date: February 4

text: February 4 – Pedro de Vera is appointed as the colonial Governor of Gran Canaria by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, and directed to carry out the conquest of the Canary Islands and to end the fighting between the conquistadors who had taken the island in 1478.


date: March 3

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: 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.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: March 6

text: March 6 – The Treaty of Toledo is signed as Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain recognize the African conquests of Afonso V of Portugal, and he cedes the Canary Islands to Spain.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Lorenzo the Magnificent, Lord of the Republic of Florence, and King Ferrante of Naples agree to an alliance between the two Italian nations, and to end the ongoing war that had started in 1479. Lorenzo had traveled to Naples in December to reach a treaty to end the war.


date: April 6

section: Conflict & Security

text: April 6 – King Afonso V of Portugal orders his navy to "capture anyone trading illegally in Africa, and to throw the goods and ship's crew into the sea.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The Siege of Rhodes begins as the Ottoman Turk invading force begins its invasion, introducing the psychological warfare of coming ashore with "loud martial music" and the shrieking cries of dervishes.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Mehmed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes.

source_section: Events › July–September


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Two days after Ottoman troops had broken a siege and taken control of the village of Otranto in southern Italy, led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha, carry out the massacre of 813 inhabitants who had refused to convert from Christianity to Islam.


date: October 8

text: October 8 – The Great Stand on the Ugra River begins as troops of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, led by the Grand Duke Ivan III and General Ivan Molodoy battle against the invading Mongol armies of the Golden Horde, led by their ruling monarch, Akhmat Khan. The invasion began after Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Horde. The Theotokos of Vladimir icon is credited with saving Moscow. The standoff between the troops lasts five weeks before Akhmat and the Mongol troops retreat.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: November 8

text: November 8 – After reinforcements from Lithuania fail to arrive for more than four weeks, Akhmat Khan orders the Mongols to end their attempt to conquer the Grand Duchy of Moscow.


date: December 7

text: 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


text: The Lighthouse of Alexandria's final remains disappear when Qaitbay, Sultan of Egypt, builds the Citadel of Qaitbay on its site.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


section: Religion & Belief

text: July 28 – An Ottoman army lands near Otranto in southern Italy. Pope Sixtus IV calls for a crusade to drive the Ottomans away. Otranto falls on August 12 after a 15-day siege.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – The co-rulers of most of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile initiate the Spanish Inquisition to look for heretics and unconverted Jews, appointing the Dominican Order clerics Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martín to serve as the first two inquisitors.


date: May 3

section: Crime & Justice

text: May 3 – Pedro del Algaba, the Spanish colonial Governor of the Canary Islands, is arrested by Juan Rejón, and is executed on Rejón's orders on May 20.


date: January 3

section: Culture & Society

text: January 3 – King Louis XI buys the succession rights to the Duchy of Brittany from the Countess Nicole de Châtillon for 50,000 livres


date: June 20

text: June 20 – The Senate of the Republic of Venice votes to approve the transfer of ownership of the island of Santorini (now the Greek island of Thera) to Domenico Pisani. The island was the dowry given to Pisani for the marriage of Fiorenza Crispo, by Firenzo's father, Giacomo III Crispo, Duke of the Archipelago, a set of 18 of the 20 inhabited Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Ludovico Sforza succeeds his sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy, as regent of Milan for his 12-year-old nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Bona's son and the Duke of Milan.


text: Magdalen College School, Oxford, is established by William Waynflete.


date: January 10

section: Births

text: January 10 – Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (d. 1530)

source_section: Births


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica from 1488 (until 1495 and 1505 with his brothers) (d. 1547)


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1542)


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Duke Philibert II of Savoy (d. 1504)


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (d. 1519)


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Tiedemann Giese, Catholic bishop from Danzig (Gdańsk) in Poland (d. 1550)


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Philip of the Palatinate, Bishop of Freising and Naumburg (d. 1541)


date: October

text: October – Saint Cajetan, founder of the Theatines (d. 1547)


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Bridget of York, English nun (d. 1517)


text: Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (d. 1538)


text: Hans Baldung, German painter (d. 1545)


text: Gazi Husrev-beg, Ottoman statesmen (d. 1541)


text: Johann Georg Faust, German alchemist (d. 1540)


text: Claude Garamond, French publisher (d. 1561)


date: January 5

section: Deaths

text: January 5 – Jakobus, nobleman from Lichtenberg in the northern part of Alsace (b. 1416)

source_section: Deaths


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate (b. c. 1415)


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1458–1480) (b. 1417)


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Jan Długosz, Polish historian (b. 1415)


date: May 25

text: May 25 – William III, Count of Henneberg-Schleusingen (b. 1434)


date: June 6

text: June 6 – Vecchietta, Italian painter, sculptor and architect (b. c. 1410)


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer (b. 1416)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – John III, Count of Nassau-Weilburg, German nobleman (b. 1441)


date: July 26

text: July 26 – Ruprecht of the Palatinate, Archbishop and Prince Elector of Cologne (b. 1427)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Ulrich V, Count of Württemberg (b. 1413)


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Jakub of Sienno, medieval Bishop Kraków in the years 1461–1463 (b. 1413)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Uhwudong, Korean dancer (b. 1440)


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Eleanor of Scotland, Scottish princess (b. 1433)


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Niccolò Perotti, Italian humanist scholar (b. 1429)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – John II of Portugal starts to rule in his own right.


date: December 22

text: December 22 – The Canton of Fribourg and the Canton of Solothurn are admitted as cantons of Switzerland by the Swiss Confedderation


text: The Constitució de l'Observança is approved by the Catalan Courts, establishing the submission of royal power to the laws of the Principality of Catalonia.


date: April 2

text: 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.


date: April 5

text: April 5 – Mahmud Gawan, the chief minister (peshwa) of India's Bahmani Kingdom (now in the state of Karnataka) is executed in Bidar on orders of the Sultan Muhammad Shah III Lashkari, after being falsely convicted of treason. The preparer of the forged document that led to Gawan's overthrow, Malik Hasan Bahri, becomes the new peshwa.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Alphonso II of Naples recaptures the city of Otranto.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – At Târgoviște, Basarab Țepeluș cel Tânăr replaces his successor, Vlad Călugărul as the voivode (prince) of Wallachia (now part of Romania)


text: 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.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – At the Battle of Westbroek, Holland defeats the troops of Utrecht.


date: December 28

text: December 28 – The city of Zahara de la Sierra, now part of Spain, is captured by the Moorish Emir Abu'l-Hasan Ali of Granada in a surprise attack, leading to a counterattack by the Kingdom of Castile two months later.


date: April 8

text: April 8 – Pope Sixtus IV issues the papal bull Cogimur jubente altissimo, calling for Roman Catholics to participate in a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, starting with the Turkish-occupied southern Italian area in and around Otranto, with the liberation of Valona (now in Albania) to follow.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – The papal bull Aeterni Regis grants Portugal first option to all newly conquered African and Asian lands south of the Canary Islands to Portugal.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – The bodies of the Martyrs of Otranto, who had been killed in Italy in 1480 by the Ottomans who had conquered the city of Otranto, are discovered in the city's cathedral "uncorrupted", and the group as a whole is celebrated as martyrs to the Roman Catholic faith. The 813 martyrs will be canonized more than 500 years later on May 12, 2013.


section: Science & Discovery

text: The Aztec Calendar Stone or Sun Stone is carved.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Ahmed Khan bin Küchük, Khan of the Great Horde, is killed by the Khan of Sibir, Ibak Khan in battle and is succeeded by his son, Sheikh Ahmed.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – The first execution during the Spanish Inquisition is carried out in Seville in an auto-da-fé as six people convicted of heresy are burned alive. As a result of this and other murders, thousands of conversos— mostly Jewish people who had converted to Christianity— flee their homes.


date: July 24

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: July 24 – Fire destroys the roof and the spires of Reims Cathedral.


date: March 15

section: Climate & Environment

text: March 15 – The first of a series of earthquakes to affect the island of Rhodes occurs, leading up to the deadly earthquake in May.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – The 1481 Rhodes earthquake, the largest of a series, strikes the island of Rhodes, causing an estimated 30,000 casualties.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shōgun (d. 1511)


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1536)


text: May 3 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Ruprecht of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1504)


date: July 1

text: July 1 – King Christian II of Denmark, Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union (d. 1559)


date: August 21

text: August 21 – Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (d. 1550)


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet (d. 1558)


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Christoph von Scheurl, German writer (d. 1542)


date: December 18

text: December 18 – Sophie of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Saxony (d. 1503)


