1561
Scotland Adopts the Reformation
The Scottish parliament formally adopted a Calvinist confession of faith, abolished the pope's authority in Scotland, and forbade the saying of Mass on pain of death for a third offense. John Knox's revolution was complete in law, though many nobles and highland lords would pay no attention. The Kirk's emphasis on universal education laid the foundation for Scotland's later reputation as one of Europe's most literate societies.
Mir Ali Shir Teaches Chagatai
In the Timurid court traditions of Central Asia, Chagatai Turkish continued as a literary language even as Persian dominated chanceries. Scholars revered the fifteenth-century poet Mir Ali Shir Nava'i as its master. The Mughal Babur's memoirs, written in Chagatai, remained the tongue's supreme prose monument. Nava'i's achievement in demonstrating Chagatai Turkish could rival Persian helped establish the cultural dignity of Turkic languages across Central Asia.
Bruegel Paints the Tower of Babel
The Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder completed an enormous panel of the Tower of Babel, ringed by spiraling construction ramps and tiny stone cutters. Tiny ants of workmen crawled over its crumbling terraces. It was a picture of hubris painted for Antwerp, the most cosmopolitan trading city in Europe.
Conspiracy of Amboise
A group of Huguenot nobles plotted to seize the sickly young king Francis II from his Guise advisors at the chateau of Amboise. The plot was betrayed and the conspirators were beheaded or drowned in the Loire. The Wars of Religion had a grim rehearsal in the bloodstained battlements of Amboise.