1561

Events

• The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots.
• Mary, Queen of Scots is denied passage through England after returning from France. She arrives at Leith, Scotland on August 19.
• The first Calvinists settle in England after fleeing Flanders.
• Madrid is declared the capital of Spain by Philip II.
• St. Paul's Cathedral in London is badly damaged by fire.
• Ruy López develops modern techniques of chess playing in Spain.
• Sweden conquers Livonia (modern Estonia).

Births

• January 21 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist and statesman (d. 1626)
• July 11 - Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish baroque poet. (d. 1627)
• August 20 - Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)
• Giulio Cesare Martinengo , Italian composer

Deaths

• September 25 - Bayezid, son of Suleiman the Magnificent (executed)
• Alonso Berruguete , Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1480)

Literature

• The Book of the Courtier (Il Cortegiano) is translated into English by Sir Thomas Hoby
• Poetics by Julius Caesar Scaliger
• Institution of the Christian Religion is translated into English by Thomas Norton
• Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is finished (started in 1534)
• Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome
• Gabriele Fallopius publishes Observationes anatomicae (anatomical observations)