In the year 1598, the following things happened:

The Ponts de Ce treaty ended civil war in France.
The Dutch took Mauritus.
Shakespeare wrote "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Henry V."
Vincent Voiture, a French poet, was born.
John Florio wrote "A World of Wordes," an English to Italian dictionary.
The world was circumnavigated for the fourth time, by an Olivier van Noort.