1512 CE

War of the League of Cambrai – Battle of Ravenna: French troops under Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, assisted by the Duchy of Ferrara, defeat the Spanish and Papal States troops led by Ramón de Cardona. Gaston is killed in the pursuit as the Spanish retreat, and at least 3,000 of his troops are killed. More than 9,000 Spanish and Papal troops are killed, and 17,000 civilians in and around the city of Ravenna are massacred. Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate that controls Egypt and what is now Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and parts of Syria, receives an envoy from King George II of Kakheti (now located in the Republic of Georgia) and decides to reopen the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Portuguese Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque departs from the Indian city of Cochin with 14 ships and 1,700 troops to retake the fortress of Goa, capital of Portuguese India, from Bijapur's General Rasul Khan. A day before a planned Portuguese attack on Bihar's army, Rasul Khan and his occupying forces depart from Goa.

In the 1510s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

April 6 – A truce was concluded in Rome, between the emperor Maximilian I and the Republic of Venice. It was ratified on 20 May by the emperor, thus ending imperial participation in the League of Cambrai.source
June 24 – Captain-Major Simão de Miranda de Azevedo took office as the new Portuguese Governor of Mozambique after being replaced by King Manuel I to replace António de Saldanha.source
June 29 – Giano II di Campofregoso was elected as the Doge of the Republic of Genoa in Italy after the withdrawal of French occupation troops, filling a vacancy that had existed since 1507.source
July 10 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon sends Don Fadrique de Toledo, to complete the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre.source
July 12 – The Treaty of Blois is signed in France between representatives of the Spanish Kingdom of Navarre and of the Kingdom of France guaranteeing French intervention to keep Navarre neutral and to prevent an attack by the "Holy League" alliance of Pope Julius II and Spain's King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Castile.source
December 27 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.source
The Florentine Republic begins to be dismantled, and the Medici Family comes back into power.source
William Rokeby, Primate of Ireland appointed Lord Chancellor of IrelandIreland source

Conflict & Security

January 23 – Neagoe Basarab becomes the new Prince of Wallachia at the capital, Târgoviște, after Prince Prince Vlad V is captured at battle in Bucharest and then decapitated.source
February 18 – War of the League of Cambrai: The French carry out the Sack of Brescia.source
April 11 – War of the League of Cambrai – Battle of Ravenna: French troops under Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, assisted by the Duchy of Ferrara, defeat the Spanish and Papal States troops led by Ramón de Cardona. Gaston is killed in the pursuit as the Spanish retreat, and at least 3,000 of his troops are killed. More than 9,000 Spanish and Papal troops are killed, and 17,000 civilians in and around the city of Ravenna are massacred.source
May 26 – Selim I succeeds Bayezid II, as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.source
August 10 – War of the League of Cambrai – Battle of Saint-Mathieu: The English navy defeats the French-Breton fleet. Both navies use ships firing cannons through ports, and each loses its principal ship — Regent and Marie-la-Cordelière — through a large explosion aboard the latter.source
10 August – The Battle of Saint-Mathieu, a naval battle between an English fleet of 25 ships and a Franco-Breton fleet of 22 ships.France source
September 1 – After being dispatched by Pope Julius II with command of a Spanish Army, General Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici recaptures the city of Florence (Firenze), capital of the Florentine Republic in Italy and ousts Piero Soderini as the ruling Gonfaloniere. The success at Florence spares the city of Rome from a French invasion. Within a year, Medici becomes leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States as Pope Leo X.source
September 10 – Portuguese Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque departs from the Indian city of Cochin with 14 ships and 1,700 troops to retake the fortress of Goa, capital of Portuguese India, from Bijapur's General Rasul Khan. A day before a planned Portuguese attack on Bihar's army, Rasul Khan and his occupying forces depart from Goa.source
Ongoing since 1508 – War of the League of CambraiFrance source

Exploration & Expansion

May 12 – Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, leads an English expedition into France and burns the port city of Brest.source
Juan Ponce de León discovers the Turks and Caicos Islands.source
António de Abreu discovers Timor Island, and reaches the Banda Islands, Ambon Island and Seram.source
Francisco Serrão reaches the Moluccas.source
Francisco Serrao and other shipwreck sailors with permission from the Ternate Sultanate build Fort Tolukko. It is one of the earliest, if not the first European style fortress in southeast Asia.source
Pedro Mascarenhas discovers Diego Garcia, and reaches Mauritius in the Mascarene Islands.source

