1560

Year 1560 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1560

• February 27 - The Treaty of Berwick, which expels the French from the Kingdom of Scotland, is signed by the Kingdom of England and the Congregation of Scotland.
• April 15 - Denmark buys the Estonian island of Saaremaa from its last prince bishop.
• June 12 - Battle of Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto.
• July 6 - The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland. This largely ends the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland, and ends the wars between England and its northern neighbour.
• August 2 - Livonian War: Russians defeat the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in the Battle of Ergeme, precipitating the dissolution of the order.
• August 17 - The Roman Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
• September 29 - Eric XIV becomes king of Sweden upon the death of his father Gustav Vasa.
• December 6 - Charles IX (of France) succeeds his elder brother, Francis II, at the age of nine.

Undated

• The first tulip bulb is brought from Turkey to the Netherlands.
• Solihull School is founded in Solihull, West Midlands.
• Jean Nicot introduces tobacco in the form of snuff to the French court.
• The oldest surviving violin (dated inside), known as the Charles IX, is made in Cremona, in northern Italy.
• The great age of piracy in the Caribbean starts around this time.
• Bairam Khan loses power in the Mughal Empire.
• Mongols invade and occupy Qinghai.

Ongoing

• Ottoman-Habsburg wars

Births

• January 17 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1624)
• March 8 - Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer and murderer (d. 1613)
• June 25 - Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (d. 1634)
• August 7 - Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (d. 1614)
• August 10 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (d. 1629)
• September 11 - Krystyna Radziwiłł, Polish noblewoman (d. 1580)
• October 10 - Jacobus Arminius, Dutch theologian (d. 1609)
• November 3 - Annibale Carracci, Italian painter (d. 1609)
• December 3 - Jan Gruter, Dutch critic and scholar (d. 1627)
• date unknown
• Felice Anerio, Italian composer (died 1614)
• James Crichton, Scottish scholar (d. 1582)
• Lieven de Key, Dutch architect (d. 1627)
• Ishida Mitsunari, Japanese samurai (d. 1600)
• Katarzyna Ostrogska, Polish noblewoman (d. 1579)
• Anton Praetorius, German pastor (d. 1613)
• probable
• Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Polish military commander (d. 1621)
• Hector MacLean of Dowart, Scottish Lord of the Clan MacLean (d. 1630)

Deaths

• January 1 - Joachim du Bellay, French poet (b. c. 1522)
• January 8 - Jan Łaski, Polish Protestant evangelical reformer (b. 1499)
• February 7 - Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Florentine sculptor (b. 1493)
• February 16 - Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (b. c. 1493)
• April 19 - Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (b. 1497)
• June 11 - Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland and regent (b. 1515)
• June 12 - Imagawa Yoshimoto, Japanese daimyo (b. 1519)
• June 12 - Ii Naomori, Japanese warrior (b. 1506)
• August 4 - Maeda Toshimasa, Japanese samurai (b. ?)
• August 7 - Anastasia of Russia, wife Tsar Ivan the Terrible
• September 8 - Amy Robsart, English noblewoman (b. 1536)
• September 29 - King Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1496)
• September 30 - Melchior Cano, Spanish theologian (b. 1525)
• November 25 - Andrea Doria, Italian naval commander (b. 1466)
• December 5 - King Francis II of France (b. 1544)
• December - John Sheppard, English composer and organist (b. 1515)