1556

1556 (MDLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday in the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Sunday in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.

 Events 
 January 23 – Most devastating recorded earthquake in Shaanxi, China. Over 850,000 deaths.

 Births 
 January 8 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (died 1623)
February 21 – Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
 March 7 – Guillaume du Vair, French statesman and philosopher (died 1621)
 June 6 – Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche (died 1625)
 November 15 – Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (died 1618)
 Henry Briggs, English mathematician (died 1630)
 Margaret Clitherow, English Catholic martyr (died 1586)
 Shibata Katsutoyo, Japanese military commander (died 1583)
 Nakagawa Kiyohide, Japanese military commander (died 1583)
 Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Sudanese writer and political leader
 James Melville, Scottish divine and reformer (died 1614)
 Maria of Nassau, second daughter of William the Silent (died 1616)

 Deaths