Events of 1559

• January 15 – Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey.

• March 23 – Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia, defending his lands against the invasion of Nur ibn Mujahid, Sultan of Harar, is killed in battle. His brother Menas succeeds him as king.

• April 3 – Peace of Cateau Cambrésis: France makes peace with England and Spain. France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), keeping only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.

• 2 May – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation.

• July 10 – Francis II becomes King of France following the death of his father, Henry II, in a jousting accident.

• August 15 – Led by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano, a Spanish missionary colony of 1,500 men, on 13 ships, arrives from Vera Cruz at Pensacola Bay, founding the oldest European settlement in the mainland U.S. (St. Augustine is founded in 1565.)

• September 19 – Just weeks after arrival at Pensacola, the Spanish missionary colony is decimated by a hurricane that kills hundreds, sinks five ships, with a galleon, and grounds a caravel; the 1,000 survivors divide to relocate/resupply the settlement, but suffer famine & attacks, and abandon the effort in 1561.

• December 25 – Pope Pius IV succeeds Pope Paul IV as the 224th pope.

Undated

• The Italian Wars conclude.

• The Decameron is expurgated.

• A royal edict in France makes heresy punishable by death.

• Elizabeth I establishes the Church of England, with the Act of Uniformity 1559 and the Act of Supremacy 1559.

• Oda Nobunaga wins control of his native province of Owari.

• Between 1559 and 1736 almost 1,000 people accused of being witches were executed in England.

Births

• February 18 – Isaac Casaubon, French-born classical scholar (d. 1614)

• July 22 – Lawrence of Brindisi, Italian saint (d. 1619)

• October 12 – Jacques Sirmond, French scholar and Jesuit (d. 1651)

• November 15 – Archduke Albert of Austria, Governor of the Low Countries (d. 1621)

• date unknown

• *Francesco Bassano the Younger, Italian painter (d. 1592)

• *Catherine de Bourbon, sister of Henry IV of France (d. 1604)

• *Charls Butler, English schoolmaster, clergyman, spelling reformer and influential author on diverse subjects including logic, English grammar, theology and natural history

• *George Chapman, English dramatist (d. 1634)

• *Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese military commander (d. 1584)

• *Nurhaci, Chinese founder of the Qing Dynasty (d. 1626)

• *John Penry, Welsh Protestant martyr (d. 1593)

• *Honinbo Sansa, Japanese player of Go (d. 1623)

• *John Spenser, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (d. 1614)

Deaths

• January 1 – King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (b. 1503)

• January 25 – King Christian II of Denmark Norway, and Sweden (born 1481)

• March 8 – Thomas Tresham I, English Catholic politician

• March 16 – Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)

• March 23 – Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia (in battle) (b. 1522)

• March 30 – Adam Ries, German mathematician (b. 1492)

• July 10 – King Henry II of France (jousting accident) (b. 1519)

• August 18 – Pope Paul IV (b. 1476)

• September 7 – Robert Estienne, French printer (b. 1503)

• September 10 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (b. 1501)

• October 2 – Jacquet of Mantua, French composer (b. 1483)

• October 6 – William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg (b. 1487)

• November 5 – Kano Motonobu, Japanese painter (b. 1476)

• November 18 – Cuthbert Tunstall, English church leader (b. 1474)

• November 20 – Lady Frances Brandon, claimant to the throne of England (b. 1517)

• date unknown

• *Realdo Colombo, Italian surgeon and anatomist (b. 1516)

• *Leonard Digges, English mathematician and surveyor (b. 1520)

• *Owen Oglethorpe, English priest

• *Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone, Irish rebel (b. 1480)

• *Wen Zhengming, Chinese painter (b. 1470)

• *Christina Gyllenstierna