Editing 1551 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 4]] &ndash; [[Luca Spinola (1489–1579)|Luca Spinola]] is elected to a two-year term as the new [[Doge of Genoa|Doge]] of the [[Republic of Genoa]], succeeding [[Gaspare Grimaldi Bracelli]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buonadonna |first=Sergio |title=Rosso doge: I dogi della Repubblica di Genova dal 1339 al 1797 |publisher=Da Ferrari |language=it}}</ref>
* [[January 11]] (5th waxing of Tabodwe 912 ME) &ndash; King [[Bayinnaung]] of Burma is successful in capturing his ancestral city of [[Toungoo]] from his rebellious half-brother [[Minkhaung II of Toungoo|Minkhaung II]], and sets about to make Toungoo the capital for the first time since 1539.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kala | author-link=U Kala | first=U | title=[[Maha Yazawin]] |publisher=Ya-Pyei Publishing |location=Yangon |year=1724 | edition=2006, 4th printing | language=Burmese |volume=1 |page=201}}</ref> Minkhaung is forgiven by King Bayinnaung rather than being executed, and assists in the King's campaign to capture the neighboring [[Pyay|Kingdom of Prome]].
* [[January]]&ndash; [[Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow]], and Tsar [[Ivan IV of Russia]] preside over the reforming [[Stoglavy Synod]] ("Hundred-Chapter") church council.<ref>[[Steven Runciman]], ''The Great Church in Captivity'' (Cambridge University Press, 1985) p.329.</ref> A calendar of the saints and an ecclesiastical law code (''[[Stoglav]]'') are introduced.
* [[February 14]] &ndash; [[Alice Arden]] and her lover, Richard Mosbey, carry out the murder-for-hire of her husband, [[Thomas Arden]] of Faversham with the assistance of a [[highwayman]] known as "Black Will", two of Arden’s domestic servants (Michael Saunderson and Elizabeth Stafford) and Mosbye's sister (Cicely Pounder). The body is carried outside, and Thomas is reported as missing, but a discovery is made that the murder was committed inside the house. The conspirators are later executed.<ref>[http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng4.htm "Alice Arden of Feverham, Executed with her lover Mosbie and Others in the Year 1551 for the Murder of her Husband"], Newgate Calendar on Ex-Classics Web Site</ref> 
* [[February 23]]&ndash; At the [[Kremlin]] in [[Moscow]],  [[Ivan IV of Russia|Tsar Ivan IV]] and [[Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow|the Metropolitan Macarius]], present the proposed code of laws, drafted by the [[Stoglavy Synod]], to the clergy, nobility and principal Russian citizens for their approval.<ref>John S. C. Abbott, ''The Empire of Russia from the Remotest Period to the Present Time'' (Mason Brothers, 1859, reprinted 2020)("On the 23rd of February, 1551, a larger convention of the clergy...")</ref> 
* [[March 27]] &ndash; French mechanical engineer [[Aubin Olivier]] becomes the director of the new Royal Mint, the ''Moulin des Etuves'' on the [[Île de la Cité]] in Paris after having learned the technique of producing uniform [[milled coinage]] during a sabbatical in Germany.<ref>{{cite book |last= Porteous |first= John |year= 1969 |title= Coins in History |location= New York |publisher= Putnam |pages=178–180}}.</ref>