Events
January–June
- January 18 – Lima, Peru, is founded by Francisco Pizarro, as Ciudad de los Reyes
- February 27 – George Joye publishes his Apologye in Antwerp, to clear his name from the accusations of William Tyndale.
- March – English forces under William Skeffington storm Maynooth Castle in Ireland, the stronghold of Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare.
- March 10 – Fray Tomás de Berlanga discovers the Galápagos Islands, when blown off course en route to Peru.
- May 4 – The first of the English Carthusian Martyrs is executed.
- May 10 – Amsterdam: A small troop of Anabaptists, led by the minister Jacob van Geel, attacks the city hall, in an attempted coup to seize the city. In the counter-attack by the city’s militia, the burgemeester, Pieter Colijns, is killed by the rebels. In another incident this year in Amsterdam, seven men and five women walk nude in the streets; and Anabaptists rebel in other cities of the Netherlands.
- May 19 – French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona‘s two sons (taken by Cartier during his first voyage).
- May 20 – William Tyndale is arrested in Antwerp for heresy, in relation to his Bible translation, and imprisoned in Vilvoorde.
- June 1 – The Conquest of Tunis by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, begins with the destruction of Barbarossa‘s fleet. Following the eventual capture of the city from the Ottoman Empire, around 30,000 inhabitants are massacred.
- June 8 – Battle of Bornholm: Combined Swedish and Danish fleets defeat the Hanseatic navy.
- June 22 – Cardinal John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, is executed for his refusal to swear an oath of loyalty to King Henry VIII of England.
- June 24 – Münster Rebellion: The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded.
July–December
- July 6 – Sir Thomas More, author of Utopia and one time Lord Chancellor of England, is executed for treason, after refusing to recognize King Henry VIII as head of the English Church, and separate from the Roman Catholic Church.
- July 15 – Archdeacon Charles Reynolds (cleric), envoy to James V, Charles V, and Pope Paul III, is buried in Rome. He died of malaria while lobbying for the excommunication of King Henry VIII for heresy.
- October 2 – Jacques Cartier reaches the island in the Saint Lawrence River, that eventually becomes Montreal.
- October 4 – The first complete English-language Bible is printed in Antwerp, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
- December – Manco Inca Yupanqui, nominally Sapa Inca, is imprisoned by the Spanish Conquistadors of Peru.
Date unknown
- Mughal Emperor Humayun gives battle to Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.
- Spanish forces abandon the second attempted conquest of Yucatán.
- The earliest (partially) preserved printed book in Estonian, a Catechism with a translation by Johann Koell from the Middle Low German Lutheran text of Simon Wanradt, is printed by Hans Lufft in Wittenberg, for use in Tallinn.
- Suleiman the Magnificent begins the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem.
- Paracelsus visits Bad Pfäfers.
