1560s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1530s 1540s 1550s – 1560s – 1570s 1580s 1590s
Years:	1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1560s: events by year

Contents: 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569

January–June

• February 27 – The Treaty of Berwick, which expels the French from the Kingdom of Scotland, is signed by the Kingdom of England and the Congregation of Scotland.
• March 7 – A Spanish-led expedition, commanded by Juan de la Cerda, 4th Duke of Medinaceli, overruns the Tunisian island of Djerba.
• March 17 – Leaders of the Amboise conspiracy, including Godefroy de Barry, seigneur de La Renaudie, make an unsuccessful attempt to storm the château of Amboise, where the young French king and queen are residing. La Renaudie is subsequently caught and executed, along with over a thousand of his followers.
• April 15 – Denmark buys the Estonian island of Saaremaa from its last prince bishop.
• May 11 – At the Battle of Djerba, the Ottoman fleet, commanded by under Piyale Pasha, overwhelms a large joint European (mainly Spanish) fleet, sinking about half its ships.
• June 12 – Battle of Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto.

July–December

• July 6 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland. This largely ends the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland, and ends the wars between England and its northern neighbour.
• August 2 – Livonian War: Russians defeat the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in the Battle of Ergeme, precipitating the dissolution of the order.
• August 17 – The Roman Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
• August 21 – A total eclipse of the sun is observable in Europe.
• September 29 – Eric XIV becomes king of Sweden upon the death of his father Gustav Vasa.
• November 21-23 – Kuala Lumpur becomes the capital of Malaya (today Malaysia).
• December 5 – Seventeen-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, is widowed by the death of her first husband, King Francis II of France. Her mother-in-law, Catherine de' Medici, becomes regent of France.
• December 6 – Charles IX (of France) succeeds his elder brother, Francis II, at the age of ten.

Date unknown

• Publication of the complete Geneva Bible.
• The first tulip bulb is brought from Turkey to the Netherlands (probable date).
• The first scientific society, the Academia Secretorum Naturae, is founded in Naples by Giambattista della Porta.
• Solihull School is founded in the West Midlands of England.
• The oldest surviving violin (dated inside), known as the Charles IX, is made in Cremona, in northern Italy.
• Bairam Khan loses power in the Mughal Empire.
• Mongols invade and occupy Qinghai.
• The great age of piracy in the Caribbean starts around this time.

January–June

• January 6 – Earl of Tyrone ends his first rebellion by surrendering to Queen Elizabeth I of England.
• January 17 – Huguenots are recognized under the Edict of Saint-Germain.
• March 1 – Over 80(?) Huguenots are massacred by the ultra-Catholic Francis, Duke of Guise in Wassy-sur-Blaise, marking the start of the First War of Religion in France. Protestant forces led by Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and Gaspard de Coligny quickly seize control of Orleans, Rouen, and other cities throughout France.
• May 1 – Jean Ribault, French navigator, lands in Florida and later establishes a Huguenot colony at Charlesfort.
• May 26 – Earl of Tyrone leads a second rebellion in Ireland.

July–December

• July 12 – Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya.
• September 20 – English forces under Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, land in Newhaven (Le Havre) to aid the Huguenots.
• September 22 – Maximilian, son of the Emperor Ferdinand I, succeeds as King of Bohemia.
• October 26 – Rouen is captured by Royalist forces under Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, who is mortally wounded.
• November 5 – In Scotland, the rebellion of George Gordon, Earl of Huntly is crushed by James Stewart, Earl of Moray at the Battle of Corrichie.
• November 20 – Maximilian of Bohemia is elected King of the Romans.
• December 19 – Battle of Dreux: Huguenot forces under Condé and Coligny, and Catholic forces under Anne de Montmorency and Guise, battle to a draw. The official leaders of both armies (Condé and Montmorency) are captured in the battle.

Date unknown

• The earliest English slave-trading expedition (under John Hawkins) goes between Guinea and the West Indies. As a result, the Spanish prohibit English ships from trading at their new world ports.
• French Huguenots establish a colony of Charlesfort on Parris Island, off the coast of South Carolina.
• Gresham's School is granted a Royal Charter in England.
• Akbar the Great conquers Malwa and defeats Baz Bahadur.
• Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola publishes Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura (Rules of the Five Orders of Architecture); it will become in succeeding centuries the most published book in architectural history.

January–June

• February 1 – Sarsa Dengel succeeds his father Menas as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• February 18 – Francis, Duke of Guise is assassinated while besieging Orléans.
• March – Peace of Amboise: Negotiated between the Prince of Condé and Anne de Montmorency, it accords some toleration to the Huguenots, especially to aristocrats. The combined Huguenot and royal armies then march north to besiege the English in Le Havre.

