1539

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1500s 1510s 1520s – 1530s – 1540s 1550s 1560s
Years:	1536 1537 1538 – 1539 – 1540 1541 1542

This article is about the year 1539.

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Year 1539 (MDXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events[edit]

January – Battle of Naungyo, Burma, part of the Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War.
January 12 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (and Charles I of Spain) and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Toledo, agreeing to make no further alliances with England. The treaty comes after Henry VIII of England's split with Rome and Pope Paul III.
February 9 – First horse race held at Chester Racecourse, the oldest in use in England.
March – Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'.
May 30 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal to find gold. He also introduces pigs into North America.
May – The Six Articles, an Act of the Parliament of England, reaffirms certain Catholic principles in Henry VIII's Church of England.^[1]

Protestant Reformation
- Lutheranism is forcibly introduced into Iceland, despite the opposition of Bishop Jón Arason.
- Beaulieu Abbey, Bolton Abbey, Colchester Abbey, Newstead Abbey, St Albans Abbey, St Mary's Abbey, York and Hartland Abbey (the last) fall prey to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England.
- First edition of the Calvinist Genevan psalter is published.
In Henan province, China, a severe drought with swarms of locusts is made worse by a major epidemic outbreak of the plague.
King Francis I of France issues an ordinance that places the whole of France under the jurisdiction of the royal law courts and makes French the language of those courts.

February 6 – John III, Duke of Cleves (b. 1491)
February 13 – Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (b. 1474)
March 5 – Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese governor in India (b. 1487)
March 12 – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat and politician (b.1477)
April 17 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
May 7 – Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism (b. 1469)
May 7 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)
July 5 – St Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Italian saint (b. 1502)
August – Vannoccio Biringuccio, Italian metallurgist (b. 1480)
September 8 – John Stokesley, English prelate (b. 1475)
November 15 – Hugh Cook Faringdon, Abbot of Reading
December 20 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. c. 1506)
date unknown – James Beaton, Scottish church leader (b. 1473)

^ Everett, Jason M., ed. (2006). "1539". The People's Chronology. Thomson Gale.
^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 210–215. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.

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