1574
| Years: 1571 1572 1573 - 1574 - 1575 1576 1577 | |
| Decades: 1540s 1550s 1560s - 1570s - 1580s 1590s 1600s | |
| Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century | |
Events
- April 14 - Battle of Mookerheyde. Spanish forces under Sancho de Avila defeat the rebel forces of Louis of Nassau. Louis is killed.
- May 30 - On the death of King Charles IX of France, he is succeeded by his brother King Henry of Poland, who becomes King Henry III. His mother, Catherine de Medici, acts as Regent until Henry arrives from Poland.
- October 3 - The city of Leiden, besieged by the Spanish, is relieved by a Sea Beggar fleet under Louis Boisot.
- Murad III succeeds Selim II as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Births
- March 7 - John Wilbye, English composer (date of baptism)
- May 6 - Pope Innocent X (died 1655)
- July 1 - Joseph Hall, English bishop and satirist (died 1656)
- August 7 - Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, English explorer and geographer (died 1649)
- October 14 - Anne of Denmark, queen of James VI of Scotland (died 1619)
- Richard Barnfield, English poet (died 1627)
- John Day, English dramatist (died 1640)
- Robert Fludd, English Rosicrucian and Paracelsian physicist (died 1637)
- Thomas Gataker, English clergyman and theologian (died 1654)
- Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm, Swedish soldier and politician (died 1650)
- Wilhelm Kinsky, Bohemian nobleman (died 1634)
- Claudio Pari, Sicilian composer
- Luis Sotelo, Franciscan friar
Deaths
- April 14 - Louis of Nassau, younger brother of William the Silent (born 1538)
- April 17 - Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (born 1500)
- April 21 - Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1519)
- May 30 - King Charles IX of France (born 1550)
- June 12 - Renée of France, daughter of Louis XII of France (born 1510)
- June 27 - Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter and architect (born 1511)
- September 1 - Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (born 1479)
- October 1 - Marten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen, Dutch portrait and religious painter
- November 28 - Georg Major, Lutheran (born 1502)
- December 12 - Selim II, Ottoman Emperor (born 1524)
- Hans Eworth, Flemish portrait painter (born 1520)
- Charles of Guise, French Cardinal (born 1527)
- Martin Heilwig, Silesian cartographer (born 1516)
- Solomon Luria, Ashkenazic scholar of Jewish law (born 1510)
- Joseph Boniface de La Molle, Provençale lover of Marguerite de Valois (born 1530)
- Gabriel Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guard of Henry II of France (born 1530)
- Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 (born 1504)
- Georg Joachim Rheticus, Hungarian cartographer and instrument maker (born 1514)
