1550s

This is a list of events occurring in the 1550s, ordered by year.

1550

January–June

• January 6 – Spanish Captain Hernando de Santana founds the city of Valledupar in what is now Colombian territory.
• February 8 – Pope Julius III succeeds Pope Paul III as the 221st pope.

July–December

• July 21 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Julius III.

Date unknown

• The first grammatical description of the French language is published by Louis Maigret.
• The first book in Slovenian, Abecedarium, written by Protestant reformer Primoz Trubar, is printed in Tübingen, Germany.
• Nostradamus' first almanac is written.
• Helsinki, later the capital of Finland, is founded by Gustav Vasa.
• Iceland becomes fully Protestant.
• Altan Khan besieges Peking.
• The discovery of silver at Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico, and Potosí in Bolivia, stimulates silver rushes (approximate date).
• John Dee finishes his studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

1551

January–June

• January–February – Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, and Tsar Ivan IV of Russia preside over the Stoglav (Hundred-Chapter) church council.
• January 11 – Ketumati, Burma is conquered by Bayinnaung.
• April 11 English premier John Dudley appointed duke of Northumberland.
• May 12 – The National University of San Marcos is founded in Lima (Peru), being the first officially established university in the Americas.

July–December

• July – Ottomans and Barbary pirates invade the Mediterranean Island of Gozo, enslaving all inhabitants (est. at 5,000 to 6,000), and transporting them to Tarhuna Wa Msalata.
• September 21 – The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico is founded in Mexico City (Mexico), being the second officially established university in the Americas.

Date unknown

• Russia: Reforming Synod of the Metropolitan Makary: A calendar of the saints and an ecclesiastical law code (Stoglav) are introduced.
• The fifth outbreak of sweating sickness occurs in England. John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full contemporary account of the symptoms of the disease.
• Persian forces raid and destroy the cave monastery of Vardzia in Georgia (country).
• The Ottomans capture Tripoli.
• In Slovakia, Guta (currently Kolárovo) receives town status.
• Juan de Betanzos begins to write "Narrative of the Incas".
• In Henan province, China, during the Ming Dynasty, a severe frost in the spring destroys the winter wheat crop. Torrential rains in mid summer cause massive flooding of farmland and villages (by some accounts submerged in a meter of water). In the fall a large tornado demolishes houses and flattens much of the buckwheat in the fields. Famine victims either flee, starve, or resort to cannibalism. This follows a series of natural disasters in Henan in the years 1528, 1531, 1539, and 1545.
• Portugal founds a sugar colony at Bahia.

1552

January–June

• January 15 – Henry II of France and Maurice of Saxony sign the Treaty of Chambord.
• February 12 – Pedro de Valdivia founds the city of Valdivia as Santa María la Blanca de Valdivia in Chile.
• February 24 – The privileges of the Hanseatic League are abolished in England.
• March – The Act of Uniformity imposes the Protestant Book of Common Prayer in England.
• March 26 – Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru.
• April – War breaks out between Henry II of France and Emperor Charles V. Henry invades Lorraine and captures Toul, Metz, and Verdun.
• April 16 – Pedro de Valdivia founds the city of La Imperial, Chile.
• May – Maurice of Saxony captures Augsburg and almost seizes Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor at Innsbruck.

July–December

• July – In Hungary, Drégely Castle is attacked by the Turks.
• August 2
  • John Frederick, Elector of Saxony and Philipp I of Hesse, taken prisoner by Charles V in 1546, are released.
  • The Peace of Passau revokes the Augsburg Interim of 1548 and promises religious freedom to the Protestant princes.
• September – In Hungary, Eger is defended against the Turks the captain of the castle was István Dobó.
• October 2 – The Khanate of Kazan falls to troops of Ivan IV of Russia.

Date unknown

• In the Persian Gulf, the Ottoman Empire Red Sea Fleet attacks the Portuguese stronghold of Hormuz but fails to capture it.
• Spain's Bartolomé de Las Casas publishes his attack on colonial practices in the New World, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.
• In Italy, Bartolomeo Eustachi completes his Tabulae anatomicae, presenting his discoveries on the structure of the inner ear and heart,^[1] although, for fear of the Inquisition, it will not be published until 1714.
• King Edward VI of England founds 35 grammar schools by royal charter,^[2] including Shrewsbury; Leeds Grammar School is also established.

1553

January–June

• May – The first Royal Charter is granted to St. Albans in England.
• June 1 ndash; Anne Boleyn crowned queen of England.
• June 26 – Christ's Hospital and King Edward's School, Witley, England, are created by Royal Charter.

