155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Second Boer War
Long Tom shells are incorporated in the Honoured Dead Memorial in Kimberley, commemorating those who fell in the town's defence, where they surround the gun called Long Cecil (built in Kimberley during the siege by George Labram, and a catalyst in the Boers bringing Long Tom to the siege).


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Second Boer War
Replicas of the original cannons can be seen at various places in South Africa, including Fort Klapperkop near Pretoria, in the Long Tom Pass in Mpumalanga, The Anglo-Boer War Museum in Bloemfontein (formerly the War Museum of the Boer Republics) and next to the town hall in Ladysmith.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Pretoria Forts
After the abortive Jameson Raid the government decided to build four forts around the capital, Pretoria. These were called Fort Schanskop, Fort Klapperkop, Fort Daspoortrand and Fort Wonderboompoort. A Long Tom was placed in each fort.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Pretoria Forts
After war broke out, three Long Toms were sent to the Natal front and the remaining one sent to Mafeking.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Mafeking
The Long Tom arrived at Mafeking on 23 October 1899. It was hurriedly emplaced on a height called Jackal Tree, about 3,500 yards (3,200 m) south of Mafeking on the Geysdorp road. The next day it hurled its first shell into town. On 6 November the Long Tom was moved to a new position, about 3,000 yards (2,700 m) east of Cannon Kopje. On 14 February 1900 the Long Tom was moved to the western side of town, but did not remain there for long. On 11 April the Long Tom was sent back to Pretoria, having thrown nearly 1,500 shells into Mafeking, which however killed fewer than 20 people.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Ladysmith
Initially the Boers had two Long Toms. The bombardment commenced on 2 November 1899, with one of the Long Toms firing from Pepworthy Hill. The second Long Tom was emplaced on Bulwana Hill and started firing on 8 November.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Ladysmith
On 27 November the Boers brought a third Long Tom and emplaced it on Middle Hill. Two old howitzers were brought up and one had a lucky shot, killing or injuring nine Boer gunners and damaging the Long Tom itself. The Boers moved the Long Tom on Pepworth Hill to Gun Hill (Lombardskop) on or about 7 December. A couple of nights later the British supported by a detachment of the Natal Police launched a commando attack again this gun, damaged its muzzle with a charge of gun cotton and removed its breech block.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Vaalkrans
One of the Long Toms at Ladysmith was taken forward for use during the Battle of Vaal Krantz. Prior to 5 February 1900 an emplacement had been prepared for it on a hill called "Doringkop" (Thorn Hill). The gun arrived at Vaal Krantz on 5 February, but could not be placed on the hill because one of its wheels had broken and the hill was too steep anyway. The Boers managed to get it to the top that night. It started firing at 05:15 the next morning. British return fire only managed to destroy one of its ammunition wagons, but the setback was temporary.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Kimberley
The Long Tom damaged by British forces on 7 December 1899 was taken back to Pretoria for repairs. There the front end of the muzzle was cut off, and henceforth the gun was known as "the Jew". The breechblock was replaced and it was ready for action. It was then sent to Kimberley, where it was emplaced on a mine dump next to the Kamfers Dam on 6 February 1900.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Diamond Hill
The battle of Diamond Hill took place east of Pretoria in June 1900. There was one Long Tom mounted on a railway truck parked at the Vandermerwe Station  It is not known whether it fired a shot.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Bergendal
The Battle of Bergendal was the last set piece battle of the war and took place near Belfast, Mpumalanga, in August 1900. It was the only occasion on which all four Long Toms were used in the same battle.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Bergendal
Gun A. Before the battle started this gun was at Dullstroom. It was then moved to a hill south of the farm De Zuikerboschkop,north-west of Belfast. The emplacement has not been found, but should be in the vicinity of 25°37'15"S, 29°56'52"E(WGS84). The cavalry drove it away on 26 August. After the battle it probably escaped to Lydenburg and then into the nearby bushveld.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Bergendal
Gun B. This gun was placed on the farm Waterval on a ridge called Witrant. The location of the emplacement is 25°37' 55"S, 30°09'02"[WGS84]. On 27 August it was moved forward. After the battle it escaped past Helvetia to Lydenburg and from there over the pass to Spitskop, Ohrigstad and eventually to Haenertsburg.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Bergendal
Gun C. Initially this gun was mounted on a railway truck. Around 7 August it was moved to the Elandskop vicinity. This emplacement, marked "C1", is situated at 25°46'13"S, 30°12'50"E (WGS84). Before 23 August the gun was moved to a place south-west of Dalmanutha station ("C2")situated at 25°46'14"S, 30° 09'05"E [ WGS84]. Thereafter it was moved to hill 1881 behind the ZARPs (C3) at 25°44'10"S, 30°07'00"E (WGS84) . After the battle it fled past Helvetia to Lydenburg and from there over the pass to Spitskop, Ohrigstad and eventually to Haenertsburg.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Bergendal
Gun D. This gun remained on the farm Driekop throughout the battle. The emplacement was found at 25°48'11"S, 30° 10'22"E [ WGS84]. After the battle it was taken to Komatipoort via Barberton.


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Location of Long Tom emplacements, Long Tom Pass
General Buller pursued the Boers and the two Long Toms retreating towards Lydenburg. The town was captured on 6 September 1900. No sooner had it been occupied, than the Boer  Long Toms on the mountain pass to Spitskop opened fire on the town. On 8 September Buller with 12,000 men and 48 guns started ascending the pass in pursuit of Botha and the Long Toms. By 9 September the Long Toms had crossed the crest of the mountain and stopped just beyond the part of the pass known as the Devil's Knuckles. From there they fired their parting shots at the enemy and disappeared into the mist. Today, there is a replica of the Long Tom at this spot. The pass has been named "Long Tom Pass".


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Destruction of Long Toms, Komatipoort
The first Long Tom was destroyed on the banks of the Komati River near Komatipoort on 22 September 1900. The exact place is not known. The approximate location is 25°27'09"S,31°56'57"E(WGS84)


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Destruction of Long Toms, Letaba River
The only contemporary written source of the place where the second Long Tom was destroyed is the diary of one of its gunners, Frederick Rothmann. He wrote that they had been camping at a village called Haenertsburg for a week, when the Long Tom was destroyed on 18 October 1900, and the remains thrown into the Letaba River. He visited the place and took one of its parts as a souvenir. A certain Grobler visited the area in 1954, and somebody who was present when the gun had been destroyed, pointed out the place where it happened. It was next to the Letaba River, about two miles east of Haenertsburg. Another person confirmed the place. Today the place is covered by the waters of the Ebenezer Dam. The approximate location is 23°56'24"S, 29°57'39"E(WGS84)


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Destruction of Long Toms, Rietfontein
After the Battle of Bergendal, "The Jew" remained hidden until April 1901 during the big sweep against General Viljoen in the Eastern Transvaal. Major-general F.W. Kitchener's column left Lydenburg on 13 April 1901. The Long Tom was emplaced on a hill on the farm Rietfontein. On 16 April it fired a few shells at the advancing British column and then its crew blew the gun up. The remains of the emplacement was found at 24° 57'46"S, 30° 13'16"E (WGS84).


155 mm Creusot Long Tom, Destruction of Long Toms, Feeskoppie
The fourth Long Tom made its way to Pietersburg (Polokwane today) via Bothasberg, Masepsdrif, and Smitsdorp. Shortly before General Plumer occupied Pietersburg on 8 February 1901, the Long Tom was taken in the direction of Haenertsberg. There it was emplaced on a hill called Feeskoppie, some five miles north of Haenertsburg. When Colonel Grenfell approached the area, the crew of the Long Tom fired a few shells at the British and then destroyed the gun. The date was 29 April 1901. The location is 23°53'12S, 29°57'36"E(WGS84), close to beacon 85.


155 mm gun M1
The 155 mm gun M1 was a 155 millimeter caliber field gun developed and used by the United States military. Nicknamed "Long Tom" (an appellation with a long and storied history in U.S. field and naval artillery), it was produced in M1 and M2  variants, later known as the M59. Developed to replace the Canon de 155mm GPF, the gun was deployed as a heavy field weapon during World War II and the Korean War, and also classed as secondary armament for seacoast defense. The gun could fire a 100 lb (45 kg) shell to a maximum range of 14 mi (23 km), with an estimated accuracy life of 1,500 rounds.


155 mm gun M1
The Long Tom was also adopted by a number of other nations, including the United Kingdom, Austria, Israel, and the Netherlands.


155 mm gun M1, Development
Before entering World War I, the United States was poorly equipped with heavy artillery. To address this problem a number of foreign heavy artillery guns were adopted, including the Canon de 155 mm GPF. After the end of the war the Westervelt Board was convened to assess the artillery experience of the combatant powers and map out future directions for the US Army artillery.


155 mm gun M1, Development
The conclusion of the board vis-a-vis heavy field artillery was that the French 155mm GPF should be adopted as the standard heavy field piece but further development work should occur to achieve a heavy field gun with a max. range of 25,000 yards (23 km), a vertical arc of fire from 0° to 65°, a projectile not exceeding 100 lb (45 kg) and the capability to be mounted on a caterpillar mount or a rubber tired towed mounting. A number of prototypes were produced in the 1920s and 1930s, but the projects were put on hold due to lack of funds. In 1938 the 155 mm gun T4 on carriage T2 was finally adopted as 155 mm gun M1 on carriage M1.


