Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century 16th century 17th century
Decades:	1520s 1530s 1540s 1550s 1560s
Years:	1537 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543

1540 by topic
Arts and science
Architecture Art Literature Music Science
Leaders
Political entities State leaders Colonial governors Religious leaders
Birth and death categories
Births – Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments – Disestablishments
Works category
Works
v t e

1540 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1540 MDXL
Ab urbe condita	2293
Armenian calendar	989 ԹՎ ՋՁԹ
Assyrian calendar	6290
Balinese saka calendar	1461–1462
Bengali calendar	947
Berber calendar	2490
English Regnal year	31 Hen. 8 – 32 Hen. 8
Buddhist calendar	2084
Burmese calendar	902
Byzantine calendar	7048–7049
Chinese calendar	己亥年 (Earth Pig) 4237 or 4030 — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 4238 or 4031
Coptic calendar	1256–1257
Discordian calendar	2706
Ethiopian calendar	1532–1533
Hebrew calendar	5300–5301
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1596–1597
- Shaka Samvat	1461–1462
- Kali Yuga	4640–4641
Holocene calendar	11540
Igbo calendar	540–541
Iranian calendar	918–919
Islamic calendar	946–947
Japanese calendar	Tenbun 9 (天文９年)
Javanese calendar	1458–1459
Julian calendar	1540 MDXL
Korean calendar	3873
Minguo calendar	372 before ROC 民前372年
Nanakshahi calendar	72
Thai solar calendar	2082–2083
Tibetan calendar	阴土猪年 (female Earth-Pig) 1666 or 1285 or 513 — to — 阳金鼠年 (male Iron-Rat) 1667 or 1286 or 514

Year 1540 (MDXL) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–June

January 6 – King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort; the marriage lasts six months.^[1]
February 14 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, enters Ghent without resistance, and executes rebels, ending the Revolt of Ghent (1539–1540).
March 23 – Waltham Abbey is the last to be closed as part of Henry VIII of England's dissolution of the monasteries.
April – The English cathedral priories of Canterbury and Rochester are transformed into secular cathedral chapters, concluding the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
May 17 – Battle of Kannauj: Sher Shah Suri defeats and deposes Mughal Emperor Humayan, establishing the Sur Empire.

July–December

July 7 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado captures Hawikuh in modern-day New Mexico, at this time known as part of Cíbola, but fails to find the legendary gold.
July 9 – King Henry VIII of England's marriage to Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort, is annulled.^[2]
July 28 – Thomas Cromwell, is executed for treason on the orders of king Henry VIII of England. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.^[2]
August 15 – In Peru, Spanish captain Garcí Manuel de Carbajal founds the Villa Hermosa de Arequipa; one year later, Charles V of Germany and I of Spain will give the valley a status of 'city' by royal decree.
September – Gibraltar is sacked by the fleet of Barbary pirate Ali Hamet, a Sardinian renegade in the service of the Ottoman Empire, and many of its leading citizens are taken as captives to Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera in Morocco.^[3] This leads to construction of the defensive Charles V Wall, at this time known as the Muralla de San Benito.
September 3 – Gelawdewos succeeds his father Lebna Dengel as Emperor of Ethiopia.
September 27 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Paul III, in his bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae.
October 1 – Battle of Alborán: A Habsburg Spanish fleet, under the command of Bernardino de Mendoza, destroys an Ottoman fleet commanded by Ali Hamet off Alborán Island in the Mediterranean.
October 18 – An expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto destroys the fortified village of Mabila in modern-day Alabama, killing paramount chief Tuskaloosa.