Explore 189 historical events from 1550–1559.
Elisabeth of Austria was Queen of France from 1570 to 1574 as the wife of King Charles IX. A member of the House of Habsburg, she was the daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Empe…
Elisabeth of Austria, French queen (died 1592)
Haydar Mirza Safavi was a Safavid prince who declared himself as the king (shah) of Iran on 15 May 1576, the day after his father Tahmasp I had died. He was, however, killed that s…
Haydar Mirza Safavi, Safavid prince (died 1576)
Mary I was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous attempts to rev…
Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England
Lenaert Leys, better known as Leonardus Lessius was a Brabant jurist, theologian, economist from the Jesuit order.
Leonardus Lessius, Jesuit theologian (died 1623)
Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke was an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman who served in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1621, when he was raised to …
Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, English poet (died 1628)
Arnold III of Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Steinfurt-Limburg was a German nobleman. He was Count of Bentheim, Tecklenburg and Steinfurt, and jure uxoris Count of Limburg. He ruled as Arnol…
Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg and Lord of Rheda (died 1606)
Baron Valentinus Balassa de Kékkő et Gyarmat was a Renaissance Hungarian lyric poet. He wrote in nine languages: Latin, Italian, German, Polish, Turkish, Slovak, Croatian, Magyar a…
Bálint Balassi, Hungarian writer and noble (died 1594)
Gaspara Stampa was an Italian poet. She is considered to have been the greatest woman poet of the Italian Renaissance, and she is regarded by many as the greatest Italian woman po…
Gaspara Stampa, Italian poet (born 1523)
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was an politician and military officer of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howar…
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (born 1473)
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through what is now parts of the sout…
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, Spanish explorer (born 1510)
Lady Jane Grey, also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland…
Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England.
Louise of Lorraine was Queen of France as the wife of King Henry III from their marriage on 15 February 1575 until his death on 2 August 1589. During the first three months of thei…
Louise of Lorraine, Queen of France (died 1601)
Albert Frederick was the Duke of Prussia, from 1568 until his death. He was a son of Albert of Prussia and Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was the second and last Prussian duk…
Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (died 1618)
Margaret of Valois, popularly known as Queen Margot, was Queen of Navarre from 1572 to 1599 and Queen of France from 1589 to 1599 as the consort of Henry IV of France and III of Na…
Margaret of Valois, Queen of France (died 1615)
Archduke Ernest of Austria was an Austrian prince, the son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria of Spain.
Archduke Ernest of Austria (died 1595)
Peter Street was an English carpenter and builder in London. He built the Fortune Playhouse and the Globe Theatre, two significant establishments in the history of the stage in Eng…
Peter Street, English carpenter and builder (died 1609)
Lady Jane Grey, also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland…
The attempt to install Lady Jane Grey as Queen of England collapses after only nine days.
Michael Servetus was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and Renaissance humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation,…
Michael Servetus is arrested by John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland as a heretic.
The coronation of Mary I as Queen of England and Ireland took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Sunday 1 October 1553. This was the first coronation of a queen regnant in Engl…
The coronation of Queen Mary I of England is held at Westminster Abbey.
Michael Servetus was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and Renaissance humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation,…
Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
Jacques Auguste de Thou was a French historian, book collector and president of the Parlement of Paris.
Jacques Auguste de Thou, French historian (died 1617)
Luca Marenzio was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance.
Luca Marenzio, Italian composer (died 1599)
Giovanni Bernardi, also known as Giovanni da Castel Bolognese and as Giovanni da Castelbolognese, was an Italian gem engraver and medallist who was born in Castel Bolognese, Italy.…
Giovanni Bernardi, Italian sculptor and engraver (born 1495)
Wolf Huber was an Austrian- German painter, printmaker, and architect, who worked in Passau, Germany for most of his life as a leading member of the Danube school.
Wolf Huber, Austrian painter, printmaker and architect (born 1485)