155 mm gun M1, Development, 155 mm gun M1
The new gun design used a barrel similar to the earlier 155 mm GPF, but with an Asbury mechanism that incorporated a vertically-hinged breech plug support. This type of breech used an interrupted-thread breech plug with a lock that opened and closed the breech by moving a single lever. The ammunition for the 155 mm gun was "separate-loading", that is with the shell and the powder charge packaged, shipped and stored separately. The shell is lifted into position behind the breech and then rammed into the chamber to engage the shell's rotating band into the barrel rifling.


155 mm gun M1, Development, 155 mm gun M1
Ramming the shell home is followed by loading a number of powder bags, as required for the desired range. The powder charge could be loaded in up to seven charge settings. Once the powder is loaded, the breech plug is closed and locked, and a primer is placed in the breech plug's firing mechanism. After setting the elevation and azimuth, the gun is ready to fire. The firing mechanism is a device for initiating the ammunition primer. The primer then sets off the igniter which ignites the propelling charge of the ammunition. A continuous-pull lanyard first cocks the firing pin, then fires the primer when pulled.


155 mm gun M1, Development, 155 mm gun M1
The gun was developed into M1A1 and M2 variants. After World War II, the United States Army re-organized, and the gun was re-designated as the M59.


155 mm gun M1, Development, Carriage M1
The gun carriage provides a stable, yet mobile, base for the gun. The new split-trail carriage featured an eight-wheel integral two-axle bogie and a two-wheel limber that supported the trails for transport. The carriage was a two-piece design. The upper carriage included the side frames with trunnion bearings that supported the recoil mechanism that carried the gun cradle, slide and gun tube. The upper carriage also incorporated the elevating and azimuth gearing. The upper carriage pivoted in azimuth on the lower carriage. The lower carriage included the transport suspension and the split-trail that stabilized and absorbed recoil when the gun was fired.


155 mm gun M1, Development, Carriage M1
After the gun was placed in a firing position with the gun pointing in the desired direction, the trails were lowered to the ground and the limber was removed. The carriage wheels would then be raised using built-in ratcheting screw-jacks, lowering the gun carriage to the ground. Once on the ground, the limber-end of the trail legs were separated to form a wide "vee" with its apex at the center of the carriage pivot point.


155 mm gun M1, Development, Carriage M1
A recoil spade at the limber-end of each trail leg required a correctly positioned hole to be dug for the spade, which was attached to the trail end, to transmit the recoil from gun carriage through the trails and into the earth. This made the gun very stable and assisted its accuracy. The removable spades were transported in brackets on the trail legs.


155 mm gun M1, Development, Carriage M1
The carriage M1 and M2 were shared with the 8-inch (203 mm) Howitzer M1, differing only in the gun tube, sleigh, cradle, recoil and equilibrators, weight due to the heavier barrel.


155 mm gun M1, Service
The Long Tom saw combat for the first time in the North African Campaign on December 24, 1942, with "A" Battery of the 36th Field Artillery Regiment. Eventually it equipped 33 U.S. Army battalions in the European and Mediterranean Theaters (the 173rd, 190th, 200th, 208th, 240th, 261st, 273rd, 514th-516th, 528th, 530th, 540th, 541st, 546th-549th, 559th, 561st, 634th, 635th, 731st, 733rd, 734th, 976th-981st, 985th and 989th), and 8 in the Pacific Theater (the 168th, 223rd, 226th, 433rd, 517th, 531st, 532nd, and 983rd). The 353rd, 732nd, and 993rd Field Artillery Battalions were  segregated 155 mm gun units that never went overseas.


155 mm gun M1, Service
The 353rd was converted to the 1697th Engineer Combat Battalion (Colored) on 19 March 1944 at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi, the 732nd was converted to the 1695th Engineer Combat Battalion (Colored) on 15 March 1944 at Camp Pickett, Virginia, and the 993rd was converted to the 1696th Engineer Combat Battalion (Colored) on 19 March 1944 at Camp Swift, Texas.


155 mm gun M1, Service
The 155 mm gun was also used by several Marine defense battalions, notably during Operation Cartwheel in 1943.


155 mm gun M1, Service
The preferable prime mover was initially the Mack NO 6×6 7½ ton truck; from 1943 on, it was supplemented by the tracked M4 High Speed Tractor. 72 rounds of ammunition plus propelling charges could be carried in the M21 4-ton, 2-wheel ammunition trailer. The later M23 8-ton, 4-wheel ammunition trailer introduced in 1945 could carry 96 rounds of ammunition plus propelling charges.


155 mm gun M1, Service
A small number of Long Tom guns were authorised for supply via Lend-Lease channels, to the United Kingdom (184) and France (25). The authorised establishment of British batteries (excluding training units), including four batteries from the Dominion of Newfoundland, totalled 88 guns.


155 mm gun M1, Variants
The gun was also mounted on a modified M4 medium tank chassis, in mount M13. The resulting vehicle was initially designated 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage T83 and eventually standardized as 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40. 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage T79, based on T23 Medium Tank chassis, never advanced past proposal stage. A portable "Panama mount" M1 was also provided.


155 mm gun M1, Ammunition
The gun utilized separate loading, bagged charge ammunition. The propelling charge consisted of base (9.23 kg) and increment (4.69 kg). The data in the table below is for supercharge (base and increment).


155 mm gun T7
The 155mm L/40 T7 was an American rifled tank gun developed in 1945. The T7 was to be the main armament for the T30 Heavy Tank, but only a handful were produced due to the T30 project being cancelled after trials in the late 1940s.


155 mm gun T7
The T7 used two-part separated ammunition like the 105mm T5E1 gun on the T29 Heavy Tank. It had a low velocity of only 701 m/s (2,300 ft/s) compared to the 120mm T53 on the T34 Heavy Tank (945 m/s) and the 105mm T5E1 on the T29 Heavy Tank (945 m/s). However, the 43 kg (95 lbs) High-Explosive shell was demonstrated to have a powerful demolition effect. Testing concluded before completion when the T30 project was cancelled in the late 1940s.


155 series
The 155 series (155系) was an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR) from 1959 until 1983. They were originally designed for and used on school excursion trains running between Tokyo and the "Keihanshin" Kyoto/Osaka/Kobe area via the Tokaido Main Line.


155 series, Design
Initially classified "82 series", the 155 series was broadly derived from the earlier 153 series express EMU design.


155 series, Design, Exterior
The trains were initially painted in what was to become the standard JNR excursion train livery of "lemon yellow" and "light scarlet" selected from colour schemes proposed by 313 different junior high schools in the Tokyo and Keihanshin areas. Later sets built used "canary yellow", a slightly different shade to the original "lemon yellow" colour.


155 series, Design, Interior
The primary purpose of the trains was to maximize seating capacity for use on school excursions, so accommodation was arranged in fixed seating bays, with 4-seat bays on one side and 6-seat bays on the other side of the aisle, giving a seating capacity of approximately 100 per car. The trains were not air-conditioned, but featured ceiling-mounted fans.


155 series, Design, Bogies
The motored cars were mounted on DT21A coil-spring bogies based on the bogies used on the 101 series commuter EMUs. The non-motored trailer cars were mounted on TR62 bogies.


155 series, Formations
The fleet consisted of two 8-car and eight 4-car sets, formed as shown below, and based at Tamachi Depot in Tokyo and Miyahara Depot in Kyoto. These initially ran as 12-car formations, later lengthened to 16-car formations.


155 series, History
The 155 series sets entered service from March 1959 on school excursion services running on the Tokaido Main Line. Westbound services from Tokyo (Shinagawa Station) were named Hinode (ひので, "Sunrise"), and eastbound services from the Keihanshin area were named Kibō (きぼう, "Hope"). Trains carried headboards on the front with the name of the train. A further two 4-car sets were built in 1961, and four more 4-car sets were built between 1964 and 1965, to allow 16-car formations to be used on Hinode and Kibō services.


155 series, History
From March 1971, school excursions began using Kodama services on the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and the Keihanshin area, and the Tokaido Line Hinode and Kibō services were discontinued from October of the same year. The 155 series trains underwent refurbishment and repainting into the Shonan livery of orange and green from 1973, and the former Kansai area sets were transferred to Ogaki Depot in 1974 for use on "rapid" limited-stop services and charter train services. The Tamachi-based Tokyo area sets saw use on school excursions to Nikko, and winter season trains to ski resorts in the Joetsu region.


155 series, History
Withdrawals began in 1980, and the entire fleet was withdrawn from service by fiscal 1983. No 155 series vehicles have been preserved.


1550
Year 1550 (MDL) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1550 AM
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1550 kHz: 1550 AM is a clear-channel frequency reserved for Canada. Class A CBEF in Windsor, Ontario, broadcasts on 1550 kHz. Clear-channel status had also been shared with XHRUV in Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, but that station switched to FM only, with the AM station now silent. See also List of broadcast station classes.


