1540

February 14: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ends Revolt of Ghent, leaves rebels begging for mercy

Events

January 6 – King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort; the marriage lasts six months.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 14 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, enters Ghent without resistance, and executes rebels, ending the Revolt of Ghent (1539–1540).
March 23 – Waltham Abbey is the last to be closed as part of Henry VIII of England's dissolution of the monasteries.

April 3– Estêvão da Gama becomes the new Governor of Portuguese India.
April 7– The English cathedral priories of Canterbury and Rochester are transformed into secular cathedral chapters on Easter Sunday, concluding the Dissolution of the Monasteries.<ref>James Clark, The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History (Yale University Press, 2021) p.454</ref>
April 12– Printing of the first translation of the New Testament into the Icelandic language is completed after King Christian III of Denmark finishes having Oddur Gottskálksson's text compared to the original Latin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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May 17 – Battle of Kannauj: Sher Shah Suri defeats and deposes Mughal Emperor Humayan, establishing the Sur Empire.
June 10 – Thomas Cromwell, Chief Minister for King Henry VIII, is arrested at meeting of the Privy Council of England at Westminster and charged with treason. Cromwell is removed from his positions as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Great Chamberlain and Governor of the Isle of Wight, and will be executed on July 28.

July 7 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado captures Hawikuh in modern-day New Mexico, at this time known as part of Cíbola, but fails to find the legendary gold.
July 9 – King Henry VIII of England's marriage to Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort, is annulled.<ref name="Routh1990">Template:Cite book</ref>
July 28 – Thomas Cromwell, is executed for treason on the orders of king Henry VIII of England. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.<ref name="Routh1990"/>
August 15 – In Peru, Spanish captain Garcí Manuel de Carbajal founds the Villa Hermosa de Arequipa; one year later, Charles V of Germany and I of Spain will give the valley a status of 'city' by royal decree.
September 3 – Gelawdewos succeeds his father Lebna Dengel as Emperor of Ethiopia.
September 10 – Gibraltar is sacked by the fleet of Barbary pirate Ali Hamet, a Sardinian renegade in the service of the Ottoman Empire, and many of its leading citizens are taken as captives to Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in Morocco.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This leads to construction of the defensive Charles V Wall, at this time known as the Muralla de San Benito.
September 27 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Paul III, in his bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae.

October 1 – Battle of Alborán: A Habsburg Spanish fleet, under the command of Bernardino de Mendoza, destroys an Ottoman fleet commanded by Ali Hamet off Alborán Island in the Mediterranean.
October 18 – An expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto destroys the fortified village of Mabila in modern-day Alabama, killing paramount chief Tuskaloosa.
November 8 – William Whorwood becomes the new Attorney General for England and Wales, succeeding Sir John Baker
December 16 – Honoré I, Lord of Monaco reaches the age of 19 and after the future principality of Monaco had been administered by regents for more than 18 years.
December 20 – Stephen V, Prince of Moldavia, is assassinated by two of the Moldavian nobles (boyars), Mihul and Trotsanul, after word arrives that he will be replaced by Petru IV Rareş, who had paid a bribe to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman in order to be appointed the new Prince. Alexandru Cornea is crowned temporarily as Prince Alexandru III.<ref>Constantin Rezachevici, Cronologia critică a domnilor din Țara Românească și Moldova a. 1324 - 1881, Volumul I. Editura Enciclopedică (2001)</ref>
December 31 – Estêvão da Gama, Governor of Portuguese India, departs from Goa with a plan to sail into the Red Sea, and destroy the Ottoman Empire's access to the Indian Ocean by plundering Suez. The planned attack fails.

Europe is hit by a heat wave and drought lasting for about seven months. Rivers such as the Rhine and Seine dry up, and many people die from dysentery and other illnesses, caused by lack of safe drinking water.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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