Directory

1566 CE

Charles IX, King of France, completes his grand tour of his kingdom, returning to Paris a little more than 27 months and 2500 mi km after his departure on January 24, 1564. The siege of Szigetvár is begun by Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. This is the Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent. By decree of King Philip II of Spain, the content of gold in the Spanish gold escudo, is raised from 350 maravedis (equivalent to 338 centigrams) of gold to 400 (386 cg) and equivalent to 16 silver reales.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 5 – The Compromise of Nobles is presented to Margaret of Parma, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, but it succeeds only in delaying the beginning of the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands.source
  • October 2 – Richard Onslow (Solicitor General) is elected as the Speaker of the English House of Commons by a vote of 82 to 70.source
  • November 5 – Queen Elizabeth I of England addresses the English Parliament and champions English nationalism, asking "Was I not born in this realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country? Is there any cause I should alienate myself from being careful over this country? Is not my kingdom here?"source

Conflict & Security

  • February 24 – In one of the first gun assassinations in Japanese (if not world) history, Mimura Iechika, the daimyō (warlord) of the Bitchū Province, is shot dead by two brothers (Endo Matajiro and Yoshijiro), sent by his rival Ukita Naoie.source
  • May 13 – Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor imposes a Reichsexekution upon John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony. Augustus, Elector of Saxony is directed to carry out the order to begin the siege of the city of Gotha and John Frederick's home at the Grimmenstein Castle.source
  • June 10 – In Znojmo (in the modern-day Czech Republic), Wilhelm von Rosenberg, commander of the Army of the Kingdom of Bohemia, begins raising an army to fight an expected invasion by the Ottoman Empire.source
  • July 28 – John Sigismund Zápolya, uncrowned claimant to the throne of the King of Hungary, leads an invasion of Upper Hungary on the orders of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman.source
  • August 6 – The siege of Szigetvár is begun by Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. This is the Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent.source
  • October 19 – Gastón de Peralta, 3rd Marquess of Falces becomes the Viceroy of New Spain, replacing Francisco Ceinos. Peralta is removed from office by King Philip II after charges are made that Peralta is planning a rebellion against the crown.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 1 – Charles IX, King of France, completes his grand tour of his kingdom, returning to Paris a little more than 27 months and 2500 mi km after his departure on January 24, 1564.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 28 – The foundation stone of Valletta, which will become Malta's capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.source
  • May 25 – King Philip II of Spain issues laws against the remaining Spanish Muslims, including a ban against use of the Arabic language, wearing of traditional Arab or Muslim clothing, a requirement that doors in their homes and buildings be kept open every Friday and on Muslim feast days (in order to verify that Muslim rituals are not observed), and forces the tearing down of public and private bathhouses (to prevent purification rites).source
  • July 22 – Pope Pius V issues an edict to expel most prostitutes from Rome, and the Papal States. The edict is soon reversed because of the loss of revenue from the taxation of houses of prostitution.source
  • July 25 – Feodor Stefanovich Kolychov is consecrated as the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church as Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow with the approval of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible, but soon defies the Tsar. Philip will be deposed in 16 months later and put to death on December 23, 1568.source
  • July 31 – King Philip II of Spain sends a final letter to the administrators and Catholic bishops of the Spanish Netherlands, rejecting a request to abolish ordinances treating Protestants as heretics. The decision leads to an uprising against Spain by Calvinists and ultimately to the Eighty Years War.source
  • August 16 – The Beeldenstorm arrives at Ypres and the St Martin's Cathedral is plundered, with the library and artifiacts of Bishop Martin Rythovius burned.source
  • November 23 – By decree of King Philip II of Spain, the content of gold in the Spanish gold escudo, is raised from 350 maravedis (equivalent to 338 centigrams) of gold to 400 (386 cg) and equivalent to 16 silver reales.source

Economy & Finance

  • May 30 – The Augsburg Imperial Coin Edict issues from the Holy Roman Empire, authorizing a new coin, the thaler. The new unit of money, the Reichsthaler, follows standards providing that the weight should be based on one-ninth of a Cologne mark of silver (the "9 Thaler standard") with each minted coin to weigh 29.23 grams and to contain 25.96 grams of silver. The word thaler, an abbreviation for the "Joachimsthaler" minted from the silver mines at Joachimsthal (modern-day Jáchymov in the Czech Republic), is anglicized to dollar, the name of currencies in many nations.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Between July 19, 1566 and July 7, 1567 (during the Islamic calendar year 974 AH) – The first bridge crossing the Neretva River at Mostar in Herzegovina is completed by the Ottoman Empire. The white marble bridge becomes known as Stari Most ("Old Bridge").source

