1542

This article is about the year 1542.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1510s  1520s  1530s  – 1540s –  1550s  1560s  1570s
Years:	1539 1540 1541 – 1542 – 1543 1544 1545

1542 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1542 MDXLII
Ab urbe condita	2295
Armenian calendar	991 ԹՎ ՋՂԱ
Assyrian calendar	6292
Bengali calendar	949
Berber calendar	2492
English Regnal year	33 Hen. 8 – 34 Hen. 8
Buddhist calendar	2086
Burmese calendar	904
Byzantine calendar	7050–7051
Chinese calendar	辛丑年 (Metal Ox) 4238 or 4178     — to — 壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 4239 or 4179
Coptic calendar	1258–1259
Discordian calendar	2708
Ethiopian calendar	1534–1535
Hebrew calendar	5302–5303
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1598–1599
- Shaka Samvat	1464–1465
- Kali Yuga	4643–4644
Holocene calendar	11542
Igbo calendar	542–543
Iranian calendar	920–921
Islamic calendar	948–949
Japanese calendar	Tenbun 11 (天文１１年)
Julian calendar	1542 MDXLII
Korean calendar	3875
Minguo calendar	370 before ROC 民前370年
Thai solar calendar	2084–2085

Portuguese battles in Ethiopia.

Year 1542 (MDXLII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–June

• February 2 – Battle of Baçente: The Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama capture a Moslem-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia.
• February 13 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
• February 14 – Guadalajara, Mexico, is founded by the Spaniards after 3 previous attempts failed, due to aggressive opposition from local tribes.
• March 8 – Antoine Escalin des Eymars, the French ambassador, returns from Constantinople with promises of Ottoman aid in a war against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• April 4–16 – Battle of Jarte in Ethiopia: The Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama encounter the army of Imam Ahmad Gragn and inflict upon him two successive defeats.
• May 19 – The Prome Kingdom, in modern-day central Burma, is conquered by the Taungoo Dynasty.

July–December

• July 12 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor declares war on King Francis I of France. This time King Henry VIII of England is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French.
• August – Battle of the Hill of the Jews: During the rainy season, Cristóvão da Gama captures a strategic position and many badly-needed horses.
• August 24 – Battle of Haddon Rig: Scotland defeats England.
• August 27 – Citizens of Hildesheim in the Holy Roman Empire profess themselves to the Lutheran teachings. As a pledge owner, the city provides for the carrying out of the Protestant Reformation in the city and Peine. Priests from the localities of Clauen, Hohenhameln, Soßmar, Schmedenstedt, Lengede and Rosenthal resume their offices in the interest of the Reformation.
• August 28 – Battle of Wofla in Ethiopia: Reinforced with at least 600 arquebusiers and cavalry, Imam Ahmad Gragn attacks the Portuguese camp. The Portuguese are scattered; Cristóvão da Gama is captured and executed.
• September 4 – Earliest recorded Preston Guild Court in Lancashire, England, in the modern sequence, which lasts unbroken until 1922.
• September 28 – Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo lands in what is now San Diego Bay and names it "San Miguel"; it will later become the city of San Diego.
• October 7 – Cabrillo becomes the first European to set foot on Santa Catalina Island, California.
• November 24 – Battle of Solway Moss: An English army invades Scotland and defeats a Scottish army.
• December 14 – Mary, Queen of Scots, becomes queen regnant at the age of only one week on the death of her father, James V of Scotland.

Date unknown

• The first contact of Japan with the West occurs when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, lands Fernão Mendes Pinto, Diogo Zeimoto and Cristovão Borralho in Japan.
• Pope Paul III establishes the Holy Office with jurisdiction over the Roman Inquisition.
• Bartolomé de las Casas completes A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, which would be published in 1552.

Births

• February 1 – John Scudamore, English politician (d. 1623)
• February 22 – Santino Garsi da Parma, Italian musician (d. 1604)
• March 19 – Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (died 1605)
• April 29 – Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (d. 1587)
• May 5 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (d. 1623)
• May 11 – Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee, Roman Catholic bishop (d. 1608)
• May 16 – Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman, daughter of Count Philip IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1580)
• June 15 – Richard Grenville, English politician (d. 1591)
• June 24 – John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite mystic, theologian, poet (d. 1591)
• July 25 – Magnus, Duke of Östergötland, Swedish prince (d. 1595)
• August 18 – Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (d. 1601)
• August 27 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania and Protestant Bishop of Cammin (d. 1600)
• August 31 – Isabella de' Medici, Italian princess (d. 1576)
• September 25 – Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg, Sister of William the Silent (d. 1603)
• October 1
  • Mariam-uz-Zamani, Mughal Empress (d. 1623)
  • Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Spanish explorer (d. 1595)
• June 6 – Richard Grenville, Elizabethan soldier and explorer (died 1591)
• October 4 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (died 1621)
• October 14 – Philip IV, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1602)
• October 15 – Akbar, Mughal Emperor (died 1605)
• October 31 – Henriette of Cleves, Duchess of Nevers, Countess of Rethel (d. 1601)
• November 1 – Tarquinia Molza, Italian singer (d. 1617)
• November 9 – Anders Sørensen Vedel, Danish historian (d. 1616)
• November 11 – Scipione Gonzaga, Italian cardinal (d. 1593)
• December 8 – Mary, Queen of Scots (died 1587)
• December 21 – Thomas Allen, Mathematician (d. 1632)
• date unknown
  • Toda Kazuaki, samurai in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu (died 1604)
  • John Speed, English historian (died 1629)
  • Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese daimyo (died 1611)
  • Kuki Yoshitaka, Japanese naval commander (died 1600)

Deaths

• February – Nikolaus Federmann, German adventurer in Venezuela and Colombia (born 1501)
• February 1 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (born 1480)
• February 13 – Catherine Howard, Fifth Queen of Henry VIII of England (executed) (born c. 1522)
• March 3 – Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, illegitimate son of King Edward IV of England
• May 21 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer, navigator and conquistador (born c. 1500)
• June 19 – Leo Jud, Swiss reformer (born 1482)
• July 15 – Lisa del Giocondo, believed to be the subject of the Mona Lisa
• August 24 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (born 1483)
• August 29 – Cristóvão da Gama, Portuguese soldier (born c. 1516)
• September 21 – Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet (born c. 1490)
• October 11 – Thomas Wyatt, English poet and diplomat (born 1503)
• December 14 – King James V of Scotland (born 1512)
• date unknown
  • Dosso Dossi, Italian painter (born 1490)
  • Lucas Fernández, Spanish dramatist and musician (born c. 1474)
  • Lapu-Lapu, Filipino king (born 1491)