1541 CE

Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit"). Estêvão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Cristóvão da Gama, with orders to assist the Emperor of Ethiopia to defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who had invaded his Empire. King Charles of Spain begins the disastrous campaign against the Regency of Algiers as he assembles a fleet of 500 ships, with 24,000 soldiers, at the Spanish island of Majorca and prepares to cross the Mediterranean with the fleets of allied nations led by the Admiral Andrea Doria of the Republic of Genoa.

In the 1540s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 4 – Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Giannandrea Giustiniani Longosource
  • February 12 – Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, which will become the capital of Chile.source
  • March 28 – In what is now the capital of Ecuador, San Francisco de Quito is declared a city by the decree of King Charles I of Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru.source
  • June 11 – The Barony of Upper Ossory is created in the Peerage of Ireland in favour of Barnaby Fitzpatrick.Irelandsource
  • June 13 – The Parliament of Ireland is opened by King Henry VIII for a session that will last for two years.source
  • June 18 – by the Crown of Ireland Act, the Parliament of Ireland, meeting in Dublin, declares King Henry VIII of England and his heirs to be Kings of Ireland, replacing the Lordship of Ireland with the Kingdom of Ireland.Irelandsource
  • 15 September - Peace treaty between Sweden and Denmark for a period of 50 years.Swedensource
  • September – 28 December: County Tyrone is pacified by Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy of Ireland); Conn O'Neill submits to royal authority at Dundalk.Irelandsource
  • The Barony of Louth is created in the Peerage of Ireland in favour of Oliver Plunkett.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • February 8 – (13th day of 1st month of Tenbun 10) In Japan, the Siege of Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle, started by Amago Haruhisa of the 30,000 strong Amago clan the previous September in an attack against the Mōri clan led by Mōri Motonari and the Ōuchi clan, ends with a defeat of the attackers. The Amago clan sustains heavy losses, including the death of Amago Hisayuki.source
  • March 8 – At the Battle of Suakin, fought at an Ottoman port city on the Red Sea in what is now Sudan, Portuguese General Estêvão da Gama and his brother Cristóvão da Gama lead an attack against the Ottoman ruler and plunder the city.source
  • March 12 – The Portuguese Empire's fortress at Agadir falls to the Moroccan general Mohammed al-Shaykh after a siege of 24 days.source
  • April 24 – Battle of Sahart: Gelawdewos is defeated by the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.source
  • June 16 – Şehzade Mustafa, the son of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, is appointed as the new Ottoman Governor of the Amasya region of Turkey.source
  • July 9 – Estêvão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Cristóvão da Gama, with orders to assist the Emperor of Ethiopia to defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who had invaded his Empire.source
  • September 28 – King Charles of Spain begins the disastrous campaign against the Regency of Algiers as he assembles a fleet of 500 ships, with 24,000 soldiers, at the Spanish island of Majorca and prepares to cross the Mediterranean with the fleets of allied nations led by the Admiral Andrea Doria of the Republic of Genoa.source
  • October 7 – Through royal decree, the city of Arequipa is granted its coat of arms.source
  • November 19 – (1st waxing of Tazaungmon 903 ME) King Tabinshwehti of Burma, having concluded the Buddhist Lent, leads the attack on the Kingdom of Prome with 17,000 troops and 1,400 boats.source
  • November 23 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who also serves as King Carlos I of Spain, is finally able to depart from Algiers and abandons his army.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • April 7 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon, on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.source
  • May 8 – Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit").source
  • May 23 – Jacques Cartier departs from Saint-Malo, France on his third voyage.source
  • May 23 – Jacques Cartier departed from Saint-Malo on his third voyage.Francesource
  • Gerardus Mercator makes his first globe.source

Religion & Belief

  • September 13 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine that comes to be known as Calvinism.source
  • December 3 – The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is finally able to return to Spain, arriving at Cartagenasource
  • Elia Levita's chivalric romance, the Bovo-Bukh, is first printed, the earliest published secular work in Yiddish.source
  • Iceland adopts the Lutheran faith.source
  • Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent seals off The Golden Gate in Jerusalem, likely because of a prophecy that the Messiah would return through this gate to Jerusalem.source
  • The first official translation of the entire Bible into Swedish is made, and is called the Gustav Vasa Bible.source
  • Bhoi Dynasty of Orissa established by Govinda Vidyadhara who serves as its first leader until 1549. The dynasty continues until 1881Indiasource
  • St. Katherine's Abbey, Monisternagalliaghduff.Irelandsource
  • Grey Abbey, Greyabbey (1 February).Irelandsource
  • Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Dublin.Irelandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • June 11 – The Barony of Dunboyne is created by patent in the Peerage of Ireland in favour of Edmond Butler.Irelandsource
  • December 10 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are both executed at Tyburn after being convicted of treason in committing adultery with Queen Catherine. Culpeper is beheaded, while Dereham is hanged, drawn and quartered. As a warning to the public, the severed heads of both men are placed on spikes on the London Bridge.source

