date: December 5

text: December 5 – After two months, the Pilgrimage of Grace ends at Pontefract Castle after Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk promises to present a list of 24 Articles of the pilgrims' demands, "The Commons' Petition", to King Henry VIII. The duke pledges a reprieve for abbeys from dissolution until Parliament can meet, and to obtain a general pardon for the rebel pilgrims.


section: Religion & Belief

text: The Italian War of 1536–1538 resumes between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Francis seizes control of Savoy, and captures Turin. Charles triumphally enters Rome, following the Via Triumphalis, and delivers a speech before the Pope and College of Cardinals, publicly challenging the king of France to a duel.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: May 2

section: Crime & Justice

text: May 2 – Anne Boleyn, second queen of Henry VIII of England, is arrested on the grounds of incest, adultery, and treason.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Anne Boleyn is beheaded.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The Inquisition is implemented in Portugal.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – On "a great misty morning such as hath seldom been seen", Robert Pakington, a London merchant and a member of the English Parliament, becomes the first person in Britain to be murdered with a handgun, while he is walking across the street from his home at Soper's Lane toward the Mercers' Chapel. His assailant is never caught, despite the offer of a large reward.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: February 25

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: February 25 – Tyrolean Anabaptist leader Jacob Hutter, founder of the Hutterites, is burned at the stake in Innsbruck for heresy.


date: January 6

section: Culture & Society

text: January 6 – The Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, the oldest European school of higher learning in the Americas, is established by Franciscans in Mexico City.


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Thomas Cranmer declares Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn to be null and void.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – San Juan Bautista del Teul is founded by Cristóbal de Oñate in New Spain.


text: November 13 – Robert Aske meets with royal delegates at York, including the Duke of Norfolk and negotiates the return of the homes of Catholic monks and nuns, as well as a safe passage for Aske and several Catholic representatives for a meeting with King Henry VIII.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – At the Château de Blois, the marriage contract between King James V of Scotland and King Francois of France to arrange the marriage of James to Francois' daughter Madeline, is signed despite the reluctance of the French monarch to send his daughter to an unhealthy climate.


text: The first edition of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, a seminal work of Protestant systematic theology, is published in Basel.


date: January 22

section: Births

text: January 22 – Philibert, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1569)

source_section: Births


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Piotr Skarga, Polish writer (d. 1612)


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Santi di Tito, Italian painter (d. 1603)


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shōgun (d. 1565)


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Stephan Praetorius, German theologian (d. 1603)


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Jacobus Pamelius, Belgian bishop (d. 1587)


date: August 14

text: August 14 – René, Marquis of Elbeuf (d. 1566)


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Matthäus Dresser, German humanist, philosopher and historian (d. 1607)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – William Lambarde, English antiquarian, writer on legal subjects, politician (d. 1601)


date: October 21

text: October 21 – Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt (d. 1586)


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Felix Plater, Swiss physician (d. 1614)


date: November 22

text: November 22 – Johann VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1606)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Yi I, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1584)


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Henry VI, Burgrave of Plauen (d. 1572)


date: January 6

section: Deaths

text: January 6 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (b. 1481)

source_section: Deaths


text: January 22 – Bernhard Knipperdolling, German religious leader (b. c. 1495)


text: January 22 – John of Leiden, Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden (b. 1509)


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Jacob Hutter, Tyrolean founder of the Hutterite religious movement (burned at the stake)


date: May 17

text: May 17 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, English diplomat (executed, with four other men accused of adultery with the queen) (b. 1503)


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Anne Boleyn, second queen of Henry VIII of England (executed) (b. c. 1501/1507)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (b. 1476)


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, illegitimate son of Henry VIII of England (b. 1519)


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Francis III of Brittany, Dauphin of France, dies having caught a chill after a game of tennis which had developed into a fever; under torture Sebastiano de Montecuccoli, his Italian secretary, confesses to poisoning him and is brutally executed on October 7. Francis' younger brother, Henry, Duke of Orléans, succeeds as heir to the kingdom.

source_section: Events › July–September


text: August 10 – Francis III of Brittany, Dauphin of France, brother of Henry II (b. 1518)


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Didier de Saint-Jaille, 46th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller


date: September 27

text: September 27 – Felice della Rovere, also known as Madonna Felice, was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II (b. 1483)


date: October 6

text: October 6 – William Tyndale, English Protestant Bible translator (b. c. 1494)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Sir John Seymour, English courtier (b. 1474)


date: August 15

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: August 15 – The city of Asunción, now the capital of the South American nation of Paraguay, is founded by Juan de Salazar de Espinosa.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Alfonso d'Avalos, the Marquis of Vasto in Italy, enters into a three-month truce with the French Duke of Montmorency to negotiate a peace for which areas would be under French control.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Petar Keglević takes office as the new Ottoman Governor of Croatia and of Slavonia.


date: December 28

text: December 28 – The Ordonnance de Montpellier, establishing the first system in Europe for all writers to submit copies of their printed work to the government for review and maintenance in a library, is signed into law by King François I of France. The law provides that a book cannot be legally sold until a copy has been deposited in the royal library.


section: Conflict & Security

text: January 6 – Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence is assassinated by Lorenzino de' Medici, a distant cousin, who claims that he wants to reintroduce republican rule but has to flee to Venice. Instead Cosimo I of the junior branch of the Medici becomes the new duke.


date: January 16

text: January 16 – Bigod's Rebellion, an uprising by Roman Catholics, led by Francis Bigod against Henry VIII of England and Protestant Rebellion, begins with an unsuccessful attempt to seize Scarborough Castle in Yorkshire.


date: January 19

text: January 19 – Most of Bigod's forces are captured by the English Army at a dawn raid of their camp at Beverley, Yorkshire, but Bigod escapes to Mulgrave and then to what is then the County of Cumberland.


date: January

text: January – At the battle of Ollantaytambo, the Inca Emperor Manco Inca Yupanqui defeats the Spanish led by Hernando Pizarro and the Spaniards' Indian allies


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Francis Bigod, leader of Bigod's rebellion is captured at Cumberland by the English Army and imprisoned at Carlisle Castle. He is hanged at Tyburn on June 2.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Diego de Almagro successfully charges Manco Inca's siege of Cuzco, thereby saving his antagonists, the Pizarro brothers.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – Spanish conquest of the Muisca: Bacatá, the main settlement of the Muisca Confederation, is conquered by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, effectively ending the Confederation in the Colombian Eastern Andes.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – The Ottoman Empire invaded southern Italy, attacking the cities of Apulia, Otranto and Brindisi, in a campaign that would last until November 22.


date: July 12

text: July 12– Rodrigo Orgóñez occupies and sacks the Inca center of Vitcos at the battle of Abancay, but Manco Inca Yupanqui escapes and establishes the independent Neo-Inca State elsewhere in Vilcabamba, Peru.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – The third Ottoman–Venetian War begins as the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent leads an invasion of the Republic of Venice. The war will continue until October 2, 1540.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – The battle of Montemurlo, an attempt by residents of the former Republic of Florence to overthrow Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence and restore the republican government, ends in failure. The Medici family then takes revenge on the supporters of the Republic, including the Republic commander, General Piero Strozzi.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.


date: August 26

text: August 26–The siege of the island of Corfu is started by the Ottoman Empire Navy, commanded by Suleiman the Magnificent. Suleiman abandons the siege in September after an outbreak of plague, and the Ottoman troops return home.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – In what is now the Central American nation of Honduras, the Spanish conquistadore Alonso de Cáceres arrives at the Peñol de Cerquín, the mountaintop fortress of King Lempira of the Lencas, the indigenous leader of the resistance against European rule. Cáceres sends envoys to request Lempira to surrender. In response, Lempira has the Spanish messengers executed.


date: March 8

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: March 8 – Chipatá, now in the Santander Department of the Republic of Colombia, is founded by the Spanish conquistadors Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his brother Hernán Pérez de Quesada as the first settlement in what will become the Spanish colony of Nueva Granada, which will later be divided into the nations of Colombia and Venezuela.


text: Spanish counquistadors in what are now Peru and Colombia become the first Europeans to discover the potato, one of the staple foods for the indigenous residents, while exploring the houses of who have fled from their homes. Pedro Cieza de León, part of the expedition to Colombia, mentions the potato in a book that he publishes 16 years later while Don Juan Castellanos refers to the edible plant as part of a military report on raiding an Inca village in Peru. The potato is introduced to Europe more than 30 years later, in 1570.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


text: Kiritimati (Acea or "Christmas Island") is probably sighted by the Spanish mutineers from Hernando de Grijalva's expedition.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Princess Madeleine of Valois, the 16-year-old daughter of François I, King of France, is married to King James V of Scotland in a ceremony at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Already in ill health at the time of the marriage, Madaleine lives only six more months before dying at the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on July 7.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The Archbishop of Norway, Olav Engelbrektsson, flees from Trondheim to Lier, Belgium.


text: May 17 – The siege by Norwegian and Danish Protestants of Steinvikholm Castle in Norway, the former residence of the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Norway, ended after a month when the Catholic defenders surrendered to the Danish commander, Tord Roed.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Pope Paul III publishes the encyclical Sublimis Deus, which declares the natives of the New World to be rational beings with souls, who must not be enslaved or robbed.


date: June 23

text: June 23 – The Siege of Hamar ends with the arrest of Bishop Mogens Lauritssøn, and the Catholic rebellion is definitively ended in Norway.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – King Christian III of Denmark and Norway appoints Gjeble Pederssøn as Norway's first Lutheran bishop for the Church of Norway.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – King Carlos I of Spain (who is also the Holy Roman Emperor) issues a royal decree providing for the first election in the New World, allowing he citizens of the Province of Rio de la Plata (now Paraguay) to elect a replacement for the late Captain-General Pedro de Mendoza. Domingo Martínez de Irala is elected the new Captain-General in 1538.


text: The dissolution of the monasteries takes place in Norway, as religious organizations are dissolved by King Christian III; these include Bakke Abbey, Munkeby Abbey, Tautra Abbey, Nidarholm Abbey, Gimsøy Abbey and Utstein Abbey.


text: Dissolution of the monasteries in England: Religious organizations dissolved by Henry VIII of England include: Bisham Priory, Castle Acre Priory, Chertsey Abbey, Furness Abbey, London Charterhouse and Valle Crucis Abbey.

source_section: Events › Ongoing


text: Publication is made of two complete Bible translations into English, both based on Tyndale's. Myles Coverdale's 1535 text is the first to be printed in England (by James Nicholson in Southwark, London) The Matthew Bible, edited by John Rogers under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew" and printed in Antwerp.


section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: The Indian city of Bangalore is first mentioned in print. .


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Recife is founded by the Portuguese, in Brazil.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – The coronation of Christian III as King of Denmark and King of Norway takes place at Copenhagen.


date: January 21

text: January 21 – Antonio Maria Salviati, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1602)


date: February 26

text: February 26 – Christopher II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern (d. 1575)


date: March 4

text: March 4 or January 23 – Longqing Emperor, Emperor of China (d. 1572)


date: May 20

text: May 20 – Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (d. 1619)


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg, son of Landgrave Philip I (d. 1604)


date: June 3

text: June 3 – João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, Portuguese prince (d. 1554)


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat and writer (d. 1604)


date: July 29

text: July 29 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, 1st Duke of Osuna, Spanish duke (d. 1590)


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Christopher, Duke of Mecklenburg and administrator of Ratzeburg (d. 1592)


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Francesco Barozzi, Italian mathematician (d. 1604)


date: October

text: October – Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the throne of England (d. 1554)


date: November 21

text: November 21 – Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba, Spanish military leader (d. 1583)


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Willem IV van den Bergh, Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen (d. 1586)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1593)


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (b. 1481)


text: January 6 – Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (b. 1510)


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Lorenzo di Credi, Florentine painter and sculptor (b. 1459)


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Johann Carion, German astrologer and chronicler (b. 1499)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare, Anglo-Irish noble, rebel (executed) (b. 1513)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, English noble (b. 1502)


date: July 7

text: July 7 – Madeleine of Valois, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1520)


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Upon the death of his father, Bhim Singh, Ratan Singh becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Amber with a capital at Amber in what is now the Rajasthan state in India


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Nikolaus von Schönberg, German Catholic cardinal (b. 1472)


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Pavle Bakić, last Serb Despot and medieval Serb monarch


date: October 15

text: October 15 – Following the baptism of her son, the future Edward VI of England, Jane Seymour begins suffering from puerperal fever. The Queen consort dies nine days later.


date: October 24

text: October 24 – Jane Seymour, 3rd queen consort of Henry VIII of England (complications of childbirth) (b. c. 1508)


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Elizabeth Lucar, English calligrapher (b. 1510)


date: December 10

text: December 10 or December 11 – Andrey of Staritsa, son of Ivan III of Russia the Great (b. 1490)


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Leonard Grey, England's Lord Deputy of Ireland, successfully negotiates a truce in the semi-independent County Laois, formerly an Irish Kingdom, over the areas leadership. between Peter O'Moore and Rory Lysaght.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Treaty of Nagyvárad: Peace is declared between Ferdinand I, future Holy Roman Emperor and the Ottoman Empire. John Zápolya is recognized as King of Hungary (Eastern Hungarian Kingdom), while Ferdinand retains the northern and western parts of the Kingdom, and is recognized as heir to the throne.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – Truce of Nice: Peace is declared between Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – The city of Guayaquil, now the largest city in the South American nation of Ecuador is founded by Spanish conqueror Francisco de Orellana in the location of a Quechua native village of the same name. Orellana names the city "Santiago de Guayaquil".


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Bogotá, Colombia is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Battle of Las Salinas: In Peru, Almagro is defeated by Francisco Pizarro, who then seizes Cusco.


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Battle of Preveza: The Ottoman fleet of Suleiman the Magnificent, under the command of Hayreddin Barbarossa, defeats the Holy League of Emperor Charles V, under the command of Andrea Doria.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – The siege of the Indian city of Diu ends as the Gujarat and Ottoman forces withdraw from the Portuguese held city.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Garcia de Noronha is appointed as the new Governor-General of Portuguese India by King João III. He sails to Goa and arrives less than three weeks later.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – The Holy League, an alliance of Christian nations (the Papal States and the Republic of Venice, the Knights Hospitaller of Malta, Spain and the Spanish-ruled Viceroyalty of Naples and Sicily), is agreed upon under the direction of Pope Paul III and Venetian Senator Alvise Badoer.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – A joint delegation of Lutherans from various German cities arrives in England for meetings with King Henry VIII; Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; and Thomas Cromwell, the former Chief Minister of England.


text: June 18 – The formal wedding of Mary of Guise and King James V of Scotland takes place at St Andrews Cathedral.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Dissolution of the monasteries in England: The newly founded Bisham Abbey is dissolved.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Sucre, Bolivia, is founded under the name Ciudad de la Plata de la Nueva Toledo.


text: November 30 – Dissolution of the Monasteries in England: Byland Abbey is dissolved.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Pope Paul III confirms the excommunication of Henry VIII of England from the Roman Catholic church.


date: January 31

text: January 31 – General Johann Katzianer of the Holy Roman Empire, on trial in Vienna for the disastrous Imperial campaign against the Ottoman Empire and for desertion during the Battle of Gorjani, escapes and flees to Kostajnica Fortress in Ottoman-controlled Croatia. After 14 months, Nikola IV Zrinski has Katzianer murdered.


date: September 29

section: Climate & Environment

text: September 29– The last significant volcanic eruption in the Phlegraean Fields of Italy begins and lasts one week.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – The eruption the Italian volcano ends after seven days, having created Monte Nuovo.


text: The first in a decade-long series of severe famines and epidemics sweep central and southeastern China during the Ming dynasty, made worse by a decision of 1527 to cut back on the intake of grain quotas for granaries.


text: In China, a tsunami floods over the seawall in Haiyan County of Zhejiang province, inundating fields with saltwater, ruining many acres of crops. This drives up the price of foodstuffs, and many are forced to live off of tree bark and weeds (as Wang Wenlu states in his writing of 1545).


date: April 6

text: April 6 – In India, Sher Shah Suri, who had been the Mughal Empire's Governor of the Bihar Subah province, declares the founding of the Sur Empire and crowns himself as Emperor in a ceremony at Delhi.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Mary of Guise is wed by proxy to King James V of Scotland, while she is at the Château de Châteaudun and he is in London, with neither of the two seeing each other.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – In India Mahmud Khan, 11-year-old the nephew of the late Sultan Bahadur Shah, is enthroned as Mahmud Shah III, Sultan of Gujarat.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – The betrothal ceremony of 12-year-old Princess Elisabeth, niece of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to the 17-year-old Prince Sigismund II Augustus, son of King Sigismund of Poland (who is also the Grand Duke of Lithuania) and heir to the throne, takes place in Innsbruck. The two are married five years later on May 5, 1543.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Ştefan V Lăcustă of the Bogdan-Musat dynasty in Romania is appointed as the new Prince of Moldavia by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, replacing uncle, Petru Rareș.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – The first university of the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is founded on the island of Hispaniola in Santo Domingo.


text: Michelangelo starts work on the Piazza del Campidoglio on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Jane Dormer, English lady-in-waiting to Mary I (d. 1612)


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Udai Singh of Marwar, Ruler of Marwar (d. 1595)


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1599)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1612)


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (d. 1600)


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Bonaventura Vulcanius, Flemish Renaissance humanist (d. 1614)


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Infanta Maria of Guimarães, Portuguese infanta (d. 1577)


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Diane de France, illegitimate daughter of Henry II of France (d. 1619)


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Alberto Bolognetti, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Joan Terès i Borrull, Viceroy of Catalonia (d. 1603)


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Saint Charles Borromeo, Spanish saint and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (d. 1584)


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo, Spanish Grand Inquisitor, missionary Archbishop of Lima (d. 1606)


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet (d. 1612)


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Sigismund of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Magdeburg, Administrator of Halberstadt (d. 1566)


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy (b. 1504)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – John III of the Palatinate, Administrator of the Bishopric of Regensburg (b. 1488)


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Olav Engelbrektsson, Archbishop of Norway (born c. 1480).


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter (b. c. 1480)


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1480)


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Elena Glinskaya, Regent of Russia (b. c. 1510)


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Philipp III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (b. 1482)


date: May 22

text: May 22 – John Forest, English Franciscan friar (martyred) (b. 1471)


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1511–1538) (b. 1467)


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Charles II, Duke of Guelders (b. 1467)


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Mary of Bourbon, daughter of Charles, Duke of Vendôme (b. 1515)


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, condottiero (b. 1490)


date: November 22

text: November 22 – John Lambert, English Protestant martyr (burned at stake)


date: December 28

text: December 28 – Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice (b. 1455)


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Giannandrea Giustiniani Longo is elected to a two year term as Doge of the Republic of Genoa in Italy, succeeding Giovanni Battista Doria.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Treaty of Toledo: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (aka Charles I of Spain) and Francis I of France agree to make no further alliances with England. The treaty comes after Henry VIII of England's split with Rome and Pope Paul III.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – King Henry VIII of England summons Parliament to meet, with the session to start on April 28.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – The Treaty of Frankfurt is signed at Frankfurt-am-Main by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor on behalf of the Empire's Roman Catholic states, and the Lutheran theologian Philip Melanchthon, representative of the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant German states. Effective May 1, the parties agree that no violent actions will be taken by either side against the other during a 15 month truce period.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – The English Parliament meets for the first time since 1536, after being summoned by King Henry VIII as his seventh Parliament.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – King Francis I of France issues the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêt, that places the whole of France under the jurisdiction of the royal law courts, and makes French the language of those courts, and the official language of legal discourse.


date: January

text: January – Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War – Battle of Naungyo, Burma: The Toungoos decisively defeat the Hanthawaddys.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay, Florida with 600 soldiers, with the goal of finding gold. He also introduces pigs into North America.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – Battle of Chausa in modern-day Buxar, India: Sher Shah Suri defeats the Mughal emperor, Humayun (Sher Shah goes on to form the Sur Empire, and take control of nearly all Mughal territory).


date: July 18

text: July 18 – The siege of Castelnuovo (now the town of Herceg Novi in Montenegro) is started by General Hayreddin Barbarossa, leader of the Ottoman Empire's Army, after the Spanish commanding officer, Francisco de Sarmiento, rejects an offer of honorable surrender with safe passage. Spain had taken the city in war from the Ottomans in 1538, giving the Christian Europeans control of the eastern Mediterranean sea and access to the Holy Land. With 50,000 Ottomans against less than 4,000 Spanish defenders, Castelnuovo falls in less than three weeks.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The revolt of Ghent begins in the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) as members of the city's guilds demand the right to choose their own leaders, and the resignation of the Spanish-sponsored city leaders. Within four days, the city is under the control of nine guild leaders.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – In the Spanish colony of Nueva Granada (now the Republic of Colombia, Spanish conquistador Baltasar Maldonado and his troops fight a final battle at Duitama (now the Boyacá Department) against the indigenous armies of the Muisca Confederation, led by Tundama.


text: Teseo Ambrogio's Introductio in Chaldaicam lingua, Syriaca atq Armenica, & dece alias linguas, published in Pavia, introduces several Middle Eastern languages to western Europe for the first time.

source_section: Events › Undated


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons.


date: May 5

text: May 5 – The English House of Lords creates a committee, balanced between religious reformers and religious conservatives, to examine and determine doctrine, eventually forming the "Six Articles".


date: June 28

text: June 28 – The Six Articles, an Act of the Parliament of England, is given royal assent reaffirms certain Catholic principles in Henry VIII's Church of England.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Guru Angad Dev becomes the second Guru of the Sikhs.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Joachim II Hector introduces Lutheranism in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, becoming the second Prince-Elector after the Prince-Elector of Saxony to turn Protestant.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – Abbot Marmaduke Bradley and 31 monks sign the deed surrendering Fountains Abbey to the English Crown.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Juan Pardo de Tavera, Archbishop of Toledo, begins his administration as the Grand Inquisitor of Spain.


text: Beaulieu Abbey, Bolton Abbey, Colchester Abbey, Newstead Abbey, St Albans Abbey, St Mary's Abbey, York and Hartland Abbey (the last) fall prey to the Dissolution of the monasteries in England.


text: Lutheranism is forcibly introduced into Iceland, despite the opposition of Bishop Jón Arason.


text: The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City.


section: Health & Medicine

text: In Henan province, China, a severe drought with swarms of locusts is made worse, by a major epidemic outbreak of the plague.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – The first horse race is held at Chester Racecourse, the oldest still in use in England.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – The inaugural declaration of the Protestant Reformation takes place in Leipzig (now part of Germany) with Martin Luther present, as Duke Henry IV pledges to adopt Lutheranism as the official religion of make the Duchy of Saxony.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Henry VIII contracts to marry Anne of Cleves.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Anne of Cleves arrives in England in fulfillment of the October 4 contract for marriage to King Henry VIII and the payment of a dowry of 100,000 florins to her brother. Anne and Henry are married 10 days later, but the marriage is annulled on July 12.


text: The first edition of the Calvinist Genevan Psalter is published.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine by marriage (1576–1582) (d. 1582)


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire as a wife of Emperor Akbar (d. 1613)


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Franciscus Raphelengius, Dutch printer (d. 1597)


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Christoph Pezel, German theologian (d. 1604)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Archduchess Barbara of Austria, Austrian archduchess (d. 1572)


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621)


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Thomas Pounde, English Jesuit lay brother (d. 1613)


date: June 6

text: June 6 – Catherine Vasa, Regent of East Frisia (1599–1610) (d. 1610)


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Jost Amman, Swiss printmaker (d. 1591)


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Louis VI, Elector Palatine (d. 1583)


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, Italian-French dignitary and diplomat (d. 1595)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Pierre Pithou, French lawyer and scholar (d. 1596)


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Fausto Paolo Sozzini, Italian theologian (d. 1604)


date: December 31

text: December 31 – John Radcliffe, English politician (d. 1568)


text: February 13 – Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (b. 1474)


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Askia Isma'il, ruler of the Songhai Empire in West Africa, dies after a reign of slightly less than two years and is succeeded by Askia Ishaq I.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat and politician (b.1477)


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Lord Edmund Howard, English nobleman (b. c. 1478))


date: April 17

text: April 17 – At Dresden in Germany, Heinrich IV of the House of Wettin, nicknamed "Heinrich der Fromme" (Henry the Pious) becomes the new Duke of Saxony within the Holy Roman Empire upon the death of his older brother, Georg der Bärtige ("George the Bearded").


text: April 17 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1503)


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)


text: May 7 or September 22 – Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism (b. 1469)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Philip III, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg (1524–1539) (b. 1486)


date: July 5

text: July 5 – St Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Italian saint (b. 1502)


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Lütfi Pasha becomes the new Grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire after being appointed by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent following the death of Ayas Mehmed Pasha


date: August

text: August – Vannoccio Biringuccio, Italian metallurgist (b. 1480)


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Hugh Cook Faringdon, English Abbot of Reading


text: Adalla becomes ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla.

source_section: Events › By place › Asia


text: King Eupator of Bosphorus pays tribute to Rome, due to the threat posed by the Alani.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Empire


text: Last (2nd) year of Yongxing era of the Chinese Han Dynasty.


text: Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Patriarch Euzois to Patriarch Laurence.

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: Anicetus becomes pope of Rome (approximate date).


section: Science & Discovery

text: Anicetus meets with Polycarp of Smyrna to discuss the Computus, the date of Easter in the Christian liturgical calendar.


text: The Antonine Wall is completed.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Bardaisan, Syriac gnostic (d. 222)


text: Pius I, pope of Rome (approximate date)


text: Ilseong, Korean ruler of Silla


date: April 3

text: April 3– Estêvão da Gama becomes the new Governor of Portuguese India.


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Gelawdewos succeeds his father Lebna Dengel as Emperor of Ethiopia.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, enters Ghent without resistance, and executes rebels, ending the Revolt of Ghent (1539–1540).


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Battle of Kannauj: Sher Shah Suri defeats and deposes Mughal Emperor Humayan, establishing the Sur Empire.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Thomas Cromwell, is executed for treason publicly in London on the orders of king Henry VIII of England. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Gibraltar is sacked by the fleet of Barbary pirate Ali Hamet, a Sardinian renegade in the service of the Ottoman Empire, and many of its leading citizens are taken as captives to Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in Morocco. This leads to construction of the defensive Charles V Wall, at this time known as the Muralla de San Benito.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Battle of Alborán: A Habsburg Spanish fleet, under the command of Bernardino de Mendoza, destroys an Ottoman fleet commanded by Ali Hamet off Alborán Island in the Mediterranean.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – Stephen V, Prince of Moldavia, is assassinated by two of the Moldavian nobles (boyars), Mihul and Trotsanul, after word arrives that he will be replaced by Petru Rareş, who had paid a bribe to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in order to be appointed the new Prince. Alexandru Cornea is crowned temporarily as Prince Alexandru III.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado captures Hawikuh in modern-day New Mexico, at this time known as part of Cíbola, but fails to find the legendary gold.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – In Peru, Spanish captain Garcí Manuel de Carbajal founds the Villa Hermosa de Arequipa; one year later, Charles V of Germany and I of Spain will give the valley a status of 'city' by royal decree.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – An expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto destroys the fortified village of Mabila in modern-day Alabama, killing paramount chief Tuskaloosa.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Estêvão da Gama, Governor of Portuguese India, departs from Goa with a plan to sail into the Red Sea, and destroy the Ottoman Empire's access to the Indian Ocean by plundering Suez. The planned attack fails.


date: March 23

text: March 23 – Waltham Abbey is the last to be closed as part of Henry VIII of England's dissolution of the monasteries.


date: April 7

text: April 7– The English cathedral priories of Canterbury and Rochester are transformed into secular cathedral chapters on Easter Sunday, concluding the Dissolution of the monasteries.


date: April 12

text: April 12– Printing of the first translation of the New Testament into the Icelandic language is completed after King Christian III of Denmark finishes having Oddur Gottskálksson's text compared to the original Latin.


date: July 30

text: July 30 – At Smithfield, London, three Lutheran pastors, Robert Barnes, Thomas Gerrard and William Jerome, are burnt at the stake on a charge of heresy and three Roman Catholic priests, Thomas Abel, Richard Fetherstone and Edward Powell, are hanged, drawn and quartered on a charge of high treason.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Paul III, in his bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae.


text: Martin Luther expels theologian Caspar Schwenckfeld from Silesia.


text: Georg Joachim Rheticus publishes De libris revolutionum Copernici narratio prima in Danzig, an abstract of Copernicus' as yet unpublished De revolutionibus orbium coelestium.


text: approximate date – The musket is introduced into Japan from Europe.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Thomas Cromwell, Chief Minister for King Henry VIII, is arrested at meeting of the Privy Council of England at Westminster and charged with treason. Cromwell is removed from his positions as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Great Chamberlain and Governor of the Isle of Wight, and will be executed on July 28.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – William Whorwood becomes the new Attorney General for England and Wales, succeeding Sir John Baker


text: Europe is hit by a heat wave and drought lasting for about seven months. Rivers such as the Rhine and Seine dry up, and many people die from dysentery and other illnesses, caused by lack of safe drinking water.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort; the marriage lasts six months.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – English King Henry VIII's marriage to Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort, is annulled.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Honoré I, Lord of Monaco reaches the age of 19 and after the future principality of Monaco had been administered by regents for more than 18 years.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Catarina of Portugal, Duchess of Braganza, claimant to the Portuguese throne in 1580 (d. 1614)


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Edmund Campion, English Jesuit and Roman Catholic martyr (d. 1581)


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Wŏn Kyun, Korean general and admiral during the Joseon Dynasty (d. 1597)


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (d. 1602)


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English aristocrat and courtier (d. 1614)


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares, Spanish noble (d. 1607)


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Bartholomäus Scultetus, German mayor of Görlitz, astronomer (d. 1614)


date: June 11

text: June 11 – Barnabe Googe, English poet (d. 1594)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Ana de Mendoza y de Silva, Princess of Éboli, Spanish countess (d. 1592)


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim, Duchess of Saxony (d. 1594)


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Ludowika Margaretha of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, spouse of Count Philip V of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1569)


date: August 5

text: August 5 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French Protestant scholar (d. 1609)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Lady Catherine Grey, English noblewoman, potential successor to the throne (d. 1568)


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Princess Cecilia of Sweden (d. 1627)


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Angela Merici, Italian religious leader and saint (b. 1474)


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German statesman and archbishop of Salzburg (b. 1469)


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Cardinal-Infante Afonso of Portugal, Catholic cardinal (b. 1509)


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Juan Luís Vives, Spanish scholar (b. 1492)


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian statesman and historian (b. 1483)


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, English statesman (executed) (b. c.1485)


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Robert Barnes, English reformer (martyred) (b. 1495)


text: July 30 – Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Calenberg (1491–1540) (b. 1470)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (b. 1467)


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (Parmigianino), Italian artist (b. 1503)


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (b. 1500)


date: September 16

text: September 16 – Enrique de Borja y Aragón, Spanish noble of the House of Borgia (b. 1518)


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Infante Duarte, Duke of Guimarães, son of King Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1515)


text: c. January – Elizabeth Blount, mistress of Henry VIII of England (b. 1502)


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Giannandrea Giustiniani Longo


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, which will become the capital of Chile.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – In what is now the capital of Ecuador, San Francisco de Quito is declared a city by the decree of King Charles I of Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – The Parliament of Ireland is opened by King Henry VIII for a session that will last for two years.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – At the Battle of Suakin, fought at an Ottoman port city on the Red Sea in what is now Sudan, Portuguese General Estêvão da Gama and his brother Cristóvão da Gama lead an attack against the Ottoman ruler and plunder the city.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – The Portuguese Empire's fortress at Agadir falls to the Moroccan general Mohammed al-Shaykh after a siege of 24 days.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Battle of Sahart: Gelawdewos is defeated by the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Şehzade Mustafa, the son of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, is appointed as the new Ottoman Governor of the Amasya region of Turkey.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – At Lima, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire of Peru and Governor of Nueva Castilla since 1529, is assassinated by 20 heavily-armed supporters of Diego de Almagro II in retaliation for the 1538 execution of Diego de Almagro.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Estêvão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Cristóvão da Gama, with orders to assist the Emperor of Ethiopia to defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who had invaded his Empire.


date: September 28

text: September 28 – King Charles of Spain begins the disastrous campaign against the Regency of Algiers as he assembles a fleet of 500 ships, with 24,000 soldiers, at the Spanish island of Majorca and prepares to cross the Mediterranean with the fleets of allied nations led by the Admiral Andrea Doria of the Republic of Genoa.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Through royal decree, the city of Arequipa is granted its coat of arms.


date: November 19

text: November 19 – (1st waxing of Tazaungmon 903 ME) King Tabinshwehti of Burma, having concluded the Buddhist Lent, leads the attack on the Kingdom of Prome with 17,000 troops and 1,400 boats.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who also serves as King Carlos I of Spain, is finally able to depart from Algiers and abandons his army.


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon, on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit").


date: May 23

text: May 23 – Jacques Cartier departs from Saint-Malo, France on his third voyage.


text: Gerardus Mercator makes his first globe.


date: September 13

text: September 13 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine that comes to be known as Calvinism.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is finally able to return to Spain, arriving at Cartagena


text: Elia Levita's chivalric romance, the Bovo-Bukh, is first printed, the earliest published secular work in Yiddish.


text: John Calvin translates his Institutio Christianae religionis into French, as L'Institution chrétienne.


text: Iceland adopts the Lutheran faith.


text: Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent seals off The Golden Gate in Jerusalem, likely because of a prophecy that the Messiah would return through this gate to Jerusalem.


text: The first official translation of the entire Bible into Swedish is made, and is called the Gustav Vasa Bible.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are both executed at Tyburn after being convicted of treason in committing adultery with Queen Catherine. Culpeper is beheaded, while Dereham is hanged, drawn and quartered. As a warning to the public, the severed heads of both men are placed on spikes on the London Bridge.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – (Tenbun 10, 14th day of the 6th month) Takeda Shingen becomes head of Japan's powerful Takeda clan of samurais that rules the Kai Province, overthrowing and banishing his father, Takeda Nobutora. Nobutora is exiled to Suruga Province for the next 32 years.


text: November 23 – Catherine Howard, the Queen consort of England, is arrested after 16 days of questioning by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reveals that she had also been conducting an adulterous affair with Francis Dereham while married to King Henry VIII. She is imprisoned at Syon Abbey in Middlesex near London.


date: October 24

text: October 24 – Algiers Expedition: One day after thousands of Spanish, German and Italian soldiers arrived on the North African coast and proceeded to surround the city of Algiers, heavy storms begin and the Algerian defenders surround King Charles and the other commanders. Fifteen European ships are wrecked onshore, and 33 others sink. Over the next 30 days, the Europeans are forced to retreat.


date: September 9

text: September 9–11 – Spanish noblewoman Beatriz de la Cueva serves as governor of the colony of Guatemala, before she is killed in a mudslide from Volcán de Agua, which ruins the capital city, Ciudad Vieja.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Petru Rareș becomes the Prince of Moldavia for a second time, overthrowing the Voivode Alexandru Cornea at Suceava (now in Romania) at the direction of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – King Henry VIII of England is first informed of that the Queen consort, Catherine Howard, has been having an affair with Thomas Culpeper.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Magdalena Moons, Dutch woman associated with the 1574 Siege of Leiden (d. 1613)


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Johann Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1613)


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1599)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)


date: April 8

text: April 8 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (d. 1593)


date: April 12

text: April 12 – Ipatii Potii, Metropolitan of Kiev (d. 1613)


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Roberto de' Nobili, Italian Catholic cardinal


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Luigi Groto, Italian lutenist and poet (d. 1588)


text: September 7 – Hernando de Cabezón, Spanish musician (d. 1602)


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Anna of Nassau-Dillenburg, Countess consort of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1616)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Menso Alting, Dutch preacher and reformer (d. 1612)


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Michele Bonelli, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1598)


text: Hattori Hanzō, Japanese ninja who served under Tokugawa Ieyasu (d. 1596)


text: El Greco, or Domênikos Theotokópoulos (Greek: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος), Cretian painter, sculptor and architect (d. 1614)


