1561

Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century

Decades: 1510s 1520s 1530s 1540s 1550s - 1560s - 1570s 1580s 1590s 1600s 1610s

Years: 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 - 1561 - 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566

• The Edict of Orleans[?] suspends the persecution of the Huguenots
• Mary, Queen of Scots is denied passage through England after returning from France. She arrives at Leigh, Scotland[?]
• The first Calvinists settle in England after fleeing Flanders
• Madrid is declared the capital of Spain by Philip II
• St. Paul's Cathedral in London is badly damaged by fire

Births

• January 21 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist and statesman (+ 1626)
• August 20 - Jacopo Peri, composer
• Luis de Góngora y Argote[?] of Spain, baroque poet. (died in 1627)
• Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (died in 1633)

Deaths

• Alonso Berruguete[?], Spanish painter, sculptor and student of Michelangelo (born in 1480)

Arts, Sciences and Culture

• The Book of the Courtier (Il Cortegiano) is translated into English by Sir Thomas Hoby[?]
• Poetics[?] by Julius Caesar Scaliger
• Institution of the Christian Religion[?] is translated into English by Thomas Norton[?]
• Basilica of St. Basil[?] in Moscow is finished (started in 1534)
• Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes St. Maria degli Angeli[?] in Rome
• Gabriele Fallopius[?] publishes Observationes anatomicae[?] (anatomical observations)
• Ruy López[?] develops modern techniques of chess playing in Spain