- Feb 2 Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania (1518-48), born in Vigevano, Milan (d. 1557)
- Feb 4 Francois Rabelais, French satirist (Gargantua and Pantagruel), born in La Devinière, Touraine, Kingdom of France (d. 1553)
- Feb 20 Johan Friis, Danish statesman (Chancellor of Denmark, helped establish Lutheranism), born in Lundbygaard, Sweden (d. 1570)
- Mar 1 Il Bacchiacca [Franceso Ubertini], Italian Renaissance painter, born in Florence (d. 1557)
- Mar 24 Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist (De Re Metallica), born in Glauchau, Saxony (d. 1555)
- Apr 20 John Agricola [Schneider], German theologian, a friend of Martin Luther, born in Eisleben, Germany (d. 1566)
- May 25 Jacopo da Pontormo [Carucci], Italian painter (Sepulture of Christ), born in Pontormo, Italy (d. 1557)
Francis I of France (1494-1547)
Sep 12 born in Cognac, France
Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566)
Nov 6 Ottoman Sultan and the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1530-1566), born in Trabzon, Ottoman Empire
- Dec 20 Oronce Finé, French mathematician & cartographer, born in Briançon, France (d. 1555)