1540 Jan 6, England's King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage lasted about six months.
(HN, 1/6/99)(AP, 1/6/98)
1540 Jan 25, Edmund Campion, saint, Jesuit martyr (Decem Rationes), was born in London.
(MC, 1/25/02)
1540 Feb 9, The 1st recorded race met in England at Roodee Fields, Chester.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1540 Feb 14, Emperor Charles V entered Ghent without resistance and executed the rebels. He brutally beat down an uprising against taxes for an expansionist war. Nine leaders were beheaded and another hanged. City burgers were forced to walk the streets barefoot with rope hanging round their necks. The "Gentse Feesten" annual festival re-enacts this event every mid-July.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.T10)(MC, 2/14/02)
1540 Feb 23, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado began his unsuccessful search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the American Southwest. Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, sent Francisco Coronado overland to search for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola in present day New Mexico. Coronado, Spanish explorer, introduced horses, mules, pigs, cattle, and sheep into the American southwest. An Indian guide spoke of a rich kingdom called Quivira. When no cities were found he confessed under torture that the story was false.
(NPS-CNM, 4/1/97)(HN, 2/23/99)(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(SFC, 1/31/04, p.D1)
1540 Mar 4, Protestant count Philip of Hessen married his 2nd wife.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1540 Mar 9, Hernando de Soto reached southern Georgia. He found the Indians there raising tame turkeys, caged opossums, corn, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers and plums.
(ON, 4/01, p.5)(
www.floridahistory.com/inset7.html)1540 May 17, Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongol Emperor Humayun at Kanauj.
(HN, 5/17/98)
1540 Jun 10, Thomas Cromwell was arrested in Westminster.
(MC, 6/10/02)
1540 Jun 24, Henry VIII divorced his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1540 Jun 29, Thomas Cromwell, English ex-chancellor, was sentenced to death.
(MC, 6/29/02)
1540 Jul 9, England's King Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1540 Jul 28, King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed. The same day, Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
(AP, 7/28/97)(HN, 7/28/98)(PCh, 1992, p.181)
1540 Aug 25, Explorer Hernando de Alarcon traveled up the Colorado River.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1540 Sep 27, The Society of Jesus, a religious order under Ignatius Loyola, was approved by the Pope. The Jesuits were recognized by Pope Paul III. They were to become the chief agents of the Church of Rome in spreading the Counter-Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HN, 9/27/98)
1540 Oct 11, Charles V of Milan put his son Philip in control.
(HN, 10/11/98)
1540 Oct 19, Hernando de Soto fought native Indians at the bloody battle of Mabila in present day Alabama.
(WSJ, 8/5/05, p.W2)(
www.floridahistory.com/inset91.html)1540 Faust died; a famous magician who employed his magical wiles to entrap men and young woman and to take from them whatever his evil mind desired.
(V.D.-H.K.p.238)
1540 Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, a Spanish conquistador, became the first European to know the Colorado and the Grand Canyon.
(NG, 5.1988, Mem Forum)(SFEC, 10/4/98, BR p.12)
1540 The united companies of barbers and surgeons were incorporated in London.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1540 German vintner records described this year as the “Great Sun Year,” as relentless heat and drought withered the Rhine between Cologne and the Netherlands.
(SFC, 3/31/05, p.F3)
1540 Sher Shah, Afghan rebel, became Emperor of Delhi.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1540 Ruffs as accordion-style collars was a fashion brought to Europe from India and popularized by the queen of Navarre.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R40)
1540 Francesco Mazzola Parmigianino
(b.1503), Italian painter and master draftsman, died. His paintings included "Antea."
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.82)
1540 Arequipa, Peru, was founded by Spanish conquerors.
(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.A16)
1540 The first potato from South America reached Pope Paul III. It was then taken to France and grown as an ornamental plant.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1540 In Portugal Coimbra Univ. was founded in a royal palace.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T7)
1540 Venice and Turkey signed a treaty at Constantinople.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1540 Ether was produced from alcohol and sulfuric acid.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1540 The pulmonary circulation of the blood was discovered by Michael Servetus, a Spanish theologian and physician. In 1553 he was burned at the stake in Geneva for heresy.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(WSJ, 9/18/02, p.D8)
1540 Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, sent a sea expedition under Hernando de Alarcon up the Gulf of California where they entered the mouth of the Colorado River and became the first Europeans to stand on California soil.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(NPS-CNM, 4/1/97)
1540 Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish conquistador, was appointed governor of the province of Rio de la Plata. His advocacy of Indian rights caused him to be arrested and banished to a Spanish outpost in North Africa.
