1587
| Years: 1584 1585 1586 - 1587 - 1588 1589 1590 | |
| Decades: 1550s 1560s 1570s - 1580s - 1590s 1600s 1610s | |
| Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century | |
Events
- February 8 - Mary, Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she is implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
- July 22 - Colony of Roanoke: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off of North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
- August 19 - Polish and Lithuanian nobles elect Sigismund Vasa as their king
- October 20 - Battle of Coutras - Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne, Duc de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry. Joyeuse is killed.
- October 31 - Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.
- First Filipinos in North America landed in Morro Bay near San Luis Obispo, California
- The Rose (theatre) is founded in London by Philip Henslowe.
Births
- January 5 - Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer (died 1641)
- January 6 - Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares (died 1645)
- February 26 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (died 1639)
- May 8 - Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (died 1637)
- August 18 - Virginia Dare, Virginia colony settler (died 1588)
- September 18 - Francesca Caccini, Italian composer (died 1640)
- November 3 - Samuel Scheidt, German composer (died 1653)
- Kaspar von Barth, German philologist (died 1658)
- Willem Ysbrandtsz Bontekoe, skipper in the Dutch East India Company (VOC) (died 1657)
- Nathaniel Field, English dramatist and actor (died 1620)
- Arthur Johnston, Scottish physician and poet (died 1641)
- Francis Kynaston, English courtier and poet (died 1642)
- Krzysztof Ossolinski, Polish nobleman (died 1645)
- Gabriel Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (died 1640)
- Yun Seondo, Korean politician and poet (died 1671)
- Joost van den Vondel, Dutch dramatist and poet (died 1679)
- Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (died 1658)
- George Yeardley, English colonial administrator in America (died 1627)
Deaths
- March 30 - Ralph Sadler, English statesman (born 1507)
- April 8 - John Foxe, English author (born 1516)
- April 14 - Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (born 1548)
- April 16 - Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset (born 1497)
- July 24 - Mary, Queen of Scots (executed) (born 1542)
- October 19 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1541)
- Motozane Abe, Japanese military commander (born 1513)
- Vincenzo Bellavere, Italian composer
- Dudley Fenner, English puritan divine
- Nguyen Binh Khiem, Vietnamese poet and saint (born 1492)
- Luís de Camőes, Portuguese poet (born 1524)
- Kaspar Olevianus, German protestant theologian (born 1536)
- Vincenzo Ruffo, Italian Renaissance composer (born 1510)
- Thomas Seckford, master of requests for Elizabeth I of England (born 1515)
- Jan Tarlo, Polish nobleman
- George Whetstone, English dramatist and author (born 1544)