July–December

• July 9 – Battle of Sievershausen: Prince-elector Maurice of Saxony defeats the Catholic forces of Margrave Albert of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Maurice is mortally wounded.
• July 10 – Four days after the death of her cousin King Edward VI of England, Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England – a position she holds for the next nine days.
• July 18 – The Lord Mayor of London proclaims Mary I the rightful Queen; Lady Jane Grey voluntarily abdicates.
• July 19 – Queen Mary I of England begins her reign.
• August 3 – Queen Mary I of England arrives in London from East Anglia.
• August 22 – John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, a supporter of Lady Jane Grey, is executed.
• August – English explorer Richard Chancellor enters the White Sea and reaches Arkhangelsk, going on to the court of Ivan IV of Russia, opening up trade between England and Russia.
• September – Protestant bishops in England are arrested and Roman Catholic bishops are restored.
• September 23 – The Sadians consolidate their power in Morocco by defeating the last of their enemies.
• October 27 – Inquisition burns Michael Servetus as a heretic in Geneva.
• December 25 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and execute Pedro de Valdivia, the first Royal Governor of Chile.

Date unknown

• Tonbridge School founded by Sir Andrew Judde under letters patent of Edward VI of England.
• In Ming Dynasty China:
  • The addition of a new section of the Outer City fortifications is completed in southern Beijing, bringing the overall size of Beijing to 18 square miles (4662 hectares).
  • Shanghai is fortified for the first time.

1554

January–June

• January 5 – A great fire breaks out in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
• January 25 – São Paulo, Brazil, is founded.
• February 9 – Thomas Wyatt surrenders to government forces in London.^[3]
• February 12 – After claiming the throne of England the previous year, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason alongside her husband.
• March 17 – Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
• April 12 – Mary of Guise becomes Regent of Scotland.

July–December

• July 23–July 25 – Queen Mary I of England marries King Philip of Naples, the only son of Emperor Charles V, in Winchester, England.
• August 2 – Battle of Marciano: Senese–French forces are defeated by the Florentine–Imperial army.
• August 12 – Battle of Renty: French forces led by Francis, Duke of Guise turn back an invasion of Picardy by Charles V.

Date unknown

• Mikael Agricola becomes the bishop of Turku.
• Saadi conquer the Kingdom of Fez.
• English captain John Lok voyages to Guinea.^[4][5]

1555

January–June

• January 22 – Fall of the Ava Kingdom in Upper Burma.
• February 2 – The Diet of Augsburg begins.
• February 4 – John Rogers, burned at the stake in London, becomes the first Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.
• February 8 – Laurence Saunders becomes the second Marian Protestant martyr in England, being led barefoot to his execution by burning at the stake.
• February 9 – Rowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk, and John Hooper, deposed Bishop of Gloucester, are burned at the stake in England.
• April 10 – Pope Marcellus II succeeds Julius III as the 222nd pope. He will reign for 22 days.
• April 17 – After 18 months of siege, the Republic of Siena surrenders to the Florentine–Imperial army.
• May 23 – Pope Paul IV succeeds Marcellus II as the 223rd pope.
• June 1 – Treaty of Amasya between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia concludes the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555).

July–December

• July 12 – Pope Paul IV creates the first Jewish ghetto in Rome.
• September 25 – The Peace of Augsburg is signed between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League establishing the principle Cuius regio, eius religio, that is, rulers within the Empire can choose the religion of their realm.
• October 16 – Two of the Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, are burned at the stake in England.
• October 25 – Charles V abdicates as Holy Roman Emperor and is succeeded by his brother Ferdinand.

Date unknown

• Russia breaks a 60-year-old truce with Sweden by attacking Finland.
• Humayun resumes rule of the Mughal Empire.
• Bairam Khan defeats Hindu forces at Panipat.
• Collapse of the Adal Sultanate in the Horn of Africa.
• The Muscovy Company is chartered in England to trade with Muscovy and Richard Chancellor negotiates with the Tsar.
• Richard Eden publishes The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, a translation into English of parts of Pietro Martire d'Anghiera's De orbe novo decades, Gonzalo Oviedo's Natural hystoria de las Indias and others^[6] including the first recorded use in English of the country name 'China'.
• "Negro" – the Spanish term for "black person" – is coined.
• Gresham's School is founded by Sir John Gresham in England.
• William Annyas becomes the Mayor of Youghal in Ireland, the first Jew to hold such a position in the British Isles.
• John Dee is charged, but cleared, of treason in England.
• Orlande de Lassus' first book of madrigals is published, in Antwerp.

1556

January–June

• January 16 – Charles I, having already abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, resigns the Kingdom of Spain in favour of his son, Philip II, and retires to a monastery.
• January 23 – The Shaanxi Earthquake, the deadliest earthquake in history, occurs with its epicenter in Shaanxi province, China; 830,000 people may have been killed.
• February 5 – Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between France and Spain.
• February 14
  • Akbar ascends to the throne of the Mughal Empire at age 13; he will rule until his death in 1605 by which time most of the north and centre of the Indian subcontinent will be under his control.
  • Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
• February 22 (approx.) – Sophie Jagiellon marries Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.^[7]
• March 21 – In Oxford, Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason.

July–December

• November – The Truce of Vaucelles collapses, and war resumes between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain.
• November 5 – Second Battle of Panipat: Fifty miles north of Delhi, a Mogul Army defeats Hindu forces of General Hemu, to ensure Akbar the throne of India.

