January–March •
January 4 – In Japan,
Saitō Yoshitatsu, the eldest son of
Saitō Dōsan, arranges the murders of his two younger brothers, Magoshiro and Kiheiji, and forces his father to flee from the Sagiyama Castle. •
January 16 –
Charles V abdicates the thrones of the
Spanish Empire (including his colonies in the New World) in favor 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. •
January 24 – In India, at the
Sher Mandal in
Delhi, the Mughal Emperor
Humayun trips while descending the stairs from his library and strikes the side of his head against a stone step, sustaining a fatal injury. He never regains consciousness and dies seven days later. •
February 5 –
Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between
France and
Spain. •
February 14 –
Akbar the Great ascends the throne of the
Mughal Empire in
India 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. •
March 21 – In
Oxford,
Thomas Cranmer, the former
Archbishop of Canterbury, is burned at the stake for treason for his role in the
English Reformation as chief bishop of the Anglican Church. •
March 22 –
Reginald Pole, a
Roman Catholic Cardinal, is appointed by Queen Mary of England as the new
Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canterbury.
April–June •
April 3 – In
Qazvin, the
Shah of Iran Tahmasp I, becomes enraged with the sexual orientation of his son
Ismail II, and sends Ismail to
Afghanistan to serve as the Iranian governor of
Herat province. •
April 24 –
Pál Márkházy surrenders the Hungarian fortress at
Ajnácskő (now Hajnáčka in
Slovakia) to the Ottoman Empire. Márkházy, accused of treachery, is stripped of his estates and title by the King of Hungary, and forced to flee to the Principality of Transylvania. •
May 28 (20th day of 4th month of
Kōji 2) – In
Japan, the
Battle of Nagara-gawa takes place along the
Nagara River in
Mino Province near what is now the
Gifu Prefecture.
Saitō Yoshitatsu, with 17,500 troops, overwhelms and kills his father,
Saitō Dōsan, who had attempted to avenge the Saitō family honor with less than 3,000 people. •
June 14 –
Lorenzo Priuli becomes the new
Doge of the
Venetian Republic. •
June 27 – Thirteen English Protestants (11 men and two women), the "
Stratford Martyrs", are burned at the stake at
Stratford-le-Bow near
London after being convicted of heresy.
July–September •
July 17 –
Kostajnica Fortress in what is now
Croatia falls to the Ottoman Empire and remains under Turkish control for the next 132 years. •
August 15 – Work begins on the
Peresopnytsia Gospel at the
Monastery of the Holy Trinity in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and continues for the next five years. •
August 27 –
Charles V abdicates his position as
Holy Roman Emperor in favor of his younger brother,
Ferdinand, King of the Romans. The Imperial Diet postpones recognizing the abdication for the next 18 months. •
September 1 – After
Pope Paul IV attempts to get
King Henry II of France to join him in an invasion of
Spanish-controlled Naples, Spain's
Duke of Alba invades the
Papal States in Italy.
October–December •
October 7 – The
Battle of Delhi is fought in India, at
Tughlaqabad) near
Delhi between forces of the
Sur Empire (ruled by
Muhammad Adil Shah) and the
Mughal Empire (ruled by
Akbar the Great). General
Hemchandra Vikramaditya (Hemu) of the Suris overwhelms the forces commanded by the Mughal Governor of Delhi,
Tardi Beg Khan within one day. •
November 5 –
Second Battle of Panipat: Fifty miles north of
Delhi, a
Mughal army defeats the forces of
Hemu and recaptures Delhi for the Mughal Empire, guaranteeing
Akbar's rule. •
November 10 – The English ship
Edward Bonadventure, commanded by
Richard Chancellor is wrecked on the coast of
Scotland at
Pitsligo, killing most of its crew, including Chancellor. The few survivors include the first Russian ambassador to England, Osip Nepeya. •
November 17 – In the Holy Roman Empire, the
Steter Kriegsrat is founded as a War Council with five generals and five civil servants to advise the Habsburg rulers. •
December 7 – The Mughal Emperor
Akbar personally travels with
Bairam Khan to lead an invasion force to defeat the Sultan of the Sur Empire,
Sikandar Shah Suri. •
December 27 –
Péter Erdődy is appointed as the
Ottoman Viceroy of Croatia after the death on September 7 of
Nikola IV Zrinski. •
December 31 – All military authorities in the Holy Roman Empire are ordered to submit to the decisions of the Imperial War Council.
Date unknown • The kings of
Spain take control of what becomes the
Flanders region, including the French
département of
Nord. • The
Plantations of Ireland are started in King's County (later
County Offaly) and Queen's County (later
County Laois), the earliest attempt at systematic
ethnic cleansing in Ireland, by the
Roman Catholic ruler Queen
Mary I of England. • Future King
Prince John, younger son of King
Gustav I of Sweden becomes
Duke of Finland. •
Ivan the Terrible conquers
Astrakhan, opening the
Volga River to Russian traffic and trade. • The
Welser banking families of
Augsburg lose colonial control of
Venezuela. • The false
Martin Guerre appears in the
French village of Artigat. • The first
printing press in India is introduced by
Jesuits, at
Saint Paul's College, Goa. == Births ==