Health & Medicine

  • July 7 – (Tenbun 10, 14th day of the 6th month) Takeda Shingen becomes head of Japan's powerful Takeda clan of samurais that rules the Kai Province, overthrowing and banishing his father, Takeda Nobutora. Nobutora is exiled to Suruga Province for the next 32 years.source

Crime & Justice

  • November 23 – Catherine Howard, the Queen consort of England, is arrested after 16 days of questioning by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reveals that she had also been conducting an adulterous affair with Francis Dereham while married to King Henry VIII. She is imprisoned at Syon Abbey in Middlesex near London.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • October 24 – Algiers Expedition: One day after thousands of Spanish, German and Italian soldiers arrived on the North African coast and proceeded to surround the city of Algiers, heavy storms begin and the Algerian defenders surround King Charles and the other commanders. Fifteen European ships are wrecked onshore, and 33 others sink. Over the next 30 days, the Europeans are forced to retreat.source

Culture & Society

  • February 19 – Petru Rareș becomes the Prince of Moldavia for a second time, overthrowing the Voivode Alexandru Cornea at Suceava (now in Romania) at the direction of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman.source
  • November 1 – King Henry VIII of England is first informed of that the Queen consort, Catherine Howard, has been having an affair with Thomas Culpeper.source
  • John Calvin translates his Institutio Christianae religionis into French, as L'Institution chrétienne.source
  • The Honorable Society of King's Inns is created in Dublin.Irelandsource

Births

  • January 26 – Florent Chrestien, French writer (died 1596)source
  • January 26 – Florent Chrestien, writer (died 1596)Francesource
  • February 12 – Johann Bauhin, Swiss botanist (died 1613)source
  • February 21 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (died 1599)source
  • March 25 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1587)source
  • April 8 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (died 1593)source
  • April 12 – Ipatii Potii, Metropolitan of Kiev (died 1613)source
  • September 7 – Luigi Groto, Italian lutenist and poet (died 1588)source
  • September 7 – Hernando de Cabezón, Spanish musician (died 1602)source
  • September 21 – Anna of Nassau-Dillenburg, Countess consort of Nassau-Weilburg (died 1616)source
  • November 9 – Menso Alting, Dutch preacher and reformer (died 1612)source
  • November 25 – Michele Bonelli, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1598)source
  • Hattori Hanzō, Japanese ninja who served under Tokugawa Ieyasu (died 1596)source
  • Mizuno Tadashige, Japanese nobleman (died 1600)source
  • El Greco, or Domênikos Theotokópoulos (Greek: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος), Cretian painter, sculptor and architect (died 1614)source
  • Pierre Charron, Catholic theologian and philosopher (died 1603)Francesource
  • date unknown - Anna Svantesdotter Sture (Swedish countess)Swedensource

Deaths

  • April 21 – James, Duke of Rothesay, Scottish prince (born 1540)source
  • May 27 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (executed) (born 1473)source
  • June 26 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador (born c. 1475)source
  • June 26 – At Lima, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire of Peru and Governor of Nueva Castilla since 1529, is assassinated by 20 heavily-armed supporters of Diego de Almagro II in retaliation for the 1538 execution of Diego de Almagro.source
  • July 4 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador (born 1495)source
  • July 28 – Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane, Lord Deputy of Ireland, died by execution (born 1479/1492)Irelandsource
  • August 19 – Vincenzo Cappello, Venetian admiral and statesman (born 1469)source
  • August 21 – The Janissaries of Suleiman the Magnificent besiege Buda, wounding Wilhelm von Roggendorf, who dies from his wounds on the way to Komárno a few days later.source
  • August – Juan de Valdés, Spanish religious writer (born 1500)source
  • September 9–11 – Spanish noblewoman Beatriz de la Cueva serves as governor of the colony of Guatemala, before she is killed in a mudslide from Volcán de Agua, which ruins the capital city, Ciudad Vieja.source
  • September 24 – Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist and physician (born 1493)source
  • September – Beatriz de la Cueva, Governor of Guatemala (born 1510)source
  • October 18 – Margaret Tudor, queen of James IV of Scotland (born 1489)source
  • December 10 – Thomas Culpeper, English courtier, lover of Catherine Howard (born c. 1514)source
  • December 24 – Andreas Karlstadt, Christian theologian and reformer (born 1486)source
  • Jean Clouet, painter (born 1480)Francesource
  • François Guillaume de Castelnau-Clermont-Ludève, diplomat and cardinal (born 1480)Francesource
  • François II de La Trémoille, nobleman (born 1505)Francesource