July 31 - First engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth. The English have the better of it.
August 4 - The English and Spanish fleets meet again off Dorset. (The English fleet is led by Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.) The English again have the better of it.
August 7 - The English and Spanish fleets again engage off the coast of Flanders. The English again are more successful.
August 8 - August 9 - The Spanish are unable to reach the coast of Flanders to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma. Medina Sidonia decides to return to Spain.
August 12 - The Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English cease their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed as it sails around Scotland and Ireland.
December 23 - Henry III of France strikes his ultra-Catholic enemies, having the Duke of Guise and his brother, Cardinal Louis of Guise , killed, and holding the Cardinal de Bourbon a prisoner.
