Events of 1562

January–June

• January 6 – Earl of Tyrone ends his first rebellion by surrendering to Queen Elizabeth I of England.

• January 17 – Huguenots are recognized under the Edict of Saint-Germain.

• March 1 – Over 1,000 Huguenots are massacred by the ultra-Catholic Francis, Duke of Guise in Wassy-sur-Blaise, marking the start of the First War of Religion in France. Protestant forces led by Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and Gaspard de Coligny quickly seize control of Orleans, Rouen, and other cities throughout France.

• May 1 – Jean Ribault, French navigator, lands in Florida and later establishes a Huguenot colony at Charlesfort.

• May 26 – Earl of Tyrone leads a second rebellion in Ireland.

July–December

• July 12 – Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya.

• September 20 – English forces under Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, land in Newhaven (Le Havre) to aid the Huguenots.

• September 22 – Maximilian, son of the Emperor Ferdinand I, succeeds as King of Bohemia.

• October 26 – Rouen is captured by Royalist forces under Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, who is mortally wounded.

• November 5 – In Scotland, the rebellion of George Gordon, Earl of Huntly is crushed by James Stewart, Earl of Moray at Corrichie.

• November 20 – Maximilian of Bohemia is elected King of the Romans.

• December 19 – Battle of Dreux: Huguenot forces under Condé and Coligny, and Catholic forces under Anne de Montmorency and Guise, battle to a draw. The official leaders of both armies (Condé and Montmorency) are captured in the battle.

Undated

• The earliest English slave-trading expedition (under John Hawkins) goes between Guinea and the West Indies. As a result, the Spanish ban English ships from trading at their new world ports.

• French Huguenots establish a colony of Charlesfort on Parris Island, off the coast of South Carolina.

• Gresham's School is granted a Royal Charter.

• Akbar the great conquers Malwa and defeats Baz Bahadur.

Births

• January 12 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1630)

• January 13 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet and soldier of fortune (d. 1601)

• January 20 – Ottavio Rinuccini, Italian composer (d. 1621)

• April/May – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch composer (d. 1621)

• May 6 – Pietro Bernini, Italian sculptor (d. 1629)

• July 25 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese samurai (d. 1611)

• August 17 – (baptised) – Hans Leo Hassler, German composer (d. 1612)

• October 4 – Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (d. 1647)

• October 19 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1633)

• November 25 – Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and dramatist (d. 1635)

• date unknown

• *Isabella Andreini, Italian actress (d. 1604)

• *John Bull, English composer (d. 1628)

• *Henry Constable, English poet (d. 1613)

• *Samuel Daniel, English poet and historian (d. 1619)

• *Francis Godwin, English writer and prelate (d. 1633)

• *George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly (d. 1636)

• *Juan de Jáuregui, attempted assassin of William I of Orange (d. 1582)

• *Natsuka Masaie, Japanese daimyo (d. 1600)

• *Richard Neile, English churchman (d. 1640)

• *Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire (d. 1607)

• *Henry Spelman, English antiquary (d. 1641)

• *Maeda Toshinaga, Japanese nobleman (d. 1614)

• *Cornelis van Haarlem, Dutch painter (d. 1638)

• *Xu Guangqi, Chinese agronomist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1633)

Deaths

Cornelis Aerentsz van der Dussen by Jan van Scorel (c.1535) Panel, Weiss Gallery, London

• January – Ilie II Rareş, Prince of Moldavia (b. 1531)

• January 9 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1514)

• January 25 – Charles Wriothesley, officer of arms (b. 1508)

• May 14 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (b. 1525)

• October 9 – Gabriele Falloppio, Italian anatomist (b. 1523)

• October – George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly (b. 1514)

• November 12 – Pietro Martire Vermigli, Italian theologian (b. 1500)

• November 17 – Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henry IV of France (b. 1518)

• December 6 – Jan van Scorel, Dutch painter (b. 1495)

• December 7 – Adrian Willaert, Flemish composer (b. c. 1490)

• December 17 – Eleonora di Toledo, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (b. 1522)

• date unknown

• *Matteo Bandello, Italian novelist (b. 1480)

• *Nicholas Grimald, English poet and theologian (b. 1519)

• *Lutfi Pasa, poet and juridical scholar of slave origin