1542
Years:
1539 1540 1541 - 1542 - 1543 1544 1545Decades:
1510s 1520s 1530s - 1540s - 1550s 1560s 1570sCenturies:
15th century - 16th century - 17th century
Events
- War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII of England is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French.
- February 2 - Portuguese under Christovão da Gama capture a Moslem-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente
- April 4 - 16 The Portuguese under Christovão da Gama encounter the army of Imam Ahmad Gragn in the Battle of Jarte, and inflict upon the Imam two successive defeats.
- August - Battle of the Hill of Jews: During the rainy season, Christovão da Gama captures a strategic position and many badly-needed horses
- August 28 - Reinforced with at least 600 arquebusiers and cavalry, Imam Ahmad Gragn attacks the Portuguese camp in the Battle of Wofla. The Portuguese are scattered, Christovão da Gama captured and executed.
- November 25 - Battle of Solway Moss. An English army invades Scotland and defeats a Scottish army.
- December 14 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland.
- The first contact of Japan with the West occurs when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, lands in Japan.
Births
- June 6 - Richard Grenville, Elizabethan soldier and explorer (died 1591)
- June 24 - St. John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite friar and poet (died 1591)
- October 4 - Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (d. 1621)
- October 15 - Akbar, Jellaladin Mahommed, Mughal Emperor (died 1605)
- December 8 - Queen Mary I of Scotland (died 1587)
- Toda Kazuaki, samurai in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu (died 1604)
- Anthony Shirley, English traveller (died 1635)
- John Speed, historian (died 1629)
- Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese daimyo (died 1611)
- Kuki Yoshitaka, Japanese naval commander
- Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (died 1605)
Deaths
- February 1 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (born 1480)
- February 13 - Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (executed)
- May 21 - Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer
- May 21 - Hernando de Soto, Spanish navigator and conquistador
- June 19 - Leo Jud, Swiss reformer (born 1482)
- August 24 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (born 1483)
- October 6 - Thomas Wyatt, English poet and diplomat (born 1503)
- December 14 - King James V of Scotland (born 1512)
- Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet
- Dosso Dossi, Italian painter (born 1490)
- Nikolaus Federmann, German adventurer in Venezuela and Colombia (born 1501)
- Lucas Fernández, Spanish dramatist and musician
- Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, illegitimate son of King Edward IV of England
- Cristóbal de Olid, Spanish adventurer (born 1492)
- Lapu-Lapu, Filipino warrior (born 1491)