1561

1561 (MDLXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday in the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.

 Births 
 January 6 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (died 1656)
 January 22 – Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist, and statesman (died 1626)
 July 11 – Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish poet (died 1627)
 August 20 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (died 1633)
 August 24 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (died 1626)
 August 25 – Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer (died 1632)
 September 29 – Adriaan van Roomen, Belgian mathematician (died 1615)
December 7 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)
 December 9 – Edwin Sandys, English founder of the colony of Virginia (died 1629)
 Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer (died 1602)
 John Harington, English writer (died 1612)
 Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York (died 1631)