16th century

Events

1500s

• 1500: The Battle of Novara (April)

The Battle of Lepanto (August)

• 1501: Arthur Tudor weds Catherine of Aragon (November 14)

Michelangelo begins sculpting David and The Madonna of Bruges

• 1502: Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa

Death of Arthur Tudor (April 2)

• 1503: Michelangelo paints the Doni Tondo

The Battle of Ruvo (February 23)

The Battle of Cerignola (April 21)

The Battle of Garigliano (December 29)

• 1504: Death of Isabella of Castile (November 26)
• 1506: Death of Christopher Columbus (May 20)
• 1508: Crossbows banned (in England?) to increase the practise of using the longbow
• 1509: The Battle of Diu (February 2-3)

Death of Henry VII of England (April 21)

The Battle of Agnadello (May 14)

Henry VIII of England weds Catherine of Aragon (June 11)

Coronation of Henry VIII of England (June 28)

The Siege of Padua (July 17)

The Battle of Polesella (December 22)

1510s

• 1511: Birth of the first Henry, Duke of Cornwall (January 1)

Death of the first Henry, Duke of Cornwall (February 11)

Birth of Giorgio Vasari (July 30)

• 1512: The Sack of Brescia (February 18)

The Battle of Ravenna (April 11)

The Battle of St. Mathieu (August 10)

• 1513: Michelangelo begins work on Moses

Jorge Álvares reaches China (May)

The Battle of Novara (June 6)

The Battle of Guinegate (August 16)

James IV of Scotland dies at the Battle of Flodden Field (September 9); coronation of James V (September 21)

The Battle of La Motta (October 7)

• 1514: The Battle of Chaldiran (August 23)

The Battle of Orsha (September 8)

Birth and death of the second Henry, Duke of Cornwall (December)

• 1515: The Battle of Marignano (September 13-14)

Birth of Anne of Cleves (September 22)

• 1516: Death of Ferdinand II of Aragon (January 23)

Birth of Mary I of England (February 18)

The War of Urbino

• 1517: Martin Luther posts the Ninety-Five Theses (October 31)
• 1519: Birth of Henry II of France (March 31)

Birth of Catherine de' Medici (April 13)

Death of Leonardo da Vinci (May 2)

Departure of Magellan's voyage to circumnavigate the Earth

1520s

• William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament published
• 1520: Beginning of the reign of Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire
• 1521: Michelangelo finishes the Cristo della Minerva

Death of Magellan (April 27)

The Battle of Pamplona (May 20)

The Battle of Esquiroz (June 30)

The Siege of Mézières

Suleiman captures the fort at Belgrade and razes most of the city to the ground (August 28)

The Siege of Tournai

• 1522: The Battle of Biocca (April 27)

The Siege of Genoa (May 20-30)

• 1523: Sweden gains independence from the Kalmar Union
• 1524: The Battle of the Sesia (April 30)

The Siege of Marseille (August-September)

The Peasants' War (1524-May 15, 1525)

• 1525: The Battle of Pavia (February 24)

Francis I of France signs the Treaty of Madrid, surrendering France's claims to Italy, Flanders, and Burgundy

The Battle of Mohács (August 29)

• 1527: The Sack of Rome (May 6)
• 1529: The Siege of Vienna

The Siege of Florence (1529-1530)

1530s

• 1530: Birth of Ivan IV of Russia (August 25)

Death of Babur (December 26)

• 1533: Henry VIII of England weds Anne Boleyn (January 25)

Birth of William the Silent (April 24)

Pope Clement VII excommunicates Henry VIII of England (July)

The Battle of Gavinana

Birth of Elizabeth I of England (September 7)

Henry II of France weds Catherine de' Medici (October 28)

• 1534: The Suffragan Bishops Act

The First Act of Supremacy (November)

The Treasons Act

The First Succession Act

• 1535: Michelangelo begins work on The Last Judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel

The Conquest of Tunis

John Fisher executed (June 22)

Thomas More executed (July 6)

• 1536: Anne Boleyn executed (May 19)

Henry VIII of England weds Jane Seymour (May 30)

William Tyndale executed (September 6)

The Pilgrimage of Grace (October)

• 1537: Robert Aske executed (July 12)

Birth of Lady Jane Grey

Birth of Edward VI of England (October 12)

Death of Jane Seymour (October 24)

• 1538: The Battle of Preveza (September 28)
• 1539: Richard Whyting, last Abbott of Glastonbury, executed (November 15)

1540s

• 1540: Henry VIII of England weds Anne of Cleves (January 6)

Marriage of Henry VIII of England and Anne of Cleves annulled (July 9)

Henry VIII of England weds Catherine Howard (July 28)

• 1542: Catherine Howard executed (February 13)

The Battle of Haddon Rig (August 24)

The Battle of Solway Moss (November 24)

Birth of Mary I of Scotland (December 8)

Death of James V of Scotland (December 14)

• 1543: Copernicus publishes his theory of a heliocentric solar system

Coronation of Mary I of Scotland (September 9)

Henry VIII of England weds Catherine Parr (July 12)

The Siege of Nice (August)

• 1544: Ivan IV of Russia assumes power

The Battle of Ceresole (April 11)

The Battle of Serravalle (June 2)

The Siege of St. Dizier

The Siege of Boulogne (July 19-September 18)

• 1545: The first English book on archery, Toxophilus: The School of Shooting by Ascham, is published

The Battle of Ancrum Moor (February 27)

The Battle of the Solent (July 18-19)

The Council of Trent (1545-1563)

• 1547: Death of Henry VIII of England (January 28)

