1556
Year 1556 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.Events
January–June
- January 16 - Charles I, having already abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, resigns the Kingdom of Spain in favour of his son, Philip II, and retires to a monastery.
- January 23 - The Shaanxi earthquake, the deadliest earthquake in history, occurs with its epicenter in Shaanxi province, China; 830,000 people may have been killed.
- February 5 - Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between France and Spain.
- February 14
- * Akbar the Great ascends the throne of the Mughal Empire at age 13; he will rule until his death in 1605, by which time most of the north and centre of the Indian subcontinent will be under his control.
- * Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
- February 22 - Sophia Jagiellon marries Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
- March 21 - In Oxford, Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason.
July–December
- November - The Truce of Vaucelles collapses, and war resumes between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain.
- November 5 - Second Battle of Panipat: Fifty miles north of Delhi, a Mughal army defeats the forces of Hemu, to ensure Akbar the throne of India.
Date unknown
- The kings of Spain take control of the Flanders region, including what is now the French département of Nord.
- The Plantations of Ireland are started in King's County and Queen's County, the earliest attempt at systematic ethnic cleansing in Ireland, by the Roman Catholic ruler Queen Mary I of England.
- Future King Prince John, younger son of King Gustav I of Sweden becomes Duke of Finland.
- Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade.
- The Welser banking families of Augsburg lose colonial control of Venezuela.
- Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice.
- The false Martin Guerre appears in the French village of Artigat.
- The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits, at Saint Paul's College, Goa.
Births
- January 8 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord
- January 24 - Christian Barnekow, Danish noble, explorer and diplomat
- February 4 - Dorothea of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noblewoman
- February 7 - Countess Maria of Nassau
- February 16 - Tōdō Takatora, Japanese daimyō
- February 21 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer
- March 7 - Guillaume du Vair, French statesman and philosopher
- March 13 - Dirck van Os, Dutch merchant
- April 8 - David Hoeschel, German librarian
- April 9 - Andreas von Auersperg, Carniolan noble and military commander in the battle of Sisak
- April 27 - François Béroalde de Verville, French writer
- May 31 - Jerzy Radziwiłł, Polish Catholic cardinal
- June 6 - Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English politician and diplomat
- June 13 - Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer
- June 24
- * Victoria of Valois, French princess
- * Joan of Valois, French princess
- July 9 - Elizabeth Finch, 1st Countess of Winchilsea, English countess
- July 22 - Otto Henry, Count Palatine of Sulzbach
- July 26 - James Melville, Scottish divine and reformer
- August 10 - Philipp Nicolai, German Lutheran pastor
- August 16 - Bartolomeo Cesi, Italian painter
- August 17 - Alexander Briant, English Jesuit martyr
- September 21 - William Harris, English knight
- October 18
- *Charles I, Duke of Elbeuf, French duke and nobleman
- *John Dormer, Member of Parliament
- October 24 - Giovanni Battista Caccini, Italian artist
- October 26 - Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Malian academic
- November 15 - Jacques Davy Duperron, French cardinal
- November 28 - Francesco Contarini, Doge of Venice
- December 5 - Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford, English countess
- December 17 - Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Indian composer
- December 27 - Jeanne de Lestonnac, French saint
- date unknown
- * Margaret Clitherow, English Catholic martyr
- * Shibata Katsutoyo, Japanese military commander
- * Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Sudanese writer and political leader
Deaths
- January 8 - Anne Shelton, English courtier, elder sister of Thomas Boleyn
- January 27 - Humayun, 2nd Mughal Emperor
- February 12 - Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat
- February 26 - Frederick II, Elector Palatine
- March 21 - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
- April 18
- * Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and statesman
- * John Gage, English courtier of the Tudor period
- April 26 - Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educationist of the Reformation
- May 4 - Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist
- May 28 - Saitō Dōsan, Japanese warlord
- June 10 - Martin Agricola, German composer
- June 24 - Joan of Valois, French princess
- July 31 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order and saint
- August 1 - Girolamo da Carpi, Italian painter
- August 11 - John Bell, Bishop of Worcester
- August 17 - Victoria of Valois, French princess
- September - Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, Scottish traitor
- October 7 - Frederick of Denmark, Prince-bishop
- October 21 - Pietro Aretino, Italian author
- November 10 - Richard Chancellor, English Arctic explorer
- November 14 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet
- date unknown
- * Tullia d'Aragona, Italian poet, author and philosopher
- * Fuzûlî, Turkish poet
- probable
- * Brian mac Cathaoir O Conchobhair Failghe, last of the Kings of Ui Failghe
- * Jacob Clemens non Papa, Flemish composer
