1585

Events

January–March

January 21 – Robert Nutter, Thomas Worthington, and 18 other Roman Catholic priests are "perpetually banished" from England by order of Queen Elizabeth, placed on the ship Mary Martin of Colchester, and transported to France.<ref>"Vens. Robert Nutter and Edward Thwing", in The Catholic Encyclopedia, ed. by John Wainewright (Robert Appleton Company, 1911)</ref>
February 16 – Pachomius II is deposed by fellow bishops from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and replaced by the Metropolitan of Philippoupolis, Theoleptus II.<ref>Demetrius Kiminas, The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press LLC, 2009) p.38</ref>
February 21 – King Johan III of Sweden, widowed since 1583, marries Gunilla Bielke in a ceremony at Västerås, which the King's siblings refuse to attend.<ref>"Gunilla, drottning (Gunilla Johansdotter Bielke, Gunilla Bielke)", by Karin Tegenborg Falkdalen, translated by Alexia Grosjean, in Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon</ref> The coronation of Queen consort Gunilla takes place the next day. Over the next seven years, she works on changing the Catholic government's attitude towards Protestants.
March 10 – The Spanish Army, commanded by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, obtains the surrender of Brussels after a siege that began the year before.<ref>"Farnese, Alessandro", in Historical Dictionary of Brussels, by Paul F. State (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015 p.163</ref><ref>Demetrius C. Boulger, The History of Belgium: Cæsar to Waterloo (Princeton University Press, 1902) p.335</ref>

April–June

April 10 – Pope Gregory XIII, known for promulgating the Gregorian calendar within the Roman Catholic nations of the world in 1582, dies after a reign of almost 13 years. A papal conclave is convened 11 days later to elect a successor.
April 21 – The papal conclave begins at the Vatican in Rome on Easter Sunday, with only 42 of the 60 cardinals attending. Early voting favors Cardinals Pier Donato Cesi and Guglielmo Sirleto, neither of whom receives a majority.<ref>Ludwig von Pastor,The History of the Popes from the CLose of the Middle Ages vol. XIX, ed. by Ralph Francis Kerr (Kegan, Paul, Trench Trubner & Co., 1930)</ref>
April 24 – Cardinal Felice Piergentile of the church of San Girolamo dei Croati is unanimously elected as the 227th Pope, and takes the regnal name Pope Sixtus V.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 1 – The coronation of Pope Sixtus V takes place in Rome.
May 19 – Spain seizes English ships in Spanish ports,<ref name=CBH>Template:Cite book</ref> precipitating the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).
June 11 – The 9.2 magnitude Aleutian Islands earthquake unleashes a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, killing many people in Hawaii and reportedly striking Japan.<ref name="Tsunami Event">Template:Cite web</ref>
June – Toyotomi Hideyoshi begins the invasion of the Japanese island of Shikoku with an army of 113,000 men on 703 ships. The troops are divided into three groups, with 60,000 commanded by Hashiba Hidenaga and Hashiba Hidetsugu toward the provinces of Awa and Tosa; 23,000 under Ukita Hideie at the province of Sanuki; and 30,000 under Kobayakawa Takakage and Kikkawa Motoharu for the province of Iyo.<ref name=Turnbull>Template:Cite book</ref>

July–September

July 7 – The Treaty of Nemours forces King Henry III of France to capitulate to the demands of the Catholic League, triggering the Eighth War of Religion (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) in France.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
July 12 – Invasion of Shikoku: The final battle of the invasion, the siege of Ichinomiya Castle, begins.
July 29 – Aboard the English ship Tiger, Roanoke expedition leader Ralph Lane negotiates an agreement with the Secotan people, who are represented by Granganimeo, the brother of the Secotan leader, King Wingino. Although the Secotans grant Lane's request to allow the English to live on Roanoke Island, he is told that they will receive no assistance from the natives, because of problems the previous year with Walter Raleigh.<ref name=Roanoke/>
August 6 – (11th day of the 7th month of Tenshō 13) Invasion of Shikoku: In Japan, Chōsokabe Motochika surrenders the island of Shikoku to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, after a 26 day siege of the Ichinomiya Castle by 40,000 men.<ref name=Sadler>Template:Cite book</ref>
August 8 – English explorer John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in Baffin Island, in his quest for the Northwest Passage.
August 14 – Queen Elizabeth I of England agrees to establish a protectorate over the Netherlands.<ref name=CBH/>
August 17
- Antwerp, now in Belgium, is captured by Spanish forces commanded by the Duke of Parma. The Duke orders all Protestants to leave the city. As a result, over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces. Furthermore, upon hearing of the capture of Antwerp, a relief fleet sent to raise the siege instead blockades the Scheldt River, preventing any and all ships from reaching Antwerp for two centuries. This effectively destroys Antwerp's position as an important trade city and de facto capital of the Dutch provinces. Its position is taken over by various northern cities, most prominently Amsterdam.
- The Roanoke colonists complete their construction of a fort under the direction of Ralph Lane to make the first permanent English settlement in North America.<ref name=Roanoke>Lee Miller, Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony (Arcade Publishing, 2011)</ref>
August 20 – The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt, thus entering the Eighty Years' War.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology">Template:Cite book</ref>
September 11 – In the Ottoman Empire, the rebellion of An-Nasir al-Hasan bin Ali in Yemen is ended when An-Nasir is betrayed and turned over to the Turkish Ottoman governor.<ref>Robert W. Stookey, Yemen; The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic (Boulder Press, 1978) p.141</ref> An-Nasir spends one year in prison in Sanaa and then brought to Turkey.
September 15 – English Catholic priest John Adams is banished from England along with 72 other Catholic priests, and transported by ship to Boulogne in France.<ref>"Venerable John Adams", by John Bannerman Wainewright, in Lives of the English Martyrs, ed. by Edwin H. Burton and J. H. Pollen (Longmans, Green and Co., 1914)</ref>
September 21 – King Henry IV of Navarre, who is also the heir presumptive to France's King Henry III, is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Sixtus V, who effectively declares that French Catholics are not required to recognize his claim to the throne.

October–December

October 15 – In Arnhem in the Netherlands, the siege of IJsseloord is completed after nine days as English and Dutch forces recapture the city from Spanish occupiers.<ref>J.D. Tracey, The Founding of the Dutch Republic: War, Finance, and Politics in Holland 1572–1588 (Oxford University Press, 2008) p.22</ref>
November 18 – In Mexico City, Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga becomes Viceroy of New Spain after being appointed by King Philip II of Spain.<ref>"Álvaro Manrique de Zúñiga", by María Vicens Hualde, in Diccionario Biografica de España (Real Academia de la Historia, 2001)</ref>
November 27 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, and serves a foreshock and a trigger to a deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake on January 18 that will kill 8,000 people.
November 28 – Anglo-Spanish War: The island of Santiago in Cape Verde is captured by Francis Drake.
December 1 – Hadim Mesih Pasha is appointed the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Murad III.<ref>Gülru Necipoğlu, The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire (Reaktion Books, 2005) p.403</ref>
December 20 – Enraged by the disrespect shown to him by Yousuf Shah Chak, the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, orders the invasion of Kashmir with 5,000 men.<ref>Ḥaydar Malik Chādūrah, History of Kashmir (Bhavna Prakashan, 1991) p. 187</ref>

Date unknown

The Kingdom of Luba is founded by Kongolo Mwamba in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
History of chocolate in Spain: First recorded commercial importation of chocolate to Europe, from Veracruz in Mexico to Seville in Spain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>