1562 CE

Shane O'Neill pleads his cause at the Palace of Whitehall in London before Elizabeth I of England, who recognises him as "The O'Neill" and "of Tír Eoghain". He returns to Ireland on 26 May. At dinner at Dunfermline Castle, Mary, Queen of Scots, displays a gold ring set with a heart shaped diamond from her collection and declares that she will send it to Queen Elizabeth of England as a gift and a possible summit conference in the future. Privateer John Hawkins undertakes the first of several slave trading voyages, attacking Portuguese slave ships off the West African coast and forcibly transporting the enslaved Africans onboard to Spanish colonies in the Americas to sell. Hawkins arrives at the island of Hispaniola in the Spanish West Indies, where he illicitly sells the enslaved Africans to local colonists, as his presence is technically in violation of Spanish law.

In the 1560s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

August 7 – The Treaty of Mozhaysk is signed between Denmark and Russia to avoid going to war against each other over the Kingdom of Livonia, now divided into Estonia and Latvia.source
September 20 – The Treaty of Hampton Court, between Queen Elizabeth I of England and Huguenot leader Louis I, Prince of Condé, is signed.source
September 22 – Maximilian, son of the Emperor Ferdinand I, succeeds Ferdinand as ruler of the Kingdom of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).source
22 September – Treaty of Hampton CourtFrance source
November 20 – Maximilian of Bohemia is elected King of the Romans.source
In Rajputana, Akbar made peace with the Rajputs. The Hindu leaders were allowed to keep their land, if they accepted Akbar as the ruler.India source

Conflict & Security

January 6 – Shane O'Neill of Tír Eoghain pleads his cause at the Palace of Whitehall in London, before Queen Elizabeth I of England, who recognises his status. He returns to Ireland on May 26, and resumes his rebellious activities by November.source
February 18 – The siege of the Portuguese fort of Mazagan begins in Morocco as the Sultanate tries to take back control of the area from the Portuguese occupiers.source
March 1 – Over 80 Huguenots are massacred by the ultra-Catholic François, Duke of Guise in Wassy-sur-Blaise, triggering the First War of Religion in France.source
1 March – An army led by François de Lorraine, Duke of Guise carries out the Massacre of Vassy, killing 50 and injuring hundreds of Protestants, starting the French Wars of Religion.France source
March 4 – Prince Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, heir to the throne of the Sultanate of Morocco, arrives at Mazagan with 100,000 troops.source
March 24 – Portuguese Navy Captain Álvaro de Carvalho reaches Mazagan in Morocco with a relief force that includes 600 well-equipped troops. Another force of 1,565 volunteers arrives on March 26 from Lisbon.source
April 2 – Civil war breaks out in the Kingdom of France as Louis I, Prince of Condé, leader of the Protestant Huguenots, declares war against the French Catholic rulers, in retaliation for the March 1 massacre of Vassy. Condé and Gaspard de Coligny seize control of Orléans, and other uprisings follow throughout France.source
May 5 – Prince Abdullah of Morocco withdraws his troops after seeing no way to overcome Portuguese defenses at Marzagan.source
May 28 – The Siege of Rouen as Claude, Duke of Aumale, leads 3,000 French government troops against the Huguenot fortress at Rouen. The siege lasts for five months. He orders a retreat in June but returns on 29 July with a larger force and heavier artillery.source
2 June - Swedish troops conquer Pärnu.Sweden source
June 17 Full moon of Waso 924 ME– King King Bayinnaung of Burma establishes an army garrison at Dawei in preparation for an attack against the Siamese Kingdom of Ayutthaya.source
August 24 – In the French city of Bar-sur-Seine, at least 300 Huguenots are massacred by Catholic soldiers after their success in reconquering the citadel there. The killing occurs nine days after the burning alive of 94 Huguenots at Lauzerte.source
9 September - Mary, Queen of Scots, on her first northern progress, besieges Inverness Castle.Scotland source
28 September to 26 October – Siege of RouenFrance source
October 4 – English forces under Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, land at Le Havre to aid the Huguenots against the French Crown.source
October 26 – Rouen is captured by Royalist forces under King Antoine of Navarre, who is mortally wounded.source
November 5 – Battle of Corrichie in Scotland: The rebellion of George Gordon, Earl of Huntly is crushed by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray.source
December 19 – Battle of Dreux: Huguenot and Catholic forces fight a bloody battle, narrowly won by the Catholic side. The official leaders of both armies are captured in the battle.source
Mughal Emperor Akbar conquers Malwa, and its last Sultan, Baz Bahadur, flees.source
An arsenal in Paris explodes. As recorded by Ambroise Paré in The Workes of Ambrose Parey: "In the yeare of our Lord 1562, a quantity of this pouder [gunpowder] which was not very great, taking fire by accident in the Arcenall of Paris, caused such a tempest that the whole city shook, but it quite overturned many of the neighboring houses, and shook off the tiles and broke the windows of those which were further away; and to conclude, like a storm of lightning, it laid many here and there for dead, some lost their sight, others their hearing, and others their limbs were torn apart as if they had been rent with wild horses" (p.415).source
The Portuguese army is defeated at the Battle of Mulleriyawa, Sri Lanka, at the hand of the Sitawaka army commanded by Prince Tikiri Bandara (King Rajasinghe), leaving 1600 dead. This is considered the worst defeat the Portuguese have suffered up to this time.source
Emperor Akbar's conquest of Malwa.India source
Swedish troops conquer Karkus, Estonia.Sweden source
Summer - Swedish troops conquer Paide.Sweden source

