May 13 – King Henry IV of France and England's GeneralThomas Baskerville begin thesiege of the city of Amiens in France, which had been captured on March 11 by the Spanish Army. The city is recaptured by September 25.
May 27 – TheKingdom of Kotte, on most of the western side of the island ofSri Lanka, upon the death ofKing Dharmapala. With no heirs, Dharmapala had made a will bequeathing the entire kingdom to the European nation ofPortugal, creating the territory ofPortuguese Ceylon (Puruthugisi Lankawa orPorthueka Ilankai).
July 28 – After the performance of the satirical playThe Isle of Dogs, written byThomas Nashe andBen Jonson, at theSwan Theatre, thePrivy Council of England concludes that the "lewd play" is full ofseditious andslanderous matter. Jonson is arrested, along with two actors,Gabriel Spenser and Robert Shaa, and the three are sent toMarshalsea Prison. A raid on the home of Thomas Nashe seizes his papers, but Nashe is not found. The three prisoners are released later in the year and return to the stage. All copies ofThe Isle of Dogs script are destroyed.
October 21 – The Spanish Armada reaches theEnglish Channel without opposition. An English ship sees the invading force's approach, but is intercepted and sunk, with the survivors being taken prisoner. The Armada encounters a storm the next day.[6]
October 25 – Following the loss of an artillery ship and the galleonSan Bartolome, Spanish AdmiralDiego Brochero orders the remaining ships in the attacking Armada to disperse until the weather improves.[6]
November 10 – In the last major action during the war of the3rd Spanish Armada, the galleonBear of Amsterdam is captured as it approaches Falmouth, where an English squadron intercepts it and leads it into Dartmouth.
November 21 – The remainder of the 3rd Spanish Armada is assembled at La Coruña. Only 108 of the original fleet of 140 ships is left, and many of the vessels require food and supplies. King Philip elects not to attempt another invasion of the British Isles.
December 6 – Queen Elizabeth of England appointsGeorge Nicholson as the English Resident in Scotland, theLondon's chief diplomatic official toEdinburgh, with a letter of accreditation for Nicholson to present to King James VI of Scotland.[7]
The Roman Catholic order of theCongregatio Patrum Doctrinae Christianae, which will later be more commonly known as the Christian Doctrine Fathers, is approved byPope Clement VIII. Founded on September 29, 1592, the order continues to operate more than four centuries later and is headquartered inRome.
PrinceSigismund Báthory signs an agreement withRudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor to abdicate the throne of Transylvania in return for the Silesian duchies of Racibórz and Opole and an annual subsidy of 50,000 thalers.
12 millionpesos of silver cross thePacific. Although it is unknown just how much silver flowed from theSpanish base ofManila in thePhilippines to theMing Dynasty ofChina, it is known that the main port for theMexican silver trade—Acapulco—shipped out 150,000 to 345,000 kg (4 to 9 milliontaels) of silver annually from this year to 1602.
^"A Strategy of Reaction: The Armadas of 1596 and 1597 and the Spanish Struggle for European Hegemony"", by Edward Tenace, inThe English Historical Review (2003) pp. 869–872
^ab R. B. Wernham,The Return of the Armadas: The Last Years of the Elizabethan Wars Against Spain 1595–1603 (Clarendon Press, 1994) pp. 185–187
^John Duncan Mackie,Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1597-1603 (Edinburgh, 1969) p. 126.