(ON, 10/03, p.5)
1540s The 1982 French film "The Return of Martin Guerre" with Gerard Depardieu was based on a true story set in 16th century France against a backdrop of the Reformation and a marriage of convenience between 11-year-old Bertrande de Rols and 14-year-old Martin Guerre.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.D7)(WSJ, 7/17/96, p.A12)
1540-1541 Francisco Coronado, one of the first Spanish conquistadores to enter the Southwest, vividly described a group of "dog nomads," that he encountered wintering just outside the walls of the Pecos Pueblo, a multi-storied village of more than 1000 inhabitants, east of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
(MT, 12/94, p.2-3)
1540-1580 In Vincenza Palladio created a wide variety of palaces and public buildings.
(AMNHDT, 5/98)(WSJ, 11/8/02, p.W12)
1540-1596 Jacopo Zucchi, a mannerist painter. His work included "The Bath of Bathsheba" (1570).
(WSJ, 4/28/98, p.A16)
1541 Feb 12, Santiago, Chile, was founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, a lieutenant of Pizarro. When the Spaniards arrived in Chile, 11 languages were in widespread use: Quechua, Aymara, Rapanui, Chango, Kunza, Diaguita, Mapudungun, Chono, Kawesqar, Yagan and Selk’nam. By 2007 only the 1st 3 remained. The last ethnic Selk’nam died in the 1970s.
(PCh, 1992, p.182)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_de_Valdivia)(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A18)
1541 Mar 14, In the area of the state of Mississippi Hernando de Soto and his men were attacked by hundreds of Chickasaw Indians. 11 Spaniards were killed along with 15 horses and 400 pigs.
(ON, 4/01, p.5)
1541 Apr 4, Ignatius Loyola, Spanish ecclesiastic, was elected 1st superior-general of the Jesuits.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(MC, 4/4/02)
1541 May 8, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovered and crossed the Mississippi River, which he called Rio de Espiritu Santo. He encountered the Cherokee Indians, who numbered about 25,000 and inhabited the area from the Ohio River to the north to the Chattahoochee in present day Georgia, and from the valley of the Tennessee east across the Great Smoky Mountains to the Piedmont of the Carolinas. [see May 21]
(NG, 5/95, p.78)(AP, 5/8/97)(HN, 5/8/99)
1541 May 21, The Spaniards first saw the mighty Mississippi, the "Father of the Waters." Still dreaming of fabled rich cities, De Soto succumbed to fever on May 21, 1542 and was buried in the mud of the Mississippi, to prevent his body being disturbed by Indians. [see May 8]
(HNQ, 10/11/00)
1541 May, The expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, having crossed the high plains of Texas, feasted on game and held a Mass of thanksgiving.
(Sm, 2/06, p.12)
1541 Jun 18, Irish parliament "selected" Henry VIII as King of Ireland.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.6)(MC, 6/18/02)
1541 Jun 26, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish Conqueror of Peru, was murdered by his former followers in Lima.
(HN, 6/26/98)(MC, 6/26/02)
1541 Jun 29, The Spanish [first] crossed the Arkansas River. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado continued to explore the American southwest. He left New Mexico and crossed Texas, Oklahoma and east Kansas.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HFA, '96, p.32)
1541 Aug 23, Jacques Cartier landed near Quebec on his third voyage to North America.
(HN, 8/23/98)
1541 Sep 24, Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (b.1493), Swiss alchemist, physician and theologian, died. The 1835 poem "Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim" by Robert Browning was based on the life of Paracelsus. In 2006 Philip Ball authored ”The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus and the Renaissance World of Magic and Science.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.81)
1541 Oct 31, "The Last Judgement" by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel at Rome was officially unveiled. It is one of the largest paintings in the world.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(OG)
1541 Nov 9, Queen Catharine Howard was confined in the London Tower.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1541 El Greco (d.1614), artist, was born in Crete. He settled in Toledo, Spain, in 1577 and died there.
(WSJ, 6/18/01, p.A16)
1541 Lorenzo Lotto, Italian artist, painted the "Portrait of a Man With a Felt Hat."
(WSJ, 1/15/98, p.A17)
1541 The "Codex Mendoza" was an Aztec pictorial manuscript of this time. It showed tribute received by the Aztecs from people like the Mixtec with turquoise shields and beads. It also showed 3 young people being stoned to death for drunkenness.