1550 Tito
1550 Tito, provisional designation 1937 WD, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 November 1937, by Serbian astronomer Milorad B. Protić at the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory in Serbia. It was named for Yugoslavian statesman Josip Broz Tito.


1550 Tito, Classification and orbit
This asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.7–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,482 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.31 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic. Tito's observation arc begins 4 years after its official discovery observation, with its first used observation taken at Belgrade in 1941. No precoveries were taken and no prior identifications were made.


1550 Tito, Physical characteristics
In the SMASS classification, Tito is characterized as a common S-type asteroid.


1550 Tito, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
Tito has a rotation period of approximately 54 hours. While this does not make it a slow rotator, it has a significantly longer period than the vast majority of minor planets, which typically spin every 2 to 20 hours around their axis.


1550 Tito, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
Rotational lightcurves of Tito were obtained from photometric observations by Walter R. Cooney Jr. in January 2003, who derived a period of 54.2 hours (Δmag 0.23, U=2), by Raymond Poncy in December 2006, who obtained a shorter, provisional period of 30 hours (Δmag 0.16, U=2), and by David Higgins in December 2010, who derived a period of 54.53 hours (Δmag 0.40, U=2).


1550 Tito, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Tito measures between 9.47 and 13.652 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.181 and 0.257. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 12.39 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.9.


1550 Tito, Naming
Tito was named in honour of Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), leader of the Yugoslavian resistance during the World War II, early enthusiast of the United Nations, and president of former Yugoslavia. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 30 January 1964 (M.P.C. 2277).


1550 in Scotland
Events from the year 1550 in the Kingdom of Scotland.


1550 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1550.


1550 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1550 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1550 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1550s
The 1550s decade ran from January 1, 1550, to December 31, 1559.


1550s BC
The 1550s BC was a decade lasting from January 1, 1559 BC to December 31, 1550 BC.


1550s in England
Events from the 1550s in England. This decade marks the beginning of the Elizabethan era.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion
Fashion in the period 1550–1600 in Western European clothing was characterized by increased opulence. Contrasting fabrics, slashes, embroidery, applied trims, and other forms of surface ornamentation remained prominent. The wide silhouette, conical for women with breadth at the hips and broadly square for men with width at the shoulders had reached its peak in the 1530s, and by mid-century a tall, narrow line with a V-lined waist was back in fashion. Sleeves and women's skirts then began to widen again, with emphasis at the shoulder that would continue into the next century. The characteristic garment of the period was the ruff, which began as a modest ruffle attached to the neckband of a shirt or smock and grew into a separate garment of fine linen, trimmed with lace, cutwork or embroidery, and shaped into crisp, precise folds with starch and heated irons.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Spanish style
Charles V, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, handed over the kingdom of Spain to his son Philip II and the Empire to his brother Ferdinand I in 1558, ending the domination of western Europe by a single court, but the Spanish taste for sombre richness of dress would dominate fashion for the remainder of the century. New alliances and trading patterns arose as the divide between Catholic and Protestant countries became more pronounced. The severe, rigid fashions of the Spanish court were dominant everywhere except France and Italy.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Spanish style
Black garments were worn for the most formal occasions. Black was difficult and expensive to dye, and seen as luxurious, if in an austere way. As well as Spanish courtiers, it appealed to wealthy middle-class Protestants. Regional styles were still distinct. The clothing was very intricate, elaborate and made with heavy fabrics such as velvet and raised silk, topped off with brightly coloured jewellery such as rubies, diamonds and pearls to contrast the black backdrop of the clothing. Janet Arnold in her analysis of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe records identifies French, Italian, Dutch, and Polish styles for bodices and sleeves, as well as Spanish.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Spanish style
Linen ruffs grew from a narrow frill at neck and wrists to a broad "cartwheel" style that required a wire support by the 1580s. Ruffs were worn throughout Europe, by men and women of all classes, and were made of rectangular lengths of linen as long as 19 yards. Later ruffs were made of delicate reticella, a cutwork lace that evolved into the needlelaces of the 17th century.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Elizabethan Style
Since Elizabeth I, Queen of England, was the ruler, women's fashion became one of the most important aspects of this period. As the Queen was always required to have a pure image, and although women's fashion became increasingly seductive, the idea of the perfect Elizabethan women was never forgotten.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Elizabethan Style
The Elizabethan era had its own customs and social rules that were reflected in their fashion. Style would depend usually of social status and Elizabethans were bound to obey The Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws, which oversaw the style and materials worn.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Elizabethan Style
Elizabethan sumptuary laws were used to control behaviour and to ensure that a specific social structure was maintained. These rules were well known by all the English people and penalties for violating these sumptuary laws included harsh fines. Most of the time they ended in the loss of property, title and even life.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Elizabethan Style
Regarding fabrics and materials for the clothes construction, only royalty was permitted to wear ermine. Other nobles (lesser ones) were allowed only to wear foxes and otters. Clothes worn during this era were mostly inspired by geometric shapes, probably derived from the high interest in science and mathematics from that era. "Padding and quilting together with the use of whalebone or buckram for stiffening purposes were used to gain geometric effect with emphasis on giving the illusion of a small waist".


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Elizabethan Style
The upper classes, too, were restricted. Certain materials such as cloth of gold could only be worn by the Queen, her mother, children, aunts, sisters, along with Duchesses, Marchionesses, and Countesses. Whereas, Viscountesses, or Baronesses, for instance, were not allowed to use this material.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Elizabethan Style
Not only fabrics were restricted on the Elizabethan era, but also colours, depending on social status. Purple was only allowed to be worn by the queen and her direct family members. Depending on social status, the colour could be used in any clothing or would be limited to mantles, doublets, jerkins, or other specific items. Lower classes were only allowed to use brown, beige, yellow, orange, green, grey and blue in wool, linen and sheepskin, while usual fabrics for upper crusts were silk or velvet.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Fabrics and trims
The general trend towards abundant surface ornamentation in the Elizabethan Era was expressed in clothing, especially amongst the aristocracy in England. Shirts and chemises were embroidered with blackwork and edged in lace. Heavy cut velvets and brocades were further ornamented with applied bobbin lace, gold and silver embroidery, and jewels. Toward the end of the period, polychrome (multicoloured) silk embroidery became highly desirable and fashionable for the public representation of aristocratic wealth.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Fabrics and trims
The origins of the trend for sombre colours are elusive, but are generally attributed to the growing influence of Spain and possibly the importation of Spanish merino wools. The Low Countries, German states, Scandinavia, England, France, and Italy all absorbed the sobering and formal influence of Spanish dress after the mid-1520s. Fine textiles could be dyed "in the grain" (with the expensive kermes), alone or as an over-dye with woad, to produce a wide range colours from blacks and greys through browns, murreys, purples, and sanguines. Inexpensive reds, oranges and pinks were dyed with madder and blues with woad, while a variety of common plants produced yellow dyes, although most were prone to fading.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, General trends, Fabrics and trims
By the end of the period, there was a sharp distinction between the sober fashions favoured by Protestants in England and the Netherlands, which still showed heavy Spanish influence, and the light, revealing fashions of the French and Italian courts. This distinction would carry over well into the seventeenth century.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion
Women's outer clothing generally consisted of a loose or fitted gown worn over a kirtle or petticoat (or both). An alternative to the gown was a short jacket or a doublet cut with a high neckline. The narrow-shouldered, wide-cuffed "trumpet" sleeves characteristic of the 1540s and 1550s in France and England disappeared in the 1560s, in favor of French and Spanish styles with narrower sleeves. Overall, the silhouette was narrow through the 1560s and gradually widened, with emphasis as the shoulder and hip. The slashing technique, seen in Italian dress in the 1560s, evolved into single or double rows of loops at the shoulder with contrasting linings. By the 1580s these had been adapted in England as padded and jeweled shoulder rolls.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Gown, kirtle, and petticoat
The common upper garment was a gown, called in Spanish ropa, in French robe, and in English either gown or frock. Gowns were made in a variety of styles: Loose or fitted (called in England a French gown); with short half sleeves or long sleeves; and floor length (a round gowns) or with a trailing train (clothing).


