1480 CE

The Treaty of Lucerne is signed between the Duchy of Milan and the Old Swiss Confederation, 15 months after the Battle of Giornico. Milan cedes the Leventina District to the Canton of Uri. Mehmed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes. The Great Stand on the Ugra River begins as troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, led by the Grand Duke Ivan III and General Ivan Molodoy battle against the invading Mongol armies of the Golden Horde, led by their ruling monarch, Akhmat Khan. The invasion began after Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. The Theotokos of Vladimir icon is credited with saving Moscow. The standoff between the troops lasts five weeks before Akhmat and the Mongol troops retreat.

In the 1480s, the 15th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 4 – Pedro de Vera is appointed as the colonial Governor of Gran Canaria by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, and directed to carry out the conquest of the Canary Islands and to end the fighting between the conquistadors who had taken the island in 1478.source
  • March 3 – The Treaty of Lucerne is signed between the Duchy of Milan and the Old Swiss Confederation, 15 months after the Battle of Giornico. Milan cedes the Leventina District to the Canton of Uri.source
  • March 6 – The Treaty of Toledo is signed as Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain recognize the African conquests of Afonso V of Portugal, and he cedes the Canary Islands to Spain.source
  • March 17 – Lorenzo the Magnificent, Lord of the Republic of Florence, and King Ferrante of Naples agree to an alliance between the two Italian nations, and to end the ongoing war that had started in 1479. Lorenzo had traveled to Naples in December to reach a treaty to end the war.source

Conflict & Security

  • April 6 – King Afonso V of Portugal orders his navy to "capture anyone trading illegally in Africa, and to throw the goods and ship's crew into the sea.source
  • May 23 – The Siege of Rhodes begins as the Ottoman Turk invading force begins its invasion, introducing the psychological warfare of coming ashore with "loud martial music" and the shrieking cries of dervishes.source
  • July 28 – Mehmed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes.source
  • August 14 – Two days after Ottoman troops had broken a siege and taken control of the village of Otranto in southern Italy, led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha, carry out the massacre of 813 inhabitants who had refused to convert from Christianity to Islam.source
  • October 8 – The Great Stand on the Ugra River begins as troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, led by the Grand Duke Ivan III and General Ivan Molodoy battle against the invading Mongol armies of the Golden Horde, led by their ruling monarch, Akhmat Khan. The invasion began after Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. The Theotokos of Vladimir icon is credited with saving Moscow. The standoff between the troops lasts five weeks before Akhmat and the Mongol troops retreat.source
  • November 8 – After reinforcements from Lithuania fail to arrive for more than four weeks, Akhmat Khan orders the Mongols to end their attempt to conquer the Grand Duchy of Moscow.source
  • The Lighthouse of Alexandria's final remains disappear when Qaitbay, Sultan of Egypt, builds the Citadel of Qaitbay on its site.source
  • Ballyhack Castle built by the Knights Hospitallers.Irelandsource

Religion & Belief

  • July 28 – An Ottoman army lands near Otranto in southern Italy. Pope Sixtus IV calls for a crusade to drive the Ottomans away. Otranto falls on August 12 after a 15-day siege.source
  • September 27 – The co-rulers of most of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile initiate the Spanish Inquisition to look for heretics and unconverted Jews, appointing the Dominican Order clerics Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martín to serve as the first two inquisitors.source
  • Ballaghmore Castle is built by the chieftain MacGiollaphadraig.Irelandsource

Culture & Society

  • January 3 – King Louis XI buys the succession rights to the Duchy of Brittany from the Countess Nicole de Châtillon for 50,000 livressource
  • 3 January – King Louis XI buys the succession rights to the Duchy of Brittany for 50,000 livres.Francesource
  • June 20 – The Senate of the Republic of Venice votes to approve the transfer of ownership of the island of Santorini (now the Greek island of Thera) to Domenico Pisani. The island was the dowry given to Pisani for the marriage of Fiorenza Crispo, by Firenzo's father, Giacomo III Crispo, Duke of the Archipelago, a set of 18 of the 20 inhabited Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea.source
  • November 3 – Ludovico Sforza succeeds his sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy, as regent of Milan for his 12-year-old nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Bona's son and the Duke of Milan.source
  • Magdalen College School, Oxford, is established by William Waynflete.source

Births

  • January 10 – Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (died 1530)source
  • February 12 – Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica from 1488 (until 1495 and 1505 with his brothers) (died 1547)source
  • February 13 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1542)source
  • April 10 – Duke Philibert II of Savoy (died 1504)source
  • 10 April – Philibert II of Savoy, Duke of Savoy (died 1504)Francesource
  • April 18 – Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (died 1519)source
  • June 1 – Tiedemann Giese, Catholic bishop from Danzig (Gdańsk) in Poland (died 1550)source
  • July 5 – Philip of the Palatinate, Bishop of Freising and Naumburg (died 1541)source
  • October – Saint Cajetan, founder of the Theatines (died 1547)source
  • November 10 – Bridget of York, English nun (died 1517)source
  • Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (died 1538)source
  • Hans Baldung, German painter (died 1545)source
  • Johann Georg Faust, German alchemist (died 1540)source
  • Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer (died 1521)source
  • Claude Garamond, French publisher (died 1561)source
  • Charlotte of Albret, noblewoman and regent (died 1514)Francesource
  • Charles de Solier, comte de Morette, soldier, diplomat and gentilhomme de la chambre to Francis I of France (died 1552)Francesource
  • François Guillaume de Castelnau-Clermont-Ludève, diplomat and cardinal (died 1541)Francesource

Deaths

  • February – Anne of Savoy, princess of Squillace, Altamura, and Taranto (born 1455)Francesource
  • April 14 – Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate (born c. 1415)source
  • May 3 – Pedro del Algaba, the Spanish colonial Governor of the Canary Islands, is arrested by Juan Rejón, and is executed on Rejón's orders on May 20.source
  • May 10 – Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1458–1480) (born 1417)source
  • May 19 – Jan Długosz, Polish historian (born 1415)source
  • May 25 – William III, Count of Henneberg-Schleusingen (born 1434)source
  • June 6 – Vecchietta, Italian painter, sculptor and architect (born c. 1410)source
  • July 6 – Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer (born 1416)source
  • July 10 – René of Anjou, king of Naples (born 1409)source
  • 10 July – René of Anjou, Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence (born 1409)Francesource
  • July 26 – Ruprecht of the Palatinate, Archbishop and Prince Elector of Cologne (born 1427)source
  • September 1 – Ulrich V, Count of Württemberg (born 1413)source
  • October 4 – Jakub of Sienno, medieval Bishop Kraków in the years 1461–1463 (born 1413)source
  • October 18 – Uhwudong, Korean dancer (born 1440)source
  • November 20 – Eleanor of Scotland, Scottish princess (born 1433)source
  • December 14 – Niccolò Perotti, Italian humanist scholar (born 1429)source
  • Nicolas Jenson, pioneer, printer and type designer (born c. 1420)Francesource
  • Seán Ó Maolalaidh, Chief of the NameIrelandsource