Science & Discovery

  • March – The Hanseatic city of Lübeck launches the galleon Adler von Lübeck, probably the largest ship in the world at this time.source

Crime & Justice

  • August 10 – The Beeldenstorm, also called the "Iconoclastic Fury", begins as Protestant Calvinists engage in widespread destruction of religious art in what are now the Netherlands and Belgium.source
  • August 25 – The vandalism of the Beeldenstorm reaches Leiden.source
  • October 28 – In Kneiphof, a city in the Duchy of Prussia (modern-day Ostrov Immanuinga Kanta in Russia), Albert, Duke of Prussia has three of the town's five councilors beheaded on charges of causing political and religious disputes with the other Prussian states. Johann Funck, Matthias Horst, and Hans Schnell are executed in the town's marketplace, while Paul Skalich and Johann Steinbach are able to flee the country.source

Culture & Society

  • October 8 – Catherine of the Austrian Habsburgs, Queen of consort of Poland since 1553 as wife of Sigismund II Augustus, leaves Poland to return to Austria after the failure of her marriage. She never comes back to Poland, though she remains the official queen consort until her death in 1572.source
  • November 26 – At the Craigmillar Castle, the advisers to Mary, Queen of Scots – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray; Secretary of State William Maitland of Lethington; Lord Chancellor George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly; Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll; and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell – advise her to divorce her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. She refuses and the advisers decide that Darnley must be killed.source
  • December 17 – The baptism of Prince James, son of Mary Queen of Scots, takes place at Stirling Castlesource

Births

  • January 13 – Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess Consort of Saxe-Lauenburg (1582–1619) (d. 1626)source
  • January 17 – Anna Juliana Gonzaga, Archduchess of Austria and nun (d. 1621)source
  • February 1 – Marie of the Incarnation, French Discalced Carmelite beatified nun and blessed (d. 1618)source
  • February 2 – Michal Sedziwój, Polish alchemist (d. 1636)source
  • March 8 – Carlo Gesualdo, Italian music composer (d. 1613)source
  • September 1 – Edward Alleyn, English actor (d. 1626)source
  • October 13 – Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, Irish politician (d. 1643)source
  • November 3 – Charles, Count of Soissons, French prince du sang and military commander (d. 1612)source
  • November 9 – Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Lüneburt (1611–1633) (d. 1633)source
  • November 21 – Francesco Cennini de' Salamandri, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1645)source
  • November 25 – John Heminges, English actor (d. 1630)source
  • November 26 – Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet (d. 1645)source
  • December 11 – (baptised) – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (d. 1650)source
  • December 27 – Jan Jesenius, Slovak physician (d. 1621)source

Deaths

  • January 7 – Louis de Blois, Flemish mystical writer (b. 1506)source
  • January 7 – Cardinal Michele Ghislieri is elected as the new Pope by two-thirds of the College of Cardinals, to succeed Pope Pius IV, who had died 28 days earlier on December 8. Ghislieri becomes the 225th pope, and takes the regnal name Pope Pius V.source
  • March 9 – David Rizzio, Italian secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1533)source
  • March 26 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (b. 1510)source
  • April 25 – Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)source
  • May 1 – Suleiman the Magnificent, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, begins his last campaign, departing from Constantinople at the head of one of the largest armies he has ever commanded, with a plan to attack Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire. However, he dies in September.source
  • May 10 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and a botanist (b. 1501)source
  • July 2 – Nostradamus, French astrologer (b. 1503)source
  • September 7 – Suleiman the Magnificent dies in his tent of natural causes aged 71 the day before the end of the siege of Szigetvár, and Selim II succeeds him as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • September 17 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado (b. 1493)source
  • September 27 – Marco Girolamo Vida, Italian poet (b. 1490)source
  • November 27 – Froben Christoph of Zimmern, author of the Zimmern Chronicle (b. 1519)source
  • December 14 – René, Marquis of Elbeuf (b. 1536)source
  • December 28 – Margaret Paleologa, Sovereign Marchioness of Montferrat (1531–1540) (b. 1510)source