1518

January–June

• April 18 - The widowed Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, marries Milanese noblewoman Bona Sforza in Wawel Cathedral and she is crowned as Queen consort of Poland.
• May 26 - A transit of Venus occurs.

  July–December

• July - Dancing plague of 1518: A case of dancing mania breaks out in Strasbourg, in which many people die from constant dancing.
• August - Construction of the Manchester Grammar School is completed in England.
• October 3 - The Treaty of London temporarily ensures peace in Western Europe.

  Date unknown

• The Rajput Mewar Kingdom under Rana Sanga achieves a major victory over Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi.
• A swarm of tropical fire ants devastates crops on Hispaniola.
• Erasmus publishes his Colloquies.
• Henricus Grammateus publishes Ayn neu Kunstlich Buech in Vienna, containing the earliest printed use of plus and minus signs for arithmetic.
• The African slave trade begins.

  Births

• February 2
• * Johann Hommel, German astronomer and mathematician
• * Godfried van Mierlo, Dutch Dominican friar and bishop
• February 7 - Johann Funck, German theologian
• February 13 - Antonín Brus z Mohelnice, Moravian Catholic archbishop
• February 20 - Georg, Count Palatine of Simmern-Sponheim,
• February 21 - John of Denmark, Danish prince
• February 28 - Francis III, Duke of Brittany, Duke of Brittany
• March 8 - Sidonie of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg
• April 22 - Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henry IV of France
• July 3 - Li Shizhen, Chinese physician, pharmacologist and mineralogist
• August 8 - Conrad Lycosthenes, Alsatian humanist and encyclopedist
• October 26 - John Basset, Devonshire gentleman
• November 26 - Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, Italian Catholic cardinal
• December 13 - Clara of Saxe-Lauenburg, Princess of Saxe-Lauenburg and Duchess of Brunswick-Gifhorn by marriage
• December 17 - Ernest III, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen
• December 19 - Enrique de Borja y Aragón, Spanish noble of the House of Borgia
• date unknown
• *James Halyburton, Scottish reformer
• * Hubert Languet, French diplomat and reformer
• * Connor MacLeod, Scottish Highlander & Immortal
• *Edmund Plowden, English legal scholar
• * Tintoretto, Italian painter
• * Mayken Verhulst, Flemish artist
• possible - Catherine Howard, fifth queen consort of Henry VIII of England

  Deaths

• February 9 - Jean IV de Rieux, Breton noble and Marshal
• May 31 - Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, German margravine
• July 10 - Sibylle of Baden, Countess consort of Hanau-Lichtenberg
• August 16 - Loyset Compère, French composer
• August 27 - Joan of Naples, queen consort of Naples
• November 20
• * Marmaduke Constable, English soldier
• * Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer
• November 24 - Vannozza dei Cattanei, mistress of Pope Alexander VI
• December 5 - Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Italian military commander
• December 27 - Mahmood Shah Bahmani II, sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate
• date unknown
• * Moxammat Amin of Kazan, khan of Kazan
• * Kabir, Indian mystic
• * Aruj, Ottoman corsair, brother of Hayreddin Barbarossa
• * Muhammad ibn Azhar ad-Din, sultan of Adal