Editing 1540 (section)

== Events ==
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=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 6]] &ndash; King [[Henry VIII]] marries [[Anne of Cleves]], his fourth [[Queen consort]]; the marriage lasts six months.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Retha M. Warnicke|author2=Warnicke, Retha Marvine Warnicke|title=The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Early Modern England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P1PrjR79wzgC|date=13 April 2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77037-8|page=1}}</ref>
* [[February 14]] &ndash; [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]], enters [[Ghent]] without resistance, and executes rebels, ending the [[Revolt of Ghent (1539–1540)]].
* [[March 23]] &ndash; [[Waltham Abbey Church|Waltham Abbey]] is the last to be closed as part of Henry VIII of England's  [[dissolution of the monasteries]].

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 3]]&ndash; [[Estêvão da Gama (16th century)|Estêvão da Gama]] becomes the new Governor of [[Portuguese India]].
* [[April 7]]&ndash; The English cathedral priories of [[Canterbury Cathedral|Canterbury]] and [[Rochester Cathedral|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]]&ndash; 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>{{cite web|title=Oddur Gottskálksson's Translation of the New Testament|url=https://landsbokasafn.is/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=750&cntnt01origid=1&cntnt01detailtemplate=LBS_KjorgripurDetail&cntnt01returnid=1|access-date=8 February 2021|publisher=Landsbókasafn Íslands Háskólabókasafn|location=Reykjavík, Iceland}}</ref>
* [[May 17]] &ndash; Battle of Kannauj: [[Sher Shah Suri]] defeats and deposes [[Mughal Empire|Mughal Emperor]] Humayan, establishing the [[Sur Empire]].
* [[June 10]] &ndash; [[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&ndash;September ===
* [[July 7]] &ndash; Spanish conquistador [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]] captures [[Hawikuh Ruins|Hawikuh]] in modern-day New Mexico, at this time known as part of [[Zuni-Cibola Complex|Cíbola]], but fails to find the legendary gold.
* [[July 9]] &ndash; King [[Henry VIII of England]]'s marriage to [[Anne of Cleves]], his fourth [[Queen consort]], is [[annulled]].<ref name="Routh1990">{{cite book|first=C. R. N.|last=Routh|title=Who's who in Tudor England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MltmAAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Shepheard-Walwyn|isbn=978-0-85683-093-8|pages=48–49}}</ref>
* [[July 28]] &ndash; [[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]] &ndash; In [[Peru]], Spanish captain [[Garcí Manuel de Carbajal]] founds the Villa Hermosa de [[Arequipa]]; one year later, [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] of Germany and I of Spain will give the valley a status of 'city' by royal decree.
* [[September 3]] &ndash; [[Gelawdewos]] succeeds his father [[Lebna Dengel]] as [[Emperor of Ethiopia]].
* [[September 10]] &ndash; [[Gibraltar]] is sacked by the fleet of [[Barbary pirate]] Ali Hamet, a [[Sardinia]]n [[Turncoat|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>{{cite book|first1=David|last1=Thomas |first2=John|last2=Chesworth |title=Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History|year=2017 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004281110 |page=217}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Drinkwater|first=John|authorlink=John Drinkwater Bethune|title=A history of the late siege of Gibraltar: With a description and account of that garrison, from the earliest periods|url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflatesie00drin|access-date=2012-10-27|year=1786|publisher=Printed by T. Spilsbury|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoflatesie00drin/page/8 8]}}</ref> This leads to construction of the defensive [[Charles V Wall]], at this time known as the ''Muralla de San Benito''.
* [[September 27]] &ndash; The [[Society of Jesus]] (Jesuits) is approved by [[Pope Paul III]], in his bull ''[[Regimini militantis Ecclesiae]]''.

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 1]] &ndash; [[Battle of Alborán]]:  A [[Habsburg Spain|Habsburg Spanish]] fleet, under the command of [[Bernardino de Mendoza (Captain General)|Bernardino de Mendoza]], destroys an Ottoman fleet commanded by Ali Hamet off [[Alborán Island]] in the Mediterranean.
* [[October 18]] &ndash; 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]] &ndash; [[William Whorwood]] becomes the new [[Attorney General for England and Wales]], succeeding Sir John Baker
* [[December 16]] &ndash; [[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]] &ndash; [[Stephen V of Moldavia|Stephen V]], [[Prince of Moldavia]], is assassinated by two of the Moldavian nobles ([[boyar]]s), 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]] &ndash; [[Estêvão da Gama (16th century)|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.

===Date unknown===
* Europe is hit by [[1540 European drought|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>{{cite web|title=Weather chronicler relates of medieval disasters|url=http://www.godutch.com/newspaper/index.php?id=474|work=goDutch.com|date=2003-10-07|access-date=2012-11-08}}</ref>
* [[Georg Joachim Rheticus]] publishes ''[[Narratio Prima|De libris revolutionum Copernici narratio prima]]'' in [[Danzig]], an abstract of [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus]]' as yet unpublished ''[[De revolutionibus orbium coelestium]]'', and the first printed publication of [[Copernican heliocentrism]].
* [[Martin Luther]] expels theologian [[Caspar Schwenckfeld]] from [[Silesia]].
* ''approximate date'' &ndash; The [[musket]] is introduced into [[Japan]] from [[Europe]].</onlyinclude>