date: August 20

text: August 20 – As the War of the Castilian Succession continues, an attempt by Alfonso, Prince of Asturias to defeat his half-brother, King Enrique IV of Castile, in the Second Battle of Olmedo.


date: September 11

section: Conflict & Security

text: September 11 – Sejo, Emperor of Korea (in the Joseon dynasty) receives the imperial edict from China's Xianzong of Ming, directing the Koreans to join Chinese forces in subjugating the Jurchen state in Manchuria. Sejo orders the mobilization of 10,000 Korean troops but instructs the Joseon commander to keep the Korean troops independent from the Chinese force, to wait until the Chinese attack before assisting with Korean troops, and to avoid confrontation with the Jurchen cavalry unless it appears that the Chinese army is winning.

source_section: Events › July–September


date: October 29

text: October 29 – At the Battle of Brustem, Charles the Bold defeats the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: November 11

text: November 11 – At the Battle of Chapakchur, in what is now the Bingöl Province of Turkey, the tribal confederation of Aq Qoyunlu, with 12,000 cavalry and infantry led by Uzun Hasan, makes a surprise attack against 6,000 troops of the Qara Qoyunlu nation, commanded by the Sultan Jahan Shah. The Sultan is decapitated in the battle while trying to flee.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – At the Battle of Baia, troops under Stephen III of Moldavia decisively defeat the forces of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, at Baia (present-day Romania). This is the last Hungarian attempt to subdue the Principality of Moldavia.


text: Third Siege of Krujë: A few months after the failure of the second siege, Mehmed II leads another unsuccessful Ottoman invasion of Albania.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 7

section: Religion & Belief

text: January 7 – At Rome, Pope Paul II holds a secret papal consistory, with the Albanian general Skanderbeg, to ask the cardinals assembled to provide Skanderbeg with 5,000 ducats (equivalent to 17.5 kg lb of gold based on the worth of a ducat of 3.5g of gold). While the cardinals respond that 5,000 ducats is insufficient, the Pope explains that the additional money will have to wait until the war in Italy is concluded.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: January 15

text: January 15 – In one of his first acts as the new Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Dionysius I removes George Galesiotes and Manuel Christonymos from office in the Church as an act of revenge against their failure to support his candidacy.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – On Easter Sunday, in the Bohemian city of Kunvald (now part of the Czech Republic), the Unity of the Brethren (commonly called the Moravian Church) is formed as one of the first Protestant churches by four Hussite bishops. Despite persecution, it progresses to as many as 100,000 adherents within 100 years.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Sayf al-Din Bilbay, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, is overthrown less than two months after becoming the monarch, as the Dhahiri branch of the Mamluks captures him. The Dhahiris proclaim Al-Malik al-Zahir Timurbugha al-Rumi (referred to as "Timurbugha") as the new Sultan.


text: Some papal abbreviators are arrested and tortured on the orders of Pope Paul II, among them Filippo Buonaccorsi.


date: October 17

section: Economy & Finance

text: October 17 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous laws passed by the Scottish Parliament in its six day session at Edinburgh, including the Ferries Act requiring the ramps of ferry boats be improved to support the weight of horses being shipped ("That briggis of buirdis be maide at ferryis for the eis of schipping of hors") and three acts relating to coins and currency.


section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: October 17 – Choe Hang is appointed as the news prime minister (yonguijong) of Korea by the Emperor Sejo, succeeding Sim Hoe.


section: Science & Discovery

text: The first European polyalphabetic cipher is invented by Leon Battista Alberti (approximate date).


date: June 15

section: Culture & Society

text: June 15 – Philip the Good is succeeded as Duke of Burgundy, by Charles the Bold.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Regent of Sweden Erik Axelsson Tott supports the re-election of deposed Charles VIII of Sweden to the throne.


text: King Matthias Corvinus founds the first university in Slovakia, the Universitas Istropolitana in Bratislava.


text: Juan de Torquemada's book, Meditationes, seu Contemplationes devotissimae, is published.


date: January 1

section: Births

text: January 1 – Philip of Cleves, Bishop of Nevers, Amiens, Autun (d. 1505)

source_section: Births


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Henry the Younger of Stolberg, Stadtholder of Friesland (1506–1508) (d. 1508)


text: January 4 – Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1511–1538) (d. 1538)


date: January 26

text: January 26 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (d. 1540)


date: January

text: January – John Colet, English churchman and educational pioneer (d. 1519)


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican tertiary Religious Sister (d. 1501)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Caritas Pirckheimer, German nun (d. 1532)


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Adalbert of Saxony, Administrator of Mainz (1482–1484) (d. 1484)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – Sibylle of Brandenburg, Duchess of Jülich and Berg (d. 1524)


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Mary of York, daughter of King Edward IV of England (d. 1482)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Alburquerque, Spanish duke (d. 1526)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Charles II, Duke of Guelders, Count of Zutphen from 1492 (d. 1538)


text: November 9 – Philippa of Guelders, twin sister of Charles, Duke of Guelders, Duchess consort of Lorraine (d. 1547)


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, Knight of Henry VIII of England (d. 1525)


date: March 13

section: Deaths

text: March 13 – Vettore Cappello, Venetian statesman

source_section: Deaths


date: March 29

text: March 29 – Matthew Palaiologos Asen, Byzantine aristocrat and official


date: April 20

text: April 20 – Dorotea Gonzaga, Italian noble (b. 1449)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – John, Count of Angoulême (b. 1399)


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1396)


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1434)


date: October 9

text: October 9 – (10 Jumada I 872 AH) Sayf al-Din Bilbay becomes the new Sultan of Egypt and Syria upon the death of the Sultan Sayf al-Din Khushqadam, who had reigned since 1461.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Jošt of Rožmberk, Bishop of Breslau, Grand Prior of the Order of St. John (b. 1430)


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna, archbishop and Regent of Sweden (b. 1417)


text: Maria of Tver, Grand Princess consort of Muscovy, spouse of Ivan III of Russia (b. 1447)


date: February 16

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: February 16 – A "marriage treaty" is signed between representatives of the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Burgundy, providing for the marriage of King Edward IV's sister, Margaret of York, to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – King Louis XI summons a meeting of France's parliament, the Estates-General, and obtains approval of all concessions he had previously made to the Kingdom of England, including those with reference to Normandy.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – King Edward IV of England gives royal assent to numerous laws passed by the English Parliament, including the Cloths Act, the Liveries Act and the Sheriffs Act.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – In the Kingdom of Castile in Spain, near El Tiemblo, the "Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando" (Tratado de los Toros de Guisando) is signed between King Enrique IV the Impotent and his half-sister, Princess Isabella. The treaty, executed at the ancient sculpture of bulls near Ávila, designates Isabella as heiress to the throne of Castile and León. She will become the Queen upon Enrique's death six years later.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Treaty of Péronne is signed by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and Louis XI of France.


