Major Events
- Feb 9 The first recorded race meet in England (Roodee Fields, Chester)
- Feb 14 Emperor Charles V enters Ghent without resistance, executes rebels
- Feb 23 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's expedition sets off from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Gold (Cibola)
- Mar 19 Court of Holland names Amsterdam sheriff John Hubrechtsz a "heretic"
- Apr 29 Emperor Charles declares all privileges of Ghent ended
- May 4 Venice and Turkey sign Treaty of Constantinople
- Jun 3 Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto crosses the Appalachian Mountains, 1st European to do so
- Jun 10 Former chief minister to King Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell is arrested in Westminster for treason and heresy
- Jun 24 English King Henry VIII commands his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves, to leave the court
- Jun 29 UK parliament passes The Act of Attainder over former Chancellor of the Exchequer of England Thomas Cromwell, indicting him as a heretic
- More 1540 Events
1540 in Sport
- Feb 9 The first recorded race meet in England (Roodee Fields, Chester)
Born in 1540
- Jan 25 Edmund Campion, English Catholic Jesuit priest & martyr, born in London, England (d. 1581)
- Jan 28 Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (d. 1610)
- May 9 Maharana Pratap, Rajput king of Mewar (1572-1597), born in Kumbhargal Fort, Mewar (d. 1597)
- Jun 3 Charles II Archduke of Austria, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1590)
- Jun 11 Barnabe Googe, English poet, born in Alvingham, Lincolnshire (d. 1594)
More People Born in 1540
Thomas CromwellMore 1540 Deaths
Famous Weddings in 1540
- Mar 4 German Protestant Count Philip of Hessen bigamously marries 2nd wife Margarethe von der Saale, causing a scandal
- Jul 28 English King Henry VIII (49) weds Catherine Howard (16 or 17), his 5th wife
Famous Divorces in 1540
- Jul 9 English King Henry VIII annuls his 6 month marriage to his 4th wife Anne of Cleves, on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine
Martin Luther
Michelangelo
Charles V
Francis I of France
Henry VIII
Suleiman the Magnificent