- Jan 5 William Louis of Nassau becomes governor/viceroy of Drenthe
- Jan 27 Vatican opens blasphemy and theological heresy trial against Italian scholar and wayward friar Giordano Bruno; proceedings drag on for over 7 years [1]
- Mar 1 The Uppsala Synod is summoned to confirm the exact forms of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.
- Mar 23 English Separatist Puritans John Greenwood and Henry Barrowe tried and sentenced to death on the charge of devising and circulating seditious books
- Mar 25 Recantation of Loos, Dutch scholar Coinelius Loos recants his earlier written protest against witchcraft persecution in Trier, Germany before officials in Brussels
Warrant for Christopher Marlowe
May 18 Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe
- Aug 20 'The Massacre of the Innocents': In Timbuktu prominent citizens rounded up and some killed by invading Moroccan forces who then pillage the city, ending its golden age
- Oct 24 Alleged teleportation of Spanish soldier Gil Perez from the Philippines to Mexico
- Dec 15 State of Holland grants patent on windmill with a crankshaft
- Dec 24 Storm hits Texel: 40 ships hit, 500 killed
Gregory I
Gregory XIII
Julius II
Julius III
Leo X
Pius V