(NH, 4/97, p.24)(Arch, 1/05, p.29)
1541 John Knox, a Scottish theologian and historian, led the Calvinist Reformation in Scotland.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1541 John Calvin, French theologian, set up a theocratic government in Geneva. Some of the finest French watchmakers joined him.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16) (Hem., 2/96, p.96)
1541 Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area of New Mexico and encountered the Jemez Indians, who numbered around 30,000. The Jemez lived in fortified villages in the high mesas and had arrived over 200 years earlier. In 2001 the tribe numbered about 3,400.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.C8)
1541 Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish conquistador, became the 1st European to see the Iguacu Falls in Brazil. He named the falls Saltos de Santa Maria but the Tupi-Guarani name persisted.
(SFEC, 10/8/00, p.17)
1541 Francisco de Orellana, Spanish soldier and explorer, descended the River Amazon from the Andes to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. When Pizarro's half-brother prepared to explore the lands east of Quito, Francisco de Orellana led an advance expedition and wound up exploring the Amazon basin, following the current to emerge at the mouth of the river in August 1542. From there, he returned to Spain (by way of Trinidad), full of tales of riches and strange tribes led by women like the Amazons of Greek mythology. Orellana died in a return expedition to the Amazon River four years later.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HNQ, 2/11/01)
1541 In Guatemala a volcano crater filled with water cracked and a mud slide engulfed the capital town of Ciudad Vieja. Over 1,000 people were buried. The volcano was named Agua from that point on.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, Z1 p.8)
1541 Jacques Cartier, a French Explorer, established a short-lived community at Quebec.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1541 Morelia, the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacan, was founded by the royal edict of Antonio de Mendoza. It was originally named Valladolid after a city in Spain. The name was changed in 1928 to honor the local village priest and revolutionary hero Jose Maria Morelos.
(Hem, Nov.'95, p.146)(SSFC, 11/17/02, p.C11)
1541 Suleiman I annexed southern and central Hungary. The Turkish Ottomans occupied Budapest, Hungary, until 1546.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(Sm, 3/06, p.76)
1541 An earthquake and tidal wave finished off the settlement of Nueva Cadiz on Isla de Cubagua off the coast of Venezuela.
(SSFC, 2/19/06, p.F8)
1542 Feb 13, Catherine Howard (b.c1520), the fifth wife of England's King Henry VIII, was executed for adultery.
(WUD, 1994, p.689)(AP, 2/13/98)
1542 May 21, Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto died while searching for gold along the Mississippi River. His men buried his body in the Mississippi River in what is now Louisiana in order that Indians would not learn of his death, and thus disprove de Soto's claims of divinity.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(AP, 5/21/97)(MC, 5/21/02)
1542 Jun 24, Juan de la Cruz, [de Yepes], Spanish Carmelite, poet, saint, was born.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1542 Jun 27, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo set out from the port of Navidad, Mexico, with 2 ships, the San Salvador and the Victoria, to "discover the coast of New Spain." Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo claimed California for Spain. [see Sep 28]
(NPS-CNM, 4/1/97)(MC, 6/27/02)
1542 Jul 15, In 2007 an expert on the "Mona Lisa" says he had ascertained with certainty that Lisa Gherardini (b.1479), the symbol of feminine mystique, died on this day, and was buried at the Sant'Orsola convent in central Florence where she spent her final days.
(AFP, 1/19/07)
1542 Jul 21, Pope Paul III launched the Inquisition against Protestants (Sanctum Officium). Alleged heretics were tried and tortured in an effort to stem the spread of the Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(MC, 7/21/02)
1542 Aug 24, In South America, Gonzalo Pizarro returned to the mouth of the Amazon River after having sailed the length of the great river as far as the Andes Mountains.
(HN, 8/24/98)
1542 Aug, Francisco de Orellana emerged at the mouth of the Amazon river. He had led an advance expedition from Peru and wound up exploring the Amazon basin and following the current to the mouth.
(HNQ, 2/11/01)
1542 Sept 28, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Spanish explorer, stepped ashore at the present day harbor of San Diego and named it San Miguel. He went on to explore the coast of California. The tip of Point Loma in San Diego is the home of the Cabrillo National Monument, the second most visited monument in the US after the Statue of Liberty. The island of Coronado was named in honor of the Four Crowned Martyrs, Los Quatro Martires Coronados, on whose feast day it was discovered.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(AAM, 3/96, p.52)(NPS-CNM, 4/1/97)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)
1542 Oct 4, Roberto Bellarmino, Italian Jesuit theologian, diplomat, saint, was born.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1542 Oct 7, Explorer Cabrillo discovered Catalina Island off the Southern California coast.
