1550

This article is about the year 1550. For the number, see 1550 (number).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1520s  1530s  1540s  – 1550s –  1560s  1570s  1580s
Years:	1547 1548 1549 – 1550 – 1551 1552 1553

1550 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1550 MDL
Ab urbe condita	2303
Armenian calendar	999 ԹՎ ՋՂԹ
Assyrian calendar	6300
Bengali calendar	957
Berber calendar	2500
English Regnal year	3 Edw. 6 – 4 Edw. 6
Buddhist calendar	2094
Burmese calendar	912
Byzantine calendar	7058–7059
Chinese calendar	己酉年 (Earth Rooster) 4246 or 4186     — to — 庚戌年 (Metal Dog) 4247 or 4187
Coptic calendar	1266–1267
Discordian calendar	2716
Ethiopian calendar	1542–1543
Hebrew calendar	5310–5311
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1606–1607
- Shaka Samvat	1472–1473
- Kali Yuga	4651–4652
Holocene calendar	11550
Igbo calendar	550–551
Iranian calendar	928–929
Islamic calendar	956–957
Japanese calendar	Tenbun 19 (天文１９年)
Julian calendar	1550 MDL
Korean calendar	3883
Minguo calendar	362 before ROC 民前362年
Thai solar calendar	2092–2093

Nostradamus.

Year 1550 (MDL) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–June

• January 6 – Spanish Captain Hernando de Santana founds the city of Valledupar in what is now Colombian territory.
• February 8 – Pope Julius III succeeds Pope Paul III as the 221st pope.
• March 12 – Several hundred Spanish and indigenous troops under the command of Pedro de Valdivia defeat an army of 60,000 Mapuche at the Battle of Penco during the Arauco War in present-day Chile.
• June 12 – The city of Helsinki, Finland (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden.

July–December

• July 21 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Julius III.

Date unknown

• Altan Khan besieges Peking.
• Iceland becomes fully Protestant.
• The first grammatical description of the French language is published by Louis Maigret.
• The first book in Slovene, Catechismus, written by Protestant reformer Primož Trubar, is printed in Schwäbisch Hall, Holy Roman Empire.
• Nostradamus' first almanac is written.
• John Dee finishes his studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
• Sherborne School is established.
• Navigable summit level canal completed between Alster and the Trave.
• Approximate date – The discovery of silver at Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico, and Potosí in Bolivia, stimulates silver rushes.

Births

• January 18 – Tsugaru Tamenobu, Japanese Daimyo (d. 1607)
• January 31 – Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic general (d. 1588)
• February 17 – Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, Dutch army commander (d. 1606)
• February 22 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
• March 6 – Michelangelo Naccherino, Sculptor (d. 1622)
• March 8 – William Drury, English politician (d. 1590)
• April 5 – Andrés Pacheco, Spanish churchman and theologian (d. 1626)
• April 9 – Giulio Pace, Italian philosopher (d. 1635)
• April 12 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain of England (d. 1604)
• April 16 – Francis Anthony, English apothecary and physician (d. 1623)
• April 18 – Alessandro Pieroni, Italian painter (d. 1607)
• May 8 – John I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (d. 1604)
• May 25 – Camillus de Lellis, Italian soldier and nurse (d. 1614)
• June 13 – Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer (d. 1613)
• June 16 – Marie Eleonore of Cleves, Duchess consort of Prussia (1573–1608) (d. 1608)
• June 27 – King Charles IX of France (d. 1574)
• June 28 – Johannes van den Driesche, Flemish Protestant clergyman and scholar (d. 1616)
• July 3 – Jacobus Gallus, Slovenian composer (d. 1591)
• August 6 – Enrico Caetani, Catholic cardinal (d. 1599)
• August 8 – Petrus Gudelinus, Belgian jurist (d. 1619)
• September 1 – Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, Spanish admiral (d. 1615)
• September 10 – Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, commander of the Spanish Armada (d. 1615)
• September 17 – Pope Paul V (d. 1621)
• September 29 – Joachim Frederick of Brieg, Duke of Wołów (1586-1602) (d. 1602)
• September 30 – Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1631)
• October 4 – King Charles IX of Sweden (d. 1611)
• October 6 – Karin Månsdotter, queen of Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1612)
• October 8 – Antonio Zapata y Cisneros, Spanish cardinal (d. 1635)
• October 19 – Ralph Sherwin, English Martyr and saint (d. 1581)
• October 28 – Stanislaus Kostka, Polish saint (d. 1568)
• November 1 – Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Prince-Bishop of Osnabruck and Paderborn (d. 1585)
• November 6 – Karin Månsdotter, Swedish queen (d. 1612)
• December 2 – Antonio Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona, Spanish diplomat (d. 1606)
• December 6 – Orazio Vecchi, Italian composer (d. 1605)
• December 21 – Aegidius Hunnius, German theologian (d. 1603)
• December 22 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher (d. 1631)
• December 28 – Vicente Espinel, Spanish writer (d. 1624)
• December 29 – García de Silva Figueroa, Spanish diplomat and traveller (d. 1624)
• December 31 – Henry I, Duke of Guise (d. 1588)

• date unknown
  • Jacob ben Isaac Ashkenazi, author (d. 1625)
  • Willem Barentsz, Dutch navigator and explorer (d. 1597)
  • Anselmus de Boodt, Belgian mineralogist and physician (d. 1632)
  • Matthijs Bril, Flemish painter (d. 1583)
  • Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (d. 1597)
  • John Napier, Scottish mathematician (d. 1617)
  • Ralph Sherwin, English Roman Catholic martyr and saint (d. 1581)
• probable
  • Robert Balfour, Scottish philosopher (d. 1625)
  • Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and Separatist (d. 1593)
  • Emilio de' Cavalieri, Italian composer (d. 1602)
  • Cornelis Corneliszoon, Dutch inventor of the sawmill (d. c. 1600)
  • Philip Henslowe, English theatrical entrepreneur (d. 1616)

Deaths

• March 7 – William IV, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1493)
• March 8 – John of God, Spanish friar and saint (b. 1495)
• April 12 – Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b. 1496)
• May 18 – John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (b. 1498)
• May 20 – Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (b. 1511)
• June 13 – Veronica Gambara, Italian poet (b. 1485)
• July – Jacopo Bonfadio, historian (b. c. 1508)
• July 30 – Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician (b. 1505)
• August 18 – Antonio Ferramolino, Italian architect and military engineer
• October 23 – Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b. 1480)
• November 6 – Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1487)
• November 7 – Jón Arason, the last Catholic bishop of Iceland (executed)
• December 8 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, humanist writer (b. 1478)
• date unknown
  • Aq Kubek of Astrakhan, ruler of Astrakhan Khanate
  • Jamsheed Quli Qutb Shah, second ruler of Golconda
  • Tabinshwehti, King of Burma (b. 1512)