Date unknown

• Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice.
• Mary I of England establishes the Fort of Maryborough, in what is now Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland.
• The kings of Spain take control of the Flanders region, including what is now the French département of Nord.
• The false Martin Guerre appears in the French village of Artigat.
• King John III of Sweden becomes ruler of Finland as Hertig Johan.
• Welser banking families of Augsburg lose colonial control of Venezuela.
• Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade.
• The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits at Saint Paul's College, Goa.

1557

January–June

• June 7 – Mary I of England joins her husband Philip II of Spain in his war against France.

July–December

• August 10 – Battle of St. Quentin: French forces under Marshal Anne de Montmorency are decisively defeated by the Spanish and English under Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy. Montmorency himself is captured, but Philip II refuses to press his advantage, and withdraws to the Netherlands.
• September 11–October 8 – The Colloquy of Worms convenes.
• October 27 – Emperor Ōgimachi accedes to the throne of Japan.

Date unknown

• Özdemir Pasha conquers the Red Sea port of Massawa for the Ottoman Empire.
• Cossack chieftain Dimitrash tries to take Azov.
• With the permission of the Ming Dynasty government of China and the benefit of both Western and Eastern merchants, the Portuguese settle in Macau (retroceded in 1999). Direct Sino-Portuguese trade had existed since 1513, but this is the first official legal treaty port on traditional Chinese soil that will form a long-term Western settlement. Soon after, China legalizes foreign trade, and Chinese began to migrate overseas.
• Spain becomes bankrupt, throwing the German banking houses into chaos.^[8]
• Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, is refounded by John Caius.
• The following schools are founded in England:
  • Brentwood School, Essex, by Sir Antony Browne.
  • Hampton School, Hampton, London, by Robert Hammond.
  • Repton School, by Sir John Port.
• Welsh-born mathematician Robert Recorde publishes The Whetstone of Witte in London, containing the first recorded use of the equals sign and also the first use in English of plus and minus signs.

1558

January–June

• January 7 – French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of the Kingdom of England
• January 9 – Geneva becomes independent from the Canton of Bern.
• January 22 – Beginning of the Livonian War.
• February 2 – The University of Jena is founded in Thuringia, Germany.
• February 5 – during the Arauco War, Pedro de Avendaño with sixty men capture Caupolicán, the Mapuche Gran Toqui leading their first revolt against the Spanish Empire, nearby Antihuala encamped with a small band of followers.

July–December

• July 13 – Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.
• July 18 – The city of Tartu, capital of the Bishopric of Dorpat, now in Estonia, surrenders to Russia.
• April 24 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Francis II of France.
• November 17 – The Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth.

Date unknown

• Queen Elizabeth grants rest and refreshment to pilgrims and travellers who pass by the Holy Well Spring, Malvern.

1559

January–June

• January – King Philip II of Spain marries his third wife, 14-year-old Elisabeth of Valois.
• January 15 – Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
• February 27 – Queen Elizabeth I of England establishes the Church of England, with the Act of Uniformity 1558 and the Act of Supremacy 1559. The Oath of Supremacy is reinstated.
• March 23 – Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia, defending his lands against the invasion of Nur ibn Mujahid, Sultan of Harar, is killed in battle. His brother Menas succeeds him as king.
• April 2–April 3 – Peace of Cateau Cambrésis: France makes peace with England and Spain, ending the Italian War of 1551–1559. France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), keeping only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.
• May 2 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation.
• May 13 – At Basel, the body of Dutch Anabaptist leader David Joris is exhumed and burned, following his posthumous conviction of heresy.
• June 2 – A royal edict in France makes heresy punishable by death.

July–December

• July 10 – Francis II becomes King of France following the death of his father, Henry II, in a jousting accident.
• August 15 – Led by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano, a Spanish missionary colony of 1,500 men, on 13 ships, arrives from Vera Cruz at Pensacola Bay, founding the oldest European settlement in the mainland U.S. (St. Augustine is founded in 1565.)
• September 19 – Just weeks after arrival at Pensacola, the Spanish missionary colony is decimated by a hurricane that kills hundreds, sinks five ships, with a galleon, and grounds a caravel; the 1,000 survivors divide to relocate/resupply the settlement, but suffer famine & attacks, and abandon the effort in 1561.
• September 21 – The 15-year-old King Francis II of France is crowned at Reims. The crown is too heavy for him and has to be held in place by his nobles.^[9]
• December 25 – Pope Pius IV succeeds Pope Paul IV as the 224th pope.

Date unknown

• Oda Nobunaga wins control of his native province of Owari.
• Margaret of Parma becomes Governor of the Netherlands in place of her brother, King Philip II of Spain.
• Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal 1559–61, describes the medicinal properties of tobacco which he introduces in the form of snuff to the French court.^[10]
• Between 1559 and 1736 almost 1,000 people accused of being witches are executed in England.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References