1554

Events

January–June

• January 5 - A great fire breaks out in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
• January 12 - Bayinnaung is crowned king of the Burmese Taungoo Dynasty.
• January 25 - São Paulo, Brazil, is founded.
• February 9 - Thomas Wyatt surrenders to government forces in London.
• February 12 - After claiming the throne of England the previous year, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
• March 18 - Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London.
• April 12 - Mary of Guise becomes Regent of Scotland.

  July–December

• July 23-25 - Queen Mary I of England marries King Philip of Naples, the only son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in Winchester, England.
• August 2 - Battle of Marciano: Senese–French forces are defeated by the Florentine–Imperial army.
• August 12 - Battle of Renty: French forces led by Francis, Duke of Guise turn back an invasion of Picardy, by Charles V.
• November - English captain John Lok voyages to Guinea.

  Date unknown

• Mikael Agricola becomes the bishop of Turku.
• Saadi conquer the Kingdom of Fez.
• Exact center year of Counter Reformation.
• The name of the beer brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company is based on a recipe from this date, called "1554."
• Luso-Chinese agreement: Portugal reaches an agreement with the Ming Dynasty of China, to be allowed to legally trade in the province of Guangdong.
• Rao Surjan Singh becomes ruler of Bundi.

  Births

• January 1 - Louis III, Duke of Württemberg
• January 9 - Pope Gregory XV
• January 20 - King Sebastian of Portugal
• February 8 - Marina de Escobar, Spanish nun
• February 27 - Giovanni Battista Paggi, Italian painter
• March - Richard Hooker, Anglican theologian
• March 1 - William Stafford, English courtier and conspirator
• March 18 - Josias I, Count of Waldeck, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg
• March 22 - Catherine de Parthenay, French noblewoman and mathematician
• March 26 - Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French military leader
• March 28 - Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich of Russia
• March 30 - Paul Laurentius, German divine
• April - Stephen Gosson, English satirist
• April 15 - Simon VI, Count of Lippe, Count of Lippe-Detmold
• May 20 - Paolo Bellasio, Italian composer
• June 3 - Pietro de' Medici, Italian noble
• June 5 - Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian Catholic cardinal
• June 21 - Joachim of Zollern, Titular Count of Hohenzollern
• July 5 - Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France
• October 1 - Leonardus Lessius, Jesuit theologian
• October 3 - Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, English poet
• October 10 - Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg and Lord of Rheda
• October 20 - Bálint Balassi, Hungarian writer and noble
• October 28 - Enevold Kruse, Danish noble
• October 30 - Prospero Farinacci, Italian jurist
• November 30 - Sir Philip Sidney, English courtier and poet
• December 17 - Ernest of Bavaria, Roman Catholic bishop
• December 19 - Philip William, Prince of Orange
• date unknown
• * Jacques Bongars, French scholar and diplomat
• * James Lancaster, English navigator
• * Walter Raleigh, English writer, poet, and explorer
• * Francis Throckmorton, English conspirator

  Deaths

• January 2 - João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, Portuguese prince
• January 11 - Min Bin, king of Arakan
• January 16
• * Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
• * Ambrosius Moibanus, German theologian
• February 12
• * Lord Guildford Dudley, consort of Lady Jane Grey
• * Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the throne of England
• February 21
• * Hieronymus Bock, German botanist
• * Sibylle of Cleves, Electress consort of Saxony
• February 23 - Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician
• March 3 - John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony
• April 11 - Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel
• April 23 - Gaspara Stampa, Italian poet
• May 2 - William Waldegrave, English Member of Parliament
• June 19
• * Sixt Birck, German humanist
• * Philip II, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken, German noble
• June 28 - Leone Strozzi, French Navy admiral
• August 25 - Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English politician
• September 22 - Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, Spanish conquistador
• December 22 - Alessandro Bonvicino, Italian painter
• December - John Taylor, Bishop of Lincoln
• approx. date - Susannah Hornebolt, English artist
• date unknown
• *Argula von Grumbach, German Protestant reformer
• *Leo Africanus, Sudanese writer
• *Sebastiano Serlio, Italian architect
• * Sir Hugh Willoughby, English Arctic explorer