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France's Henri II signs the Treaty of Chambord with Maurice of Saxony January 15, promising to supply troops and money for the war against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Maurice takes Augsburg in May, nearly captures Charles at Innsbruck, and forces Charles's kinsman Friedrich of Hapsburg to sign the Treaty of Passau August 2 permitting Protestant princes freedom of religion at least until the next diet. Charles lays siege to Metz, which is defended by the 33-year-old François de Lorraine, 2nd duc de Guise, and a 4-year war begins between France and the emperor, but Charles lifts his siege and withdraws after losing more than 12,000 men in a single month to typhus and scurvy.
The duke of Somerset, former lord protector of England's Henry VI, is executed January 22 after a trial on trumped-up charges.
The czar of Muscovy Ivan IV attacks Kazan with 50 guns and an army of 150,000 after a faction in Kazan offers him the entire khanate. He lays siege August 20 to the fortress and takes it by assault October 2, using artillery to breach the walls of the Tatar capital. The Volga becomes a Russian river for the first time and Ivan goes on to attack Astrakhan.
Former Spanish viceroy to New Spain Antonio de Mendoza dies at Lima July 21 at age 62 (approximate), having been promoted to viceroy of Peru after a distinguished 15-year reign in which he helped to bring peace and stability to the Mexicans, introducing the printing press, promoting construction of schools and hospitals, and encouraging improvements in mining, agricultural methods, and cattle raising.
The Portuguese ship São João goes aground June 24 on the Natal coast with 610 aboard. Only 25 of the 500 who get ashore survive the long walk to the nearest Portuguese settlement at Sofola. Half a dozen major shipwrecks will land 3,000 Portuguese on Africa's east coast in the next 100 years, but scarcely 500 will be rescued (see 1683).
London's Covent Garden is granted to Sir John Russell, 1st earl of Bedford, a former Dorset squire who was elevated to the peerage 2 years ago and whose family will retain the property until 1914. Confiscated along with other Church properties in 1534, the land of the convent garden has been owned by the abbey of Westminster, is now part of London, and will serve as London's produce and flower market beginning in 1661.
"The Sweate" by English physician John Kaye is a pamphlet describing a mysterious epidemic that may be a severe form of influenza (see 1551).
Tabulae Anatomicae by Italian anatomist Bartolommeo Eustachio, 28, describes what will be called the Eustachian tube in the ear and the Eustachian valve of the heart. He also describes the stapes, thoracic duct, uterus, kidney, and teeth (see Vesalius, 1543).
The second Sikh guru Angad dies in the Punjab after a 13-year reign and is succeeded by his disciple Amar Das, who will head the sect until 1574.
Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier dies of exhaustion and fever on the island of Shangchuan off Guangzhou (Canton) December 3 at age 46 while en route to Goa (see 1551); the "apostle of the Indies" has planted the seed of Christianity in the Far East, baptizing about 30,000 people (see 1582).
Rome's Collegium Germanicum is founded by Pope Julius III to train German priests under Jesuit supervision.
The Shrewsbury School is founded in Shropshire by England's young Edward VI with Thomas Ashton as headmaster. It will survive as one of the nation's foremost public (privately endowed) schools, rivaling the Winchester school founded in 1379 and the Eton school founded in 1440 (see Rugby, 1567).
Nonfiction: Concerning the Wars with the Turks (De bello cum . . . turcis gerendo) by Polish senator and military hero Jan Tarnowski, now 64.
Books on geography and astronomy are destroyed in England because they are thought to be infected with magic.
Poetry: Centuries by French physician-astrologer Nostradamus (Michel de Notredame, or Nostredame), 52, is a book of rhymed prophecies that will be interpreted centuries hence as prophesying 20th-century events; Amours de Cassandre by Pierre de Ronsard appears in its first volume.
Poet Alexander Barclay dies at Croydon June 10 at age 77 (approximate).
Painting: Self-portrait by Titian. He has begun sending works to the Spanish infante Felipe, 25, who confers rich rewards on the artist; Self-Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola; Portrait of a Man by Caterina van Hemessen.
Theater: Cleopatre Captive by French dramatic poet Etienne Jodelle, 20, sieur de Lymodin, is the first classical French tragedy; Ralph Roister Doister by English cleric-playwright Nicholas Udall, 47, at Windsor Castle is the earliest English comedy that will survive (year of first performance approximate). Udall was headmaster of Eton from 1534 until his dismissal for misconduct in 1541, and he has modeled his play on a comedy by Plautus.
Giovanni P. da Palestrina wins appointment to the Sistine choir from Pope Julius III (see 1551; 1555).
Scotland's Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has its beginnings (see 1754).
Parliament decrees September 3 that any English butcher who sells meat at prices other than those fixed by the government is to be imprisoned.
Löwenbrau beer gets its name as a two-tailed heraldic lion is placed over the entrance to the brewery founded at Munich in 1383. The Bavarian brewery will become known as Löwenbrau, or Lion Brewer.
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