1541

Year 1541 (MDXLI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1541

January - June

* February 12 - Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile.
* April 7 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
* April 24 - Battle of Sahart: The Emperor of Ethiopia is defeated by the forces of Imam Ahmad Gragn.
* May 8 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit").
* May 23 - Jacques Cartier departs from Saint-Malo, France on his third voyage.
* The first official translation of the entire Bible into Swedish is made.

July - December

* July 9 - Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to assist the Emperor of Ethiopia to defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, who has invaded his Empire.
* August 29 - The Janissaries of Suleiman the Magnificent take Buda by ruse, hiding themselves as visitors.
* October - An Algerian military campaign by Charles V of Spain (Habsburg) is unsuccessful.

Undated

* Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent seals off The Golden Gate in Jerusalem.
* The Parliament of Ireland declares Henry VIII of England King of Ireland, replacing the Lordship of Ireland with the Kingdom of Ireland.
* Iceland adopts the Lutheran faith.
* Gerardus Mercator makes his first globe.
* The Portuguese defeat the Muslims near Lake Tana.

Births

* January 26 - Florent Chrestien, French writer (d. 1596)
* March 25 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)
* April 8 - Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (d. 1593)
*"date unknown"
**Pierre Charron, French philosopher (d. 1603)
**Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, English nobleman (d. 1576)
**El Greco, or Domênikos Theotokópoulos (Greek: Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος), Cretian painter, sculptor and architect (d. 1614)
**Hatano Hideharu, Japanese samurai (d. 1579)
**Mizuno Tadashige, Japanese nobleman (d. 1600)
**Guðbrandur Þorláksson, mathematician (d. 1627)
**Hattori Hanzō, Ninja who served under Tokugawa Ieyasu (d. 1596)

Deaths

* April - Jerzy Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman (b. 1480)
* May 27 - Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (executed) (b. 1473)
* June 26 - Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador (b. c. 1475)
* July 4 - Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador (b. 1495)
* August 1 - Simon Grynaeus, German scholar and theologian (b. 1493)
* September 24 - Paracelsus, Swiss alchemist and physician (b. 1493)
* November - Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, German reformer (b. 1478)
* November 24 - Margaret Tudor, queen of James IV of Scotland (b. 1489)
* December 10 - Thomas Culpeper, English courtier (executed)
* December 24 - Andreas Karlstadt, Christian theologian and reformer (b. 1486)
*"date unknown"
**Jean Clouet, French miniature painter
**Giovanni Guidiccioni, Italian poet (b. 1480)
**Gendun Gyatso, 2nd Dalai Lama (b. 1474)
**Amago Tsunehisa, Japanese warlord
**Juan de Valdés, Spanish religious writer (b. 1500)