1588

year

1588 (MDLXXXVIII)was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1588th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 588th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 16th century, and the 9th year of the 1580s decade. As of the start of 1588, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Millennium:2nd millennium
Centuries:15th century16th century17th century
Decades: 1550s  1560s  1570s  – 1580s –  1590s  1600s  1610s
Years:1585 1586 158715881589 1590 1591
1588 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar1588
MDLXXXVIII
Ab urbe condita2341
Armenian calendar1037
ԹՎ ՌԼԷ
Assyrian calendar6338
Balinese saka calendar1509–1510
Bengali calendar995
Berber calendar2538
English Regnal year30 Eliz. 1 – 31 Eliz. 1
Buddhist calendar2132
Burmese calendar950
Byzantine calendar7096–7097
Chinese calendar丁亥(Fire Pig)
4284 or 4224
    — to —
戊子年 (Earth Rat)
4285 or 4225
Coptic calendar1304–1305
Discordian calendar2754
Ethiopian calendar1580–1581
Hebrew calendar5348–5349
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat1644–1645
 - Shaka Samvat1509–1510
 - Kali Yuga4688–4689
Holocene calendar11588
Igbo calendar588–589
Iranian calendar966–967
Islamic calendar996–997
Japanese calendarTenshō 16
(天正16年)
Javanese calendar1507–1509
Julian calendarGregorian minus 10 days
Korean calendar3921
Minguo calendar324 before ROC
民前324年
Nanakshahi calendar120
Thai solar calendar2130–2131
Tibetan calendar阴火猪年
(female Fire-Pig)
1714 or 1333 or 561
    — to —
阳土鼠年
(male Earth-Rat)
1715 or 1334 or 562

Events

  • May 12 – Day of the Barricades in Paris. Duke Henry of Guise seizes the city, forcing King Henry III to flee.
  • May 28 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel (it will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port).
  • July – King Henry III of France capitulates to the Duke of Guise and returns to Paris.
  • July 31 – First engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth. The English have the better of it.
  • August 2 – The English and Spanish fleets meet again off Dorset. (The English fleet is led by Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.) The English again have the better of it.
  • August 6 – Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is defeated by an English naval force under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake off the coast of Gravelines, now in France.
  • August 7 – The English and Spanish fleets again engage off the coast of Flanders. The English again are more successful.
  • August 8August 9 – The Spanish are unable to reach the coast of Flanders to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma. Medina Sidonia decides to return to Spain.
  • August 12 – The Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English cease their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed as it sails around Scotland and Ireland.
  • October 1 - Abbas the Great of Persia takes power.
  • December 23 – Henry III of France strikes his ultra-Catholic enemies, having the Duke of Guise and his brother, Cardinal Louis of Guise, killed, and holding the Cardinal de Bourbon a prisoner.
  • Ahmad al-Mansur, sultan of Morocco, demands that the king of Songhay give a heavy tribute in exchange of a Saharan salt, probably in an intentional provocation. When Songhay's answer is defiant, he declares war and marches his army through Sahara to Songhay
  • Russia, regency of Boris Godunov
  • William Morgan's Welsh translation of the Bible published.