Major Events
- Jan 17 French regent Catherine de' Medici issues the Edict of St Germain recognizing Huguenots in France
- Jan 18 3rd sitting of Council of Trent opens, convened by Pope Pius IV
- Jan 18 The Council of Trent is reopened by Pope Pius IV for its third (and final) session
- Mar 1 Blood bath at Vassy: Francois de Guise's troops open fire on Huguenot congregation, first event in Wars of Religion
- Mar 9 Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
- Mar 15 General Francois de Guise enters Paris
- Apr 30 Jean Ribault and colonists arrive in Florida, the first French colonists in North America
- Jun 1 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sign treaty
- Dec 19 Battle at Dreux: Anne de Montmorency & huguenots under Condé captured
Born in 1562
- Jan 12 Charles Emanuel I, the Great, Italian Duke of Savoy (Peace of Lyon), born in Rivoli, Savoy (d. 1630)
- Jan 13 Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet (Sonnet of Venus and Cupid), born in Ayrshire, Scotland (d. 1601)
- Jul 25 Kiyomasa Kato, Japanese warlord, born in Owari Province, Japan (d. 1611)
- Aug 27 Hans Leo Hassler, German composer, born in the Free Imperial City Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany) (d. 1612)
- Oct 4 Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer, born in Lomborg, Jutland, Denmark (d. 1647)
More People Born in 1562
Who Died in 1562
- Jan 9 Amago Haruhisa, Japanese samurai and warlord, dies at 46
- Oct 9 Gabriel Fallopius [Fallopio], Italian anatomist and early advocate for the use of condoms (Observationes anatomicae), dies at 39
- Nov 17 Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre (1555-62), father of Henry IV of France, dies at 44
- Dec 6 Jan van Scorel, Dutch painter and architect, dies at 67
- Dec 17 Adrian Willaert, Flemish singer, bandmaster, and composer, dies at about 82
Michelangelo
Elizabeth I
Philip II of Spain
Suleiman the Magnificent