1566

Years: 1563 1564 1565 - 1566 - 1567 1568 1569

Decades: 1530s 1540s 1550s - 1560s - 1570s 1580s 1590s

Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century

Events

• January 7 - Pius V becomes Pope
• Selim II succeeds Suleiman I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
• 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 rein of Phillip II of Spain.

Births

• March 8 - Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer and murderer (died 1613)
• 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 of Poland (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 of Poland/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)
• 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)

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 1 - 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)
• 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 Zuccaro, Italian painter (born 1529)