Pius V (1504-1572)
May 1 Italian Pope (1566-72) who excommunicated Elizabeth I of England and arranged the formation of the Holy League (Battle of Lepanto), dies at 68
- Jun 2 Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman who participated in the Ridolfi plot to overthrow Elizabeth I, executed for high treason at 36
- Jun 9 Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarra (1555-72), mother of French King Henry IV dies at 44
- Jun 24 Adrianus van Gouda, Dutch lay brother of Enkhuizen, hanged
- Jun 24 Cornelis van Diest, Dutch lay brother of Enkhuizen, hanged
- Jun 24 Daniel van Arendonck, Dutch clergyman of Enkhuizen, hanged
- Jun 24 Joannes van Naarden, Dutch priest of Enkhuizen, hanged
- Jun 24 Ludovicus Voets, Dutch priest of Enkhuizen, hanged
- Jul 7 Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland (1548-72), dies at 51
- Jul 25 Isaac Luria, Jewish mystic (considered the founder of Kabbalah), dies at around 38 years of age
- Aug 20 Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b. 1502)
- Aug 22 Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland (b. 1528)
- Aug 24 Charles de Téligny, French Huguenot soldier, one of the 1st murdered during St. Bartholomew's day massacre, dies at about 37
- Aug 24 Gaspard de Châtillon, Count the Coligny, French admiral and Huguenot leader, who death ignited the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, beheaded at 53
- Aug 24 Pierre de la Ramée, French humanist (b. 1515)
- Aug 26 Petrus Ramus, French philosopher (b. 1515)
- Aug 29 Claude Goudimel, French composer, music theorist, music editor and publisher, dies between 52 and 58 [birthdate disputed]
- Sep 5 Pieter Tichelmann, Flemish Franciscan, dies at about 71
- Sep 30 Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía and Jesuit priest, dies at 61
- Oct 24 Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, English nobleman under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, dies at about 62 or 63
- Nov 23 Il Bronzino [Agnolo di Cosimo], Italian mannerist artist (Eleanor de Toledo & her Son) and poet, dies at 69
- Nov 24 John Knox, Scottish preacher, dies at about 67
- Dec 10 Cornelis Musius, Dutch humanist/poet, murdered at 72
- Dec 30 Galeazzo Alessi, Italian architect (Palazza Marino, Milan), dies at 60