date: March 31

text: March 31 – King Matyas of Hungary issues a declaration of war against King Jiri of Bohemia, starting a war that will last 10 years.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – After invading Syria, Shah Suwar, the Ottoman Governor of Dulkadir, triumphs in battle over various Mamluk Syrian governors and emirs and captures Kulaksiz. The Governor of Damascus, Uzbek Bey, is seriously wounded but manages to escape.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – The Lancastrians surrender Harlech Castle to King Edward IV after a seven-year siege.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – Troops of Charles the Bold conduct the Sack of Liège.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – In the course of the "Boeckler War" in the Duchy of Bavaria-Munich, the troops of Duke Albert IV begin the siege of Weissenstein Castle in reprisal for the rebellion of Lord Eberwein von Degenburg. The troops, commanded by Georg of Lerchenfeld capture the castle before Christmas and burn it to the ground.


text: Sonni Ali, king of the Songhai Empire, takes power over Timbuktu.


date: January 31

text: January 31 – Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay (generally referred to as "Qaitbay") is installed by Mamluk Egyptian nobles as the new Sultan of Egypt and Syria, the day after the Sultan Timurbugha had been removed after less than two months on the throne.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – The Earl of Desmond, Thomas FitzGerald, until recently the Kingdom of England's Lord Deputy of Ireland, is beheaded on orders of his successor, John Tiptoft, shortly after being arrested on accusations of treason against the Crown, then quickly tried and convicted in a show trial.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – At Stirling in Scotland, the Lord Boyd, the regent for King James III, enters an agreement for joint rule with the members of his council (the bishops of Glasgow and of Aberdeen, the earls of Argyll and of Arran, the provost of Lincluden, and Archibald Whitelaw) to co-operate in the governing of Scotland.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Baeda Maryam succeeds his father Zara Yaqob, as Emperor of Ethiopia.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – The Great Council of the Republic of Venice curbs the power of the Council of Ten through legislation restricting them to acting on emergency matters.


date: November 20

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: November 20 – The Hanseatic warship Hanneke Vrome capsizes and sinks off of the coast of Finland, killing its estimated 180 passengers and crew, along with a valuable cargo including 10,000 Rheingulden coins, equivalent to at least 34000 kg lb of gold. The ship had been sailing between the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck (in Germany) and Reval (now Tallinn, capital of Estonia) when it ran into a gale.


text: Fire breaks out at Metz Cathedral in France.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – King Edward IV ratifies the treaty permitting his sister to marry the Duke of Burgundy


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Catherine Cornaro is married by proxy to James II of Cyprus, beginning the Venetian conquest of Cyprus.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – The Orkney Islands are pledged to Scotland by King Christian I of Kingdom of Norway in consideration of an agreement for the marriage of 16-year-old King James III of Scotland to Princess Margrete, King Christian's daughter, with the islands pledged as security against the payment of the dowry. As the money is never paid, the connection with the crown of Scotland becomes perpetual.


date: February 29

text: February 29 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Charles I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1490)


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland (d. 1503)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – Philip, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince (d. 1500)


date: June 30

text: June 30 – John, Elector of Saxony (1525–1532) (d. 1532)


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1524)


date: August 3

text: August 3 – Albert I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko (d. 1511)


text: August 26 – Bernardo de' Rossi, Italian bishop (d. 1527)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – William Conyers, 1st Baron Conyers, English baron (d. 1524)


text: Marino Ascanio Caracciolo, Italian cardinal (d. 1538)


text: probable – Alonso de Ojeda, Spanish conquistador and explorer (d. 1515)


text: Juan de Zumárraga, Spanish Franciscan prelate and first bishop of Mexico (d. 1548)


text: Mir Chakar Khan Rind, Baloch chieftain (d. 1565)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of printing press with replaceable letters (b. c.1398)


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Astorre II Manfredi, Italian noble (b. 1412)


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Idris Imad al-Din, supreme leader of Tayyibi Isma'ilism, scholar and historian (b. 1392)


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Margaret Beauchamp, countess of Shrewsbury


text: June 30 – Lady Eleanor Talbot, English noblewoman


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (b. 1453)


text: July 24 – (5th waxing of Wagaung, 830 ME) At Pyay (now in Myanmar) Thihathura of Ava becomes the new Burmese King of Ava upon the death of his father, Narapati I of Ava.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – At Hanseong, Prince Yi Hwang of the Joseon dynasty becomes the new King of Korea, taking the regnal name Yejong, upon the death of his father, King Sejo.


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Sejo of Joseon, King of Joseon (b. 1417)


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Juan de Torquemada, Spanish Catholic cardinal (b. 1388)


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, lord of Rimini (b. 1417)


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan (b. 1425)


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Jean de Dunois, French soldier (b. 1402)


date: December 6

text: December 6 – Zanobi Strozzi, Italian painter (b. 1412)


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Han Myŏnghoe is appointed by King Yejong of Korea as the new Chief State Councillor, replacing Pak Wŏnhyŏng.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – King Henry IV of Castile makes a gift of Gibraltar to Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Duke of Medina Sidonia, as a reward for Guzman's work in capturing Gibraltar from the Moors.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III issues a decree nullifying the 1466 Treaty of Soldin between Brandenburg and Pomerania.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – Hong Yunsŏng becomes the new head of government of the Kingdom of Korea as the new Chief State Councillor for King Yejong, replacing Han Myŏnghoe.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – King James III gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Parliament of Scotland.


text: February 4 – (22 Rajab 873 AH) At the Battle of Qarabagh, in what is now Azerbaijan, troops led by Uzun Hasan, ruler of Aq Qoyunlu, decisively defeat the Timurids of Samrkand, ruled by Abu Sa'id Mirza. Mirza is taken a prisoner of war and is executed four days later on February 8.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – With Abu Sa'id Mirza having been killed at the battle of Qarabagh, the Timurid prince, Sultan Husayn Bayqara captures Herat (now in Afghanistan), the capital of the Timurid Empire, and proclaims himself the Emperor.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – The royalist Yorkists are defeated by rebels at the Battle of Edgcote in Northamptonshire, and King Edward IV is taken prisoner. Rebel leader Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, temporarily holds power to rule England but in September, Edward IV is freed and returns to the throne.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – King Edward IV returns to London after having been imprisoned since July since being captured at the Battle of Edgcote.


text: Anglo-Hanseatic War breaks out.


