1503 CE

The Kingdom of Cochin (ruled by a Portuguese-installed raja, Unni Ramman Koyil II in modern-day India's Kerala state) is invaded by 50,000 Nair troops of the Zamorin of Calicut. (Feast of the Ascension) – Ascension Island is first definitively sighted, by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque. Fort Emmanuel is christened at Cochin after Afonso de Albuquerque obtained permission to be able to build it. It is the first European fort in India, in addition to being the first Portuguese fort.

In the 1500s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • May 28 – James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor of England are married as per the Treaty of Perpetual Peace by Pope Alexander VI, according to Papal bull.source
  • June 23 – Representatives of King Henry VII of England and Queen Isabella of Spain sign a treaty for 12-year-old Henry, Prince of Wales to be married to Catherine of Aragon, widow of King Henry's son Arthur.source
  • August 20 – A previous treaty between Vladislaus II of Hungary and Bayezid II, which was finalized on June 11, goes into effect. The treaty suppresses warfare along the Hungarian-Ottoman border. Stephen III of Moldavia is also included in this treaty, but it preserves his nation's independence on the condition Moldavia pays an annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire.source
  • Unniraman Koyikal II reign as King of Cochin beginsIndiasource

Conflict & Security

  • February 13 – Challenge of Barletta: Thirteen Italian knights defeat thirteen French knights, near Barletta.source
  • February 13 – Challenge of Barletta: Thirteen Italian knights defeat thirteen French knights in a duel, near Barletta.Francesource
  • February 23 – Third Italian War: Battle of Ruvo – The Spanish defeat the French in Italy.source
  • February 23 – French–Spanish Wars in Italy – Battle of Ruvo: The Spanish defeat the French.Francesource
  • March – August – First siege of Cochin (1503)Indiasource
  • April 2 – The Kingdom of Cochin (ruled by a Portuguese-installed raja, Unni Ramman Koyil II in modern-day India's Kerala state) is invaded by 50,000 Nair troops of the Zamorin of Calicut.source
  • April 21 – Third Italian War: Battle of Seminara – Spanish forces under Fernando de Andrade de las Mariñas defeat the French under Bernard Stewart, 4th Lord of Aubigny, who is captured, in Calabria.source
  • April 21 – Battle of Seminara: Spanish forces under Fernando de Andrade de las Mariñas defeat the French under Bernard Stewart, 4th Lord of Aubigny.Francesource
  • April 21 – Battle of Cerignola: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat the French under Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours.Francesource
  • May 13 – Naples is captured by the Spanish.source
  • June 21 – Murad, the last Sultan of Aq Qoyunlu in modern-day eastern Turkey fights the Safavid King of Persia, Ismail I in a battle near the city of Hamadan, and suffers 10,000 casualties, including his commander Güzel Ahmad.source
  • November 11 – Bernard Stewart, 4th Lord of Aubigny, commander of the defeated French forces and a prisoner of war since his April 21 defeat at the Battle of Seminara, is released from Castel Nuovo in Naples after a truce between France and Spain.source
  • December 29 – Third Italian War: The Battle of Garigliano takes place near Gaeta in Italy. Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Marchese Ludovico II of Saluzzo; the French forces, who suffer 4,000 casualties, withdraw to Gaeta.source
  • December 29 – The Battle of Garigliano takes place near Gaeta in Italy. Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo.Francesource
  • The Portuguese army under Commander Dom Afonso de Albuquerque who reached Cochin in 1503, defeated the enemies of the King of Cochin and in return he gave them permission to build a fort in KochiIndiasource
  • Unniraman Koyikal I reign as King of Cochin endsIndiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 20 – Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive rights to trade with the New World.source
  • March 15 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama and sailors of his Portuguese India Armada become the first Europeans to sight the Seychelles islands as Thomé Lopes notes the discovery of what will later be called Silhouette Island.source
  • May 10 – Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands, which he names Las Tortugas, after the numerous sea turtles there.source
  • May 20 (Feast of the Ascension) – Ascension Island is first definitively sighted, by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque.source
  • June 25 – After his ships are damaged in a storm, Christopher Columbus and his 230 men are forced to beach at the island of Jamaica (at modern-day Saint Ann Parish) and remain stranded there for the next six months.source
  • July 30 – Saint Helena is first definitively sighted, by ships of Portuguese navigator Estêvão da Gama returning from the East.source
  • The Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez discovered the island Bermuda.source
  • Diogo Fernandes Pereira visited Socotra, the first European to do so, and he discovered the Mascarenes archipelagoIndiasource
  • The Casa de Contratación was founded by Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1503, eleven years after the discovery of the Americas in 1492.Indiasource
  • Kingdom of Kochi is taken over by the Portuguese creating the first European settlement in IndiaIndiasource
  • Pallipuram Fort established by the Portuguese in KeralaIndiasource

