1540

1540 (MDXL) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1540th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 540th year of the 2nd millennium, the 40th year of the 16th century, and the 1st year of the 1540s decade. As of the start of 1540, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which was the dominant calendar of the time.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1510s  1520s  1530s  – 1540s –  1550s  1560s  1570s
Years:	1537 1538 1539 – 1540 – 1541 1542 1543

1540 in other 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) 4236 or 4176     — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 4237 or 4177
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

Events

• January 6 – Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife.