1543: A great year in publishing
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England's Henry VIII, now 52, marries Catherine Parr, 31, July 12. Formerly married to Edward Borough and then to a Lord Latimer, Catherine is a daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal, is knowledgeable about religious subjects, and will have a chastening influence on the king in his final years.
The Ottoman admiral Barbarossa (Khair ad-Din) joins with François I to bombard, besiege, and sack the imperial city of Nice.
Ottoman forces invade Persia for the third time in 9 years, recovering territory that was lost earlier and seizing new territories; hostilities will continue until 1555.
Spanish conquistador Ruy Lopez de Villalobos is driven out of the Philippine Islands by the natives a year after reaching the islands and giving them their name (see Magellan, 1521). He is captured by the Portuguese.
Japan receives her first European visitors as a Chinese ship carrying two Portuguese adventurers is wrecked on an island off Kyushu. The fastidious Japanese find the foreigners offensive (like most Europeans, the men go for months without bathing), they will come to call them Namban (Chinese for southern barbarians), but the strangers have arquebuses (muskets) that the local lord buys and duplicates. Firearms will henceforth be employed in Japanese warfare.
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo dies in early January off the coast of northern California from complications of a broken leg suffered while landing on an offshore island (see 1542); his pilot Bartolome Ferrelo returns to New Spain April 14 after discovering a bay that will later be called San Francisco (see Drake, 1579).
A ship from Peru arrives at Santiago in September with clothing, iron goods, and military supplies to relieve the Spanish encampment headed by Pedro de Valdivia (see 1541). Inés de Suárez has raised thousands of pigs and chickens to feed the city's inhabitants, and although most of the first year's wheat crop has been used for seed grain, the new crop harvested in December is large enough to provide abundant supplies of bread (see 1549; first viceroy, 1544).
Courtier Jean-François de La Rocque sieur de Roberval abandons his plan to establish a colony in New France and returns home with his party after a brutal winter (see 1542); he brings what turns out, like Cartier's "treasure," to be fool's gold and mica. Sadly disappointed, the French will make no further expeditions to North America until 1600.
Six Books Concenerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbits (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium Libri VI) by astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus defy Church doctrine that the Earth is the center of the universe and establish the theory that the earth rotates daily on its axis and, with other planets, revolves in orbit around the sun (see Rheticus, 1540). The Christian Church continues to look askance at anything other than the geocentric Ptolemaic system that has been dogma for nearly 1400 years. Also Ptolemy's intricate geometric and trigonometric tables have made it difficult to calculate the dates of Easter and other Church holidays. Copernicus fills 95 percent of his book with technical information, but the clear and simple tables he presents make it much easier to calculate dates of holidays. He has not permitted his work to be published earlier, but his student Rheticus has persuaded him to complete it and has taken it to a Nuremberg printer. Copernicus corrects the proofs on his deathbed, and he dies of apoplexy and paralysis at Frauenburg, East Prussia, May 24 at age 70 just as the work is published. Copernicus's heliocentric principle was recognized in antiquity but is considered as revolutionary as his title (the word revolution will derive from his Revolutionibus) (see Tycho Brahe, 1572; 1576; Kepler, 1609; Galileo, 1613).
The Fabric of the Human Body (De humani corporis fabrica) by Belgian anatomist Andreas Vesalius, 29, is the first accurate book on human anatomy. Anatomical education up to now has been based on observations made by the 2nd century physician Galen, who used animals for his study, but Vesalius repudiates Galenism and advances knowledge of biology with his accurate descriptions of bones and the nervous system. Court physician to the emperor Charles V, Vesalius has defied Church opposition to human dissection; his work contains anatomical drawings by the Venetian painter Titian, and when Vesalius presents a copy to his patron, the emperor says that "hitherto, nothing has been composed so eloquent, learned, and useful" (see 1564; Albinus, 1747).
The Spanish Inquisition burns Protestants at the stake for the first time.
Pope Paul III issues an index librorum prohibitorum forbidding Roman Catholics to read certain books (see 1559).
Painting: Ecce Homo by Titian. Hans Holbein dies at London November 29 at age 45.
Wood carver, sculptor, and architect Baccio d'Agnolo (Bartolomeo d'Agnolo Baglioni) dies at Florence March 5 at age 80, having planned the Villa Borghese and the palazzo Bartolini, designed the campanile of Santo Spirito, and exercised a major influence on Renaissance architecture in the city.
