Year 1517 (MDXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June January 22 – Battle of Ridaniya: The Holy Ottoman army of the sultan Selim I defeat the Mamluk army in Egypt, under Tuman bay II. February 3 – Cairo is captured by the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk Sultanate falls. March 16 – The Fifth Council of the Lateran ends. May 1 – Evil May Day: Xenophobic riots break out in London. July–December August 15 – Portuguese merchant Fernão Pires de Andrade meets Ming Dynasty Chinese officials through an interpreter, at the Pearl River estuary and lands, at what is now in the jurisdiction of Hong Kong. Although the first European trade expeditions to China took place in 1513 and 1516 by Jorge Álvares and Rafael Perestrello, respectively, Andrade's mission is the first official diplomatic mission of a European power to China, commissioned by a ruler of Europe (Manuel I of Portugal). October 31 – Reformation: Martin Luther publishes his 95 Theses (posting them on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church). This story is possibly apocryphal. Date unknown Grand Prince Vasili III of Muscovy conquers Ryazan. A third outbreak of the sweating sickness in England hits Oxford and Cambridge. The Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo, reestablished in 1261, falls to the Ottomans. Births January 17 Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English duke (d. 1554) Antonio Scandello, Italian composer (d. 1580) January 30 – Joannes Aurifaber Vratislaviensis, German theologian (d. 1568) February 2 – Gotthard Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1587) February 12 – Luigi Cornaro, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1584) March 22 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (d. 1590) March 29 – Carlo Carafa, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1561) May 1 – Svante Stensson Sture, Swedish count (d. 1567) June 18 – Emperor Ōgimachi, Japanese emperor (d. 1593) June 29 – Rembert Dodoens, Flemish botanist (d. 1585) July 10 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal and Protestant (d. 1571) July 16 – Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, English duchess (d. 1559) July 20 – Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (d. 1604) August 20 – Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, statesman, French Catholic cardinal (d. 1586) August 23 – Francis I, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1545) September 6 – Francisco de Holanda, Portuguese artist (d. 1585) October 17 – Amalia of Cleves,