1490 CE

Anne of Brittany announces that all those who ally themselves with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of Lèse-majesté. Or April – 1490 Qingyang event, a presumed meteor shower or air burst over Qingyang in the Gansu province in Ming dynasty China. Some later accounts lists casualties of more than 10,000 people. The only date given for the Qingyang event is that it was in "the third lunar month" on the Chinese lunar calendar coinciding with a period beginning on March 12 and ending on April 19, 1490. At Junnar in what is now India's Maharashtra state, the Ahmadnagar Sultanate is established by Ahmad Nizam Shah, who leads a secession of his land from the Bahmani Kingdom and defeats the Bahmani General Jahangir Khan.

In the 1490s, the 15th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

February 3 – The Scottish Parliament opens in Edinburgh to address matters of lands confiscated in the year before.source
February 15 – The Scottish Parliament passes an Act to restore lands forfeited by the losers in the war between the supporters of the late King James III against his son, the reigning King James IV, and nullifying transfers of land made to new owners after the forfeitures.source

Conflict & Security

March or April – 1490 Qingyang event, a presumed meteor shower or air burst over Qingyang in the Gansu province in Ming dynasty China. Some later accounts lists casualties of more than 10,000 people. The only date given for the Qingyang event is that it was in "the third lunar month" on the Chinese lunar calendar coinciding with a period beginning on March 12 and ending on April 19, 1490.source
May 28 – At Junnar in what is now India's Maharashtra state, the Ahmadnagar Sultanate is established by Ahmad Nizam Shah, who leads a secession of his land from the Bahmani Kingdom and defeats the Bahmani General Jahangir Khan.source
July 4 – John Corvinus, son of the late King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and a claimant to the throne, is defeated by the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Bonefield.source
July 15 – King Vladislaus of Bohemia is proclaimed as the new King of Hungary by a majority of the Hungarian nobility, prompting the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian to plan an invasion and conquest of the Hungarian Kingddom.source
July 22 – (5th day of 7th month of Entoku 2) At Heian-kyō, in Japan, now Kyoto, Ashikaga Yoshitane becomes the 10th Muromachi shōgun of Japan, more than a year after the death of his cousin, Ashikaga Yoshihisa.source
August 10 – The Scottish Admiral Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, commanding the warships Flower and Yellow Carrel, successfully repels an attempted ambush by three armed English merchant ships at the Firth of Forth. Wood captures the three ships, carries them up the Dundee river and presents them and their crews to King James IV. After a "an earnest remonstrance" to England's King Henry VII about allowing the Englishmen to attempt a battle, King James sets the prisoners free and returns them to England.source
October 21 – The Massacre of Monzievaird takes place in Scotland at the county Perthshire, with 20 members of Clan Murray being killed when members of Clan Drummond and Clan Campbell set fire to the church where the Murrays have assembled.source
Traditional date of the Battle of Glendale (Skye) between the Scottish clans MacDonald and MacLeod.source
Battle of Chocontá: The northern (zaque) tribes of the pre-Columbian Muisca Confederation (central Colombia) are beaten by the southern (zipa) tribes.source

Exploration & Expansion

Aldus Manutius moves to Venice.source
Merchants carry coffee from Yemen to Mecca (approximate date).source

Religion & Belief

January 4 – Anne of Brittany announces that all those who ally themselves with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of Lèse-majesté.source
June 15 – English printer William Caxton prints his English language translation of the French book, Ars moriendi, which he renders as The art and crafte to knowe well to dye.source
July 13 – John of Kastav finishes a cycle of frescoes in the Holy Trinity Church, Hrastovlje (modern-day southwestern Slovenia).source
November 20 – The first edition of the chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, by Joanot Martorell, is printed in Valencia.source
Catholic missionaries arrive in the African Kingdom of Kongo.source
All Saints' Church, the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, is begun.source
Thaddeus McCarthy appointed Bishop of Cork and CloyneIreland source

Technology & Infrastructure

November – King Charles VIII orders the building of two ships (carracks),1000 tons each, as a counter to English ships being armed known as the "Regent" and the "Sovereign".France source
Regular postal service connects the Habsburg residences of Mechelen and Innsbruck, the first in Germany.source

Science & Discovery

Leonardo da Vinci observes capillary action, in small-bore tubes.source
Pêro da Covilhã arrives in Ethiopia.source
John Colet receives his M.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford.source

Crime & Justice

Leonardo da Vinci develops an oil lamp: the flame is enclosed in a glass tube, placed inside a water-filled glass globe.source
Johann Reuchlin meets Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.source

Culture & Society

February 5 – Robert Lyle, 2nd Lord Lyle, is restored by Scotland's King James IV to his previous title of Scottish nobility that had been forfeited on July 4, the previous year when he had sided against King James III in the fighting against the current monarch, King James IV.source
March 13 – Carlo Giovanni Amedeo becomes Duke of Savoy at nine months old upon the death of his father, Carlo I di Savoia. his mother, Bianca di Monferrato, serves as regent.source
September 18 – The coronation of Vladislaus II as King of Hungary takes place at Székesfehérvár.source
December 19 – Anne of Brittany is married by proxy to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.source
Tirant lo Blanch, by Joanot Martorell and Martí Joan de Galba, is published.source
Perkin Warbeck claims to be the son of King Henry VII of England, at the court of Burgundy.source

Births

February 14 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educator of the Reformation (died 1556)source
February 17 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, French military leader (died 1527)source
17 February – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (d.1527)France source
March 22 – Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Italian noble (died 1538)source
March 24 – Giovanni Salviati, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1553)source
April 4 – Vojtěch I of Pernstein, Bohemian nobleman (died 1534)source
April – Vittoria Colonna, Italian poet (died 1547)source
May 17 – Albert, Duke of Prussia, last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (died 1568)source
June 28 – Albert of Mainz, German elector and archbishop (died 1545)source
August 5 – Andrey of Staritsa, son of Ivan III "the Great" of Russia (died 1537)source
October 12 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (died 1548)source
October – Olaus Magnus, Swedish ecclesiastic and writer (died 1557)source
November 10 – John III, Duke of Cleves (died 1539)source
December 25 – Francesco Marinoni, Italian Roman Catholic priest (died 1562)source
December 30 – Ebussuud Efendi, Ottoman Grand Mufti (died 1574)source
Anne de Graville, poet.(c.1543)France source

Deaths

January 27 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (born 1435)source
March 6 – Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (born 1458)source
April 6 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia, including part of Austria, dies unexpectedly at Vienna. Four people claim the throne before the Hungarian nobility assembles to elect the successor to King Matthias, and begin the War of the Hungarian Successionsource
April 6 – King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (born 1443)source
May 12 – Joanna, Portuguese Roman Catholic blessed and regent (born 1452)source
May 22 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent (born 1416)source
August 11 – Frans van Brederode, Dutch rebel leader (born 1465)source
Aonghas Óg, last independent Lord of the Islessource
Martí Joan de Galba, Catalan novelistsource