1547 CE

King Henry VIII of England dies in London, and is succeeded by his 9-year-old son Edward VI, as King of England. Battle of Mühlberg: Emperor Charles V defeats the Lutheran forces of the Schmalkaldic League and takes John Frederick I. The apparition of Mary, mother of Jesus is seen by several women in the Sicilian city of Alcamo. She becomes the patron saint of the city and is celebrated as the Madonna of Miracles (la Madonna dei Miracoli).

In the 1540s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • July 17 – After the Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland for Mary, Queen of Scots, is unable to get England to voluntarily return control of Langholm to Scotland, he "reduces it by force.".source
  • 17 July – After the Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland for Mary, Queen of Scots, is unable to get England to return control of Langholm to Scotland voluntarily, he "reduces it by force."Scotlandsource
  • August 13 – The Duchy of Brittany unites with the Kingdom of France.source
  • December 24 – King Edward VI of England gives royal assent to numerous laws enacted by Parliament, including the Treason Act and the Vagabonds Act.source
  • The English Parliament, the first convened since the death of King Henry VIII, is opened by King Edward VI.source
  • Piploda princely state is establishedIndiasource

Conflict & Security

  • 11 March – During the Siege of St Andrews Castle, Patrick Gray, 4th Lord Gray, makes a pledge to Edward VI of England. This contract states that for English assistance in reinstating his rights over Perth, and the return of his brother, who is a hostage ("pledge") in England, Gray would further the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward VI, and deliver Broughty Castle and the Spey Tower at Perth to the English army.Scotlandsource
  • April 24 – Battle of Mühlberg: Emperor Charles V defeats the Lutheran forces of the Schmalkaldic League and takes John Frederick I.source
  • May 23 – The Protestant Schmalkaldic League defeats the Catholic Army of the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Drakenburg. Of 6,000 Imperial troops, 2,500 are killed and another 2,500 are taken prisoner by the Protestants.source
  • June 13 – A peace treaty is signed between representatives of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Ottoman Empire and France after the Holy Roman Empire's defeat at the 1543 Siege of Nice.source
  • June 23 – Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse and John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, leaders of the Schmalkaldic League who were both captured at the battle of Muhlberg, are transported to south Germany and imprisoned for their revolt against the Empire.source
  • June 26 – King Henri of France orders the division of France's easternmost provinces and divides them into three zones of control, each administered by a Marshal of the Army.source
  • June 29 – A fleet of 21 French galleys, commanded by Leone Strozzi, arrives at Fife in Scotland and begins the siege of St Andrews Castle.source
  • 29 June – A fleet of 21 French galleys, commanded by Leone Strozzi, arrives at Fife and joins the Siege of St Andrews Castle. The siege continues for a month before John Knox and Protestant nobles surrender on 31 July.Scotlandsource
  • September 10 – Battle of Pinkie Cleugh: An English army under the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, defeats a Scottish army under James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the Regent. The English seize Edinburgh.source
  • 10 September – Battle of Pinkie (Cleugh): An English army under the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, defeats a Scottish army under James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the Regent. The great Highland bagpipe is perhaps heard in the field. The English seize Edinburgh and Hume Castle is surrendered to them by Mariotta Haliburton.Scotlandsource
  • October 13 – (New Moon of Thadinovut 909 ME) With the end of the Buddhist Lent, the Kingdom of Burma (now Myanmar) mobilizes to invade the Kingdom of Arakan (now Thailand).source
  • November 15 – A fleet of 60 Ottoman Navy ships, commanded by Piri Reis, arrives at the port of Aden (now in Yemen) and captures the city in slightly more than three months, by February 26, 1548.source
  • December 6 – The Battle of Perlis River is fought between the Portuguese Navy and the navy of the Aceh Sultanate (now a province of Indonesia) at the Perlis River in Malaysia. With nine light warships and 230 soldiers, the Portuguese sink or capture 45 of the 60 ships of Aceh vessel leave 4,000 of their 5,380 soldiers dead or missing.source
  • December 28 – Sir John Luttrell of England, recently victorious over Scotland in the Battle of Pinkie, raids the Scottish port of Burntisland on the Firth of Forth, after his uncle Thomas Wyndham brings two Royal Navy warships. Luttrell and Wyndhamburn ships and buildings on the pier and capture Rossend Castlesource
  • 28 December – English soldier Sir John Luttrell, recently victorious in the Battle of Pinkie, raids Burntisland on the Firth of Forth, after Wyndham, his uncle, has brought his ships to the port; they burn ships and buildings on the pier and capture Rossend Castle.Scotlandsource
  • Edward VI of England outlaws execution by boiling.source
  • Summer – Patrick O'More and Brian O'Connor ravage Kildare but are driven back by Sir Edward Bellingham, ordered to Ireland in late May to restore order.Irelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • December – English Royal Navy officer Thomas Wyndham sails two ships to Dundee to support the English garrison at Broughty Castle commanded by Andrew Dudley, then investigates the River Tay towards Perth looking to rob church roofs to make lead bullets.Scotlandsource
  • John Dee visits the Low Countries, to study navigation with Gemma Frisius.source
  • Huguenots increasingly immigrate to the English county of Kent, especially Canterbury, from France.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 16 – Grand Prince Ivan IV is crowned as Tsar of all Russia at the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow, thereby proclaiming the Tsardom of Russia.source
  • February 20 – Edward VI of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.source
  • May 19 – John Frederick I signs the Capitulation of Wittenberg in order to have his life spared by the Holy Roman Empire.source
  • June 21 – The apparition of Mary, mother of Jesus is seen by several women in the Sicilian city of Alcamo. She becomes the patron saint of the city and is celebrated as the Madonna of Miracles (la Madonna dei Miracoli)source
  • July 25 – The coronation of Henri II as King of France at the Reims Cathedral.source
  • 25 December – Wyndham burns Balmerino Abbey.Scotlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Work on construction of the Château de Chambord, in the Loire Valley, for Francis I of France, ceases.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 13 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey is sentenced to death for treason in England.source
  • September 10 – Conspirators led by Ferrante Gonzaga murder Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma and son of the Pope, and hang his body from a window of his palace in Piacenza.source
  • Athlone Castle is reconstructed by Sir William Brabazon.Irelandsource
  • Lochwood Tower in Annandale is taken by the English.Scotlandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 29 December – Wyndham burns Elcho Nunnery.Scotlandsource
  • The Chambre Ardente is established in Paris for trying heretics.source