Exploration & Expansion

March 15 – English merchant Anthony Jenkinson has an audience with Ivan the Terrible in Moscow, before departing the city on April 27 and continuing his second expedition through the Grand Duchy of Moscow to Qazvin, capital of the Safavid dynasty in Persia.source
May 1 – Jean Ribault, French navigator, lands in Florida, and later establishes a Huguenot colony at Charlesfort on Parris Island, South Carolina.source
October – Privateer John Hawkins undertakes the first of several slave trading voyages, attacking Portuguese slave ships off the West African coast and forcibly transporting the enslaved Africans onboard to Spanish colonies in the Americas to sell. Hawkins arrives at the island of Hispaniola in the Spanish West Indies, where he illicitly sells the enslaved Africans to local colonists, as his presence is technically in violation of Spanish law.source
At the request of the citizens of Reval, Eric XIV bans all trade with Narva.Sweden source

Religion & Belief

January 17 – Huguenots are recognized under the Edict of Saint-Germain.source
January 18 – The Council of Trent reconvenes, after a gap of 10 years.source
January – The Edict of Saint-Germain grants Protestants limited freedom of worship inside houses or outside city walls.France source
February 12 – After Catherine of Austria, the former Queen Consort of Portugal decides to step down as regent for her grandson, the 8-year-old King Sebastian at the age of 55, she turns the responsibility over to her late husband King João III's younger brother, Cardinal Henrique de Aviz.source
22 May – The burgh council of Edinburgh decides to have a ducking stool at the Nor Loch for punishing "fornicatouris" and adulterers.Scotland source
June 10 – English Catholic printer Thomas Somerset is jailed at Fleet Prison "for translating an oratyon out of Frenche, made by the Cardinall of Lorraine, and putting the same without authority in prynte." On June 27, he is summoned before the Lords of the Council for a parole hearing, but is turned down because "he seamed to go about to justifye his cause" and returned to Fleet, "there to remaine until he shall have better considered of himself." He remains imprisoned for more than 19 years before finally being released on February 28, 1582.source
July 12 – Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya.source

Technology & Infrastructure

The Pünte at Wiltshausen, a small, hand-operated ferry, which becomes a historic monument in the late 20th century, is first recorded.source
The stone bridge and west gate at Galway is completed by Thomas Óge Martyn (mayor for second term 1562–63).Ireland source

Science & Discovery

Fausto Sozzini publishes Brevis explicatio in primum Johannis caput, originating Socinianism.source

Health & Medicine

April – James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran, talks of conspiracy theories and is confined as insane.Scotland source

Crime & Justice

January 6 – Shane O'Neill pleads his cause at the Palace of Whitehall in London before Elizabeth I of England, who recognises him as "The O'Neill" and "of Tír Eoghain". He returns to Ireland on 26 May.Ireland source
May 1562: Mughal general Adham Khan executed for the murder of Shams-ud-Din Ataga Khan, another Mughal general.India source
August 3 – A severe hailstorm causes serious damage in the German town of Wiesensteig, and leads a few days later to the demand of Mayor Ulrich von Helfenstein for the arrest of several women on charges of practicing witchcraft. Six of the women are executed, the first of 63 women and men put to death after being convicted of practicing sorcery.source

