1549 CE

In the Kingdom of England, it was known as "The Year of the Many-Headed Monster", because of the unusually high number of rebellions which occurred in the country.

In the 1540s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • October 5 – Sir Thomas Smith is replaced by Ambassador Nicholas Wotton as the second Secretary of State of England, primarily in charge of England's foreign affairs. Wotton serves for less than a year before being dispatched by King Edward VI back to France.source
  • November 4 – The Pragmatic Sanction is proclaimed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Low Countries are declared inseparable.source
  • Plantation of Leix and Offaly starts (continues until they are established as Queen's and King's Counties in 1557).Irelandsource
  • The kings nephew Per Brahe the Elder is appointed riksråd.Swedensource

Conflict & Security

  • January 11 – An uprising of the Diaguitas natives outside of the South American Spanish colonial city of La Serena (now in Coquimbo province of Chile) begins. Within a day, the South American village is burned down and nearly every Spanish resident is killed.source
  • January – Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49): King Tabinshwehti of Burma begins his invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which ends in retreat.source
  • February 3 – Burmese–Siamese War: Burmese viceroy Thado Dhamma Yaza I of Prome slays Sri Suriyothai, queen consort of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, on her war elephant, when she intervenes in battle to protect the life of her husband.source
  • May 15 – King Henri II of France makes a triumphant return to Paris after suppressing the Revolt of the Pitauds in Bordeaux.source
  • June 9 – The Book of Common Prayer is introduced in English churches; the Prayer Book Rebellion against it breaks out in the West Country.source
  • June 19 – In the war of the Rough Wooing between Scotland and England, a Scottish and French force commanded by André de Montalembert retakes the island of Inchkeith, killing more than 300 soldiers from the English Army.source
  • July 8 – Kett's Rebellion, with 18,000 troops led by Robert Kett, breaks out at Wymondham in East Anglia, against fences and enclosures put up by wealthy landowners. and in Oxfordshire, against landowners associated with religious changes.source
  • July 18 – (Tenbun 18, 24th day of the 7th month) In the Battle of Eguchi, fought in Japan's Settsu Province near Osaka, General Miyoshi Nagayoshi defies the Governor, Hosokawa Harumoto, to attack the Eguchi Castle of Nagayoshi's cousin, Miyoshi Masanaga. After a 12-day battle, Miyoshi Masanaga is killed along with several of Hosokawa's other generals. Governor Hosokawa, fearing a reprisal, flees and eventually loses his authority over Settsu Province.source
  • July 29 – Norwich, in Norfolk falls to Kett's rebels.source
  • August 1– Kett's rebels defeat a Royal Army led by William Parr, Marquess of Northamptonsource
  • August 8– England and France declare war.source
  • August 17 – Battle of Sampford Courtenay in England: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed.source
  • August 27 – At the Battle of Dussindale in England, Kett's Rebellion is ended by troops led by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland.source
  • September 19 – The English Army abandons Haddington, East Lothian as it continues its retreat from Scottish and French forces.source
  • December 7 – Robert Kett is hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle after being found guilty of treason for leading Kett's Rebellion. His brother William is hanged from the walls of Wymondham Abbey on the same day.source
  • December 21 – Ottoman Empire Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent abandons his campaign against Safavid Iran after 21 months, during which he was unable to proceed further than Tabriz.source
  • Siege of Kajiki: firearms are used for the first time in a siege in Japanese history. (The previous year's Battle of Uedahara was the first battle in which they were used.)source
  • La Défense et illustration de la langue française by the poet Joachim du BellayFrancesource
  • Enhancement the National Defense and Fortifications, fortifications were constructed and military reforms implemented to protect Sweden from Danish and Russian Threats during Nordic tensions.Swedensource

Exploration & Expansion

  • Although trade existed between the two beforehand, in this year the Portuguese begin to send regular seasonal maritime trade missions to Ming dynasty China, at Sao João Island (also known as Shangchuan Island) near Macau.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 21 – The Act of Uniformity 1548 is passed by the Parliament of England and establishes the 1549 version of the Book of Common Prayer as the sole legal prayer book in England, replacing the use of different versions of the Latin-language Missal.source
  • January – William St Loe is knighted in Dublin for services in Ireland.Irelandsource
  • April 8 – Giovanni Angelo Medici is appointed as a Roman Catholic cardinal by Pope Paul III, effective May 10. In 1559, Medici is elected as Pope Pius IV.source
  • April 15 – Spanish Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier departs from Goa on a mission to bring Christian ministry to Japan.source
  • July 21 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, delivers his most important sermon, speaking at St Paul's Cathedral to defend the Church of England's reasons for uniformly requiring the use of The Book of Common Prayer.source
  • July 27 – (Tenbun 18, 3rd day of the 7th month) European Jesuit Francis Xavier arrives in Japan at the port of Kagoshima, the first Christian missionary there, but is not allowed to go to shore until three weeks later.source
  • August 15 – Francis Xavier, his translator Anjirō, and three other Jesuit priests are allowed to come ashore at Kagoshima in Japan.source
  • September 17 – The Council of Trent is prorogued indefinitely.source
  • December 3 – The papal conclave to decide on a successor to Pope Paul III, goes into session in the Apostolic Palace in Rome with 51 cardinal electors.Participants at the papal conclave agree to elect the next Pope by secret ballot.source
  • The spire of Lincoln Cathedral in England is blown down, leaving St. Olaf's Church, Tallinn, in Estonia as the World's tallest structure.source
  • The male section of the Vadstena Abbey is dissolved and the monks are forced to leave, while the nuns are allowed to remain.Swedensource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Sher Shah Suri's tomb Chinshjh is constructed in SasaramIndiasource
  • Expanded mining activities especially copper production in Falun.Swedensource
  • Construction begins at Uppsala CastleSwedensource

