Year 1587 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1587

January - June

• February 8 - Mary, Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England, after she is implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

July - December

• July 22 - Colony of Roanoke: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off of North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
• August 18 - According to legend, Saul Wahl is named king of Poland.
• August 19 - According to legend, Saul Wahl is deposed.
• August 19 - Polish and Lithuanian nobles elect Sigismund III Vasa as their king.

• October 20 - Battle of Coutras: Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne, Duc de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry. Joyeuse is killed.
• October 31 - Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.

Undated

• The first Filipinos in North America land in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo, California.
• The Rose (theatre) is founded in London by Philip Henslowe.
• A severe famine breaks out in China during the Ming Dynasty.
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked Kyūshū

Births

• January 5 - Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer and geographer (d. 1641)
• January 6 - Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish statesman (d. 1645)
• January 8 - Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629)
• February 26 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
• April 5-Thomas Hobbes, English Philosopher (d. 1679
• May 8 - Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
• June 2 - Willem Ysbrandtsz Bontekoe, Dutch sea captain (d. 1657)
• June 5 - Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658)
• June 15 - Gabriel Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1640)
• June 21 - Kaspar von Barth, German philologist (d. 1658)
• July - George Yeardley, English colonial administrator in America (d. 1627)
• August 18 - Virginia Dare, Virginia colony settler (d. 1588)
• September 18 - Francesca Caccini, Italian composer
• November 3 - Samuel Scheidt, German composer (d. 1653)
• November 17 - Joost van den Vondel, Dutch dramatist and poet (d. 1679)
• date unknown
  • Nathan Field, English dramatist and actor (d. 1620)
  • Arthur Johnston, Scottish physician and poet (d. 1641)
  • Francis Kynaston, English courtier and poet (d. 1642)
  • Krzysztof Ossoliński, Polish nobleman (d. 1645)
  • Yun Seondo, Korean politician and poet (d. 1671)
  • Song Yingxing, Chinese encyclopedist (d. 1666)

See also Category:1587 births.

Deaths

• January - Thomas Seckford, English official (b. 1515)
• February 8 - Mary, Queen of Scots (executed) (b. 1542)
• February 9 - Vincenzo Ruffo, Italian composer (b. 1510)
• March 15 - Kaspar Olevianus, German theologian (b. 1536)
• March 30 - Ralph Sadler, English statesman (b. 1507)
• April 8 - John Foxe, English author (b. 1516)
• April 14 - Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1548)
• April 16 - Anne Stanhope, Duchess of Somerset (b. 1497)
• June 23 – Omura Sumitada, Japanese Christian daimyo (b. 1532)
• August 29 - Vincenzo Bellavere, Italian composer (b. c. 1540)
• October 19 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)
• date unknown
  • Abe Motozane, Japanese warlord (b. 1513)
  • Dudley Fenner, English puritan divine (b. c. 1558)
  • Jan Tarlo (1527-1587), Polish nobleman (b. 1527)
  • Hai Rui, Ming dynasty "model official" (b. 1514)
  • Otomo Sorin, Japanese Christian daimyo (b. 1530)
• probable
  • George Whetstone, English writer (b. 1544)

See also Category:1587 deaths.

Fictional

• Soulcalibur, a two-player arcade style fighter, is set in this year.