Editing 1551 (section)

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 11]] &ndash; [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland|John Dudley, Earl of Warwick]], ''de facto'' [[Lord Protector]] of the [[Kingdom of England]], is created [[Duke of Northumberland]].<ref>[[David Loades]] (1996): ''John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland 1504–1553''. Clarendon Press. {{ISBN|0-19-820193-1}}. pp. 180–181</ref>
* [[November 20]] &ndash; The Office of [[Cardinal Secretary of State]], the second highest position in the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope, is created to temporarily fill the vacancy between the death of one Pontiff and the election of another. Cardinal [[Girolamo Dandini (cardinal)|Girolamo Dandini]] is appointed by [[Pope Julius III]] to serve as the first Secretary of State.
* [[December 16]] &ndash; [[George Martinuzzi]], the Hungarian Archbishop of Esztergom and the Governor of Transylvania, is assassinated by Marco Aurelio Ferrari on orders of Ferdinand, King of Hungary. Martinuzzi had been suspected of treason after attempting to negotiate a separate peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Martinuzzi, George| volume= 17 |last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain| page = 803 }}</ref>