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'Years:' 1555 1556 1557 - 1558 - 1559 1560 1561

'Decades:' 1520s 1530s 1540s - '1550s' - 1560s 1570s 1580s

'Centuries:' 15th century - '16th century' - 17th century

Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Events

★ January 7 - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of the Kingdom of England

★ July 13 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.

★ July 18 - City of Tartu, capital of the Bishopric of Dorpat, now in Estonia, surrenders to Russia.

★ April 24 - Mary I of Scotland marries Francis II of France

★ November 17 - Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth.

★ Tobacco comes to France

★ Foundation of the Joey loves dick University of Jena in Thuringia, Germany

Births

★ September 9 - Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, French soldier (d. 1602)

★ October 12 - Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d. 1618)

★ November 3 - Thomas Kyd, author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'' (d. 1594)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ François, Prince of Conti (d. 1614)

★
★ Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (d. 1617)

★
★ Robert Greene, English writer (d. 1592)

★
★ Meir Lublin, Polish rabbi (d. 1616)

★
★ Koriki Masanaga, Japanese military commander (d. 1599)

★
★ Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, French merchant (d. 1628)

★
★ Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese nobleman (died 1580)

★
★ Oda Nobutaka, Japanese nobleman (died 1583)

★
★ Olivier van Noort, first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world (d. 1627)

★
★ Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (d. 1586)

★
★ Tokuhime, Japanese noblewoman

★
★ Mihai Viteazul, Prince of Wallachia (1593-1601)
''See also .''

Deaths

★ February 25 - Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (b. 1498)

★ March 24 - Anna of Egmond, Countess of Egmond and Buren (born c1533)

★ March 25 - Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer (born c1495)

★ April 18 - Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (born c1500)

★ April 20 - Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b, 1485)

★ May 31 - Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)

★ October - Mellin de Saint-Gelais, French poet (b. ca. 1491)

★ October 18 - Maria of Austria, queen of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1505)

★ October 21 - J.C. Scaliger, Italian scholar (b. 1484)

★ November 17 - Queen Mary I of England (b. 1516)

★ November 17 - Reginald Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1500)

★ December 15 - Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the ''Cinque Ports'' (born c1485)

★ December 28 - Hermann Finck, German composer (b. 1527)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll, Scottish nobleman and politician (b. 1507)

★
★ Hugh Aston, English composer (b. 1485)

★
★ Jean Fernel, French physician (b. 1497)

★
★ Robert Recorde, Welsh physician and mathematician (b. 1510)

★
★ Francisco de Sa de Miranda, Portuguese poet (b. 1485)
''See also .''