Events of 1557

January–June

• June – Mary I of England joins her husband Philip II of Spain in his war against France.

July–December

• August 10 – Battle of St. Quentin: French forces under Marshal Anne de Montmorency are decisively defeated by the Spanish under Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy. Montmorency himself is captured, but Philip II refuses to press his advantage, and withdraws to the Netherlands.

• September 11 – October 8 – The Colloquy of Worms convenes.

Undated

The first known equation, equivalent to 14x+15=71 in modern syntax.

• Spain is effectively bankrupt.

• Özdemir Pasha conquers the Red Sea port of Massawa for the Ottoman Empire.

• The Equals sign is invented by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde.

• Emperor Ogimachi ascends to the throne of Japan.

• Gonville and Caius College is refounded by John Caius.

• Hampton School, Hampton, London, England founded by Robert Hammond.

• The Repton School is founded by Sir John Port.

• With the permission of the Ming Dynasty government of China and the benefit of both Western and Eastern merchants, the Portuguese settle in Macau, which was retroceded in 1999. Direct Sino-Portuguese trade had existed since 1513, but this is the first official legal treaty port on traditional Chinese soil that will be a long term Western settlement.

• War between Russia and Poland begins.

• Cossack chieftain Dimitrash tries to take Azov.

• Brentwood School (Brentwood), Essex, England, founded by Sir Antony Browne.

Births

• February 15 – Vittoria Accoramboni, Italian noblewoman (d. 1585)

• February 24 – Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)

• May 31 – Tsar Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)

• August 16 – Agostino Carracci, Italian painter and graphical artist (d. 1602)

• August 19 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1608)

• September 16 – Jacques Mauduit, French composer (d. 1627)

• date unknown

• *Julius Caesar, English judge and politician (d. 1636)

• *Giovanni Croce, Italian composer (d. 1609)

• *Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer and organist (d. 1612)

• *Balthasar Gérard, assassin of William I of Orange (d. 1584)

• *Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord (d. 1600)

• *Olaus Martini, Archbishop of Uppsala (d. 1609)

• *Thomas Morley, English composer (d. 1602)

• *Oda Nobutada, Japanese general (d. 1582)

Deaths

• January 2 – Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)

• January 8 – Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach ("Albert the Warlike"), Prince of Bayreuth (b. 1522)

• April 9 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. c. 1510)

• April 21 – Petrus Apianus, German astronomer (b. 1495)

• June 11 – King John III of Portugal (b. 1502)

• July 8 (date of will) – Geoffrey Glyn, by his will founding Friars School, Bangor

• July 16 – Anne of Cleves, queen of Henry VIII of England (b. 1515)

• August 1 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish ecclesiastic and writer (b. 1490)

• September 1 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (b. 1491)

• September 13 – John Cheke, English classical scholar and statesman (b. 1514)

• September 27 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (b. 1497)

• October 25 – William Cavendish, English courtier (b. 1505)

• November 19 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (b. 1494)

• December 13 – Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician (b. 1499)

• date unknown

• *Sebastian Cabot, explorer (b. 1476)

• *Thomas Crecquillon, Flemish composer (b. 1490)

• *Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Spanish historian (b. 1478)

• *Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts, French translator

• *Jean Salmon Macrin, French poet (b. 1490)

• *Kamran Mirza, Mughal prince (b. 1509)