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The 1550s

764 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 16th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1550 CE71 entries

  • April 16 – The Valladolid debate on the rights and treatment of indigenous peoples of the Americas by their Spanish conquerors opens at the Colegio de San Gregorio in Valladolid, Castile.
  • May 20 – The Spanish Catalan city of Cullera is plundered by the Ottoman Empire General Dragut Reis, and most of its inhabitants are sold into slavery in Algeria.
  • 12 June - King Gustav Vasa founds Helsingfors, now the Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

1551 CE68 entries

  • May 12 – The National University of San Marcos is founded in Lima in the Viceroyalty of Peru, being the first officially established university in the Americas.
  • May 27 – Italian War of 1551–1559: A defensive alliance, placing the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza under the protection of France, is signed between representatives of King Henry II of France and Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma, placing Parma under French protection.
  • October 11 – John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, de facto Lord Protector of the Kingdom of England, is created Duke of Northumberland.

1552 CE81 entries

  • February 12 – Pedro de Valdivia founds the Chilean city of Valdivia, as Santa María la Blanca de Valdivia.
  • October 28 – Hugh Goodacre is nominated Archbishop of Armagh by the king, the Catholic George Dowdall being deemed to have vacated the episcopal see.
  • November 24 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and top cleric of the Church of England, delivers the proposed Forty-two Articles to the Privy Council of King Edward VI.

1553 CE72 entries

  • September 23 – The Sadians consolidate their power in Morocco, by defeating the last of their enemies.
  • October 23 – George Dowdall is reinstated as Archbishop of Armagh, restoring the Roman Catholic succession.
  • October 27 – Geneva's governing council burns Michael Servetus at the stake as a heretic.

1554 CE75 entries

  • March 18 – Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of working with the organizers of Wyatt's rebellion for the overthrow of Queen Mary of England.
  • July 25– Queen Mary I of England marries King Prince Philip of Naples, the only son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and heir to the throne of Spain, at Winchester Cathedral just two days after their first meeting.
  • September 13 (Shawwal 15, 961 AH) – At the Battle of Tadla in Morocco, Mohammed ash-Sheikh, ruler of the Saadi dynasty enters the city of Fez and becomes the undisputed sultan. Ali Abu Hassun, last ruler of the Wattasid dynasty, flees.

1555 CE85 entries

  • February 4 – John Rogers is burned at the stake at Smithfield, London, becoming the first of the 284 Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation to be killed during the five and one-half year reign of Queen Mary I of England. His death is followed within the week by that of Laurence Saunders on February 8 in Coventry, and Rowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk, and John Hooper, deposed Bishop of Gloucester on February 9.
  • 23 May - Election of Paul IV (Gian Pietro Carafa), 223rd Pope of the Catholic Church (end of the pontificate in 1559). He succeeds Pope Marcellus II, dead after 22 days of reign. He reforms the Dataria and the Inquisition. Coming from an ancient Neapolitan family, traditionally hostile to the Aragonese, he makes an alliance with the King of France to expel the Habsburgs from Naples.
  • June 1 – The Treaty of Amasya between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia concludes the Ottoman-Safavid War.

1556 CE79 entries

  • February 5 – Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between France and Spain.
  • May 28 (20th day of 4th month of Kōji 2) – In Japan, the Battle of Nagara-gawa takes place along the Nagara River in Mino Province near what is now the Gifu Prefecture. Saitō Yoshitatsu, with 17,500 troops, overwhelms and kills his father, Saitō Dōsan, who had attempted to avenge the Saitō family honor with less than 3,000 people.
  • June 27 – Thirteen English Protestants (11 men and two women), the "Stratford Martyrs", are burned at the stake at Stratford-le-Bow near London after being convicted of heresy.

1557 CE86 entries

  • April 25 – English aristocrat Thomas Stafford attempts a rebellion against Queen Mary I, landing at Scarborough, North Yorkshire with two ships and 32 followers after crossing the English Channel from Dieppe in France. Upon landing, he captures Scarborough Castle and proclaims himself "Protector of the Realm".
  • June 1 – July 2: the Parliament of Ireland, meeting in Dublin, passes acts confirming the creation of King's County (now County Offaly) and Queen's County (now County Laois) with their respective county towns of Philipstown and Maryborough; repeals statutes directed against the Roman Catholic Church; declares the monarchy of Ireland to rest in Mary I of England; and acknowledges the monarch's right to amend legislative proposals. James Stanihurst is Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
  • June 18 – Mass executions by burning at the stake resume in England for Protestants convicted of heresy under the law of England's Catholic ruler, Queen Mary I. On the first day, four women and three men are put to death at Maidstone at Kent. The next day, at Canterbury, another seven prisoners are burned. On June 22, ten more people (six men and four women) burn at the stake at Lewes at Sussex. In all, 24 people (12 men and 12 women) are killed in a five-day period

1558 CE70 entries

  • May 3 – The Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire gives recognition to Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor, two months after his proclamation on March 14 as the successor to his brother Charles V.
  • July 13 – Battle of Gravelines: Near the border between the Kingdom of France and the Spanish Netherlands, Spanish forces led by Lamoral, Count of Egmont, and assisted by the English Navy, inflict a major defeat on the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes.
  • November 17 – Queen Mary, a devout Roman Catholic dies of uterine cancer at the age of 42, and is succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth, an adherent to the Protestant Church of England, beginning the Elizabethan era in British history.

1559 CE77 entries

  • May 2 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland, to become the leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation.
  • June 11 – Scottish Reformation: A Protestant mob, incited by the preaching of John Knox, sacks St Andrews Cathedral.
  • September 5 – The papal conclave to elect a new pope opens 18 days after the death of Pope Paul IV at the Apostolic Palace in Rome with 47 of the 55 Roman Catholic cardinals present. The conclave lasts 101 days before a successor to Pope Paul is elected.