July–December

• July 28 – The English surrender Le Havre to the French after a siege.
• August 13 – The outbreak of the Northern Seven Years' War
• December 4 – The Council of Trent (opened December 13, 1545) officially closes. It reaffirms all major Roman Catholic doctrines, and declares the Deuterocanonical books to be canonical, along with the rest of the Bible.

Date unknown

• The official Roman Catholic decree "Tametsi" stipulates that for a marriage to be valid, consent (the essence of marriage) as expressed in the vows has to be given publicly before witnesses, one of whom has to be the parish priest.

January–June

• March 8 – Naples bans kissing in public under the penalty of death.
• March 25 – Lorenzo Bernal del Mercado defeated and killed the toqui Illangulién in the Battle of Angol, in Chile.
• June 22 – French settlers abandon Charlesfort, the first French attempt at colonizing the New World, and establish Fort Caroline in Florida.

July–December

• September 10 – Japan: Battle of Kawanakajima: Takeda Shingen battles the forces of Uesugi Kenshin for the final time.

Date unknown

• The Ottoman Turks invade Malta.
• The modern pencil becomes common in England.
• Conquistadors cross the Atlantic.
• The Spanish found a colony in the Philippines.
• The first rat king (folklore) discovery is reported.
• 1564–1571 – Miguel Lopez de Legazpi sails from Mexico and conquers the Philippine Islands, founding Manila.

January–June

• January 26 – The Battle of Talikota, a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates. The last Hindu kingdom in South India ended.
• February 13 – Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi lands with his troops on the shores of Cebu Island in the Philippine archipelago.
• March 1 – The city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is founded.
• April 27 – Cebu City (originally named San Miguel) is established by López de Legazpi, becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
• May 18 – Ottoman troops land on the island of Malta, beginning The Great Siege of Malta.
• June 17 – Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

July–December

• July 29 – Mary, Queen of Scots, widowed, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.
• August 28 – St. Augustine, Florida (named after St. Augustine), is established. It is the oldest remaining European settlement in the United States.
• September 4 – The Spanish fleet of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés lands on modern-day Florida to oust the French under Jean Ribault. He later destroys the French colony of Fort Caroline.
• September 8 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés settles in St. Augustine, Florida.
• September 11 – The Knights of Malta lift the Turkish Siege of Malta (started on May 18).

Date unknown

• In Russia, it is the beginning of the Oprichnina.
• The pencil is first documented by Conrad Gesner.
• John Beddoes School is founded.

January–June

• January 7 – Pope Pius V succeeds Pope Pius IV as the 225th pope.
• March 28 – The foundation stone of Valletta (Malta's Capital City) is laid by Grand Master Jean de la Valette.

July–December

• August 5–September 7 – Battle of Szigetvár: 2,300 Hungarian and Croatian defenders are annihilated by an army of 90,000 soldiers of the Ottoman Empire.
• August – Calvinists destroy religious art in the Low Countries.
• September 6 – Selim II succeeds Suleiman I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Date unknown

• Religious rioting in the Netherlands signifies the beginning of the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands.
• The Spanish doubloon is first minted during the reign of Philip II of Spain.
• Pope Pius V expels most the prostitutes from Rome.
• Between July 19, 1566 and July 7, 1567 – The first bridge crossing the Neretva river at Mostar (in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) is completed by the Ottoman Empire. The white marble bridge is now known as Stari Most ("Old Bridge").

January–June

• January – A Spanish force under the command of Captain Juan Pardo establishes Fort San Juan in the Native American settlement of Joara. The fort is the first European settlement in present day North Carolina.
• January 23 – After 45 years' reign, the Jiajing Emperor dies in the Forbidden City.
• February 4 – The Longqing Emperor ascends the throne of the Ming Dynasty.
• February 10 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered at the Provost's House in Edinburgh.
• May 15 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
• June 15 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is defeated at Carberry Hill by the Scottish nobles, and imprisoned in Lochleven Castle.

July–December

• 24 July – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI.
• July 25 – The city of Santiago de León de Caracas in Venezuela is founded by Diego de Losada.
• July 29 – James VI is crowned at Stirling.
• September 9 – At a dinner, the Duke of Alva arrests the Count of Egmont and the Count of Horne for treason.
• September 29 – The Second War of Religion begins in France when the Prince of Condé and Gaspard de Coligny fail in an attempt to capture King Charles IX and his mother at Meaux. The Huguenots do capture several cities (including Orleans), and march on Paris.
• November 10 – Battle of Saint-Denis: Anne de Montmorency, with 16,000 Royalists, falls on Condé's 3,500 Huguenots. The Huguenots surprisingly hold on for some hours before being driven off. Montmorency is mortally wounded.

