Events from the 1580s in the Spanish Netherlands and Prince-bishopric of Liège.
Incumbents
Habsburg Netherlands
Monarch – Philip II, King of Spain and Duke of Brabant, of Luxembourg, etc.
Governor General – Alexander Farnese, Prince (later Duke) of Parma
Prince-Bishopric of Liège
Prince-Bishop – Gerard van Groesbeeck to December 1580; Ernest of Bavaria from January 1581
Events
1580
3 March – George de Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg, reconciled to Philip II of Spain 9 April – English Fury at Mechelen 7 May – Public disputation on the Eucharist in Brussels 9 June – Taking of Diest by rebel forces 9 August – Unsuccessful rebel assault on Enghien
1581
30 January – Ernest of Bavaria elected as Prince-bishop of Liège
11 February – Ernest of Bavaria elected Prince-abbot of Stavelot
15 June – joyous entry of Ernest of Bavaria in Liège
1 July – Catholic worship prohibited in Antwerp
26 July – Union of Utrecht signs Act of Abjuration, repudiating Philip II of Spain as sovereign of the Netherlands Sack of Breda by forces led by Claude de Berlaymont 30 November – Alexander Farnese takes Tournai
1582
19 February – festive reception of Francis, Duke of Anjou in Antwerp
30 April – Jesuit school opens in Liège
21 December – Gregorian calendar adopted in the Southern Netherlands
1583
17 January – French Fury at Antwerp: failed coup by Francis, Duke of Anjou
16 February – Simon Stevin matriculates at Leiden University
23 May – Ernest of Bavaria, Prince-Bishop of Liège, elected Archbishop-Elector of Cologne 17 June – Battle of Steenbergen (1583) 30 October – Joannes Hauchin consecrated as Archbishop of Mechelen 2 November – Gregorian calendar adopted in Prince-Bishopric of Liège 3 November – Taking of Aalst 30 November – Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, appointed mayor of Antwerp
1584
7 April – End of the Siege of Ypres (1584) 28 May – Bruges surrendered to Alexander Farnese 17 August – Taking of Dendermonde 17 September – Surrender of Ghent
1585
10 March – Surrender of Brussels
10 August – Treaty of Nonsuch: Elizabeth I publicly pledges support to Dutch Revolt 17 August – Fall of Antwerp 3 November – Relics of St Rumbold restored to St Rumbold's Cathedral
1586
18 September – Alexander Farnese becomes Duke of Parma
1587
15 May – Edict, ordonnance et instruction sur l'exercice et l'administration de la jurisdiction et justice militaire
1588
29 May – Jean Vendeville consecrated bishop of Tournai
22 July – William Damasus Lindanus installed as bishop of Ghent
28 July – Battle of Gravelines
1589
Ecclesiastical censorship of the press and the theatre established by Ernest of Bavaria, Prince-Bishop of Liège, Lettres patentes pour la conservation et maintien de la foy et religion chrestienne catholique apostolique romaine es païz de l'evesché et principauté de Liége (printed in Liège by Gautier Morberius)
Publications
1580
Le Renart decouvert (Mons, Rutger Velpius) – a satire of William of Orange written anonymously by Jean Richardot
1581
Nicasius Van der Schuere, Een cleyne of corte institutie dat is onderwysinghe der christelijcker religie ghestelt in locos communes (Ghent, Gauthier Manilius) – a Dutch abridgement of Calvin's Institutes (available on Google Books) Jean Michel, L'anatomie du corps politique comparé au corps humain, translated by Paul du Mont (Douai, Jean Bogard), available on Google Books
1583
Justus Lipsius, De Constantia (Antwerp, Plantin Press) Statuta synodi dioecesanae audomarensis, anno M D LXXXIII (Douai, Jean Bogard) – the statutes of the diocesan synod called by Jean Six to introduce Tridentine reform in the diocese of Saint-Omer
1585
Articulen ende conditien vanden tractate aengegaen ende ghesloten tusschen die Prince van Parma ende de stadt van Bruessele (Brussels, Jan Mommaert) – the terms of the surrender of Brussels
1587
Sancho de Londoño, Discurso sobre la forma de reducir la disciplina militar a mejor y antiguo estado (Brussels, Rutger Velpius) William Allen's, The copie of a letter concerning the yeelding up of Daventrie unto his catholike majestie, by sir William Stanley knight (Antwerp, Joachim Trognaesius) – a justification of Sir William Stanley's surrender of Deventer Floris Van der Haer, De initiis tumultuum Belgicorum (Douai, Jean Bogard), the first substantial history of the origins of the Dutch Revolt (available on Google Books)