1552

"I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth."

- Last words of Katharina von Bora, widow of Martin Luther,
on her deathbed, December 22, 1552.

"When people are impoverished, of course they can become thieves, but sometimes they randomly gather together and violate the law. Then they ride tigers that they can't dismount, so they brave death and conduct plunder."

- Chinese grand secretary Xu Jie, lamenting the dramatic increase in banditry
accompanying the decline of the Ming Dynasty.

In the year AD 1552...

• Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible conquers the Khanate of Kazan bringing an end to the Khanate's more than 100 years of existence.
• The Second Schmalkaldic War breaks out in Germany between German Lutherans, aided by French King Henry II, and the Catholic Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Charles V.
• In the Treaty of Chambord (January 15), Maurice, Elector of Saxony cedes the bishoprics of Toul, Verdun, and Metz to France in exchange for military and economic aid from Henry.
• In March, the Lutheran rebels overrun much of southern Germany and parts of Austria, forcing Charles V to flee Germany to his ancestral lands in Austria avoid capture.
• Meanwhile, Henry II advances up the Rhine to occupy the promised bishoprics.
• In August, the brief war comes to an end in the Peace of Passau, in which Charles V guarantees Lutheran freedom of worship in the Holy Roman Empire and agrees to release imprisoned Protestant leaders Philip of Hesse and John Frederick of Saxony.
• The forces of the Ottoman Empire invade Hungary, besieging and capturing the fortresses at Temesvár and Szolnok, but failing to capture Eger.
• The modern border between England and Scotland is established when a commission determines the exact devision of the so-called Debatable Lands. The Scots' Dike, a 3.5-mile earthwork, is constructed to mark the newly established border between the two countries.
• Pioneering English lexicographer Richard Huloet publishes his Abecedarium Anglico-Latinum, an English-Latin dictionary that remains an important source for understanding the evolution of the English language in the Early Modern period and is the earliest known reference for more than 1,000 English words.
• The Old Wellington Inn, the oldest building still standing today in the city of Manchester, England, is constructed.

These people were born in 1552:

• Legendary English statesman, soldier, and explorer Walter Raleigh.
• English poet Edmund Spenser, renowned for his epic poem The Faerie Queen.
• English jurist Edward Coke.
• Italian Jesuit missionary to China Matteo Ricci.
• Pope Paul V.
• Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II.
• Russian tsar Boris Godunov.
• Russian tsar Vasili IV.
• Maharaja of Mysore Raja Wodeyar I.
• Infamous English astrologer, occultist and herbalist Simon Forman.
• Italian jurist and tutor to Queen Elizabeth I Alberico Gentili.
• French poet and Huguenot soldier Théodore Agrippa d’Aubigné, best remembered for his epic poem Les Tragiques (1616).
• Venetian polymath Paolo Sarpi.
• Punjabi Muslim Sufi saint and scholar Naushah Ganj Bakhsh.
• Italian Mannerist painter Lavinia Fontana.
• Italian portraitist Barbara Longhi.
• German Lutheran theologian Polykarp Leyser the Elder.
• Swiss clockmaker and mathematician Jost Bürgi.
• English schoolmaster, physician and translator Philemon Holland, first to translate many classical Latin works into English.
• French Huguenot general Henri I, Prince of Condé.

These people died in 1552:

• Sikh supreme religious leader Guru Angad, second of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, succeeded by Guru Amar Das.
• Basque Spanish Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier, leader of the first Christian mission to Japan.
• English antiquarian John Leland.
• Italian historian Paolo Giovio.
• German mystic and Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander.
• Katharina von Bora, widow of Martin Luther, of her injuries after being thrown from an ox cart while fleeing the Black Death.
• English statesman and former Lord Protector of England Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, executed on charges of treason.
• Tatar statesman, poet, scholar, and imam Kul Sharif, killed alongside his students defending Kazan from Russian forces during the Siege of Kazan.
• Chinese painter Qiu Ying.
• Japanese renga poet Satomura Shōkyū.
• Italian clergyman Matteo da Bascio, co-founder and first Superior-General of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins.
• Swiss protestant theologian Oswald Myconius.
• German botanist Theodor Dorsten.

1551 - 1552 - 1553

16th century

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