1568

Year 1568 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1568

* March 23 - The Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine de' Medici and Charles IX make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.
* May 2 - Mary Queen of Scots escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
* May 13 - Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
* May 16 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
* May 19 - Queen Elizabeth I of England arrests Mary Queen of Scots.
* May 23 - Battle of Heiligerlee: Troops under Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat a smaller loyalist force under the Duke of Arenberg in an attempt to invade the Northern Netherlands.
* July 21 - Battle of Jemmingen: The main Spanish army of the Duke of Alva utterly defeats Louis of Nassau's invading army in the Northeastern Netherlands.
* August 18 - The Third War of Religion begins in France after an unsuccessful attempt by the Royalists to capture Condé and Coligny, the Huguenot leaders.
* September 29 - The Swedish king Eric XIV is dethroned and succeeded by his half-brother John III.
* October 5 - William of Orange invades the Southeastern Netherlands.
* October 20 - Battle of Jodoigne. Spanish forces under the Duke of Alva destroy Orange's rearguard. Orange abandons his offensive.

Undated

* The Russo-Ottoman War in Astrakhan begins.
* The Azuchi-Momoyama period begins in Japan.
* The Eighty Years' War begins.
* Peace of Adrianople: The Ottomans agree to pay tribute to the Habsburgs.
* Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire besieges and captures the massive Chittorgarh Fort in northern India.

Births

* February 11 - Honoré d'Urfé, French writer (d. 1625)
* March 9 - Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian Jesuit and saint (d. 1591)
* April - Pope Urban VIII (d. 1644)
* September 3 - Adriano Banchieri, Italian composer (d. 1634)
*September 5 - Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian and poet (d. 1639)
*October 2 - Marin Getaldić, Croatian scientist (d. 1626)
*"date unknown"
**Nikolaus Ager, French botanist (d. 1634)
**John Welsh of Ayr, Scottish Presbyterian leader
**Barnabe Barnes, English poet (d. 1609)
**Teodosio II, Duke of Braganza (d. 1630)
**Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester (d. 1648)
**Nakagawa Hidemasa, Japanese military leader (d. 1592)
**Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, Mexican historian (d. 1648)
**Gervase Markham, English poet and writer (d. 1637)
**Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester (d. 1628)
**Henry Wotton, English author and diplomat (d. 1639)
**Wei Zhongxian, Grand Secretary of China (d. 1627)

Deaths

* January 15 - Catherine Carey, Chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I of England (b. c. 1526)
* January 20 - Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator (b. c. 1488)
* January 21 - Amato Lusitano, Portuguese physician (b. 1511)
* January 26 - Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (b. 1539)
*February 15 - Henry, Count of Bréderode, Dutch reformer (b. 1531)
* March 20 - Duke Albert of Prussia (b. 1490)
* May 23 - Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg (b. 1528)
* June 3 - Andrés de Urdaneta, Spanish Friar (b. 1498)
* June 5
**Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Flemish statesman (b. 1522)
**Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn (b. c. 1524
* July 7 - William Turner, British ornithologist and botanist (b. 1508)
* July 24 - Don Carlos of Spain, son of Philip II of Spain (b. 1545)
* August 23 - Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (b. 1495)
* September 22 - Jöran Persson, Swedish politician (b. c. 1530) (executed)
* October 3 - Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Philip II of Spain (b. 1545)
* October 14 - Jacques Arcadelt, Flemish composer (b. 1504)
* October 28 - Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shogun (b. 1538)
**November 6 - Metropolitan German, archbishop of Kazan and later Metropolitan of Moscow
* December 23 - Roger Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth I of England (b. 1515)
* December 31 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)
*"date unknown"
**Henry Sutton Dudley, English soldier and sailor (b. 1517)
**Garcia de Orta, Portuguese Jewish physician (b. 1501)
**Dirk Philips, early Anabaptist writer and theologian
**Yan Song, Chinese prime minister (b. 1481)