(MC, 10/7/01)
1542 Oct 14, Abul-Fath Djalal-ud-Din, 3rd Mogul emperor of India (1556-1605), was born.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1542 Nov 22, New laws were passed in Spain giving protection against the enslavement of Indians in America.
(HN, 11/22/98)
1542 Nov 24, The English defeated the Scots under King James at the Battle of Solway Moss, in England.
(HN, 11/24/98)(MC, 11/24/01)
1542 Nov, Cabrillo landed at the Channel Island, now known as San Miguel. His men got into a scuffle with local Indians and Cabrillo broke a leg. The party continued to sail north almost to present day Fort Ross.
(NPS-CNM, 4/1/97)
1542 Dec 7, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland (1560-1587), was born. [see Dec 8]
(MC, 12/7/01)
1542 Dec 8, Mary, Queen of Scotland (1542-67), was born. She became the Queen of England when she was a week old, but was forced to abdicate her throne to her son because she became a Catholic. She was executed for plotting against Elizabeth I. [see Dec 7]
(HN, 12/8/00)
1542 Dec 14, James V (b.1512), king of Scotland (1513-42), died.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1542 Bernard Palissy started working in France. He produced dishes and plates with leaves, lizards, snakes, insects and shells in high relief.
(SFC, 1/8/97, z-1 p.6)
1542 Magdalen College, Cambridge, was founded.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1542 The University of Zaragoza was founded [in Spain?].
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1542 The Medici tapestry factory in Florence was founded about this time.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1542 War was renewed between the Holy Roman Empire and France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1542 Explorer Juan Cabrillo spotted the 534 foot rock at Morro Bay, Ca.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T10)
1542 An 2nd Act of Union united Wales into England. It followed the 1542 Act of Union.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A10)
1542 Britain’s 1st bankruptcy laws were crafted under Henry VIII.
(Econ, 3/6/04, p.53)
1542 A landslide on the Yangtze River cut off navigation for 82 years.
(NH, 7/96, p.32)
1542 Antonio da Mota, Portuguese explorer, became the first European to enter Japan.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1542 Merida, Mexico, was founded by Francisco de Montejo at the holy Maya city of T’Ho. Montejo was the son of the captain under Cortez with the same name.
(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.T6)
1542 In Russia Ivan the Terrible at age 12 entertained himself by dropping dogs from the higher battlements of the Kremlin.
(SFC, 4/18/98, p.C3)
1542 150 Spanish colonists settled Asuncion, capital of Paraguay.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1542-1544 A 7-piece set of tapestries was created titled the "Seven Deadly Sins." They were later housed at the Palacio Real in Madrid.
(WSJ, 4/11/02, p.AD7)
1542-1591 John of the Cross, Spanish mystic, writer and theologian. He co-founded with St. Theresa the Order of Discalced (barefoot) Carmelites.
(CU, 6/87)(WUD, 1994, p.769)
1542-1605 Emperor Akbar, 3rd Grand Moghul of India and godfather of Shah Jahan. Akbar commissioned an illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama (Story of Hamza, the paternal uncle of the prophet Mohammed). The 1,400 painted folios took over 100 artists 15 years to complete.
(WSJ, 8/8/02, p.D10)
1542-1621 Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, became chief theologian of the Roman Catholic church. He denied Galileo’s mathematical proofs and astronomical observations. He was named a saint and was canonized in 1930.
(V.D.-H.K.p.201)
1543 Jan 3, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo died of gangrene and was buried at San Miguel.
(NPS-CNM, 4/1/97)
1543 Feb 21, In the Battle at Wayna Daga Ethiopian and Portuguese troops beat Moslem army. Ahmed Gran, sultan of Adal, died in the battle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelawdewos_of_Ethiopia)
1543 Apr 14, Bartoleme Ferrelo returned to Spain after discovering a large bay in the New World (San Francisco).
(HN, 4/14/99)
1543 May 24, The city of Valladolid, Mexico, was founded in the Yucatan peninsula.
(SSFC, 6/29/08, p.E5)(
www.valladolidyucatan.com/history.html)1543 May 24, Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer, died in Poland. His book, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs," (De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium), proof of a sun-centered universe, was printed just before he died. Although he did say that the earth rotated once a day and did revolve around the sun once a year, he kept 2 features of the old Aristotelian system: one involved uniform circular motion, and the other was quintessential matter, for which such motion was said to be natural. In 1916 the Catholic clergy placed the book on its “Index of Prohibited Books.” In 2004 Owen Gingerich authored "The Book Nobody Read," an examination of how the ideas of Copernicus spread. In 2006 William T. Vollmann authored “Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.” In 2008 his remains, buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, were positively identified using DNA evidence..