New Spain's viceroy Antonio de Mendoza introduces wheat, barley, broad beans, chickpeas, European vegetables, and cows into the colony. The grains, vegetables, and livestock introduced into North America in the next few decades by English explorers will have come in many cases from Spaniards to the south.
Chinese consumption of oils and fats is four to five times as high as in Japan, where diets are far leaner and less varied than what Chinese enjoy in the rich Chang Jiang (Yangtze) delta but not too different from what northern Chinese eat beyond the Great Wall.
Japan's Portuguese visitors introduce baked bread. They will also bring in tomatoes, maize, and other Western Hemisphere foods, but initially just as curiosities. Dutch visitors will introduce sweet cakes which the Japanese will call castella (from Castile) and will continue to bake at Nagasaki for more than 4½ centuries.
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Houghton Mifflin Guide to Science & Technology:
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1543: A great year in publishing
The year 1543 was marked by the publication of two books that revolutionized our view of humanity and the universe. The more celebrated of the two, Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium caelestium ("on the revolutions of celestial bodies"), was actually completed in the 1530s, but Copernicus was reluctant to publish for fear of reprisals from the church. His work circulated among intellectuals as Russian samizdat manuscripts were passed about in the former Soviet Union in the 20th century. In his book Copernicus offered arguments that Earth and other planets travel around the Sun; however, his assumption of circular motion meant that he had to complicate the paths by adding 48 epicycles to them to accord with observation. Copernicus said that the stars do not appear to move as Earth moves in an orbit because the fixed stars are so far away, although he vastly underestimated how far away they actually are.
As Copernicus neared death, he was finally persuaded to publish by the mathematician Rheticus. The actual publication was overseen by a Lutheran minister, Andreas Osiander, who -- presumably concerned because Luther did not believe Earth moves -- added a preface that said, in effect, Earth does not move but calculations would be easier if one assumes it does. A few hundred copies were printed a month or so before Copernicus's death; it is not clear whether he saw the published version.
From a publisher's point of view, the book was not a success. It was very high-priced and sold slowly. It went out of print, although a second edition was published in 1566 and a third in 1617. But most astronomers came to believe that Copernicus was right, notably Galileo, who spread the word more widely. The last great astronomer to hold a different view was Tycho Brahe, who died in 1601 still believing that Earth does not move; however, he did think that the other planets revolve about the Sun.
The other book from 1543 that changed the world was De humani corporis fabrica ("on the structure of the human body") by Andreas Vesalius. Unlike Copernicus, Vesalius decided to publish when he was a young man, not quite 30. However, Copernicus might have had the right idea about keeping new ideas quiet. After Vesalius published his book, accusations of body snatching and heresy were directed against him by physicians loyal to older ideas. Whether because of this or for other reasons, Vesalius spent the rest of his life as a court physician, doing almost no more research.
De humani corporis fabrica is most important because it is a printed book with exceptional illustrations (usually attributed to the painter Stephen van Calcar). For the first time, the true anatomy of the human body as perceived by a great anatomist was reproduced in many accurate copies. Previous books on the subject generally lacked illustrations or had a few copied by hand, a method sure to introduce inaccuracies.
Before Vesalius, physicians were taught from Galen, even when Galen's authority did not conform to what was observed. Although Vesalius had been educated in this tradition, he rejected it when confronted with the evidence of his own dissections. Although physicians still loyal to Galen denounced the book, later anatomists, like the astronomers after Copernicus, sought the truth instead of authority.
