1556
Events
- 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.
- February 14 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic
- March 21 - In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason.
- 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.
- Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice
- Queen 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.
- Jellaladin Mahommed Akbar ascends to the throne of the Mughal Empire; he rules until his death in 1605
- 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
Deaths
- March 21 - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1489)
- July 31 - St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order
- Lorenzo Lotto, Italian Renaissance painter best known for his portraits
- Tullia d'Aragona , Italian courtesan and writer adopted by modern feminists
- Saito Dosan, daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japan.
- Nicholas Udall, English dramatist who wrote Ralph Roister Doister, regarded by many as the first comedy written in the English language.
- Count Miklós Zrínyi, Croat-Hungarian war hero who distinguished himself in the Siege of Vienna
- Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet, credited with introducing the epigram into Italian poetry
- Martin Agricola, German composer
- Jacob Clemens non Papa, Flemish composer
- Fuzuli, famous Turkish poet
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