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Philip of the Palatinate, Bishop of Freising and Naumburg (b. 1480)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – (13th day of 1st month of Tenbun 10) In Japan, the Siege of Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle, started by Amago Haruhisa of the 30,000 strong Amago clan the previous September in an attack against the Mōri clan led by Mōri Motonari and the Ōuchi clan, ends with a defeat of the attackers. The Amago clan sustains heavy losses, including the death of Amago Hisayuki.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – James, Duke of Rothesay, Scottish prince (b. 1540)


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (executed) (b. 1473)


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (1539–1541) (b. 1473)


date: August 19

text: August 19 – Vincenzo Cappello, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1469)


date: August 21

text: August 21 – The Janissaries of Suleiman the Magnificent besiege Buda, wounding Wilhelm von Roggendorf, who dies from his wounds on the way to Komárno a few days later.


date: August

text: August – Juan de Valdés, Spanish religious writer (b. 1500)


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist and physician (b. 1493)


date: September

text: September – Beatriz de la Cueva, Governor of Guatemala (b. 1510)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Margaret Tudor, queen of James IV of Scotland (b. 1489)


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Thomas Culpeper, English courtier, lover of Catherine Howard (b. c. 1514)


text: December 10 – Francis Dereham, English lover of Catherine Howard (executed)


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Andreas Karlstadt, Christian theologian and reformer (b. 1486)


date: January 16

text: January 16 – The 8th Parliament of Henry VIII assembles at Westminster after having been summoned on November 23.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – The first legislature for the Voivode of Transylvania meets at Vásárhely in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Târgu Mureș in Romania).


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Antoine Escalin des Aimars of France completes the negotiation with the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman for the Franco-Ottoman alliance.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – As the 1542 session of the English Parliament ends, King Henry VIII gives royal assent to numerous laws, including the Witchcraft Act, the Treason Act, and the Leases by Corporations Act.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – The Parliament of Ireland passes the Crown of Ireland Act, which dissolves the title of Lord of Ireland and reestablishes it to the Kingdom of Ireland, with its last Lord, Henry VIII of England, becoming its first king.


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo lands in what is now San Diego Bay, and names it "San Miguel", claiming it for the Spanish Empire. San Miguel will later become the city of San Diego. This marks the first time a European sees what is now the U.S. state of California.


text: The first contact of Japan with the West occurs when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, lands Antonio Pexoto, Francisco Zeimoto and António Mota in Japan, according to António Galvão. According to the Japanese books Tanegashima Kafu and Teppoki, it is stated they landed in 1543.


text: Bartolomé de las Casas completes A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, which will be published in 1552.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Battle of Baçente: The Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama capture a Muslim-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – Antoine Escalin des Eymars, the French ambassador, returns from Constantinople, with promises of Ottoman aid in a war against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – The Battle of Jarte begins in Ethiopia as the Army of the Portuguese Empire, commanded by Cristóvão da Gama encounters the army of the Ethiopian ruler, the Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, achieving a victory on April 16.


date: May 19

text: May 19 – The Prome Kingdom, in modern-day central Burma, is conquered by the Taungoo Dynasty.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – (10th day of 6th month of Tenbun 11) In Japan, a six-year rebellion within the Date clan when clan leader Date Tanemune, returning home from a day of falconry, is attacked by his oldest son, Date Harumune, and imprisoned at Kōri-Nishiyama Castle in Fukushima Prefecture. Tanemune is rescued by an aide, Koyanagigawa Munetomo, and escapes. The war lasts for six years before Harumune triumphs and becomes the new leader of the Date clan.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Guelders Wars: Maarten van Rossum leaves Antwerp, having failed to take it by siege.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Battle of Haddon Rig: Scotland defeats England.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Battle of Wofla in Ethiopia: Reinforced with at least 2900 arquebusiers and cavalry, the Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi attacks the Portuguese camp. The Portuguese are scattered; Cristóvão da Gama is captured and executed.


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Battle of Solway Moss: An English army invades Scotland, and defeats a Scottish army.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – In the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, the Spanish colonists create the new town of Mérida.


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Tutul-Xiu, the Mayan ruler of the Maní in Yucatán, arrives at the Spanish settlement of Merida with food supplies for the colonists and offers to assist the Spaniards in their conquest of Yucatan in return for being installed as the leading Mayan ruler in Mexico.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Guadalajara, Mexico, is founded by the Spaniards after three previous attempts failed, due to aggressive opposition from local tribes.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sets sail to explore the northwest of the Pacific Ocean.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Cabrillo becomes the first European to set foot on California's Santa Catalina Island.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Pope Paul III establishes the Holy Office with the bull Licet ab initio, with jurisdiction over the Roman Inquisition.


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Citizens of Hildesheim in the Holy Roman Empire profess themselves to the Lutheran teachings, thus joining the Schmalkaldic League. As a pledge owner, the city provides for the carrying out of the Protestant Reformation in the city and Peine. Priests from the localities of Clauen, Hohenhameln, Soßmar, Schmedenstedt, Lengede and Rosenthal resume their offices in the interest of the Reformation.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – King James V of Scotland writes a letter to Pope Paul III and notes that he defied Henry VIII's attempts to convert him to the Protestant faith.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Catherine Howard, until recently the Queen consort of England and the wife of King Henry VIII, is executed by beheading, two days after the King gives royal assent to a bill of attainder passed by the English Parliament on February 7. Catherine had been arrested in November on accusations that she had sexual relations with Thomas Culpeper.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Palace plot of Renyin year: A group of Ming dynasty palace women fail to murder the Jiajing Emperor, and are executed by slow-slicing.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – The earliest recorded Preston Guild Court is held in Lancashire, England, in the modern sequence, which lasts unbroken until 1922.


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (d. 1623)


date: May 11

text: May 11 – Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee, Swiss Catholic bishop (d. 1608)


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman, daughter of Count Philip IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1580)


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Richard Grenville, English politician (d. 1591)


date: June 24

text: June 24 – John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite mystic, theologian, poet (d. 1591)


text: August 27 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania and Protestant Bishop of Cammin (d. 1600)


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Isabella de' Medici, Italian princess (d. 1576)


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg, sister of William the Silent (d. 1603)


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Spanish explorer (d. 1595)


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (d. 1621)


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Philip IV, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1602)


date: October 31

text: October 31 – Henriette of Cleves, Duchess of Nevers, Countess of Rethel (d. 1601)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Tarquinia Molza, Italian singer (d. 1617)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Thomas Allen, English mathematician and astrologer, some suggest 1540 (d. 1632)


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480)


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, English noblewoman (executed) (born c. 1505)


date: February

text: February – Nikolaus Federmann, German adventurer in Venezuela and Colombia (b. 1501)


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, illegitimate son of King Edward IV of England


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer, navigator and conquistador (b. c. 1500)


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Leo Jud, Swiss reformer (b. 1482)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Lisa del Giocondo, Florentine noblewoman, believed to be the subject of the Mona Lisa (b. 1479)


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (b. 1483)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Cristóvão da Gama, Portuguese soldier (b. c. 1516)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Lucas Fernández, Spanish dramatist and musician (b. c. 1474)


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet (b. c. 1490)


date: October 11

text: October 11 – Thomas Wyatt, English poet and diplomat (b. 1503)


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Mary, Queen of Scots, aged six days, becomes queen regnant on the death of her father, James V of Scotland.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Thomas Lovett III, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (b. 1473)


date: February 11

text: February 11 – King Henry VIII of England allies with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, against France.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Laws in Wales Act 1542, second phase of the Consolidating Act of Welsh Union, is given royal assent, establishing counties and regularizing parliamentary representation in Wales.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – The Parliament of Scotland votes against ratifying the Treaty of Greenwich that had been signed with England on July 1.


text: Indians in the Spanish Empire are declared free, against the wishes of local settlers.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Battle of Wayna Daga: A joint Ethiopian-Portuguese force of 8,500, under Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia, defeats Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's army of over 14,000, ending the Ethiopian–Adal War.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Abu Abdallah Muhammad VI is installed as the new ruler of the Kingdom of Tlemcen in modern-day Algeria, succeeding his brother Abu Zayyan III.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – King Gustav of Sweden leads troops in troops crushing Dacke's Rebellion, led by Swedish peasant Nils Dacke, with defeat coming at the Battle of Hjortensjon.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, follows up on his 1541 annexation of Hungary by invading a second time to capture areas that had been taken by Archduke Ferdinand, including Esztergom.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Fabiano di Monte San Savinov leads 500 infantry men and some cavalry in an attempt to conquer the Republic of San Marino, but the group fails after getting lost in a dense fog on Saint Quirinus' Day.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – King Henry VIII of England declares war on King Francis I of France, one month after sending an ultimatum.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – The first large naval battle in the Atlantic Ocean, the Battle of Muros Bay, takes place off of the coast of Galicia in Spain between the French fleet and the Spanish fleet. Although France has the larger force, the Spanish Admiral Álvaro de Bazán identifies the flagship of French Admiral Jean de Clamorgan and sinks the vessel. Spain then captures the remaining 23 other ships and takes 3,000 prisoners, while France loses 3,000 dead and injured.


text: July 25 – Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan, begins the siege of the city of Esztergom in Hungary.


date: August 6

text: August 6– The Siege of Nice by the Ottoman Empire and French forces (under the Franco-Ottoman alliance), led by Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, begins. At the time, the city is under the control of the Duchy of Savoy and is defended by the Savoyards, assisted by the Habsburg armies of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. The siege lasts for 16 days.