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Gown, kirtle, and petticoat
The gown was worn over a kirtle or petticoat (or both, for warmth). Prior to 1545, the kirtle consisted of a fitted one-piece garment. After that date, either kirtles or petticoats might have attached bodices or bodies that fastened with lacing or hooks and eyes and most had sleeves that were pinned or laced in place. The parts of the kirtle or petticoat that showed beneath the gown were usually made of richer fabrics, especially the front panel forepart of the skirts.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Gown, kirtle, and petticoat
The bodices of French, Spanish, and English styles were stiffened into a cone or flattened, triangular shape ending in a V at the front of the woman's waist. Italian fashion uniquely featured a broad U-shape rather than a V. Spanish women also wore boned, heavy corsets known as "Spanish bodies" that compressed the torso into a smaller but equally geometric cone. Bodices could be high-necked or have a broad, low, square neckline, often with a slight arch at the front early in the period. They fastened with hooks in front or were laced at the side-back seam. High-necked bodices styled like men's doublets might fasten with hooks or buttons. Italian and German fashion retained the front-laced bodice of the previous period, with the ties laced in parallel rows.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Underwear
During this period, women's underwear consisted of a washable linen chemise or smock. This was the only article of clothing that was worn by every woman, regardless of class. Wealthy women's smocks were embroidered and trimmed with narrow lace. Smocks were made of rectangular lengths of linen; in northern Europe the smock skimmed the body and was widened with triangular gores, while in Mediterranean countries smocks were cut fuller in the body and sleeves. High-necked smocks were worn under high-necked fashions, to protect the expensive outer garments from body oils and dirt. There is pictorial evidence that Venetian courtesans wore linen or silk drawers, but no evidence that drawers were worn in England.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Underwear
Stockings or hose were generally made of woven wool sewn to shape and held in place with ribbon garters.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Underwear
The true corset, called a vasquine in Spanish, arose in the first half of the 16th century in Spain. The fashion spread from there to Italy, and then to France and (eventually) England, where it was called a pair of bodies, being made in two parts which laced back and front. The corset was restricted to aristocratic fashion, and was a fitted bodice stiffened with reeds called bents, wood, or whalebone.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Underwear
Skirts were held in the proper shape by a farthingale or hoop skirt. In Spain, the cone-shaped Spanish farthingale remained in fashion into the early 17th century. It was only briefly fashionable in France, where a padded roll or French farthingale (called in England a bum roll) held the skirts out in a rounded shape at the waist, falling in soft folds to the floor. In England, the Spanish farthingale was worn through the 1570s, and was gradually replaced by the French farthingale. By the 1590s, skirts were pinned to wide wheel farthingales to achieve a drum shape.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Partlet
A low neckline might be filled with an infill (called in English a partlet). Partlets worn over the smock but under the kirtle and gown were typically made of lawn (a fine linen). Partlets were also worn over the kirtle and gown. The colours of "over-partlets" varied, but white and black were the most common. The partlet might be made of the same material as the kirtle and richly decorated with lace detailing to complement it. Embroidered partlet and sleeve sets were frequently given to Elizabeth as New Year's gifts.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Outerwear
Women wore sturdy overskirts called safeguards over their dresses for riding or travel on dirty roads. Hooded cloaks were worn overall in bad weather. One description mentions strings being attached to the stirrup or foot to hold the skirts in place when riding. Mantles were also popular and described as modern day bench warmers: a square blanket or rug that is attached to the shoulder, worn around the body, or on the knees for extra warmth.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Outerwear
Besides keeping warm, Elizabethans cloaks were useful for any type of weather;the Cassock, commonly known as the Dutch cloak, was another kind of cloak. Its name implies some military ideals and has been used since the beginning of the 16th century and therefore has many forms. The cloak is identified by its flaring out at the shoulders and the intricacy of decoration. The cloak was worn to the ankle, waist or fork. It also had specific measurements of 3/4 cut. The longer lengths were more popular for travel and came with many variations.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Outerwear
These include: taller collars than normal, upturned collar or no collar at all and sleeves. The French cloak was quite the opposite of the Dutch and was worn anywhere from the knees to the ankle. It was typically worn over the left shoulder and included a cape that came to the elbow. It was a highly decorated cloak. The Spanish cloak or cape was well known to be stiff, have a very decorated hood and was worn to the hip or waist. The over-gown for women was very plain and worn loosely to the floor or ankle length. The Juppe had a relation to the safeguard and they would usually be worn together. The Juppe replaced the Dutch Cloak and was most likely a loose form of the doublet.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Accessories
The fashion for wearing or carrying the pelt of a sable or marten spread from continental Europe into England in this period; costume historians call these accessories zibellini or "flea furs". The most expensive zibellini had faces and paws of goldsmith's work with jewelled eyes. Queen Elizabeth received one as a New Years gift in 1584. Gloves of perfumed leather featured embroidered cuffs. Folding fans appeared late in the period, replacing flat fans of ostrich feathers.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Accessories
Jewelry was also popular among those that could afford it. Necklaces were beaded gold or silver chains and worn in concentric circles reaching as far down as the waist. Ruffs also had a jewelry attachment such as glass beads, embroidery, gems, brooches or flowers. The jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots are well-documented. Belts were a surprising necessity: used either for fashion or more practical purposes. Lower classes wore them almost as tool belts with the upper classes using them as another place to add jewels and gems alike.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Accessories
Scarves, although not often mentioned, had a significant impact on the Elizabethan style by being a multipurpose piece of clothing. They could be worn on the head to protect desirable pale skin from the sun, warm the neck on a colder day, and accentuate the colour scheme of a gown or whole outfit. The upper class had silken scarves of every color to brighten up an outfit with the gold thread and tassels hanging off of it.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Accessories
While travelling, noblewomen would wear oval masks of black velvet called visards to protect their faces from the sun.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Hairstyles and headgear
Married and grown women covered their hair, as they had in previous periods. Early in the period, hair was parted in the center and fluffed over the temples. Later, front hair was curled and puffed high over the forehead. Wigs and false hairpieces were used to extend the hair. In a typical hairstyle of the period, front hair is curled and back hair is worn long, twisted and wound with ribbons and then coiled and pinned up.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Hairstyles and headgear
A close-fitting linen cap called a coif or biggins was worn, alone or under other hats or hoods, especially in the Netherlands and England. Many embroidered and bobbin-lace-trimmed English coifs survive from this period. The French hood was worn throughout the period in both France and England. Another fashionable headdress was a caul, or cap, of net-work lined in silk attached to a band, which covered the pinned up hair. This style of headdress had also been seen in Germany in the first half of the century. Widows in mourning wore black hoods with sheer black veils.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Makeup
The ideal standard of beauty for women in the Elizabethan era was to have light or naturally red hair, a pale complexion, and red cheeks and lips, drawing on the style of Queen Elizabeth. The goal was to look very "English," since the main enemy of England was Spain, and in Spain darker hair was dominant.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Makeup
To further lighten their complexion, women worn white make-up on their faces. This make-up, called Ceruse, was made up of white lead and vinegar. While this makeup was effective, the white lead made it poisonous. Women in this time often contracted lead poisoning, resulting in death before the age of 50. Other ingredients used as make-up were sulfur, alum, and tin ash. In addition to using make-up to achieve a pale complexion, women in this era were bled to take the color out of their faces.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Women's fashion, Makeup
Cochineal, madder, and vermilion were used as dyes to achieve the bright red effects on the cheeks and lips. Kohl was used to darken the eyelashes and enhance the size and appearance of the eyes.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Overview
Men's fashionable clothing consisted of a linen shirt with collar or ruff and matching wrist ruffs, which were laundered with starch to be kept stiff and bright. Over the shirt men wore a doublet with long sleeves sewn or laced in place. Doublets were stiff, heavy garments, and were often reinforced with boning. Optionally, a jerkin, usually sleeveless and often made of leather, was worn over the doublet. During this time the doublet and jerkin became increasingly more colorful and highly decorated. Waistlines dipped V-shape in front, and were padded to hold their shape. Around 1570, this padding was exaggerated into a peascod belly.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Overview
Hose, in variety of styles, were worn with a codpiece early in the period. Trunk hose or round hose were short padded hose. Very short trunk hose were worn over cannions, fitted hose that ended above the knee. Trunk hose could be paned or pansied, with strips of fabric (panes) over a full inner layer or lining. Slops or galligaskins were loose hose reaching just below the knee. Slops could also be pansied.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Overview
Pluderhosen were a Northern European form of pansied slops with a very full inner layer pulled out between the panes and hanging below the knee.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Overview
Men wore stockings or netherstocks and flat shoes with rounded toes, with slashes early in the period and ties over the instep later. Boots were worn for riding.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Outerwear
Short cloaks or capes, usually hip-length, often with sleeves, or a military jacket like a mandilion, were fashionable. Long cloaks were worn in cold and wet weather. Gowns were increasingly old-fashioned, and were worn by older men for warmth indoors and out. In this period robes began their transition from general garments to traditional clothing of specific occupations, such as scholars (see Academic dress).


