1563

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File:Fredrik II conqueres Älvsborg 1563.jpg

August 13: The Northern Seven Years' War begins as Denmark declares war on Sweden

Template:C16 year in topic Year 1563 (MDLXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–March

January 2 (January 2, 1562 O.S., January 11, 1563 N.S.) – The convocation of bishops and clerics of the Church of England is opened at St Paul's Cathedral in London by the Dean of the Arches, Robert Weston to agree upon the wording of what will become the Thirty-nine Articles, with the assembly adopting all but three of the Forty-two Articles promulgated during the reign of King Edward VI in 1553. The conference lasts for three months before agreeing upon the Articles to be submitted for further modification.
January 25 – In Italy, Instituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, a constituent of the major financial group Sanpaolo IMI, is founded.<ref>Il progetto Mappa Storica, Intesa Sanpaolo</ref>
February 1 – Sarsa Dengel succeeds his father Menas as Emperor of Ethiopia at age 14.<ref>James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, vol. 4 (J. Ruthven, 1790) p.97</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 18 – Francis, Duke of Guise, is assassinated while besieging Orléans by Jean de Poltrot.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
March 19 – The Edict of Amboise is signed at the Château d'Amboise by Catherine de' Medici, acting as regent for her son Charles IX of France, having been negotiated between the Huguenot Louis, Prince of Condé, and Anne, duc de Montmorency, Constable of France. It accords some toleration to the Huguenots, especially to aristocrats.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It officially ends the first phase of the French Wars of Religion,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the combined Huguenot and royal armies then march north to besiege the English in Le Havre.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

April–June

April 5 – The English galleon ship HMS Grehound strikes a sandbar off of the coast of Rye, East Sussex and sinks with all hands in the English Channel, including the Admiral of the Narrow Seas, John Malyn.<ref>N.A.M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain, Volume 1: 660 to 1649 (Penguin, 1997) p.198</ref>
April 10 – Royal assent is given by Queen Elizabeth of England to parliamentary approval of multiple laws, including the Highways Act 1562 (requiring all householders in a parish to provide six days labor per year on building highways); the Poor Act 1562 (providing for fines for persons who refuse to contribute to a fund for relief of the poor); the Supremacy of the Crown Act 1562 (making refusal to swear allegiance to the monarch punishable as treason); and the Witchcraft Act 1562 (limiting the death penalty for witchcraft to cases where a defendant caused another person's death)
April 23 – The cornerstone is laid for the construction of El Escorial, the royal palace for the monarch of Spain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Construction will not be finished for 21 more years, with completion on September 13, 1584.
May 5 (3rd day of 4th month, Eiroku 6) – The Battle of Yudokoru takes place in Japan at the Inaba Province (now the eastern Tottori Prefecture), as Takanobu Takeda defeats the shogun Toyokazu Yamana.
May 25 – Elizabeth College, Guernsey is founded, by order of Queen Elizabeth I of England.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
May 30 – At Bornholm, the Danish fleet fires on the Swedish navy, leading to a Danish defeat and precipitating the Northern Seven Years' War.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
June 4 – The Parliament of Scotland passes the Witchcraft Act, making both the practice of witchcraft, and the act of consulting with witches, punishable by burning at the stake.<ref>Lizanne Henderson, Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland, 1670-1740 (Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016) p.329</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

July–September

July 28 – The English surrender Le Havre to the French after a siege.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
August 13 – Northern Seven Years' War: Denmark–Norway and the Free City of Lübeck declare war against the Kingdom of Sweden.
August 18 – Merchants from the Bungo Province destroy the Portuguese settlement in Yokoseura, Japan
September 4 – Northern Seven Years' War: King Frederick II of Denmark, advancing from Halland, takes Old Älvsborg from Sweden.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

October–December

October 7 – Giovanni Battista Lercari is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa.
November 9 – The Army of Sweden, under the command of King King Erik XIV, suffers a severe defeat in the Battle of Mared against the Army of Denmark, commanded by King Frederik II.<ref>Battle of Mared, 9 November 1563, by J. Rickard, HistoryofWar.org, July 24, 2007</ref> In the battle, near what is now the city of Oskarström in Sweden, the Swedes suffer at least 2,500 casualties. The Swedish Army is able to retreat and rebuild, but the Danes plunder the village of Övraby, which is never rebuilt.
November 11 – The Council of Trent amends existing Roman Catholic canon law to deter unannounced marriages. In order for a marriage to be recognized by the Church, the names of the bridge and groom are to be announced publicly in a chapel during Mass, and registered with the parish priests of both parties.
December 4 – The Council of Trent (which had opened on December 13, 1545) officially closes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It reaffirms all major Roman Catholic doctrines, and declares the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament to be canonical, along with the rest of the Bible. Chapter 1, Session 24, promulgates the decree Tametsi, stipulating that for a marriage to be valid, consent (the essence of marriage) as expressed in the vows has to be given publicly before witnesses, one of whom has to be the parish priest.