Major Events
- Feb 15 Russian troops occupy Polotsk Lithuania
- Feb 18 Huguenot Jean Poltrot de Mere shoots gen Francois De Guise
- Feb 27 British composer William Byrd is appointed organist at Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, England
- Mar 19 Peace of Amboise: Rights for Huguenots
- Apr 23 Cornerstone laid for El Escorial, new Spanish royal palace commissioned by Philip II, by architect Juan Bautista de Toledo
- Apr 30 Jews are expelled from France by order of Charles VI
- Jul 28 French army recaptures Le Havre after the English garrison surrenders after a siege
- Aug 17 King Charles IX of France declared an adult at 13
- Aug 30 Jewish community of Neutitschlin, Moravia, expelled
- Sep 8 Maximilian chosen king of Hungary
- More 1563 Events
Born in 1563
- Jan 30 Franciscus Gomarus [Francois Gomaer], Dutch theologian, Calvinist minister, and academic, born in Bruges, Habsburg Netherlands (d. 1641)
- Mar 5 John Coke, English politician (Secretary of State for Charles I, 1626-40), born in Trusley, Derbyshire, England (d. 1644)
- Jun 1 Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and English Prime Minister (1598-1612), born in Westminster, Salisbury (d. 1612)
- Sep 4 Wanli, Emperor of Ming Dynasty, born in China (d. 1620)
- Sep 15 Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst, Electress of Brandenburg, by marriage, born in Zerbst, Electorate of Saxony (d. 1607)
More People Born in 1563
Who Died in 1563
- Feb 1 Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia (1559-63), dies of fever at 28 or 29
- Feb 2 Hans Neusiedler, Hungarian-German lutist and author, dies at about 54
- Feb 24 Francois Guise, French general/duke, assassinated at 44
- Mar 12 John Bull, English composer, musician and organ builder, credited with composing Britain's national anthem "God Save The King/Queen" (debated), dies at about 68
- Mar 24 Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b. 1514)
More 1563 Deaths
Michelangelo
Elizabeth I
Philip II of Spain
Suleiman the Magnificent