1587 Births

Events

January–June

* February 1 – Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, after Mary has been implicated in a plot to murder Elizabeth. Seven days later, on the orders of Elizabeth's privy council, Mary is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.
* February 12– 24 – Period of exceptionally severe cold in western Europe.
* April 29 – ''Singeing the King of Spain's Beard'': On an expedition against Spain, English privateer Sir Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet.
* May 19 – John Davis sets out from Dartmouth, Devon, for a third attempt to find the Northwest Passage.

July–December

* July 22 – Roanoke Colony: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off North Carolina, to re-establish the deserted colony.
* August 18 – According to legend, Saul Wahl is named king of Poland; he is deposed the following day.
* August 19 – Polish and Lithuanian nobles elect Sigismund III Vasa as their king.
* August 27 – Governor John White leaves the Roanoke Colony to get more supplies from England.
* October 1 – Shāh ‘Abbās I "The Great" succeeds as Shahanshah of Iran.
* October 18 – Landing of the first Filipinos: The first Filipinos in North America land in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo in modern-day California.
* October 20 – Battle of Coutras: Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry; Joyeuse is killed.
* October 31 – Leiden University Library opens its doors, after its founding in 1575.

Date unknown

* Toyotomi Hideyoshi becomes Daijō-daijin of Japan and concludes the Kyūshū Campaign with the Siege of Kagoshima at which most of Kyushu is surrendered to him; he banishes European Christian missionaries from the province.
* A severe famine breaks out in Ming dynasty China.
* The Rose (theatre) is founded in London by Philip Henslowe.
* The chapbook '' Historia von D. Johann Fausten'', printed by Johann Spies in Frankfurt, is the first published version of the Faust story.
* Everard Digby's ''De Arte Natandi'', the first treatise on swimming in England, is published.
* St. Dominic's Church, Macau is established.
* Hailuoto, an island in the Bothnian Bay, is separated from the grand parish of Saloinen into an independent parish.

Births

* January 2 – Anders Arrebo, Danish writer (d. 1637)
* January 5 – Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer and geographer (d. 1641)
* January 6 – Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish politician (d. 1645)
* January 8
** Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629)
** Johannes Fabricius, Frisian/German astronomer (d. 1616)
* January 12 – John Winthrop, English Puritan lawyer (d. 1649)
* February 1 – Pál Esterházy, Hungarian noble (d. 1645)
* February 3 – Dorothea Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst (d. 1609)
* February 20 – Emanuel Sueyro, Dutch historian, translator, spymaster (d. 1629)
* February 26 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
* March 17 – David Lindsay, 1st Lord Balcarres, Scottish politician and noble (d. 1642)
* April 1 – Sir John Mill, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1648)
* April 2 – Virginia Centurione Bracelli, Italian saint (d. 1651)
* April 18 – Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet, Member of the Parliament of England (d. 1628)
* April 26
** Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1626)
** Abraham van der Haagen, Dutch painter (d. 1639)
* April 28 – Krzysztof Ossoliński, Polish nobleman (d. 1645)
* April 29 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)
* April 30 – Éléonore de Bourbon, Dutch princess (d. 1619)
* May 7 – Richard Newport, 1st Baron Newport, English politician (d. 1651)
* May 8 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy)
* May 17 – Esaias van de Velde, Dutch painter (d. 1630)
*May - Esaias van de Velde, Dutch landscape painter (died 1630)
* May 26 – Susan de Vere, Countess of Montgomery, English noblewoman (d. 1628)
* June 2 – Willem Bontekoe, skipper in the Dutch East India Company (d. 1657)
* June 5 – Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658)
* June 11 – Sir Thomas Jervoise, English politician (d. 1654)
* June 15 – Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1640)
* June 21 – Kaspar von Barth, German philologist and writer (d. 1658)
* June 24
** William Arnold, American settler (d. 1676)
** Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger, Danish architect (d. 1639)
* July 4 – Magdalene of Bavaria, Consort of Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg (d. 1628)
* August 16 – Khusrau Mirza, Mughal prince (d. 1622)
* August 18 – Virginia Dare, Virginia colony settler
* August 23 – Johann Friedrich, Count Palatine of Sulzbach-Hilpoltstein (1614–1644) (d. 1644)
* August 28 – Christian William of Brandenburg, administrator of bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt (d. 1665)
* September 1 – Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, 3rd Duke of Feria, Spanish general (d. 1634)
* September 3 – Countess Juliane of Nassau-Siegen (1587–1643), Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, Landgravine of Hesse-kassel (d. 1643)
* September 18 – Francesca Caccini, Italian composer
* September 19
** Robert Sanderson (theologian), Robert Sanderson, English theologian and casuist (d. 1663)
** Mu Zeng, Chinese politician (d. 1646)
* October 8 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire, English politician (d. 1669)
* October 17 – Nathan Field, English dramatist and actor (d. 1620)
* October 18 – Philippe-Charles, 3rd Count of Arenberg (d. 1640)
* October 19 – Thomas Dacres, English politician (d. 1668)
* October 22 – Joachim Jungius, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1657)
* October 23 – Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Baronet of Harrow on the Hill, English politician (d. 1670)
* November 3 – Samuel Scheidt, German composer (d. 1653)
* November 17
** Charles Lallemant, French Jesuit (d. 1674)
** Joost van den Vondel, Dutch dramatist and poet (d. 1679)
* November 25 – Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1666)
* December 13 – Emmanuel Stupanus, Swiss physician (d. 1664)
* December 19 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey (1618–1645) (d. 1645)
* December 30 – Simon VII, Count of Lippe-Detmold (1613–1627) (d. 1627)
* ''date unknown''
** William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh (d. 1643)
** Francis Kynaston, English courtier and poet (d. 1642)
** Yun Seondo, Korean politician and poet (d. 1671)
** Song Yingxing, Chinese encyclopedist (d. 1666)
** George Yeardley, English colonial administrator in America (d. 1627)

