1561 deaths

Dutch theologian, founder of the Mennonites (1496-1561)

Ottoman statesman (14..–1561)

Mughal military commander and statesman (1501–1561)

Basque Spanish conquistador

16th century Spanish painter, sculptor and architect (c.1486-1561)

French publisher

Hostess of Suleiman the Magnificent's harem

2nd Emperor Inca of the Kingdom of Vilcabamba

Danish religious reformer

German theologian

Italian painter (1483-1561)

Polish noble and writer

Duchess of Ferrara

English soothsayer

Portuguese writer

Samurai of the Sengoku period (1501–1561)

Duchess of Mecklenburg by birth, and by marriage Duchess of Saxony

Italian cardinal

Flemish painter and manuscript illuminator (1483-1561)

Spanish musician

Genevan theologian

16-century Japanese daimyo during the Senkoku period

alt=Roopmati|200px|thumb|right|Roopmati with Baz Bahadur, Sultan of Malwa. Rani Roopmati (died 1561), also known as Kavi Roopmati, was a poet queen of Mandu and the consort of the Sultan of Malwa, Baz Bahadur. Roopmati features prominently in the folklores of Malwa, which often describe the romance of the Sultan and his consort. She is said to have poisoned herself out of loyalty to her husband when Mandu fell to Adham Khan.

Spanish conquistador

Japanese samurai

Duke of Nevers

minister of Tsar Ivan IV (1510-1561)

Spanish general and viceroy of Peru (1510-1561)

Italian painter (c.1510-1561)

king of Kongo from 1545 to 1561

Catholic cardinal

French countess

German composer and cantor

Flemish painter (1498-1561)

Portuguese composer

Duchess of Montpensier, suo jure from February 1538 to 1561

German humanist

German musicologist and theologian

German prince (1509-1561)

Japanese samurai warrior

Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (1526-1561)

German prince

Ruling Count of Solms-Laubach

Taşköprüzade or Taşköprülüzade Ahmet (), pseudonym of Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafá ibn Khalīl Ṭāshkubrīʹzādah (; Bursa, 3 December 1495 – Istanbul, 16 April 1561), was an Ottoman Turkish historian and chronicler living during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, who was famous for his great biographical encyclopedia titled Al-Shaqāʾiq al-Nuʿmāniyya fī ʿUlamāʾ al-Dawla al-ʿUthmāniyya ().

German bishop, writer and humanist

Catholic cardinal

Italian noble woman and mistress of Pope Paul III (1475-1561)

Portuguese Jesuit missionary (1526-1561)

Polish noble (died 1561)

German mathematician, astronomer, instrument maker and cartographer

Fourth Emperor of the Mạc dynasty

German banker

Illegitimate son of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (1478-1561)

Hetman of Silesia

noblewoman; English writer

Italian cardinal

Count of Nassau-Beilstein (1513-1561)

Mameluke general

politician

Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and archbishop