1528 CE

August – Siege of Naples is carried out by French tropes led by Odet de Foix, the siege ended when a plague of Cholera swept through the French army, killing Odet de Foix and reducing the army by two-thirds . Cardinal Thomas Wolsey founds a college in his birthplace of Ipswich, England, which becomes the modern-day Ipswich School (incorporating institutions in the town dating back to 1299). Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions become the first known Europeans to set foot on the shores of what is present-day Texas, when they and 80 survivors are wrecked on Galveston Island following a storm. Only 15 live beyond winter, and they are eventually enslaved by various Indian tribes. Eventually, only four of the 81 Spanish survivors— Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and an African slave of Dorantes, Estevanico— are able to escape and return home.

In the 1520s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 12 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned king of Sweden, having already reigned since his election in June 1523.source
  • February 29 – John Zápolya, ruler of the remaining eastern portion of Hungary after its the acquisition of the western section by the Habsburg Austrians, joins in an alliance with the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Turks, receiving protection and autonomy in return for allowing Turkish occupation of his Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.source
  • August 26 – Askia Muhammad I, ruler of the Songhai Empire in West Africa since 1493, is forced to abdicate by his son, Askia Musa, who declares himself to be the new Songhai Emperor.source
  • September 12 – Italian Admiral Andrea Doria defeats his former allies, the French, and establishes the independence of Genoa.source
  • October 20 – The Treaty of Gorinchem is signed between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Charles, Duke of Guelders.source
  • December 9 – A new, three-member executive junta is appointed by the King of Spain to govern New Spain and the West Indies, with Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, and Diego Delgadillo forming the first Audiencia Real. Beltran de Guzmán, Ortiz and Delgadillo succeed the two viceroys, Alonso de Estrada and Luis de la Torre. Beltran de Guzmán is designated as the President of the Audiencia.source
  • Perak Sultanate and Johor Sultanate were established, both states being ruled by the sons of Mahmud Shah of Malacca.source
  • With the death of Skender Bey Crnojević, the Sanjak of Montenegro was disintegrated. The Montenegro Vilayet was formed and joined to the Sanjak of Scutari as a unique administrative unit with a certain degree of autonomy.source
  • September12 – Andrea Doria defeats his former allies, the French, and establishes the independence of Genoa.Francesource

Conflict & Security

  • 20 January – The Battle of Chanderi is fought between Babur and Medini Rai.Indiasource
  • March 20 – The Battle of Szina is fought in the Kingdom of Hungary between the two rival kings, John Zápolya of Eastern Hungary and Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the Habsburg King of Western Hungary. Zapolya and his 15,000-man army are defeated by mercenaries hired by the Habsburgs.source
  • March 22 – Siege of the southern Italian city of Melfi is started by the French Army, under the command of Marshal Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec. After killing the defenders and pulling down the city walls, the French troops plunder what remains and massacre more than 3,000 men, women and children.source
  • March 28 – King Francis I accepts the challenge to a duel issued by Holy Roman emperor Charles V.Francesource
  • April 28 – Battle of Capo d'Orso: The French fleet, under mercenary captain Filippino Doria, crushes the Spanish squadron trying to run the blockade of Naples.source
  • September 3 – The Kyōroku era begins in Japan, with the last day of the Daiei era ending on Daiei 8, 20th day of the 8th month.source
  • September 19 – War of the League of Cognac: The Italian city of Pavia is besieged for the fifth and last time during the decade, after having been attacked in 1522, 1524, 1527, and in May of 1528. Troops from a coalition of the Venetian Republic, the Kingdom of France and the Duchy of Milan break through the city walls after six days of bombardment, kill 700 of the defenders, and recover the city for Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan.source
  • Spain takes direct control of Acapulco.source
  • Peasant uprising in Dalarna, Sweden: The rebel campaign fails, and the rebel leader, later known as Daljunkern, flees to Rostock.source
  • Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo attempts an invasion of the Yucatán, but is driven out by the Maya peoples.source
  • Conchobhar mac Toirdhealbaig Ó Briain becomes the last King of ThomondIrelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • October 3 – Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón arrives in the Maluku Islands.source
  • November 6 – Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions become the first known Europeans to set foot on the shores of what is present-day Texas, when they and 80 survivors are wrecked on Galveston Island following a storm. Only 15 live beyond winter, and they are eventually enslaved by various Indian tribes. Eventually, only four of the 81 Spanish survivors— Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and an African slave of Dorantes, Estevanico— are able to escape and return home.source
  • Diego García de Moguer explores the Sierra de la Plata along the Río de la Plata, and begins to travel up the Paraná River.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 12 - Gustav I is crowned in Uppsala without taking the customary oath affirming the authority of the bishops.Swedensource
  • January 26 – The Canton of Bern becomes the second in Switzerland to officially adopt Protestantism after 21-day debate, the Bern Disputationsource
  • June 17 – The Italian city of Rimini and its surrounding area, ruled by the House of Malatesta, is conquered by troops of the Papal States and subsequently annexed.source
  • July 3 – Pope Clement VII issues the bull Religionis zelus, recognizing the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum), commonly known as the Capuchin monks, as a reformist branch of the Franciscans order of Roman Catholicism.source
  • John Alen, Primate of Ireland appointed Lord Chancellor of IrelandIrelandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Michelangelo Buonarroti begins work on the fortifications of Florence.source
  • Rebuilding the Chateau Fontainebleau in France is begun.Francesource

