1531

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1500s 1510s 1520s – 1530s – 1540s 1550s 1560s
Years:	1528 1529 1530 – 1531 – 1532 1533 1534

1531 in topic:
Subjects: Archaeology – Architecture – Art –
Literature – Music – Poetry – Science
Leaders: State leaders – Colonial governors
Category: Establishments – Disestablishments
Births – Deaths – Works

Year 1531 (MDXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1531

January 26 – Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake in which thousands die.
February 11 – Henry VIII of England is recognised as supreme head of the Church of England.
February 27 – Lutheran princes in the Holy Roman Empire form a defensive alliance known as the Schmalkaldic League.
February (or March) – Battle of Antukyah: Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi of the Adal Sultanate defeats the Ethiopian army.
April – Battle of Puná: Francisco Pizarro defeats the island's native inhabitants.
April 16 – The city of Puebla, Mexico is founded.
June 24 – The city of San Juan del Río, Mexico is founded.

July 25 – The city of Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico is founded.
September 22 – Battle of Obertyn: The Moldavians are defeated by Polish forces under Jan Amor Tarnowski, allowing the Polish Crown to retrieve Pokucie.
October 11 – Battle of Kappel: The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons. Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss religious reformer, is killed.
October 28 – Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. The southern part of Ethiopia thus falls under Imam Ahmad's control.
December 12 – The Virgin Mary, in the guise of Our Lady of Guadalupe, appears to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Aztec convert to Catholicism.

Andrea Alciato publishes the first part of his Emblemata.
The Comet Halley appears (Perihelion: August 26).
Conquistador Francisco de Montejo claims Chichen Itza as capital of Spanish ruled Yucatán.
The University of Sarajevo is founded by Gazi Husrev-beg.
Kõpu Lighthouse is completed.
An enormous drought in Henan province of China during the Ming Dynasty is coupled with the disaster of a gigantic swarm of locusts in the summer, forcing many in destitute agricultural communities to turn to cannibalism instead of dying off by starvation.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor abolishes the worst abuses of the encomienda system by pressure of Bartolome de Las Casas.
Witch-hunt in the town of Schiltach, Germany

September – Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby (d. 1594)
October 12 – Jacques de Savoie, 2nd Duc de Nemours (d. 1585)
14 November – Richard Topcliffe, notorious English torturer and sadist (d. 1604)
November 18 – Roberto di Ridolfi, Italian conspirator against Elizabeth I (d. 1612)
date unknown
- Henry, Count of Bréderode (d. 1568)
- Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese nobleman (d. 1575)
- John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England (d. 1607)
- António, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (d. 1595)

See also Category: 1531 births.

January 21 – Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (b. 1487)
February 16 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician (b. 1452)
March 6 – Pedrarias Dávila, Spanish colonial administrator (b. c. 1440)
May 19 – Jan Łaski, Polish statesman and diplomat (b. 1456)
July 7 – Tilman Riemenschneider, German sculptor (b. 1460)
July 17 – Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese military commander (b. 1484)
July 23 – Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, Marshal of Normandy and husband of Diane de Poitiers
October 10 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss reformer (in battle) (b. 1484)
September 22 – Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I of France (b. 1476)
November 24 – Johannes Oecolampadius, German religious reformer (b. 1482)
date unknown
- Vallabhacharya, founder of the Hindu Vallabha sect (b. 1479)
probable
- Fernan Perez de Oliva, Spanish man of letters (b. 1492)

See also Category: 1531 deaths.