Directory

1558 CE

The Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire gives recognition to Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor, two months after his proclamation on March 14 as the successor to his brother Charles V. Battle of Gravelines: Near the border between the Kingdom of France and the Spanish Netherlands, Spanish forces led by Lamoral, Count of Egmont, and assisted by the English Navy, inflict a major defeat on the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes. Queen Mary, a devout Roman Catholic dies of uterine cancer at the age of 42, and is succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth, an adherent to the Protestant Church of England, beginning the Elizabethan era in British history.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • December 5 – Less than three weeks of becoming Queen of England, Elizabeth summons the members of the English Parliament with orders to assemble at Westminster on January 23. Under Elizabeth's agenda, the Parliament is charged with restoring the laws passed at the beginning of the English Reformation, and repealing the reforms made during the reign of Queen Mary.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 7 – French troops, led by François, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of the Kingdom of England, in the Siege of Calais.source
  • January 22 – The Livonian War begins.source
  • February 4 – (16th day of 1st month of Eiroku 1) Takeda Shingen becomes the shugo (military governor) of Shinano Province after his successful military campaign there.source
  • February 5 – Arauco War: Pedro de Avendaño, with sixty men, captures Caupolicán (the Mapuche Gran Toqui), who is leading their first revolt against the Spanish Empire (near Antihuala), encamped with a small band of followers.source
  • April 17 – The siege of Thionville in the Duchy of Luxembourg, is started by the French Army, led by François, Duke of Guise.source
  • June 13 – An armada of ships from the Ottoman Empire, dispatched by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent at the request of King Henry II of France, sails into the Bay of Naples at Italy and attacks the city of Sorrento.source
  • June 23 – France is successful in the siege of Thionville in the Duchy of Luxembourg and recovers the fortress from the Spanish Empire after an operation that began on April 17 and lasted more than two months.source
  • July 9 – The Ottoman Empire, with 15,000 troops and 150 warships, besieges the Spanish garrison at Ciutadella de Menorca at Spain's Balearic Islands. When the town falls on July 17, the 3,099 surviving inhabitants are sold into slavery.source
  • July 13 – Battle of Gravelines: Near the border between the Kingdom of France and the Spanish Netherlands, Spanish forces led by Lamoral, Count of Egmont, and assisted by the English Navy, inflict a major defeat on the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes.source
  • July 18 – The city of Tartu, capital of the Bishopric of Dorpat (in modern-day Estonia) surrenders to Russia.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • October 17 – Postal history of Poland: King Sigismund II Augustus appoints an Italian merchant living in Kraków to organise a consolidated postal service in Poland, the origin of Poczta Polska.source
  • English explorer Anthony Jenkinson travels from Moscow to Astrakhan and Bukhara. He is the first Englishman to note that the Amu Darya changed course, to start flowing into the Aral Sea.source

Religion & Belief

  • May 3 – The Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire gives recognition to Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor, two months after his proclamation on March 14 as the successor to his brother Charles V.source
  • August 22 – In Spain, Bartolomé Carranza, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toledo, is arrested at Torrelaguna on orders of the Grand Inquisitor, Fernando de Valdés y Salas. Carranza is brought a prisoner to Valladolid to face accusations of heresy. He remains in prison for eight years before being transferred to Rome for the Pope to hear his appeal.source
  • November 6 – On her deathbed, Queen Mary of England designates her half-sister, Elizabeth, as her successor. Both Mary and Elizabeth are daughters of the late King Henry VIII.source

Culture & Society

  • February 2 – The University of Jena is founded in Thuringia, Germany.source
  • April 24 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Francis, Dauphin of France, at Notre-Dame de Paris.source
  • John Knox's attack on female rulers, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women, is published anonymously from Geneva.source
  • Queen Elizabeth I of England grants rest and refreshment to pilgrims and travellers who pass by the Holy Well Spring at Malvern in England.source

Births

  • January 16 – Jakobea of Baden, Margravine of Baden by birth, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by marriage (d. 1597)source
  • January or February – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (d. 1617)source
  • March 7 – Johann VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1576–1592) (d. 1592)source
  • June 15 – Margrave Andrew of Burgau, German nobleman, Cardinal, Bishop of Constance and Brixen (d. 1600)source
  • July 11 – Robert Greene, English dramatist (d. 1592)source
  • August 2 – Herman van den Bergh, Dutch soldier in the Eighty Years' War (d. 1611)source
  • August 8 – George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, English noble (d. 1605)source
  • August 19 – François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (d. 1614)source
  • September 9 – Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, French soldier (d. 1602)source
  • September 24 – Ralph Eure, 3rd Baron Eure, English politician (d. 1617)source
  • October 30 – Jacques-Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force, Marshal of France (d. 1652)source
  • November 27 – Mingyi Swa, Crown Prince of Burma (d. 1593)source
  • December 8 – François de La Rochefoucauld, French Catholic cardinal (d. 1645)source
  • December 9 – André du Laurens, French physician (d. 1609)source

Deaths

  • February 25 – Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (b. 1498)source
  • March 25 – Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer (b. c. 1495)source
  • April 15 – Hurrem Sultan, Ruthenian-born wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. c. 1500)source
  • April 20 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b. 1485)source
  • May 25 – Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen (1525–1540) (b. 1510)source
  • June 28 – Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Chiche, English courtier (b. 1506)source
  • October 18 – Maria of Austria, queen of Louis II of Hungary (b. 1505)source
  • October 21 – J. C. Scaliger, Italian scholar (b. 1484)source
  • October – Mellin de Saint-Gelais, French poet (b. c. 1491)source
  • November 15 – Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis, Scottish politician and judge (b. 1515)source
  • November 17 – Reginald Pole, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1500)source
  • November 17 – (bur.) Hugh Aston, English composer (b. 1485)source
  • November 17 – Queen Mary, a devout Roman Catholic dies of uterine cancer at the age of 42, and is succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth, an adherent to the Protestant Church of England, beginning the Elizabethan era in British history.source
  • December 16 – Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. c. 1485)source