Explore 178 historical events from 1560–1569.
Anna of Württemberg was a German princess, member of the House of Württemberg, and by her two marriages duchess of Oława-Wołów and Legnica.
Anna of Württemberg, German princess (died 1616)
Luis de Góngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet and a Catholic priest at Córdoba Cathedral. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered th…
Luis de Góngora, Spanish cleric and poet (died 1627)
Maria of the Palatinate, also known as Anna Maria, was a Swedish princess and Duchess of Södermanland by marriage, the first wife of the future King Charles IX of Sweden. She died …
Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern (died 1589)
Jacopo Peri was an Italian composer, singer, and instrumentalist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. He wrote what is considered the first opera, the mostly lost Daf…
Jacopo Peri, Italian singer and composer (died 1633)
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk,, of Audley End House in the parish of Saffron Walden in Essex, and of Suffolk House near Westminster, a member of the House of Howard, was the s…
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (died 1626)
Johan Philip Lansberge was a Flemish Calvinist Minister, astronomer and Mathematician. His name is sometimes written Lansberg, and his first name is sometimes given as Philip or J…
Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (died 1632)
Sir Gervase Helwys, also known as Jervis Yelwys, was a Lieutenant of the Tower of London found guilty of complicity in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury and hanged in 1615. The sca…
Gervase Helwys, English murderer (died 1615)
Hernando Arias de Saavedra, commonly known as Hernandarias, was a soldier and politician of criollo ancestry. He was the first person born in the Americas to become a governor of a…
Hernando Arias de Saavedra, Paraguayan-Argentinian soldier and politician (died 1634)
Adriaan van Roomen, also known as Adrianus Romanus, was a mathematician, professor of medicine and medical astrologer from the Duchy of Brabant in the Habsburg Netherlands who was…
Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish priest and mathematician (died 1615)
Richard Field (1561–1616) was an English ecclesiological theologian associated with the work of Richard Hooker. Whereas Hooker, eight years Field's senior, had written his Lawes of…
Richard Field, English cathedral dean (died 1616)
Anthony Babington was an English gentleman convicted of plotting the assassination of Elizabeth I of England and conspiring with the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, for which he…
Anthony Babington, English conspirator (Babington Plot) (died 1586)
Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke was among the first Englishwomen to gain notice for her poetry and her literary patronage. By the age of 39, she was listed with her brother Phil…
Mary Sidney, English writer, patroness and translator (died 1621)
Jan Amor Tarnowski was a Polish nobleman, knight, military commander, military theoretician, and statesman of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. He was Grand Crown Hetman from 152…
Jan Tarnowski, Polish noble and statesman (born 1488)
Lope de Aguirre was a Basque Spanish conquistador who was active in South America. Nicknamed El Loco, he styled himself "Wrath of God." Aguirre is best known for his final expediti…
Lope de Aguirre, Spanish explorer (born 1510)
Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built in 1087 and from 125…
The spire of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London was destroyed by fire
Yamamoto Kansuke was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. He was known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen". Also known by his formal name, Haruyuki (晴幸). H…
Yamamoto Kansuke, Japanese samurai (born 1501)
The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, commonly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is a Russian Orthodox church on Red Square in the historic centre of Moscow. It is one of the most p…
Saint Basil's Cathedral (pictured), located in Red Square, Moscow, was consecrated.
The Ottoman Navy or the Imperial Navy, also known as the Ottoman Fleet, was the naval warfare arm of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea…
The Ottoman naval forces inflict a defeat on a Spanish fleet in the battle of Djerba
The Treaty of Edinburgh was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I of England with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, a…
The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
The Catholic Church, also called the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with an estimated 1.28 to 1.41 billion baptized members worldwide as of 2026. It consis…
The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
Wilhelm Fabry, often called the "Father of German surgery", was the first educated and scientific German surgeon. He is one of the most prominent scholars in the iatromechanics sch…
Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (died 1634)
Giovanni Paolo Lascaris di Ventimiglia e Castellar was an Italian nobleman and Grand Master of the Knights of Malta.
Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (died 1657)
Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the powerful House of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary. Báthory and f…
Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian aristocrat and purported serial killer (died 1614)
Hieronymus Praetorius the Elder was a Northern German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque whose polychoral motets in 8 to 20 voices are intricate and vi…
Hieronymus Praetorius, German organist and composer (died 1629)