1553
Mary I Takes the Throne
After the brief, nine-day usurpation by Lady Jane Grey, Catherine of Aragon's daughter Mary rode triumphantly into London on a wave of popular support. She intended to restore England to Rome and marry her Habsburg cousin Philip. Protestants who could afford it began packing for the Continent. Nearly three hundred Protestants burned during her reign earned her the epithet Bloody Mary, shaping English Protestant identity for generations.
Willoughby and Chancellor Seek a Northeast Passage
A London joint-stock company sent three ships into the Arctic to find a sea route to China around the top of Russia. Hugh Willoughby's crew froze to death on the Kola coast. Richard Chancellor, blown into the White Sea, walked to Moscow and opened a new English trade with the tsar.
Servetus Burned at Geneva
The Spanish physician Michael Servetus, who had denied the Trinity and discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood, was burned alive outside Geneva with his books chained to his thigh. John Calvin had advocated a swifter beheading. Protestant Europe argued for years about whether heretics should die. The execution divided Protestants between those supporting Calvin and those, like Castellio, arguing that killing for belief was murder.
Chancellor Reaches Ivan the Terrible
The English navigator Richard Chancellor, blown off course in search of the Northeast Passage, landed at the White Sea and journeyed overland to Moscow. Ivan the Terrible received him warmly and granted English merchants trading privileges. The Muscovy Company was chartered soon after, opening a new northern trade route. The resulting Muscovy Company became England's first joint-stock trading company, pioneering the form that produced the East India Company.
Edward VI Dies of Tuberculosis
The fifteen-year-old Protestant king of England died at Greenwich after months of coughing blood. On his deathbed he had been persuaded to name his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir, bypassing his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth. Jane would reign for nine days before Mary's supporters ended the attempted coup.
Want 1553 in context? Print the whole 16th century as a one-sheet timeline chart.
Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1553?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 1553. The most significant is Mary I Takes the Throne: After the brief, nine-day usurpation by Lady Jane Grey, Catherine of Aragon's daughter Mary rode triumphantly into London on a wave of popular support.
What era was 1553 part of?
1553 falls within the Renaissance (1501-1650). Reformation, conquest, and the world drawn whole.
Which regions saw notable events in 1553?
The curated events from 1553 span Europe.