- Jan 6 Philip Henslowe, English theatrical entrepreneur during Elizabethan age, dies at about 65
- Feb 12 Johannes van den Driesche, Flemish Hebraist, dies at 65
- Mar 6 Francis Beaumont, Elizabethan playwright, dies (birth date unknown)
- Mar 8 Maria Anna of Bavaria, Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire, dies at 41
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
Apr 22 Spanish author (Don Quixote), dies of likely diabetes at 68
- Apr 23 El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Peruvian writer (b. 1539)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Apr 23 English poet and playwright (Romeo and Juliet; Macbeth: Hamlet), dies at about 52
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)
Jun 1 Japanese Shogun who founded the first Tokugawa Shogunate and united Japan, dies from natural causes
- Jun 9 Cornelis F Schuyt, Dutch organist andcomposer (Madrigalen), dies at about 58
- Jul 20 Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone, Irish soldier
- Jul 25 Andreas Libavius, German alchemist, dies
- Aug 7 Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (Procurazie Nuove, Venice), dies
- Aug 8 Cornelis Ketel, Dutch portrait painter and poet, buried at 68
- Aug 26 Johan van de Veeken, Dutch merchant, co-founder of VOC Chamber of Rotterdam, dies at 66
- Aug 31 Gemignano Capilupi, Italian choral composer, dies at 43
- Oct 10 Maria van Nassau, Dutch countess of Buren, dies at 60
- Oct 17 John Pitts, Catholic scholar and writer. (b. 1560)
- Oct 23 Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b. 1563)
- Nov 23 Richard Hakluyt, English writer who promoted the colonization of America (b. 1552)
- Dec 10 Diogo do Couto, Portuguese historian/archivist of Goa, dies at 74
- Dec 31 Jacques Le Maire, pirate/explorer (Lemaire Strait), dies at 31
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide