• Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga abolishes the Ashikaga shogunate, openly signaling his mastery of Japan.
• Mughal Emperor Akbar conquers Gujarat.
• The revolt of the Dutch states of States of Holland and Zeeland against the Spanish by forces loyal to William the Silent continues. The Spanish sack Haarlem, but the successful defense of the city of Alkmaar by the Dutch will prove to be the turning point that eventually leads to a Spanish withdrawal and the Pacification of Ghent.
• In the Pacification of Boulogne, which ends France's Fourth War of Religion, Huguenots gain an amnesty and are promised freedom of conscience.
• In the English-mediated Pacification of Perth, the revolting supporters of the exiled Mary, Queen of Scots agree to recognize the reign of James VI (later James I of England) in exchange for the right to retain their lands, effectively ending Mary's hopes of regaining the Scottish throne.
• Croatian peasants briefly revolt against the oppressive Hapsburg feudal system before being suppressed by the Ottoman Empire's Styrian militia.
• Spanish forces under Don John of Austria capture Tunis from the Ottoman Empire.
• In the Compact of Warsaw, Polish Protestants are granted absolute religious freedom in exchange for allowing the election of the Catholic Henry of Valois, duc d'Anjou (the future Henry III of France) as king of Poland.
• In one of his most famous exploits, English privateer Sir Francis Drake leads a daring raid on a Spanish silver train crossing the isthmus of Panama and returns to England a very wealthy man.
• Torquato Tasso completes his pastoral play Aminta.

These people were born in 1573:

• Italian painter Caravaggio
• French queen Marie de Medici
• English architect Inigo Jones
• Maximilian I, elector and duke of Bavaria
• Royalist Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud
• Legendary beauty Gabrielle d' Estrées, mistress to French king Henry IV
• French poet Mathurin Régnier

These people died in 1573:

• The great Japanese warlord Takeda Shingen, felled by a sniper's bullet.
• Michel de L'Hôpital, chancellor of France under Catherine de Medici.
• Italian political theorist Donato Giannotti.

1572 - 1573 - 1574

16th century