text: Sigismund of Austria sells Upper Alsace to Charles the Bold, in exchange for aid in a war against the Swiss.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Pope Paul II issues a papal bull establishing the military order of the Knights of Saint George at the request of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and invests Johann Siebenhirter as the order's first Grand Master.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – The Order of Saint Michael ( Ordre de Saint-Michel) is founded by King Louis XI of France as a response to the 's Order of the Golden Fleece.


text: Marsilio Ficino completes his translation of the collected works of Plato, writes Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love, and starts to work on Platonic Theology.


date: April 23

section: Crime & Justice

text: April 23 – Cardinal Jean Balue, a close adviser of King Louis XI, is arrested for conspiring with Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and is charged with treason. Since there is a dispute over whether a Roman Catholic cleric can be tried by the royal court rather than an eccleastical court, Balue is spared the death penalty but spends the next 11 years in prison.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – At Olomouc, Hungarian King Matyáš Korvín is elected by the Czech Catholic estates to be the King of Bohemia and his rule is accepted by the occupied regions of Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia, though the other Bohemian estates remain loyal to the Bohemian King Jiří z Poděbrad.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile in Valladolid, bringing about a dynastic union.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – King Louis XI, having taken back the Duchy of Normandy from the control of his inept younger brother, Charles of Valois, Duke of Berry, pledges at Rouen that the Duchy will never be ceded again. In a ceremony before the Exchequer of Normandy, the Duchy's administrative court, King Louis places the ducal ring (symbolic of the office as a ring worn by the Duke) upon an anvil and the ring is smashed.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Elia Levita, Renaissance Hebrew grammarian (d. 1549)


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (d. 1534)


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Cecily of York, English princess (d. 1507)


date: April 29

text: April 29 – William II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1509)


text: May 3 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and political author (d. 1527)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – King Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1494)


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Margaret of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1528)


date: August 26

text: August 26 – King Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Guru Nanak, Sikh guru (d. 1539)


text: probable – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (d. 1524)


text: Laura Cereta, Italian humanist and feminist (d. 1499)


text: Silvio Passerini, Italian politician (d. 1529)


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Lope de Barrientos, powerful Castilian bishop and statesman (b. 1382)


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers (executed) (b. 1405)


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Margaret of Brittany, Breton duchess consort (b. 1443)


date: October 8

text: October 8/10 – Filippo Lippi, Italian artist (b. 1406)


date: December 2

text: December 2 – Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1416)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Lorenzo de' Medici becomes the Lord of Florence, the de facto executive of the Florentine Republic in Italy, upon the death of his father, Piero di Cosimo de' Medici.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – King Yejong of Joseon (b. 1450)


text: Niccolò Da Conti, Italian merchant and explorer (b. 1395)


text: Abu Sa'id Mirza, ruler of Persia and Afghanistan (b. 1424)


text: Moctezuma I, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, son of Huitzilihuitl (b. 1390)


text: Andrew Gray, 1st Lord Gray (b. c. 1390)


text: Moctezuma I, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies and is succeeded by Axayacatl.


text: Marcus Aurelius receives imperial powers, from Emperor Antoninus Pius.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Empire


text: King Vologases IV, son of Mithridates V of Parthia, unites the Parthian Empire under his rule.

source_section: Events › By place › Parthian Empire


text: First year of Jianhe of the Chinese Han Dynasty.

source_section: Events › By place › Asia


text: Festivals to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the founding of Rome begin.


text: Lokaksema, Kushan Buddhist monk and traveler (d. 189)


text: Jia Xu (or Wenhe), Chinese official and adviser (d. 223)


text: Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, daughter of Marcus Aurelius (approximate date)


text: Xu Shen, Chinese politician and writer (b. AD 58)


text: Li Gu, Chinese scholar and official (b. AD 93)


text: King Vologases III dies after a 42-year reign, in which he has contended successfully with his rivals.


text: Vologases III, king of the Parthian Empire


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Yun Chaun becomes the new Chief State Councillor (Yonguijong, equivalent to a prime minister as head of government) of Korea, when he is appointed by King Seongjong to replace Hong Yunsŏng.


text: The Pahang Sultanate is established at Pahang Darul Makmur (in modern-day Malaysia).


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Wars of the Roses in England – At the Battle of Losecoat Field, the House of York (supporters of King Edward IV) defeats the House of Lancaster (supporters of the former King Henry VI, led by Sir Robert Welles). Welles is captured and confesses that he had been hired by the Earl of Warwick and by King Edward's brother, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence to overthrow the King. Warwick and Clarence flee England and Welles is beheaded.


text: March 20 – The Battle of Nibley Green is the last fought between the private armies of feudal magnates in England.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – During the Ottoman–Venetian War, the Ottomans capture the Greek island of Euboea, territory of the Republic of Venice, after a four week siege of the fortified city of Negroponte by the Sultan Mehmed II.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Battle of Lipnic: Stephen the Great defeats the Volga Tatars of the Golden Horde, led by Ahmed Khan.


date: September 13

text: September 13 – A rebellion orchestrated by King Edward IV of England's former ally, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, forces the King to flee England to seek support from his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold of Burgundy.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – Lê Thánh Tông leads the Đại Việt army into Champa, conquering the country in less than three months.


text: The Chimor–Inca War ends with an Inca victory. The Chimor Empire is absorbed into the Inca Empire.


date: November 28

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: November 28 – Emperor Lê Thánh Tông of Đại Việt launches a naval expedition against Champa, beginning the Cham–Annamese War.


text: The first contact occurs between Europeans and the Fante nation of the Gold Coast, when a party of Portuguese land and meet with the King of Elmina.


text: In Tonga, in or around 1470, the Tuʻi Tonga Dynasty cedes its temporal powers to the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua Dynasty, which will remain prominent until about 1600.


text: Johann Heynlin introduces the printing press into France and prints his first book this same year.


text: Between this year and 1700, 8,888 witches are tried in the Swiss Confederation; 5,417 of them are executed.


date: January 21

text: January 21 – Jacquetta of Luxembourg, mother of England's Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville and mother-in-law of King Edward IV, is cleared of allegations of witchcraft that had been made against her in 1469 by a follower of the rebel Earl of Warwick.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Sten Sture is recognised as the new King of Sweden by the estates.


date: October 3

text: October 3 – The Earl of Warwick releases King Henry VI of England from imprisonment in the Tower of London, and restores him to the throne.


text: Sir George Ripley dedicates his book, The Compound of Alchemy, to the King Edward IV of England.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, German noble (d. 1543)


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Calenberg (1491–1540) (d. 1540)


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (d. 1498)


date: May 20

text: May 20 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal (d. 1547)


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Francesco Armellini Pantalassi de' Medici, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1528)


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Hongzhi Emperor of China (d. 1505)


