Major Events
- Jan 16 Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and convicted of high treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England
- Feb 5 Beggars assault Oisterwijk in the Netherlands, drive nuns out
- Mar 12 Poet Luís Vaz de Camões publishes the epic poem "Os Lusíadas" in Portugal
- Apr 1 Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Spaniards, during the Eighty Years' War, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
- Apr 21 France & England sign anti-Spanish military covenant
- May 4 Veere sides with Geuzen
- May 15 Louis van Nassau & huguenots occupy Valenciennes
- Jun 9 Army of William I of Orange occupies Gelderland
- Jun 11 Spanish co-land guardian Duke of Medinaceli arrives in Lock
- Jun 19 Garrison under Dutch Resisteance leader Adrian van Swieten occupies Oudewater
- More 1572 Events
Ben Jonson
Pius V
Famous Weddings in 1572
- Aug 18 Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) marries Margaret of Valois in Notre Dame cathedral, Paris, in attempt to make truce between Catholics and Protestants but prompts St. Bartholomew's Day massacre days later
Elizabeth I
Philip II of Spain