1585

Year 1585 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1585

January - June

• January 12 - The Netherlands adopts the Gregorian calendar.
• February - The Spanish seize Brussels.
• April 24 - Pope Sixtus V succeeds Pope Gregory XIII as the 227th pope.

July - December

• July 7 - The Treaty of Nemours forces King Henry III of France to capitulate to the demands of the Catholic League.
• August 8 - John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in his quest for the Northwest Passage.
• August 17 - Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under the Prince of Parma.
• August 20 - The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt.

Undated

• The Eighth War of Religion (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) begins in France.
• Chocolate is introduced to Europe commercially.
• England enters the Eighty Years' War.
• Sir Walter Raleigh sends an expedition to establish a colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The settlers face many problems, and soon abandon the colony.

Births

• January 27 - Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
• March 5 - John George I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1656)
• March 16 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d. 1618)
• March 22 – Krzysztof Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman (d. 1640)
• June 11 - Evert Horn, Swedish soldier (d. 1615)
• September 9 - Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman (d. 1642)
• October – John Ball, English puritan divine (d. 1640)
• October 9 - Heinrich Schütz, German composer (d. 1672)
• October 15 - Louis Cappel, French Protestant churchman and scholar (d. 1658)
• October 28 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop of Ypres and religious reformer (d. 1638)
• November 1 - Jan Brożek, Polish mathematician, physician, and astronomer (d. 1652)
• December 4 - John Cotton, founder of Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1652)
• December 13 - William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (d. 1649)
• date unknown
• Zachary Boyd, Scottish religious writer (d. 1653)
• Ambrose Barlow, Catholic priest and martyr (d. 1641)
• Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara, Irish soldier (d. 1655)
• Lucilio Vanini, Italian free-thinker (d. 1619)
• Alexander Whitaker, Virginia Colony religious leader (d. 1616)
• probable
• Uriel da Costa, Portuguese Jewish philosopher (d. 1640)
• Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist (d. 1638)
• Francesco Fontana, Italian lawyer and astronomer (d. 1656)
• Jacob Le Maire, Dutch mariner (d. 1616)

See also 1585 births.

Deaths

• January 16 - Edward Fiennes Clinton, English admiral (b. 1512)
• February 6 - Edmund Plowden, English legal scholar (b. 1518)
• February 13 - Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit biblical scholar (b. 1515)
• March 10 - Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (b. 1517)
• April 3 - Thomas Goldwell, English ecclesiastic
• April 10 - Pope Gregory XIII (b. 1502)
• May 15 - Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1535)
• June 4 - Muretus, French humanist (b. 1526)
• June 21 – Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland (b. 1532)
• July 6 - Thomas Aufield, English Catholic martyr (b. 1552)
• July 28 – Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford (b. 1527)
• August 5 - Yermak Timofeyevich, Cossack leader and explorer of Siberia
• November 23 - Thomas Tallis, English composer (b. c. 1510)
• November 28 - Hernando Franco, Spanish composer (b. 1532)
• December - Pierre de Ronsard, French poet (b. 1524)
• December 4 - John Willock, Scottish reformer (b. c. 1515)
• December 22 - Vittoria Accoramboni, Italian noblewoman (b. 1557)
• date unknown
• Taqi al-Din, Turkish scientist (b. 1526)
• Stanisław Lubomirski (XVI-1585), Polish nobleman

See also 1585 deaths.