• Pope Gregory XIII introduces the Gregorian Calandar, suppressing 10 days of the year 1582 to make up for a slight error in the Julian Calendar, and ordaining that henceforth years divisible by 100 should not be leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. The reform is accepted immediately by Roman Catholic nations and more gradually by Protestant nations.
• Disillusioned with orthodox Islam and wishing to encourage religious harmony within his empire, Mughal emperor Akbar advocates Din-i-Ilahi ("divine faith"), an eclectic new religion of his own devising blending concepts from Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity and emphasizing tolerance of other faiths.
• Russian bandit Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Tatar khanate of Sibir.
• King James VI of Scotland is captured in the "raid of Ruthven" by protestants led by William Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, who favor closer ties with England, and is imprisoned in Ruthven Castle until his escape in 1583.
• Papal mediation brings an end to the 25-year Livonian War, as Russian monarch Ivan IV is forced to accept a peace treaty favoring the claims of Polish king Stephen Báthory.
• As part of Spanish king Philip II's war for the crown of Portugal, a Spanish fleet under Santa Cruz decisively defeats the French, who were supporting the Portuguese pretender, off the Azores.
• Spanish soldier Antonio de Espejo embarks on a mission to rescue Spanish missionaries from hostile Pueblo Indians in what is now New Mexico. Over the ensuing year he explores much of present day New Mexico and Arizona, finding traces of gold that will prompt several future expeditions.
• Florintines Leonardo Salviati and the poet Grazzini found the Accademia della Crusca, a literary society dedicated to maintaining the purity of the Italian Language. The society eventually becomes quite influential and succeeds in establishing a literary puritanism in Italy that lasts for several centuries.
• English poet Thomas Watson publishes The Hecatompathia; or, Passionate Century of Love, one of the earliest collections of sonnets written in English.
• Now credited to Robert Garnier, the first tragicomedy in French, Bradamante, appears.
• English clergyman Robert Browne publishes several treatises now regarded as the first expression of the principles of Congregationalism.
• William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior and already pregnant with their first daughter Susanna.

These people were born in 1582:

• Italian painter Giovanni Lanfranco.
• Florentine composer Marco da Gagliano.
• English politician William Fiennes, Viscount of Saye and Sele.

These people died in 1582:

• Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga, ruler of much of Japan, assassinated by his lieutenant, Akechi Mitsuhide.
• Japanese warlord Akechi Mitsuhide, the assassin of Oda Nobunaga and so-called "13-day Shogun," ignominiously, at the hands of an angry peasant.
• Japanese warlord Takeda Katsuyori, son of the great Takeda Shingen, of suicide following his defeat by the combined armies of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Temmokuzan.
• Spanish general Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, duque de Alba, who had commanded Spanish troops in the Netherlands and Portugal.
• Juan Jauregui, servant to Spanish merchant Gaspar d'Anastro, killed attempting to assassinate Dutch leader William the Silent.

1581 - 1582 - 1583

16th century