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Margrave of Bayreuth (d. 1527)


text: Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (d. 1545)


text: Imperia La Divina, Roman courtesan (d. 1512)


text: Yan Song, Chinese prime minister (d. 1568)


text: January 6 – Akhmat Khan, khan of the Great Horde


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese court noble (b. 1402)


text: May 3 – Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his son, Bayezid II.


date: May 21

text: 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.


date: May

text: May – Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha, Ottoman (Turkish) grand vizier


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Thomas de Littleton, English judge and legal author (b. c. 1407)


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Amalie of Brandenburg, Countess Palatine and Duchess of Zweibruecken and Veldenz (b. 1461)


date: September 5

text: September 5 – John I, Duke of Cleves (b. 1419)


date: November 19

text: November 19 – Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (b. 1472)


date: December 10

text: December 10 – With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou reverts to the French crown under Louis XI, as does the Provence, which until then was part of the Holy Roman Empire.


text: Ikkyu, Japanese Zen Buddhist priest and poet (b. 1394)


text: Jean Fouquet, French painter (b. 1420)


text: Erik Axelsson Tott, regent of Sweden (b. 1415)


text: Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies and is succeeded by his brother Tízoc.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – The Treaty of Fotheringhay is signed between King Edward IV of England, and Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the younger brother of King James III of Scotland, with Alexander being promised the Scottish throne in return for swearing loyalty to England and participating in an English invasion of Scotland.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – King Edward IV of England summons the members of the English House of Commons and the English House of Lords to assemble at Westminster on January 20.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – The Treaty of Arras divides the Burgundian Netherlands between King Louis XI of France and Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg.


date: January 19

text: 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.


date: February 28

text: February 28 –The village of Alhama de Granada in Spain is taken by Christian forces, starting the Granada War to expel the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – In Spain, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Castile formally takes command in the Granada War at Alhama.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – King Edward IV of England summons fighting men to participate in an invasion of Scotland with the goal of deposing King James III and installing a puppet monarch who will bring Scotland under English control.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Cem Sultan, who briefly reigned as the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for several weeks in 1481 before being deposed by his half-brother, Bayezid II, invades the Turkish mainland and besieges the city of Konya, but is defeated and forced to withdraw to Ankara. Upon trying to retreat to Cairo in Egypt, he finds that all the roads are under Bayezid's control.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Following a mutiny of Scottish troops at Lauder, King James III is brought back to Edinburgh Castle and held under house arrest by the mutineers.


date: July 29

text: July 29 – Cem Sultan of the Ottoman Empire flees to the island of Rhodes after having turned down two offers from his half-brother, Sultan Bayezid II, to give up all claims to the Ottoman throne.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – In the Anglo-Scottish Wars, Richard, Duke of Gloucester invades Scotland, and captures Edinburgh.


date: August 21

text: August 21 – In the course of the War of Ferrara in Italy, the Battle of Campomorto is fought as the army of the Papal States, led by Roberto Malatesta defeats troops of the Kingdom of Naples, led by Alfonso, Duke of Calabria.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – The Scots surrender the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, ending his campaign against Scotland.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – King James III is allowed to walk out of Edinburgh Castle in the wake of the English siege led by his brother, Alexander, Duke of Albany.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – John Stewart, Lord Darnley finally surrenders Edinburgh Castle to King James III's brother, the Duke of Albany, after a siege of almost two months.


date: August 4

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: 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.


date: January 25

text: 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.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Pope Sixtus IV, in a special bull, grants self-government rights to the Italian town of Ascoli Piceno.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Symeon I succeeds Maximus III as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.


date: August 30

text: August 30 – The reign of Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège over the Principality of Liège, a semi-independent eccleasitic state within the Holy Roman Empire in parts of what are now Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, comes to an end when he is assassinated on orders of William de La Marck


date: May 25

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: May 25 – German printer Erhard Ratdolt creates the first printed edition of The Elements, originally written by the Greek mathematician Euclid around 300 BC and translated from ancient Greek into Latin by Campanus of Novara in the 13th century. The date for the printing of one of the most influential books in history is printed by Ratdolt on the title page.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Fray Thomas de San Martín, Roman Catholic prelate and bishop (d. 1555)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Maria of Aragon, Queen of Manuel I of Portugal, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (d. 1517)


date: July 7

text: July 7 – Andrzej Krzycki, Polish archbishop (d. 1537)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Cho Kwangjo, Korean philosopher (d. 1520)


text: October 7 – Ernest, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1553)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Philipp III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1538)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Frederick II, Elector Palatine (1544–1556) (d. 1556)


text: Richard Aertsz, Dutch historical painter (d. 1577)


text: Richard Pace, English diplomat (d. 1537)


text: Eufrasia Burlamacchi, Italian nun and manuscript illumination artist (d. 1548)


text: Matthias Ringmann, German cartographer and humanist poet (d. 1511)


text: Leo Jud, Swiss religious reformer (d. 1542)


text: Bernardino Luini, Italian painter (d. 1532)


text: Johannes Oecolampadius, German religious reformer (d. 1531)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Italian writer, adviser and spouse of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (b. 1427)


date: March 27

text: March 27 – The death of Mary of Burgundy triggers the first of the Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria.


text: March 27 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1457)


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)


date: May 23

text: May 23 – Mary of York, daughter of King Edward IV of England (b. 1467)


date: August 15

text: August 15 – William, Margrave of Hachberg-Sausenberg, Margrave of Hachberg-Sausenberg (1428–1441) (b. 1406)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Queen Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI of England (b. 1430)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Queen Yun, Korean Queen (b. 1455)


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Federico da Montefeltro, Italian mercenary (b. 1422)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – William III, Landgrave of Thuringia, Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1425)


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Philibert I of Savoy (b. 1465)


text: date unknown – Hugo van der Goes, Flemish artist (b. c. 1440)


date: January 20

text: January 20 – The English Parliament, summoned by King Edward IV on November 15, assembles at Westminster.


date: January

text: January – Upon the petition the Grand Inquistitor of Castile (now part of Spain) Tomás de Torquemada, the Jews are expelled from the Castilian-controlled portions of Andalusia.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – King Edward IV gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the English Parliament.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – The Grand Duke Ivan IV of Ryazan signs a treaty with his uncle, Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow, placing Ryazan under Moscow's control and ending Ryazan's independence.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – (27th day of 11th month of Bunmei 14) The Ashikaga shogunate and Koga kubo Ashikaga Shigeuji agree to the Tohiwaboku peace treaty, ending the Kyotoku War after almost 29 years. that had been ongoing since 1455.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – In what is now the Kingdom of Spain, the Islamic Emirate of Granada defeats the Christian Crown of Castile in the Battle of Axarquía, despite the Castilians having four times as many troops as the Granadans.


date: April 29

text: April 29 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile, a very important step in the expansion of Spain. Of 4,000 Castilian troops, 800 are killed and 1,600 others are taken as prisoners of war.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – The powerful Duke Fernando II of Braganza is executed in Portugal, followed by more than 80 other noblemen, for his plot against the royal crown.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – In England, a rebellion is started by Duke of Buckingham, against King Richard III. Fighting between the supporters of King Richard and of the late King Edward IV lasts for more than six weeks.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Battle of Una: Forces of the Kingdom of Croatia defeat the army of the Ottoman Empire.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Buckingham's rebellion comes to an end and most of the conspirators disperse to plan for another uprising.


text: The Prince of Moscow builds the fortress of Ivangorod, facing Narva.


text: Isaac Abravanel flees Portugal, after being implicated in a plot against the king.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – The General Council of the Inquisition is created in Spain.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Richard III and Anne Neville are crowned king and Queen of England, at Westminster Abbey.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – The coronation of Hans, King of Denmark as crowned King of Norway is held at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – The Sistine Chapel opens in the Apostolic Palace in Rome.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – At Rennes Cathedral in France, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, leader of the House of Lancaster after Richard III of England of the House of York had seized the throne, pledges to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter the late King Edward IV, in order to strengthen his support for the overthrow of King Richard.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit until July 23, 1503, according to modern orbital calculations. At the time, neither planet has been discovered by Earth astronomers. The event of Pluto being closer to the Sun than Neptune will happen again during the period lasting from 1979 to 1999.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, is executed, in the first recorded execution at the Tower of London.


date: September 3

text: September 3 – The Princes in the Tower, uncrowned 12-year-old Edward V, recently deposed as King of England, is murdered in the Tower of London along with his 10-year-old brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, on the orders of their uncle, King Richard III.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Following the appointment of the Duke of Albany as Lieutenant-General of the Realm, King James III of Scotland is restored to the throne after having been captured in battle on July 22, 1482.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The coronation of Hans of Oldenburg as King of Denmark takes place at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen.