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Esztergom surrenders to the Ottomans led by Suleiman the Magnificent.


date: August 22

text: August 22– The city of Nice is captured by the Ottomans and Barbarossa after a long bombardment. The Ottomans pillage the city and take away 2,500 captives to be sold into slavery.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – (24th day of 7th month of Tenbun 12) The first Europeans arrive in Japan and introduce firearms to the Asian monarchy, as the Chinese pirate Wang Zhi escorts Portuguese traders to in Tanegashima island in southern Kyushu. The first European visitors include António Mota, António Peixoto, Francisco Zeimoto, and Fernão Mendes Pinto.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – Campaign of Suleiman: Suleiman the Magnificent captures the Hungarian coronation city of Székesfehérvár after a siege that had started on August 20. The city will be occupied by the Ottoman Empire for 145 years.


date: September

text: September–October – Landrecies in Picardy is besieged by forces under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, but the siege is withdrawn on the approach of the French army.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – In order to aid James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland, in his defense against challenger Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, King Francois of France arranges for two envoys, Jacques de La Brosse and Jacques Ménage to deliver money and munitions to Dumbarton Castle. The envoys unwittingly deliver Arran's materials to Lennox.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Suleiman, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, completes his campaign to bring Hungary under Ottoman rule, having captured Esztergom, Székesfehérvár, Siklós and Szeged


date: December 7

text: December 7 (11 waxing of Natdaw 905 ME) – The land and naval forces of the Confederation of Shan States (consisting of the principalities of Mohnyin, Mogaung, Bhamo, Momeik and Kale), led by Prince Sawlon of Mohnyin and King Hkonmaing, depart from the Shan capital, Awa, to start an invasion of the Toungoo Empire in upper Myanmar. The invaders easily overrun Toungoo and its capital at Prome a week later.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – The Eight Years War, also called the "War of Rough Wooing", begins as Scotland's Parliament votes to declare war on the Kingdom of England.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – King Henry VIII of England signs an agreement with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to invade France by June 20, 1544 with at least 35,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Massive flooding of the Mississippi River and the Arkansas River begins in southeastern North America over a 40 day period while Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his team are passing through. The event is noted by the chronicler of the DeSoto Expedition, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – The burial of King James V of Scotland is carried out at Holyrood Abbey.


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of Archduke Ferdinand I, marries Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland. Her coronation as Queen consort of Poland takes place three days later at Kraków Cathedral as the Archbishop of Gniezno, Piotr Gamrat, places the crown of Hedwig of Kalisz upon her head.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – King Henry VIII of England gives royal assent to numerous laws passed by parliament, including the Act for the Advancement of True Religion, restricting the reading of the Bible to clerics, noblemen, and upper class society. The Act will be repealed in 1547 during the reign of King Edward VI.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Andrea Centurione Pietrasanta begins a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, replacing Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – In Nuremberg, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is printed during the illness of Nicholas Copernicus, offering mathematical arguments for the existence of the heliocentric universe, denying the geocentric model. According to legend, Copernicus, who had a stroke in December, is presented a copy of the book on his deathbed shortly before dying on May 24 in Frombork at the age of 70.


date: June

text: June – Andreas Vesalius publishes De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), revolutionising the science of human anatomy.


text: Martin Luther publishes On the Jews and Their Lies.


text: Mikael Agricola publishes Abckiria.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – As flooding of the Mississippi continues De la Vega notes that today "while the Spaniards... were making a procession in honor of Our Redeemer's entrance into Jerusalem, the river entered the gates of the little village of Aminoya in the wildness and fury of its flood, and two days later on we could not pass through the streets except in canoes."


date: March 15

text: March 15 – James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, is elected by the Scottish Parliament as the Regent for the infant Mary Queen of Scots.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – King Henry VIII of England marries Catherine Parr. It is Henry's sixth and last marriage and Catherine's third. Princess Elizabeth attends the wedding. This month, the Parliament of England passes the Third Succession Act, restoring the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, Henry's daughters, to the line of succession to the English throne.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Mary Stuart is crowned the Queen of Scots in Stirling at the age of nine months old.


text: The Lighthouse of Genoa is completed in present form.


date: January 18

text: January 18 (baptized) – Alfonso Ferrabosco, Italian composer (d. 1588)


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter (d. 1590)


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, Emir of Bitlis (d. 1603)


text: March 7 – John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern, German prince and reigning count palatine of Simmern (d. 1592)


date: April 1

text: April 1 – François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, Constable of France (d. 1626)


date: April 11

text: April 11 – George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz (d. 1592)


date: June 8

text: June 8 – Petrus Albinus, German historian, local history researcher and poet (d. 1598)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Christine of Hesse, duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp (1465-1486) (d. 1604)


date: August 3

text: August 3 – Nicasius de Sille, Dutch diplomat (d. 1600)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian Jesuit (d. 1615)


date: October 21

text: October 21 – Michael Hicks, English politician (d. 1612)


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Lettice Knollys, English noblewoman (d. 1634)


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Catherine of Nassau-Dillenburg, daughter of William I (d. 1624)


date: January 3

text: January 3 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (b. 1499)


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Guillaume du Bellay, French diplomat and general (b. 1491)


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Imam of Adal (in battle) (b. c. 1506)


date: March 2

text: March 2 – John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, English politician (b. 1493)


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Susanna of Bavaria, German noble, House of Wittelsbach (b. 1502)


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Mary Boleyn, English courtier, mistress of Kings Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England (b. 1500)


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, German noble (b. 1470)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Maria of Jülich-Berg, German duchess, Spouse of John III, Duke of Cleves (b. 1491)


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk, founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda (b. 1470)


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland (b. 1492)


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Johanna of Hachberg-Sausenberg, countess regnant of Neuchatel (b. 1485)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Hans Holbein the Younger, German artist, active in England


date: December 27

text: December 27 – George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1484)


text: December 29 – Maria Salviati, Italian noble (b. 1499)


date: March 29

text: March 29 – Royal assent is given by King Henry VIII to laws passed by the English Parliament, including the Third Succession Act, the amended Treason Act and the King's Style Act.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – At Lima, Blasco Núñez Vela takes office as the first Spanish Governor of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which encompasses most of what are now the nations of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, as well as the western part of Brazil.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The Treaty of Speyer is signed between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark (which includes Norway). Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor agrees to recognize Christian III as the ruler of Denmark and Norway, and abandons further attempts to restore King Christian II to the throne. In return, Denmark and Norway agree to support the Habsburg monarchy in the Empire.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The University of Königsberg is inaugurated in Prussia.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Peace of Crépy: Peace is declared between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France. The war between France and England continues.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – In India, Maldeo Rathore, King of Marwar (now part of the state of Rajasthan) is tricked by counterintelligence spread by Mughal Emperor and Afghan Shah Sher Shah Suri into departing from Jodhpur. The Battle of Sammel begins shortly afterward and is won by the Afghan and Mughal armies.


date: March 16

text: March 16 – The Battle of Glasgow is fought for control of Scotland between Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and the troops of the Regent, James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran


date: April 11

text: April 11 – Battle of Ceresole: French forces under the Comte d'Enghien defeat forces of the Holy Roman Empire, under the Marques Del Vasto, near Turin.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, with an English army, captures Leith and Edinburgh from the Kingdom of Scotland.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – On orders of King Henry VIII, the English Navy, commanded by Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, begins crossing the English Channel to invade from the west with 19,000 troops, while Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, commences an invasion of France from the east.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – A combined force of troops from the Holy Roman Empire and from Spain, both commanded by Emperor Charles V, defeat the French in the Battle of Serravalle after three days of fighting.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The Duke of Norfolk crosses the English Channel after having landed troops in Normandy.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – The plundering of the Italian island of Ischia, part of the Kingdom of Naples is carried out by the Ottoman Empire Navy, commanded by Hayreddin Barbarossa, who captures 4,000 of the residents and then sells them as slaves in Algeria.


date: July 10

text: July 10– Troops of the Holy Roman Empire begin the six-week siege of Saint-Dizier in eastern France.


