1586

January 3 – Augustus of Wettin, the Elector of Saxony, marries Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt, the 12-year-old daughter of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt. Augustus dies less than six weeks later. January 18 – The 7.9 magnitude Tenshō earthquake strikes the Chubu region of Japan, triggering a tsunami and causing at least 8,000 deaths. February 11 – After a two-day battle, and English assault force led by Francis Drake captures the South American port of Cartagena de Indias, part of Spain's colony, the Viceroyalty of Peru (now Cartagena in Colombia. In Dresden, Christian I becomes the new Elector of Saxony, after the death of his father Augustus. February 14 – In India, Yakub Shah Chak becomes the new Sultan of Kashmir after the death of his father, the Sultan Yousuf Shah. February 16 – In what is now Pakistan, Kalu Khan leads his Yusufzai Lashkar to defeat Raja Birbal's Mughal Army at the Karakar Pass in the Afghan-Mughal War, annihilating them by the 10s of thousands and inflicting one of the greatest defeats in Mughal History to Emperor Akbar The Great. February 23 – The Scottish crown jewels, recovered for King James VI by William Stewart of Caverston, are formally returned to the royal treasurer, Lord Melville. The jewels include a square gold pendant, inlaid with a large diamond and a ruby and several other diamonds, the "Great H of Scotland". March 3 – In Germany, the Battle of Werl begins in the Duchy of Westphalia as Claude de Berlaymont and a large force of 4,000 troops attempt to capture Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen, who had plundered the territory of Vest Recklinghausen within the Electorate of Cologne. Schenk and his men are able to escape after five days. March 12 – Greek-born Spanish artist Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, known better as El Greco, is commissioned to paint his most famous work, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, which he finishes in early 1588. March 18 – The Black Assize of Exeter begins in England as infected prisoners go on trial and an epidemic of typhus spreads quickly through the courtrooms above Exeter Prison.