1521 - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.
• January 28 - Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
• March 6 - Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.
• March 16 - Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
• April 7 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
• April 17 - 18 - Martin Luther speaks to emperor Charles V and the German Diet of Worms.
• April 26 - Martin Luther leaves Worms and disappears for a year - he is rumored to be murdered but really is in hiding.
• April 27 - Magellan killed in the Philippines.
• May - Outbreak of war between Emperor Charles and the King of France.
• May 20 - Battle of Pampeluna.
• May 25 - The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
• June 30 - Battle of Esquiroz - French forces under Henri d'Albret, exiled King of Navarre, are defeated by the Spanish and forced to abandon their attempt to recover Henri's kingdom.
• August 8 - Hernan Cortes and allied local Indians defeat Aztec forces of Cuautemoc, the last Aztec Emperor, in the Battle of Tenochtitlan.
• August 13 - Emperor Cuauhtémoc surrenders to Hernan Cortes.
• August 29 - Capture of Belgrade by the Turkish army of Suleiman I after a brave resistance.
• November 23 - Spanish-German-Papal forces under Prosper Colonna force French Marshal Odet de Lautrec to abandon Milan.

• Berengairo da Garbi notices appendix.
• The New Testament translated to English in part by William Tyndale.

Births

• May 8 - Petrus Canisius, Jesuit (+ 1597)
• August 4 - Pope Urban VII (+ 1590)
• December 13 - Pope Sixtus V (+ 1590)
• Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer of over 1000 madrigals

Deaths

• April 27 - Battle of Mactan: Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines.
• May 17 - execution of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, for treason
• August 27 - Josquin Desprez, renowned Franco-Flemish composer, leading representative of the Renaissance polyphonic style
• September 22 - Selim I, Ottoman Sultan
• December 1 - Pope Leo X