- Jan 13 Edmund Spenser, poet (Faerie Queene), dies at about 46
- Jan 22 Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian composer, dies at 51
- Feb 8 Robert Rollock, Scottish educator (1st Regent of Edinburgh University), dies
- Apr 10 Gabrielle d'Estrée, mistress of King Henry IV of France (b. 1571)
- Apr 14 Henry Wallop, English statesman who governed Ireland
- Apr 27 Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general, dies at 61
- Aug 22 Luca Marenzio, Italian composer (b. c. 1553)
- Sep 11 Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch navigator (1st Dutch trip to Java), murder at 35
- Sep 11 Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman executed for fratricide at 22
- Nov 7 Gasparo Tagliacozzi, Italian surgeon (b. 1546)
- Nov 8 Francisco Guerrero, Spanish composer and Catholic priest, dies at 71