in a declaration, so-called "Expedient," his intention to take instruction in, and convert to, the Catholic religion.
- April 13 - The Japanese invasions of Korea begin with the Siege of Busanjin.
- April 24 - Battle of Sangju: The Japanese are victorious over the Koreans.
- April 28 - Battle of Ch'ungju: Japan inflicts a decisive defeat on Korea.
- May 7
- * Battle of Okpo: The Korean navy is victorious over Japan.
- * 1592–1593 Malta plague epidemic begins with Tuscan galleys arriving from Alexandria in Egypt.
- May 20-August 19 - Battle of Flores, a series of naval engagements in the Azores in which the English are victorious, taking the great Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus on or about August 3.
- May 29 - Battle of Sacheon: Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin destroys all 13 Japanese ships taking part, using his improved turtle ship for the first time in battle.
- June 2 - Battle of Dangpo:The Korean navy is again victorious over Japan.
- June 10-19 - Siege of Bihać in the Kingdom of Croatia, by Telli Hasan Pasha of the Ottoman Empire. Bihać is captured and lost for Croatia forever.
July–December
- July 20 - The Japanese capture the Korean capital Pyongyang, causing Seonjo to request the assistance of Ming dynasty Chinese forces, who recapture the city a year later.
- July 30 - Alonso de Sotomayor petitions the viceroy of Peru for more troops to help resist attacks by Indians and English pirates.
- August - 1592–1593 London plague breaks out in England.
- August 9 - English explorer John Davis, commander of the Desire, probably discovers the Falkland Islands.
- August 14 - Battle of Hansan Island: The Korean navy defeats the Japanese.
- September 1 - Battle of Busan: The Korean fleet makes a surprise attack on the Japanese but fails to break their supply lines to Busan.
- September 7 - The captured Madre de Deus enters Dartmouth harbour in England and is then subjected to mass theft.
- October 5 - Siege of Jinju: The Korean navy is victorious over the Japanese.
- November 3 - The city of San Luis Potosí is founded.
- November 17 - John III is succeeded by his son Sigismund as King of Sweden.
- November 12 - The Collegium Melitense is founded in Malta by Bishop Garagallo.
Date unknown
- William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is taken seriously ill.
- Negotiations begin for the annullment of the childless marriage of Henry IV of France and Marguerite of Valois.
- The Confucian shrine of Munmyo in Korea is destroyed by fire.
- The Population Census Edict is promulgated in Japan by Toyotomi Hidetsugu.
- Henry Constable's Diana, one of the first sonnet sequences in English, is published in London.
Births
January–June
- January 5 - Shah Jahan, 5th Mughal Emperor of India from 1628 to 1658
- January 22
- * Philippe Alegambe, Belgian Jesuit priest and bibliographer
- * Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher and scientist
- February 5 - Vincenzo della Greca, Italian architect
- February 22 - Nicholas Ferrar, English trader
- February 23 - Balthazar Gerbier, Dutch painter
- March 20 - Giovanni da San Giovanni, Italian painter
- March 28 - Comenius, Czech teacher and writer
- April 4 - Abraham Elzevir, Dutch printer
- April 9 - Jiří Třanovský, Czech priest and musician
- April 11 - John Eliot, Member of Parliament, Statesman, Vice-Admiral of Devon
- April 15 - Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Catholic cardinal
- April 22 - Wilhelm Schickard, German inventor
- April 24
- * Marcos Ramírez de Prado y Ovando, Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Mexico
- * Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet, British baronet
- May 8 - Francis Quarles, English poet most famous for his Emblem book aptly entitled Emblems
- May 14 - Alice Barnham, wife of English scientific philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon
- June 7 - Balthasar Cordier, Belgian Jesuit exegete, editor
- June 9 - Jean de Brisacier, French Jesuit
- June 13
- * Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noblewoman
- * Tobias Michael, German composer and cantor
July–December
- July 10 - Pierre d'Hozier, French historian
- July 20 - Johan Björnsson Printz, governor of New Sweden
- August 1 - François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet
- August 7 - Arnauld de Oihenart, Basque historian and poet
- August 11 - Carlo de Tocco, Italian nobleman
