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The 1480s

526 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 15th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1480 CE47 entries

  • 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.
  • July 28 – Mehmed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes.
  • December 7 – During the war between Dai Viet and Lan Xang (now the northern part of Vietnam and the entire nation of Laos), Emperor Xianxong of Ming dynasty China is informed by his envoys that Dai Viet had subdued Lan Xang and was preparing to invade Lan Na

1481 CE47 entries

  • April 2 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to the six Defence of the Realm Acts and to the Benefices Act 1481, passed by his parliament in anticipation of a war with England.
  • May 21 – King Christian I of Denmark and Norway dies at the age of 55. Although his eldest son, Prince Hans of Oldenburg, is accepted as the new King of Denmark, the Riksrådet (Council of the Realm) of the Kingdom of Norway postpones its decision pending negotiations to possibly reunite with the Kingdom of Sweden.
  • December 14 – Ayas Pasha, the Ottoman Empire's sanjak of Bosnia, captures the city of Herceg Novi after a month-long siege when the Duke Vlatko Hercegović agrees to surrender.

1482 CE47 entries

  • January 19 – A Portuguese fleet, commanded by Diogo de Azambuja, arrives at the mouth of the River Benya on the Gold Coast, where the fort of São Jorge da Mina (Elmina Castle) is erected.
  • January 25 – (5 Adar 5242) The first printing of the Torah by movable type, in the original Hebrew language, is made in Bologna, marking the first use of the Hebrew alphabet rather than the Roman alphabet in printing.
  • August 4 – Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão and his crew arrive at Loango Bay in West Africa on Saint Dominic's Day, and Cão names the body of water Praia Formosa de São Domingos; from there he and the crew become the first Europeans to enter the Congo River.

1483 CE57 entries

  • January 7 – At Pau (now part of France), Queen Catalina becomes the new ruler of Navarre at the age of 14, upon the death of her older brother, the 15-year-old King Francisco Febo. Their mother, Magdalena of Valois, continues as regent of Navarre.
  • July 6 – Richard III and Anne Neville are crowned king and Queen of England, at Westminster Abbey.
  • October 29 – Battle of Una: Forces of the Kingdom of Croatia defeat the army of the Ottoman Empire.

1484 CE51 entries

  • February 20 – At the close of the English Parliament session, King Richard III gives royal assent to Titulus Regius
  • March 26 – William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, prints his translation of Aesop's Fables in London.
  • October 31 – The "White Elephant War", which had started in 1479 with the invasion of the Kingdom of Lan Xang (now Laos) by the Dai Viet Empire (now northern Vietnam) with the Vietnamese withdrawing their troops and failing to conquer the Laotians.

1485 CE50 entries

  • January 29 – The siege of Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire, is started by the Black Army of the Kingdom of Hungary in the ninth year of the ongoing Austrian-Hungarian War. Vienna is defended by a force of only 3,000 soldiers and cavalry, against 28,000 soldiers and cavalry of the Black Army, and the city falls to Hungary within four months.
  • February 3 – Three days after returning to Germany following his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, John V, Count of Nassau-Siegen founds the Franciscan monastery at his capital in Siegen.
  • August 1– Accompanied by his own troops and French mercenaries, Henry Tudor sets sail from Honfleur in France with 30 ships to begin his second attempt to invade the Kingdom of England.

1486 CE58 entries

  • February 16 – Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt.
  • March 10 – The government of the Free Imperial City of Köln (Cologne), now part of Germany, begins the removal of all prostitutes from the city.
  • October 10 – The Siege of Retz in Austria comes to an end after four days when the inhabitants surrender to the Black Army of Hungary and King Matthias Corvinus.

1487 CE62 entries

  • March 6 – Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury since January 21, becomes the new Lord Chancellor of England, succeeding the late Thomas Bourchier.
  • July 11 – The Battle of Aldy Charrish takes place in Scotland as the Clan Mackay defeats the Clan Ross.
  • December 19 – (7 Panquetzaliztli of the year 8 acatl) During the reign of the Mexican Aztec Emperor Ahuitzotl, the Temple of Huitzilopochtli, sixth in a series is completed and dedicated in Tenochtitlan to the Aztec god of war.

1488 CE54 entries

  • January 8 – The Royal Netherlands Navy is formed by the Ordinance of Admiralty, issued by Archduke Maximilian of Austria, co-ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands.
  • January 20 – In the Kingdom of France, Louis II, Duke of Orleans and François II, Duke of Brittany, are both declared rebels by the Parlement of Paris.
  • August 17 – The Mamluk Sultanate defeats the Ottoman Empire Army in the Battle of Aga-Cayiri fought in the Cilicia region of Asia Minor, now in Turkey.

1489 CE53 entries

  • April 6 – At Jodhpur, in what is now the state of Rajasthan in India, Rao Satal becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Marwar upon the death of his father, King Rao Jodha.
  • October 2 – The Rorschacher Klosterbruch, a civil war in Switzerland, comes to an end after three months when the Abbey of Saint Gall (in the canton of St. Gallen) signs a peace with the canton of Appenzell.
  • December 11 – Jeannetto de Tassis is appointed Chief Master of Postal Services in Innsbruck; his descendants, the Thurn und Taxis Family, later run much of the postal system of Europe.