1556

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1520s 1530s 1540s – 1550s – 1560s 1570s 1580s
Years:	1553 1554 1555 – 1556 – 1557 1558 1559

1556 in topic:
Subjects: Archaeology – Architecture – Art –
Literature – Music – Poetry – Science
Leaders: State leaders – Colonial governors
Category: Establishments – Disestablishments
Births – Deaths – Works

Year 1556 (MDLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1556

January 23: Shaanxi Earthquake, devastation kills 830,000 in China.

January 16 – Emperor Charles V abdicates. His son, Philip II becomes King of Spain, while his brother Ferdinand becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
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
- Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between France and Spain.
- Jellaladin Mahommed Akbar ascends to the throne of the Mughal Empire; he rules until his death in 1605.
February 14 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
March 21 – In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason.

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 Mogul Army defeats Hindu forces of General Hemu, to ensure Akbar the throne of India.

Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice.
Mary I of England establishes the Fort of Maryborough, in what is now Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland.
The kings of Spain take control of the Flanders region, including what is now the French département of Nord.
The false Martin Guerre appears in the French village of Artigat.
King John III of Sweden becomes ruler of Finland as Hertig Johan.
Welser banking families of Augsburg lose colonial control of Venezuela.
Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade.

**1556 in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	1556 MDLVI
Ab urbe condita	2309
Armenian calendar	1005 ԹՎ ՌԵ
Bahá'í calendar	-288 – -287
Bengali calendar	963
Berber calendar	2506
Buddhist calendar	2100
Burmese calendar	918
Byzantine calendar	7064 – 7065
Chinese calendar	乙卯年閏十一月十九日 (4192/4252-intercalary 11-19) — to — 丙辰年十一月三十日 (4193/4253-11-30)
Coptic calendar	1272 – 1273
Ethiopian calendar	1548 – 1549
Hebrew calendar	5316 – 5317
Hindu calendars
- Bikram Samwat	1612 – 1613
- Shaka Samvat	1478 – 1479
- Kali Yuga	4657 – 4658
Holocene calendar	11556
Iranian calendar	934 – 935
Islamic calendar	963 – 964
Japanese calendar	Kōji 2 (弘治2年)
Korean calendar	3889
Thai solar calendar	2099

January 8 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
February – Henry Briggs, English mathematician (d. 1630)
February 21 – Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French statesman and philosopher (d. 1621)
June 6 – Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, English politician and diplomat (d. 1625)
November 15 – Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (d. 1618)
date unknown
- Margaret Clitherow, English Catholic martyr (d. 1586)
- Shibata Katsutoyo, Japanese military commander (d. 1583)
- Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Sudanese writer and political leader (d. 1627)
- James Melville, Scottish divine and reformer (d. 1614)

March 21 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (burned at the stake) (b. 1489)
April 18 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and statesman (b. 1495)
June 10 – Martin Agricola, German composer (b. 1486)
July 31 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (b. 1491)
September – Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, Scottish traitor (b. 1512)
October 21 – Pietro Aretino, Italian author (b. 1492)
November 14 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (b. 1503)
December 23 – Nicholas Udall, English dramatist (b. 1504)
date unknown
- John Bell, Bishop of Worcester
- Girolamo da Carpi, Italian painter (b. 1501)
- Jacob Clemens non Papa, Flemish composer (b. 1510)
- Saitō Dōsan, Japanese warlord (b. 1494)
- Fuzûlî, Turkish poet (b. 1494)
- Lorenzo Lotto, Italian painter (b. 1480)
- Brian mac Cathaoir O Conchobhair Failghe, last of the Kings of Ui Failghe