Year 1556 (MDLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June January 16 – Charles V, having already abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, resigns the Kingdom of Spain in favour of his son, Philip II, and retires to a monastery. January 23 – The Shaanxi earthquake, the deadliest earthquake in history, occurs with its epicenter in Shaanxi province, China; 830,000 people may have been killed. February 5 – Truce of Vaucelles: Fighting temporarily ends between France and Spain. February 14 Akbar the Great ascends the throne of the Mughal Empire at age 13; he will rule until his death in 1605, by which time most of the north and centre of the Indian subcontinent will be under his control. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic. February 22 (approx.) – Sophia Jagiellon marries Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. March 21 – In Oxford, Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason. July–December November – The Truce of Vaucelles collapses, and war resumes between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain. November 5 – Second Battle of Panipat: Fifty miles north of Delhi, a Mughal army defeats the forces of Hemu, to ensure Akbar the throne of India. Date unknown The kings of Spain take control of the Flanders region, including what is now the French département of Nord. The Plantations of Ireland are started in King's County (now County Offaly) and Queen's County (now County Laois), the earliest attempt at systematic ethnic cleansing in Ireland, by the Roman Catholic ruler Queen Mary I of England. Future King Prince John, younger son of King Gustav I of Sweden becomes Duke of Finland. Ivan the Terrible conquers Astrakhan, opening the Volga River to Russian traffic and trade. The Welser banking families of Augsburg lose colonial control of Venezuela. Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice. The false Martin Guerre appears in the French village of Artigat. The first printing press in India is introduced by Jesuits, at Saint Paul's College, Goa. Births January 8 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623) January 24 – Christian Barnekow, Danish noble, explorer and diplomat (d. 1612) February 4 – Dorothea of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noblewoman (d. 1638) February 7 – Countess Maria of Nassau (d. 1616) February 16 – Tōdō Takatora, Japanese daimyō (d. 1630) February 21 – Sethus