Early Modern
Council of Trent (1545–1563): The Catholic Counter-Reformation
The council restated Catholic doctrine against Protestant teaching and launched reforms of the clergy, but the split in Western Christianity became permanent.
Era · c. 1500 – 1800
Early Modern
Voyages of exploration, the Reformation and the age of revolutions that reshaped Europe and the wider world.
Early Modern
Ambroise Paré and Battlefield Surgery (1545): Gunshot Wounds
Paré's gentler treatment of gunshot wounds and his use of ligatures in amputation helped transform surgery and made him the most famous surgeon of the French Renaissance.
Early Modern
Potosí Silver Mines (1545): Cerro Rico and Spain's Treasure
Potosí became the largest silver mine in the world, a major source of Spanish royal income and of the silver that flowed into Europe and China, at a heavy cost to Indigenous forced labourers.
Early Modern
Battle of Pinkie (1547): The Rough Wooing of Scotland
Heavy Scottish defeat; England occupied parts of southern Scotland, but the Scots sent Mary to France to marry the French dauphin instead of Edward VI.
Early Modern
Battle of Mühlberg (1547): Charles V Defeats the Lutheran Princes
Decisive imperial victory; Elector John Frederick was captured and the Schmalkaldic League collapsed.
Early Modern
Kett's Rebellion (1549): Norfolk Rises Against Enclosure
The rebels were defeated at Dussindale on 27 August 1549 with heavy loss of life; Robert Kett was hanged at Norwich Castle in December.
Early Modern
Francis Xavier in Japan (1549): The First Christian Mission
Xavier founded small Christian communities in Kyushu and western Honshu and opened a Jesuit mission that grew to well over 100,000 converts by the end of the century.
Early Modern
Valladolid Debate (1550–1551): Las Casas versus Sepúlveda
The panel of judges issued no clear collective verdict, but Sepúlveda's case for conquest was not officially endorsed and the debate shaped later Spanish policy.
Early Modern
Suleymaniye Mosque: Sinan's Imperial Masterpiece in Istanbul
Completed in 1557, the mosque and its complex became the largest Ottoman foundation in Istanbul and the burial place of Suleiman, Hurrem Sultan and Sinan.
Early Modern
Willoughby and Chancellor Voyage (1553): England Reaches Russia
Willoughby and the crews of two ships died on the Kola Peninsula, but Chancellor reached Moscow, leading to the founding of the Muscovy Company in 1555.
Early Modern
Lady Jane Grey (1553): The Nine Days' Queen of England
Mary I took the throne without a battle; Jane was imprisoned, condemned for treason and beheaded in February 1554.
Early Modern
Wyatt's Rebellion (1554): Revolt Against Mary I's Spanish Match
The rising collapsed at Ludgate on 7 February 1554; Wyatt, Lady Jane Grey and about a hundred others were executed, and Mary married Philip in July.