Religion & Belief

March 12 – Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Dilecte fili, declaring King Louis XII deposed and directing that the French throne be given to King Henry VIII of England.source
May 3 – The Fifth Council of the Lateran begins.source
June 15 – Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate that controls Egypt and what is now Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and parts of Syria, receives an envoy from King George II of Kakheti (now located in the Republic of Georgia) and decides to reopen the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.source
June 16 – Massimiliano Sforza is installed as the new Duke of Milan by the Holy League, to force out King Louis XII of France.source
October 19 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).source
October 21 – Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.source
November 10 – Pope Julius II proposes the conclusion of a comprehensive peace treaty between the emperor and the Venetians, that would resolve various political conflicts by favoring Maximilian's interests and suppressing the French influence in Italy.source
December 23 – Finding the Pope's peace proposals too favorable towards the emperor, Venetian government decides to initiate peace negotiations with the king of France.source
Moldavia becomes a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, on the same conditions as Wallachia: the voivode will be designated by the Turks, but will be Eastern Orthodox Christians. Also, the Turks are not allowed to build mosques, to be buried, to own land or to settle in the country.source
Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai built in Kochi, IndiaIndia source

Science & Discovery

Nicolaus Copernicus begins to write Commentariolus, an abstract of what will eventually become De revolutionibus orbium coelestium; he sends it to other scientists interested in the matter by 1514.source

Culture & Society

July 23 – Sten Sture the Younger is elected new Regent of Sweden, replacing Eric Trolle.source
November 1 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.source
The word masque is first used to denote a poetic drama.source

Births

January 13 – Gaspar de Quiroga y Vela, General Inquisitor of Spain (died 1594)source
January 15 – Robert IV de La Marck, Duke of Bouillon, Seigneur of Sedan and a Marshal of France (died 1556)France source
January 17 – Sibylle of Cleves, electress consort of Saxony (died 1554)source
January 31 – Henry, King of Portugal and Cardinal (died 1580)source
February 3 – John Hamilton, archbishop of St Andrews (died 1571)source
March 5 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (died 1594)source
April 10 – James V, King of Scots (died 1542)source
April 23 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (died 1580)source
April 30 – George II, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Glatz (died 1553)source
July 5 – Cristoforo Madruzzo, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1578)source
July 25 – Diego de Covarrubias y Leyva, Spanish jurist, Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Cuenca (died 1577)source
August 27 – Friedrich Staphylus, German theologian (died 1564)source
August ? – Catherine Parr, English queen consort (died 1548)source
November 4 – Hu Zongxian, Chinese general (died 1565)source
November 11 – Marcin Kromer, Prince-Bishop of Warmia (died 1589)source
Antonio Lafreri, engraver, cartographer and publisher (died 1577)France source
Thomas Sébillet, jurist, essayist and neo-Platonist grammarian (died 1589)France source
Charles de Sainte-Marthe, Protestant and theologian (d.1555)France source

Deaths

January 2 – Svante Nilsson, regent of Sweden since 1504, dies at the age of 51. Eric Trolle is subsequently elected as the new Regent, but will be ousted after only six months.source
January 30 – Reinhard IV, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (1500–1512) (born 1473)source
January – Jean Braconnier, singer and composer (born Unknown)France source
February 2 – Hatuey, Puerto Rican Taíno chiefsource
February 22 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and cartographer, after whom the Americas are named (born 1451)source
March 23 – Donyo Dorje, ruler of the Kingdom of Ü-Tsang and most of Tibet, dies after a reign of more than 30 years and is succeeded by his brother, Ngawang Namgyal.source
March 29 – Lucas Watzenrode, Prince-Bishop of Warmia (born 1447)source
April 11 – Gaston de Foix, French military commander (born 1489)source
May 21 – Pandolfo Petrucci, ruler of Siena (born 1452)source
May 26 – Bayezid II, Ottoman Sultan (born 1447)source
July – Gilles Mureau, composer and singer (born c. 1450)France source
August 2 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (born 1463)source
August 15 – Imperia Cognati, Italian courtesan (born 1486)source
September 29 – Johannes Engel, German doctor, astronomer and astrologer (born 1453)source
October 5 – Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Polish princess (born 1464)source
October 31 – Anna of Saxony, Electress of Brandenburg (born 1437)source
December 13 – Emery d'Amboise, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (born 1434)France source
Antoine Vérard, publisher, bookmaker and bookseller (born before 1485)France source