Kawanakajima.

Events of 1561

• June 4 – St. Paul's Cathedral in London is badly damaged by fire and the spire is destroyed after being struck by lightning.

• July – Killing of the hated encomendero Pedro de Avendaño and two other Spaniards triggered the Second Great Rebellion of the Mapuche in the Arauco War.

• August 19 – Mary, Queen of Scots is denied passage through England after returning from France. She arrives at Leith, Scotland on August 19.

• September – The Protestant reformer, John Knox has a three-day debate in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland with Quintin Kennedy, commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, on transubstantiation. The result was inconclusive but Kennedy was fighting a losing battle against the tide of the Reformation which had been confirmed by the Scottish government in 1560.

• October 18 – Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima: Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.

Saint Basil's Cathedral.

Undated

• The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots.

• Kingston Grammar School is founded.

• The first Calvinists settle in England after fleeing Flanders.

• Madrid is declared the capital of Spain by Philip II.

• Ruy López develops modern techniques of chess playing in Spain.

• Sweden conquers Livonia (modern Estonia).

• Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome.

• Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow (started in 1534) is finished.

• Pensacola, the first European settlement in North America, and its support fleet are both destroyed by a hurricane. Two survivors manage to walk the long, arduous journey to Mexico City. The city is not re-settled until 1698.

• Between 1561 and 1670 3,229 witches are executed in southwestern Germany, most by burning.

Births

• January 6 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (d. 1656)

• January 22 – Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist, and statesman (d. 1626)

• June – Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York (d. 1631)

• July 11 – Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish poet (d. 1627)

• July 17 – Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer (d. 1602)

• August 4 – John Harington, courtier, inventor and writer (d. 1612)

• August 20 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)

• August 24 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (d. 1626)

• August 25 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (d. 1632)

• September 10 – Hernando Arias de Saavedra, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1634)

• September 29 – Adriaan van Roomen, Belgian mathematician (d. 1615)

• October 27 – Mary Sidney, English writer, patroness and translator (d. 1621)

• December 7 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)

• December 9 – Edwin Sandys, English founder of the colony of Virginia (d. 1629)

• date unknown – Stephen Bachiler, non-conformist minister and pioneer settler of New England (d. 1656)

Deaths

• January 31

• *Menno Simons, Anabaptist religious leader and Mennonite founder (b. 1496)

• *Bairam Khan, Turcoman noble and poet (assassinated)

• February 26 – Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer (b. 1520)

• March 25 – Conrad Lycosthenes, humanist and encyclopedist (b. 1518)

• May 16 – Jan Tarnowski, Polish nobleman (b. 1488)

• June 6 – Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, painter (b. 1483)

• July 19 – Henry Lauder, Lord St Germains, Lord Advocate of Scotland

• September 1 – Edward Waldegrave, English policitian and recusant

• October 27 – Lope de Aguirre, Basque rebel and conquistador (b. 1510)

• November 11 – Hans Tausen, Danish reformer (b. 1494)

• date unknown

• *Claude Garamond, French publisher (b. 1480)

• *Ijuin Tadaaki, Japanese nobleman (b. 1520)

• probable – Luis de Milán, Spanish composer (b. 1500)