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Bernardo Dovizi, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1520)


text: August 4 – Lucrezia de' Medici, Italian noblewoman (d. 1553)


date: October 2

text: October 2 – George I of Münsterberg, Imperial Prince, Duke of Münsterberg and Oels, Graf von Glatz (d. 1502)


text: October 2 – Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan, daughter of Alfonso II of Naples (d. 1524)


text: October 2 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1498)


date: November 2

text: November 2 – King Edward V of England, the elder of the "Princes in the Tower" (d. c. 1483)


text: November 28 – Wen Zhengming, artist in Ming dynasty China (d. 1559)


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Willibald Pirckheimer, German humanist (d. 1530)


date: January 2

text: January 2 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Grand Prince Jalsan of Joseon becomes the new King of Korea upon the death of his uncle, King Yejong. Jalisan takes the regnal name of King Seongjong.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle, English nobleman killed at the Battle of Nibley Green (b. c.1449)


date: April 5

text: April 5 – At Srinagar in the Kashmir Sultanate, the Sultan Zayn al-Abidin the Great dies after a reign of almost 52 years, and his succeeded by his son, Prince Haji Khan, who takes the name Haider Shah Miri on his proclamation as Sultan on May 12.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)


text: May 15 – Charles VIII of Sweden, who has served three terms as King of Sweden, dies. Sten Sture the Elder proclaims himself Regent of Sweden the following day.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont (b. c.1428)


date: October 18

text: October 18 – John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1427)


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Gaston, Prince of Viana (b. 1444)


date: December 16

text: December 16 – John II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1425)


text: Domenico da Piacenza, Italian dancing master (b. 1390)


text: Pal Engjëlli, Albanian Catholic clergyman (b. 1416)


text: probable – Jacopo Bellini, Italian painter (b. 1400)


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Albrecht III Achilles becomes the new Elector of Brandenburg upon the abdication of his older brother, Friedrich II, who had guided the electorate since 1440.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – With the help of a group of mercenaries lent to him by Charles the Bold of Burgundy, the Yorkist King Edward IV returns to England to reclaim his throne, landing near Hull, after having departed from Holland on March 11.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – Edward of York, the 7-month-old son of King Edward IV of England, is created Prince of Wales, two months after his father has regained the throne.


text: Orkney and Shetland were absorbed into Scotland.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – In what is now south Vietnam, the Champa–Dai Viet War begins when the Dai Viet Emperor Lê Thánh Tông sends 500 warships to block the Champa Kingdom's Bay of Sa Ky, while another 30,000 troops block all entrances to the capital city of Vijaya at what is now the Quảng Ngãi Province. The Me Can citadel in Quang Na falls two days later and the Vietnamese advance.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – The Empire of Dai Viet in north Vietnam triumphs over the Champa Kingdom of south Vietnam after Dai Viet Emperor Le Thanh Tong ignores the offer of Champa King Tra Toan to surrender Vijaya. After the city walls are breached, King Tra Toan, his family and 30,000 other Chams are captured as prisoners, while over 60,000 other Chams are killed. Another 40,000 residents who did not die in the fighting are executed.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – At the Battle of Barnet, Edward defeats the Lancastrian army under Warwick, who is killed.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – At the Battle of Tewkesbury, King Edward defeats a Lancastrian army led by Queen Margaret and her son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Edward is killed in the battle.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – The siege of London is attempted by hundreds of supporters of England's House of Lancaster, who are attempting to free the former King Henry VI from imprisonment in the Tower of London. Led by Thomas Neville, the Lancastrians set cannons up on the south bank of the Thames and attempt to bombard London, but are unable to break the defense put up by Londoners led by Edward Woodville, Lord Scales, and the attack fails after three days.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – At the Battle of Shelon, the forces of Muscovy defeat the Republic of Novgorod.


date: August 22

text: August 22 – King Afonso V of Portugal conquers the Moroccan town of Arzila.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – The Portuguese occupy Tangier, after its population flees the city.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – After being tracked down by King Edward IV and taken prisoner at Southampton, the rebel Thomas Neville is beheaded at Middleham Castle in his native Yorkshire.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Eleven days after Hungary's King Matthias is supported to be King of Bohemia, Prince Casimir of Poland, a younger son of King Casimir IV (who is later canonised as a Roman Catholic saint) leads an army on an invasion of Bohemia and begins a war against Hungary.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm, Sweden: The forces of Regent of Sweden Sten Sture the Elder, with the help of farmers and miners, repel an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Shah Suwar, the ruler of the independent Ottoman Governor of the semi-independent Anatolian Turk Beylik of Dulkadir is defeated by the army of the Egyptian Mamluk General Yashbak min Mahdi in a battle at Kars, sustaining more than 300 soldiers lost and losing most of his lands in what is now southeastern Turkey. After fleeing to the castle of Zamantu for refuge, Suwar is cornered again by Yashbak and surrenders on June 4, 1472, and executed two months later.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Portuguese navigators João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar discover the uninhabited island of Príncipe (now part of the nation of São Tomé and Príncipe). They initially call it "Ilha de Santo Antão" because they land it on the feast day of Saint Anthony.


date: January

text: January – Portuguese navigators João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar reach the gold-trading centre of Elmina on the Gold Coast of west Africa, and explore Cape St. Catherine, two degrees south of the equator, so that they begin to be guided by the Southern Cross constellation. They also visit Sassandra on the Ivory Coast.


text: Moorish exiles from Spain, led by Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami, found the city of Chefchaouen in the north of Morocco.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Cardinal Francesco della Rovere, who received no votes in the initial round of balloting in the papal conclave, receives 13 votes and is elected as the new Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He takes the regnal name of Pope Sixtus IV to become the 212th pope.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – The Great Comet of 1472 is first observed from Earth passing in front of the constellation of Virgo. The comet is recorded by astronomers in Korea and by the German astronomers Regiomontanus and Bernhard Walther, and will come within 6.5 million miles of Earth, the closest in recorded history that a great comet approaches. The comet is visible for 59 days, disappearing after March 1.


section: Health & Medicine

text: World population reaches 500 million.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – King Edward IV celebrates his victories with a triumphal parade on his return to London. The captured Queen Margaret is paraded through the streets. On the same day Henry VI of England is murdered in the Tower of London, eliminating all Lancastrian opposition to the House of York.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy agrees to help Edward IV regain the English throne from King Henry VI.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – At age 15, Prince João of Aviz, the eldest son of King Afonso V, marries his 12-year-old first cousin, Leonor de Avis. Both are grandchildren of King Duarte I of Portugal.