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Battle of the Shirts: The Clan Fraser of Lovat and Macdonalds of Clan Ranald fight over a disputed chiefship in Scotland; reportedly, five Frasers and eight or ten Macdonalds survive.


date: July 19

text: July 19– Italian War of 1542–46: King Henry VIII of England begins the siege of the city of Boulogne in northern France and continues for almost two months before the city surrenders.


text: August 17 – In France, Saint-Dizier surrenders to the Holy Roman Empire after a siege of more than a month.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – The siege of Boulogne ends as the city surrenders to King Henry VIII.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – Second Siege of Boulogne: French forces under the Dauphin assault Boulogne, but are ultimately unsuccessful.


text: May 23 – The allied French and Ottoman navies depart from the French port of Marseille and travel to Constantinople, the Ottoman capital. The French fleet is commanded by Antoine Escalin des Aimars, known as Captain Polin, French ambassador to the Ottomans, while the Turks are led by Hayreddin Barbarossa.


text: September 18 – The expedition of Juan Bautista Pastene makes landfall in San Pedro Bay, southern Chile, claiming the territory for Spain.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Captain Juan Bautista Pastene leads the first European expedition to the estuary of Valdivia, Chile and Corral Bay.


text: Portuguese explorers encounter the island of Taiwan, and call it Ilha Formosa ("Beautiful Island").


text: Rats make their first appearance in South America, arriving in Peru with the species black rat.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – The Fourth Diet of Speyer is convened.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Five Roman Catholic priests— John Larke, John Ireland, the vicar of Eltham and Robert Singleton are executed at Tyburn, outside of London, in England after being convicted of participating in the Prebendaries' Plot to remove Thomas Cranmer, the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – During a solar eclipse visible over the Netherlands, Dutch mathematician and designer Gemma Frisius makes the first recorded use of a camera obscura and uses it to observe the event without directly looking at the Sun. Frisius writes about the event the next year and illustrates it in his book De Radio Astronomica et Geometrica (Regarding rays of light in astronomy and geometry).


text: The earliest mention of the tomato in European literature appeared in Pietro Andrea Mattioli's herbal.


text: After being asked by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, botanist Luca Ghini comes to the University of Pisa as the chair of botany, where he had the year prior established the Orto botanico di Pisa.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – The Italian town of Agropoli, frequently targeted by pirates from North Africa, is sacked by Ottoman raiders and 100 people are taken prisoner.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Edward Seymour, Lord Hertford, carries out the burning of Edinburgh, capital of the Kingdom of Scotland, by the English Navy, then proceeds to destroy neighboring areas.


text: Mongols, led by Anda, burn the suburbs of Beijing in China.


date: January 13

text: January 13 – At Västerås, the estates of Sweden swear loyalty to King Gustav Vasa and to his heirs, ending the traditional electoral monarchy in Sweden. Gustav subsequently signs an alliance with the Kingdom of France.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Albert, Duke of Prussia signs a deed granting land for creation of the University of Königsberg.


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Rüstem Opuković Pasha, son-in-law of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, is appointed as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, replacing Hadım Suleiman Pasha.


date: January 19

text: January 19 – King Francis II of France (d. 1560)


text: January 24 – Gillis van Coninxloo, Flemish painter (d. 1607)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – César de Bus, French Catholic priest (d. 1607)


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (d. 1595)


date: April 20

text: April 20 – Renata of Lorraine, duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)


date: April

text: April – Thomas Fleming, English judge (d. 1613)


date: May 24

text: May 24 – William Gilbert, English scientist and astronomer (d. 1603)


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton, English politician (d. 1589)


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Bogislaw XIII, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1606)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – John Gordon, Scottish bishop (d. 1619)


date: September 28

text: September 28 or September 29 – Giovanni de' Medici, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1562)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Hasan Kafi Pruščak, Bosnian scholar and judge (d. 1615)


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Dorothea Susanne of Simmern, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar (d. 1592)


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Anna of Saxony, only child and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony (d. 1577)


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Friedrich II becomes the new Elector Palatine of Germany's Rhineland within the Holy Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Ludwig V at Heidelberg.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1488)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1488)


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489)


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Eleonore of Fürstenberg, wife of Philip IV, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (b. 1523)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – René of Châlon, Prince of the House of Orange (b. 1519)


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Clément Marot, French poet (b. 1496)


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Valerius Cordus, German physician and scientist (b. 1515)


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Charles Blount, 5th Baron Mountjoy, English courtier and patron of learning (b. 1516)


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Antonio Pucci, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1485)


text: November 15 – Lucy Brocadelli, Dominican tertiary and stigmatic (b. 1476)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Jungjong of Joseon (b. 1488)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Crown Prince Yi Ho becomes the new King of Korea upon the death of his father, King Joseon. Yi Ho reigns for eight months before being poisoned by his own mother, and is posthumously named as King Injong of Joseon.


text: December 9 – Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet (b. 1491)


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Giovanni Battista De Fornari begins a 2-year term as the Doge of Genoa, succeeding Andrea Centurione Pietrasanta.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – The "New Laws"(Leyes Nuevas), officially the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians are repealed less than a year after being issued by King Carlos of Spain.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – King Henry VIII opens the Parliament of England for the ninth time, in a session that lasts until December 24.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – King Henry VIII gives royal assent to multiple acts passed by the English Parliament on its final day, including the Dissolution of Colleges Act and the Custos Rotulorum Act.


text: Diogo I Nkumbi a Mpudi overthrows his uncle Pedro I of Kongo to become manikongo.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Battle of Ancrum Moor: The Scots are victorious over numerically superior English forces.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Mircea the Shepherd enters Bucharest as the new ruler of Wallachia, now in Romania.


date: May 31

text: May 31 – During the Italian War, a French expeditionary force under the direction of Claude d'Annebault begins an invasion of Britain by landing in Scotland.


date: July 18

text: July 18– The Battle of the Solent begins between the English and French navies in The Solent, the strait between the British mainland and the Isle of Wight.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Italian Wars: Battle of Bonchurch – The English reverse an attempted French invasion of the Isle of Wight, off the coast of England.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – In a one-day campaign in the Rough Wooing border war between England and Scotland, the English generals Lord Hertford and Robert Bowes carry out a mission of burning Scottish towns along the River Teviot. He writes later that with 1,500 light horsemen from 5:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon, his army "burnt 14 or 15 towns" including "Rowle, Spittel, Bedrowle, Rowlewood, The Wolles, Crossebewghe, Donnerles, Fotton, West Leas, Troonyhill, and Dupligi.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – (26th day of 9th month of Tenbun 14) The Siege of Kawagoe Castle begins, as part of an unsuccessful attempt by the Uesugi clan to regain Kawagoe Castle from the Late Hōjō clan in Japan.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – A truce is signed between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire following the Siege of Nice, as Emperor Charles V acknowledges the Ottoman conquests.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – (10 Ramadan 952 AH) Hamida Banu Begum, Empress consort of India's Mughal Empire and wife of the Emperor Humayun, returns to the capital, Agra, after a three-year absence. She is accompanied by an army provided to Humayun by Tahmasp I, Shah of Iran.


text: c. September – Mobye Narapati succeeds as ruler of the Ava Kingdom and offers peace to the Taungoo dynasty, ending the Taungoo–Ava War (1538–45), and leaving the Taungoo as the dominant rulers in Burma.


text: Battle of Sokhoista: The army of the Ottoman Empire defeats an alliance of Georgian dynasties.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Potosí is founded by the Spanish as a mining town after the discovery of huge silver deposits in this area of modern-day Bolivia. Silver mined from Huayna Potosí Mountain provides most of the wealth on which the Spanish Empire is based until its fall in the early 19th century.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez sets out to navigate the northern coast of New Guinea.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez arrives at a large island in the South Pacific Ocean. Stopping at the Mamberamo River, Ortiz claims the island for Spain and christens it "Nueva Guinea" after concluding that the natives resemble the people on the coast of the Guinea coast of West Africa.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – King Francis I of France issues the "Arrêt de Mérindol", to destroy the Protestant Waldensians of Provence.


date: February 22

text: February 22 – A firman of the Ottoman Empire is issued for the dethronement of Radu Paisie as Prince of Wallachia.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – At a diet in Worms, Germany, summoned by Pope Paul III, the German Protestant princes demand a national religious settlement for Germany. Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V refuses.


text: September 16 – The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza is created in Italy by order of Pope Paul III, formerly Alessandro Farnese, to be ruled by his son, Pier Luigi Farnese.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – The Council of Trent officially opens in northern Italy (it closes in 1563).


text: St. Anne's Church, Augsburg converts to Lutheranism.


text: The Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano published a book on algebra, Ars Magna, that contained the first published algebraic solutions to cubic and quartic equations.


text: In the territory of New Spain in modern-day Mexico, the Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548 begins.


date: July 19

text: July 19 – The Royal Navy's flagship, the Mary Rose, is sunk along with 365 of its 400 crew


text: In China, a large failure of the harvest in Henan province occurs due to excessive rainfall, which drives up the price of wheat, and forces many to flee their rural counties; those who stay behind are forced to survive by eating leaves, bark, and human flesh.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Prince Jalal Khan, the second son of the late Sher Shah Suri, is crowned as the new King of the Suri Empire and takes the regnal name of Islam Shah Suri.


date: August 16

text: August 16 – The elaborate Tomb of Sher Shah Suri is completed in Sasaram, three months after Sher Shah's death, in what is now India's Bihar state.


text: January 1 – Magnus Heinason, Faroese naval hero (d. 1589)


date: January 11

text: January 11 – Guidobaldo del Monte, Italian mathematician, astronomer and philosopher (d. 1607)


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford (d. 1613)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg (d. 1622)


date: April 2

text: April 2 – Elisabeth of Valois, queen of Philip II of Spain (d. 1568)


date: April 15

text: April 15 – Karl II, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Duke of Oels (1565–1617), Duke of Bernstadt (1604–1617) (d. 1617)


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, English earl (d. 1581)


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean naval commander (d. 1598)


text: June 13 – Naitō Nobunari, Japanese samurai and daimyō of Omi Province (d. 1612)


date: July 8

text: July 8 – Don Carlos of Spain, son of Philip II of Spain (d. 1568)


