January 16 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
April 1 – The Sea Beggars, Netherlandish Calvinist rebels, capture the port city of Brielle. This leads to a wave of uprisings in Holland and Zealand, leaving most of those provinces (with the exception of Amsterdam), under rebel control.
June 25 – The Sea Beggars capture the city Gorkum. Several Roman Catholic priests are put into a prison.
July 9 – The Sea Beggars hang 19 previously imprisoned Roman Catholic priests at Brielle.
August 18 – Wedding in Paris of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre with Marguerite de France, sister of King Charles, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
August 24 – St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris. Catholics in Paris murder thousands of Protestants, including Gaspard de Coligny, at the order of King Charles IX. Henry of Navarre and the Prince of Condé barely escape the same fate. This brings about the Fourth War of Religion in France.
November 9 – Siege of Sancerre Catholic forces of the king lay siege to Sancerre, a Huguenot stronghold in central France. The fortified city held out for nearly eight months without bombard artillery. It was one of the last time slings were used in European history.
December – The Duke of Alva, Spanish commander in the Netherlands, lays siege to Haarlem.