Directory

1555 CE

The Treaty of Amasya between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia concludes the Ottoman-Safavid War. The Peace of Augsburg is signed between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, establishing the principle Cuius regio, eius religio, that is, rulers within the Empire can choose the religion of their realm. (1st day of 10th month Tenbun 24) – At the Battle of Miyajima Island, Mori Motonari defeats Sue Harukata.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • June 1 – The Treaty of Amasya between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia concludes the Ottoman-Safavid War.source
  • October 25 – Charles V abdicates as Holy Roman Emperor and is succeeded by his brother Ferdinand.source
  • Humayun resumes rule of the Mughal Empire.source
  • English captain John Lok returns from Guinea, with five Africans to train as interpreters for future trading voyages.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 22 – The Kingdom of Ava in Upper Burma falls.source
  • April 17 – After 18 months of siege, the Republic of Siena surrenders to the Florentine–Imperial army.source
  • June 22 – Adil Shah Suri becomes the Sultan of the Sur Empire at Delhi in India after Sikandar Shah Suri is forced to flee from the Mughal Empire forces.source
  • October 16 – (1st day of 10th month Tenbun 24) – At the Battle of Miyajima Island, Mori Motonari defeats Sue Harukata.source
  • Russia breaks a 60-year-old truce with Sweden by attacking Finland.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • November 1 – French Navy Vice-Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon leads a small fleet of two ships and 200 soldiers and colonists to take possession of Serigipe Island, near modern-day Rio de Janeiro in Brazil at Guanabara Bay, and builds Fort Coligny.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 4 – John Rogers is burned at the stake at Smithfield, London, becoming the first of the 284 Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation to be killed during the five and one-half year reign of Queen Mary I of England. His death is followed within the week by that of Laurence Saunders on February 8 in Coventry, and Rowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk, and John Hooper, deposed Bishop of Gloucester on February 9.source
  • May 23 – Giovanni Pietro Carafa, Cardinal of Naples, is elected as the new Pope after Giacomo del Pozzo fails to obtain the necessary two-thirds approval. Carafa, the 223rd Pope, takes the name Pope Paul IV.source
  • May 30 – Foundation of Trinity College, Oxford, England, to teach Catholic theology.source
  • July 12 – Pope Paul IV creates the Roman Ghetto, the first Jewish ghetto in Rome.source
  • August 24 – England's Thomas Thirlby, the first and only Roman Catholic Archbishop of Norwich and Queen Mary's envoy to Pope Paul IV, returns to London from bearing a papal bull that confirms Queen Mary's jurisdiction over Ireland.source
  • September 25 – The Peace of Augsburg is signed between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, establishing the principle Cuius regio, eius religio, that is, rulers within the Empire can choose the religion of their realm.source
  • October 16 – The first two Protestant Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, are burned at the stake in England.source
  • November 13 – Thomas Cranmer is officially removed from office as the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury by order of Pope Paul IV and Queen Mary I.source
  • December 11 – Cardinal Reginald Pole is made a cardinal-priest in the Roman Catholic Church and made the administrator of the See of Canterbury in England, though he will not become the new Archbishop of Canterbury until the following March 20.source

Economy & Finance

  • February 26 – The Muscovy Company is chartered in England to trade with the Tsardom of Russia and Richard Chancellor negotiates with the Tsar.source
  • The Adal Sultanate in the Horn of Africa collapses.source

Science & Discovery

  • Richard Eden publishes The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, a translation into English of parts of Pietro Martire d'Anghiera's De orbe novo decades, the Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés work Natural hystoria de las Indias and others, urging his countrymen to follow the lead of Spain in exploring the New World; the work includes the first recorded use in English of the country name 'China'.source

Health & Medicine

  • February 2 – The Diet of Augsburg begins.source

Crime & Justice

  • John Dee is charged, but cleared, of treason in England.source

Climate & Environment

  • September – The 1555 Kashmir earthquake causes widespread destruction and death in Kashmir, India.source

Culture & Society

  • March 25 – Valencia, Venezuela, is founded by Captain Alonso Díaz Moreno.source
  • May 1 – Foundation of St John's College, Oxford, England, to teach Catholic theology.source
  • William Annyas becomes the Mayor of Youghal, Ireland, the first Jew to hold such a position in Ireland.source
  • Orlande de Lassus' first book of madrigals is published, in Antwerp.source
  • Establishment in England of the following grammar schools: Boston Grammar School, Gresham's School at Holt, Norfolk (founded by Sir John Gresham) and Ripon Grammar School (re-foundation).source

Births

  • March 18 – François, Duke of Anjou, youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici (d. 1584)source
  • March 21 – John Leveson, English politician (d. 1615)source
  • April 28 – Karl Friedrich of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, heir apparent of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (d. 1575)source
  • May 9 – Jerónima de la Asunción, founder of the first Catholic monastery in Manila, the Monastery of Santa Clara (d. 1630)source
  • May 29 – George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes, English earl, general and administrator (d. 1629)source
  • June 11 – Lodovico Zacconi, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1627)source
  • June 13 – Giovanni Antonio Magini, Italian mathematician, cartographer and astronomer (d. 1617)source
  • July 6 – Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, French Catholic cardinal (d. 1588)source
  • July – Henry Garnet, English Jesuit (d. 1606)source
  • August 1 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)source
  • September 21 – John Thynne, English landowner and politician (d. 1604)source
  • September 23 – Louise de Coligny, princess consort of Orange (d. 1620)source
  • September 28 – Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon, Marshal of France (d. 1623)source
  • October 12 – Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, English baron (d. 1601)source

Deaths

  • February 4 – John Rogers, English clergyman (burned at the stake) (b. c. 1505)source
  • February 9 – Rowland Taylor, English Protestant martyr (burned at the stake) (b. 1510)source
  • February 9 – John Hooper, English churchman (burned at the stake) (b. c. 1497)source
  • March 14 – John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (b. 1485)source
  • April 9 – Marcello Cervini degli Spannocchi is unanimously chosen as the successor to Pope Julius III, who died on March 23, and takes the name of Pope Marcellus II as the 222nd Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He will reign for 22 days.source
  • April 18 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)source
  • May 15 – The conclave opens with 42 of the 56 Roman Catholic cardinals to choose a successor to Pope Marcellus II, who had died on May 1.source
  • May 25 – Jeanne d'Albret becomes the Queen of Navarre upon the death of her father, King Henry II.source
  • September 8 – Thomas of Villanova, Spanish Roman Catholic bishop and saint (b. 1488)source
  • October 16 – Hugh Latimer, English clergyman (burned at the stake) (b. c. 1487)source
  • October 16 – Sue Harukata, Japanese retainer under the Ouchi clan (b. 1521)source
  • November 12 – Stephen Gardiner, English bishop and Lord Chancellor (b. 1493)source
  • November 12 – Yang Jisheng, Ming Chinese statesman (beheaded) (b. 1516)source
  • November 21 – Georgius Agricola, German scientist (b. 1490)source