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Hairstyles and headgear
Hair was generally worn short, brushed back from the forehead. Longer styles were popular in the 1580s. In the 1590s, young men of fashion wore a lovelock, a long section of hair hanging over one shoulder.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Hairstyles and headgear
Through the 1570s, a soft fabric hat with a gathered crown was worn. These derived from the flat hat of the previous period, and over time the hat was stiffened and the crown became taller and far from flat. Later, a conical felt hat with a rounded crown called a capotain or copotain became fashionable. These became very tall toward the end of century. Hats were decorated with a jewel or feather, and were worn indoors and out.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Hairstyles and headgear
Close-fitting caps covering the ears and tied under the chin called coifs continued to be worn by children and older men under their hats or alone indoors; men's coifs were usually black.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Hairstyles and headgear
A conical cap of linen with a turned up brim called a nightcap was worn informally indoors; these were often embroidered.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Beards
Although beards were worn by many men prior to the mid-16th century, it was at this time when grooming and styling facial hair  gained social significance. These styles would change very frequently, from pointed whiskers to round trims, throughout these few decades. The easiest way men were able to maintain the style of their beards was to apply starch onto their groomed faces. The most popular styles of beards at this time include:


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Accessories
A baldrick or "corse" was a belt commonly worn diagonally across the chest or around the waist for holding items such swords, daggers, bugles, and horns.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Accessories
Gloves were often used as a social mediator to recognize the wealthy. Beginning in the second half of the 16th century, many men had trimmed tips off of the fingers of gloves in order for the admirer to see the jewels that were being hidden by the glove.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Men's fashion, Accessories
Late in the period, fashionable young men wore a plain gold ring, a jewelled earring, or a strand of black silk through one pierced ear.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Footwear
Fashionable shoes for men and women were similar, with a flat one-piece sole and rounded toes. Shoes were fastened with ribbons, laces or simply slipped on. Shoes and boots became narrower, followed the contours of the foot, and covered more of the foot, in some cases up to the ankle, than they had previously. As in the first half of the century, shoes were made from soft leather, velvet, or silk. In Spain, Italy, and Germany the slashing of shoes also persisted into the latter half of the century.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Footwear
In France however, slashing slowly went out of fashion and coloring the soles of footwear red began. Aside from slashing, shoes in this period could be adorned with all sorts of cord, quilting, and frills. Thick-soled pattens were worn over delicate indoor shoes to protect them from the muck of the streets. A variant on the patten popular in Venice was the chopine – a platform-soled mule that raised the wearer sometimes as high as two feet off the ground.


1550–1600 in Western European fashion, Children's fashion
Toddler boys wore gowns or skirts and doublets until they were breeched.


1551
Year 1551 (MDLI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1551 Argelander
1551 Argelander, provisional designation 1938 DC1, is a background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 24 February 1938, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the Turku Observatory in southwest Finland. The likely S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 4.1 hours. It was named after German astronomer Friedrich Argelander.


1551 Argelander, Orbit and classification
Argelander is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,353 days; semi-major axis of 2.39 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1930 BL at Heidelberg Observatory in January 1930, or 8 years prior to its official discovery observation at Turku.


1551 Argelander, Naming
This minor planet was named after Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander (1799–1875), author of the famous Bonner Durchmusterung and 19th-century head of the ancient observatory at Turku and Bonn (520). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 30 January 1964 (M.P.C. 2278). The lunar crater Argelander is also named after him.


1551 Argelander, Physical characteristics, Rotation period and poles
In August 2017, a rotational lightcurve of Argelander was obtained from photometric observations at the Chilean Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory using the SARA South Telescope. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 4.063±0.006 hours and a brightness variation of 0.48 magnitude (U=2+). In January 2012, astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory had also determined a period of 4.061±0.0023 with an amplitude of 0.41 magnitude (U=2).


1551 Argelander, Physical characteristics, Rotation period and poles
A modeled lightcurve using photometric data from the Lowell Photometric Database was published in 2016. It gave a concurring period of 4.058350±0.000001 hours, as well as two spin axes at (3.0°, −81.0°) and (183.0°, −72.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).


1551 Argelander, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Argelander measures between 9.2 and 11.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.19 and 0.30. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 9.60 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.45.


1551 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1551.


1551 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1551.


1551 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1551 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1551 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1552
Year 1552 (MDLII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1552 Bessel
1552 Bessel, provisional designation 1938 DE1, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 February 1938, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland, and named after German astronomer Friedrich Bessel.


1552 Bessel, Orbit and classification
Bessel is a stony asteroid and a member of the Eos family that orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.3 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,909 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic. First observed as 1933 FJ1 at Heidelberg in 1933, the body's observation arc begins at Turku, 5 days prior to its official discovery observation.


1552 Bessel, Naming
This minor planet was named after German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1789–1846), who measured the first stellar parallax in 1838. His measured parallax of 0.314 arcseconds for 61 Cygni gave a distance of 10.3 light-years, which is 9.6% off today's measured distance of 11.4 light-years. Bessel is also honored by the lunar crater Bessel. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 30 January 1964 (M.P.C. 2278).


1552 Bessel, Physical characteristics, Rotation period and pole
In March 2011, a rotational lightcurve of Bessel was obtained from photometric observations by Italian amateur astronomer Silvano Casulli. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 8.996 hours with a brightness variation of 0.29 magnitude (U=3).


1552 Bessel, Physical characteristics, Rotation period and pole
In 2016, a modeled lightcurve using photometric data from various sources gave a concurring period of 8.96318 hours, as well as a spin axis of (61.0°, −50.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).


1552 Bessel, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Bessel measures between 16.63 and 18.817 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.1514 and 0.193. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1448 and a diameter of 18.33 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.4.


1552 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1552.


1552 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1552.


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


1553 Bauersfelda
1553 Bauersfelda, provisional designation 1940 AD, is a stony Koronian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 January 1940, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after German engineer Walther Bauersfeld.


1553 Bauersfelda, Orbit and classification
Based on its orbital parameters, Bauersfelda is a member of the Koronis family (605), a very large outer asteroid family with nearly co-planar ecliptical orbits. However, Bauersfelda turns out to be a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements.


1553 Bauersfelda, Orbit and classification
Bauersfelda orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.6–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 11 months (1,810 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Heidelberg in 1940.


1553 Bauersfelda, Physical characteristics
In the SMASS classification, Bauersfelda is a stony S-type asteroid. It is also characterized as a S-type by PanSTARRS photometric survey, which agrees with the Koronis family's overall spectral type.


1553 Bauersfelda, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
While not being a slow rotator, Bauersfelda's period is significantly longer than that of most minor planets. In August 2012, a rotational lightcurve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 51.191 hours with a brightness variation of 0.26 magnitude (U=2).


1553 Bauersfelda, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Bauersfelda measures 13.772 and 14.346 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.2181 and 0.249, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 and calculates a diameter of 11.48 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.87.


1553 Bauersfelda, Naming
This minor planet was named after Walther Bauersfeld (1879–1959), a German engineer who worked at the optical manufacturer Zeiss (also see 851 Zeissia, which was named after the company's founder). Bauersfeld is known as the designer of the Zeiss made planetaria such as the Planetarium Jena. The asteroid's name was announced in the mid-1950s on the occasion of his 75th anniversary. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center in November 1953 (M.P.C. 994).


1553 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1553.


1553 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1553.


1553 in poetry
Fra Troys boundis first that fugitive By fait to Ytail come and cost Lavyne; Our land and sey kachit with mekil pyne, By fors of goddis abuse, from euery steid, Of cruell Juno throu ald remembrit fede. Gret pane in batail sufferit he alsso, Or he his goddis brocht in Latio, And belt the cite, fra quham, of nobill fame, The Latyne pepill takyn heth thar name, And eik the faderis, princis of Alba,


1553 in poetry
— Opening lines from Gavin Douglas' Eneados, a translation, into Middle Scots of Virgil's Aeneid


1553 in science
The year 1553 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1554
Year 1554 (MDLIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1554 Yugoslavia
1554 Yugoslavia, provisional designation 1940 RE, is a stony Eunomian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Serbian astronomer Milorad Protić at Belgrade Astronomical Observatory, Serbia, on 6 September 1940. It was named for the former country of Yugoslavia.


1554 Yugoslavia, Orbit and classification
The asteroid is a member of the Eunomia family, a large group of mostly stony S-type asteroids and the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,548 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic. Yugoslavia was first identified as 1932 YA at Uccle Observatory in 1932. Its observation arc begins 4 year prior to its official discovery observation, with a precovery taken at Nice Observatory in 1936.


1554 Yugoslavia, Physical characteristics
From 2007 to 2012, several photometric lightcurve observations of Yugoslavia established a well-defined rotation period of 3.89 hours with a brightness variation between 0.64 and 0.74 magnitude (U=3/3/3).


1554 Yugoslavia, Physical characteristics
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Yugoslavia measures between 14.73 and 21.39 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.070 and 0.269. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.21 – derived from 15 Eunomia, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 15.94 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.3.


1554 Yugoslavia, Naming
This minor planet was named after the former country of Yugoslavia. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 30 January 1964 (M.P.C. 2277).


1554 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1554.


1554 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1554.


1554 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1554 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1554 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1554 in science
The year 1554 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1555
Year 1555 (MDLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1555 Dejan
1555 Dejan, provisional designation 1941 SA, is an asteroid from the background population of the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 September 1941, by Belgian astronomer Fernand Rigaux at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle. The asteroid was named after Dejan Đurković, son of Serbian astronomer Petar Đurković.


1555 Dejan, Orbit and classification
Dejan is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 1.9–3.4 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,610 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.28 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first identification as 1932 PC at Johannesburg Observatory in August 1932, more than 9 years prior to its official discovery observation at Uccle.


1555 Dejan, Naming
This minor planet was named after Dejan Đurković, son of Petar Đurković (1908–1981), a Serbian astronomer and discoverer of minor planets at the Belgrade Observatory. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 137).


1555 Dejan, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
In September 2016, a rotational lightcurve of Dejan was obtained from photometric observations by the Spanish amateur astronomer group OBAS. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 16.960 hours with a brightness variation of 0.41 magnitude (U=2+).


1555 Dejan, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Dejan measures 21.77 and 23.199 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.053 and 0.08, respectively, while the Japanese Akari satellite found a diameter of 24.04 kilometers with an albedo of 0.068.


