1568

Events

• March 23 – 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 – Beginning of the Third War of Religion in France after an unsuccessful attempt by the Royalists to capture Condé and Coligny, the Huguenot leaders.
• 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.
• Beginning of the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
• Start of Eighty Years' War.
• Peace of Adrianople: The Ottomans agree to pay tribute to the Hapsburgs.

Births

• February 11 – Honore d'Urfe French writer
• April – Pope Urban VIII (d. 1684)
• September 3 – Adriano Banchieri, Italian composer (d. 1634)

Deaths

• January 21 – Amato Lusitano, Portuguese Jewish physician (b. 1511)
• March 20 – Albert of Prussia (b. 1490)
• July 24 – Don Carlos of Spain, son of Philip II of Spain (b. 1545)
• October 3 – Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Philip II of Spain (b. 1545)
• December 23 – Roger Ascham, Elizabeth I's tutor
• December 31 – Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese daimyo (b. 1493)
• Ashikaga Yoshihide, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1538)
• Garcia de Orta, Portuguese Jewish physician (b. 1501)