(NG, 3/1990, p. 117)(HN, 5/24/98)(WSJ, 3/5/04, p.W8)(NH, 4/1/04, p.66)(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.M1)(AP, 11/20/08)
1543 Jul 1, England and Scotland signed the peace of Greenwich.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1543 Jul 12, England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, who outlived him.
(AP, 7/12/97)
1543 Sep 3, Cardinal Beaton replaced Earl Arran as regent for Mary of Scotland.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1543 Sep 9, Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned Queen of England.
(HN, 9/9/01)
1543 Sep, The Spanish survivors of the de Soto expedition reached Spanish settlements in Mexico.
(ON, 4/01, p.5)
1543 Benvenuto Cellini, Italian goldsmith, produced a magnificent salt cellar for Francis I, which still survives.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 Luther wrote a pamphlet titled: "On the Jews and Their Lies." Anti-Semitism flourished long before Hitler came along. The founder of the Protestant movement, Martin Luther, despised Jews. In 1543, he wrote this evil book which helped to set the stage for the Holocaust. Among his most well known admirers was Adolf Hitler "My advice, as I said earlier, is: First , that their synagogues be burned down... Second, that all their books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible be taken from them... Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God ... Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing and .... be expelled from their country and be told to return to Jerusalem where they may lie, curse, blaspheme, murder,..." (Translation by Martin H. Bertram, Fortress Press, 1955).
(NH, 9/96, p.21)
http://www.btinternet.com/~ablumsohn/links.htm1543 Andreas Vesalius, Belgian physician, published his "De humani corporis fabrica" (Concerning the Fabric of the Human Body), which contained the first complete description of the human body.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.15)(WSJ, 10/19/99, p.A24)
1543 Protestants were burned at the stake for the first time in the Spanish Inquisition. Pope Paul III issued an index of prohibited books.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 Phillip of Spain married Maria of Portugal.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 Henry VIII of England and Emp. Charles V formed an alliance against France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 King Francis I of France invaded Luxembourg. A combined French and Turkish fleet captured Nice.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 Filipino natives expelled Spanish conquistador, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, a year after he had discovered and named them.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 Portuguese ships landed on the Japanese Island of Tanega. The first European visitors to Japan introduced muskets and baked bread.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 New Spain received European vegetables and grains such as broad beans, chickpeas, barley, and wheat, transported by a new viceroy from Spain.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543 Sugar cane was introduced to Brazil about this time. Fermented sugar cane later became the base for cachaca, a light rum that is the national spirit. Cachaca is used to prepare the national drink, the caipirinha.
(Hem, 4/96, p.10)
1543 Hans Holbein, one of the greatest artists of the German Renaissance, died in England.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1543-1773 The Palacio de los Capitanes in Antigua, Guatemala, was the center for Spanish rule over Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua during this period.
(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.32)
1544 Mar 11, Torquato Tasso, Italian Renaissance poet (Aminta, Apologia), was born.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1544 May 17, Scot earl Matthew van Lennox signed a secret treaty with Henry VIII.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1544 May 24, William Gilbert, English physicist, was born. He coined the terms "electric" and "magnetic" poles.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1544 May 29, Jacobus Latomus [Jasques Masson] (~68), Belgian inquisitor, died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1544 Sep 14, Henry VIII's forces took Boulogne, France.
(HN, 9/14/98)
1544 Sep 18, English King Henry VIII's troops occupied Boulogne, France. [see Sep 14]
(MC, 9/18/01)
1544 Sep 19, Francis, the king of France, and Charles V of Austria signed a peace treaty in Crespy, France, ending a 20-year war. The Peace of Crespy ended the fighting between Charles V and Francis I. Henry VIII was not consulted. France surrendered much territory and Charles gave up his claim to Burgundy.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)(HN, 9/19/98)
1544 Nov 27, Ascanio Trombeti, composer, was born.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1544 The first herbarium was published by Italian botanist Luca Ghini.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1544 The University of Konigsberg was founded.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1544 Henry VIII crossed the Channel to Calais to campaign with Charles V against Francis I.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1544 The Turks invaded Hungary for the third time and seized the crown jewels. (TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1544 Rats first showed up in North America.
(SFC, 6/15/96, p.E4)
1544-1545 Titian painted "Danaë."
(WSJ, 5/8/03, p.D8)
1544-1557 A set of cartoons designed by Raphael (1483-1520) were woven into 10 tapestries titled "The Acts of the Apostles."
