1561

Year '1561' was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Contents

Events of 1561

Undated

Births

Deaths

Literature

Events of 1561

★ August 19 - Mary, Queen of Scots is denied passage through England after returning from France. She arrives at Leith, Scotland on August 19.

★ October 18 - Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima -- Takeda Shingen beats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.

Undated

★ The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots.

★ The first Calvinists settle in England after fleeing Flanders.

★ Madrid is declared the capital of Spain by Philip II.

★ St. Paul's Cathedral in London is badly damaged by fire and the spire is destroyed after being struck by lightning.

★ Ruy López develops modern techniques of chess playing in Spain.

★ Sweden conquers Livonia (modern Estonia).

★ Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes ''Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri'' in Rome.

★ Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is finished (started in 1534).

★ Pensacola, the first European settlement in North America, and its support fleet were both destroyed by a hurricane. Two survivors managed to walk the long arduous journey to Mexico City. The city was not re-settled until 1698.

Births

★ January 6 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (died 1656)

★ January 22 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist, and statesman (died 1626)

★ July 11 - Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish poet (died 1627)

★ July 17 - Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer (died 1602)

★ August 20 - Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (died 1633)

★ August 24 - Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (died 1626)

★ August 25 - Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (died 1632)

★ September 10 - Hernando Arias de Saavedra, Spanish colonial governor (died 1634)

★ September 29 - Adriaan van Roomen, Belgian mathematician (died 1615)

★ October 27 - Mary Sidney, English writer, patroness and translator (d. 1621)

★ December 7 - Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)

★ December 9 - Edwin Sandys, English founder of the colony of Virginia (died 1629)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ John Harington, English writer (died 1612)

★
★ Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York (died 1631)

★
★ Stephen Bachiler, non-conformist minister and pioneer settler of New England (died 1656)
: ''See also .''

Deaths

★ January 31 - Menno Simons, Anabaptist religious leader (born 1496)

★ February 26 - Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer (born 1520)

★ March 25 - Conrad Lycosthenes, humanist and encyclopedist (born 1518)

★ May 16 - Jan Tarnowski, Polish nobleman (born 1488)

★ July 19 - Henry Lauder, Lord St Germains, Lord Advocate of Scotland

★ September 1 - Edward Waldegrave, English policitian and recusant

★ October 27 - Lope de Aguirre, Basque rebel and conquistador (born 1510)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Luis de Milán, Spanish composer (born 1500)

★
★ Ijuin Tadaaki, Japanese nobleman (born 1520)

★
★ Hans Tausen, Danish reformer (born 1494)
: ''See also .''

Literature

★ ''The Book of the Courtier'' (''Il Cortegiano'') is translated into English by Sir Thomas Hoby

★ ''Poetices'' by Julius Caesar Scaliger

★ ''Institution of the Christian Religion'' is translated into English by Thomas Norton

★ Gabriele Fallopius publishes ''Observationes anatomicae'' (anatomical observations)