date: May 19

text: May 19 – King Edward V moves into the Tower of London, the traditional residence of monarchs prior to a coronation. King Edward's coronation had recently been rescheduled for June 25.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Richard, Duke of York, the younger brother of King Edward V, arrives at the Tower of London.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – On the day of his scheduled coronation, 12-year-old King Edward V is deposed by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who is acclaimed by the English Parliament as King Richard III.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – Edward of Middleham, the 7-year-old son of King Richard III of England, is given the title of Prince of Wales and designated the heir apparent to the throne. However, Edward will die less than a year later on April 9.


text: Flavio Biondo publishes his Historiarum ab inclinatione romanorum imperii.


text: Giovanni Bellini is named official painter of the Republic of Venice.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Henry III of Nassau-Breda, Baron of Breda (d. 1538)


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul Dynasty (d. 1530)


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and statesman (d. 1540)


date: April 6

text: April 6 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Paolo Giovio, Italian bishop (d. 1552)


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Wang Gen, Chinese philosopher (d. 1541)


text: September 3 – Eric II, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1508)


date: October 16

text: October 16 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (d. 1542)


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Hans Buchner, German Renaissance composer (d. 1538)


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Elisabeth of the Palatinate, Landgravine of Hesse, German noble (d. 1522)


date: December 3

text: December 3 – Nicolaus von Amsdorf, German theologian and Protestant reformer (d. 1565)


text: Thomas Parr, Englishman, alleged oldest living man (d. 1635)


text: Felice della Rovere, also known as Madonna Felice, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II (d. 1536)


text: Andrea Navagero, Venetian diplomat and writer (d. 1529)


date: January 7

text: January 7 – Ivan IV becomes the new Grand Prince of the semi-independent Principality of Ryazan upon the death of his father, Vasily Ivanovich of Ryazan.


text: 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.


date: January 19

text: January 19 – William IV, Lord of Egmont, IJsselstein, Schoonderwoerd and Haastrecht and Stadtholder of Guelders (b. 1412)


date: March 23

text: March 23 – Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1428)


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex (b. c. 1405)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – At the age of 12, Edward V becomes King of England upon the sudden death of his father, King Edward IV. The young king will reign for only 78 days before being deposed, imprisoned and murdered by his uncle, Richard III.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – George Neville, Duke of Bedford, English dispossessed nobleman (b. 1465)


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Queen Jeonghui, Korean regent (b. 1418)


date: June 13

text: June 13 – William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (executed; b. 1431)


date: June 25

text: June 25 – Richard Grey, English knight, half brother of Edward V (executed; b. 1457)


text: June 25 – Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (executed; b. 1442)


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Costanzo I Sforza, Italian condottiero (b. 1447)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Archduke Maximilian of Austria, father of the four-year old Philip the Handsome, Duke of the Burgundian Netherlands, declares the abolition of the Regency Council that had administered the land in Philip's name after the death of Mary of Burgundy on March 27, 1482; Maximilian becomes the sole regent.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (b. 1454)


date: January 23

text: January 23 – King Richard III of England assembles his first, and only Parliament, opening a 29-day session.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – At the close of the English Parliament session, King Richard III gives royal assent to Titulus Regius


date: March 22

text: March 22 – The kingdoms of France and Scotland renew the Auld Alliance, with the Lord of Aubigny signing on behalf of France.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The Treaty of Bagnolo is signed, ending the War of Ferrara fought in Italy between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Ferrara after two years. Ferrara loses most of its territories which Venice had conquered north of the River Po, while Ferrara's Duke Ercole I d'Este regains his territories in Ariano nel Polesine, Corbola, Adria, Melara, Castelnovo Bariano and Ficarolo.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Treaty of Nottingham: A three-year truce between the kingdoms of England and Scotland is signed.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Louis, Duke of Orleans a contender for the French throne, signs a treaty with François II, Duke of Brittany, with an agreement for the marriage of the Duke's 7-year-old daughter, Anne of Brittany to Louis, with a goal of Louis having control of Brittany and of France. The proposed marriage, however, is contingent upon the annulment of Louis' existing marriage to Joan of France, Duchess of Berry.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Defence of the Realm Act 1483 (summoning the members of the nobility to come defend Scotland); the Duke of Albany Act, an arrest warrant for all person who made treasonable assistance to the King's rebellious brother, Alexander, Duke of Albany; and the two Barratry Acts, prohibiting "the having of mone furth of the Realme" (the exportation of money out of the realm) to the Court of Rome.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – The Kingdom of Hungary defeats the army of the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Leitzersdorf.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, is defeated by forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas is captured.


date: October 31

text: 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.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.


text: Maximilian I, Duke of Burgundy, orders foreign merchants to leave Bruges. Most merchants move to Antwerp, greatly contributing to its growth as an international trading center.


text: The King of Portugal appoints a commission of mathematicians to perfect tables, to help seamen find their latitude.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, prints his translation of Aesop's Fables in London.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Muhammad Shah Mir becomes the new Sultan of Kashmir in India, succeeding Hasan Khan.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – The first known book printed by a woman, Anna Rügerin, is an edition of Eike of Repgow's compendium of customary law, the Sachsenspiegel, produced in Augsburg.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the Papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, giving the Inquisition a mission to hunt heretics and witches in Germany, led by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.


text: The first cuirassier units (kyrissers) are formed in Austria.


text: The first sugar mill becomes operational in the Gran Canaria.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – The Great Bell of Dhammazedi, at 293.4 metric tons (323 U.S. tons) the largest bell ever created, is cast from bronze at Dagon in the Hanthawaddy kingdom (now Yangon in Myanmar) by order of King Dhammazedi. The casting comes despite advice from the royal astrologer that the date is inappropriate, and the bell is noted for its unpleasant tone. The bell will be stolen from the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1608 by Arakan mercenaries commanded by the Portuguese warlord Filipe de Brito e Nicote, but skin, into the Bago and Yangon Rivers while it is being transported on de Brito's ship.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – At the Estates General, the nobleman Philippe Pot, representative of the Second Estate, delivers a famous speech calling upon reforms in the structure of government of France. His speech is successful in persuading the Estates to endorse the continuing regency of Anne and Pierre Beaujeu, but also leads to numerous recommendations for reform and alarms the royal government.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – The coronation of the 13-year-old son of the late Louis XI, Charles the Affable, as King of France takes place at Reims.


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Joanes III is proclaimed by his fiancée, Queen Katalina, to be her co-ruler of the Kingdom of Navarre at Pamplona, now part of the Basque region of Spain.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss religious reformer (d. 1531)


date: January 17

text: January 17 – George Spalatin, German religious reformer (d. 1545)


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (1499–1535) (d. 1535)


date: March 4

text: March 4 – George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1543)


date: April 12

text: April 12 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (d. 1546)


text: April 12 – Maharana Sangram Singh, Rana of Mewar (d. 1528)


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian humanist scholar (d. 1558)


date: June 25

text: June 25 – Bartholomeus V. Welser, German banker (d. 1561)


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Ottaviano de' Medici, Italian politician (d. 1546)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Joachim Vadian, Swiss humanist and reformer (d. 1551)


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Paul Speratus, German Lutheran (d. 1551)


text: date unknown – Purandara Dasa, Indian composer and saint (d. 1564)


text: date unknown – Luisa de Medrano, Spanish scholar (d. 1527)


text: date unknown – Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese military commander (d. 1531)


date: February 22

text: February 22 – Pope John XIII of Alexandria begins a reign of 40 years as the partiarch of the Coptic Christian Church, filling a vacancy of five months since the death of Pope John XII.


text: March 4 – Saint Casimir, Prince of Poland (b. 1458)


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (b. 1443)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. c. 1473)


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Adalbert of Saxony, Administrator of Mainz (1482–1484) (b. 1467)


text: July 11 – Mino da Fiesole, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1429)


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Federico I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1478–1484) (b. 1441)


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Pope Sixtus IV (b. 1414)


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (b. 1446)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Giovanni Battista Cybo, Bishop of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, is elected to succeed the late Pope Sixtus IV (who died on August 12) as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and takes the regnal name of Pope Innocent VIII as, the 213th pope.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex (b. 1409)


date: December

text: December – Premislav of Tost, Silesian ruler (b. 1425)


text: William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness (b. 1410)


text: Aşıkpaşazade, Ottoman historian (b. 1400)


date: April 27

text: April 27 – King Charles VIII of France convenes a lit de justice, a special session of the Parlement de Paris at Rouen, confirms the Charter to the Normans, the French acknowledgment of the autonomy of the Duchy of Normandy within the Kingdom of France.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the England Act (regarding the peace between "betuix our soverane lord and Richard king of Ingland", and "the marriage and alliance appointed to be made and performed.")


