[edit] Events - January 7 – French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of the Kingdom of England
- January 9 – Geneva becomes independent from the Canton of Bern.
- January 22 – Beginning of the Livonian War.
- February 2 – The University of Jena is founded in Thuringia, Germany.
- February 5 – during the Arauco War, Pedro de Avendaño with sixty men capture Caupolicán, the Mapuche Gran Toqui leading their first revolt against the Spanish Empire, nearby Antihuala encamped with a small band of followers.
- July 13 – Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.
- July 18 – The city of Tartu, capital of the Bishopric of Dorpat, now in Estonia, surrenders to Russia.
- April 24 – Mary I of Scotland marries Francis II of France.
- November 17 – The Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth.
- Tobacco comes to France.
- Queen Elizabeth grants rest and refreshment to pilgrims and travellers who pass by the Holy Well Spring, Malvern 1558
- The term Soda was coined.
[edit] Births - September 9 – Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, French soldier (d. 1602)
- October 12 – Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d. 1618)
- November 3 – Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanish Tragedy (d. 1594)
- date unknown
- François, Prince of Conti (d. 1614)
- Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (d. 1617)
- Robert Greene, English writer (d. 1592)
- Meir Lublin, Polish rabbi (d. 1616)
- Koriki Masanaga, Japanese military commander (d. 1599)
- Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, French merchant (d. 1628)
- Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese nobleman (d. 1580)
- Oda Nobutaka, Japanese nobleman (d. 1583)
- Olivier van Noort, first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world (d. 1627)
- Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (d. 1586)
- Tokuhime, Japanese noblewoman
- Mihai Viteazul, Prince of Wallachia (1593–1601)
[edit] Deaths - February 25 – Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (b. 1498)
- March 24 – Anna of Egmond, Countess of Egmond and Buren (b. c. 1533)
- March 25 – Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer (b. c.1495)
- April 18 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. c. 1500)
- April 20 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b. 1485)
- May 31 – Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)
- October – Mellin de Saint-Gelais, French poet (b. c. 1491)
- October 18 – Maria of Austria, queen of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1505)
- October 21 – J.C. Scaliger, Italian scholar (b. 1484)
- November 17 – Queen Mary I of England (b. 1516)
- November 17 – Reginald Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1500)
- December 15 – Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. c. 1485)
- December 28 – Hermann Finck, German composer (b. 1527)
- date unknown
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