Health & Medicine

  • April - August – Siege of Naples is carried out by French tropes led by Odet de Foix, the siege ended when a plague of Cholera swept through the French army, killing Odet de Foix and reducing the army by two-thirds .Francesource
  • June 5 – The fourth major outbreak of the sweating sickness is noted for the first time, with a reference in a letter to Bishop Tunstall of London from someone who has fled his home because a servant at his house has become infected with the disease, with sweating soon followed by death.source
  • Bubonic plague breaks out in England.source

Crime & Justice

  • May 9 – King James V of Scotland, 16, held captive for more than two years under the guardianship of the Earl of Angus, is able to escape from Edinburgh to Stirling after several failed rescue attempts.source

Climate & Environment

  • In Henan province, China, during the mid Ming dynasty, a vast drought deprives the region of harvests for the next two years, killing off half the people in some communities, due to starvation and cannibalism.source

Culture & Society

  • August 4 – The "Peace of St. Ambrose" is signed in Milan at the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, bringing an end to the civil strife between the Milanese nobility and the local merchants.source
  • October 13 – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey founds a college in his birthplace of Ipswich, England, which becomes the modern-day Ipswich School (incorporating institutions in the town dating back to 1299).source
  • Chateau Fontainebleau in France is begun.source
  • St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle is completed.source
  • Baldassare Castiglione publishes The Book of the Courtier.source

Births

Deaths

  • January 30 – Maharana Sangram Singh, Rana of Mewar (born 1484)source
  • February 29 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (born 1504)source
  • March 10 – Balthasar Hübmaier, influential German/Moravian Anabaptist leader (born 1480)source
  • April 6 – Albrecht Dürer, German artist, writer, and mathematician (born 1471)source
  • July 8 – After surviving a mutiny of his crew and the death of 18 of his men in an ambush in what is now Argentina, Italian Venetian explorer Sebastian Cabot dispatches his flagship, Trinidad, back to Spain with reports and evidence against the mutineers, and a request for further military aid.source
  • July – Palma il Vecchio, Italian painter (born 1480)source
  • August 15 – Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, French military leader (born 1485)source
  • August 20 – Georg von Frundsberg, German knight and landowner (born 1473)source
  • August 29 – The Siege of Naples, at the time a part of the Holy Roman Empire, fails four months after it was launched by troops from France, led by Odet de Foix, who had died of illness on August 15. The Imperial, Spanish and Genoese armies pursue their French attackers, who were attempting to retreat to the nearby city of Aversa, and eliminate the survivors.source
  • August 31 – Matthias Grünewald, German artist (born 1470)source
  • September – Pánfilo de Narváez, Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas (born 1480)source
  • October 5 – Richard Foxe, English churchman (born c. 1448)source
  • November 17 – Jakob Wimpfeling, Renaissance humanist (born 1450)source
  • Giovanni da Verrazzano, Italian explorer (born 1485)source
  • Rana Sanga, ruler of Mewar, is assassinated shortly after fighting in the Battle of Khanwa (born 1484)Indiasource
  • Ravidas, mystic-poet of the Bhakti movement dies (year of birth uncertain)Indiasource