date: August 15

text: August 15– Henry Tudor's army begins crossing the border from Wales into England at Mathafarn, then marches towards London.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – The first session of the English Parliament under King Henry VII is opened, with Lovell elected as the Speaker of the House of Commons.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Members of the House of Commons ask King Henry VII to marry Elizabeth of York.


date: January 29

text: 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.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – The Adana campaign begins when the Mamluk Sultanate, based in the Middle East, begins a siege to recover the city of Adana (now in Turkey), recently captured by the Ottoman Empire. General Uzbek min Tutuh, Governor of Damascus, leads the Mamluk troops


date: May 22

text: May 22 – In Spain, the Christian Crown of Castile seizes the city of Ronda from the Islamic Emirate of Granada.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary secures the surrender of Vienna, the Holy Roman Empire's capital, after a siege of four months. Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, had departed the city before the siege began.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – King Richard III of England, alerted to news that Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, is planning to invade England, orders his lords to be fully alert.


date: August 7

text: August 7– After departing France and sailing around the south coast of the island of Britain, Henry Tudor and his troops enter Mill Bay and land near Dale, Pembrokeshire Wales without opposition, and begin marching toward London to attack King Richard, camping at Haverfordwest. From there, the Tudor supporters march north to Cardigan; Llwyn Dafydd; Llanilar, Aberystwyth; Machynlleth, then turn eastward at Mathafarn on August 14.


date: August 11

text: August 11– News of Henry's landing at Wales reaches Richard, who issues a mobilization order that his lords received on August 14.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – The army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow forces, led by Ivan III, invades the city of Tver, ruled by Mikhail III and capital of the Duchy of Tver. Within 10 days, Ivan is able to claim the Duchy.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Less than four weeks after the Battle of Bosworth and the defeat of Richard III, King Henry VII summons the English Parliament, directing the members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons to assemble at Westminster for the November 7 opening of the English Parliament.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – The Peace of Bourges temporarily stops the civil war in France, dubbed "the Mad War". (la Guerre folle)


date: August 1

text: 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.


date: February 3

text: 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.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Thomas Lovell is appointed for life as England's Chancellor of the Exchequer by King Henry. He will serve for 39 years before his death in 1524.


text: From about this date, Leonardo da Vinci produces a number of designs for flying machines, including the aerial screw or helicopter (probably unworkable).


date: August 5

section: Health & Medicine

text: August 5– The first outbreak of sweating sickness in England begins.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – The coronation of King Henry VII as King of England is held.


text: Leon Battista Alberti's De Re Aedificatoria (written 1443–1452 and published posthumously) becomes the first printed work on architecture.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, German princess (d. 1537)


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Sibylle of Baden, Countess consort of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1518)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Astorre III Manfredi, Italian noble (d. 1502)


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German religious reformer (d. 1558)


text: June 24 – Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg (1502–1535) (d. 1555)


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Italian geographer (d. 1557)


date: August 22

text: August 22 – Beatus Rhenanus, German humanist and religious reformer (d. 1547)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburgian royal (d. 1525)


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Johannes Dantiscus, Polish poet and bishop (d. 1548)


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Antonio Pucci, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1544)


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Veronica Gambara, Italian poet and stateswoman (d. 1550)


text: Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, English statesman (d. 1540)


text: Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter (d. 1547)


text: Giovanni da Verrazzano, Italian explorer (approximate date; d. c. 1528)


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Saint Leopold of Babenburg, who died almost 350 years earlier in 1136, is canonized as a Roman Catholic saint by Pope Innocent VIII. Saint Leopold will be celebrated as the patron saint of Austria in the centuries that follow.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Eustochia Smeralda Calafato, Italian saint (b. 1434)


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)


text: March 16 – A solar eclipse crosses northern South America and Central Europe. (March 8 O.S.) Although King Richard III's wife, the Queen Consort, dies on March 16, 1485 as well, the Julian calendar date is eight days sooner than the Gregorian calendar date of March 24.


date: April 16

text: April 16 – Vuk Grgurevic Brancovic, the Despot of Serbia under Hungarian rule, dies after a reign of 14 years, bringing the Brankovic dynasty to an end, leaving the office vacant and prompting Hungary's King Matthias Corvinus to find a suitable heir.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, Scottish prince (b. c. 1454)


date: August 15

text: August 15 – Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (b. 1419)


text: August 22 – At the Battle of Bosworth Field, King Richard III of England is killed in battle by the soldiers of Rhys ap Thomas and Sir William Stanley, in the service of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. With the death of King Richard, the Yorkist troops retreat. King Richard's remains will lie undiscovered for 517 years until 2012when they are found during the excavation of a parking lot in Leicester.


text: August 22 (killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field):


date: August 25

text: August 25 – William Catesby, supporter of Richard III (executed) (b. 1450)


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Peter Arbues is assaulted while praying in the cathedral at Zaragoza in the Kingdom of Aragon, now part of Spain; he dies on September 17. He had been appointed Inquisitor of Aragon by the Inquisitor General, Tomás de Torquemada, in the campaign against heresy and Spanish Judaism.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – John Scott of Scott's Hall, Warden of the Cinque Ports


date: October 27

text: October 27 – Rodolphus Agricola, Dutch scholar (b. 1443)


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Giovanni Mocenigo, Doge of Venice (b. 1408)


date: March 4

text: March 4 – The first English Parliament of King Henry VII is dissolved after more than four months.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – John Morton is appointed by King Henry VII as the Lord Chancellor of England and chief justice of the Court of Chancery.


date: March 10

text: 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.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – The adoption of the Sentència Arbitral de Guadalupe ends the War of the Remences, in the Principality of Catalonia.


date: August 10

text: August 10 – The Papal States, led by Pope Innocent VIII, sign a treaty with King Ferrante of Naples to avoid an invasion.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – At Srinagar (now in India), Fateh Shah Miri becomes the new Sultan of Kashmir after defeating the Sultan Muhammad Shah Mir.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – At Enniskillen, capital of the Kingdom of Fermanagh in what is now County Fermanagh on the Republic of Ireland's border with Northern Ireland, King Éamonn mac Thomáis Óig abdicates and is succeeded briefly by his brother Thomáis Óg mac Thomáis Óig, who is deposed by Seánn mac Pilib meic Thomáis Mhóir before the end of the year.


text: Provence was legally incorporated into the French royal domain.


date: January 13

text: January 13 – In Austria, the siege of Wiener Neustadt by the Kingdom of Hungary begins and will last for more than a year and a half before the city is surrendered to Hungary and is renamed Biencújhely. As part of the terms of peace, Austria cedes much of the territory of Lower Austria to the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – The Stafford and Lovell rebellion is started against King Henry VII of England by three House of York supporters, Sir Humphrey Stafford, Thomas Stafford and Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell, who had hoped to restore the Yorkist monarchy led by the late King Richard III.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – The Conspiracy of the Barons, a revolt by the Neapolitan nobility, begins in the Kingdom of Naples with the rebels taking an oath at the Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate in Campania against the rule of King Ferrante, the Spanish prince made King of Naples after the kingdom's conquest by the Crown of Aragon.


date: October 10

text: 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.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – The Conspiracy of the Barons comes to an end when the Aragon troops and King Ferrante recapture the city of Venosa.


text: October 10 – King João II of Portugal appoints Bartolomeu Dias to lead an expedition to sail around what will be called the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, in the hope of finding a trade route to India.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is born in the town of Nadia, West Bengal, India, just after sunset. He is regarded as an incarnation, or avatar, of Lord Krsna, and later comes to inaugurate the sankirtana movement, or the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. This chanting, or mantra meditation, is first brought to the United States in 1965, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.


text: February 18 – At a meeting of six electors of the Holy Roman Empire at Frankfurt-am-Main, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, is elected as the King of the Romans and ruler of the Germans, as the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.


date: March 23

text: March 23 – After getting into a war with the Kingdom of Naples by siding with rebels in the Barons' Conspiracy, Pope Innocent VIII sends the Papal Legate, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (who will become later become Pope Julius II), as an envoy to the Kingdom of France to seek assistance from King Charles VIII. King Charles sends a delegation to Rome two months later, with no resolution made.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Humphrey Stafford and his brother Thomas Stafford, who had been given sanctuary by the church at Culham, Oxfordshire, are forcibly removed by Sir John Savage and 60 armed men on charges of treason. Protests are made to Pope Innocent VIII against the breaking of the right of sanctuary in the Roman Catholic Church, and while Thomas is pardoned by King Henry, Humphrey is executed for treason on July 8.