Date unknown

• The Duke of Alba arrives in the Netherlands with Spanish forces to suppress unrest there. He replaces Margaret of Parma as Governor of the Netherlands. Prince William of Orange is outlawed, and Count Lamoral of Egmont imprisoned.
• King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway founds Fredrikstad in Norway.
• Rugby School, one of the oldest public schools in England, is founded.
• Welsh Bible: New Testament first published in Welsh.
• Although sparse maritime trade existed since its founding, the Ming Dynasty government of China officially revokes the hai jin maritime trade ban, reinstating foreign trade with all countries except Japan.

January–June

• January 6–January 13 – In the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom the Diet of Torda declares religious freedom firstly in Europe.
• February 17 – Treaty of Adrianople (sometimes called the Peace of Adrianople): The Habsburgs agree to pay tribute to the Ottomans.
• March 23 – The Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine de' Medici and Charles IX make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.
• May 2 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
• May 13 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
• May 16 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
• May 19 – Queen Elizabeth I of England arrests Mary, Queen of Scots.
• May 23 – Battle of Heiligerlee: Troops under Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat a smaller loyalist force under the Duke of Arenberg in an attempt to invade the Northern Netherlands. This is effectively the start of the Eighty Years' War.

July–December

• July 21 – Battle of Jemmingen: The main Spanish army of the Duke of Alva utterly defeats Louis of Nassau's invading army in the Northeastern Netherlands.
• August 18 – The Third War of Religion begins in France after an unsuccessful attempt by the Royalists to capture Condé and Coligny, the Huguenot leaders.
• September 29 – The Swedish king Eric XIV is deposed by his half-brothers John and Charles. John proclaims himself king John III the next day.
• October 5 – William I of Orange invades the Southeastern Netherlands.
• October 20 – Battle of Jodoigne. Spanish forces under the Duke of Alva destroy Orange's rearguard. Orange abandons his offensive.

Date unknown

• The Russo-Turkish War in Astrakhan begins.
• Ashikaga Yoshiaki is installed as Shogun, beginning the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
• Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire besieges and captures the massive Chittorgarh Fort in northern India.
• Polybius' "The Histories" first translated in to English by Christopher Watson.
• Huguenots besieged Chartres.
• A Spanish expedition under Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira discovers the Solomon Islands

January–June

• January 11–May 6 – The first recorded lottery in England is performed nonstop at the west door of the St. Paul's Cathedral. Each share costs 10 shillings and proceeds are used to repair the harbours and for other public works.
• March 13 – Battle of Jarnac: Royalist troops under Marshal Gaspard de Tavannes surprise and defeat the Huguenots under the Prince of Condé, who is captured and murdered. A substantial proportion of the Huguenot army manages to escape under Gaspard de Coligny.
• June 10 – German Protestant troops reinforce Coligny near Limoges.

July–December

• July 1 – The Union of Lublin unites the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• July–September – Huguenot forces under Coligny and 15 year-old Prince Henry of Navarre besiege Poitiers.
• August 24 – Battle of Orthez: Huguenot forces under Gabriel de Montgomery defeat Royalist forces under General Terride in French Navarre. Catholics surrender under the condition that their lives will be spared. Huguenots agree, but then massacre the Catholics anyway.
• September – A Royalist army under the Duc d'Anjou and Marshal Tavannes forces Coligny to abandon the siege of Poitiers.
• October 3 – Battle of Moncountour: The Royalist forces of Tavannaes and Anjou defeat Coligny's Huguenots.
• November – Rising of the North: Northern Earls rebel gainst Queen Elizabeth the 1st of England.

Date unknown

• Gerardus Mercator devises the Mercator projection.
• Assemblies of 3 Lithuanian provinces (Volhynia, Ukraine and Podlasie) vote to be incorporated into Poland.
• Poland and Lithuania are united in the Union of Lublin, forming the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• The trade compact of 1536 is renewed, exempting French merchants from Ottoman law and allowing them to travel, buy and sell throughout the sultan's dominions and to pay low customs duties on French imports and exports.
• Akbar founds Fatehpur Sikri to honor the Muslim holy man Shaikh Salim Chisti, who has foretold the birth of Akbar's son and heir, Jahangir.

Births

• Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher
• William Shakespeare, English playwright
• Edward Wright (baptized October 8, 1561), English mathematician and cartographer