1555 Dejan, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.10 – a compromise value between the darker C-type and brighter S-type asteroids – and calculates a diameter of 19.21 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.7.


1555 Kashmir earthquake
The 1555 Kashmir earthquake occurred at around midnight in the month of Ashvin in the Hindu calendar, or September in the Gregorian calendar, although the exact day of occurrence is not known. The earthquake seriously impacted the Kashmir Valley in present-day Pakistan and northwestern India. A moment magnitude (Mw ) of 7.6 to 8.0 and Modified Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme) has been estimated for the earthquake. Thought to be one of the most destructive in the Kashmir Valley, the earthquake caused serious widespread damage and ground effects, killing an estimated 600 to 60,000 individuals.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Tectonic setting
Northern Pakistan and India is situated at the corner of an active destructive plate boundary that separates the Indian Plate from the Eurasian Plate. The boundary is defined along the Main Himalayan Thrust where the Indian Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. The slightly oblique convergence occur at a rate of 17 ± 2 mm/yr along the Main Himalayan Thrust while the nearby Karakoram fault system accommodates right-lateral strike-slip movement at 5 ± 2 mm/yr.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Tectonic setting
The high convergence rate means many of the plate boundary faults are accommodating strain while locked, frequently releasing them in moderate-sized earthquakes, and sometimes in very large events. The occurrence of large earthquakes make the Kashmir region vulnerable to deadly earthquakes.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake is thought to have been associated with a rupture on an active thrust fault that forms part of the plate boundary of the Kashmir Himalayas. Until recently, the source fault and possible surface ruptures of the earthquake have yet to be identified due to the lack of information of the event, in addition to the paleoseismicity of the region being poorly studied. The Main Frontal Thrust, Medlicott-Wadia (Riasi) Thrust, as well as the Kashmir Basin Fault (then the balapur Fault) have been proposed as the seismogenic structure responsible for earthquake.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Earthquake
The Medlicott-Wadia Thrust is expressed on the surface as two branching fault structures; the Scorpion and Rain faults. Paleoseismic studies have identified three large earthquakes on the Rain Fault, and two on the Scorpion Fault in the past 3,500 years. An account in Persian describing a destructive earthquake in 1250 BC corresponded to the oldest event which was dated at 1661 BC and 929 BC. The 1250 BC earthquake produced several meters of slip at the surface. Another earthquake occurred between 1118 BC and 929 BC with less than 1 meter of maximum slip.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Earthquake
The Rain Fault may have ruptured in one or two earthquakes sometime between 1110 BC and 660 AD, and is possible that the two faults were involved in an earthquake in approximately 1000 BC. Persian and Sanskrit records also corresponded well with two earthquakes on the Rain Fault dated between 660 AD and 1470 AD.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Earthquake
The most recent paleoearthquake rupture is dated at 1470 AD or later. Large colluvial wedges associated with the rupture suggest the event caused high intensity shaking at the surface. The date of the rupture might suggest it was associated with the 1555 AD earthquake.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Earthquake
An earlier trenching survey conducted at the Chandigarh Fault near the Main Frontal Thrust also found a surface rupture that likely formed in 1426 to 1700 AD. This surface rupture could correspond to the 1555 AD earthquake which is had an estimated rupture length of 150 km.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Earthquake, Future hazard
In the wake of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, much attention has been given to the Kashmir region in understanding the earthquake tectonics and assessing the seismic risk. The 1555 earthquake rupture is located roughly between that of the 2005 and 1905 Kangra earthquakes. No major seismic events have occurred since the 1555 earthquake in the 250-km-long Kashmir seismic gap on the Main Himalayan plate boundary fault. With a slip rate of 16 mm/yr, the accumulated slip since 1555 is estimated at 7.4 meters. If the 1555 earthquake released all the elastic energy accumulated since the previous earthquake, and fresh accumulation of stress began after the 1555 event, the next large earthquake could be as big as 7.8 Mw .


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Historical description
The devastation of the 1555 earthquake was well documented in Persian and Sanskrit. The historical accounts described a series of earthquakes, the strongest occurring at midnight in the month Asvina of the year 30 in the Hindu calendar. It describes the Kashmir Valley rocked by strong tremors at night while many of the residents were asleep. Many dwellings collapsed onto their residents, killing them. Homes that were well-constructd with firm foundations were not spared from the destruction; collapsing as well. Large gound fissures and sinkholes appeared in the landscape, swallowing many homes. Survivors broke through their roofs to escape from their damaged homes. Some wood-constructed structures fell into the Jhelum River and floated downstream. Those who survived the collapses managed to excape from the debris.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Historical description
Many towns and villages were completely destroyed in Kashmir. In the communities of Jalu and Dampur, the force of the earthquake sheared off the foundations of homes and roots of trees, and displaced them onto the opposite bank of the Jhelum River. The town of Madar, located at the base of a hill, was buried by a landslide, causing the deaths of 600 to 60,000 people. The two villages Hassanpur and Hussainpur, located on opposite side of the Veshaw River, was suddenly shifted to the other side during the earthquake. The earthquake formed large cracks in the ground, stopped water from flowing from existing natural springs, while in other locations, water erupted from the ground. Damage was reported up to 50 km southwest and 140 km southeast of Srinagar.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Historical description
The Laxmi Narayana Temple in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, India, also suffered some damage to its pillars.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Historical description
Months prior to the mainshock, there was a series of foreshocks. An aftershock sequence that lasted several days was also documented in the scripts. In some days, multiple aftershocks could be felt. This categorizie the 1555 Kashmir earthquake sequence as a classic foreshock-mainshock-aftershock earthquake sequence.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Historical description
The famous historical documentation of towns shifted across riverbanks during the 1555 event was likely a gradual process rather than sudden. Tilted tree stumps at the bank of the Jhelum River at the locations described suggest slumping due to ground failure along the riverbank.


1555 Kashmir earthquake, Historical description
Restoration and repair works continued for two months after the earthquake.


1555 Poor Act
The Poor Act of 1555 was a law passed in England by Queen Mary I. It is a part of the Tudor Poor Laws.


1555 Poor Act
It extended the Poor Act of 1552 and added a provision that licensed beggars must wear badges. The provision requiring badges was added to shame local community members into donating more alms to their parish for poor relief.


1555 Poydras
1555 Poydras (formerly the Exxon Building), is a high-rise office building located at 1555 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It has 22 stories, and stands at a height of 262 feet (80 m).


1555 Poydras, Occupants
The main occupant of the property is the Tulane University School of Medicine. The school has secured the leases to several of the upper floors, and is expected to occupy the majority of these in the coming years. Following Hurricane Katrina, the school has sublet several of these floors to businesses displaced by the storm. On August 26, 2007, a sign saying "Tulane University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine" was installed over the front entrance way.


1555 Poydras, Occupants
The school has fully occupied the 10th and 22nd floors, which house the School's Administration and Standardized Patient facilities, respectively. In December 2008, work was completed on the ground floor auditorium. However, most lectures had shifted in 2009 to the recently donated Murphy Building nearby.


1555 Skopje earthquake
The Skopje earthquake of 1555 was the strongest between 518 and 1963 and caused devastation.


1555 Skopje earthquake
A significant part of Skopje was collapsed and the Old Bazaar, Skopje was severely damaged, as was the Stone Bridge (Skopje), on which four columns were either completely destroyed or seriously damaged. The earthquake also destroyed the murals in the upper parts of the Church of Saint Panteleimon, Gorno Nerezi.


1555 Skopje earthquake, Consequences
As a result of the earthquake, Skopje has been almost completely renovated. Participants in its burning in 1689 described it as the most important Ottoman city in the Balkans, comparable to Prague at the time. After being burned in 1689, for security reasons, it rose up as his remake - Moscopole, which was burned in 1769 because of complicity with the instigators of the Orlov revolt.


1555 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1555.


1555 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1555.