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This article is about the year 1543.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 15th century – 16th century – 17th century |
| Decades: | 1510s 1520s 1530s – 1540s – 1550s 1560s 1570s |
| Years: | 1540 1541 1542 – 1543 – 1544 1545 1546 |
| 1543 by topic |
|---|
| Arts and science |
| Lists of leaders |
| Birth and death categories |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
| Works category |
| Gregorian calendar | 1543 MDXLIII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2296 |
| Armenian calendar | 992 ԹՎ ՋՂԲ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6293 |
| Bahá'í calendar | -301–-300 |
| Bengali calendar | 950 |
| Berber calendar | 2493 |
| English Regnal year | 34 Hen. 8 – 35 Hen. 8 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2087 |
| Burmese calendar | 905 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7051–7052 |
| Chinese calendar | 壬寅年十一月廿六日 (4179/4239-11-26) — to —
癸卯年十二月初六日(4180/4240-12-6) |
| Coptic calendar | 1259–1260 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1535–1536 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5303–5304 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1599–1600 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1465–1466 |
| - Kali Yuga | 4644–4645 |
| Holocene calendar | 11543 |
| Iranian calendar | 921–922 |
| Islamic calendar | 949–950 |
| Japanese calendar | Tenbun 12 (天文12年) |
| Julian calendar | 1543 MDXLIII |
| Korean calendar | 3876 |
| Minguo calendar | 369 before ROC 民前369年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2086 |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1543 |
Year 1543 (MDXLIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
- February 21 – Battle of Wayna Daga: A joint Ethiopian-Portuguese force of 8,500 under Emperor Gelawdewos, defeats Imam Ahmad Gran's army of over 14,000, ending the Ethiopian–Adal War.
- March – King Gustav Vasa's troops crush the forces of Swedish peasant rebel Nils Dacke in battle, ending the uprising. Dacke escapes but is captured and killed in the summer.
- May 29 – The Fall of Constantinople
- May – Nicolaus Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in Nuremberg. Denies Geocentric Model and says all planets revolve around the sun. Copernicus dies on the 24th at the age of 70.
July–December
- July 12 – King Henry VIII of England marries Catherine Parr. It is the sixth of Henry's marriages and the third of Catherine's. Princess Elizabeth attends the wedding.
- August 5 – Turkish and French troops under Hayreddin Barbarossa occupy Nice.
- September–October – Landrecies in Picardy is besieged by forces under Emperor Charles V, but withdraw on the approach of the French army.
Date unknown
- The Japanese receive the first firearms from shipwrecked Portuguese.
- Indians in Spanish colonies are declared free against the wish of local settlers.
- Martin Luther publishes On the Jews and Their Lies.
- Mikael Agricola publishes Abckiria.
- Third Succession Act: Elizabeth is restored to the order of succession to the throne of England.
- Andreas Vesalius publishes De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), revolutionising the science of human anatomy.
- Nicolaus Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in Nuremberg (these last two events can be considered as leading to the Scientific Revolution.[1]
- Lighthouse of Genoa completed in present form.
Births
- January 18 (baptized) – Alfonso Ferrabosco, Italian composer (d. 1588)
- January 31 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shogun (d. 1616)
- February 16 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter (d. 1590)
- February 18 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)
- April 1 – François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (d. 1626)
- September 14 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian Jesuit (d. 1615)
- November 8 – Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and later Countess of Leicester, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I of England (d. 1634)
- date unknown
- Thomas Deloney, English novelist and balladeer (d. 1600)
- Domenico Fontana, Italian architect (d. 1607)
- Sonam Gyatso, 3rd Dalai Lama, first Dalai Lama (d. 1588)
- François Pithou, French lawyer and author (d. 1621)
- Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, rabbi and mystic (d. 1620)
- Chen Lin, general of Ming Dynasty
- probable
- Giovanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer (d. 1607)
- Federico Zuccari, Italian painter (d. 1609)
Deaths
- January 2 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497)
- January 3 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (b. 1499)
- January 9 – Guillaume du Bellay, French diplomat and general (b. 1491)
- February 21 – Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Imam of Adal (in battle) (b. c. 1506)
- March 6 – Baccio D'Agnolo, Florentine woodcarver (b. 1460)
- May 24 – Nicolaus Copernicus, mathematician and astronomer (b. 1473)
- July 19 – Mary Boleyn, mistress of Kings Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England (b. 1500)
- September 20 – Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland (b. 1492)
- November 29 – Hans Holbein the Younger, German artist, active in England
- December 27
- George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1484)
- Francesco Spiera, Protestant Italian jurist (b. 1502)
- date unknown
- Polidoro da Caravaggio, Italian painter (b. 1492)
- Sultan Quli Qutb Mulk, founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda
- probable
- Sebastian Franck, German freethinker (b. 1515)
- Margaret Lee, sister of poet Thomas Wyatt (b. 1506)
- William Byrd
References
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Gale World Chronology
People's Chronology. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Houghton Mifflin Guide to Science & Technology
History of Science and Technology, edited by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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