In the year 1556, Swedish forces are victorious in the Russian attack on Viborg (Jan), the deadliest earthquake on record occurs in Ming dynasty (Jan 23), the Archbishop of Canterbury is burned at the stake for treason (Mar 21) Queen Mary I of England (Bloody Mary) starts the Plantations of Ireland, the earliest attempt at systematic ethnic cleansing in Ireland, Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, thus opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade - and all these fine people were born:
1556-xxxx
1556-xxxx Anne Hathaway* wife of William Shakespeare – Shottery, Warwickshire, England (1623/c.66)
1556-xxxx Carlo Maderno* Italian architect (St. Peter’s Basilica) - Capolago, Swiss Confederacy (1629/c. 72)
1556-xxxx
1556-0101
1556-0108 Uesugi Kagekatsu* 上杉 景勝 samurai during the Sengoku and Edo periods – Japan (1623/67)
1556-0110
1556-0124 Christian Barnekow* Danish nobleman/diplomat/traveller - Jomfruens egede (1612/56)
1556-0131
1556-0204 Dorothea of Hanau-Münzenberg* German noblewoman (House of Hanau) - (1632/82)
1556-0216 Tōdō Takatora* 藤堂 高虎 daimyō from the Azuchi–Momoyama to Edo periods - Japan (1630/74)
1556-0221 Sethus Calvisius* German composer/chronologer/astronomer - Gorsleben, Thuringia (1615/59)
1556-0228
1556-0301
1556-0307 Guillaume du Vair* lawyer/ author – Paris, Kingdom of France (1621/65)
1556-0313 Dirck van Os* Amsterdam merchant/insurer/shipowner - Antwerp (1615/59)
1556-0320
1556-0331
1556-0401
1556-0408 David Hoeschel* German librarian/editor/scholar - Augsburg (1617/61)
1556-0409 Andreas von Auersperg* nobleman/ military leader - Žužemberk, Duchy of Carniola (1593/37)
1556-0427 François Béroalde de Verville* novelist/ poet/intellectual - Paris, Kingdom of France (1626/70)
1556-0501
1556-0510
1556-0531 Jerzy Radziwiłł* Polish–Lithuanian magnate/Bishop of Vilnius/cardinal - Vilnius, Lithuania (1600/43)
1556-0606 Edward la Zouche* baron/ diplomat/remembered chiefly for his lone vote against the condemnation of Mary, Queen of Scots - England (1625/69)
1556-0613 Pomponio Nenna (B) composer - Bari, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples (1608/52)
1556-0624 Joan of Valois* stillborn daughter of Henry II of France - Kingdom of France (1556/0)
1556-0624 Victoria of Valois* Joan’s twin who died in infancy - Kingdom of France (1556/0)
1556-0709 Elizabeth Finch* (b Heneage) countess of Winchilsea - England (1634/77)
1556-0710
1556-0726 James Melville* minister/ reformer - Baldovie, Forfarshire, Scotland (1614/c. 58 )
1556-0801
1556-0810 Philipp Nicolai* German Lutheran pastor/poet/composer - Waldeck, Hesse (1608/52)
1556-0816 Bartolomeo Cesi* painter/ draftsman - Bologna, Papal States (1629/c. 72)
1556-0830
1556-0901
1556-0921 William Harris* English knight/land owner - Woodham Mortimer, Essex, England (1616/60)
1556-0930
1556-1001
1556-1010
1556-1024 Giovanni Battista Caccini* Italian sculptor - Montopoli in Val d’Arno, Florence (1613/56)
1556-1026 Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti* Sanhaja Berber writer/scholar/political provocateur - Araouane, Mali (1627/70)
1556-1101
1556-1115 Jacques Davy Duperron* French politician/Roman Catholic cardinal - Saint-Lô; Normandy (1618/62)
1556-1120
1556-1128 Francesco Contarini* the 95th Doge of Venice - Venice (1624/68)
1556-1205 Anne Cecil* Countess of Oxford/Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth before her marriage - England (1588/31)
1556-1210
1556-1217 Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan* Indian poet/composer/astrologer - Delhi, Mughal Empire (1627/70)
1556-1227 Jeanne de Lestonnac* French Roman Catholic saint - Bordeaux, Kingdom of France (1640/83)
1556-0
1556-0
1556-0
Updated 2025-0426 Helsinki
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