Crime & Justice

  • October 11 – Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector of England and Lord High Treasurer since 1547, is arrested on orders of the Regency Council on charges of "ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars" as well as malfeasance and improper use of the royal treasury.source
  • Fionnuala Ní Flaithbheartaigh conspires with her brother, Domhnall mac Ruairi Oge O Flaithbheartaigh, to murder her late husband's son Walter Fada Burke and seize his castle and lands of Inverin.Irelandsource

Culture & Society

  • January 4 – Gaspare Grimaldi Bracelli begins a two-year term as the Doge of the Republic of Genoa in Italy, succeeding Benedetto Gentile Pevere.source
  • January 19 – Maha Chakkraphat is crowned as the King of Siam after having been installed on the throne in 1548 by Maha Thammaracha of Burma.source
  • March 29 – The city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil's first capital, is founded by Tome de Sousa.source
  • April 23 – In County Wicklow in Ireland, Phelim O'Toole is granted a pardon by the King for unspecified offenses.source
  • September 29 – Shimazu Takahisa, the ruling daimyo of Japan's Satsuma Province, welcomes the Jesuit party of Francis Xavier.source
  • October 22 – Catherine of Habsburg, daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Habsburg, marries Francesco III Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Francesco, only 16 years old, dies of pneumonia after only four months of marriage.source
  • Excerpta antiqua is published by Hervagius at Basel, Switzerland.source
  • Maidstone Grammar School is founded in England by Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.source
  • Peter Canisius starts the Counter-Reformation in Bavaria.source

Births

  • February 15 – Barnim X, Duke of Pomerania (1569–1603) (died 1603)source
  • February 20 – Francesco Maria II della Rovere, last Duke of Urbino (died 1631)source
  • March 10 – Francis Solanus, Spanish missionary and saint (died 1610)source
  • 5 April - Princess Elizabeth of Sweden was born, princess (died 1597)Swedensource
  • April 13 – Count Juraj IV Zrinski of Croatia (died 1603)source
  • June 15 – Elizabeth Knollys, English noblewoman (died 1605)source
  • July 5 – Francesco Maria del Monte, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1627)source
  • July 12 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (died 1587)source
  • July 30 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1609)source
  • August 2 – Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman (died 1616)source
  • November 2 – Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain (died 1580)source
  • November 5 – Philippe de Mornay, French writer (died 1623)source
  • 5 November – Philippe de Mornay, Protestant writer and member of the anti-monarchist Monarchomaques (died 1623)Francesource
  • November 30 – Sir Henry Savile, English educator (died 1622)source
  • December 20 – John Petre, 1st Baron Petre, English politician and baron (died 1613)source
  • December 24 – Kaspar Ulenberg, German theologian (died 1617)source
  • Thomas Stephens, linguist and missionary to Portuguese India is born in Wiltshire, England (dies 1619)Indiasource
  • Probable date – Thomas Field, Jesuit explorer (died 1625)Irelandsource

Deaths

  • January 28 – Elia Levita, German Yiddish writer (born 1469)source
  • February 14 – Il Sodoma, Italian painter (born 1477)source
  • March 20 – Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English politician and diplomat (born 1508)source
  • March – Mingyi Swe, Burmese viceroy of Toungoosource
  • April 3 – Matsudaira Hirotada, Japanese daimyo (born 1526)source
  • April 14 – Prince Zhu Zairui, age 12, heir to the throne of Ming dynasty China as the oldest living son of the Jiajing Emperor, dies a few days after becoming ill during the Guan Li coming of age ceremony.source
  • April 15 – Christine of Saxony, German noble (born 1505)source
  • April 24 – Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English earl (born 1498)source
  • June 26 – Luis Cáncer, Spanish Dominican priest, missionary, martyr and servant of God (born 1500)source
  • July 19 – Edmund Sheffield, 1st Baron Sheffield, English baron (born 1521)source
  • July 31 – Thomas Eustace, 1st Viscount Baltinglass, landowner (born c.1480)Irelandsource
  • September 10 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (born 1501)source
  • November 10 – Pope Paul III (born 1468)source
  • 21 November - Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa, mother in law of the king (born unknown date)Swedensource
  • December 7 – Robert Kett, English rebel (executed)source
  • December 21 – Marguerite de Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (born 1492)source
  • 21 December Marguerite de Navarre, the princess of France, Queen of Navarre, and Duchess of Alençon and Berry (born 1492)Francesource
  • Michelle de Saubonne, courtier (born 1485)Francesource