date: May 31

text: May 31 – The French delegation from King Charles arrives in Rome to discuss the assistance request from Pope Innocent, but negotiations fail because of Cardinal Borgia's support of the Spanish King of Naples.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Pope Innocent VIII responds to complaints made in a letter to him from King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and Austria, and declares that the Holy See does not resent Hungary for its war against the Holy Roman Empire, and promises to examine the Hungarian King's concerns.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the papal bull Catholice fidei defensionem, granting plenary indulgences to people who took part in the war of Casimir IV Jagiellon against the Ottoman Empire.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Cardinal John Morton becomes the new Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England.


text: Sigismund, Archduke of Tyrol, issues Europe's first large silver coin, the guldengroschen, which will later become the thaler.


text: Johann Reuchlin begins studying the Hebrew language.


text: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola returns to Florence, and writes Oration on the Dignity of Man.


date: March 1

section: Economy & Finance

text: March 1 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Tallow Act, the Hides Act and the Currency Act.


text: The first written use of the word football is made to describe the ball itself.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York are married, uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York, and ceremonially ending the Wars of the Roses.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – The coronation of Maximilian the First as "King of the Romans" takes place at Aachen, in that the Holy Roman Imperial capital of Vienna was captured by Hungary.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Martin Agricola, German Renaissance composer and music theorist (d. 1556)


date: February 10

text: February 10 – George of the Palatinate, German nobleman; Bishop of Speyer (1513–1529) (d. 1529)


text: February 18 – Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bengali ascetic and monk (d. 1534)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Jacopo Sansovino, Italian sculptor and architect (d. 1570)


date: July 16

text: July 16 – Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Albrecht VII, Duke of Mecklenburg (1503–1520), then Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1520–1547) (d. 1547)


date: August 3

text: August 3 – Imperia Cognati, Italian courtesan (d. 1512)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Sigismund von Herberstein, Austrian diplomat and historian (d. 1566)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German astrologer and alchemist (d. 1535)


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII of England (d. 1502)


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Charles III, Duke of Savoy (d. 1553)


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Johann Eck, German Scholastic theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation (d. 1543)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Philip III, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg (1524–1539) (d. 1539)


text: date unknown – Shimon Lavi, Sephardi kabbalist (d. 1585)


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Jacques of Savoy, Count of Romont, Prince of Savoy (b. 1450)


date: March 11

text: March 11 – In Berlin, Johann von Hohenzollern becomes the new Elector of Brandenburg, the independent Electorate within the Holy Roman Empire, upon the death of his father, the Elector Albrecht III Achilles.


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England (b. c. 1404)


date: May

text: May – Louis I, Count of Montpensier (b. 1405)


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Margaret of Denmark, Scottish queen consort, daughter of Christian I of Denmark (b. 1456)


text: August 3 – Asakura Ujikage, 8th head of the Japanese Asakura clan (b. 1449)


date: August 11

text: August 11 – William Waynflete, English Lord Chancellor and bishop of Winchester (b. c. 1398)


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Marco Barbarigo, Doge of the Republic of Venice, dies after only nine months in office, and his brother Agostino Barbarigo is elected to replace him.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Ernest, Elector of Saxony, progenitor of the Ernestine Wettins (b. 1441)


date: August

text: August (day unknown) – Marco Barbarigo, the 73rd Doge of Venice, was said to have died in a dispute caused by his brother and successor, Agostino Barbarigo.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Guy XIV de Laval, French noble (b. 1406)


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Richard Oldham, English Catholic bishop


text: September 20 – An heir is born to Elizabeth of York and King Henry VII of England, being invested as Arthur, Prince of Wales in 1490. Unfortunately, Arthur will die from an illness at age 15, seven years before the death of King Henry.


text: Tízoc, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies. Some sources suggest that he was poisoned, others that he was the victim of "sorcery" or illness. He is succeeded by his brother Āhuitzotl.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – The rebel army led by Lambert Simnel, who has proclaimed himself as "King Edward VI" lands on Piel Island at Lancashire.


date: August 18

text: August 18 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella make a triumphant entrance into the newly captured city of Malaga.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Royal assent is given by King James III of Scotland to acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Royal Burghs Act 1487 (requiring annual meetings of the commissioners of Scotland's town governments); the annexation of Lochmaben Castle; the Sea Fishing Act (regulating the herring industry); and the Goods of Convicts Act (allowing the confiscation of possessions of persons arrested for trespassing).


date: November 9

text: November 9 – The second parliament of King Henry VII assembles at Westminster with John Mondurant as Speaker of the House of Commons. The parliament lasts for slightly more than five weeks.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – The second parliament of King Henry VII is dissolved in England after 39 days.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Acting on rumors of a rebellion in England, led by a person posing as Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, King Henry VII convenes a meeting of the Privy Council at Sheen Palace in Richmond, to discuss a response to the situation. The first measure is to bring Edward, son of the last Earl of Warwick, out of imprisonment at the Tower of London and to parade him through London to dispel the rumors.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Arrest warrants for treason are issued by the English Privy Council for Henry Bodrugan, John Beaumont and other persons accused of having traveled to the counties of Devon and Cornwall to "stir up sedition and rebellion.


date: March

text: March – Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, largely on the poor advice of his counselors, declares war on Venice, and seizes silver mines in and around the Sugana Valley.


date: April 27

text: April 27 – In Spain, the town of Vélez in Muslim Granada becomes the first conquest by the invasion by Christian Castile and Aragon, surrendering after 10 days.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – After failed attempts by King Ferdinand of Aragon to negotiate Granada's surrender of the city of Malaqa, the siege of Málaga begins, with the Granadan General Hamet el Zegri defending against a larger contingent of Aragonese and Castilian troops. At the same time, the Spanish fleet blocks the harbor and all access to Malaga from the sea. The city surrenders after three months.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The army of the Grand Principality of Moscow begins the siege of Kazan as troops led by Daniil Kholmsky after a dispute begins over the succession to the throne of the Khanate of Kazan.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – Lambert Simnel, a supporter of the late King Richard III who is leading a rebellion against King Henry VII, is crowned King "Edward VI of England" in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland. He claims to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, and challenges Henry VII for the throne of England, where he lands on June 5.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – At the Battle of Stoke Field: the army of the pretender Lambert Simnel, led by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, and Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell, is crushed by troops loyal to Henry VII.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – French–Breton War: The siege of the city of Nantes in the Duchy of Brittany is started by King Charles VIII of France, but fails after less than two months and is lifted on August 6.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – The Khanate of Khazan surrenders after a siege of seven weeks, and Khazan becomes a vassal of the Russians in the Grand Principality of Moscow.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – The Battle of Aldy Charrish takes place in Scotland as the Clan Mackay defeats the Clan Ross.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – French–Breton War: King Charles VIII of France ends the siege of Nantes after seven weeks.


date: August 10

text: August 10 – The County of Tyrol within the Holy Roman Empire defeats the attack of the Republic of Venice at the Battle of Calliano, with 1,400 of the Venetians and 700 of the Tyroleans killed.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – The siege of Málaga ends, when the Spanish take the Granadan city. Most of the 11,000 surviving residents are taken prisoner and then sold into slavery in Castile and Andalusia.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Wiener Neustadt, the last town in Lower Austria to resist Hungary's King Matthias Corvinus, surrenders to his army.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – The war between Hungary and Austria is ended with an armistice signed at Sankt Pölten between Duke Albert III of Saxony (on behalf of the Holy Roman Empire) and Hungary's King Matthias Corvinus.


date: December 19

text: 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.


text: May 7 – The Kingdom of Portugal dispatches Pêro da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva across Europe and Africa to inquire about a sea route to India, as well as to inquire about the enigmatic Prester John. Covilha reaches Ethiopia but is not allowed to leave, while de Paiva is never heard from again.


date: August

text: August – Bartolomeu Dias leaves Lisbon, on his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – Bartolomeu Dias and his crew, sailing southward along the African coast in the caravels São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão arrive at what is now Namibia's Walvis Bay, which Dias calls O Golfo de Santa Maria da Conceição.


date: January 29

text: January 29 – Richard Foxe becomes Bishop of Exeter.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Pope Innocent VIII renews the designation of Tomás de Torquemada as the Grand Inquisitor of Spain in the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Valencia.