text: August 22 – Vladislav Jagellion is crowned as King of Bohemia at Prague.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – After making his way to Prague, convening a session of the Bohemian Diet and making promises to members of the nobility, Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus receives vows of loyalty from more than 50 Bohemian nobles, who agree to support Matthias's claim to be King of Bohemia rather than to accept the rule of Prince Casimir of Poland.


text: Marsilio Ficino's translation of the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin, De potestate et sapientia Dei, is published.


date: April 6

text: April 6 – Margaret of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noblewoman (d. 1503)


text: May 21 – Albrecht Dürer, German artist, writer and mathematician (d. 1528)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (d. 1494)


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Anthony Kitchin, British bishop (d. 1563)


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Jan Feliks "Szram" Tarnowski, Polish nobleman (d. 1507)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – George, Duke of Saxony (d. 1539)


date: September 8

text: September 8 – William III, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1500)


date: October 7

text: October 7 – King Frederick I of Denmark and Norway (d. 1533)


text: John Forrest, English martyr and friar (d. 1538)


text: Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (d. 1513)


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1418)


date: February 21

text: February 21 – John of Rokycan, Archbishop of Prague (b. c. 1396)


date: March 14

text: March 14 – Thomas Malory, English author (b. c. 1405)


date: March 22

text: March 22 – George of Poděbrady, first elected King of Bohemia (b. 1420)


date: April 14

text: April 14 – John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (b. 1431)


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (executed) (b. 1438)


text: May 6 – Thomas Tresham, Speaker of the House of Commons


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Two months after the death of King George of Poděbrady, the Diet of Bohemian nobles meets at Kutná Hora and elects Vladislaus Jagiello as the new King of Bohemia. The papal legate, Lorenzo Roverella, Bishop of Ferrara, declares the election void with the approval of Pope Paul II, and endorses Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, to be the new King of Bohemia, which the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire refuses to approve.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Thomas à Kempis, German monk and writer (b. 1380)


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Eleven days after the death of Pope Paul II, the papal conclave begins in Rome with 18 of the 25 cardinals present. On the initial vote, with 12 needed to win, Basilios Bessarion of Greece gets six, and Guillaume d'Estouteville of France and Niccolò Fortiguerra of Italy receive three each.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Borso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1413)


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Nicolò Tron is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Venice, 15 days after the death of the Doge Cristoforo Moro, who had governed the Republic since 1461.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Infanta Isabel, Duchess of Burgundy (b. 1397)


text: Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui of the Inca Empire dies, and is succeeded by his son Topa Inca Yupanqui.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Orkney and Shetland are returned by Norway to Scotland, as a result of a defaulted dowry payment.


text: May 27 – An alliance agreement is signed between Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, with Charles pledging his daughter, Mary of Burgundy, to marry Nicholas. The agreement comes at the same time that King Ferdinand I of Naples had been negotiating the engagement of Mary of Burgundy to Frederick, prince of Naples.


date: May 31

text: May 31 – The Treaty of Prenzlau is signed between Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg, and the two Dukes of Pomerania, Eric II and Wartislaw X, surrendering the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin to Albert's control and ending the eight-year-long War of the Succession of Stettin.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – King Edward IV summons the members of the English Parliament to assemble at Westminster on October 6.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – The Treaty of Chateaugiron is concluded between King Edward IV of England and the Duchy of Brittany, providing for an English invasion of either Gascony or Normandy by April 1, 1473.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Duke Nicholas of Lorraine and Duke Charles of Burgundy agree that the engagement between Nicholas and Charles's daughter can be called off without jeopardizing the alliance between the two duchies.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Shah Suwar, formerly the ruler much of southeastern Turkey as prince of the Beylik of Dulkadir, surrenders to the Egyptian Mamluk General Yashbak min Mahdi after an 11-day siege. He is brought out of the Castle of Zamantu, restrained by a robe with a metal collar with chains and his guards are unable to rescue him. Suwar's older brother, Shah Budak, is returned to the throne of Dulkadir


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Volterra, a town in the Republic of Florence in Italy, surrenders after a siege of 25 days by Florentine soldiers under the command of Federico da Montefeltro. Because the town had rebelled against the power of Lorenzo de' Medici, da Montefeltro allows his soldiers on June 18 to pillage Volterra and to commit rape and murder of its citizens.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – The Catalan Civil War comes to an end as Barcelona surrenders to King Juan II of Aragon with the signing of the Capitulation of Pedralbes by the rebel leader Hugh Roger III of Pallars Sobirà, guaranteeing the rights of the Principality of Catalonia in return for allegiance to the Kingdom of Aragon.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – A mount of piety is established in Siena (Italy), origin of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest surviving retail bank.


text: An extensive slave trade begins in modern Cameroon as the Portuguese sail up the Wouri River and Fernão do Po claims the central-African islands Bioko and Annobón for Portugal.

source_section: Events › Undated


date: July 3

text: July 3 – The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, England, commonly known as York Minster, is declared complete and consecrated.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – The city council of Amsterdam prohibits snowball fights: "Neymant en moet met sneecluyten werpen nocht maecht noch wijf noch manspersoon." ("No one shall throw with snowballs, neither men nor (unmarried) women.")


text: The Kingdom of Fez ruling the modern nation of Morocco, is founded by the Wattasid dynasty with Sultan Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya as its first ruler.


text: The first printing of Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ (De Imitatione Christi) is made in Augsburg after Kempis's death in 1471 it will reach 100 editions and translations by the end of the century.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – King Edward IV of England gives royal assent to the Statute of Westminster 1472 which requires, effective immediately, a tax of four bow staves per every tun (252 wine gallons) of cargo brought in by a ship to an English port. The Statute is passed to remedy a shortage of yew wood, from which longbows are made, following the issuing of an edict in 1470 requiring compulsory training for soldiers to use the longbow.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – The Great Comet of 1472 passes within 0.07 astronomical units of Earth (6.507 million miles or 10.472 million km), the closest approach in recorded history for a great comet


date: March 11

text: March 11 – The Great Comet of 1472 is observed from the Earth for the last time as it flies away from Earth in the direction of the constellation of Cetus.


text: Johannes de Sacrobosco's De sphaera mundi (written c. 1230) is first published in Ferrara, the first printed astronomical book.


text: Pietro d'Abano's medical texts Conciliator differentiarum quae inter philosophos et medicos versantur and De venenis eorumque remediis (written before 1315) are first published.


date: April 11

text: April 11 – The first printed edition of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is published in Foligno.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Sophia Palaiologina is married by proxy to the ruler of Russia, Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, with his trusted emissary Ivan Fryazin serving as the proxy.


date: June

text: June – Leonardo da Vinci is admitted as a master in his own right to the artists' Guild of Saint Luke in Florence. An entry is made in the register of the Compagnia di San Luca reading "Anno Domini 1472— Leonardo, son of Ser Piero da Vinci, painter, to pay the sum of 6 sol, for the whole month of June 1472, for the remittance of his debt to the Company until July 1472... and to pay for the whole of November 1472, 5 sol due on 18 October 1472."


