Kawanakajima.

Year 1561 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1561

• June 4 - St. Paul's Cathedral in London is badly damaged by fire and the spire is destroyed after being struck by lightning.
• July - Killing of the hated encomendero Pedro de Avendaño and two other Spaniards triggered the Second Great Rebellion of the Mapuche in the Arauco War.
• August 19 - Mary, Queen of Scots is denied passage through England after returning from France. She arrives at Leith, Scotland on August 19.
• September - The Protestant reformer, John Knox has a three-day debate in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland with Quintin Kennedy, commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, on transubstantiation. The result was inconclusive but Kennedy was fighting a losing battle against the tide of the Reformation which had been confirmed by the Scottish government in 1560.
• October 18 - Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima: Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.

Saint Basil's Cathedral.

Undated

• The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots.
• Kingston Grammar School is founded.
• The first Calvinists settle in England after fleeing Flanders.
• Madrid is declared the capital of Spain by Philip II.
• Ruy López develops modern techniques of chess playing in Spain.
• Sweden conquers Livonia (modern Estonia).
• Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome.
• Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow (started in 1534) is finished.
• Pensacola, the first European settlement in North America, and its support fleet are both destroyed by a hurricane. Two survivors manage to walk the long, arduous journey to Mexico City. The city is not re-settled until 1698.
• Between 1561 and 1670 3,229 witches are executed in southwestern Germany, most by burning.

Births

• January 6 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (d. 1656)
• January 22 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist, and statesman (d. 1626)
• June - Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York (d. 1631)
• July 11 - Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish poet (d. 1627)
• July 17 - Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer (d. 1602)
• August 4 - John Harington, courtier, inventor and writer (d. 1612)
• August 20 - Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)
• August 24 - Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (d. 1626)
• August 25 - Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (d. 1632)
• September 10 - Hernando Arias de Saavedra, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1634)
• September 29 - Adriaan van Roomen, Belgian mathematician (d. 1615)
• October 27 - Mary Sidney, English writer, patroness and translator (d. 1621)
• December 7 - Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)
• December 9 - Edwin Sandys, English founder of the colony of Virginia (d. 1629)
• date unknown - Stephen Bachiler, non-conformist minister and pioneer settler of New England (d. 1656)

Deaths

• January 31
  • Menno Simons, Anabaptist religious leader and Mennonite founder (b. 1496)
  • Bairam Khan, Turcoman noble and poet (assassinated)
• February 26 - Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer (b. 1520)
• March 25 - Conrad Lycosthenes, humanist and encyclopedist (b. 1518)
• May 16 - Jan Tarnowski, Polish nobleman (b. 1488)
• June 6 - Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, painter (b. 1483)
• July 19 - Henry Lauder, Lord St Germains, Lord Advocate of Scotland
• September 1 - Edward Waldegrave, English policitian and recusant
• October 27 - Lope de Aguirre, Basque rebel and conquistador (b. 1510)
• November 11 - Hans Tausen, Danish reformer (b. 1494)
• date unknown
  • Claude Garamond, French publisher (b. 1480)
  • Ijuin Tadaaki, Japanese nobleman (b. 1520)
• probable - Luis de Milán, Spanish composer (b. 1500)