date: February 26

text: February 26 – At the insistence of Cardinal Rodrigo de Borja Pope Innocent VIII, authorizes a Christian crusade and against the Muslim Moors, to start on September 1 and to be funded for one year.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury since January 21, becomes the new Lord Chancellor of England, succeeding the late Thomas Bourchier.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – Pope Innocent VIII issues an order designating the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews, Robert Blackadder, as the Primate of All Scotland, outraging the bishops in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland.


date: August 11

text: August 11 – The Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples sign a peace treaty to end the war that had started a year and half earlier.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Pope Innocent VIII establishes the office of the Secretary of State of the Vatican by approving the apostolic constitution Non Debet Reprehensibile, with 24 apostolic secretaries, the most important being the Secretarius Domesticus.


text: Italian architects work on the Moscow Kremlin.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria promulgates the Reinheitsgebot, specifying three ingredients – water, malt and hops – for the brewing of beer.


text: Stockport Grammar School is founded, in the north of England.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Queen Dangyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1557)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1550)


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Henry of the Palatinate, bishop of Utrecht (d. 1552)


date: April 10

text: April 10 – William I, Count of Nassau-Siegen (d. 1559)


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Johann Gramann, German theologian (d. 1541)


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia (d. 1524)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Anna of Brandenburg, Duchess of Schleswig and Holstein (d. 1514)


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Pope Julius III (d. 1555)


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Ludwig of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German nobleman (d. 1553)


date: November 14

text: November 14 – John III of Pernstein, Bohemian land-owner, Governor of Moravia and Count of Kladsko (d. 1548)


text: Pedro de Mendoza, Spanish conquistador (d. 1537)


text: Piotr Gamrat, Polish Catholic archbishop (d. 1545)


text: Michael Stifel, German mathematician (d. 1567)


text: Fray Tomás de Berlanga, Bishop of Panama (d. 1551)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Nicholas of Flüe, Swiss hermit and saint (b. 1417)


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Tilokaraj, king of Lan Na (b. 1409)


text: May 27 – At Chiang Mai, in what is now part of northern Thailand, King of Lan Na, Prince Yotchiangrai becomes the new reigning monarch upon the death of his father, King Tilokaraj.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln (b. c. 1463)


date: June 26

text: June 26 – John Argyropoulos, Greek philosopher


date: July 16

text: July 16 – Charlotte, Queen of Cyprus (b. 1436)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Maria of Cleves, French noble (b. 1426)


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Chenghua Emperor of China (b. 1447)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Mara Branković, Serbian princess (b. 1416)


date: September 30

text: September 30 – John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1400)


date: October 22

text: October 22 – Antonio Bettini, Italian religious writer (b. 1396)


text: Tlacaelel, high priest of Tenochtitlán (b. 1398)


text: William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel (b. 1417)


date: January 8

text: 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.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – The Swabian League is re-established at a ceremony in Esslingen am Neckar as a military alliance of the Electorate of the Palatinate, the Duchy of Bavaria, monarchies and archbishoprics in Bayreuth, Hesse, Ansbach, Baden, Tyrol, Württemberg, Mainz and Trier, as well as 22 other "free cities" in the Holy Roman Empire.


text: March 21 – The Treaty of Valencia is signed in Spain between the Kingdom of Navarre and the "Catholic Monarchy" of Aragon and Castile.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – The Treaty of Sablé is signed in Sablé-sur-Sarthe by Francois, Duke of Brittany and Charles VIII, King of France, ending the "Mad War". Under the terms of the treaty, Francois agrees for the Duchy of Brittany to be a vassal of King Charles, and cedes the Duchy's territories of Saint Malo, Dinan, Fougères and Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier to the French crown. Francois also agrees that before arranging his daughter, Anne of Brittany, to be married, he will seek the King's consent. In return, Charles removes the French Army troops from Brittany.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – King James IV of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous laws approved by the Scottish Parliament during its 1488 session, including the France Act ("to renew the confideracioun betuix the realmez of France and Scotland") and the Rebel Officers of Law Act (disbarring and suspending any wardens, justices or other officials "who were in battle at Stirling against our sovereign Lord").


date: January 20

text: 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.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Prince James, Duke of Rothesay, the 15-year-old son of King James III of Scotland and heir to the throne, leaves his residence at Stirling Castle and joins a rebellion against his father. Prince James sides with the Earl of Angus and the Earl of Argyll in the rebellion, which ultimately leads to the King's death.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – Hadım Ali Pasha, the Ottoman beylerbey of Karaman, recaptures Adana and Tarsus from the Mamluks.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – The Siege of Châteaubriant in the Duchy of Brittany, started by the army of France, ends after eight days. Commanded by Louis II de la Trémoille, the French Army had bombarded the city with cannon fire and forced its surrender.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – A judgment of confiscation is declared by a French court against the goods of Prince Louis of Orleans, who had sought to overthrow his cousin, King Charles VIII


date: June 11

text: June 11 – King James III of Scotland is killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn, in a rebellion in which his son, James, Duke of Rothesay, is on the other side. Rothesay becomes King James IV and spends the rest of his life regretting his role in his father's death.


date: July 19

text: July 19 – France's siege of Fougères in Brittany, led by General Louis de la Trémoille, ends after seven days with the French capture of the city.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier: Troops loyal to King Charles VIII of France defeat rebel forces, led by the Dukes of Orleans and Brittany, bringing the "Mad War" (la Guerre folle) to an end.


date: August 17

text: 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.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – In the "Squire Francis War" (Jonker Fransenoorlog), a new phase of the Dutch civil war in the Burgundian Netherlands county of Holland, the rebel army of the Hook faction, led by Frans van Brederode, captures the city of Rotterdam, capital of Holland.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after his ships had been blown off course while sailing southeastward along Africa's coast in search of the Cape of Good Hope. After having turned northward, Dias realizes later that he had actually rounded the Cape and seen it from a distance as his ships were sailing westward to reach his prior position.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – The Bartolomeu Dias expedition from Portugal arrives at the Cape of Good Hope and the crew of the two expedition ships, São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão, become the first Europeans to set foot at Good Hope. They anchor at the Boesmans River at what is now the South African city of Kwaaihoek. In that the landing took place on the feast day of Saint Gregory, the Portuguese sailors erect the Padrão de São Gregório, a stone pillar and cross, to mark their arrival.


text: Rathbornes Candles is established in Dublin; the company is still trading in the 21st century.


text: Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford, takes possession of Cardiff Castle.


text: Michelangelo Buonarroti becomes apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – Choe Bu (1454-1504), the Korean Commissioner of Registers for the island of Cheju, shipwrecks on the south east coast of China in Taizhou, Zhejiang.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Joseon Dynasty official Choe Bu returns to Korea, after months of shipwrecked travel in China.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – The Frari Triptych is completed by Giovanni Bellini, and he marks the date by placing a label on the back of the canvas.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Anne of Brittany becomes Duchess of Brittany at the age of 11. Her marriage to King Charles VIII in 1491 effectively ends Breton independence from France.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Isabella of Aragon, daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples, enters a marriage by proxy to Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan.


text: The city of Bikaner in western India is founded by Rao Bika.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Helius Eobanus Hessus, German Latin poet (d. 1540)


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (d. 1552)


text: January 20 – John George, Marquis of Montferrat, Italian noble (d. 1533)


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (d. 1544)


date: April 16

text: April 16 – Jungjong of Joseon (d. 1544)


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (d. 1523)


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Sidonie of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria-Munich (d. 1505)


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Lê Uy Mục, 8th king of the later Lê dynasty of Vietnam (d. 1509)


date: May 7

text: May 7 – John III of the Palatinate, Administrator of the Bishopric of Regensburg (d. 1538)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Pedro Pacheco de Villena, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1560)


date: June

text: June – Heinrich Glarean, Swiss music theorist (d. 1563)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Juan Álvarez de Toledo, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1557)


date: October 17

text: October 17 – Ursula of Brandenburg, Duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1510)


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (d. 1550)


date: April 1

text: April 1 – John II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1426)


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola and Forli (b. 1443)


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Konrad the Red of the Piast dynasty inherits the rights to the Duchy of Warsaw upon the death of his older brother, Duke Bolesław V, but the nobles refuse to accept him. Konrad and Bolesław's younger brother Janusz II of Płock become the new rulers. Duke Konrad III the Red's promises to pay homage to John Albert of April 20, 1496.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Frederick I of Liegnitz, Duke of Chojnów and Strzelin from 1453 (b. 1446)


date: June 11

text: June 11 – King James III of Scotland (at the Battle of Sauchieburn; b. c. 1451)


