1581

Years: 1578 1579 1580 - 1581 - 1582 1583 1584
Decades: 1550s 1560s 1570s - 1580s - 1590s 1600s 1610s
Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century

Events

January 16 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism
April 4 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I.
July 26 - The Northern Netherlands proclaim their independence from Spain in the Oath of Abjuration. They abjure loyalty to Philip II of Spain as their sovereign and become a Republic.
Robert Browne and his Brownist companions were obliged to leave England and went to Middelburg, in the Netherlands. See Congregational church
Russia begins the conquest of Siberia
Finland becomes a grand duchy.

January 4 - James Ussher, Anglo-Irish priest and scholar (died 1656)
February 17 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest (d. 1653)
March 16 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian (died 1647)
October 9 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (died 1638)
October 21 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (died 1641)
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist (died 1639)
Gasparo Aselli, Italian physician (died 1626)
Sisto Badalocchio, Italian painter and engraver (died 1647)
Jeremias Drexel, Jesuit writer of devotional literature
Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (died 1621)
Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, French monk who introduced Jansenism into France (died 1643)
Charles Malapert, Belgian Jesuit writer (died 1630)
Lukasz Opalinski, Polish nobleman (died 1654)
Thomas Overbury, English poet and essayist (died 1613)
Johannes Rudbeckius, bishop at Västerås (died 1646)
Choghtu Khong Tayiji, ruler of the Khalkha Mongols (died 1637)