- August 13 - William of Nassau-Hilchenbach, German count
- August 16 - Wybrand de Geest, Dutch painter
- August 28 - George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English statesman
- August 29 - Sir Benjamin Ayloffe, 2nd Baronet, English politician
- September 1 - Maria Angela Astorch, Spanish mystic and saint
- September 5 - Jacopo Vignali, Italian painter
- September 15 - Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo
- September 18 - Jean Guyon, French colonist
- September 20 - Nicholas Stoughton, English politician
- September 21 - Nathaniel Foote, American colonist
- September 24 - Christopher Wandesford, English administrator and politician
- September 25 - Herman Krefting, Norwegian businessman
- October 7 - Henry Wenceslaus, Duke of Oels-Bernstadt, Duke of Bernstadt
- October 13 - Christian Gueintz, German teacher and writer-grammarian
- October 22 - Gustav Horn, Count of Pori, Swedish/Finnish soldier and politician
- October 30 - Giulio Benso, Italian painter
- November 4
- * Gerard van Honthorst, Dutch painter
- * Albrecht von Kalckstein, German noble
- November 5 - Charles Chauncy, English-born president of Harvard College
- November 13 - Antonio Grassi, Italian priest and blessed
- November 28 - Hong Taiji, Emperor of China
- December 5 - Thomas Bennet, successful civil lawyer
- December 6 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle
- December 9 - Krzysztof Arciszewski, Polish-Lithuanian noble
- December 29 - Johannes Matthiae Gothus, Swedish academic
Date unknown
- Catalina de Erauso, Spanish-Mexican nun and soldier
- Richard Bellingham, American colonial magistrate
- John Hacket, English churchman
- Angélique Paulet, French salonnière, singer, musician and actress
- Ingen, Chinese Zen Buddhist poet, calligrapher
- John Jenkins, English composer
- John Oldham, early English settler in Massachusetts
- Walatta Petros, saint in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
- Sara Copia Sullam, Italian poet and writer
Probable
- Étienne Brûlé, French explorer in Canada
Deaths
- January 5 - William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, German nobleman
- January 22 - Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France
- January 27 - Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter
- February 2 - Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli, Spanish noble
- February 29 - Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer
- March 4 - Christopher, Duke of Mecklenburg and administrator of Ratzeburg
- March 5 - Michiel Coxie, Flemish painter
- March 22 - Johann VII, Duke of Mecklenburg, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
- April 8 - Dorothea Susanne of Simmern, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar
- April 13 - Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor
- April 18 - George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz
- April 21 - Christoph, Count of Hohenzollern-Haigerloch
- May 17 - Paschal Baylon, Spanish mystic and saint
- May 24 - Nikolaus Selnecker, German musician
- June 17 - Ernst Ludwig, Duke of Pomerania
- July 1 - Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer
- July 4 - Francesco Bassano the Younger, Italian painter
- July 6 - John George of Ohlau, Duke of Oława and Wołów
- July 18 - Sibylle of Saxony, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg
- July 22 - Ludwig Rabus, German martyrologist
- July 26 - Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, French soldier
- August 20 - William the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- August 25
- * William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
- * Shimazu Toshihisa, Japanese samurai
- September 3 - Robert Greene, English writer
- September 13 - Michel de Montaigne, French essayist
- September 20 - Francisco Vallés, Spanish physician
- October 15 - Jean Vendeville, law professor, Roman Catholic bishop
- October 19 - Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, English politician
- October 28 - Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Flemish diplomat
- November 17 - King John III of Sweden
- November 27 - Nakagawa Hidemasa, Japanese military commander
- December 3 - Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
- Date unknown
- * Moderata Fonte, Italian poet, writer and philosopher
- * Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Spanish explorer
- * Katharina Gerlachin, German printer
- * Girolamo Muziano, Italian painter