Year 1540 (MDXL ) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar .
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October 1 : Battle of Alborán
July– September
July 7 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado captures Hawikuh in modern-day New Mexico, at this time known as part of Cíbola , but fails to find the legendary gold.
July 9 – King Henry VIII of England 's marriage to Anne of Cleves , his fourth Queen consort , is annulled .[4]
July 28 – Thomas Cromwell , is executed for treason on the orders of king Henry VIII of England . Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard , on the same day.[4]
August 15 – In Peru , Spanish captain Garcí Manuel de Carbajal founds the Villa Hermosa de Arequipa ; one year later, Charles V of Germany and I of Spain will give the valley a status of 'city' by royal decree.
September 3 – Gelawdewos succeeds his father Lebna Dengel as Emperor of Ethiopia .
September 10 – Gibraltar is sacked by the fleet of Barbary pirate Ali Hamet, a Sardinian renegade in the service of the Ottoman Empire , and many of its leading citizens are taken as captives to Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in Morocco .[5] [6] This leads to construction of the defensive Charles V Wall , at this time known as the Muralla de San Benito .
September 27 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Paul III , in his bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae .
October– December
October 1 – Battle of Alborán : A Habsburg Spanish fleet, under the command of Bernardino de Mendoza , destroys an Ottoman fleet commanded by Ali Hamet off Alborán Island in the Mediterranean.
October 18 – An expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto destroys the fortified village of Mabila in modern-day Alabama , killing paramount chief Tuskaloosa .
November 8 – William Whorwood becomes the new Attorney General for England and Wales , succeeding Sir John Baker
December 16 – Honoré I, Lord of Monaco reaches the age of 19 and after the future principality of Monaco had been administered by regents for more than 18 years.
December 20 – Stephen V , Prince of Moldavia , is assassinated by two of the Moldavian nobles (boyars ), Mihul and Trotsanul, after word arrives that he will be replaced by Petru IV Rareş , who had paid a bribe to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in order to be appointed the new Prince. Alexandru Cornea is crowned temporarily as Prince Alexandru III.[7]
December 31 – Estêvão da Gama , Governor of Portuguese India , departs from Goa with a plan to sail into the Red Sea , and destroy the Ottoman Empire's access to the Indian Ocean by plundering Suez . The planned attack fails.
John Sigismund Zápolya
Princess Cecilia of Sweden
January 18 – Catarina of Portugal, Duchess of Braganza , claimant to the Portuguese throne in 1580 (d. 1614 )
January 25 – Edmund Campion , English Jesuit and Roman Catholic martyr (d. 1581 )[9]
January 28 – Ludolph van Ceulen , German mathematician (d. 1610 )
February 12 – Won Gyun , Korean general and admiral during the Joseon Dynasty (d. 1597 )
February 23 – Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (d. 1602 )
February 25 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton , English aristocrat and courtier (d. 1614 )
March 1 – Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares , Spanish noble (d. 1607 )
March 17 – Bernhard VII, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , German prince of the House of Ascania (d. 1570 )
April 3 – Maria de' Medici , Italian noble (d. 1557 )
April 8 – Toyotomi Hidenaga , Japanese warlord (d. 1591 )
May 9 – Maharana Pratap , Indian warrior king (d. 1597 )
May 14
May 22 – James, Duke of Rothesay , Scottish prince (d. 1541 )
May 31 – Henry Cheyne, 1st Baron Cheyne , English politician and baron (d. 1587 )
June 3 – Charles II, Archduke of Austria , regent of Inner Austria (d. 1590 )
June 9 – Shima Sakon , Japanese samurai (d. 1600 )
June 11 – Barnabe Googe , English poet (d. 1594 )
June 29 – Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli , Spanish countess (d. 1592 )
June 30 – Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim , Duchess of Saxony (d. 1594 )
July 7 – John Sigismund Zápolya , King of Hungary (d. 1571 )
July 11 – Adolf of Nassau , Count of Nassau, Dutch soldier (d. 1568 )
July 16 – Alfonso Carafa , Italian cardinal (d. 1565 )
July 19 – Ludowika Margaretha of Zweibrücken-Bitsch , spouse of Count Philip V of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1569 )
August 4 – Sisto Fabri , Italian theologian (d. 1594 )
August 5 – Joseph Justus Scaliger , French Protestant scholar (d. 1609 )
August 25 – Lady Catherine Grey , English noblewoman, potential successor to the throne (d. 1568 )
September 5 – Magnus, Duke of Holstein , Prince of Denmark (d. 1583 )
September 9 – John VII, Count of Oldenburg (d. 1603 )
October 1 – Johann Jakob Grynaeus , Swiss Protestant clergyman (d. 1617 )
November 12 – Anna of Veldenz , Margrave of Baden (d. 1586 )
November 16 – Princess Cecilia of Sweden (d. 1627 )
December 8 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gonzaga , Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1591 )
December 21 – Thomas Schweicker , German artist (d. 1602 )
December 28 – Charles I, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1610 )
December 31 – Silvio Antoniano , Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1603 )
date unknown
Andrea Andreani , Italian wood engraver (d. 1623 )
Inés de Hinojosa , Venezuelan hacendada (d. 1571 )
Francis Drake , English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, pirate and politician (d. 1596 )
Christopher Hatton , English politician (d. 1591 )
George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon , English nobleman (d. 1604 )
Pierre Jeannin , French statesman (d. 1622 )
François Viète , French mathematician (d. 1603 )
Amago Yoshihisa , Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1610 )
probable
Angela Merici
Thomas Cromwell
Lebna Dengel
c. January – Elizabeth Blount , mistress of Henry VIII of England (b. 1502 )
January 27 – Angela Merici , Italian religious leader and saint (b. 1474 )
March 30 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg , German statesman and archbishop of Salzburg (b. 1469 )
April 21 – Afonso of Portugal , Catholic cardinal (b. 1509 )
May 6 – Juan Luís Vives , Spanish scholar (b. 1492 )
May 22 – Francesco Guicciardini , Italian statesman and historian (b. 1483 )
June 16 – Konrad von Thüngen , German noble (b. c. 1466 )
July 22 – John Zápolya , King of Hungary (b. c. 1490 )
July 28 – Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex , English statesman (executed) (b. c.1485 )[10]
July 30
August 23 – Guillaume Budé , French scholar (b. 1467 )[11]
August 24 – Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (Parmigianino) , Italian artist (b. 1503 )
August 28 – Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (b. 1500 )
September 2 – Lebna Dengel , Emperor of Ethiopia (in battle) (b. 1501 )
September 16 – Enrique de Borja y Aragón , Spanish noble of the House of Borgia (b. 1518 )
September 20 – Infante Duarte, Duke of Guimarães , son of King Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1515 )
October 5 – Helius Eobanus Hessus , German Latin poet (b. 1488 )
date unknown – Francisco de Ulloa , Spanish explorer
probable
James Clark, The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History (Yale University Press, 2021) p.454
Thomas, David; Chesworth, John (2017). Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History . Brill. p. 217. ISBN 9789004281110 .
Constantin Rezachevici, Cronologia critică a domnilor din Țara Românească și Moldova a. 1324 - 1881, Volumul I. Editura Enciclopedică (2001)