1502 CE

The formal coronation of Ivan the Great as Grand Prince of Moscow (encompassing most of the Russian people's territory) to reflect that he is the nation's sole ruler. Ivan had been co-ruler of Moscow from 1449 to 1462, ruler from 1462 to 1471 and 1490 to 1498, and co-ruler with his eldest son (Ivan the Young, 1471-1490) and his grandson, Dmitry Ivanovich from 1498 onward. Gerald FitzGerald, later Earl of Kildare, at the age of 15, played the principal role in the funeral ceremony for Henry VII's eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales in Worcester Cathedral. Christopher Columbus leaves Cadiz in Spain for his fourth and final trip to the New World, taking with him 147 men on his flagship, Capitana and the companion ships Gallega, Vizcaína, and Santiago de Palos. He explores Central America, and discovers the Isthmus of Panama and the land now occupied by Honduras, and Costa Rica, and possibly the island of St. Lucia as well.

In the 1500s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 24 – Commissioners from Scotland and England meet at Richmond Palace in London to finalize an agreement on the marriage between Scotland's King James IV to the daughter of England's King Henry VII, the princess Margaret Tudor, with a dowry of 35,000 Scottish Punnds and an agreement for a "treaty of perpetual peace". The marriage will be completed by proxy on January 25, 1503.source
  • 24 January – Commissioners from Scotland and England meet at Richmond Palace in London to finalize an agreement on the marriage between James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, with a dowry of 35,000 Scottish Punnds and an agreement for a "Treaty of Perpetual Peace". The "marriage of the thistle and the rose" will be completed by proxy the following day and in person the following year.Scotlandsource
  • July 28 – At Augsburg, Maximilian I, Germany's King of the Romans signs a treaty with representatives of King Henry VII of England, agreeing not to provide assistance to English rebels.source
  • 21 December – Lauder is granted a new charter as a royal burgh.Scotlandsource
  • Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa receives the degree of magister artium from the University of Cologne.source

Conflict & Security

  • November 7 – Ismail I founds the Safavid dynasty and proclaims himself the Shah of Iran after defeating tribes of the Aq Qoyunlu confederation.source
  • December – The French army defeats the Spanish in the Second Battle of Seminara as part of the Italian wars of 1499–1504. This battle might be known by a different name and is referred to as the battle of Terranova in some sources.Francesource
  • Moctezuma II is elected emperor of the Aztecs, following the death of Ahuitzotl.source
  • Meñli I Giray defeats the Golden Horde and sacks their capital, Sarai.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 1 – Portuguese explorers, led by Gonçalo Coelho, sail into Guanabara Bay, Brazil, mistaking it for the mouth of a river, which they name Rio de Janeiro.source
  • March 14 – Christopher Columbus begins preparation for his fourth and final voyage, with a goal of finding a westward passage in the New World to link the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.source
  • May 3 – Portuguese navigator João da Nova discovers the uninhabited island of Saint Helena.source
  • May 9 – Christopher Columbus leaves Cadiz in Spain for his fourth and final trip to the New World, taking with him 147 men on his flagship, Capitana and the companion ships Gallega, Vizcaína, and Santiago de Palos. He explores Central America, and discovers the Isthmus of Panama and the land now occupied by Honduras, and Costa Rica, and possibly the island of St. Lucia as wellsource
  • May 26 – Columbus and his men complete the rescue of stranded Portuguese soldiers in Morocco, then depart Asilah for a crossing of the Atlantic in 20 days.source
  • June 15 – Columbus and his crew land on the island of Martinique and land at Le Carbet.source
  • July 30 – The first encounter between Europeans and the Maya people of Central America takes place when the Columbus brothers anchor at Guanaja, one of the Bay Islands off of the coast of what is now the nation of Honduras. An unfortunate group of Mayan traders happens to arrive at Guanaja at the same time, and its cargo is looted by Bartolomeo Columbus and his crew.source
  • August 14 – Christopher Columbus and his crew land at Puerto Castilla in what is now the mainland of the nation of Honduras, becoming the first Europeans to visit.source
  • September 18 – Christopher Columbus lands at Central America at what is now Costa Rica.source
  • October 16 – Columbus and his crew arrive at Almirante Bay in Panama.source
  • Bristol merchants return from Newfoundland (first so named this year from a letter) to England, carrying three native people and cod from the Grand Banks.source
  • The first African slaves brought to the New World arrive at the island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic).source

Religion & Belief

  • February 12 – Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.source
  • April – Gerald FitzGerald, later Earl of Kildare, at the age of 15, played the principal role in the funeral ceremony for Henry VII's eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales in Worcester Cathedral.Irelandsource
  • December 31 – Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino, where he imprisons two potentially treacherous allies, Vitellozzo and Oliveretto; he executes them the next morning.source
  • In Italy, Asher Lämmlein declares that the Jewish Messiah will arrive in the next 6 months, resulting in the year of penance.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • In Germany, Peter Henlein of Nuremberg uses iron parts and coiled springs to build a portable timepiece.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 13 – The new Viceroy of the New World, Nicolás de Ovando, departs Spain with a fleet of 30 ships and orders to replace Viceroy Francisco de Bobadilla at Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola, and arrives in April.source
  • October 1 – An annular solar eclipse occurs.source
  • November 19 – The "Cantino planisphere", a precise copy for an Italian spy of Portugal's secret Padrão Real map of the New World, is acquired by Alberto Cantino, agent for Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, at a cost of 12 golden ducats.source

Crime & Justice

  • April 11 – Dmitry Ivanovich Vnuk, who had been the teenage co-ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow since 1498 with his grandfather Ivan III, is arrested along with his mother, Elena of Moldavia on suspicion of conspiracy. Ivan designates his son (and Dmitry's uncle) Vasili Ivanovich as the new heir to the throne of Moscow.source
  • December 26 – Cesare Borgia kills Ramiro d'Orco; this incident is referenced in Machiavelli's The Princesource

Climate & Environment

  • March 26 – The first recorded earthquake in what is now Croatia strikes at Medvednica with a Mercalli scale intensity estimated at VIII. (2000).source
  • June 29 – Columbus and his crew attempt to land at Santo Domingo in order to avoid being caught in a hurricane, despite being ordered not to return to Hispaniola. Nicolás de Ovando, the Spanish Viceroy, refuses to let Columbus sail into harbor and does not believe the warnings of the hurricane, which strikes two days later.source
  • July 1 – A powerful hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola, two days after Christopher Columbus was denied permission to land at Santo Domingo. An estimated 500 people are killed when the winds wreck 20 of the 31 ships brought from Spain by the new Viceroy, Nicolás de Ovando, including Ovando's flagship, El Dorado. Former Viceroy Francisco de Bobadilla and administrator Francisco Roldán are among the people killed. A ship provided by Bobadilla for Columbus to transport the gold owed to him, the Aguja, is one of the 11 to survive the hurricane and accusations are made that Columbus magically invoked the storm as an act of vengeance.source

Culture & Society

  • April 14 – The formal coronation of Ivan the Great as Grand Prince of Moscow (encompassing most of the Russian people's territory) to reflect that he is the nation's sole ruler. Ivan had been co-ruler of Moscow from 1449 to 1462, ruler from 1462 to 1471 and 1490 to 1498, and co-ruler with his eldest son (Ivan the Young, 1471-1490) and his grandson, Dmitry Ivanovich from 1498 onward.source
  • September 29 – Anne of Foix-Candale is proclaimed Queen of Hungary upon her marriage to Vladislaus II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, at a ceremony in Székesfehérvár.source
  • Wittenberg University is founded.source
  • The King's School, Macclesfield, England, is founded by Sir John Percyvale.source
  • Wilhelm Bombast moves to Villach with his son, Paracelsus.source

Births

  • January 3 – Yi Hwang, Korean Neo-Confucian scholar (d.1571)source
  • January 7 (Julian) (January 17 Gregorian)– Pope Gregory XIII, born Ugo Boncompagni, Bolognese-born pontiff (died 1585)source
  • January 20 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish colonial industrialist and saint in Mexico (died 1600)source
  • February 2 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher (died 1574)source
  • March 4 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Hereditary Princess of Saxony (died 1557)source
  • March 18 – Philibert de Chalon, Prince of Orange (d.1530)Francesource
  • April 2 – Susanna of Bavaria, German noble of the House of Wittelsbach (died 1543)source
  • April 10 – Otto Henry, Count Palatine of Neuburg (1505–1559) and Elector Palatine (1556–1559) (died 1559)source
  • April 25 – Georg Major, German Lutheran theologian (died 1574)source
  • June 6 – King John III of Portugal (died 1557)source
  • July 27 – Francesco Corteccia, Italian composer (died 1571)source
  • August 14 – Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter (died 1550)source
  • September 14 – Louis II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, Duke of Zweibrücken from 1514 to 1532 (died 1532)source
  • Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (died 1572)source
  • Hurrem Sultan, Ruthenian-born Haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire (died 1558)source
  • Blaise de Monluc, prolific French soldier. (d.1577)Francesource

Deaths

  • February 18 – Hedwig Jagiellon, Duchess of Bavaria (born 1457)source
  • March – Francesco Laurana, Dalmatian-born sculptor (born c. 1430)source
  • April 2 – Arthur, Prince of Wales, the 15-year-old Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester, heir to the English throne as eldest son of King Henry VII, dies after a long illness less than five months after marrying Catherine of Aragon. Arthur's 10-year-old brother, Henry, Duke of York, becomes the new heir to the throne and will later succeed his father as King Henry VIII.source
  • April 2 – Arthur, Prince of Wales, English prince, eldest son of Henry VII of England (born 1486)source
  • April 15 – John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange (1475–1502) (born 1443)source
  • April 20 – Mary of Looz-Heinsberg, Dutch noble (born 1424)source
  • May 4 – Berthold II of Landsberg, Bishop of Verden (1470–1502) and Hildesheim (1481–1502) (born 1464)source
  • May 6 – James Tyrrell, English knight, alleged murderer of the princes in the Tower (executed) (born c. 1450)source
  • June 9 – Astorre III Manfredi, Italian noble (born 1485)source
  • July 15 – Luka Radovanović, Catholic priest (born 1425)source
  • August 18 – Knut Alvsson, Norwegian nobleman and politician (born 1455)source
  • August 31 – Thomas Wode, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleassource
  • November 13 – Annio da Viterbo, Italian Dominican friar and scholar (born 1432)source
  • December 23 –Jean-Simon de Champigny, Bishop of ParisFrancesource
  • December 31 – Oliverotto Euffreducci, Italian politician (born 1475)source
  • Octavien de Saint-Gelais, French poet and translator.(b.1468)Francesource