1524 - Political Events

Political Events

The Danish governor Soren Norrby raises a large peasant army in Skania in support of the deposed king Kristian II (see 1523). A peasant militia led by Nils Brahe and Otto Stissen faces an invading Swedish army outside Lund in April, and the resulting bloodbath ends with a loss of about 3,000 Scanian men (see 1534).

The Hapsburg prince Ferdinand of Austria makes an alliance with the two dukes of Bavaria and the bishop of southern Germany in a move taken at the instigation of the papal legate Lorenzo Campeggio to check religious changes.

The Swiss cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Zug join against Zürich and the Reformation movement.

French and imperial troops battle in Spain April 25 (see Charles, duc de Bourbon, 1523). The French knight Pierre du Terrail, chevalier de Bayard, is shot in the back by a Spanish harquebus ball in Italy and dies April 30 at age 51. His body is restored to his friends and buried at Grenoble.

French forces invade Italy and retake Milan October 29 (but see 1525).

The Constable de Bourbon lays siege to Marseilles in a civil war against France's François I. Female reinforcements arrive under the leadership of Améliane de Glandèves and throw back the Constable's forces. When the enemy lays mines, Améliane has her followers dig a trench to plant mines of their own.

Ottoman forces invade Egypt under the command of the new grand vizier Ibrahim, who reestablishes order, introducing administrative and fiscal measures that strengthen Constantinople's hand in the province (see 1517).

Persia's shah Ismail I dies May 23 at age 38 after a 22-year reign. His eldest son, now 10, will reign until 1576 as Tahmasp I (see Ottoman invasion, 1534).

Aden becomes a tributary of Portugal.

Vasco da Gama, 1st conde da Vidigueira, returns to India as Portuguese viceroy (see 1499). He dies at Cochin December 24 at age 64 (approximate), having helped to make Portugal a world power by opening a sea route to the East (see Mughal dynasty, 1526).

Spanish forces in New Spain disperse the main body of the Quiche army outside the city of Xelaju February 20. Chief Tecum Uman descends from his golden litter and kills the horse of Pedro de Alvarado, 39, a lieutenant of Hernándo Cortéz, in the belief that man and horse are one, Alvarado runs the chief through with his sword, and panic spreads through the Quiche warriors.

Peru's 11th Inca king Huayana Capac dies at Quito and his empire is divided between his sons Huascár and Atahualpa (see 1471). Without a written language, they rule a complex, orderly society of 12 million in which each head of family is allowed enough land for his own needs and must also help till common lands that support the Inca court, the priesthood, and the engineers who build irrigation systems, stone roads, and fiber suspension bridges (see 1530).

Pedro de Alvarado begins a 2-year campaign in which he will subdue Guatemala. He has been sent by Hernándo Cortéz at Mexico City.