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The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V resigns his Spanish kingdoms and Sicily January 16 (see 1555). He resigns Burgundy soon after, leaves the Empire to his brother Ferdinand, and sails from Flushing September 17 to settle as a guest at a monastery in Estremadura, where he will die in 1558. His inept son Felipe (Philip) is left to rule Spain, the Netherlands, Milan, Naples, Franche-Comte, and the rich Spanish colonies.
The Truce of Vaucelles signed February 5 makes peace between Felipe of Spain and France's Henri II.
England's Queen Mary recalls Sir Anthony Saint Leger from Ireland and appoints a new viceroy more amenable to her plan for reconciling the Irish Church with the Vatican and planting English colonies in Ireland (see O'Neill's rebellion, 1562).
The czar of Muscovy Ivan IV (the Terrible) completes his conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan from the Tatars. His triumph opens the way for Russian expansion to the east and southeast.
The Mughal emperor Humayan dies January 27 after falling from his library roof in Delhi. His son Jalal-ud-Din, 14, returns from exile and will reign until 1605 as Akbar with initial guidance from his regent Bairam Khan. Akbar defeats Hindu forces at the Battle of Panipat in the Punjab November 5 and regains the Hindustani empire.
Members of the Cayor nobility on the west coast of Africa rebel against the Wolof empire that has ruled since shortly after 1200 and establish their own independent state in what later will be Senegal. Without access to the sea and trade with Europe, the Wolof's importance will soon decline. The Baol whose satellite state has been part of the Wolof empire will soon come under Cayor control and will remain subject to Cayor rule until 1686.
Antwerp has a financial crisis as Spain's Felipe II and France's Henri II default on their war debts.
Castle of Knowledge by mathematician Robert Recorde, now 46, is a navigational guide for voyagers to Cathay. Recorde has taught at Oxford and Cambridge; he served as physician to Edward VI and his wife, Mary (see 1557).
De Re Metallica by the late Georgius Agricola (Georg Bauer) is the world's first textbook on mining and metallurgy and will be the only such text for centuries. It establishes the science of mineralogy.
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, is degraded from his office February 14 in humiliating ceremonies conducted by papal delegates at Christ Church, Oxford, and burnt at the stake March 21 at age 66 after renouncing the Church of Rome and refusing all recantations (see 1555). Cranmer holds his right hand to the flame, saying that the hand has offended and should therefore be burnt first. He is succeeded as archbishop of Canterbury by Reginald Pole, now 56, whose criticism of Henry VIII's divorce was published abroad 20 years ago, provoked Henry to execute Pole's mother and brother in England, and encouraged Pope Paul IV to create him a cardinal.
Jesuit priest Ignatius Loyola dies at Rome July 31 at age 65. The Society of Jesus that he founded in 1534 will continue for centuries.
Poetry: Oeuvres by French poet Louise Labé (or Charlieu), 35, who donned a man's armor at age 22 and fought at the siege of Perpignan. Married 5 years ago at Lyons to Ennemond Perrin, a rich rope maker, she is known as "the beautiful ropemaker" ("La belle cordière").
Poet-playwright Pietro Aretino dies at Venice October 21 at age 64.
Painting: Portrait of Asdrubale Anguissola (her baby brother), Portrait of a Lady (her mother, Bianca Ponzoni Anguissola), and Portrait of a Dominican Monk by Sofonisba Anguissola.
Sculpture: Mars and Neptune for the Doges' Palace at Venice by Jacopo Sansovino.
Theater: Der Paur im Egfeur by Hans Sachs at Nuremberg dramatizes anecdotes and incidents of everyday life in a Fastnachtsspiel that will be produced each year at Shrovetide.
A book of motets by Dutch composer Roland de Lassus (or Orlando di Lasso), 26, published at Antwerp, includes an adulatory motet to England's new archbishop of Canterbury Reginald Pole. Lassus will soon be invited to Munich by Albrecht IV, duke of Bavaria, and will enjoy the duke's patronage until the duke dies in 1579.
Tobacco seeds reach Europe with Franciscan monk André Thevet, who returns from Rio de Janeiro Bay with seeds of what the Brazilian natives call petun, or petum (see Grijalva, 1518; Nicot, 1561).
The Château d'Anet is completed for Diane de Poitiers by French architect Philibert Delorme, 46, after 9 years of construction.
The worst earthquake in human history rocks China's Shanxi (Shansi) Province January 24, killing more than 830,000 people.
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