Year by year · 16th century

1540

1540 in world history: 8 events, 7 births, 8 deaths, 1 work, 1 state founded and 2 that came to an end. 997 recorded states existed that year.

Events

  1. 9 February

    Earliest recorded race is run at Chester

    A Shrove Tuesday race on the Roodee at Chester is the first recorded at what is now Britain's oldest racecourse still in use. It replaced a violent football match as the city's holiday sport.

  2. 23 March

    Waltham Abbey surrenders, the last English monastery to close

    The Augustinian abbey at Waltham in Essex was surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners. It completed the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which transferred vast church lands to the Crown.

  3. 28 July

    Thomas Cromwell is beheaded on Tower Hill

    Henry VIII's chief minister, architect of the break with Rome and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, was executed for treason and heresy. His fall followed the king's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves.

  4. 27 September

    Pope Paul III approves the Society of Jesus

    The bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae formally established Ignatius of Loyola's Jesuits. The order became a leading force of the Catholic Reformation, founding schools and missions worldwide.

    Jesuits
ProfileState879 states with a known seat in 1540Open the atlas at 1540 →

In the profiles

Wars and longer events

Born in 1540 7

Died in 1540 8

Works 1

States founded 1

States that came to an end 2

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). 1540. In The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1540
MLA
“1540.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1540. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “1540.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1540.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘1540’, The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1540 (Accessed: ).