Religion & Belief

  • January 24 – Construction of the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey begins in the perpendicular Gothic style, the final stage of English Gothic art.source
  • June 27 – The book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is re-published in an English translation.source
  • August 8 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.source
  • August 18 – 7 French cardinals are called to Rome for a papal conclave, to start in September following the death of Pope Alexander VI.Francesource
  • September 22 – Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, Archbishop of Siena, is elected as the new Pope after the voting cardinals cannot decide between Georges d'Amboise of France or Giuliano della Rovere of Italy. Piccolomini takes the name of Pope Pius III but will reign for only 26 days.source
  • October 1 – Fort Emmanuel is christened at Cochin after Afonso de Albuquerque obtained permission to be able to build it. It is the first European fort in India, in addition to being the first Portuguese fort.source
  • November 1 – Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, Bishop of Ostia, is elected the 216th Roman Catholic Pontiff at the end of the year's second papal conclave and takes the papal name Pope Julius II. Della Rovere had received 15 of 32 votes in the September voting for a plurality, but still short of a majority. Julius II reigns for a little more than nine years until his death in 1513.source
  • November 29 – Pope Julius II, formerly Giuliano della Rovere, adds four new people to the College of Cardinals, including two members of his family, Clemente della Rovere and Galeotto della Rovere. By the time of his death, Julius will have added 27 cardinals to the Roman Catholic Church, five of them from the della Rovere family.source
  • St. Francis Church, in Kochi, Kerala, the oldest European church in IndiaIndiasource

Science & Discovery

  • July 23 – Orbital calculations suggest that on this day Pluto moves outside Neptune's orbit, remaining there for 233 years.source

Health & Medicine

  • October 30 – Queen Isabella I of Spain issues an edict prohibiting violence against indigenous peoples in the New World.source

Crime & Justice

  • Hieronymus Bosch works on the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, although other sources suggest a 1490-1510 date range for when he worked on it.source
  • From this year until 1660, sixteen million kilograms of silver and 185,000 kilograms of gold will enter the port of Seville.source
  • Mariotto Albertinelli paints The Visitation.source

Culture & Society

  • May 24 – The coronation of Moctezuma II as ruler of the Aztec Empire takes place at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, part of modern-day Mexico City.source
  • 8 August – marriage of James IV and Margaret TudorScotlandsource
  • October – Earliest record of Leonardo da Vinci working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, probably the Mona Lisa, in Florence.source
  • Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare married Elizabeth Zouche, daughter of John Zouche of CodnorIrelandsource

Births

  • January 11 – Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola), Italian artist (died 1540)source
  • January 18 – Joachim of Münsterberg-Oels, Duke of Münsterberg, Duke of Oels, Count of Kladsko, Bishop of Brandenburg (died 1562)source
  • March 10 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1564)source
  • April 18 – Henry II of Navarre, King of Navarre (1517–1555) (died 1555)source
  • May 1 – Celio Secondo Curione, Italian humanist (died 1569)source
  • June 1 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (died 1567)source
  • June 28 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (died 1556)source
  • June 30 – John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (died 1554)source
  • July 23 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Queen consort of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary (died 1547)source
  • August 12 – Christian III of Denmark and Norway (died 1559)source
  • October 4 – Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Spain (died 1539)source
  • November 17 – Agnolo di Cosimo, Italian artist and poet (died 1572)source
  • November 19 – Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma (died 1547)source
  • December 14 – Michel de Nostredame, called Nostradamus, French physician and writer of Les Propheties (1555) (died 1566)source
  • December 14 – Michel de Nostredame, called Nostradamus, French physician, astrologer and writer of Les Propheties (1555) (died 1566)Francesource
  • Jean Suau, French Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal (died 1566)Francesource
  • Gopala Bhatta Goswami, one of the goswamis of Vrindavana is born (dies 1578)Indiasource

Deaths

  • February 11 – Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII of England (born 1466)source
  • February 23 – Annamacharya, Indian mystic saint composer (born 1408)source
  • April 7 – Sophia Palaiologina, Byzantine princess and Grand Princess of Moscow (born 1449)source
  • April 28 – Third Italian War: Battle of Cerignola – Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat the French under Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, who is killed, in Apulia. This is considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms.source
  • 20 May – William Borthwick, 3rd Lord BorthwickScotlandsource
  • July 24 – Louise of Savoy, member of French royal family and a Poor Clare nun (born 1461)Francesource
  • August 5 – Reginald Bray, British courtier (born 1440)source
  • August 12 – Anna Jagiellon, Duchess of Pomerania, Polish princess (born 1476)source
  • August 18 – Pope Alexander VI (born 1431)source
  • August 18 – Pope Alexander VI dies after a reign of 11 years, and the largest gathering of cardinals up to that time— 21 from Italy, 11 from Spain and 7 from France— is called to Rome for a papal conclave, to start in September.source
  • October 10 – Peter II, Duke of Bourbon (born 1438)source
  • October 18 – Pope Pius III dies less than four weeks after being elected, prompting the calling of the second papal conclave in as many months.source
  • October 18 – Pope Pius III (born c. 1439)source
  • November 17 – Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Savoy (born 1449)source
  • November 23 – Margaret of York, Duchess consort of Burgundy, spouse of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (born 1446)source
  • December 14 – Sten Sture the Elder, regent of Sweden (1470–1497 and 1501–1503) (born 1440)source
  • Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, Vijayanagar commander and prime ministerIndiasource
  • John Macdonald II, the last Lord of the Isles (born 1434)Scotlandsource