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Alvise Cadamosto, Italian explorer (b. 1432)


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Edward Woodville, Lord Scales (at the Battle of St. Aubin-du-Cormier; b. c. 1456)


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Clarice Orsini, Florentine noblewoman and wife of Lorenzo de’ Medici (b. 1453)


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Francis II, Duke of Brittany (fell from a horse) (b. 1433)


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1434)


date: September

text: September – Abu 'Amr 'Uthman, Hafsid caliph of Ifriqiya (b. 1419)


text: September – Lasse Huittinen, Finnish thief


date: October 11

text: October 11 – Geoffroy Cœur, French nobleman, son of Jacques Cœur


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Johannes Crabbe, Flemish abbot and bibliophile


date: January 13

text: January 13 – The English Parliament opens at Westminster, with Thomas Fitzwilliam as the Speaker of the House of Commons. The day after its opening, the Treason Act 1488 and the Collusive Actions Act 1488 go into effect on resolution of the English Parliament.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – The Treaty of Redon is signed between the Duchy of Brittany and the Kingdom of England, with an agreement approved by King Henry VII for England to provide 6,000 soldiers, with the expense to be paid by Brittany.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Two alliance agreements are signed in the Austrian city of Dordrecht, with the Archduchy of Austria allying against France, with the Spanish Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of England. The tripartite agreement is completed with Castile and England reaching a mutual treaty on March 26.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to the Republic of Venice.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – The Treaty of Medina del Campo is signed between England and the Spanish kingdom of Castile and Aragon, and includes provision for a marriage of King Henry's son and heir apparent Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Isabella's daughter Catherine of Aragon.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – In India's Delhi Sultanate, Sikandar Lodi succeeds Bahlul Khan Lodi as the new Sultan of Delhi.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – Austria and France agree to make a treaty to end the hostilities between the two nations. The Peace of Frankfurt is formally signed on July 22, 1490.

source_section: Events › September–December


text: King Henry VII of England gives a town charter to the port of Southwold.


text: A gold coin equal to one pound sterling, called a sovereign, is issued for Henry VII of England.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Maximilian of Austria begins the siege of Rotterdam, reclaiming Holland's capital three months after the Burgundian Netherlands city had been captured in the Holland civil war by the Hoek rebels.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, is killed in the village of South Kilvington in Yorkshire while meeting with John à Chambre in an attempt to stop the Yorkshire rebellion of 1489, which had started over King Henry VII's raising of taxes in Northumberland and Yorkshire.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Squire Francis War: The Battle of the Lek is fought between ships on the Lek river in the Burgundian Netherlands, near Utrecht, between the Hoek rebels (led by Jan van Naaldwijk) and the Cods, the ruling nobility of Burgundian Holland. The 1,400 Hoek warriors suffer 250 deaths, with 400 taken prisoner and van Nalldwijk and the remaining warriors retreating.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – King James IV of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Siege of Castles held by Rebels Act 1489, and the renewal of alliances with France and Denmark.


date: August 27

text: August 27 – In Morocco, Portugal's fortress at Graciosa falls to the troops of the Moroccan Sultan Muhammad al-Wattasi after a six week siege.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – After years of conquests within Central Europe, King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and his army are routed at the battle of Uherský Brod and forced to retreat back to Hungary


text: Typhus first appears in Europe, during the Siege of Baza in the Granada War.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – King Ferdinand I of Naples is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and declared deposed from office by a bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII. King Ferdinand, who had been punished for refusing to pay dues to the Pope, disregards the papal order and rules over Naples for the rest of his life.


date: October 2

text: 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.


text: Lucas Watzenrode becomes bishop of Warmia.


date: December 11

text: 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.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Isabella of Aragon, daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples, marries Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, as part of a closer alliance of Naples and Milan in Italy.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Italian painter Cima da Conegliano completes his painting Madonna and Child with Saints Giacomo and Girolamo.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – King James IV grants Andrew, Lord Gray, the lands and Barony of Lundie in Scotland.


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Arthur Tudor, heir apparent to the throne of England as the son of King Henry VII, is named Prince of Wales.


text: Johannes Widmann publishes his mercantile arithmetic Behende und hüpsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft in Leipzig, containing the first printed use of plus and minus signs, to indicate trading surpluses or shortages.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – Georg Hartmann, German instrument maker (d. 1564)


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Charles, Duke of Vendôme, French noble (d. 1537)


text: June 4 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Sibylle of Bavaria, Electress Palatine consort (d. 1519)


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Duke Charles II of Savoy, Italian sovereign (d. 1496)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1556)


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (d. 1553)


date: August

text: August – Antonio da Correggio, Italian painter (d. 1534)


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Wolfenbüttel 1514–1568 (d. 1568)


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Margaret Tudor, Scottish regent, Queen of James IV of Scotland, daughter of Henry VII of England (d. 1541)


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours (d. 1512)


text: William Farel, French evangelist (d. 1565)


text: Thomas Müntzer, German pastor and rebel leader (d. 1525)


text: Gerónimo de Aguilar, Spanish Franciscan friar, participant in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (d. 1531)


date: January 3

text: January 3 – Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (b. 1435)


text: January 3 – Johann von Tiefen becomes the new Grand Master of the Teutonic Order upon the death of Martin von Wetzhausen.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Nicolaus von Tüngen, bishop of Warmia


date: March 27

text: March 27 – Gilbert Kennedy, 1st Lord Kennedy, Scottish noble (b. 1405)


date: April 6

text: 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.


text: April 6 – Jodha of Mandore, Ruler of Marwar (b. 1416)


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1465)


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland (b. c. 1449)


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Stanisław Kazimierczyk, Polish canon regular and saint (b. 1433)


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Henry V of Rosenberg, Bohemian nobleman (b. 1456)


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Gerontius, Metropolitan of Moscow and leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, dies after a reign of almost 16 years. The office will remain vacant for 16 months until the election of Zosimus the Bearded on September 26, 1490.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Bahlul Lodi, sultan of Delhi


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Louis I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (b. 1424)


text: María de Ajofrín, Spanish visionary (b. 1455)


text: Sima Fang (or Jiangong), Chinese official and scholar of the Han Dynasty (d. 219)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – The Scottish Parliament opens in Edinburgh to address matters of lands confiscated in the year before.


date: February 15

text: 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.


date: March

text: 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.


text: 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.


date: July 4

text: 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.


date: July 15

text: 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.


date: August 10

text: 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.


date: October 21

text: 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.


text: Traditional date of the Battle of Glendale (Skye) between the Scottish clans MacDonald and MacLeod.


text: Battle of Chocontá: The northern (zaque) tribes of the pre-Columbian Muisca Confederation (central Colombia) are beaten by the southern (zipa) tribes.


text: Aldus Manutius moves to Venice.


text: Merchants carry coffee from Yemen to Mecca (approximate date).


date: January 4

text: 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.


date: June 15

text: 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.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – John of Kastav finishes a cycle of frescoes in the Holy Trinity Church, Hrastovlje (modern-day southwestern Slovenia).


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The first edition of the chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, by Joanot Martorell, is printed in Valencia.


text: Catholic missionaries arrive in the African Kingdom of Kongo.


text: All Saints' Church, the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, is begun.


text: Regular postal service connects the Habsburg residences of Mechelen and Innsbruck, the first in Germany.


text: Leonardo da Vinci observes capillary action, in small-bore tubes.


text: Pêro da Covilhã arrives in Ethiopia.


text: John Colet receives his M.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford.


text: Leonardo da Vinci develops an oil lamp: the flame is enclosed in a glass tube, placed inside a water-filled glass globe.


text: Johann Reuchlin meets Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.


date: February 5

text: 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.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – The coronation of Vladislaus II as King of Hungary takes place at Székesfehérvár.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – Anne of Brittany is married by proxy to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.


text: Tirant lo Blanch, by Joanot Martorell and Martí Joan de Galba, is published.


text: Perkin Warbeck claims to be the son of King Henry VII of England, at the court of Burgundy.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educator of the Reformation (d. 1556)


date: February 17

text: February 17 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, French military leader (d. 1527)


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Italian noble (d. 1538)


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Giovanni Salviati, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1553)


date: April

text: April – Vittoria Colonna, Italian poet (d. 1547)


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Albert, Duke of Prussia, last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1568)


date: June 28

text: June 28 – Albert of Mainz, German elector and archbishop (d. 1545)


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Amalie of the Palatinate, Duchess consort of Pomerania (d. 1524)


date: August 5

text: August 5 – Andrey of Staritsa, son of Ivan III "the Great" of Russia (d. 1537)


date: October

text: October – Olaus Magnus, Swedish ecclesiastic and writer (d. 1557)


date: November 10

text: November 10 – John III, Duke of Cleves (d. 1539)


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Francesco Marinoni, Italian Roman Catholic priest (d. 1562)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Friedrich Myconius, German Lutheran theologian (d. 1546)


date: December 30

text: December 30 – Ebussuud Efendi, Ottoman Grand Mufti (d. 1574)


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1435)


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (b. 1458)


date: March 13

text: 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.


date: April 6

text: 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 Succession


text: April 6 – King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (b. 1443)


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Joanna, Portuguese Roman Catholic blessed and regent (b. 1452)


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent (b. 1416)


date: July 22

text: 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.


