1566

Year '1566' was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

★ January 7 - Pope Pius V succeeds Pope Pius IV as the 225th pope
28 March 1566 The foundation stone of Valletta (Malta's Capital City) is laid by Grand Master Jean de la Valette

★ August - In the Battle of Szigetvár (lasting from August 5 - September 7) 2,300 Hungarian defenders are annihilated by an army of 90,000 soldiers of the Ottoman Empire.

★ September - Selim II succeeds Suleiman I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Contents

Undated

Births

Deaths

Undated

★ Religious rioting in the Netherlands signifies the beginning of the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands.

★ The first bridge crossing the Neretva river at Mostar (in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) is completed by the Ottoman Empire. The white marble bridge is now known as ''Stari Most'' (or "Old Bridge").

★ Spanish doubloon first made during the reign of Phillip II of Spain.

Births

★ May 26 - Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (died 1603)

★ June 19 - King James VI of Scotland/James I of England and Ireland (died 1625)

★ June 20 (O.S.) - King Sigismund III Vasa (d. 1632)

★ August 12 - Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (d. 1633)

★ September 1 - Edward Alleyn, English actor (died 1626)

★ September 18 - King Sigismund III Vasa/Sigismund I of Sweden (died 1632)

★ October 13 - Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, Irish politician (died 1643)

★ November 10 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, English politician (died 1601)

★ December 11 - (baptised) - Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (died 1650)

★ December 20 - Edward Wightman, English Baptist martyr (died 1612)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Pietro Cerone, Italian music theorist (died 1625)

★
★ Giovanni Baglione, Italian painter and historian of art (died 1643)

★
★ Jan Jesenius, Slovak physician (died 1621)

★
★ Michal Sedziwój, Polish alchemist (died 1636)

★
★ James Sempill, Scottish theologian (died 1626)
: ''See also .''

Deaths

★ January 7 - Louis de Blois, Flemish mystical writer (born 1506)

★ February 3 - George Cassander, Flemish theologian (born 1513)

★ March 9 - David Rizzio, Italian secretary of Mary I of Scotland (born 1533)

★ March 26 - Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (born 1510)

★ March 28 - Sigismund von Herberstein, Austrian diplomat (born 1486)

★ April 25 - Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II of France (born 1499)

★ April 25 - Louise Labé, French poet (born 1525)

★ May 4 - Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (born 1490)

★ May 10 - Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and a botanist (born 1501)

★ July 2 - Nostradamus, French astrologer (born 1503)

★ July 17 - Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish priest (b. 1484)

★ September 5 - Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Sultan (born 1494)

★ September 22 - Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (born 1494)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Jacob Acontius, Swiss jurist

★
★ Charles Dumoulin, French jurist (born 1500)

★
★ Richard Edwards, English poet (born 1523)

★
★ Thomas Hoby, English diplomat and translator (born 1530)

★
★ Kimotsuki Kanetsugu, Japanese samurai (born 1511)

★
★ Calvagh O'Donnell, Irish chieftain

★
★ Guillaume Rondelet, French doctor (born 1507)

★
★ Marco Girolamo Vida, Italian poet (born 1490)

★
★ Taddeo Zuccari, Italian painter (born 1529)
: ''See also .''