Year 1553 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1553

January - June

• May - The first Royal Charter is granted to St. Albans.
• June 26 - Christ's Hospital and King Edward's School, Witley are created by Royal Charter.

July - December

• July 6 - Edward VI of England dies.
• July 9 - Battle of Sievershausen: Prince-elector Maurice of Saxony defeats the Catholic forces of Margrave Albert of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Maurice is mortally wounded.

July 18: Queen Mary of England.

• July 10 - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England - a position she holds for the next nine days.
• July 18 - The Lord Mayor of London proclaims Queen Mary as the rightful Queen; Lady Jane Grey willingly abdicates.
• July 19 - Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after having that title for just nine days.

• August 3 - Queen Mary arrives in London.
• August 22 - The Duke of Northumberland, a supporter of Jane Grey, is executed.

• September - Protestant bishops in England are arrested and Roman Catholic bishops are restored.
• September 23 - The Sadians consolidate their power in Morocco by defeating the last of their enemies.
• October 27 - Calvinists burn Michael Servetus as a heretic in Geneva.
• December 25 - Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeats the Spanish conquistadors and exetutes the governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia.

Undated

• Tonbridge School founded by Sir Andrew Judde under the Letters Patent of King Edward VI.
• Russia: The maritime way of the White sea is opened by the English explorer Richard Chancellor, beginning the trade with England.
• Shanghai is fortified for the first time.
• In the Ming Dynasty of China, the addition of a new section of the Outer City is completed in southern Beijing, bringing the overall size of Beijing to 4 by 4½ miles.

Births

• January 22 - Mori Terumoto, Japanese warrior (d. 1625)
• May 7 - Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (d. 1618)
• May 14 - Margaret of Valois, queen of Henry IV of France (d. 1615)
• July 15 - Archduke Ernest of Austria (d. 1595)
• October 18? - Luca Marenzio, Italian composer (d. 1599)
• November 23 - Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
• December 13 - King Henry IV of France (d. 1610)
• date unknown
  • Patriarch Filaret of Moscow and All Rus' (d. 1633)
  • Giovanni Florio, English writer and translator (d. 1625)
  • Richard Hakluyt, English author, editor and translator (b. c. 1552 or 1553; d. 1616)
  • Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (d. 1632)
  • Jasper Heywood, English translator of Seneca (d. 1598)
  • Amago Katsuhisa, Japanese nobleman (d. 1578)
  • Pierre de Rostegny, French jurist (d. 1631)
  • William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, English military leader (d. 1613)
  • Jacques Auguste de Thou, French historian (d. 1617)

Deaths

• February 19 - Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1511)
• February 25 - Hirate Masahide, Japanese diplomat and tutor of Oda Nobunaga (suicide) (b. 1492)
• April 9 - François Rabelais, French writer
• May 5 - Erasmus Alberus, German humanist (b. 1500)
• May 28 - Johannes Aal, Swiss theologian (b. 1500)
• July 6 - King Edward VI of England (b. 1537)
• July 9 - Maurice, Elector of Saxony (b. 1521)
• August 8 - Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b. 1478)
• August 22 - John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (b. 1501)
• October 7 - Cristóbal de Morales, Spanish composer (b. 1500)
• October 16 - Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter (b. 1472)
• October 27 - Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian (burned at the stake) (b. 1511)
• October 30 - Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (b. 1489)
• date unknown - George Joye English Protestant bible translator (b. c. 1495)