1547

Events

January–June

• January 8 - The first Lithuanian-language book, a Catechism, is published in Königsberg by Martynas Mažvydas.
• January 13 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey is sentenced to death for treason in England.
• January 16 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
• January 28 - King Henry VIII of England dies in London and is succeeded by his 9-year-old son Edward VI as King of England.
• February 20 - Edward VI of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
• March 31 - King Francis I of France dies at the Château de Rambouillet and is succeeded by his eldest surviving son Henry II as King of France.
• April 4 - Catherine Parr, widow of King Henry VIII of England, secretly marries Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley.
• April 24 - Battle of Mühlberg: Emperor Charles V defeats the Lutheran forces of the Schmalkaldic League.

  July–December

• August 13 - The Duchy of Brittany unites with the Kingdom of France.
• September 10
• * Battle of Pinkie Cleugh: An English army under the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, defeats a Scottish army under James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the Regent. The English seize Edinburgh.
• * Conspirators led by Ferrante Gonzaga murder Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma and son of the Pope, and hang his body from a window of his palace in Piacenza.

  Date unknown

• Huguenots increasingly immigrate to the English county of Kent, especially Canterbury, from France.
• The Chambre Ardente is established in Paris for trying heretics.
• Work on construction of the Château de Chambord, in the Loire Valley, for Francis I of France, ceases.
• John Dee visits the Low Countries, to study navigation with Gemma Frisius.
• Edward VI of England outlaws execution by boiling.

  Births

• January 15 - Duchess Hedwig of Württemberg, by marriage countess of Hesse-Marburg
• January 20 - Laurence Bruce, Scottish politician
• January 24 - Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Austrian Archduchess
• February 8 - Girolamo Mattei, Italian Catholic cardinal
• February 18 - Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, Syrian Arab co-founder of the Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy
• February 24 - Don John of Austria, military leader
• March 1 - Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher
• March 26 - Bernardino Bertolotti, Italian instrumentalist and composer
• April 8 - Lucrezia Bendidio, noblewoman and singer in Renaissance Ferrara
• May 15 - Magnus Pegel, German mathematician
• May 19 - Gustaf Banér, Swedish nobleman and member of the Privy Council of Sweden
• June 28 - Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian organist and composer
• July 5 - Garzia de' Medici, Italian noble
• August 10 - Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
• September 10 - George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
• September 14 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman
• September 22 - Philipp Nicodemus Frischlin, German philologist and poet
• September 20 - Faizi, Indo-Persian poet and scholar
• September 29 - Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish fiction writer
• October 2 - Philipp Ludwig, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Count Palatine of Sulzbach
• October 18 - Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist
• October 29 - Princess Sophia of Sweden, Swedish princess
• November 7 - Rudolf Hospinian, Swiss writer
• November 10
• * Martin Moller, German poet and mystic
• * Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Archbishop of Cologne
• November 12 - Claude of Valois, daughter of King Henry II of France
• November 26 - Nicolaus Taurellus, German philosopher and theologian
• December 5 - Ubbo Emmius, Dutch historian and geographer
• December 15 - Magdalena of Nassau-Dillenburg, German noblewoman
• date unknown
• * Matteo Perez d'Aleccio, Italian painter
• * Mateo Alemán, Spanish novelist and man of letters
• * Peter Bales, English calligrapher
• * Louis Carrion, Flemish humanist and classical scholar
• * Oichi, Japanese noblewoman
• * Krzysztof Mikołaj "the Thunderbolt" Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman
• * Richard Stanihurst, English translator of Virgil
• * Roemer Visscher, Dutch writer
• * Stanisław Żółkiewski, Polish nobleman

  Deaths

• January 5
• * Albrecht VII, Duke of Mecklenburg
• * Johann Heß, German theologian
• January 16 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer
• January 18 - Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal and scholar
• January 19 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English nobleman, politician and poet, beheaded
• January 27 - Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Queen consort of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary
• January 28 - King Henry VIII of England
• February 25 - Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara
• February 28 - Philippa of Guelders, Duchess of Lorraine
• March 31 - King Francis I of France
• April 11 - Dorothea of Denmark, Duchess of Prussia, Danish princess
• May 22 - Daniel, Metropolitan of Moscow
• c. May - Edward Hall, English chronicler and lawyer
• June 21 - Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter
• July 20 - Beatus Rhenanus, German humanist and religious reformer
• August 7 - Saint Cajetan, Italian priest and saint
• August 17 - Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess
• September 10 - Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma
• September 17 - Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica from 1488
• October 18 - Jacopo Sadoleto, Italian Catholic cardinal
• December 2 - Hernán Cortés, Spanish conquistador of Mexico
• December 28 - Konrad Peutinger, German humanist and antiquarian
• date unknown
• * Jörg Breu the Younger, German painter
• * Meera, Rajput princess
• * Photisarath, King of Laos