Early Modern
Abdication of Charles V (1555): The Emperor Divides His Empire
The Habsburg inheritance was split into a Spanish branch under Philip II and an Austrian branch under Ferdinand I, and Charles retired to the monastery of Yuste.
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
Peace of Augsburg (1555): Cuius Regio, Eius Religio
Lutheranism became legal in the Holy Roman Empire, with each ruling prince choosing the religion of his territory, but Calvinists were excluded.
Early Modern
Marian Persecutions (1555–1558): Mary I Burns Protestants
Around 280 Protestants were burned, but the campaign failed to crush English Protestantism and gave Mary the lasting name Bloody Mary.
Early Modern
Peace of Amasya (1555): Ottomans and Safavids Divide the Region
The first formal Ottoman-Safavid peace recognised Ottoman rule over Iraq and divided Armenia and Georgia, keeping the frontier quiet until 1578.
Early Modern
Plantin Press in Antwerp (1555): A Renaissance Printing Empire
Plantin built one of the largest printing businesses in sixteenth-century Europe; his house and workshop survive as the Plantin-Moretus Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Early Modern
Second Battle of Panipat (1556): Akbar's Army Defeats Hemu
Decisive Mughal victory; Hemu was captured and killed, Delhi and Agra returned to Mughal control, and the Sur dynasty's last chance of restoration ended.
Early Modern
Akbar the Great: Expansion and Tolerance in Mughal India
Akbar turned a fragile foothold into a vast, centrally administered empire and set the pattern of Mughal government for the next century.
Early Modern
Shaanxi Earthquake (1556): The Deadliest Earthquake in History
An earthquake of estimated magnitude around 8 devastated Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan; official records put the dead at about 830,000, the highest toll of any recorded earthquake.
Early Modern
Portuguese Macau (1557): Europe's First Foothold in China
The Portuguese gained a tolerated, rent-paying settlement under Ming authority that became the main European gateway to China and Japan for nearly a century.
Early Modern
Florentine Codex: Sahagún's Nahua Encyclopedia of Mexico
A twelve-book bilingual, illustrated encyclopedia of Nahua culture and the conquest survived in Florence and became a key source on the Aztec world.
Early Modern
Loss of Calais (1558): England's Last French Possession Falls
France captured Calais and the surrounding Pale, ending England's last foothold on the French mainland.
Early Modern
Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559): End of the Italian Wars
France gave up its claims in Italy, Spain's dominance of the peninsula was confirmed, and France kept Calais and the Three Bishoprics.