Culture & Society

  • January 8 – The first Lithuanian-language book, a Catechism (Katekizmo paprasti žodžiai, Simple Words of Catechism), is published in Königsberg by Martynas Mažvydas.source
  • January 28 – Edward VI becomes King of England and Ireland upon the death of Henry VIII; start of Edwardian Reformation in Ireland (lasting until 1553).Irelandsource
  • April 4 – Catherine Parr, widow of King Henry VIII of England, secretly marries Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley.source
  • June 4 – Maurice, Duke of Saxony is formally raised to the status of the Elector.source
  • July 10 – In France, a duel takes place at between Guy I de Chabot, the future Baron of Jarnac, and François de Vivonne, Lord of La Châtaigneraie, in front of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Vivonne, known for his fencing ability, is wounded and dies the next day.source
  • November 5 – Catherine Parr, the former Queen consort of England and widow of King Henry VIII, publishes her book The Lamentation of a Sinner.source

Births

  • January 20 – Laurence Bruce, Scottish politician (died 1617)source
  • 20 January – Laurence Bruce, politician (died 1617)Scotlandsource
  • January 24 – Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Austrian Archduchess (died 1578)source
  • February 18 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, Syrian Arab co-founder of the Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (died 1621)source
  • February 24 – Don John of Austria, military leader (died 1578)source
  • March 1 – Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher (died 1628)source
  • May 19 – Gustaf Banér, Swedish nobleman and member of the Privy Council of Sweden (died 1600)source
  • August 10 – Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (died 1619)source
  • September 14 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (died 1619)source
  • September 20 – Faizi, Indo-Persian poet and scholar (died 1595)source
  • 24 September – Faizi, Malik-ush-Shu'ara (poet laureate) of Akbar's Court. (died 1595)Indiasource
  • September 29 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish fiction writer (died 1616)source
  • October 18 – Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (died 1606)source
  • October 29 – Princess Sophia of Sweden, Swedish princess (died 1611)source
  • November 10 – Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Archbishop of Cologne (died 1601)source
  • November 12 – Claude of Valois, daughter of King Henry II of France (died 1575)source
  • November 12 - Claude of Valois, Duchess of Lorraine, daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici (d.1575).Francesource
  • Richard Stanihurst, translator, poet and historian (died 1618)Irelandsource

Deaths

  • January 18 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal and scholar (born 1470)source
  • January 19 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English nobleman, politician and poet, beheaded (born c.1517)source
  • January 27 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Queen consort of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary (born 1503)source
  • January 28 – King Henry VIII of England dies in London, and is succeeded by his 9-year-old son Edward VI, as King of England.source
  • January 28 – King Henry VIII of England (born 1491)source
  • January 28 – Henry VIII, King of Ireland (born 1491)Irelandsource
  • February 25 – Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara (born 1490)source
  • March 31 – King Francis I of France dies at the Château de Rambouillet and is succeeded by his eldest surviving son Henry II (on his 28th birthday) as King of France.source
  • March 31 – King Francis I of France (born 1494)source
  • 31 March – King Francis I of France (b.1494)Francesource
  • June 21 – Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter (born 1485)source
  • July 20 – Beatus Rhenanus, German humanist and religious reformer (born 1485)source
  • August 17 – Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess (born 1478)source
  • September 10 – Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma (born 1503)source
  • December 2 – Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador of Mexico (born 1485)source
  • December 28 – Konrad Peutinger, German humanist and antiquarian (born 1465)source
  • Raghunatha Siromani, philosopher and logician (born 1477) (died 1547)Indiasource
  • Meerabai, Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna (born year unknown in Kurki) (died 1547 in Dwarka)Indiasource