| January 7 | Calais, last English possession in France, retaken by French |
| January 8 | French troops under duke de Guise occupy Calais |
| January 9 | Geneva becomes independent from Berne canton, Switzerland |
| January 11 | Westmunster Church in Middelburg destroyed by heavy storm |
| March 5 | Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes |
| March 14 | Ferdinand I appointed Holy Roman emperor |
| April 4 | Czar Ivan IV gives parts of North-Russia to fur traders |
| April 24 | Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland marries French crown prince Francois |
| July 23 | Battle at Grevelingen: Gen/earl Lamoraal van Egmont beat France |
| August 4 | 1st printing of Zohar (Jewish Kabbalah) |
| November 7 | French king Henri II occupies Calais |
| November 17 | Elizabeth I ascends English throne upon death of Queen Mary |
| December 29 | Charles V, German emperor, buried |
