* 1581 – Vincent de Paul, French saint ( d. 1660 )

Albert Frederick was married in 1573 to Marie Eleonore of Cleves, a daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and Archduchess Maria of Austria ( 1531 – 1581 ).

* Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, ( 1581 – 1643 ), theologian, who introduced Jansenism into France.

From his research grew his Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei ( also called Disputationes ), first published at Ingolstadt in 1581 – 1593.

However, this statement for integers can be found already in the work of another French mathematician, Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac ( 1581 – 1638 ).

Christopher Báthory ( Hungarian: Báthory Kristóf ) ( 1530 – May 27, 1581 ) was a prince of Transylvania.

* 1581 – Ralph Sherwin, English Catholic saint ( b. 1550 )

* 1581 – Alexander Briant, English Jesuit and martyr ( b. 1556 )

A 1581 reprint of the Digestorum from Justinian I | Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis ( 527 – 534 ).

* 1626 – Edmund Gunter, English mathematician ( b. 1581 )

1520 – 1591 ), father of Galileo and the inventor of monody, made use of the method in successfully solving musical problems, firstly, of tuning such as the relationship of pitch to string tension and mass in stringed instruments, and to volume of air in wind instruments ; and secondly to composition, by his various suggestions to composers in his Dialogo della musica antica e moderna ( Florence, 1581 ).

These are sometimes referred to as burgher arms, and it is thought that most arms of this type were adopted while the Netherlands was a republic ( 1581 – 1806 ).

* 1581 – Plakkaat van Verlatinghe ( Act of Abjuration ): the northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.

* 1540 – Edmund Campion, English Jesuit ( d. 1581 )

* 1581 – The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.

* 1516 – Bayinnaung, King of Burma ( d. 1581 )

# Anna Maria ( 3 February 1567 – 4 November 1618 ), married in 1581 to Duke Barnim X of Pomerania

# Christian ( 1581 – 1655 )

* 1581 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer ( d. 1647 )

* 1581 – Ivan Ivanovich, son of Ivan IV of Russia ( b. 1554 )

Muscat was taken by the Portuguese on 1 April 1515, and was held until 26 January 1650, although the Ottomans controlled Muscat between 1550 – 1551 and 1581 – 1588.

* 1581 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician ( d. 1638 )

* 1581 – Saint Louis Bertrand, Spanish Dominican and missionary ( b. 1526 )

Although Franciscus Vieta ( 1540 – 1603 ) gave the first notation of modern algebra, John Napier ( 1550 – 1617 ) invented logarithms, and Edmund Gunter ( 1581 – 1626 ) created the logarithmic scales ( lines, or rules ) upon which slide rules are based.

* December 10 – Edmund Gunter, English mathematician ( b. 1581 )

* January 24 – Edmund Campion, English Jesuit and Roman Catholic martyr ( d. 1581 )

Byrd's setting of the first four verses of Psalm 78 ( Deus venerunt gentes ) is widely believed to refer to the cruel execution of Fr Edmund Campion in 1581, an event that caused widespread revulsion on the Continent as well as in England.

* Edmund Gunter ( 1581 – 1626 ), mathematician

Robert's parents were prominent Catholics ; his father had suffered years of imprisonment for his faith, and in 1581 had been tried in Star Chamber alongside William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden, and his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Tresham, for harbouring the Jesuit Edmund Campion.

He was Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1576 – 1581, and then Provost of The Queen's College, 1581 – 1598.

* Saint Edmund Campion ( 1540 – 1581 ), English Jesuit priest and martyr

It was designed and introduced in 1620 by English clergyman and mathematician Edmund Gunter ( 1581 – 1626 ) long before the development of the theodolite and other more sophisticated equipment, enabling plots of land to be accurately surveyed and plotted, for legal and commercial purposes.

* Campion-St Edmund Campion SJ, ( 1540 – 1581 )

In 1581 he was appointed Justice of Assize on the Norfolk circuit and tried Edmund Campion and others in November 1581, securing an unexpected conviction.

In 1581, to convert English subjects to Catholicism with " the intent " to withdraw them from their allegiance to Elizabeth was made a treasonable offence, carrying the death penalty.

The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire and in 1670 the French Compagnie du Levant was founded for the same purpose.

These gifts were intended to cement relations between the two countries, building on the trade agreement signed in 1581 that gave English merchants priority in the Ottoman region.

* November 6 – Thomas Roe, English diplomat ( b. c. 1581 )

** Ralph Sherwin, English Roman Catholic martyr and saint ( d. 1581 )

* September 15 – Thomas Overbury, English poet ( murdered ) ( b. 1581 )

* July 13 – Robert Shirley, English adventurer ( b. c. 1581 )

** Nicholas Sanders, English Catholic propagandist ( d. 1581 )

* Sir Thomas Roe, English diplomat, born in Leyton in 1581

Sir Thomas Overbury ( baptized 1581 – 15 September 1613 ) was an English poet and essayist, also known for being the victim of a murder which led to a scandalous trial.

* Richard Cox ( bishop ) ( c. 1500 – 1581 ), English clergyman, Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Ely

Sir Thomas Roe ( c. 1581 – 6 November 1644 ) was an English diplomat of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.

1545, French, Geneva 1558, English 1581 ).

The tract first appeared in English, translated by T. Stocker, as An excellent treatise of the Immortalytie of the Soule by John Calvin ( London, 1581 ).

* An Apology for the English Seminaries ( 1581 )

Sir Robert Shirley ( c. 1581 – 13 July 1628 ) was an English traveller and adventurer, younger brother of Sir Anthony Shirley and of the adventurer Sir Thomas.

On the other hand, the German school of the Coss, the English mathematician Robert Recorde ( 1550 ) and the Dutchman Simon Stevin ( 1581 ) brought an early algebraic notation, the use of decimals and exponents.