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero and Duke of Urbino (d. 1508)


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (d. 1503)


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Fra Bartolomeo, Italian artist (d. 1517)


date: April 5

text: April 5 – Bianca Maria Sforza, Pavian-born Holy Roman Empress as consort to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Margaret of York, English princess (d. 1472)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – Érard de La Marck, prince-bishop of Liège (d. 1538)


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Nikolaus von Schönberg, German Catholic cardinal (d. 1537)


date: October 19

text: October 19 – John Louis, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (d. 1545)


date: October 31

text: October 31 – Wang Yangming, Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar (d. 1529)


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Pietro Torrigiano, Italian sculptor of the Florentine school (d. 1528)


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (d. 1481)


text: Barbro Stigsdotter, Swedish noblewoman and heroine (d. 1528)


text: Alfonsina Orsini, Regent of Florence (d. 1520)


text: Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter (d. 1553)


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet and philosopher (b. 1404)


date: May 24

text: May 24 – Charles of Valois, Duke of Berry, French noble (b. 1446)


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Jacquetta of Luxembourg, English duchess, daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg (b. 1416)


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Nezahualcoyotl, Aztec poet (b. 1402)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Johann II of Nassau-Saarbrücken, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1429–1472) (b. 1423)


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Charles of Artois, Count of Eu, French military leader (b. 1394)


date: November 18

text: November 18 – Basilios Bessarion, Latin Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 1403)


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Margaret of York, English princess (b. 1472)


text: Hayne van Ghizeghem, Flemish composer (b. c. 1445)


text: date unknown – Afanasy Nikitin, Russian traveller


text: Michelozzo, Italian architect and sculptor (b. c. 1396)


date: May 28

text: May 28 – The Earl of Oxford, commander of what remains of the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses against the Yorkists and King Edward IV of England, makes an unsuccessful attempt to land an army at Essex at the village of St Osyth.


text: August 11 – At the Battle of Otlukbeli, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II defeats the White Sheep Turkmens, led by Uzun Hasan.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – In Germany, Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg destroys the Tomburg Castle near Wormersdorf in what is now the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The one-day shelling of the castle with cannons takes place after a dispute with the Lord of Tomburg, Friedrich von Sombreff. The castle is never rebuilt and the ruins remain more than 550 years later.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – The Trier Conference begins in the German city of Trier as Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy make a grand entry into the city of Trier for a meeting of central European leaders to respond to the threat of an invasion by the Ottoman Empire.


text: September 30 – The Earl of Oxford, John de Vere, seizes St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and defends it for the next five months against 6,000 troops of King Edward IV.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Battle of Vodna Stream, near Râmnicu Sărat, ends after two days in what is now Romania, Stephen the Great, Prince of Moldavia, routs the army of Wallachia, commanded by Prince Radu the Handsome. Prince Radu then flees to Dâmbovița.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Prince Stephen of Moldavia begins the siege of Dâmbovița Fortress, where Wallachia's Prince Radu has taken refuge in a war between the two monarchs. Prince Radu escapes during the night, leaving behind his wife, his daughter and his treasury, and the fortress surrenders the next day.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Radu II returns as Prince of Wallachia one month after having been deposed briefly by Basarab the Old.


text: Stephen the Great of Moldavia refuses to pay tribute to the Ottomans. This will attract an Ottoman invasion in 1475, resulting in the greatest defeat of the Ottomans so far.


text: Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, invades the territory of the neighboring Aztec city of Tlatelolco. The ruler of Tlatelolco is killed and replaced by a military governor; Tlatelolco loses its independence.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The uninhabited island of Annobón, off of the coast of West Africa, is claimed by Portuguese explorers who name it in honor of the New Year. A year later, it becomes the home of enslaved Africans who either marry or work of Portuguese citizens, or sold.


text: Possible discovery of the island of "Bacalao" (possibly Newfoundland off North America) by Didrik Pining and João Vaz Corte-Real.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Pope Sixtus IV lifts the order of interdict that had been placed by Pope Paul II on the late Bohemian King George of Poděbrady and his sons, granting absolution, after the sons convert to the Roman Catholic faith.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – The original University of Trier is founded in the Electorate of the Paletine in what is now Germany, 18 years after the Pope had granted the Archbishop of Trier, Jakob von Sierck, the papal dispensation to create a university. After 365 years, the university is closed in 1798, but re-established 172 years later in 1970.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Pope Sixtus IV appoints eight clerics to the College of Cardinals, the most in his career, the most since December 18, 1439 when 17 were appointed by Pope Eugene IV.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Gerontius, Bishop of Kolomna is appointed as the new Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – The Trier Conference breaks up after Charles the Bold fails to persuade the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick to help Charles become King of the Romans or to enter into an alliance against King Loouis XI of France. Frederick II instead proposes an alliance between the Empire, Burgundy, and France. Charles threatens to leave unless he can secure an alliance by a treaty marriage.


text: Florentine physician Marsilio Ficino becomes a Catholic priest.


text: Possible date – Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the first book to be printed in English, by William Caxton, in Bruges.


text: The city walls and defensive moat are built in Celje, Slovenia.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Johannes Hennon publishes the medical treatise Commentarii in Aristotelis libros Physicorum.


text: Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474, an astronomical wall calendar, is published in Kraków, the oldest known printing in Poland.


section: Climate & Environment

text: Severe heat and drought in Europe


date: February 12

text: February 12 – The first complete inside edition of Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (Latin translation) is published in Milan.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – An heir to the throne of Scotland is born to Queen Margaret and King James III. Prince James of the House of Stewart will become King James IV at the age of 15 in 1488.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – At Trier, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, hosts an elaborate banquet for the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and various prince-electors of the electorates within the Empire, ostensibly to work towards a common union of nations to begin a new crusade against the Ottomans, but offends most of his guests because of his arrogant ambition.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria becomes the first of the guests to walk out of the Duke of Burgundy banquet.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – The negotiators for Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire tentatively agree on creating a Kingdom of Burgundy, ruled by Charles the Bold, that would become a member of the Empire and that would include Burgundy, Holland, Luxembourg, Savoy, Lorraine and other parts of what are now the Netherlands, Belgium and France. A coronation ceremony for Charles as King of Burgundy is tentatively scheduled to take place on November 25.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – On the day set for the scheduled coronation at Trier of Charles the Bold as King of Burgundy, Charles learns that the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick had changed his mind and left overnight, and that the ceremony will never take place.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – The first-known printed book about child care, Kinderbüchlein, is published by German physician Bartholomäus Metlinger.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1543)