1555 in poetry
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1555 in poetry
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1555 in poetry, Births
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1555 in science
The year 1555 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1556
Year 1556 (MDLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake
The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake, or Huaxian earthquake (simplified Chinese: 华县大地震; traditional Chinese: 華縣大地震; pinyin: Huáxiàn Dàdìzhèn), or Jiajing earthquake (Chinese: 嘉靖大地震; pinyin: Jiājìng Dàdìzhèn), is the deadliest earthquake in recorded history. According to imperial records, approximately 830,000 people lost their lives.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake
It occurred on the morning of 23 January 1556 in Shaanxi, during the Ming dynasty. More than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected. Buildings were damaged slightly in the cities of Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai. An 840-kilometre-wide (520 mi) area was destroyed, and in some counties as much as 60% of the population was killed. Most of the population in the area at the time lived in yaodongs, artificial caves in loess cliffs; these collapsed in great numbers, causing many casualties.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Geography
The Shaanxi earthquake's epicenter was in the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province, near Huaxian (now Huazhou District of Weinan), Weinan and Huayin. In Huaxian, every single building and home was demolished, killing more than half the residents of the city, with a death toll estimated in the hundreds of thousands. The situation in Weinan and Huayin was similar. In certain areas, 20-metre-deep (66 ft) crevices opened in the earth. Destruction and death were everywhere, affecting places as far as 500 kilometres (310 mi) from the epicenter. The earthquake also triggered landslides, which contributed to the massive death toll. The rupture occurred during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty. Therefore, in the Chinese historical record, this earthquake is often referred to as the Jiajing Great earthquake.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Geography
Modern estimates, based on geological data, give the earthquake a magnitude of approximately 8 Mw on the moment magnitude scale and XI (catastrophic damage) on the Mercalli scale, though more recent discoveries have shown that it was more likely 7.9 Mw. While it was the deadliest earthquake and the third-deadliest natural disaster in history, there have been earthquakes with considerably higher magnitudes. Following the earthquake, aftershocks continued several times a month for half a year.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Geography
In the annals of China it was described in this manner:


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Geography
In the winter of 1556, an earthquake catastrophe occurred in the Shaanxi and Shanxi Provinces. In our Hua County, various misfortunes took place. Mountains and rivers changed places and roads were destroyed. In some places, the ground suddenly rose up and formed new hills, or it sank abruptly and became new valleys. In other areas, a stream burst out in an instant, or the ground broke and new gullies appeared. Huts, official houses, temples and city walls collapsed all of a sudden.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Geography
The earthquake damaged many of the Forest of Stone steles badly. Of the 114 Kaicheng Stone Classics, 40 were broken in the earthquake.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Geography
The scholar Qin Keda lived through the earthquake and recorded details. One conclusion he drew was that "at the very beginning of an earthquake, people indoors should not go out immediately. Just crouch down and wait. Even if the nest has collapsed, some eggs may remain intact." The shaking reduced the height of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an by three levels.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Loess caves
Millions of people at the time lived in artificial loess caves on high cliffs in the area of the Loess Plateau. Loess is the silty soil that windstorms have deposited on the plateau over the ages. The soft loess clay formed over thousands of years due to wind blowing silt into the area from the Gobi Desert. Loess is a highly erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Loess caves
The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces and parts of others. Much of the population lived in dwellings called yaodongs in these cliffs. This was the major contributing factor to the very high death toll. The earthquake collapsed many caves and caused landslides, which destroyed many more.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Cost
The cost of damage done by the earthquake is almost impossible to measure in modern terms. The death toll, however, has been traditionally given as 820,000 to 830,000. The accompanying property damage would have been incalculable—an entire region of inner China had been destroyed and an estimated 60% of the region's population died.


1556 Shaanxi earthquake, Foreign reaction
The Portuguese Dominican friar Gaspar da Cruz, who visited Guangzhou later in 1556, heard about the earthquake, and later reported about it in the last chapter of his book A Treatise of China (1569). He viewed the earthquake as a possible punishment for people's sins, and the Great Comet of 1556 as, possibly, the sign of this calamity (as well as perhaps the sign of the birth of the Antichrist).


1556 Wingolfia
1556 Wingolfia, provisional designation 1942 AA, is a metallic asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 14 January 1942. The asteroid was named after Wingolf, a student fraternity in Heidelberg.


1556 Wingolfia, Orbit and classification
Wingolfia is a non-family asteroid from the background population of the asteroids belt. It orbits the Sun in the outer main belt at a distance of 3.1–3.8 AU once every 6 years and 4 months (2,316 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg with its official discovery observation in January 1942.


1556 Wingolfia, Physical characteristics
In the Tholen classification, Wingolfia has an ambiguous spectral type, similar to the X-types (which includes the M-type asteroids) with some resemblance to the carbonaceous C-types. It has also been characterized as an M- and X-type, by direct photometric observations and by PanSTARRS photometric survey, respectively. The Lightcurve Data Base adopts an M-type.


1556 Wingolfia, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
In October 1990, a rotational lightcurve of Wingolfia was obtained from photometric observations by Italian astronomers at ESO's La Silla Observatory using the ESO 1-metre telescope. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 10 hours with a brightness variation of 0.15 magnitude (U=2).


1556 Wingolfia, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and the Japanese Akari satellite, Wingolfia measures 28.65 and 33.88 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.093 and 0.1297, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS. All diameter measurements are based on an absolute magnitude of 10.55.


1556 Wingolfia, Naming
This minor planet was named by the discoverer after Wingolf, which is one of Germany's long-standing Christian student fraternity in Heidelberg, that was prohibited during Nazi Germany, and reinstalled after WWII. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center in May 1955 (M.P.C. 1221). The asteroid's name was announced on 17 June 1955, during the celebration of the fraternity's 104th anniversary. The discoverer's original citation reads:


1556 Wingolfia, Naming
Dem Kleinen Planeten (1556) 1942 AA gebe ich den Namen "Wingolfia" zu Ehren der alten, christlichen, in der Hitlerzeit verbotenen und nach dem 2. Weltkriege wieder erstandenen Heidelberger Studentenverbindung "Wingolf", aus Anlass ihres 104. Stiftungsfestes am 17. Juni 1955.


1556 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1556.


1556 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1556 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1556 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1556 in science
The year 1556 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1557
Year 1557 (MDLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1557 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1557.


1557 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1557 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1557 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1557 in science
The year 1557 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.


1557 influenza pandemic
In 1557 a pandemic strain of influenza emerged in Asia, then spread to Africa, Europe, and eventually the Americas. This flu was highly infectious and presented with intense, occasionally lethal symptoms. Medical historians like Thomas Short, Lazare Rivière and Charles Creighton gathered descriptions of catarrhal fevers recognized as influenza by modern physicians attacking populations with the greatest intensity between 1557 and 1559. The 1557 flu saw governments, for possibly the first time, inviting physicians to instill bureaucratic organization into epidemic responses. It is also the first pandemic where influenza is pathologically linked to miscarriages, given its first English names, and is reliably recorded as having spread globally. Influenza caused higher burial rates, near-universal infection, and economic turmoil as it returned in repeated waves.


