Editing 1577 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 9]] &ndash; The second [[Union of Brussels]] is formed, first without the Protestant counties of [[Holland]] and [[Zeeland]] (which is accepted by King [[Philip II of Spain]]), later with the Protestants, which means open rebellion of the whole of the [[Seventeen Provinces|Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Mack P. Holt|title=The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=En23VTbYwhQC&pg=PA112|date=13 October 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-44767-6|pages=112|language=en}}</ref>
* [[February 12]] &ndash; The "[[Edict of 1577|Perpetual Edict]]", providing for the removal of Spanish troops from what is now the [[Netherlands]], is signed in the city of [[Marche-en-Famenne]] in the [[Spanish Netherlands]] (now [[Belgium]]) by the Spanish Governor-General, [[John of Austria|Don Juan de Austria]] and representatives of the Dutch rebellion. The Perpetual Edict will last only five months, before Don Juan begins new attacks on the rebels.<ref>Alastair Duke, ''The Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries'' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2003) p.189</ref>
* [[February 23]] &ndash; The new Shah of Iran, [[Ismail II]], has most of the advisers of his late father executed, including Prince [[Ibrahim Mirza]].<ref>"Ebrāhīm Mīrzā", by Marianna S. Simpson, in 
''Encyclopedia Iranica'' online (1997)</ref>
* [[March 17]] &ndash; The [[Cathay Company]] is formed, to send [[Martin Frobisher]] back to the New World for more gold.<ref>{{cite book|author1=George Best|author2=Wilberforce Eames|title=The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher in Search of a Passage to Cathay and India by the North-west, A.D. 1576-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5QR_AAAAMAAJ|year=1938|publisher=Argonaut Press|page=cxii}}</ref>