* 1566 – Isabella Clara Eugenia Spanish wife of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria ( d. 1633 )

* 1486 – Sigismund von Herberstein, Austrian diplomat and historian ( d. 1566 )

* 1566 – Two-hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands.

German physician Leonhart Fuchs ( 1501 – 1566 ) was one of " the three German fathers of botany ", along with Otto Brunfels ( 1489 – 1534 ) and Hieronymus Bock ( 1498 – 1554 ) ( also called Hieronymus Tragus ).

Pius V ( pope 1566 – 1572 ), however, while sanctioning those which could show at least 200 years of existence, made the Roman obligatory in all other places.

* 1633 – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain ( b. 1566 )

* 1566 – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer ( d. 1650 )

* 1566 – Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher ( d. 1612 )

* 1503 – Nostradamus, French astrologer ( d. 1566 )

During the next decade, Palestrina held positions similar to his Julian Chapel appointment at other chapels and churches in Rome, notably St John Lateran, ( 1555 – 1560 – a post previously held by Lassus ) and Sta Maria Maggiore ( 1561 – 1566 ).

* 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist ( d. 1566 )

Johannes Agricola ( originally Schneider, then Schnitter ) ( April 20, 1494 – September 22, 1566 ) was a German Protestant reformer and humanist.

* King James I of England ( 1566 – 1625 ), also king of Scotland as James VI

The second half of the century saw no composers equal in stature, but in the early 17th century Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger ( c. 1580 – 1651 ) and Alessandro Piccinini ( 1566 – 1638 ) revolutionized the instrument's technique and Kapsberger, possibly, influenced the keyboard music of Frescobaldi.

* 1566 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor ( d. 1603 )

Born in Bozdağan or Manisa, Murad III was the eldest son of sultan Selim II ( 1566 – 74 ), and succeeded his father in 1574.

Mehmed III Adli ( Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثالث Meḥmed-i < u > s </ u > āli < u > s </ u >, Turkish: III. Mehmet ; < span dir =" ltr "> May 26, 1566 – December 21 / 22, 1603 )</ span > was sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death.

* 1566 – David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland.

* 1625 – King James I of England and Ireland, James VI of Scotland ( b. 1566 )

* September 8 – Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer ( b. 1566 )

Other Italian mock-heroic poems were La Gigantea by Girolamo Amelonghi ( 1566 ), the Viaggio di Colonia ( Travel to Cologne ) by Antonio Abbondanti ( 1625 ), L ' asino ( The donkey ) by Carlo de ' Dottori ( 1652 ), La Troja rapita by Loreto Vittori ( 1662 ), Il malmantile racquistato by Lorenzo Lippi ( 1688 ), La presa di San Miniato by Ippolito Neri ( 1764 ).

Carlo Gesualdo, also known as Gesualdo da Venosa ( Venosa, 8 March 1566 – Gesualdo, 8 September 1613 ), Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer.

Carlo Barberini ( 1488 – 1566 ) and his brother Antonio Barberini ( 1494 – 1559 ) were successful Florentine grain, wool and textile merchants.

* Carlo Gesualdo ( 1566 – 1613 )-music composer, lutenist and nobleman

* Carlo Gesualdo ( 1566 – 1613 ), Italian late Renaissance composer

* September 7 – Giacomo Aconcio, Italian pioneer of religious tolerance ( d. 1566 )

* December 30 – Giovanni Baglione, Italian painter and historian of art ( b. 1566 )

** David Rizzio, Italian secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots ( d. 1566 )

** Taddeo Zuccari, Italian painter ( d. 1566 )

** Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist ( d. 1566 )

Taddeo Zuccari ( or Zuccaro ) ( 1 September 1529 – 2 September 1566 ) was an Italian painter, one of the most popular members of the Roman mannerist school.

Davide Rizzio, sometimes written as Davide Riccio or Davide Rizzo ( c. 1533 – 9 March 1566 ), was an Italian courtier, born close to Turin, a descendant of an ancient and noble family still living in Piedmont, the Riccio Counts de San Paolo et Solbrito, who rose to become the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots.

* August 31-Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet ( born 1566 )

Gascoigne translated two plays performed in 1566 at Grays Inn, the most aristocratic of the Renaissance London Inns of Court: the prose comedy Supposes based on Ariosto ’ s Suppositi, and Jocasta, a tragedy in blank verse which is said to have derived from Euripides ’ s Phoenissae, but appears more directly as a translation from the Italian of Lodovico Dolce ’ s Giocasta.

Its popularity ensured it was republished in five Latin editions within ten years, with translations into Italian ( 1560 ), French, ( 1565 ) and Dutch ( 1566 ) printed.

* Giuseppe Biancani, Italian astronomer ( born 1566 )

This branch would be known by the surname of Zrin ( but also variously a Zrinio, Zrinski, Zrínyi, Zrini, de Serin, Sdrin following Latin, contemporary Croatian, Magyar, French, or Italian usage ) which rose to its height of fame and glory with Count Nicholas IV ( Nikola IV in Croatian ), the hero of Szigetvár, (* 1508-† 1566 ), and with Count Nicholas VII ( Nikola VII in Croatian ), the Scourge of the Ottomans (* 1620-† 1664 ).

* Taddeo Zuccari or Zuccaro ( 1529 – 1566 ), an Italian painter, member of the Roman school of Mannerism

– September 27, 1566 ) was an Italian humanist, bishop and poet.

Jacob Acontius ( ( or Giacomo ) Aconcio ; 7 September 1492 – around 1566 ) was an Italian jurist, theologian, philosopher and engineer.

The English language word " pedant " comes from the French pédant ( used in 1566 in Darme & Hatzfeldster's Dictionnaire général de la langue française ) or its older mid-15th Century Italian source pedante, " teacher, schoolmaster ".

Pietro Cerone ( 1566 – 1625 ) was an Italian music theorist, singer and priest of the late Renaissance.

– 1566 ), Italian humanist, bishop, and poet

* Magdalena de Pazzi ( 1566 – 1607 ), Italian saint

Map of North America from 1566 showing Italian language | Italian inscriptions, both Terra In Cognita and Mare In Cognito