1541

May 8: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River.

October 24: Heavy storms disperse a Spanish, German and Italian invading force and save the Emirate of Algiers

Year 1541 (MDXLI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–March

• January 4 – Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Giannandrea Giustiniani Longo
• February 8 – (13th day of 1st month of Tenbun 10) In Japan, the Siege of Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle, started by Amago Haruhisa of the 30,000 strong Amago clan the previous September in an attack against the Mōri clan led by Mōri Motonari and the Ōuchi clan, ends with a defeat of the attackers. The Amago clan sustains heavy losses, including the death of Amago Hisayuki.
• February 12 – Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, which will become the capital of Chile.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• February 19 – Petru Rareș becomes the Prince of Moldavia for a second time, overthrowing the Voivode Alexandru Cornea at Suceava (now in Romania) at the direction of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• March 8 – At the Battle of Suakin, fought at an Ottoman port city on the Red Sea in what is now Sudan, Portuguese General Estêvão da Gama and his brother Cristóvão da Gama lead an attack against the Ottoman ruler and plunder the city.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• March 12 – The Portuguese Empire's fortress at Agadir falls to the Moroccan general Mohammed al-Shaykh after a siege of 24 days.<ref>Template:EI2</ref>
• March 28 – In what is now the capital of Ecuador, San Francisco de Quito is declared a city by the decree of King Charles I of Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru.

April–June

• April 7 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon, on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 24 – Battle of Sahart: Gelawdewos is defeated by the forces of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 8 – Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 23 – Jacques Cartier departs from Saint-Malo, France on his third voyage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 13 – The Parliament of Ireland is opened by King Henry VIII for a session that will last for two years.
• June 16 – Şehzade Mustafa, the son of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, is appointed as the new Ottoman Governor of the Amasya region of Turkey.
• June 26 – At Lima, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire of Peru and Governor of Nueva Castilla since 1529, is assassinated by 20 heavily-armed supporters of Diego de Almagro II in retaliation for the 1538 execution of Diego de Almagro.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

July–September

• July 7 – (Tenbun 10, 14th day of the 6th month) Takeda Shingen becomes head of Japan's powerful Takeda clan of samurais that rules the Kai Province, overthrowing and banishing his father, Takeda Nobutora.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Nobutora is exiled to Suruga Province for the next 32 years.
• July 9 – Estêvão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Cristóvão da Gama, with orders to assist the Emperor of Ethiopia to defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who had invaded his Empire.
• August 21 – The Janissaries of Suleiman the Magnificent besiege Buda, wounding Wilhelm von Roggendorf, who dies from his wounds on the way to Komárno a few days later.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• September 9–11 – Spanish noblewoman Beatriz de la Cueva serves as governor of the colony of Guatemala, before she is killed in a mudslide from Volcán de Agua, which ruins the capital city, Ciudad Vieja.<ref name="cueva">Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 13 – After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine that comes to be known as Calvinism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September 28 – King Charles of Spain begins the disastrous campaign against the Regency of Algiers as he assembles a fleet of 500 ships, with 24,000 soldiers, at the Spanish island of Majorca and prepares to cross the Mediterranean with the fleets of allied nations led by the Admiral Andrea Doria of the Republic of Genoa.<ref name=Ward>Template:Cite book</ref>

October–December

• October 7 – Through royal decree, the city of Arequipa is granted its coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• October 24 – Algiers Expedition: One day after thousands of Spanish, German and Italian soldiers arrived on the North African coast and proceeded to surround the city of Algiers, heavy storms begin and the Algerian defenders surround King Charles and the other commanders. Fifteen European ships are wrecked onshore, and 33 others sink. Over the next 30 days, the Europeans are forced to retreat.<ref name=Garnier>Edith Garnier, L'Alliance Impie (Editions du Felin, 2008) pp.202-206 Template:ISBN</ref>
• November 1 – King Henry VIII of England is first informed of that the Queen consort, Catherine Howard, has been having an affair with Thomas Culpeper.<ref name=Weir>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 19 – (1st waxing of Tazaungmon 903 ME) King Tabinshwehti of Burma, having concluded the Buddhist Lent, leads the attack on the Kingdom of Prome with 17,000 troops and 1,400 boats.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 23 –
  • Catherine Howard, the Queen consort of England, is arrested after 16 days of questioning by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reveals that she had also been conducting an adulterous affair with Francis Dereham while married to King Henry VIII. She is imprisoned at Syon Abbey in Middlesex near London.<ref name=Weir/>
  • Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who also serves as King Carlos I of Spain, is finally able to depart from Algiers and abandons his army.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• December 3 – The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is finally able to return to Spain, arriving at Cartagena<ref name=Garnier/>
• December 10 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are both executed at Tyburn after being convicted of treason in committing adultery with Queen Catherine. Culpeper is beheaded, while Dereham is hanged, drawn and quartered. As a warning to the public, the severed heads of both men are placed on spikes on the London Bridge.<ref>Lacey Baldwin Smith, A Tudor Tragedy (Pantheon Books, 1961)</ref>