1557 influenza pandemic, Asia
According to a European chronicler surnamed Fonseca who wrote Disputat. de Garotillo, the 1557 influenza pandemic first broke out in Asia. The flu spread west along established trade and pilgrimage routes before reaching the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. An epidemic of a flu-like illness is recorded for September 1557 in Portuguese Goa.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe
In the summer of 1557 parts of Europe had just suffered outbreaks of plague, typhus, measles, and smallpox when influenza arrived from the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. The flu spread west through Europe aboard merchant ships in the Mediterranean Sea, again taking advantage of trade and pilgrimage routes. Death rates were highest in children, those with preexisting conditions, the elderly, and those who were bled. Outbreaks were particularly severe in communities suffering from food scarcity.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe
The epidemics of fevers and respiratory illness eventually became referred to as the new sickness in England, new acquaintance in Scotland, and coqueluche or simply catarrh by medical historians in the rest of Europe. Because it afflicted entire populations at once in mass outbreaks, some contemporary scholars thought the flu was caused by stars, contaminated vapors brought about by damp weather, or the dryness of the air. Ultimately the 1557 flu lasted in varying waves of intensity for around four years in epidemics that increased European death rates, disrupted the highest levels of society, and frequently spread to other continents.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Ottoman Empire and East Europe
The flu pandemic first reached Europe in 1557 from the Ottoman Empire along trade and shipping routes connected to Constantinople, brought to Asia Minor by infected travelers from the Middle East. At the time, the Ottoman Empire's territory included most of the Balkans and Bulgaria. This gave influenza unrestricted access to Athens, Sofia, and Sarajevo as it spread throughout the empire.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Ottoman Empire and East Europe
Influenza set sail from the capital, Constantinople, into the recently conquered North African territories of Tripoli (1551) and the Habesh (1557), from where it likely ricocheted to Malta from North Africa via merchant ships, as during the pandemic of 1510. On land, influenza spread north from the Ottoman Empire over Wallachia to the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania before moving west into continental Europe.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Sicily, Italian States, and the Holy Roman Empire
Influenza arrived in the Kingdom of Sicily in June at Palermo, whence it spread across the island. Church services, Sicilian social life, and the economy were disrupted as the flu sickened a large portion of the population. The Sicilian Senate asked a well-known Palermitan physician named Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia to help combat the epidemic in an advisory capacity, which he accepted. Ingrassia approached epidemic responses as a collaboration between healthcare and government officials, and was the first known "health care professional" to propose that a system for monitoring epidemics of contagious catarrhal fevers would aid in early detection and epidemic control.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Sicily, Italian States, and the Holy Roman Empire
Flu spread quickly from Sicily into the Kingdom of Naples on the lower part of the Italian Peninsula, moving upward along the coastline. In Urbino, Venetian court poet Bernardo Tasso, his son Torquato, and the occupants of a monastery fell sick "from hand to hand" with influenza for four to five days. Though the epidemic left the entire city of Urbino ill, most individuals recovered without complications. By the time Bernardo had traveled to northern Italy on August 3 the disease had already spread into the rest of Europe. In Lombardy there was an outbreak of "suffocating catarrh" that could quickly become fatal. The symptoms were so severe that some members of the population suspected a mass poisoning had occurred.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Sicily, Italian States, and the Holy Roman Empire
Padua, in the Holy Roman Empire, began to see cases in August, with sickness lasting into September. German medical historian Justus Hecker writes that the young population of Padua had been reeling from a dual outbreak of measles and smallpox since the spring when a new illness, featuring extreme cough and headache, began to afflict the citizens in late summer. The illness was referred to as coqueluche. Switzerland was also reached by the disease in August. "Catarrh" swept through the Swiss plateaus from August to September and almost disrupted the graduate studies of Swiss physician Felix Plater, who was sickened by severe fits of coughing while a candidate for his doctorate.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdom of France
French physician and medical historian Lazare Rivière documented an anonymous physician's descriptions of a flu outbreak occurring in the Languedoc region of France in July 1557. The disease, often called coqueluche by the French, caused a severe outbreak in Nîmes that featured a fast onset of symptoms like headaches, fevers, loss of appetite, fatigue, and intense coughing. Most of those who died from the disease did so on the fourth day, but some succumbed up to 11 days after first symptoms.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdom of France
Across Languedoc influenza had a high mortality rate, with up to 200 people per day dying in Toulouse at the height of the region's epidemic. Italian physician Francisco Vallerioli, known as François Valleriola, was a witness to the epidemic in France and described the 1557 flu's symptoms as featuring a fever, severe headache, intense coughing, shortness of breath, chills, hoarseness, and expulsion of phlegm after 7 to 14 days. French lawyer Étienne Pasquier wrote that the disease began with a severe pain in the head and a 12- to 15-hour fever while sufferers' noses "ran like a fountain." Paris saw its judiciary disrupted when the Paris Law Court suspended its meetings to slow the spread of flu. Medical historian Charles-Jacques Saillant described this influenza as especially fatal to those who were treated with bleeding and very dangerous to children.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
The 1557 influenza severely impacted the British Isles. British medical historian Charles Creighton cited a contemporary writer, Wriothesley, who noted in 1557 "this summer reigned in England divers strange and new sicknesses, taking men and women in their heads; as strange agues and fevers, whereof many died." 18th Century physician Thomas Short wrote that those who succumbed to the flu "were let blood of or had unsound viscera." Flu blighted the army of Mary I of England by leaving her government unable to train sufficient reinforcements for the Earl of Rutland to protect Calais from an impending French assault, and by January 1558 the Duke of Guise had claimed the under-protected city in the name of France.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
Influenza significantly contributed to England's unusually high death rates for 1557–58: Data compiled on over 100 parishes in England found that the mortality rates increased by up to 60% in some areas during the flu epidemic, even though diseases like true plague were not heavily present in England at the time. Dr. Short found that the number of burials for market towns was much higher than christenings from 1557 to 1562. For example, the annual number of burials in Tonbridge increased from 33 on average in 1556 to 61 in 1557, 105 in 1558, and 94 in 1559. Before the flu epidemic, England had suffered from a poor harvest and widespread famine that medical historian Thomas Short believed made the epidemic more deadly.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
Influenza returned in 1558. Contemporary historian John Stow wrote that during "winter the quarterne agues continued in like manner" to 1557's epidemic. On 6 September 1558 the Governor of the Isle of Wight, Lord St. John, wrote in a despatch to Queen Mary about a highly-contagious illness afflicting more than half the people of Southampton, the Isle of Wight, and Portsmouth (places where Lord St. John had stationed troops).


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
A second despatch from 11 P.M. of 6 October indicated "from the mayor of Dover that there is no plague there, but the people that daily die are those that come out of the ships, and such poor people as come out of Calais, of the new sickness." One of the commissioners for the surrender of Calais found Sir William Pickering, former knight-marshal to King Henry VIII, "very sore of this new burning ague. He has had four sore fits, and is brought very low, and in danger of his life if they continue as they have done."


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
Influenza began to move north through England, felling numerous farmers and leaving large quantities of grain unharvested before it reached London around mid-late October. Queen Mary and Archbishop of Canterbury Reginald Pole, who had both been in poor health before flu broke out in London, likely died of influenza within 12 hours of each other on 17 November 1558. Two of Mary's physicians died as well. Ultimately around 8000 other Londoners likely died of influenza during the epidemic, including many elders and parish priests.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
New waves of "agues" and fevers were recorded in England into 1559. These repeated outbreaks proved unusually deadly for populations already suffering from extensive rains and poor harvests. From 1557 to 1559 the nation's population contracted by 2%. The sheer numbers of people dying from epidemics and famine in England caused economic inflation to flatten out.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
In the late 1550s the English language had not yet developed a proper name for the flu, despite previous epidemics. Thus 1557's epidemic was either described as a "plague" (like many epidemics with notable mortality), "ague" (most generally) or "new disease" in England. "The sweat" was one name used to describe the usually deadly, flu-like fevers and "agues"  plaguing the English countryside from 1557 to 1558, despite no reliable records of sweating sickness after 1551.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
Doctor John Jones, a prominent 16th Century London physician, refers in his book Dyall of Agues to a "great sweat" during the reign of Queen Mary I of England. After the 1557 pandemic English nicknames for the flu began to appear in letters, like "the new disease" in England and "the newe acquaintance" in Scotland.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
When the entire royal court of Mary, Queen of Scots was struck down with influenza in Edinburgh in November 1562, Lord Randolph described the outbreak as "a new disease, that is common in this town, called here 'the newe acquaintance,' which passed also through her whole court, neigh sparing lord, lady, nor damoysell, not so much as either French or English.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Kingdoms of England and Scotland
It is a pain in their heads that have it, and a soreness in their stomachs, with a great cough, that remaineth with some longer with other short time, as it findeth apt bodies for the nature of the disease... There was not an appearance of danger, nor manie that died of the disease, except some old folks." Mary Stuart herself spent six days sick in her bedchambers.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Habsburg Netherlands
Habsburg Netherlands was also heavily impacted by the flu in October. Dutch historian Petrus Forestus described an outbreak in Alkmaar where 2000 fell sick with flu and 200 perished in a span of three weeks. Forestus himself became sick with the flu and related that it "...began with a slight fever like a common catarrh, and showed its great malignancy only by degrees. Sudden fits of suffocation then came on, and the pain of the chest was so distressing that patients imagined they must die in the paroxysm. The complaint was increased still by a tight, convulsive cough.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Habsburg Netherlands
Death did not take place till the 9th or 14th day." He further observed that the flu was very dangerous to pregnant women, killing at least eight such citizens in Alkmaar who contracted it. Influenza's symptoms came on suddenly and attacked thousands of the city's residents at the same time. Hunger likely contributed to a higher death toll, as the authorities had been struggling to provide food to the needy amid a severe bread shortage during the summer. Attempting to explain the epidemic of fevers and respiratory illness affecting the Low Countries, Flemish physician Rembert Dodoens suggested that the mass outbreaks of illness were caused by a dry, hot summer following a very cold winter.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Spain and Portugal
Spain was widely and severely impacted by influenza, which chroniclers recognized as a highly contagious catarrhal fever. Influenza likely arrived in Spain around July, with the first cases being reported near Madrid in August. British medical historian Thomas Short wrote that "At Mantua Carpentaria, three miles outside of Madrid, the first cases were reported... There it began with a roughness of the jaws, small cough, then a strong fever with a pain in the head, back, and legs.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Spain and Portugal
Some felt as though they were corded over the breast, with a weight at the stomach, all which continued to the third day at the furthest. Then the fever went off, with a sweat of bleeding at the nose. In some few, it turned to a pleurisy of fatal peripneumony." Bloodletting greatly increased the risk of mortality, and it was observed in Mantua Carpentaria that "2000 were let blood of and all died." The flu then entered Spain's capital city, where it rapidly spread to all parts of the Spanish mainland.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Spain and Portugal
Cases expanded exponentially as merchants, pilgrims, and other travelers leaving Madrid transported the virus to cities and towns across the country. According to King Phillip II's doctor Luis de Mercado, "All the population was attacked the same day, and the same time of day. It was catarrh, marked by fever of the double tertian type, with such pernicious symptoms that many died." The season's poor harvests and hunger in the Spanish population, as well as negligent medical care, likely contributed to the severity of the influenza pandemic in Spain.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Spain and Portugal
Flu symptoms could be so intense that the region's physicians often distinguished it from other contagious, seasonal pneumonias that spread from East Europe. Sixteenth century Spaniards frequently referred to any mass outbreak of deadly disease generically as a pestilencia, and "plagues" are recognized as occurring in Valencia and Granada during the years 1557–59, despite pathological records of true plague (like descriptions of buboes) occurring in the area at the time being scant.


1557 influenza pandemic, Europe, Spain and Portugal
Influenza hit the Kingdom of Portugal at the same time as it spread throughout Spain, with an impact that spread across the Atlantic Ocean. The kingdom had just suffered food shortages due to 1556-57's poor harvest, which would have exacerbated the effects of the flu on hungry patients. A violent storm had just hit Portugal and severely damaged the Palace of Enxobregas, and in following with attributing outbreaks of influenza to the weather Portuguese historians like Ignácio Barbosa-Machado attributed the epidemic in the kingdom to the storm with little opposition. Barbosa-Machado referred to 1557 as the "anno de catarro."