Thomas The English line of the Joslin/Josselyn/Jocelyn family goes back for 50 ancestors, all of whom are double ancestors, include the following direct line as taken from New England Historic Register vol. 71: 
 Sir Gilbert, a wealthy Norman knight born ?1050 in Normandy 
 Geoffrey 
 William 
 Robert 
 James 
 Henry 
 Ralph 
 John 
 Thomas 
 Ralph 
 Jeffrey 
 Ralph 
 Jeffrey 
 Jeffrey 
 John 

 Ralph 
 Ralph 
 John 
 Ralph [the same as mentioned here as the progenitor]

This line goes back many more generations into the 900's.

Historical
1556-1605: India - During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests
1556: China - The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is the deadliest known earthquake in history
1556: Germany - Georgius Agricola of Germany, the "Father of Mineralogy", publishes his De re metallica
1556: India - Mir Chakar Khan Rind captured Delhi with Emperor Humayun
1556: India - Second Battle of Panipat, Akbar the Great defeats the Sultan of Bengal
1556: Italy - Pomponio Algerio, radical theologian, is executed by boiling in oil as part of the Roman Inquisition
1556: Italy - Publication in Venice of Delle Navigiationi et Viaggi (terzo volume) by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, secretary of Council of Ten, with plan La Terra de Hochelaga, an Illustration of Indian village Hochelaga
1556: Russia - Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate
1557: Portugal, China - The Portuguese settle in Macau in China
1557: Spain - Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy, Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596
1557: Turkey, Ethiopia - The Ottomans capture Massawa, all but Isolating Ethiopia from the rest of the world
1558-1583: Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Russia - Livonian War between Poland, Grand Principality of Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark and Russia
1558-1603: England - The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance
1558: England, France - After 200 years, the Kingdom of England loses Calais to France
1558: England - Elizabeth Tudor becomes Queen Elizabeth I at age 25
1559: Italy - With the Peace of Cateau Cambresis, the Italian Wars conclude
1560: Hungary - Erzsebet Bathory is born in Nyirbator, Hungary
1560: Japan - By winning the Battle of Okehazama, Oda Nobunaga becomes one of the pre-eminent warlords of Japan
1560: Turkey, Spain - Battle of Djerba, Ottoman navy defeats the Spanish fleet
1561: western Europe - Guido de Bres draws up the Belgic Confession of Protestant faith
1562-1598: France - French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots
1562: France - Massacre of Wassy and Battle of Dreux in the French Wars of Religion
1562: India - Mughal leader Akbar reconciles the Muslim and Hindu factions by marrying into the powerful Rajput Hindu caste
1563: England - Plague outbreak claimed 80,000 people in Elizabethan England, in London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease
1564: England - William Shakespeare baptized 26 April
1564: Italy - Galileo Galilei born on February 15
1565: Bazil - Estacio de Sa establishes Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
1565: India - Battle of Talikota fought between the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and the Deccan sultanates
1565: Israel, Turkey - Siege of Malta, Hospitallers defeat the Ottoman Empire
1565: Pakistan - Mir Chakar Khan Rind dies at age of 97
1566–1648:: Spain, Netherlands - Eighty Years War between Spain and the Netherlands
1567: England, Scotland - Mary, Queen of Scots, is Imprisoned by Elizabeth I
1568-1570: Russia, Turkey - Russo-Turkish War (first of ten over the next 310 years), Russian victory, they were victorious in eight of the ten wars
1568-1571: Spain - Morisco Revolt in Spain
1568-1600: Japan - The Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan
1569: England - Rising of the North in England, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls, and, Northern Rebellion, It is an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic noblemen from northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots
1569: Poland, Lithuiana - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is created with the Union of Lublin, It lasts until 1795
1570: Russia - Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Ivan the Terrible) orders the massacre of Inhabitants of Novgorod
1571: Italy, Turkey - Battle of Lepanto )off Greece), The Holy League destroys the Ottoman Empire navy in a five-hour battle
1571: Italy, Turkey - Pope Pius V completes the Holy League as a united front against the Ottoman Turks
1571: Ukraine, Russia - Crimean Tatars (or Tartars) attack and sack Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin
1571: United States - Spanish missionaries are murdered by Indians at the later Jamestown Settlement, Virginia
1572: France - Catherine de Medici Instigates the St. Bartholomew Day massacre which takes the lives of Protestant leader Gaspard de Coligny and thousands of Huguenots, the violence spreads from Paris to other cities and the countryside
1572: Peru - Spanish conquistadores apprehend the last Inca leader Tupak Amaru at Vilcabamba, Peru, and execute him in Cuzco
1572: Portugal - First edition of the epic The Lusiads of Luis Vaz de Camoes, three years after the Portugese author returns from the East
1572: Spain, Netherlands, Austria - Brielle is taken from the House of Habsburg (also called the House of Austria) Spain by Protestant Watergeuzen in the Capture of Brielle during the Eighty Years War
1573: Spain, Netherlands - Siege of Haarlem, after heavy losses on both sides, the Spanish gain a victory
1574: Netherlands, Spain - After a siege of four months the Siege of Leiden ends in a comprehensive Dutch victory
1574: Spain, Netherlands - In the Eighty Years War the capital of Zeeland, Middelburg declares for the Protestants
1575: Japan - Oda Nobunaga finally captures Nagashima fortress in Japan
1576: Spain, Netherlands - Sack of Antwerp by badly paid Spanish soldiers
1577-1580: globe - Francis Drake circles the world
1578: Netherlands, Spain - Battle of Alcazarquivir, King Sebastian of Portugal is killed
1579: Netherlands, Spain - The Union of Arras unifies the southern Netherlands, a foundation for the later states of the Spanish Netherlands, the Austrian Netherlands and Belgium
1579: Netherlands - The Union of Utrecht unifies the northern Netherlands, a foundation for the later Dutch Republic
1580: Netherlands, Spain - Royal reception after his attacks on Spanish possessions, influences Philip II of Spain to build up the Spanish Armada, English ships in Spanish harbours are Impounded
1580: Spain, Portugal - Spain unifies with Portugal under Philip II, the struggle for the throne of Portugal ends the Portuguese Empire, the Spanish and Portuguese crowns are united for 60 years, ie until 1640
1582: Italy - Pope Gregory XIII Issues the Gregorian calendar, It took several centuries before being adoped by most all non-Catholic countries but It is still in use world wide today
1582: Russia - Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Siberia Khanate on behalf of the Stroganovs
1584-1585: Netherlands - After the Siege of Antwerp, many of Its merchants flee to Amsterdam
1585-1604: Spain, New World - The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic
1585: United States - in Roanoke, Virginia, the first English colony in America, is born the first white baby, Virginia Dare
1587: England - Queen Elizabeth authorizes the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, for allegedly plotting against her
1588: England, Spain - England (with help from the weather) defeats the Spanish Armada
1589: Spain, England - Spain repulses the English Armada
1590: United States - Roanoke, Virginia "disappears", becoming "The Lost Colony"
1591: Morocco, Mali - In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi
1591: Poland, Russia - Gazi Giray leads a huge Tatar/Tartar expedition against Moscow
1592-1593: England - John Stow reports 10,675 plague deaths in London, a city of approximately 200,000 people
1592-1598: Korea, China, Japan - Korea, with the help of Ming Dynasty China, repels two Japanese Invasions
1593-1606: Austria, Turkey - The Long War between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Turks
1598-1613: Russia - Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles
1598: France - The Edict of Nantes (one of the coolest names ever!) ends the French Wars of Religion
1600: Italy - Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome
1600: Japan - Battle of Sekigahara in Japan, end of the Warring States period and beginning of the Edo period
1601-1603: Russia - The Russian famine of 1601-1603 kills perhaps a third of Russia
1601: Ireland - Battle of Kinsale, one of the most Important battles in Irish history, fought
1601: Romania, Austria - Michael the Brave (first unificator of Romania), voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Campia TurzII
1602: Netherlands - Dutch East India Company founded, Its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age
1603-1623: Iran, Turkey, Portugal - After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans and the Portuguese
1603: England, Scotland - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England
1603: Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu seizes control of Japan and establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate which rules the country until 1868