Duncannon Fort in Ireland, built in 1588 in expectation of an attack by the Spanish Armada. Picture courtesy by Paul O’Farrell
In the year 1588, the Spanish Armada consisting of 130 ships begins to set sail towards the English Channel in order to invade England (May 28), much of the fleet is destroyed by storms (Aug 12), and the armada is finally defeated upon the coast of Ireland (Sep), the first biography of Nicolaus Copernicus is completed (Oct 7), three golden crowns, the national symbol of Sweden, are added to the 13th century Stockholm Castle, after which it is known by the name Tre Kronor - and all these fine people were born:
1588-0106 Elizabeth Stanley* Countess of Huntingdon/writer - Knowsley Hall, Knowsley, England (1633/45)
1588-0120 Francesco Gessi* Italian painter - Bologna (1649/61)
1588-0215 Benjamin Bramer* mathematician/architect/inventor - Felsberg, Germany (1652/64)
1588-0312 Herman de Neyt* painter/art dealer - Antwerp, Belgium (1642/54)
1588-0405 Thomas Hobbes* philosopher - Westport, Witshire, England (1679/91)
1588-0513 Ole Worm* physician/natural historian/antiquary - Aarhus, Denmark (1654/66)
1588-0611 George Wither* poet/pamphleteer/ satirist - Bentworth, Hampshire, England (1667/78)
1588-0630 Giovanni Maria Sabino* organist/composer/ teacher - Turi, Italy (1649/60)
1588-0729 William Spring of Pakenham* Suffolk gentry politician - England (1638/49)
1588-0825 Elizabeth Poole* settler in Plymouth Colony who founded the town of Taunton, Massachusetts - East Devon, England (1654/65)
1588-0910 Nicholas Lanier (B) musician/composer - Greenwich, England (1666/77)
1588-1016 Luke Wadding* Franciscan friar and historian - Waterford, Ireland (1657/69)
1588-1125 Gilbert Ironside the Elder* bishop - Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire, England (1671/82)
1588-1210 Isaac Beeckman* philosopher/scientist - Middelburg, Zeeland, Dutch Republic (1637/48)
1588-1224 Constance of Austria* Queen of Poland as the second wife of King Sigismund III Vasa - Graz, Austria (1631/42)
Updated 26.3.2021
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