Events January–June January 8 – The Jesuit educational plan, known as the Ratio Studiorum, is issued. March 12 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, by Queen Elizabeth I of England. April 23 – The Earl of Essex arrives in Dublin at the head of 16,000 troops, the largest army ever seen in Ireland. May 16 – The Kalmar Bloodbath takes place in Kalmar, Sweden. May 29 – Essex takes Cahir Castle, supposedly the strongest in Ireland, after a short siege. June 20 – The Synod of Diamper is convened. July–December July – Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: A Dutch fleet returns to Amsterdam, carrying 600,000 pounds of pepper and 250,000 pounds of cloves and nutmeg. July 24 – Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is dethroned by his uncle Duke Charles, who takes over as regent of the realm until 1604, when he becomes King Charles IX. August 15 – First Battle of Curlew Pass: Irish forces defeat the English. September 21 – The first reported performance at the Globe Theatre in London (erected over Spring/Summer), a presentation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (probably new to that year), is recorded by Swiss traveller Thomas Platter the Younger. September 28 – The Earl of Essex arrives back in England, disobeying the Queen's strict orders. October 18 – Battle of Sellenberk: Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the army of Andrew Báthory near Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanians. November 10 – The Åbo Bloodbath takes place in Åbo, Swedish Finland. November – Persian embassy to Europe (1599–1602): A Persian embassy arrives in Moscow. December 19 – The forces of Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo and his ally Min Razagyi of the Kingdom of Mrauk U end the First Toungoo Empire by capturing Pegu (modern-day Bago, Myanmar). Date unknown The first Capuchin friar is entombed in the Catacombe dei Cappuccini in Palermo (Sicily). Births January–March January 22 – Robert Petre, 3rd Baron Petre, English baron (d. 1638) January 31 – Juraj V Zrinski, Ban of Croatia (d. 1626) February 12 Duke Friedrich of Saxe-Altenburg, third son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm I of Saxe-Weimar (d. 1625) Thomas Whitmore, English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons (d. 1677) February 13 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667) March 1 – John Mennes, English Royal Navy admiral (d. 1671) March 3 –