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (d. 1622)


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Eitel Friedrich IV, Count of Hohenzollern, First Count of Hohenzollern-Hechingen (d. 1605)


date: October 19

text: October 19 – John Juvenal Ancina, Italian oratorian and bishop (d. 1604)


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Ana de Jesús, Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun and spiritual writer (d. 1621)


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (b. 1481)


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Costanzo Festa, Italian composer (b. 1495)


date: May 20

text: May 20 – In Vietnam, warlord Nguyễn Kim of the Lê dynasty leads troops toward an attack on Ninh Binh when he is invited by Dương Chấp Nhất of the Mạc dynasty to dinner. General Kim is treated to a watermelon by Duong and dies the next day.


text: May 20 – Sher Shah Suri, King of the Sur Empire in northern India, is fatally injured by an explosion from one of his own cannons while leading the siege of the Kalinjar Fort and dies two days later.


date: May

text: May – Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, English noblewoman (b. c. 1477)


date: June 4

text: June 4 – John Louis, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1472–1545) (b. 1472)


date: August 8

text: August 8 – King Injong of Joseon, ruler of the Korean Empire, dies at the age of 30, after only eight months as monarch. His allies suspect that he had slowly been poisoned by his stepmother, Queen Janggyeong, who had been Queen consort as the wife of King Jungjong. Queen Janggyeong's 12-year-old son Myeongjong is enthroned as the new King, with Janggyeong as the regent.


text: August 8 – Injong of Joseon, 12th king of the Joseon dynasty of Korea (b. 1515)


date: August 22

text: August 22 – Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician and husband of Mary Tudor (b. c. 1484)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, French noble (b. 1491)


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Charles II, Duke of Orléans, (b. 1522)


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Albert of Mainz, elector and archbishop of Mainz (b. 1490)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – John Taverner, English composer (b. c. 1490)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Pietro Lando, the Doge of the Republic of Venice since 1538, dies and Francesco Donato is elected in his place.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – The first government body to administer England's Royal Navy, the Keeper of the King's Ports and Galleys, is created by order of King Henry VIII.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Sir John Alan is dismissed from his post as Lord Chancellor of Ireland by England's Privy Council after accusations of corruption and promoting discord are made by the Lord Deputy, Anthony St Leger. Alan is later reinstated in 1548.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – The Treaty of Ardres (also known as the Treaty of Camp) is signed, resulting in peace between the kingdoms of England and France and ending the Italian War of 1542–1546.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Treaty of Ardres.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Claude d'Annebault, Admiral of France, arrives in England to negotiate English approval of the Treaty of Ardres to end the Italian War of 1542–1546. Starkey, David, ed., Inventory of Henry VIII, vol. 1, Society of Antiquaries (1998), p. 108, no. 4132:, Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 21, part 1, (1908), no. 1384, no. 1530.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – San Salvador, now the capital of the Central American nation of El Salvador, is re-established in a new location at the Valle de Las Hamacas. Until 1545, the colonial capital had been at the Ciudad Vieja, 10 mi further northewest, near Suchitoto.


date: November 14

text: November 14 – The Treaty of Prague is signed between King Ferdinand of Bohemia and Maurice, Elector of Saxony with Ferdinand agreeing not to give shelter in Bohemia to John Ferdinand I, the former Elector of Saxony, who is under an Imperial ban.

source_section: Events › October—December


date: January 11

text: January 11 – (Tenbun 15, 20th day of the 12th month): Ashikaga Yoshifushi becomes 13th Shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Blasco Núñez Vela first Spanish Viceroy of Peru fights with Gonzalo Pizarro at the Battle of Iñaquito and is killed.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Scottish Protestant reformer George Wishart, arrested on January 19, is burned at the stake at St Andrews on orders of Cardinal David Beaton of the Roman Catholic church, after being found guilty of heresy. Cardinal Beaton is assassinated less than three months later.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – The Siege of Diu begins as the Gujarat Sultanate, led by Mahmud Shah III attacks the Portuguese colonial fortress at Diu. Reinforcements arrive on July 19 and Governor Castro arrives with 3,000 soldiers on November 7. The keeper of the King's Ports and Galley siege lasts until November 10 and ends with a Portuguese victory


date: May 19

text: May 19 – The Siege of Kawagoe Castle ends in defeat for the Uesugi clan, in their attempt to regain Kawagoe Castle from the Late Hōjō clan in Japan.


date: July 8

text: July 8 – the Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland for Mary, Queen of Scots recaptures Dumbarton Castle from England after a 20-day siege.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – The Schmalkaldic War begins with an attack by the Protestant German states against the town of Füssen, a village of the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg in Bavaria.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Mircea the Shepherd, ruler of the Principality of Wallachia (now Romania) stages a surprise attack in the Battle of Periș and decimates the members of the Wallachian nobility (boyars) who oppose his rule.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – In the Imperial counterattack in the Schmalkaldic War, the Holy Roman Empire army attacks Frankfurt, the German stronghold of the Schmalkaldic League, but is forced to retreat after a two-day siege.


date: October 8

text: October 8 – The Fourteen of Meaux, French Huguenots found guilty of heresy for practicing the Protestant faith and rejecting Catholicim, are burned at the stake in front of the ruins of the first Reformed Church of France.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – (4th waxing of Tazaungmon 908 ME) A second campaign begins in the Toungoo–Mrauk-U War in what is now the Asian nation of Myanmar, as King Tabinshwehti of Burma starts an invasion of the Kingdom of Mrauk U (led by Min Bin) in the Arakan Mountains. King Tabinshwehti dispatches 19,000 troops, 400 horses, and 60 elephants, with 4,000 invading by land and the other 15,000 being transported on a fleet of 800 war boats, 500 armored war boats, and 100 cargo boats through the Bay of Bengal to the coast of Mrauk U.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – (5 Cimi 19 Xul, Mayan calendar) An uprising by the Maya civilization against the Spanish colonial administrators of New Spain begins in the Yucatan area of Mexico, with simultaneous attacks at Mérida, Valladolid, and Bacalar. The attack comes from seven Mayan provinces on the Gulf of Mexico, Cupul, Cochuah, Sotuta, Tases, Uaymil, Chetumal, and Chikinchel. The rebellion is suppressed by March and the instigators are arrested and executed.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – A truce is agreed to between the Kingdom of Scotland (led by the Regent Arran) and the "Catilians", a group of Scottish Protestants who have been holding St Andrews Castle since their May 29 assassination of Cardinal David Beaton. With England's King Henry VIII threatening an invasion to protect the Protestant Castilians, the parties agree that no action will be taken until the Pope can consider whether to absolve the Protestants of murder, and that if the Pope grants the absolution, the Protestants will be allowed to surrender on good terms.


text: The Spanish conquest of Yucatán is interrupted by an uprising of the Eastern Provinces of the completed in November, but the conquest is completed by March of 1548.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – The European colonists defending the city of Diu in Portuguese India defeat the six-month siege that had been started by the Gujarat Sultanate on April 20. The Portuguese victory comes three days after the arrival of 3,000 troops and 38 ships.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, one of the largest in the world, with over four million Catholics, is created


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Martin Luther delivers his final sermon, three days before his death about "obdurate Jews, whom it was a matter of great urgency to expel from all German territory,"


date: April 8

text: April 8 – The Council of Trent, by a vote of 24 to 15, with 16 abstentions, issues the Decretum de Canonicis Scripturis for the scripture considered to be canon by the Roman Catholic Church. The decree recites that if anyone declines to receive all parts of the Vulgate edition of the Bible, they are in contempt of the Church and should be excommunicated. and approves the 4th century Vulgate of Jerome as its official Bible


date: April 17

text: April 17 – Dionysius II, the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan of Nicomedia, is elected as the Patriarch of Constantinople to succeed Jeremias.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Hermann of Wied, the German Archbishop of Cologne, is excommunicated by Pope Paul III after his conversion to Protestantism.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Writing from Portuguese India, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier asks King João III of Portugal, proposing what will become the Goa Inquisition of 1561.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Edward Whitchurch and Richard Grafton are granted the exclusive right to publish prayer books for the Church of England by order of King Henry VIII.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – David Beaton, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and the only Scottish cardinal, is assassinated at St Andrews Castle by William Kirkcaldy and Norman Leslie in retaliation for the March 28 execution of Protestant preacher George Wishart.


date: June 17

text: June 17 – The Council of Trent approves its second decree on Roman Catholic doctrine, Decretum de Pecatto Originali, regarding original sin, declaring that excommunication should be applied to any person who denies the teaching that the sins of Adam in the Garden of Eden condemned all of humanity, or that Christian baptism remits the guilt of original sin.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, imposes a Reichsacht declaring Schmalkadic leaders John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse to be outlaws, and directs Maurice, Duke of Saxony to enforce it.


date: September 23

text: September 23 –Pier Luigi Farnese, already the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, is given control of the Italian cities of Camerino and Nepi by after a donation to the Papal States, ruled by Pope Paul III.


text: Michelangelo is made chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – King John III of Portugal issues an order for Portuguese India (at Goa) to forbid Hinduism, destroy Hindu temples, prohibit the public celebration of Hindu feasts, expel Hindu priests and severely punish those who created any Hindu images in Portuguese possessions in India.