1561

– Paolo Battista Giudice Calvi is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, but serves for only eight months before dying in September.

January 31

– Queen Elizabeth of England summons the Ambassador from Spain, Álvaro de la Quadra, for a private audience to ask how the Spanish government would react if she were to marry Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, who had recently lost his wife Amy Robsart in a questionable accident.^[2]

– Lope de Aguirre, a Basque Spanish conquistador, begins a rebellion against the Spanish Crown in an attempt to take over most of Spanish South America.^[3]

– In India, the Mughal Empire Army, led by General Adham Khan defeats the Sultanate of Malwa in a battle at Sarangpur, forcing the Sultan Baz Bahadur to flee.^[4]

– Thomas Walsingham, English literary patron (d. 1630)

– Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (d. 1656)

– Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist, and statesman (d. 1626)^[18]

– Camillo Cortellini, Italian composer (d. 1630)

– Henry Briggs, British mathematician (d. 1630)

– Fujiwara Seika, Japanese philosopher (d. 1619)

– Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein, German noblewoman (d. 1622)

– Edward Talbot, 8th Earl of Shrewsbury, English politician and earl (d. 1617)

– Archduke Wenceslaus of Austria, Archduke of Austria (d. 1578)

– Santorio Santorio, Italian biologist (d. 1636)

April 8

June – , Archbishop of York (d. 1631)

– John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen (d. 1623)

– Anna of Württemberg, German princess (d. 1616)

– Anna Maria of Anhalt, German noblewoman (d. 1605)

(bapt.) – Richard Whitbourne, English colonist of Newfoundland (d. 1635)

– Matthias Hafenreffer, German Lutheran theologian (d. 1619)

– Erdmuthe of Brandenburg, Duchess of Pomerania-Stettin (d. 1623)

– Christoph Grienberger, Austrian astronomer (d. 1636)

– Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish poet (d. 1627)

– Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer (d. 1602)

– Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern, Duchess consort of Södermanland (1579-1589) (d. 1589)

– Christopher Heydon, English politician (d. 1623)

– Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)

August 24

– Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (d. 1632)

– Gervase Helwys, English murderer (d. 1615)

– Yi Eokgi, Korean admiral (d. 1597)

– Hernando Arias de Saavedra, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1634)

– Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, son of Edward Seymour Sr. (d. 1612)

– Roland Lytton, English politician (d. 1615)

– Adriaan van Roomen, Belgian mathematician (d. 1615)

(bapt.) – Thomas Lake, English Secretary of State to King James I (d. 1630)

– Richard Field, English cathedral dean (d. 1616)

– Anthony Babington, English criminal (d. 1586)

– Mary Sidney, English writer, patroness and translator (d. 1621)^[20]

– Francesco Usper, Italian composer (d. 1641)

– Andreas Angelus, German pastor, teacher, chronicler of the Mark of Brandenburg (d. 1598)

– Sophie Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, duchess consort of Pomerania-Wolgast (1577-1592) (d. 1631)

– Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)

– Edwin Sandys, English founder of the colony of Virginia (d. 1629)

– Amandus Polanus, German theologian of early Reformed orthodoxy (d. 1610)

date unknown – , non-conformist minister and pioneer settler of New England (d. 1656)

– Amago Haruhisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1514)

– Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach, (b. 1521)

January 31

– Francis I, Duke of Nevers (b. 1516)

– Jorge de Montemor, Spanish writer (b. 1520)

– Gonçalo da Silveira, Portuguese Jesuit missionary (b. 1526)

– Giulio d'Este, illegitimate son of Italian noble (b. 1478)

– Conrad Lycosthenes, humanist and encyclopedist (b. 1518)

– Bartholomeus V. Welser, German banker (b. 1484)

– Jean Quintin, French priest, knight and writer (b. 1500)^[21]

– Karl I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, German prince (b. 1534)

– Jan Tarnowski, Polish noble (b. 1488)

– Saitō Yoshitatsu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1527)

– Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Italian painter (b. 1483)

– Sebald Heyden, German musicologist and theologian (b. 1499)

– Henry Lauder, Lord St Germains, Lord Advocate of Scotland

– Edward Waldegrave, English politician and recusant

– Sehzade Bayezid, Ottoman Prince (b. 1525)

– Lope de Aguirre, Basque rebel and conquistador (b. 1510)

– Jeanne de Jussie, Swiss nun and writer (b. 1503)

– Hans Tausen, Danish reformer (b. 1494)

– Joachim I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, German prince (b. 1509)

– Caspar Schwenckfeld, German theologian

date unknown

probable – , Spanish composer (b. 1500)