History
1555
General
Population: 504 Million*
- Entertainment: Writers include Lewis Brecht Euripus play, Pierre de Ronsard Hymnes, Jorg Wiskram (collection of farce)
Art includes Michelangelo's "Pieta", Tintoretto "St. George and the Dragon",
- Medicine: Piemontese publishes medical recipies
- Religion: Death of Cardinal Giovanni Maria del Monte – Pope Julius III – Cardinal Marcello Cervini Montefano elected Pope Marcellus II –
died Apr 30 – Cardinal Giovanni Pietro Caraffa Capriglia elected Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV orders wall built to create first Jewish ghetto
- Science: Pierre Belon writes "L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux"
- Deaths: Naturalist Edward Wotton, Artist Barthel Bruyn, Painter Moretto, Pope Julius III, Pope Marcellus II
Africa
- Ethiopia: Portuguese Jesuit missions instituted
Americas
- General: Aztec dictionary published
- Brazil: French colony founded on Bay of Rio de Janeiro
Smallpox outbreak
Asia
- Burma: End of Kingdom of Ava
- China: Japanese pirates besiege Nanking
- India: Akbar grandson of Babur becomes Mogul emperor to 1605
Europe
- England: Building of Gray's Inn Hall in London started
One of three protestant bishops burned at stake - Bishop John Hooper executed for Protestantism in Gloucester but pyre relit four times due to wet wood
Bishop Stephen Gardiner hung after sending many Protestants to their deaths - To 1558 burning of heretics begins – about 300 including Thomas Cranmer
John Foxe flees to exile and writes Acts and Monuments (Foxe's Book of Martyrs) labels Queen Mary as Bloody Mary – Mary's pregnancy found to be phantom pregnancy and now (age 39) thought to be barren - husband leaves England for Spain
Parliament turns against Mary
Sir Antony Kingston starts rebellion in Parliament
- German States: Peace of Augsburg – Lutheran states to enjoy equal rights with Catholics - cities and states can decide religion
Protestants seize Catholic properties
- Holy Roman Empire: Emperor Charles V turns over government of Netherlands to son Philip
Peace of Augsburg (See German States)
- Russia: St. Basil's cathedral starts in Moscow
- Scotland: John Knox returns to Scotland from his exile in Geneva
- Spain: Tobacco brought for the first time from America to Spain