Date unknown

• Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent seals off The Golden Gate in Jerusalem,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> likely because of a prophecy that the Messiah would return through this gate to Jerusalem.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Iceland adopts the Lutheran faith.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Gerardus Mercator makes his first globe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• The first official translation of the entire Bible into Swedish is made, and is called the Gustav Vasa Bible.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• John Calvin translates his Institutio Christianae religionis into French, as L'Institution chrétienne.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Elia Levita's chivalric romance, the Bovo-Bukh, is first printed, the earliest published secular work in Yiddish.

Births

• January 24 – Magdalena Moons, Dutch woman associated with the 1574 Siege of Leiden (d. 1613)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• January 26 – Florent Chrestien, French writer (d. 1596)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• February 21 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1599)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• March 25 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• April 8 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (d. 1593)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 12 – Ipatii Potii, Metropolitan of Kiev (d. 1613)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• September 7
  • Luigi Groto, Italian lutenist and poet (d. 1588)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Hernando de Cabezón, Spanish musician (d. 1602)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• September 5 – Roberto de' Nobili, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1559<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• September 21 – Anna of Nassau-Dillenburg, Countess consort of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1616)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 9 – Menso Alting, Dutch preacher and reformer (d. 1612)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 25 – Michele Bonelli, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1598)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• February 12 – Johann Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1613)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• date unknown
  • Pierre Charron, French philosopher (d. 1603)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • El Greco, or Domênikos Theotokópoulos (Greek: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος), Cretian painter, sculptor and architect (d. 1614)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Hatano Hideharu, Japanese samurai (d. 1579)
  • Mizuno Tadashige, Japanese nobleman (d. 1600)<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Unreliable source?</ref>Template:Unreliable source?
  • Guðbrandur Þorláksson, Icelandic mathematician (d. 1627)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Hattori Hanzō, Japanese ninja who served under Tokugawa Ieyasu (d. 1596)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Deaths

Francisco Pizarro

Pedro de Alvarado

Henry IV, Duke of Saxony

• January 2 – Wang Gen, Chinese philosopher (b. 1483)
• January 5 – Philip of the Palatinate, Bishop of Freising and Naumburg (b. 1480)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman (b. 1480)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 21 – James, Duke of Rothesay, Scottish prince (b. 1540)
• April 24 – Celio Calcagnini, Italian astronomer (b. 1479)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• April 29 – Johann Gramann, German theologian (b. 1487)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 27 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (executed) (b. 1473)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 26 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador (b. c. 1475)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• July 4 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador (b. 1495)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• August – Juan de Valdés, Spanish religious writer (b. 1500)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 1 – Simon Grynaeus, German scholar and theologian (b. 1493)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 18 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (1539–1541) (b. 1473)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August 19 – Vincenzo Cappello, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1469)<ref>Template:DBI</ref>
• September 24 – Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist and physician (b. 1493)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• September – Beatriz de la Cueva, Governor of Guatemala (b. 1510)<ref name="cueva" />
• October 18 – Margaret Tudor, queen of James IV of Scotland (b. 1489)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 4 – Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, German reformer (b. 1478)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 30 – Amago Tsunehisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1458)
• December 10
  • Thomas Culpeper, English courtier, lover of Catherine Howard (b. c. 1514)<ref name="howard">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Francis Dereham, English lover of Catherine Howard (executed)<ref name="howard" />
• December 24 – Andreas Karlstadt, Christian theologian and reformer (b. 1486)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• date unknown
  • Jean Clouet, French miniature painter (b. 1480)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Margareta von Melen, Swedish noblewoman (b. 1489)
  • Gül Baba, Ottoman dervish poet<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Giovanni Guidiccioni, Italian poet (b. 1480)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Gazi Husrev-beg, Ottoman statesmen (b. 1480)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>