January 9– The papal conclave to elect a successor to the late Pope Leo X is concluded as Adriaan Florensz Boeyens of the Netherlands, Bishop of Utrecht, is selected as a compromise candidate despite being absent from the proceedings. Bishop Boeyens is proclaimed as Pope Adrian VI, the 218th pope and the last non-Italian pontiff for the next 450 years.[1]
February 5– In Castile in Spain, the Revolt of the Comuneros is re-ignited when King Carlos V reneges on a promised amnesty to participants in a 1520 uprising, and threatens to execute revolt leader María Pacheco.[2] Calm is restored by the intervention of Maria de Mendoza, and while many of the rebels are punished, Pacheco is able to escape to Portugal.[3]
February 10– The Grünwald Conference takees place in the Duchy of Bavaria in Germany, as the co-rulers, Duke Wilhelm IV and Duke Ludwig X agreed to retain the traditional Roman Catholic Church but to make their own reformation of the church within the Duchy, beginning what will eventually become the Counter-Reformation.[4]
February 28– The Viscount of Lautrec, leader of the French Army, spares the Italian residents of Treviglio from his plan of vengeance for their earlier resistance to the French troops, apparently after witnessing a miracle of seeing a fresco of the Virgin Mary shed tears.[6]
In Zurich in Switzerland, the Affair of the Sausages begins as Pastor Huldrych Zwingli of Grossmünster publicly speaks out against the food restrictions during the Roman Catholic period of fasting during Lent, and advocating that followers of Martin Luther eat sausage, one of the prohibited foods. Zwingli defends his action in the sermon Von Erkiesen und Freiheit der Speisen ("Regarding the freedom of Choice of Foods"), in that the Bible does not prohibit the eating of meat during Lent. The public declaration sparks the Reformation in Zürich.[9]
In Wittenberg, as the first day of Lent arrives, Martin Luther begins presching the first of his eight "Invocavit sermons", stressing the primacy of core Christian values, such as love, patience, charity, and freedom, and reminding his followers to trust God's word rather than violence to bring about necessary change.[10]
May 30– In Italy, the siege of Genoa, defended by France against the Holy Roman Imperial armies of General Fernando d'Avalos, ends after 10 days as the Imperial troops overrun the city. Since Genoa had refused to surrender, the Imperial troops are permitted to pillage the fallen city. [18]
July 23– A counter-attack by local peasants and the French Army defeats the English Army in the first Battle of Morlaix, the day after the English pillage the town of Morlaix and begin loading their treasure on to their ships. When the French Army, commanded by Guy XVI de Laval, arrives, it finds that most of the English soldiers are either sleeping or drunk after having celebrated a conquest, and about 700 English soldiers are massacred.[21]
Chinese Ming dynasty War Ministry official He Ru is the first to acquire the Portuguesebreech-loadingculverin, while copies of them are made by two Westernized Chinese at Beijing, Yang San (Pedro Yang) and Dai Ming.
Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015. McFarland. p.11. ISBN9781476625850.
https://books.google.com/books?id=uvBM4s5eHF8C&q=1522 "Ordinance for the Keeping of King James the Fifth"], in Report on the Manuscripts of the Earl of Mar and Kellie, Volume 1, ed. by Thomas Erskine Kellie (1st earl of), Walter John Francis Erskine earl of Mar and Kellie (London: Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1904) pp.11-12