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The 1520s: 1520–1529
1520–1529 · worldwide, all places
Moving through time
Cortes took Tenochtitlan in 1521 after an eighty-day siege, Suleyman took Belgrade the same year and Rhodes in 1522, and Henry VIII began pressing for the annulment that would break England from Rome. In Antwerp, the printing houses and money markets made it the information capital of Europe.
Tenochtitlan's fall in 1521 destroyed an empire of perhaps 200,000 people. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall opens in the London of the 1520s as Cromwell rises, and Tim Powers's The Drawing of the Dark sets a supernatural siege in Vienna in 1529. Open the 1520s on the StoryTerra map and explore its stories by place.
10 famous stories set in the 1520s
Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-05). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.
Browse 12 books, 3 movies and 1 TV show set in the 1520s (1520–1529).
Assassin's Creed: Embers
Taking place after the events of Assassin's Creed: Revelations in the year 1524 in Tuscany follow the retired Assassin Ezio Auditore as he teams up with Shao Jun during his final battles.
Wolf Hall
Following the fact-based historical book of the same name, this drama follows the rise of Cromwell as he becomes Henry the VIII's closest advisor. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies…
Wolf Hall
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The…
Wolf Hall
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The…
Storm - Letter of Fire
The film is set in 1521 Antwerp in a Europe ravaged by religious wars and during the early years of the Reformation. It tells the story of the twelve year old Falko Voeten – a printer’s son. When Falko’s father Klaas…
The Profession of Arms
In autumn of 1526 the Emperor Charles V sends his German landsknechts led by Georg von Frundsberg to march towards Rome. The inferior papal armies commanded by Giovanni de'Medici try to chase them in the midst of a…
The Drawing of the Dark
'The Drawing of the Dark is not only one of my favourite Tim Powers novels, it's simply one of my favourite novels. The seamless and seemingly effortless blend of action and humour, the wonderful characters, the rich…
Sunan Musafir
Allah mencipta cinta, justeru cinta harus dipertahankan dengan sebaik-baik cara. Maka itu sebagai manusia, Saifudin atau Laksamana Sunan tidak terlepas daripada belenggu cinta. Tahun 1511 merupakan detik keindahan,…
Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés and the Fall of Old Mexico
Drawing on newly discovered sources and writing with brilliance, drama, and profound historical insight, Hugh Thomas presents an engrossing narrative of one of the most significant events of Western history.Ringing with…
The History of Danish Dreams
From the author of Smilla's Sense of Snow comes this highly imaginative novel, In a Danish feudal castle, 1520, a count believes he has pinpointed the center of the universea patch of land on his estate. But when his…
The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 16 in the catalogue for this entry. For the live 1520–1529 catalogue, use the button above — or browse the whole 16th century. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.
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1510s · 16th century · Time hub · All places · 1530s