Year 1566 (MDLXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June January 7 – Pope Pius V succeeds Pope Pius IV, as the 225th pope. February 24 – In one of the first gun assassinations in Japanese (if not world) history, Mimura Iechika is shot dead by two brothers (Endo Matajiro and Yoshijiro), sent by his rival Ukita Naoie. March 28 – The foundation stone of Valletta, which will become Malta's capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. April 5 – The Compromise of Nobles is presented to Margaret of Parma, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, but it succeeds only in delaying the beginning of the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands. July–December August 6 – The siege of Szigetvár is begun by Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. This is the Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent. August 10 – Beeldenstorm: Calvinists engage in widespread destruction of religious art in the Low Countries. On August 25, the vandalism reaches Leiden. September 7 – Suleiman the Magnificent dies in his tent at the siege of Szigetvár, and Selim II succeeds him as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. September 8 – The siege of Szigetvár ends in battle, with 2,300 Hungarian and Croatian defenders, including their general, Nikola Šubić Zrinski, annihilated by an army of 90,000 soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, under Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Date unknown The Spanish gold escudo, worth 16 silver reales, is first minted during the reign of Philip II of Spain. Pope Pius V expels most prostitutes from Rome, and the Papal States. Between July 19, 1566 and July 7, 1567 – The first bridge crossing the Neretva River at Mostar (in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) is completed by the Ottoman Empire. The white marble bridge becomes known as Stari Most ("Old Bridge"). Births January 13 – Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess Consort of Saxe-Lauenburg (1582–1619) (d. 1626) January 15 – Philipp Uffenbach, German artist (d. 1636) February 1 – Marie of the Incarnation, French Discalced Carmelite beatified nun and blessed (d. 1618) February 18 – Francesco Erizzo, Doge of Venice (d. 1646) March 1 – John Hoskins, English poet (d. 1638) March 8 – Carlo Gesualdo, Italian music composer (d. 1613) April 2 – Bartholda van Swieten, Dutch diplomat (d. 1647) May