Explore 111 historical events from 1530–1539.
Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese samurai and daimyō and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the Tenka-bito and regarded as the first "Great U…
Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (died 1582)
Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1559 until his death in 1588.
Frederick II of Denmark (died 1588)
Myeongjong, personal name Yi Hwan, was the 13th monarch of Joseon. His father was King Jungjong and his mother was Queen Munjeong, the elder sister of Yun Won-hyeong. He ascended t…
Myeongjong of Joseon, Ruler of Korea (died 1567)
Zacharias Ursinus was a German Reformed theologian and Protestant reformer. He became the leading theologian of the Reformed Protestant movement of the Palatinate, serving both at …
Zacharius Ursinus, German theologian (died 1583)
Elizabeth Barton, known as "The Nun of Kent", "The Holy Maid of London", "The Holy Maid of Kent" and later "The Mad Maid of Kent", was an English Catholic nun. She was executed as …
Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (born 1506)
Juana de la Cruz Vázquez y Gutiérrez, TOR,, was a Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular. Known to be a mystic, she was authorized to preach publicly, an extraordinar…
Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (born 1481)
Henry VIII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 22 April 1509, and King of Ireland from 18 June 1542, until his death in 1547.
The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void
Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key…
Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England
William the Silent or William the Taciturn, more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange, was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set o…
William I of Orange, founding father of the Netherlands (died 1584)
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and primate of the Church of England. They are the diocesan bishop of the diocese of Canterbury and the metropolitan of the provin…
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid
Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a member of the House of Welf, was the last ruler of the Principality of Grubenhagen from 1595 until his death. When he died in 1596, the Gru…
Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (died 1596)
Martín de Rada was one of the first members of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) to spread the Christian doctrine in the Philippines, as well as one of the first Christian mission…
Martín de Rada, Spanish missionary (died 1578)
Antonio Possevino was a Jesuit protagonist of Counter-Reformation, serving as a papal diplomat, Jesuit controversialist, polemicist, encyclopedist, and bibliographer. He was the fi…
Antonio Possevino, Italian diplomat (died 1611)
Nicholas West, was an English bishop and diplomatist, born at Putney in Surrey, and educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow in 1486. He also …
Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (born 1461)
Mary Tudor was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry V…
Mary Tudor, queen of France (born 1496)
John Frith was an English Protestant priest, writer, and martyr.
John Frith, English priest, writer, and martyr (born 1503)
Ludovico Ariosto was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic Orlando Furioso (1516-1532). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando Inn…
Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet and playwright (born 1474)
Atawallpa, also Atahualpa or Ataw Wallpa, whose regnal name was Caccha Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui Inca, was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture…
Atahualpa, Inca emperor abducted and murdered by Francisco Pizarro (born ca. 1500)
Thomas Cranmer was an English theologian who was a leader of the English Reformation and served as Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a sh…
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, annulled Henry VIII's marriage to his first wife Catherine of Aragon (pictured
Sir Thomas More, venerated in the Catholic Church as a martyr and saint, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian and Renaissance humanist. H…
Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England
Henry VIII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 22 April 1509, and King of Ireland from 18 June 1542, until his death in 1547.
Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign the "Treaty of Closer Amity With France" (also known as the Pommeraye
Sir Thomas Lucy was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1571 and 1585. He was a magistrate in Warwickshire, but is best known for his links to William Shakespe…
Thomas Lucy, English politician (died 1600)
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many yea…
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (died 1588)
William IV of Hesse-Kassel, also called William the Wise, was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this…
William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (died 1573)