Events of 1516

January–June

• March – With the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon, his grandson Charles of Ghent becomes King of Spain as Carlos I.

• April 23 – The Reinheitsgebot is instituted in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, regulating the purity of beer permissible for sale.

July–December

July – Selim I.

• July – Selim I of the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Mameluks and invades Syria.

• August 13 – The Treaty of Noyon is signed. Francis recognizes Charles's claim to Naples, and Charles recognizes Francis's claim to Milan.

• October 28 – Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza.

• December 4 – Treaty of Brussels: Peace is declared between France and the Empire.

Undated

• Pedro de Solis discovers the Río de la Plata.

• King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X sign the Concordat of Bologna.

• Desiderius Erasmus publishes a new Greek translation of the New Testament.

• Thomas More publishes Utopia.

• Leonardo da Vinci accepts Francis I's invitation to France.

• The Italian explorer Rafael Perestrello trades with Chinese merchants at Canton during the Ming Dynasty.

• Gillingham School founded – the oldest school in Dorset

Births

• January 1 – Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1551)

• February 18 – Queen Mary I of England (d. 1558)

• March 26 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (d. 1565)

• April 23 – Georg Fabricius, Protestant German poet (d. 1571)

• September 21 – Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (d. 1571)

• 5 November – Martin Helwig, German cartographer of Silesia (d. 1574)

• date unknown

• *John Foxe, biographer (d. 1587)

• *Manco Inca Yupanqui, ruler of the Inca (d. 1544)

• *Canghali of Kazan, khan of Qasim and Kazan

• *Shri Gusainji, son of Shri Vallabhacharyaji.

• probable

• *James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault (d. 1572)

Deaths

• January 20 – Juan Díaz de Solís, Spanish navigator and explorer (b. 1470)

• January 23 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)

• March 13 – King Ladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (b. 1456)

• March 17 – Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1449)

• April 25 – John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)

• June 14 – King John III of Navarre (b. 1469)

• August – Hieronymus Bosch, Dutch painter (b. 1450)

• December 13 – Johannes Trithemius, German scholar and cryptographer (b. 1462)

• date unknown

• *Giuliano da Sangallo, Italian sculptor and architect (b. 1443)

• probable

• *Giovanni Bellini, Italian painter (b. 1430)