1545

January–June

• February 22 - A firman of the Ottoman Empire is issued for the dethronement of Radu Paisie as Prince of Wallachia.
• February 27 - Battle of Ancrum Moor: The Scots are victorious over numerically superior English forces.
• March 24 - At a diet in Worms, Germany, summoned by Pope Paul III, the German Protestant princes demand a national religious settlement for Germany. Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V refuses.
• April 1 - Potosí is founded by the Spanish as a mining town after the discovery of huge silver deposits in this area of modern-day Bolivia. Silver mined from Huayna Potosí Mountain provides most of the wealth on which the Spanish Empire is based until its fall in the early 19th century.
• June 13 - Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez sets out to navigate the northern coast of New Guinea.

  July–December

• July 18-19 - Battle of the Solent between the English and French fleets: The engagement is inconclusive, but on the second day Henry VIII of England's flagship, the Mary Rose, sinks.
• c. July 21 - Italian Wars: Battle of Bonchurch - The English reverse an attempted French invasion of the Isle of Wight, off the coast of England.
• c. September - Mobye Narapati succeeds as ruler of the Ava Kingdom and offers peace to the Taungoo Dynasty, ending the Taungoo–Ava War, and leaving the Taungoo as the dominant rulers in Burma.
• October - The Siege of Kawagoe Castle begins, as part of an unsuccessful attempt by the Uesugi clan to regain Kawagoe Castle from the Late Hōjō clan in Japan.
• December 13 - The Council of Trent officially opens in northern Italy.

  Undated

• Battle of Sokhoista: The army of the Ottoman Empire defeats an alliance of Georgian dynasties.
• Diogo I Nkumbi a Mpudi overthrows his uncle Pedro I of Kongo to become manikongo.
• In China, a large failure of the harvest in Henan province occurs due to excessive rainfall, which drives up the price of wheat, and forces many to flee their rural counties; those who stay behind are forced to survive by eating leaves, bark, and human flesh.
• In the territory of New Spain in modern-day Mexico, the Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548 begins.
• St. Anne's Church, Augsburg converts to Lutheranism.

  Births

• January 1 - Magnus Heinason, Faroese naval hero
• January 11 - Guidobaldo del Monte, Italian mathematician, astronomer and philosopher
• March - Gaspare Tagliacozzi, Italian surgeon and anatomist
• March 2 - Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
• March 18 - Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, German bishop
• March 25 - John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg
• April 1 - Peder Claussøn Friis, Norwegian clergyman and author
• April 2 - Elisabeth of Valois, queen of Philip II of Spain
• April 15 - Karl II, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Duke of Oels, Duke of Bernstadt
• April 24 - Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, English earl
• April 28 - Yi Sun-sin, Korean naval commander
• May 1 - Franciscus Junius, French theologian
• May 22 - Karl Christoph, Duke of Münsterberg
• June 6 - Jerome Gratian, Spanish Carmelite and writer
• June 13 - Naitō Nobunari, Japanese samurai and daimyō of Omi Province
• June 19 - Princess Anna Maria of Sweden, Swedish royal
• July 8 - Don Carlos of Spain, son of Philip II of Spain
• August 1 - Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer
• August 27 - Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
• September 7 - Eitel Friedrich IV, Count of Hohenzollern, First Count of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
• September 20 - Yamanaka Yukimori, Japanese samurai
• October 15 - Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst, Abbess of Gernrode and Frose, later Countess of Barby-Mühlingen
• October 19 - John Juvenal Ancina, Italian oratorian and bishop
• November 20 - Ernst Ludwig, Duke of Pomerania
• November 25 - Ana de Jesús, Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun and spiritual writer
• December 6 - Janus Dousa, Dutch historian and noble
• December 7 - Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots
• date unknown
• * George Bannatyne, collector of Scottish poems
• * John Field, British Puritan clergyman and controversialist
• * John Gerard, English botanist
• * Ismihan Sultan, Ottoman princess, daughter of Selim II and wife of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha
• * William Morgan, Welsh Bible translator
• * Azai Nagamasa, Japanese nobleman
• * Mashita Nagamori, Japanese warlord
• probable - Nicholas Breton, English poet and novelist

  Deaths

• January 16 - George Spalatin, German reformer
• February 12 or April 2 - Stanisław Odrowąż, Polish noble
• April 3 - Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist
• April 10 - Costanzo Festa, Italian composer
• April 22 - Louis X, Duke of Bavaria
• April 25 - Jobst II, Count of Hoya
• May - Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, English noblewoman
• May 22 - Sher Shah Suri, Indian ruler
• June 4 - John Louis, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken
• June 12 - Francis I, Duke of Lorraine
• June 15 - Elizabeth of Austria, Polish noble
• July 7 - Pernette Du Guillet, French poet
• July 12 - Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal
• August 8 - Injong of Joseon, 12th king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea
• August 22 - Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician and husband of Mary Tudor
• August 27 - Piotr Gamrat, Polish Catholic archbishop
• September - Hans Baldung, German artist
• September 1 - Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, French noble
• September 9 - Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans,
• September 24 - Albert of Mainz, elector and archbishop of Mainz
• October 18 - John Taverner, English composer
• date unknown
• * William Latimer, English churchman and scholar
• * Fernão Lopez, Portuguese renegade
• * Vicente Masip, Spanish painter