1556

This article is about the year 1556.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1520s  1530s  1540s  – 1550s –  1560s  1570s  1580s
Years:	1553 1554 1555 – 1556 – 1557 1558 1559

1556 by topic
Arts and science
Architecture Art Literature Music Science
Lists of leaders
Colonial governors State leaders
Birth and death categories
Births Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments Disestablishments
Works category
Works

1556 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1556 MDLVI
Ab urbe condita	2309
Armenian calendar	1005 ԹՎ ՌԵ
Assyrian calendar	6306
Bahá'í calendar	-288–-287
Bengali calendar	963
Berber calendar	2506
English Regnal year	2 Ph. & M. – 3 Ph. & M.
Buddhist calendar	2100
Burmese calendar	918
Byzantine calendar	7064–7065
Chinese calendar	乙卯年閏十一月十九日 (4192/4252-intercalary 11-19) — to — 丙辰年十一月三十日 (4193/4253-11-30)
Coptic calendar	1272–1273
Ethiopian calendar	1548–1549
Hebrew calendar	5316–5317
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1612–1613
- Shaka Samvat	1478–1479
- Kali Yuga	4657–4658
Holocene calendar	11556
Igbo calendar
- Ǹrí Ìgbò	556–557
Iranian calendar	934–935
Islamic calendar	963–964
Japanese calendar	Kōji 2 (弘治2年)
Juche calendar	N/A (before 1912)
Julian calendar	1556    MDLVI
Korean calendar	3889
Minguo calendar	356 before ROC 民前356年
Thai solar calendar	2099

January 23: Shaanxi Earthquake, devastation kills 830,000 in China.

Year 1556 (MDLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

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.
• 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

• The kings of Spain take control of the Flanders region, including what is now the French département of Nord.
• The Plantations of Ireland are started in King's County (now County Offaly) and Queen's County (now County Laois), the earliest attempt at systematic ethnic cleansing in Ireland, by the Roman Catholic ruler Queen Mary I of England.
• King John III of Sweden becomes ruler of Finland as Hertig Johan.
• Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade.
• Welser banking families of Augsburg lose colonial control of Venezuela.
• Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice.
• 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

• January 8 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
• February – Henry Briggs, English mathematician (d. 1630)
• February 21 – Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
• March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French statesman and philosopher (d. 1621)
• June 6 – Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English politician and diplomat (d. 1625)
• November 15 – Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (d. 1618)
• date unknown
  • Margaret Clitherow, English Catholic martyr (d. 1586)
  • Shibata Katsutoyo, Japanese military commander (d. 1583)
  • Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Sudanese writer and political leader (d. 1627)
  • James Melville, Scottish divine and reformer (d. 1614)

Deaths

• March 21 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (burned at the stake) (b. 1489)
• April 18 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and statesman (b. 1495)
• May 28 – Saitō Dōsan, Japanese warlord (b. 1494)
• June 10 – Martin Agricola, German composer (b. 1486)
• July 31 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (b. 1491)
• August 11 – John Bell, Bishop of Worcester
• September – Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, Scottish traitor (b. 1512)
• October 21 – Pietro Aretino, Italian author (b. 1492)
• November 10 – Richard Chancellor, English Arctic explorer (drowned at sea) (b. c.1521)
• November 14 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (b. 1503)
• date unknown
  • Girolamo da Carpi, Italian painter (b. 1501)
  • Fuzûlî, Turkish poet (b. 1494)
• probable
  • Brian mac Cathaoir O Conchobhair Failghe, last of the Kings of Ui Failghe
  • Jacob Clemens non Papa, Flemish composer (b. 1510)