Disasters & Accidents

October 19 – La Herradura naval disaster: Twenty-five ships sink in a storm off of the coast of Spain in the bay of La Herradura, where 28 ships had been anchored to weather the elements. At least 3,000 people are killed, and perhaps as many as 5,000, while another 2,000 survivors, mostly slaves on the galleys, are able to escape to shore.source

Climate & Environment

November – Séan Ó Néill lays waste to Maguire's Country (County Fermanagh).Ireland source

Culture & Society

1 January – The poet Alexander Scott may have presented Ane New Yeir Gift to Quene Mary at Seton Palace.Scotland source
January 18 – Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville's play Gorboduc is performed for the first time, before Queen Elizabeth I of England. It is the first known English tragedy, and the first English language play to employ blank verse.source
February 6 – In the Mughal Empire in India, the Emperor Akbar marries Mariam-uz-Zamani, daughter of Raja Bharmal, the ruler of the Kingdom of Amber. The marriage takes place in Sambhar in what is now the state of Rajasthan, where Akbar has stopped on his way back to the Mughal capital of Agra.source
8 February – Agnes Keith marries James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray at St Giles, Edinburgh.Scotland source
February 1562: Mughal emperor Akbar's marriage to a Rajput princess, Mariam-uz-Zamani, daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber.India source
1 April – A royal guard of archers is created.Scotland source
June 14 – At dinner at Dunfermline Castle, Mary, Queen of Scots, displays a gold ring set with a heart shaped diamond from her collection and declares that she will send it to Queen Elizabeth of England as a gift and a possible summit conference in the future.source
4 October - The wedding between Prince John and Catherine Jagiellon causes a conflict between the king and his brother, due to a bet on which brother would marry her, based on the belief that she was homely.Sweden source
Dudley Grammar School is established, and Gresham's School is granted a royal charter, in England.source
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola publishes Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura (Rules of the Five Orders of Architecture); in succeeding centuries it will become the most published book in architectural history.source

Births

January 12 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (died 1630)source
January – Edward Blount, English publisher (died 1632)source
April 24 – Xu Guangqi, Ming Dynasty Chinese politician, agronomist, astronomer, mathematician and lay Catholic leader (died 1633)source
April 25 – Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, German noble (died 1602)source
April or May – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch composer (died 1621)source
May 26 – James III, Margrave of Baden-Hachberg (died 1590)source
May 28 – John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (died 1609)source
July 25 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese samurai (died 1611)source
August 17 (bapt.) – Hans Leo Hassler, German composer (died 1612)source
19 August – Charles II de Bourbon-Vendôme, Cardinal (died 1594)France source
September 21 – Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (1587–1612) (died 1612)source
October 4 – Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (died 1647)source
October 19 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1633)source
November 25 – Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and dramatist (died 1635)source
December – Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of BothwellScotland source
Samuel Daniel, English poet and historian (died 1619)source
Muircheartach Óg Ó Cíonga, writer and priest (died c.1639)Ireland source
Lucretia Magnusdotter (Gyllenhielm), royal daughter (born 1562, died 1624)Sweden source

Deaths

January 25 – Charles Wriothesley, English officer of arms (born 1508)source
January – Prince Ilie II Rareş of Moldavia (born 1531)source
February 3 – Georg Giese, German merchant (born 1497)source
20 February – Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming, former governess of Mary, Queen of ScotsScotland source
April 12 – Brian O'Neill is murdered by his kinsman Turlough Luineach O'Neill and is succeeded (in the eyes of the English administration of Ireland) as chief of the O'Neills by his brother Hugh.Ireland source
May 4 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (born 1525)source
July 23 – Götz von Berlichingen, German knight and mercenary (born 1480)source
September 5 – Katharina Zell, German Protestant reformer (born 1497)source
October 9 – Gabriele Falloppio, Italian anatomist (born 1523)source
28 October – George Gordon, 4th Earl of HuntlyScotland source
October – George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly (born 1514)source
November 7 – Maldeo Rathore, Rao of Marwar (born 1511)source
November 12 – Peter Martyr Vermigli, Italian theologian (born 1500)source
November 17 – King Antoine of Navarre, father of Henry IV of France (born 1518)source
December 7 – Adrian Willaert, Flemish composer (born c. 1490)source
December 17 – Eleonora di Toledo, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (born 1522)source
19 December – Jacques Dalbon, Seigneur de Saint Andre, soldier (born c.1505)France source
December 27 – Joachim of Münsterberg-Oels, Duke of Münsterberg, Duke of Oels, Count of Kladsko, Bishop of Brandenburg (born 1503)source