Editing 1573 (section)

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 1]] &ndash; On his [[Francis Drake's expedition of 1572–1573|expedition to the New World]], [[Francis Drake]] and his crew make their most lucrative capture by seizing a wagon train of silver at Panama, near the settlement of [[Nombre de Dios, Colón|Nombre de Dios]].<ref>John Sugden, ''Sir Francis Drake'' (Pimlico Press, 1990) pp. 72-73</ref><ref>N. A. M. Rodger, ''The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660–1649'' (Penguin UK, 2004) p.lxxxiii</ref>
* [[April 5]] &ndash; [[1573 Polish–Lithuanian royal election]]: [[Kingdom of Poland|Polish]] and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuanian]] nobles gather at [[Warsaw]] to elect a successor to King [[Sigismund II Augustus]], who had died the previous July 7.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leśniewski |first1=Sławomir |title=Jan Zamoyski |date=1991 |publisher=Bellona |pages=28–29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXozFROF9QoC&q=1573 |access-date=14 January 2024 |language=pl}}</ref> The vote comes down to four candidates, from France, the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden and Russia.
* [[April 9]] &ndash; The [[Siege of Sommières]] ends with the surrender of the Huguenot defenders, who are spared retaliation by General Montmorency, despite the loss of 2,500 royal troops.
* [[April 22]] &ndash; [[Eighty Years' War]]: The [[Battle of Borsele]] is fought as a fleet of Spanish ships is intercepted by Dutch Calvinist rebels (the [[Geuzen]]). While some of the ships are able to complete their mission of supplying the Spanish-governed Netherlands cities of [[Middelburg, Zeeland|Middelburg]] and [[Arnemuiden]], most are forced to retreat to [[Antwerp|Amberes]] in the Spanish Netherlands, now Antwerp in Belgium.
* [[May 16]]&ndash; The [[Henry III of France|Henry, Duke of Anjou]], son of the late King [[Henry II of France]] is elected to the throne of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] by the Polish nobility, after being nominated on May 11.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kaczorowski |first1=Włodzimierz |title=The 400th anniversary of the death of Stanisław Żółkiewski, Hetman and Great Crown Chancellor, Senator of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth |journal=Opolskie Studia Administracyjno-Prawne |date=2020 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=153–164 |doi=10.25167/osap.3438 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=933790 |access-date=14 January 2024 |language=English |issn=1731-8297|doi-access=free }}</ref>
* [[May 26]] &ndash; [[Battle of Haarlemmermeer]]: [[Geuzen]] ships, attempting to break the [[siege of Haarlem]], are defeated by a combined Spanish and Amsterdam fleet.
* [[June 24]] &ndash; After [[Henry III of France|Henry, Duke of Anjou]] learns that he has been elected the King of Poland, he agrees to negotiate an end to the [[Siege of La Rochelle (1572–1573)|Siege of La Rochelle]], which has continued for almost nine months against the Huguenots in the western French city, and reaches an agreement with the Huguenot defender, the [[Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery|Count of Montgomery]].