(WSJ, 12/3/99, p.W16)(WSJ, 4/11/02, p.D7)
1544-1603 William Gilbert, English physician, discovered that the earth was a magnet from his observations on the behavior of lodestone, the mineral now called magnetite. He grew to suspect that the earth’s gravity and magnetism were connected in some way , but he never understood how. Under the reign of Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, he was able to argue for Copernicus’s heliocentric picture of the solar system, and suggested that the planets must be held in their orbits by some kind of magnetism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.198)
1545 Feb 13, William of Nassau became prince of Orange.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1545 Feb 19, Pierre Brully, [Peter Brulius], Calvinist minister, was burned to death.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1545 Apr 12, French king Francis I ordered the Protestants of Vaudois killed.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1545 Apr 13, Elisabeth van Valois, French queen of Spain, daughter of Henri II, was born.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1545 Jul 8, Don Carlos, son of Spanish king Philip II (protagonist in Schiller's drama; hero in Verdi opera), was born.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1545 Jul 19, A French fleet entered The Solent, the channel between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, England, and French troops landed on the Isle of Wight. King Henry VIII of England watched his flagship, Mary Rose, capsize in Portsmouth harbor as it left to battle the French. 73 people died including Roger Grenville, English captain of Mary Rose. The Mary Rose was raised in 1982.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 7/19/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose)
1545 Sep 24, Albrecht von Brandenburg, archbishop, monarch, founder of The Brandenburg Concerts of Mainz, died at 55.
(MC, 9/24/01)
1545 Oct 18, John Taverner, English composer (Western Wynde), died.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1545 Dec 13, The Church Council of Trent began with the meeting of 30 bishops. It lasted 3 years but took 18 years to complete its work. The Council sparked the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. [see 1562]
(CU, 6/87)(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1545 Agnolo Bronzino, Florentine painter, produced his work: "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time."
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1545 Benvenuto Cellini, Italian goldsmith, wrote his autobiography, which greatly influenced the Renaissance.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 11/3/99)
1545 Conrad von Gesner, Swiss naturalist, published the first volume of his "Bibliotheca Universalis," a catalogue of all the writers who ever lived.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1545 In Mexico Bishop Fray Bartolome de las Casas championed the Indians in the area of Chiapas.
(WSJ, 1/15/98, p.A1)
1545 The first European botanical garden was established in Padua.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1545 Lord Lisle, English fleet commander, set ablaze Treport in Normandy.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1545 Claude Garamond, French typographer, cut a Greek type that remained in use to the early 19th century. Some modern typefaces bear his name.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1545 The Spanish discovered the silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia. From the town of Cerro Rico, which means Hill of Riches, they took out the equivalent of $2 billion from one mountainside.
(NH, 10/96, p.4)
1545 A typhus epidemic killed hundreds of thousands of natives and colonists in Cuba and New Spain.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Feb 18, Martin Luther (b.1483), leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben. In 1989 Harvard professor Heiko A. Oberman (1930-2001) authored “Luther.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.165)(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P10)(AP, 2/18/08)
1546 Mar 29, Cardinal Beaton, English archbishop of St. Andrews, was murdered.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1546 May 29, Cardinal Beaton, English archbishop of St. Andrews, was murdered.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1546 Jun 7, The Peace of Ardes ended the war between France and England.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 6/7/98)
1546 Aug 3, French printer Etienne Dolet, accused of heresy, blasphemy and sedition, was hanged and burned at the stake for printing reformist literature.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1546 Dec 14, Tycho Brahe (d.1601), astronomer, was born in Knudstrup, Denmark. He constructed the most precise astronomical instruments of his time.
(SCTS, p.136)(HN, 12/14/00)(MC, 12/14/01)
1546 Titian painted his great family portrait of Paul III and his Grandsons Ottavio and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 The Farnese Hours manuscript was illuminated by Giulio Clovio.
(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)
1546 Girolamo Fracastoro, (Hyeronymous Fracastorius), Italian Florentine physician, gave the first description of typhus and the nature of contagion in his work "De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis." He had earlier described and named syphilis.
(WP, 1952, p.28)(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 The first Welsh book, "Yny Lhyvyr Mwnn," was printed.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Henry VIII founded Christ Church, Oxford’s largest college.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.C11)
1546 Pierre Lescot, French architect, began the building of the Louvre in Paris. Francois I, needing more space for acquired works of art, started the construction of 2 new wings to the 12th century Louvre fortress.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A20)
1546 Pope Paul III put Michelangelo in charge of the restoration of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He designed the dome of St. Peter’s.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(SSFC, 2/18/07, p.A2)
1546 Charles V got into the Schmalkaldic War against the Protestant princes upon support by the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 The Turks occupied Moldavia.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 A coalition of eastern Maya laid siege to Valladolid, in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Spanish conquistadores brutally crushed a major Mayan rebellion in New Spain.
