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The 1560s

813 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.

1560 CE75 entries

  • January 7 – In the Kingdom of Scotland, French troops commanded by Henri Cleutin and Captain Corbeyran de Cardaillac Sarlabous sail across the Firth of Forth from Leith, which they are occupying, and fight with the Lords of the Congregation at Pettycur Bay near Kinghorn.
  • August 17 – The Scottish Reformation Parliament adopts a Protestant confession of faith and rejects papal authority, beginning the Scottish Reformation, and disestablishing Roman Catholicism in Scotland.
  • September 29 – Eric XIV becomes King of Sweden, upon the death of his father, Gustav Vasa.

1561 CE76 entries

  • January 31 – The Ordinance of Orléans suspends the persecution of the Protestant Huguenots in Kingdom of France.
  • June 4 – The nobility of Harrien-Wierland and the town of Reval (on June 6) of the Livonian Order swear allegiance to Sweden.
  • October 18 – Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima: Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin, in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.

1562 CE96 entries

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

1563 CE67 entries

  • January 11 (January 2, 1563 O.S., January 11, 1563 N.S.) – The convocation of bishops and clerics of the Church of England is opened at St Paul's Cathedral in London by the Dean of the Arches, Robert Weston to agree upon the wording of what will become the Thirty-nine Articles, with the assembly adopting all but three of the Forty-two Articles promulgated during the reign of King Edward VI in 1553. The conference lasts for three months before agreeing upon the Articles to be submitted for further modification.
  • March 19 – Edict of Amboise is signed at the Château d'Amboise by Catherine de' Medici, acting as regent for her son Charles IX of France, having been negotiated between the Huguenot Louis, Prince of Condé, and Anne, duc de Montmorency, Constable of France, according some toleration to Huguenots, especially to aristocrats; this officially ends the first phase of the French Wars of Religion, and the combined Huguenot and royal armies then march north to besiege the English in Le Havre
  • December 4 – The Council of Trent (which had opened on December 13, 1545) officially closes. It reaffirms all major Roman Catholic doctrines, and declares the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament to be canonical, along with the rest of the Bible. Chapter 1, Session 24, promulgates the decree Tametsi, stipulating that for a marriage to be valid, consent (the essence of marriage) as expressed in the vows has to be given publicly before witnesses, one of whom has to be the parish priest.

1564 CE76 entries

  • March 25 – Battle of Angol in Chile: Spanish Conquistador Lorenzo Bernal del Mercado defeats and kills the toqui Illangulién.
  • August 6 – In India Akbar, ruler of the Mughal Empire, defeats the rebellious governor of Malwa, Abdullah Khan Uzbeg. The defeat comes the day after the Imperial Army's arrival at Indore, now in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
  • November 21 – Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi sails from Mexico. Later, he will conquer the Philippine Islands, founding Manila.

1565 CE85 entries

  • February 13 – Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi lands with his troops on the shores of Cebu Island in the Philippines.
  • March 1 – The city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is founded as São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro by Estácio de Sá.
  • October – The first Martello tower, the Tour de Mortella, designed by Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino (el Fratin), is completed as part of the Genovese defence system at Mortella (Myrtle) Point, in Upper Corsica.

1566 CE88 entries

  • May 1 – Charles IX, King of France, completes his grand tour of his kingdom, returning to Paris a little more than 27 months and 2,500 mi after his departure on January 24, 1564.
  • May 25 – King Philip II of Spain issues laws against the remaining Spanish Muslims, including a ban against use of the Arabic language, wearing of traditional Arab or Muslim clothing, a requirement that doors in their homes and buildings be kept open every Friday and on Muslim feast days (in order to verify that Muslim rituals are not observed), and forces the tearing down of public and private bathhouses (to prevent purification rites).
  • September 8 – The siege of Szigetvár ends in a fierce battle with the annihilation of 2,300 Hungarian and Croatian defenders, including their general, Nikola Šubić Zrinski, annihilated by an army of 90,000 soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, under Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Before charging out with his remaining 600 troops, General Zrinski orders the gates to the fortress to be opened and fires a large cannon, loaded with broken iron, killing hundreds of Ottoman attackers as they enter. As a final measure, according to one source, Zrinski orders a long fuse to be lit to the fortress gunpowder magazine and the powder explodes while thousands of Ottomans are inside.

1567 CE89 entries

  • April 9 – In India, the Battle of Thanesar is fought in what becomes the state of Haryana. The Mughal Emperor Akbar, with 300 men, wins a victory over more than 7,000 warriors of the Sanyasi Hindu sect. Akbar's army has two cannons, 400 rifles and 75 elephants.
  • September 29 – The Second War of Religion begins in France, when Louis I, Prince of Condé and Gaspard de Coligny fail in an attempt to capture King Charles IX and his mother at Meaux. The Huguenots do capture several cities (including Orléans), and march on Paris.
  • September 29 – The Second War of Religion is triggered by the events of yesterday. Huguenots go on to capture several cities (including Orléans) and march on Paris.

1568 CE83 entries

  • February 23 – Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire captures the massive Chittor Fort in northern India from the Kingdom of Mewar after the Siege of Chittorgarh that began on October 23, 1567.
  • 16 May – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees across the Solway Firth from Scotland to England but on May 19 is placed in custody in Carlisle Castle on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I of England, her cousin.
  • October – Regent Moray shows Mary's "casket letters" at a conference in York headed by the Duke of Norfolk, and again at Westminster Palace on 7 December

1569 CE78 entries

  • January 11 — The first recorded lottery in England begins and continues, nonstop, at the west door of St Paul's Cathedral in London until May 6, when the winner is drawn. Each share costs ten shillings, and proceeds are used to repair harbours, and for other public works.
  • August 2 – Burma invades Siam and captures Ayutthaya. Siam becomes a vassal of Burma.
  • November 9 – The Rising of the North begins in England as the Earl of Westmorland and the Earl of Northumberland, both Catholic nobles, set off from Brancepeth Castle in County Durham with 700 men, in hopes of overthrowing Queen Elizabeth I and placing the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne.