Year 1520 (MDXX)
Year 1520 (MDXX) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–March
January 19 – King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Åsunden in Sweden, resulting in the mortal wounding of the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger during the Battle of Bogesund. He is rushed towards Stockholm to continue leading the resistance against the Danish forces.
February 3 – The Swedish regent Sten Sture succumbs to his injuries, leading to a power vacuum that enables King Christian II to conquer Sweden within eight months.
February 6 – The Swabian League sells the Duchy of Württemberg to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V for 220,000 florins, along with the payment of the Duchy’s debt of 1,100,000 Goldgulden.
March 10 – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, is appointed as England’s new Lord Deputy of Ireland.
March 31 – The Magellan expedition, led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães), halts its journey around the world at Puerto San Julian on the eastern coast of what is now Argentina. The fleet includes Magellan’s flagship, Trinidad, and four other vessels: Concepción, Victoria, San Antonio, and Santiago.
April–June
April 2 – Former captain of the San Antonio, Juan de Cartagena, escapes captivity from the Victoria and incites a mutiny against Magellan, joined by Gaspar de Quesada of the Concepción and Luis de Mendoza of the Victoria. Several crew members from the Trinidad stab Mendoza during the rebellion, and the remaining crew of the Victoria captures the mutineers.
April 3 – The crew of the San Antonio surrenders to Magellan after failing to resist strong winds and cannon fire. Gaspar de Quesada also capitulates with the crew of Concepción. Four days later, Quesada is executed along with other mutineers, while Cartagena is stranded on an island by Magellan in August.
April 16 – The Revolt of the Comuneros erupts as citizens of Toledo, Castile, oppose royal governance led by the Flemish Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
May 7 – The semi-independent Duchy of Mecklenburg is divided into two duchies: Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
May 22 – The Massacre in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan occurs as Deputy Governor of New Spain, Pedro de Alvarado, allows Aztec nobles to gather, only to attack them, killing over 600 warriors while sparing Moctezuma II.
The Magellan expedition loses its first ship, the caravel Santiago, wrecked in a storm while navigating the Santa Cruz River in Argentina.
June 7 – King Henry VIII of England meets King Francis I of France at the renowned Field of the Cloth of Gold.
June 10 – The Revolt of the Comuneros continues, with Segovia under blockade.
June 15 – Pope Leo X issues the bull Exsurge Domine, threatening excommunication against Martin Luther if he does not recant his views on indulgences and other Catholic doctrines.
June 29 – Moctezuma II is assassinated by fellow Aztec leaders as he attempts to address the public. His brother Cuitláhuac ascends to the throne.
July–September
July 1 – The La Noche Triste (“Night of Sorrow”) occurs as Aztec forces under Cuitláhuac achieve victory against the forces of conquistador Hernán Cortés, resulting in significant casualties but allowing Cortés to escape.
July 7 – The Spaniards secure a victory against the Aztecs at Otumba near Lake Texcaco.
August 11 – Ferdinand Magellan abandons the two mutinous crew members, Juan de Cartagena and Father Pedro Sánchez de la Reina, marooning them on an island off the coast of Argentina.
August 21 – After wintering in Patagonia, the Magellan expedition resumes its quest to sail around the world.
August 24 – French warrior René of Savoy departs from Marseille on his flagship, Sainte Marie de Bonaventure, to protect the Knights Hospitaller from Ottoman attacks.
August – Martin Luther publishes To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation.
September 7 – Christian II makes a triumphant entrance into Stockholm, which has surrendered. His amnesty is extended to the widow of Sten Sture, Christina Gyllenstierna, and others involved in the resistance against the Danes.
September 22 – Suleiman I succeeds his father Selim I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, officially crowned on September 30.
October–December
October 21 (Feast of St. Ursula) – The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon are discovered by Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes, who names them Islands of the 11,000 Virgins in honour of Saint Ursula.
October 23 – Charles V is crowned King of Germany in Aachen.
October 21 – The remaining four ships of the Magellan expedition confirm the discovery of the passage later named the Strait of Magellan, the route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The crew of the San Antonio, led by Estêvão Gomes, declines to enter the strait and begins their journey back to Spain.
November 1 – Christian II is crowned King of Sweden at Nikolai Church, followed by a three-day feast in Stockholm.
November 7 – After the coronation feast, several prominent leaders of the Swedish resistance against Danish invasion are imprisoned and tried for high treason.
November 9 – The Stockholm Bloodbath ensues as 82 Swedish noblemen and clergymen, sentenced for their involvement in resistance efforts, are executed over two days.
November 25 – Cuauhtémoc becomes the last Aztec Emperor following the smallpox death of Cuitláhuac, who reigned for only 80 days.
November 28 – Three ships of the Magellan expedition navigate through the strait, reaching peaceful waters which Magellan names “El Mar Pacifico”, marking the first European passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
December 10 – Martin Luther publicly burns copies of The Book of Canon Law and the Papal bull Exsurge Domine.
Date unknown
- The Franciscan friar Matteo Bassi is inspired to return to a life of solitude and penance, leading to the formation of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.
- Duarte Barbosa returns to Cananor.
- Aleksandra Lisowska (Roxelana) is presented as a gift to Suleiman I upon his accession to the throne.
- King Manuel I establishes the public mail service of Portugal, known as Correio Público.
Births
January 7 – Peder Oxe, Danish finance minister (d. 1575)
January 30 – William More, English courtier (d. 1600)
February 22 – Frederick III of Legnica, Duke of Legnica (d. 1570)
March 3 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (d. 1575)
June 29 – Nicolás Factor, Spanish artist (d. 1583)
July 27 – Gonzalo II Fernández de Córdoba, Governor of the Duchy of Milan (d. 1578)
August 1 – King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (d. 1572)
August 10 – Madeleine of Valois, queen of James V of Scotland (d. 1537)
August 21 – Bartholomäus Sastrow, German official (d. 1603)
August 31 – Heinrich Sudermann, German politician (d. 1591)
September 13 – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman, chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth I (d. 1598)
October 7 – Alessandro Farnese, Italian cardinal (d. 1589)
November 10 – Dorothea of Denmark, Electress Palatine, Princess of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (d. 1580)
December 6 – Barbara Radziwiłł, queen of Poland (d. 1551)
December 24 – Martha Leijonhufvud, politically active Swedish noble (d. 1584)
Date unknown
- Patriarch Metrophanes III of Constantinople (d. 1580)
- Jean Ribault, French navigator (d. 1565)
- Vincenzo Galilei, Italian music theorist, lutenist, and composer (d. 1591)
- Aben Humeya, last independent king of Granada (d. 1568)
- Ijuin Tadaaki, Japanese nobleman (d. 1561)
- Agatha Streicher, German physician (d. 1581)
- Katarina Bengtsdotter Gylta, Swedish abbess (d. 1593)
- Johannes Acronius Frisius, German doctor and mathematician (d. 1564)
- Probable
- Hans Eworth, Flemish portrait painter (d. 1574)
- Katharina Gerlachin, German printer (d. 1592)
- Jorge de Montemor, Spanish novelist and poet (d. 1561)
- Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian mannerist painter (d. 1578)
Deaths
January 10 – Jo Gwang-jo, Korean philosopher (b. 1482)
February 3 – Sten Sture the Younger, Viceroy of Sweden (b. 1493)
February 7 – Alfonsina de’ Medici, née Orsini, Regent of Florence (b. 1472)
April 6 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
May 22 – Jan Lubrański, Polish bishop (b. 1456)
June 24 – Hosokawa Sumimoto, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1489)
June 29 – Moctezuma II, ninth Tlatoani (emperor) of the Aztecs, assassinated or killed in a riot (b. 1466)
August 6 – Kunigunde of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1465)
September 3 – Ippolito d’Este, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1479)
September 22 – Selim I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1470)
October – Cuitláhuac, tenth Tlatoani (emperor) of the Aztecs, dies of smallpox (b. c. 1476)
November 9 – Bernardo Dovizi, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
Date unknown
- Cacamatzin, king of Texcoco (b. 1483)
- Ratna Malla, first Raja of Kantipur
- Visoun, king of Lan Xang (b. 1465)
- Sheikh Hamdullah, Ottoman calligrapher (b. 1436)
- Clara Tott, German court singer (b. 1440)
- Probable: Filippo de Lurano, Italian composer (b. 1475)