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Frans van Brederode, Dutch rebel leader (b. 1465)


text: Aonghas Óg, last independent Lord of the Isles


text: Martí Joan de Galba, Catalan novelist


date: January 2

text: January 2 – After his failed attempt to marry Anne, Duchess of Brittany, Breton General Alain I of Albret signs the Treaty of Moulins and pledges support to King Charles VIII of France in return for the rights to the Breton city of Nantes. The French–Breton War resumes.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – King Henry VII of England summons the members of the English House of Lords and House of Commons to assemble on October 17 at Westminster.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – King Charles VIII of France and the Duchess Anne of Brittany conclude a treaty at Rennes, leading to the breaking of Anne's engagement to Archduke Maximilian of Austria, and an agreement for the marriage of Anne to Charles. François Guizot (translated by Robert Black), The History of France from the Earliest Times to the Year 1789,


date: October 17

text: October 17 – The English Parliament assembles at Westminster, and Richard Empson is elected as Speaker of the House of Commons.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary sign the Peace of Pressburg, formally ending the Austrian–Hungarian War.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – To end the siege of Rennes, the remaining portion of the Duchy of Brittany still under control of the Breton royal family, the Duchess Anne signs the Treaty of Rennes and agrees to marry King Charles VIII.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Completing the Reconquista (the "reconquest"), The Granada War is effectively brought to an end (and the Siege of Granada extended for two months) with the signing of the Treaty of Granada between the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Moorish Emir of Granada.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – The Truce of Coldstream secures a five-year peace between Scotland and England.


text: In the Russian territory of Komi (the modern-day Komi Republic), annexed by Russia in 1478, copper and silver ores are discovered, and the territory gains importance as a mining and metallurgical center.


text: In the Ayutthaya Kingdom the reign of Ramathibodi II begins.


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Having defected to France, Alain I of Albret captures the Château des ducs de Bretagne, the royal palace of Brittany's capital, Nantes, after the Breton regent, the Marshal Jean IV de Rieux, leads the evacuation of Breton officials.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – The city of Granada, capital of the Muslim Emirate of Granada in Spain, is besieged by the armies of Castile and Aragon, ruled by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella.


date: May

text: May – The Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491) between the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptian Mamluks ends.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Prince Alfonso, the only legitimate son of King João II of Portugal, and heir apparent to the throne, is killed in an accident when the horse he is riding falls and crushes him.


date: September

text: September – At the battle of Vrpile Gulch in southern Croatia, the armies of the Ottoman Empire are defeated by those of the Kingdom of Croatia.


date: November

text: November – The pretender Perkin Warbeck begins a campaign to take the English throne, with a landing in Ireland.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – The Black Army of Hungary and its Bohemian Czech allies, commanded by Stephen Zápolya, defeats Duke Jan II Olbracht at the Battle of Presov in what is now Slovakia.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – The ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, Nkuwu Nzinga, is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – King João I of Kongo, who had recently converted to Christianity, completes the construction of the first Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa, the Cathedral of the Holy Saviour of Congo (Kulumbimbi), in what is now the city of M'banza-Kongo in Angola.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – A solar eclipse observed in Metz.


text: Nicolaus Copernicus enters the University of Kraków


text: The population of China reaches 56.238 million.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Louis of Orléans is released by Charles VIII of France after three years of imprisonment.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – An auto-da-fé held in Brasero de la Dehesa (outside Ávila) concludes the case of the Holy Child of La Guardia, with the execution of several Jewish and converso suspects.


text: A major fire breaks out in Dresden.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – A tsunami occurs off of the coast of New Zealand, later believed to be caused by a meteor impact that created what is referred to as the "Mahuika crater" on the New Zealand continental shelf.


text: The Bread and Cheese Revolt breaks out in West Frisia, North Holland, caused by a famine among the peasants due to bad weather conditions.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – At Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland) Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania, marries Anna Jagiellon, daughter of King Casimir IV.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Jan I Olbracht, son of King Casimir IV or Poland and, like his older brother Vladislaus, a claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Hungary, renounces all of his claims in return for the Duchy of Głogów.


date: April 4

text: April 4 King Charles VIII makes a triumphant entry to the city of Nantes, facing no resistance and marking the conquest of the Duchy of Brittany by France.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – The first Feria de Agosto takes place in the Spanish city of Málaga in celebration of the 1487 conquest of the Granadan city by the Kingdom of Castile. The festival is still celebrated in Spain more than 500 years later.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – King Charles VIII of France convenes the Estates of Brittany in Vannes, to counsel Anne of Brittany of France's conditions for keeping her as Duchess, including the occupation of the Duchy of Brittany by the French army, the appointment of the Viscount Jean de Rohan to be appointed as governor-general of Brittany on behalf of the King of France, the renunciation of Anne's proxy marriage to the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, and the future marriage of Anne to the French King.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Anne of Brittany annuls her marriage contract with the Archduke Maximilian of Austria and is formally engaged to be married to King Charles VIII of France.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – King Charles VIII of France marries the Duchess Anne of Brittany, forcing her to break her marriage contract with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and incorporating the Duchy of Brittany into the kingdom of France.


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Francesco Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1512)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Marie d'Albret, Countess of Rethel, French nobility (d. 1549)


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon suo jure, French nobility (d. 1521)


date: August 3

text: August 3 – Maria of Jülich-Berg, spouse of John III, Duke of Cleves (d. 1543)


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Queen Janggyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1515)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Innocenzo Cybo, Catholic cardinal (d. 1550)


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, French noble (d. 1545)


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Zhengde Emperor of China (d. 1521)


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet (d. 1544)


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Martin Bucer, German Protestant reformer (d. 1551)


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (d. 1586)


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)


text: c. October 23 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order (d. 1556)


text: Lapulapu, Filipino king (d. 1542)


date: January 19

text: January 19 – Dorothea of Brandenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg (b. 1420)


date: February 9

text: February 9 (according to the Libro dei Morti) – Antonia di Paolo di Dono, Italian artist and daughter of Paolo di Dono


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Ashikaga Yoshimi, brother of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (b. 1439)


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Enno I, Count of East Frisia (1466–1491) (b. 1460)


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Bonaventura Tornielli, Italian Roman Catholic priest (b. 1411)


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Filippo Strozzi the Elder, Italian banker (b. 1428)


date: July 8

text: July 8 – In what is now Tibet in the People's Republic of China, Tsokye Dorje becomes the new ruler of the Buddhist Kingdom of Ü-Tsang upon the death of King Ngagi Wangpo.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Afonso, Hereditary Prince of Portugal (b. 1475)


date: July 16

text: July 16 – William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English earl (b. 1451)


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Jean Balue, French cardinal and statesman (b. c. 1421)


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Fritz Herlen, German artist (b. 1449)


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Holy Child of La Guardia, Spanish folk saint (b. n/a)


date: December 28

text: December 28 – Bertoldo di Giovanni, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1435)


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada.

source_section: Events › January—March


date: April 17

text: April 17 – The Capitulations of Santa Fe are signed between Christopher Columbus and the Crown of Castile, agreeing on arrangements for his forthcoming voyage.

source_section: Events › April—June


date: May 3

text: May 3 – In the Canary Islands, the Spanish conquistador Alonso Fernandez de Lugo finishes the conquest of the island of La Palma by capturing Tanausu, King of the native Guanches.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Christopher Columbus lands in what is now the Holguín Province of the island of Cuba.

source_section: Events › October—December


date: November 3

text: November 3 – The Peace of Étaples is signed between England and France, ending French support for Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne. All English-held territory in France (with the exception of Calais) is returned to France.


date: January 2

text: January 2 – Fall of Granada: Muhammad XI, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile) after a lengthy siege, ending the ten-year Granada War and the centuries-long Reconquista, and bringing an end to 780 years of Muslim control in Al-Andalus.