• January 1 - French troops surrender Gaeta[?] to the Spanish under Cordoba.
• January 31 - France cedes Naples to Aragon
• Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes his sculpture of David.
• Moldavia, Stephan IIIrd[?] the great fights against Turkey and Poland.
• Baber besieges and captures Kabul.
• Ferdinand II of Aragon becomes King of Naples as Ferdinand III.
• Christopher Columbus return to spain from his fourth voyage where he and his yonger son, Ferdinand, explored the coast of Central America from Belize to Panama.
• Aldo Manuzio publishes Demosthenes.

Births

• Heinrich Bullinger, Swiss reformer.
• Michele Ghislieri, becomes Pope Pius V in 1566.
• Matthew Parker, becomes Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559.

Deaths

• Isabella of Castile, Queen of Castile, the wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the mother of Catherine of Aragon, and the patron of Christopher Columbus.
• Philibert II of Savoy, Duke of Savoy
• Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara, Astronomer and teacher of Nicolaus Copernicus
• Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby