February 24–William Warham, the 81-year-old Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, publicly declares that he is disassociating himself from all acts of the English Parliament that are prejudicial to papal authority.
April 27– The democratic government of the Republic of Florence in Italy, in existence for more than 400 years since its founding in 1115, is abolished by order of Pope Clement VII in order for a hereditary, and absolute, monarchy to be established. Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, the illegitimate son of Pope Clement, is given full power and the Republic's parliament (the Signoria) and the rule of the executive officer, the Gonfaloniere, come to an end.
August 5– The siege of Güns in the Austrian Empire begins as the Ottoman army, under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, attempts to take the city of Güns (now Kőszeg in Hungary) with 100,000 troops in order to mount a larger invasion of the Austrian city of Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire. The defenders, less than 800 Croatian soldiers commanded by Nikola Jurišić, puts up a successful resistance despite being outnumbered by more than 100 to 1.
October 7– (9th waxing of Tazaungmon 894 ME) The Burmese monarch Min Bin, King of Arrakan, leads a combined invasion force of 12,000 people (three armies of 11,000 men in a three-pronged attack, and a flotilla of war boats carrying 1,000 troops) in an invasion of Bengal in India.
November 16–Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca, ambushing and slaughtering a large number of his followers, without loss to themselves. He subsequently offers a ransom of approximately $50 million in gold.
December 1– (5th waxing of Pyatho 894 ME) The Burmese Army under Min Bin marches into Dhaka, capital of Bengal without any resistance.
December 4– A fire strikes the cathedral in Chambéry, now a part of France, but at the time a part of Italy's Duchy of Savoy. The fire burns several holes in the Shroud of Turin, believed by some Roman Catholics to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth after the crucifixion, and to have a miraculous imprint of Jesus, but the shroud is repaired by nuns at the cathedral.
December 20– The first payment for Atahualpa's ransom from the Spaniards is made as gold is delivered to Cuzco to fill up a room.