In the year AD 1568...
- The Eighty Years' War (aka the Dutch Revolt) begins when a small army of Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau and Adolf of Nassau (both brothers of William of Orange) invades Groningen province of the Spanish Netherlands, defeating a loyalist army under the stadtholder Johan de Ligne at the Battle of Heiligerlee.
- The Second War of Religion in France between Royalist Catholics and Protestant Huguenots comes to an end in March with the Peace of Longjumeau.
- However, the Third War of Religion breaks out just a few months later.
- Outraged by the Peace, Catholics start fomenting anti-Protestant confraternities and leagues across the country, in defiance of the law throughout the summer.
- Fearing for their lives, Huguenot leaders such as Condé and Coligny flee the court and begin gathering an army, and many of their followers are murdered.
- In September, the Edict of Saint-Maur revokes the Huguenots' freedom to worship.
- In November William of Orange invades France in support his fellow Protestants, but with his army rising in mutiny due to lack of funds to pay them, he is soon forced to accept a large bribe from the French crown to leave the country.
- Mary, Queen of Scots escapes from her imprisonment at Loch Leven Castle and raises an army of 6,000 supporters, but is defeated by a smaller force under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half brother and the regent for her infant son, James VI, at the Battle of Langside. Mary flees to England in a fishing boat, expecting aid from her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, but Elizabeth has her imprisoned pending an inquiry into her role in the murder of her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the previous year.
- Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga defeats the Rokkaku clan and triumphantly enters the Imperial capital of Kyoto, where he installs his client Ashikaga Yoshiaki as shogun, thus inaugurating the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japanese history.
- The Austro-Turkish War comes to an end with the Treaty of Adrianople, as the Ottomans agree to stop invading Hapsburg territory and the Hapsburgs agree to pay an annual tribute of 30,000 ducats to the Ottomans.
- In the wake of the Sture Murders the year before, the Swedish nobility rises up and deposes King Eric XIV, replacing him with his half-brother John III.
- Mughal emperor Akbar completes his conquest of Rajputana by capturing Chittorgarh and Ranthambore forts.
- Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña discovers the Solomon Islands.
- The Bishops' Bible, a notable English translation of the Bible, is produced by a council of English bishops under the auspices of the Church of England.
These people were born in 1568...
These people died in 1568...
1567 - 1568 - 1569
16th century
How they were made