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

Contents

Events of 1556

January - June

July - December

Undated

Births

Deaths

Events of 1556

January - June

★ January 16 - Abdication of Emperor Charles V. His son, Philip II becomes King of Spain, while his brother Ferdinand becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

★ 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

★
★ Truce of Vaucelles - Temporary end to the fighting between France and Spain.

★
★ Jellaladin Mahommed Akbar ascends to the throne of the Mughal Empire; he rules until his death in 1605.

★ February 14 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic

★ March 21 - In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason.

July - December

★ November - Collapse of the Truce of Vaucelles. 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.

Undated

★ Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice

★ Bloody Mary establishes the Fort of Maryborough, in what is now Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland

★ The kings of Spain take control of the Flanders region, including what is now the French département of Nord

★ The false Martin Guerre appears in the French village of Artigat.

★ King John III of Sweden becomes ruler of Finland as Hertig Johan.

★ Welser banking families of Augsburg lose colonial control of Venezuela.

★ Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade.

Births

★ January 8 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (died 1623)

★ February - Henry Briggs, English mathematician (died 1630)

★ February 21 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (died 1615)

★ March 7 - Guillaume du Vair, French statesman and philosopher (died 1621)

★ June 6 - Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English politician and diplomat (died 1625)

★ November 15 - Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (died 1618)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Margaret Clitherow, English Catholic martyr (died 1586)

★
★ Shibata Katsutoyo, Japanese military commander (died 1583)

★
★ Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Sudanese writer and political leader (died 1627)

★
★ James Melville, Scottish divine and reformer (died 1614)
: ''See also ''

Deaths

★ March 21 - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (burned at the stake) (born 1489)

★ April 18 - Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and statesman (born 1495)

★ June 10 - Martin Agricola, German composer (born 1486)

★ July 31 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (born 1491)

★ September - Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, Scottish traitor (born 1512)

★ October 21 - Pietro Aretino, Italian author (born 1492)

★ November 14 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (born 1503)

★ December 23 - Nicholas Udall, English dramatist (born 1504)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ John Bell, Bishop of Worcester

★
★ Girolamo da Carpi, Italian painter (born 1501)

★
★ Jacob Clemens non Papa, Flemish composer (born 1510)

★
★ Saitō Dōsan, Japanese warlord (born 1494)

★
★ Fuzûlî, Turkish poet (born 1494)

★
★ Lorenzo Lotto, Italian painter (born 1480)

★
★ Brian mac Cathaoir O Conchobhair Failghe, last of the Kings of Ui Failghe
:''See also .''