Deaths

* January 31 – Juraj Drašković, Croatian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1525)
* January – Thomas Seckford, English official (b. 1515)
* February 8 – Mary, Queen of Scots (executed) (b. 1542)
* February 9 – Vincenzo Ruffo, Italian composer (b. 1510)
* February 13 – Dorothea of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (b. 1563)
* February 22 – Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach, princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1535)
* February 26 – Magdalene of Lippe, Countess of Lippe by birth, and Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1552)
* March 15 – Caspar Olevian, German theologian (b. 1536)
* March 30 – Ralph Sadler, English statesman (b. 1507)
* April 10 – Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (b. 1542)
* April 11 – Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530)
* April 8 – John Foxe, English author (b. 1516)
* April 14 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1549)
* April 16 – Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (b. c. 1510)
* May 9 – Jakob Schegk, German physician (b. 1511)
* May 17 – Gotthard Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (b. 1517)
* May 29 – Ignatius Ni'matallah, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch (b. )
* June 11 – Ōtomo Sōrin, Japanese Christian daimyō (b. 1530)
* June 15 – Frederick II, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (b. 1568)
* June 23 – Ōmura Sumitada, Japanese Christian daimyō (b. 1533)
* July 7 – Joachim of Zollern, Titular Count of Hohenzollern (b. 1554)
* July 28 – Godfried van Mierlo, Dutch Dominican Order, Dominican friar and bishop (b. 1518)
* August 14 – Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (b. 1538)
* August 29 – Vincenzo Bellavere, Italian composer (b. c. 1540)
* September 3 – Henry Cheyne, 1st Baron Cheyne, English politician and baron (b. 1540)
* September 19 – Jacobus Pamelius, Belgian bishop (b. 1536)
* October 19 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)
* October 20 – Anne de Joyeuse, Duke of Joyeuse, French commander, (b. 1560)
* November 1 – Alfonso d'Este, Lord of Montecchio, Italian nobleman (b. 1527)
* November 10 – Abe Motozane, Japanese warlord (b. 1513)
* November 13 – Hai Rui, Ming Dynasty "model official" (b. 1514)
* December 11 – Andreas Gaill, German jurist and statesman (b. 1526)
* ''date unknown''
** Dudley Fenner, English Puritan divine (b. c. 1558)
** Jan Tarło (1527–1587), Jan Tarło, Polish nobleman (b. 1527)
* ''probable'' – George Whetstone, English writer (b. 1544)

References

* Ray Huang, Huang, Ray. ''1587, a Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline'' (Yale University Press, 1982), on China during the Ming dynasty.
* Ott, Michael R. ''Fünfzehnhundertsiebenundachtzig: Literatur, Geschichte und die Historia von D. Johann Fausten'' (Frankfurt am Main, 2014
online

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