Coronation of Edward VI of England (February 20)

Coronation of Henry II of France (July 10)

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh (September 10)

• 1548: Death of Catherine Parr (September 5)
• 1549: Publication of the first Book of Common Prayer

1550s

• 1550: Giorgio Vasari's Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori published
• 1552: The Siege of Eger
• 1553: Death of Edward VI of England (July 6)

Coronation of Lady Jane Grey

Coronation of Mary I of England (October 1)

• 1554: Lady Jane Grey executed (February 12)

Birth of Sebastian I of Portugal (June 11)

Philip II of Spain weds Mary I of England (July 25)

The Battle of Marciano (August 2)

The Battle of Renty (August 12)

• 1555: Construction begins on St. Basil's Cathedral

John Rogers executed (February 4)

Laurence Saunders executed (February 8)

Rowland Taylor executed (February 9)

John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, executed (February 9)

• 1557: The Battle of St. Quentin (August)

Death of Anne of Cleves (September 22)

• 1558: Francis II of France weds Mary I of Scotland

The Battle of Gravelines (July 13)

Death of Mary I of England (November 17)

• 1559: Coronation of Elizabeth I of England

The Second Act of Supremacy

Philip II of Spain appoints William the Silent as stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Burgundy

The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis is signed by Elizabeth I of England, Henry II of France, and Philip II of Spain (April 2-3)

Death of Henry II of France (July 10)

The Revolt of the Northern Earls

1560s

• 1560: The Tumult of Amboise (March)

Death of Francis II of France (December 5)

• 1561: Mary I of Scotland returns to Scotland (August 19)
• 1562: The Battle of Corrichie
• 1563: Birth of John Dowland

Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion established

John Foxe's Book of Martyrs published by John Day

• 1564: Death of Michelangelo (February 18)

Birth of William Shakespeare (April)

• 1565: The Siege of Malta

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley weds Mary I of Scotland (July 29)

The Chaseabout Raid (August 26)

• 1566: David Rizzio murdered (March 9)

Birth of James VI of Scotland (James I of England) (June 19)

The Battle of Szigetvar (August 6-September 8)

Death of Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire

Death of Diane de Poitiers (April 25)

• 1567: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley assassinated (February 10)

James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell weds Mary I of Scotland (May 15)

The Battle of Carberry Hill (June 15)

Abdication of Mary I of Scotland; coronation of James VI of Scotland (July 24)

• 1568: The Battle of Langside (May 13)

Mary I of Scotland imprisoned at Carlisle (May 19)

• 1569: Beginning of the First Desmond Rebellion

1570s

• 1570: The Ridolfi Plot
• 1571: The Fire of Moscow

The Battle of Lepanto (October 7)

• 1572: The Battle of Molodi (July 30-August 3)

The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (August 24)

• 1574: Death of Giorgio Vasari (June 27)

Birth of Anne of Denmark (December 12)

• 1577: Birth of Christian IV of Denmark (April 12)

Francis Drake sets sail on an expedition against the Spanish colonies in the [[New_World|New World]

• 1578: Death of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell (April 14)

Death of Sebastian I of Portugal (August 4)

• 1579: The Second Desmond Rebellion (1579-1583)

Francis Drake lands at New Albion (June 17)

1580s

• 1580: Spain annexes Portugal

The Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours

Death of William the Silent (July 10)

Francis Drake returns to England after circumnavigating the Earth (September 26)

• 1581: Ivan IV of Russia kills his son

Francis Drake knighted by Elizabeth I of England (April 4)

• 1584: Death of Ivan IV of Russia
• 1586: The Babington Plot
• 1587: Mary I of Scotland executed (February 8)
• 1588: The Battle of Gravelines (defeat of the Spanish Armada)
• 1589: Death of Catherine de' Medici (January 5)

James VI of Scotland weds Anne of Denmark (November 23)

1590s

• 1590: The North Berwick Witch Trials
• 1593: Beginning of the Thirteen Years' War (July 29)
• 1594: Birth of Henry Frederick (February 19)
• 1595: The English longbow retired as a frontline weapon
• 1596: Death of Francis Drake (January 27)

Coronation of Christian IV of Denmark (August 29)

The Battle of Keresztes (October 24-26)

• 1597: John Dowland's First Booke of Songs published, marking the start of "The English Lute School"
• 1599: The Globe Theatre is built

Significant people

• Henry VIII
• Elizabeth I
• Sir Walter Raleigh
• Sir Francis Drake
• Catherine de' Medici
• Michelangelo Buonarroti
• Martin Luther
• William Shakespeare
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
• Roger Ascham

Some Groups that Cover this Period

• SCA

Internal Links

See Also:

• 15th Century
• 17th Century
• 16th century fighting kit

External Links

• Mary of Hapsburg's Gown - http://www.virtue.to/guest_authors/hungarian.html
• Mary of Hungary's gown in photos - http://frazzledfrau.glittersweet.com/mary/index.htm
• Female Tudor dress - http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/tudor/index.html
• An Elizabethan site - http://costume.dm.net
• A Festive attire research page - http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attye/research/index.html
• Female German 16th century dress - http://frazzledfrau.glittersweet.com/
• Venetian Women's Dress Recreated - http://www.geocities.com/oonaghsown/
• Venetian Women's Dress Images - http://au.geocities.com/bella_lucia_da_verona/index.htm
• Turkish Women's Coat - http://www.geocities.com/oonaghsown/turkish_coat_for_venice.htm
• Spanish women's court garb - http://sayaespanola.glittersweet.com