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Al-Mutawakkil Yahya Sharaf ad-Din, Imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen (d. 1555)


date: March 14

text: March 14 – Reinhard IV, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (1500–1512) (d. 1512)


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (1539–1541) (d. 1541)


date: April 2

text: April 2 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Matilda of Hesse, German noblewoman (d. 1505)


date: July 6

text: July 6 – James III of Cyprus, son of James II of Cyprus and Catherine Cornaro, king of Cyprus (d. 1474)


date: July

text: July – Maddalena de' Medici, Italian noble (d. 1528)


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (d. 1541)


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Margaret of Münsterberg, Duchess consort and regent of Anhalt (d. 1530)


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Thomas Lovett III, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (d. 1542)


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Georg von Frundsberg, German knight and landowner (d. 1528)


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Friedrich of Saxony, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1510)


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Muhammad Jiwa Shah becomes the new Sultan of Kedah, an absolute monarchy at the south of the Malay Peninsula and now part of Malaysia, upon the death of his father, Ataullah Muhammad Shah.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Conrad Paumann, German composer (b. c. 1410)


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Arnold, Duke of Guelders (b. 1410)


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Alessandro Sforza, Italian condottiero (b. 1409)


date: April 5

text: April 5 – Philip I, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church as Patriarch of Moscow since 1464, dies after a reign of almost nine years.


date: April 15

text: April 15 – Yamana Sōzen, Japanese daimyō and monk (b. 1404)


date: May 8

text: May 8 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)


date: June 28

text: June 28 – John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, English nobleman (b. 1448)


date: July 10

text: July 10 – James II of Cyprus (b. c. 1440)


text: July 10 – James II, King of Cyprus, dies after a reign of nine years. In that his widow, the Queen Consort Catherine, is eight months pregnant with the couple's son, she becomes Queen Regent and the throne is deemed to remain vacant until the child is born.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – René II, Count of Vaudémont becomes the new Duke of Lorraine, at the time an independent principality within the Holy Roman Empire, upon the death of his cousin, Nicholas I. after his mother, the Duchess Yolande gives up her rights to the throne.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – Nicolò Marcello is elected as the new Doge of Venice following the July 28 death of Nicolo Tron.


date: October

text: October – Contessina de' Bardi, politically active Florentine woman (b. 1390)


date: December 24

text: December 24 – John Cantius, Polish scholar and theologian (b. 1390)


date: January 6

text: January 6 – At the age of one year and nine months, Bianca Maria Sforza, the daughter of the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, is betrothed to the 9-year-old, Philibert I of Savoy, as part of an alliance between the two independent Italian duchies.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – The Treaty of Ófalu is signed between the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Hungary.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – The Treaty of Utrecht puts an end to the Anglo-Hanseatic War, restoring the status quo that had existed before the war, with the Kingdom of England and the states of the Hanseatic League agreeing to respect each other's trading rights.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – The members of the Hungarian nobility ratify the treaty with Poland after King Matthias had given his assent on February 27.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – By signing the Treaty of London, Charles the Bold of Burgundy agrees to support Edward IV of England's planned invasion of France.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – In a peace treaty between King Edward IV of England and King James III of Scotland, an agreement is reached for the betrothal and eventual marriage of King Edward's daughter Cecily to King James' eldest son and future King of Scotland, James, Duke of Rothsay.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – An alliance pact is signed between the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Florence.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – The Hungarian town of Varad is attacked by an Ottoman Empire army of 7,000 cavalry, commanded by General Mihaloğlu Ali Bey, and its inhabitants are taken prisoner.


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, begins peace talks with rebels in the Electorate of Cologne in hopes of bringing an agreement that would make the Electorate a protectorate of Burgundy. The talks fail to get a result and Charles begins a war against Colognian cities a month later.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Venetian captain general Triadan Gritti, with six armed galleys to protect the Albanian coast, destroys Ottoman forces attempting to take over Venetian Albania, and forces the others to retreat.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – The siege of Shkodra by the Ottoman Empire ends when the city is freed by a combined army of 25,000 troops from the Republic of Venice commanded by Antonio Loredan, supplemented by the Principality of Zeta and Albanian resistance forces. Nearly all of the 8,000 Ottoman troops commanded by Hadım Suleiman Pasha are killed.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – In the city of Modica on the island of Sicily, a massacre is carried out in the Jewish neighborhood of Cartellone, and 360 Jews are killed in what is later referred to as the "Massacre of the Assumption".


text: Axayacatl defeats the Matlatzinca of the Toluca Valley.


text: Marsilio Ficino completes his book Theologia Platonica (Platonic Theology).


date: March 19

text: March 19 – The Senate of the Republic of Venice enacts the Venetian Patent Statute, one of the earliest patent systems in the world. New and inventive devices, once put into practice, have to be communicated to the Republic to obtain the right to prevent others from using them. This is considered the first modern patent system.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – The English royal title of Duke of York is created by King Edward IV for his second-born son, Prince Richard. Thereafter, the title of Duke of York is reserved for the second son of the English monarch, while the title of Prince of Wales is reserved for the first-born son.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – King Ferdinand of Naples sends his son, Prince Frederick, to Burgundy in hopes of an alliance between the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Burgundy to be secured by Frederick's marriage to Mary of Burgundy, daughter of the Duke, Charles the Bold. The proposal is rejected by Burgundy.


date: January 7

text: January 7 – Thihathura II of Ava (d. 1501)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Angela Merici, Italian religious leader and saint (d. 1540)


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Giovanni Stefano Ferrero, Italian cardinal (d. 1510)


text: May 5 – Juan Diego, Roman Catholic Saint from Mexico (d. 1548)


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (d. 1539)


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Luigi de' Rossi, Italian cardinal (d. 1519)


date: September 8

text: September 8 – Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet (d. 1533)


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Luigi d'Aragona, Italian cardinal (d. 1518)


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Bernhard III, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1536)


date: October 13

text: October 13 – Mariotto Albertinelli, High Renaissance Italian painter of the Florentine school (d. 1515)


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Lorenzo Campeggio, Italian Cardinal (d. 1539)


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Bartolomé de las Casas, Spanish Dominican friar, historian, and social reformer (d. 1566)


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Bartolomeo degli Organi, Italian musician (d. 1539)


text: Juan Diego, Mexican Catholic saint (d. 1548)


date: February 26

text: February 26 – Eom Heung-do, local official of Joseon (b. 1404)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Queen Gonghye, Korean royal consort (b. 1456)


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Alain de Coëtivy, Catholic cardinal (b. 1407)


