1539

January–June

• January - Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War - Battle of Naungyo, Burma: The Toungoos decisively defeat the Hanthawaddys.
• January 12 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Toledo, agreeing to make no further alliances with England. The treaty comes after Henry VIII of England's split with Rome and Pope Paul III.
• January 14 - Spain annexes Cuba.
• February 9 - The first horse race is held at Chester Racecourse, the oldest in use in England.
• March - Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'.
• May 30 - Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay, Florida with 600 soldiers, with the goal to find gold. He also introduces pigs into North America.
• May - The Six Articles, an Act of the Parliament of England, reaffirms certain Catholic principles in Henry VIII's Church of England.
• 26 June - Sher Shah Suri defeats the Mughal emperor, Humayun at Battle of Chausa in modern-day Buxar, India. Sher Shah went on to form the Sur Empire and take control of nearly all Mughal territory.

  July–December

• August 15 - King Francis I of France issues the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêt, that places the whole of France under the jurisdiction of the royal law courts, and makes French the language of those courts, and the official language of legal discourse.
• September 7 - Guru Angad Dev becomes the second Guru of the Sikhs.
• October 4 - Henry VIII contracts to marry Anne of Cleves.
• November 1 - Joachim II Hector introduces Lutheranism in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, becoming the second Prince-Elector after the Prince-Elector of Saxony to turn Protestant.

  Undated

• Protestant Reformation
• * Lutheranism is forcibly introduced into Iceland, despite the opposition of Bishop Jón Arason.
• * Beaulieu Abbey, Bolton Abbey, Colchester Abbey, Newstead Abbey, St Albans Abbey, St Mary's Abbey, York and Hartland Abbey fall prey to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England.
• * The first edition of the Calvinist Genevan Psalter is published.
• In Henan province, China, a severe drought with swarms of locusts is made worse, by a major epidemic outbreak of the plague.
• The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City.
• Teseo Ambrogio's Introductio in Chaldaicam lingua, Syriaca atq Armenica, & dece alias linguas, published in Pavia, introduces several Middle Eastern languages to western Europe for the first time.

  Births

• January 28 - Nicolò Donato, Doge of Venice
• February 13 - Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine by marriage
• February 23
• * Henry XI of Legnica, thrice Duke of Legnica
• * Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire as a wife of Emperor Akbar
• February 27 - Franciscus Raphelengius, Dutch printer
• March 5 - Christoph Pezel, German theologian
• March 18 - Maria of Nassau, Countess of Nassau
• April 5 - George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
• April 6 - Amalia of Neuenahr, German noble
• April 7 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss artist
• April 7 - Strange Jørgenssøn, Norwegian businessman
• April 30 - Archduchess Barbara of Austria, Austrian archduchess
• May 22 - Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford
• May 29 - Thomas Pounde, English Jesuit lay brother
• June 6 - Catherine Vasa, Regent of East Frisia
• June 13 - Jost Amman, Swiss printmaker
• June 23 - William Darrell of Littlecote, English politician
• July 4 - Louis VI, Elector Palatine
• September 18 - Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, Italian-French dignitary and diplomat
• October 1 - Peter Vok, Czech noble
• November 1 - Pierre Pithou, French lawyer and scholar
• December 5 - Fausto Paolo Sozzini, Italian theologian
• December 20 - Paulus Melissus, German composer
• December 31 - John Radcliffe, English politician
• date unknown
• * José Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva, Portuguese explorer
• * Hasegawa Tōhaku, Japanese painter
• * Laurence Tomson, English Calvinist
• * Humphrey Gilbert, English adventurer, explorer, member of Parliament and soldier

  Deaths

• January 24 - Anneke Esaiasdochter, Dutch Anabaptist writer
• February 6 - John III, Duke of Cleves
• February 13 - Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua
• March 5 - Nuno da Cunha, Portuguese governor in India
• March 12 - Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat and politician
• March 19 - Lord Edmund Howard, English nobleman )
• April 17 - George, Duke of Saxony
• April 19 - Katarzyna Weiglowa, Jewish martyr
• April 30 - John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath, English noble
• May 1 - Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress
• May 7 - Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer
• May 7 or September 22 - Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism
• June 20 - Philip III, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg
• July 5 - St Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Italian saint
• July 9 - Adrian Fortescue, English Roman Catholic martyr
• August - Vannoccio Biringuccio, Italian metallurgist
• September 8 - John Stokesley, English prelate
• November 14 - Hugh Cook Faringdon, English Abbot of Reading
• December 12 - Bartolomeo degli Organi, Italian musician
• December 20 - Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer
• date unknown
• * James Beaton, Scottish church leader
• * Cura Ocllo, Inca queen