In the year 1544, the estates of Sweden swear loyalty to King Gustav Vasa and to his heirs, ending the traditional electoral monarchy in Sweden (Jan 13), French forces defeat forces of the Holy Roman Empire near Turin (Apr 11), Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, again invades eastern France (May), Mongols burn the suburbs of Peking, Portuguese explorers encounter the island of Taiwan, and call it Ilha Formosa (“Beautiful Island”), rats make their first appearance in North America - and all these fine people were born:

1544-0119 Francis II of France* King of France (1559-1560)/son of King Henry II/first husband of Mary, Queen of Scots – Château de Fontainebleau France (1560/16)
1544-0124 Gillis van Coninxloo* Flemish landscape painter - Antwerp (1607/62)

1544-0311 Torquato Tasso* poet – Sorrento, Kingdom of Naples (1595/51)

1544-0501 Giovanni Maria Nosseni* Italian sculptor/architect - Lugano (1620/76)
1544-0524 William Gilbert* physician/ physicist/astronomer who was the first to argue that the centre of the Earth was iron - Colchester, England (1603/59)

1544-0901 John Gordon* bishop – Scotland (1619/75)

1544-1007 Georg Besserer* German theologian - Kitzingen (1604/59)

1544-1xxx Hasan Kafi Pruščak* Bosnian Hanafi scholar/historian/philologist - Prusac, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (1615/70)

Updated 22.3.2023
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