1578 - Wikiwand

1578 (MDLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday in the Julian calendar.

Quick Facts

1578 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1578 MDLXXVIII
Ab urbe condita	2331
Armenian calendar	1027 ԹՎ ՌԻԷ
Assyrian calendar	6328
Balinese saka calendar	1499–1500
Bengali calendar	984–985
Berber calendar	2528
English Regnal year	20 Eliz. 1 – 21 Eliz. 1
Buddhist calendar	2122
Burmese calendar	940
Byzantine calendar	7086–7087
Chinese calendar	丁丑年 (Fire Ox) 4275 or 4068 — to — 戊寅年 (Earth Tiger) 4276 or 4069
Coptic calendar	1294–1295
Discordian calendar	2744
Ethiopian calendar	1570–1571
Hebrew calendar	5338–5339
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1634–1635
- Shaka Samvat	1499–1500
- Kali Yuga	4678–4679
Holocene calendar	11578
Igbo calendar	578–579
Iranian calendar	956–957
Islamic calendar	985–986
Japanese calendar	Tenshō 6 (天正６年)
Javanese calendar	1497–1498
Julian calendar	1578 MDLXXVIII
Korean calendar	3911
Minguo calendar	334 before ROC 民前334年
Nanakshahi calendar	110
Thai solar calendar	2120–2121
Tibetan calendar	མེ་མོ་གླང་ལོ་ (female Fire-Ox) 1704 or 1323 or 551 — to — ས་ཕོ་སྟག་ལོ་ (male Earth-Tiger) 1705 or 1324 or 552

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Events

January–March

January 13 – The Siege of Gvozdansko ends in the Kingdom of Croatia as Ottoman Empire troops led by Ferhad Pasha Sokolović capture the fortress at Gvozdansko.^[1]
January 31 – Battle of Gembloux: Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese defeat the Dutch; Farnese begins to recover control of the French-speaking Southern Netherlands.^[2]
February 6 – Pope Gregory XIII issues the papal bull Illius fulti praesidio and creates the Diocese of Manila, the first Roman Catholic diocese in the Philippines, with Domingo de Salazar as the first Bishop of Manila.^[3] The diocese will be raised to the status of archdiocese on August 14, 1595.
February 8 – The city council of Amsterdam in the Netherlands ratifies a treaty placing the city under the authority of Willem, Prince of Orange, and joining the States of Holland.^[4]
February 12 – Mohammad Khodabanda, older brother of the late Shah Ismail II, begins his reign as the new Shah of Persia (now Iran) after entering the Persian capital at Qazvin, after removing his sister Pari Khan Khanum, who had exercised regal authority after Ismail's death.^[5] His first act as ruler is to have Pari Khan Khanum strangled to death.
February 13 – Two days after the Battle of Gembloux, Spanish troops capture the city of Leuven, forcing Willem, Prince of Orange, to flee Brussels and relocate to Antwerp.Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (Cornell University Press, 1977) p.186
March 11 – Nicolò da Ponte is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Venice after 44 ballots, following the March 3 death of Sebastiano Venier.^[6]
March 20
- James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, the last of the regents for King James VI of Scotland, resigns after having served as regent since November 24, 1572.
- The Belgian city of Bruges, controlled by Spain, falls to Dutch rebels.^[7]

April–June

April 23 – (17th day of 3rd month, Tensho 6) The Siege of Otate begins in Japan after the death of Uesugi Kenshin, the warlord of the Echigo Province.
April 27 – The Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two favorites of Henry III of France, and two favourites of Henry I, Duke of Guise.^[8]
May 26 – The Alteratie takes place in Amsterdam, expelling the 24 Catholic members of the 40-man city government, and forming a new council is formed with 30 Calvinist Protestants and 10 Catholics.
May 31 – Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich in England with 15 ships to North America, where he will arrive at Frobisher Bay in July on his third expedition.
June 11 – Humphrey Gilbert is granted letters patent from the English crown to establish a colony in North America.^[9]
June 20 – The Frobisher expedition reaches Greenland.
June 30 – After having come into conflict on May 17 with his fellow officer, Thomas Doughty, during their circumnavigation of the world, Francis Drake puts Doughty on trial while the flagship Pelican is docked at what is now Argentina. A jury of sailors convicts Doughty of treason and attempted mutiny. Doughty is beheaded on July 2.^[10]

July–September

July 2 – The Frobisher expedition reaches Canada and enters what is now Frobisher Bay. One of the ships, the Dennis, is wrecked on an iceberg.
July 31
- At the Battle of Rijmenam, fought near Antwerp in what is now Belgium, a combined Dutch and English force under the command of the Count of Boussu and England's John Norreys defeats Spanish troops commanded by Don Juan de Austria.
- According to some accounts, Englishman Martin Frobisher holds the first Thanksgiving celebration by Europeans in Canada, on Newfoundland, after he and his fleet encounter two ships that they feared had been lost. However, the celebration involves no feast and is limited to a sermon by the expedition's minister and Frobisher's men giving praise.^[11]^[12]
August 4 – King Sebastian of Portugal is killed in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in North Africa while fighting the Saadi Sultanate. Sebastian's elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, is named as the heir to the throne, initiating a succession crisis in Portugal.
August 20–September 6 – After renaming this flagship, Pelican to the Golden Hind, Francis Drake and his fleet begin their passage through the Strait of Magellan.^[13]
August 31 – The Forbisher expedition departs North America for its journey back to England.
September 6 – After 16 days travel, the fleet of Francis Drake completes its traverse of the Strait of Magellan between the tip of South America and Tierra del Fuego. Upon entering the Pacific Ocean, the fleet encounters violent storms. The supply ship Marigold, with over 100 men under the command of John Thomas, is lost with all hands off of Cape Horn.^[13] The rest of the fleet continues its voyage around the world.

October–December

October 1 – Alessandro Farnese succeeds his uncle, Don John, as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.^[14]
October 21 – Battle of Wenden: The Russians are defeated by the Swedes, who proceed to take Polotsk.
November 19 – Humphrey Gilbert and Walter Ralegh set out from Plymouth in England, leading an expedition to establish a colony in North America. They will be forced to turn back six months later.^[15]
December 9 – After more than five years of combat in southern France, the Protestant Huguenot citadel of Ménerbes negotiates a surrender to its French Catholic attackers.^[16]

Date unknown

Battle of the Spoiling Dyke at Trumpan on the Scottish Isle of Skye: the Clan MacLeod are victorious over the MacDonalds of Uist in a feud.^[17]
The Ottoman Empire conquers Abkhazia.
Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia, defeats and kills Bahr negus Yeshaq along with his Ottoman allies, finally ending his rebellion.
Sonam Gyrso receives from Prince Atlan Khan the title of Talaï, and becomes the third Dalai Lama of Tibet.
The last outbreak of sweating sickness occurs in England.
The Portuguese assist Lord Ōmura Sumitada, the first Christian Japanese daimyo, in repulsing an assault on Nagasaki by the Ryūzōji clan.
Fur trade begins in Newfoundland in North America.