(http://tinyurl.com/4o62ox)(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Gerardus Mercator, Flemish geographer, affirmed that the earth has magnetic pole.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Barbarossa, one of the great figures in the court at Istanbul, died. Khayr Ad-Din was a Barbary pirate and later, as admiral of the Ottoman fleet, he united Algeria and Tunisia as military states under the Ottoman caliphate in the 1530s.
(HNQ, 2/10/99)
1546-1568 Alexandru Lapuseanu, ruler of Moldavia, outlawed divorce and imposed the death penalty on anyone who started such legal proceedings.
(SFC, 6/2/96, Zone 1p.2)
1547 Jan 8, The first Lithuanian book was printed in Konigsberg (Karaliauciuje) at the printing shop of H. Weinreich. It was a catechism titled: "Katekizmusa prasti Zadei, makslas skaitima raschta yr giesmes" by the Lithuanian student Martynas Mazvydas (200-300 copies). He had been specifically invited by Albrecht von Brandenberg to prepare a book in Lithuanian that would assist the priests in teaching the native language and help spread the ideas of the Reformation, i.e. Lutheranism. It was a small format book of 79 pages part of which was taken up by 11 hymns presented with music. The text was a faithful translation of J. Seklucian’s (1545) and J. Malecki’s (1546) Polish catechisms.
(Voruta #27-28, 7/1996, p.10)(DrEE, 9/14/96, p.4)(LHC, 1/7/03)
1547 Jan 16, Ivan IV, popularly known as "Ivan the Terrible," crowned himself the new Czar of Russia in Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. He was the first Russian ruler to assume that title.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 1/16/99)(AP, 1/16/08)
1547 Jan 19, Henry Howard (29), earl of Surrey, army commander, poet, was beheaded.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1547 Jan 28, England's King Henry VIII died; his sixth and last wife was Catherine Parr. He was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI.
(V.D.-H.K.p.162)(AP, 1/28/98)(HN, 1/28/99)
1547 Jan, An inventory of the possessions of King Henry VIII was begun under Edward VI, Henry’s son and successor. It took three years to complete. His total wealth amounted to some 600,000 pounds. A commoner’s daily wage at this time was about two and one-half pence.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.20)
1547 Feb 3, Russian czar Ivan IV (17) married Anastasia Romanova.
(MC, 2/3/02)
1547 Feb 20, King Edward VI of England was enthroned following the death of Henry VIII (Jan 28).
(MC, 2/20/02)
1547 Mar 21, Matthew Stryjkovski (d.c1592), the 1st author of a printed history of Lithuania, was born in Strykov, Poland.
(LHC, 3/21/03)
1547 Mar 31, Francis I, King of France (1515-1547), died and was succeeded by his son Henry II, who was dominated by his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, during his 12 year reign.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 3/31/99)
1547 Apr 24, Charles V's troops defeated the Protestant League of Schmalkalden at the battle of Muhlberg.
(HN, 4/24/98)
1547 May 20, Melchior Bischoff, composer, was born.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1547 Jun 21, There was a great fire in Moscow.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1547 Sep 2, Hernan Cortes, Spanish general who defeated Aztec Indians, died.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1547 Sep 10, The Duke of Somerset led the English to a resounding victory over the Scots at Pinkie Cleugh. This was the last battle to be fought between English and Scottish royal armies and the last in which the longbow was used tactically en masse.
(HN, 9/10/98)(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.D10)
1547 Sep 10, The English demanded that Edward VI (10), wed Mary Queen of Scots (5).
(MC, 9/10/01)
1547 Sep 10, Pierlugi Faranese, Italian son of Pope Paul III, was murdered.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1547 Sep 29, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (d.1616) was born, at Alcala de Henares, near Madrid. "He was first a soldier and was captured by Barbary pirates in 1575. His family was unable to raise the ransom money until 1580. He was not initially successful as a writer until he wrote "The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha" (1604).
