Explore 189 historical events from 1550–1559.
Helsinki, until about 1930 known in English by its Swedish name of Helsingfors, is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is t…
The city of Helsinki, Finland (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden
Moses Isserles, also known by the acronym Rema, was an eminent Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, talmudist, and posek.
Rabbi Moses Isserles issues his ruling in the Bragadin-Giustiniani dispute, one of the earliest instances of a…
Camillus de Lellis, M.I., was an Italian Catholic priest who founded the Camillians, a religious order dedicated to the care of the sick. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in t…
Camillus de Lellis, Italian saint and nurse (died 1614)
Charles IX was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate mon…
Charles IX, king of France (died 1574)
Jacobus Gallus was a late-Renaissance composer of presumed Slovene ethnicity. Born in Carniola, which at the time was one of the Habsburg lands in the Holy Roman Empire, he lived a…
Jacobus Gallus, Slovenian composer (died 1591)
Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Zúñiga-Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, GE, was a Spanish aristocrat who was most noted for his role as commander of the Spanish Armada that was t…
Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, Spanish general (died 1615)
Pope Paul V, born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galile…
Paul V, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1621)
Michael Maestlin was a German astronomer and mathematician, best known as the mentor of Johannes Kepler. A student of Philipp Apian, Maestlin is recognized as the teacher who had t…
Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (died 1631)
Stanisław Kostka, SJ was a Polish novice in the Society of Jesus. He was born at Rostkowo, Przasnysz County, Poland, on 28 October 1550, and died in Rome during the night of 14–15 …
Stanislaus Kostka, Polish saint (died 1568)
Laura Guidiccioni was an Italian noblewoman and poet.
Laura Guidiccioni, Italian noblewoman and poet (died 1597/9)
Tabin-shwë-hti, also called Black Tongue (လျှာနက်မင်း), was King of Burma from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the First Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created…
Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (born 1516)
Jean de Lorraine was the third son of the ruling Duke of Lorraine, and a French cardinal, who was archbishop of Reims (1532–1538), Lyon (1537–1539), and Narbonne (1524–1550), bisho…
Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (born 1498)
Anne of Saint Bartholomew was a Spanish Discalced Carmelite and companion to Teresa of Ávila who established new monasteries in France and the Low Countries. Anne sometimes struggl…
Anne of Saint Bartholomew, Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun (died 1626)
Charles IX, also Carl, reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until 1611. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King John…
Charles IX of Sweden (died 1611)
Ashikaga Yoshiharu was the twelfth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of the eleventh shōgun Ashikag…
Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shōgun (born 1510)
Veronica Gambara was an Italian poet and politician. She was the ruler of the County of Correggio from 1518 until 1550.
Veronica Gambara, Italian poet (born 1485)
Jorge de Lencastre was a Portuguese prince, illegitimate son of King John II of Portugal and Ana de Mendonça, a lady-in-waiting to Joanna la Beltraneja. He was created the second D…
Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (born 1481)
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, was an English peer, secretary of state, Lord Chancellor and Lord High Admiral. A naturally skilled but unscrupulous and devious politi…
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (born 1505)
Antonio Ferramolino was a 16th-century Italian architect and military engineer. He is also known as Sferrandino da Bergamo, and is called Hernan Molin in Spanish sources. He is mos…
Antonio Ferramolino, Italian architect and military engineer
Georg von Blumenthal was a German Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg and Bishop of Lebus. He also served as a Privy Councillor of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and Chancellor of the Unive…
Georg von Blumenthal, German bishop (born 1490)
Tiedemann Giese, was Bishop of Kulm (Chełmno) first canon, later Prince-Bishop of Warmia (Ermland) whose interest in mathematics, astronomy, and theology led him to mentor a number…
Tiedemann Giese, Polish bishop (born 1480)