(V.D.-H.K.p.150)(HN, 9/29/02)
1547 Oct 19, Pierino del Vaga, Italian painter, died at 46.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1547 The "Dodekachordon" on the 12 church modes by Henricus Glareanus, Swiss music theorist, was published.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1547 French became the official language of France, displacing Latin.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1547 Nostradamus, French astrologer, made his first predictions.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1547 Forces of Charles V captured the Elector of Saxony at the Battle of Muhlberg.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1547 The Truce of Adrianople was concluded between Charles V, Ferdinand I of Hungary, and Suleiman I of Turkey.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1547 The English parliament repealed the Statute of the Six Articles, which defined heresy.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 Jun 30, Formerly Holy Roman (Catholic) Emperor Charles V ordered Catholics to become Lutherans.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1548 Jul 16, La Paz, Bolivia, was founded.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1548 Aug 15, Mary Queen of the Scots (6), who was engaged to the Dauphin, landed in France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(MC, 8/15/02)
1548 Sep 5, Catharine Parr (36), queen of England and last wife of Henry VIII, died.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1548 Tintoretto, Italian Renaissance artist, painted his work "St. Mark Rescuing the Slave."
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594), Venetian school Italian artist, established his fame with the painting “Miracle of the Slave.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintoretto)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.90)
1548 Titian painted his portrait of Charles V at Muhlberg.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 John Bale’s "Kynge Johan," the first English historical drama, appeared.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 The Hotel de Bourgogne, first theater (under a roofed building) in Paris opened.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 Charles V annexed the 17 provinces of the Netherlands to the Burgundian Circle of the Empire.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 Gonzalo Pizarro, son of the conqueror of Peru, was defeated by and executed by Pedro de la Gasca in the Battle of Xaquixaguane.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 The University of Messina, Sicily, was founded.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 Spaniards in Mexico exploited the silver mines.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 In Thailand King Chakrapat was saved by his wife Suriyothai, who maneuvered her elephant in front of the invading Burmese King Tabinshweeti and took the sword thrust intended for her husband. The historical film "Suriyothai" was directed by Chatri Chalerm Yukol and premiered in Aug 2001. It was about the 16th Queen Suriyothai who saved her husband King Thianracha during a war with invaders from Myanmar.
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E6)(WSJ, 8/30/01, p.A11)(SFC, 7/3/03, p.E1)
1549 Feb 14, Maximilian II, brother of the Emperor Charles V, was recognized as the future king of Bohemia.
(HN, 2/14/99)
1549 Mar 20, Thomas Seymour of Sudely, English Lord Admiral, was beheaded.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1549 May 27, Lijsbeth Dirksdr, Friesian Anabaptist, drowned.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1549 Jun 9, Book of Common Prayer was adopted by the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, issued the "Book of Common Prayer." Other prayer books were forbidden by the Act of Uniformity. The book was mandated by the government under Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, so that services could be spoken in the language of the people.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(WSJ, 9/12/96, p.A14)(MC, 6/9/02)
1549 Aug 9, France declared war on England. England declared war on France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 8/9/98)
1549 Aug 15, Francis Xavier, Portuguese Jesuit missionary, landed in Kagoshima, Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)(ON, 11/02, p.8)(MC, 8/15/02)
1549 Sep 13, Pope Paul III closed the first session of the Council of Bologna.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1549 Oct 1, Anna of H Bartolomaeus was born. She was a Flemish prioress and founded a nunnery.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1549 Nov 5, Philippe du Plessis, France, author, was born.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1549 Wen Cheng-ming, Chinese artist, created his hanging scroll "Trees in a Valley."
(WSJ, 5/15/02, p.D7)
1549 Giorgio Vasari wrote the first biography of Leonardo da Vinci.
(NH, 5/97, p.58)
1549 The 17 provinces of the Netherlands became independent of the Holy Roman Empire.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1549 La Pleiade, a group of 7 French poets, established the Alexandrine metre of a 12-syllable line. Pierre de Ronsard was in the group.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1549 Piro Ligorio designed the Villa d’Este at Tivoli for the Cardinal d’Este Ippolito II.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1549 Court jesters, mainly dwarfs and cripples, appeared in Europe. [see 1202]
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1549 Jesuit missionaries arrived in South America.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1549 Cosimo I di’Medici married Eleonora of Toledo to gain a link to the Spanish ruling class that controlled Florence.
(MT, Spring 02, p.23)
1549 Sao Salvador, later Bahia in Brazil, was founded by Thome de Souza, Portugal’s first governor of Brazil. Portuguese conquerors founded Salvador.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.T8)
1549 The Ye Old Cock Tavern opened in London.
(SFEC, 9/12/99, p.T14)
1549 Ivan IV called the first national assembly in Russia.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1549 Pope Paul III died and was succeeded by Julius III.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
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