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Eric II, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast (b. 1418)


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Mahmud Pasha Angelović, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1420)


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, English politician (b. 1416)


date: August 26

text: August 26 – James III, the one-year old de jure King of Cyprus, dies 20 days after his first birthday, apparently from malaria. His mother, Catherine Cornaro, who had been serving as regent since her son's birth, becomes the ruling queen of Cyprus.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Ernest I becomes the new monarch of the independent Principality of Anhalt-Dessau upon the death of his father George I, who had ruled for 69 years.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Juan Pacheco, Spanish noble and politician (b. 1419)


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Guillaume Dufay, Flemish composer (b. 1397)


date: November

text: November – William Canynge, English merchant (b. c. 1399)


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Upon the death of Henry IV of Castile, a civil war ensues between his designated successor Isabella I of Castile, and her niece Juana, who is supported by her husband, Afonso V of Portugal. Isabella wins the civil war after a lengthy struggle, when her husband, the newly crowned Ferdinand II of Aragon, comes to her aid.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Pietro Mocenigo is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Venice 13 days after the death of the Doge Nicolò Marcello.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Ali Qushji, Ottoman astronomer and mathematician (b. 1403)


date: January 30

text: January 30 – An alliance between the Duchy of Burgundy (ruled by Charles the Bold), the Duchy of Savoy (ruled by Filiberto the Hunter) and the Duchy of Milan (ruled by Galeazzo Maria Sforza) is created by the signing of a treaty at the city of Moncalieri, in Savoy near Turin.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – The joint Spanish rulers of Castile and León, Queen Isabella and King Fernando, issue a decree of monetary reform at Segovia, setting a standard value for the real as 30 maravedí coins, and the dobla castellana as 870 maravedis.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – King Edward IV, gives royal assent to several acts passed by the English Parliament, including the Safe Conducts Act and the Wool Act.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – The Treaty of Picquigny ends the brief war between France and England.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – The city of Köln (Cologne), already separate from the surrounding Köln is granted the status of a "free imperial city" by the Holy Roman Empire, with representation in the Imperial Diet and self-government within the Empire.


date: December

text: December – The Principality of Theodoro falls to the Ottoman Empire, arguably taking with it the final territorial remnant of the successor to the Roman Kingdom after nearly 2,228 years of Roman civilization since the legendary Founding of Rome in 753 BC.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – At the Battle of Vaslui during the Moldavian–Ottoman Wars, in what is now Romania, Stephen III of Moldavia leads his troops to defeat Ottoman invaders commanded by General Hadım Suleiman Pasha.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – At Racibórz (now in Poland, but at the time under the control of the Kingdom of Bohemia), the Bohemian King Matyáš Korvín arrests the Duke of Gliwice, Jan IV of Oświęcim and holds him prisoner until Jan relinquishes half of his lands to Bohemian control.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – The city of Perpignan is recaptured by the army of the Kingdom of France after having been captured by the Spanish king John II of Aragon.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – While in Valladolid, capital of the Kingdom of Castile and León, to celebrate a tournament in their honor, the joint rulers of Castile, Queen Isabella and King Fernando II are interrupted by a messenger sent by King Afonso V of Portugal. King Afonso announces a declaration of war against the crown of Castile and León.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – The War of the Castilian Succession begins as Portugal's army invades the Spanish kingdom of Castile and León with King Afonso of Portugal in command. The troops advance to the town of Plasencia, where King Afonso's fiancée Juana la Beltraneja (who claims to be the daughter of the late King Enrique IV of Castile) lives.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – Having invaded Castile, King Afonso V of Portugal is betrothed to his first cousin, Juana la Beltraneja, Princess of Asturias, who had been identified on May 9, 1462, as heir to the Castilian throne as the daughter of King Enrique IV, and claims his right to rule the Kingdom of Castile and León. On May 30, Afonso and Juana then hold court at the small town of Toro for the former proclamation of themselves as joint rulers of Castile, an office held in the rest of the kingdom by Queen Isabella and King Fernando.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – After an 11-month siege, Charles the Bold abandons the Siege of Neuss when an imperial relief army from the Holy Roman Empire approaches; a papal legate of Pope Sixtus IV threatens excommunication of both Charles and Emperor Frederick III should the fighting continue, allowing both rulers to withdraw without loss of honor.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Burgundian Wars: Edward IV of England lands in Calais, in support of the Duchy of Burgundy against France.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – The Swiss Confederacy Canton of Bern invades the Canton of Vaud, at the time under the control of Jacques of Savoy, one of the nobles in the Duchy of Savoy.


date: October 22

text: October 22 – In retaliation for the resistance of the village of Les Clées against the Swiss invasion of Vaud, the army of Bern destroys the city and kills the members of the garrison at the Vaud Castle.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Burgundian Wars – In the Battle on the Planta, near Sion in the Swiss Canton of Valais, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious against those of the Duchy of Savoy.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – The Emirate of Granada, led by the Emir Abu'l-Hasan Ali and now part of Spain's Mediterranean coast, signs a peace treaty with the Spanish Kingdom of Castile and León, led by the joint monarchs Isabella and Fernando. In the agreement, Granada offers to assist the Castilians against any attempt by Portugal to invade the Castilian region, Córdoba, that borders Granada.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – In the Spanish kingdom of Castile, the siege by Portugal of the Castle of Burgos ends with the commander of the garrison agreeing to surrender within 70 days, "the waiting period decreed by chivalric courtesy" and Queen Isabella enters the city to a welcoming crowd.


text: In Wallachia, Radu cel Frumos loses the throne (for the last time), and is again replaced by Basarab Laiotă.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – The Vatican Library in Rome is created by the papal bull Ad decorem militantis ecclesiae and names Bartolomeo Platina as the first librarian for the Vatican.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – After Queen consort Dorothea of Denmark visits Rome, Pope Sixtus IV issues a papal bull permitting King Christian I to establish a university in Denmark


text: Rashi's commentary on the Torah is the first dated book to be printed in Hebrew, in Reggio di Calabria.


text: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the first book to be printed in English, by William Caxton in Bruges (or 1473–74?).


date: January 15

text: January 15 – At Madrid, Queen Isabella I of Castile, who had been crowned on December 11, declares her husband Prince Fernando de Aragón to be the joint ruler with her, and is proclaimed as King Fernando V of Castile. Fernando, the oldest son and heir to the throne of King Juan II of Aragon, will make Isabella co-ruler of Aragon when he ascends the throne upon his father's death in 1479.


date: November 14

text: November 14 – The original Landshut Wedding takes place, between George, Duke of Bavaria, and Hedwig Jagiellon.


text: Conrad of Megenberg's book, Buch der Natur, is published in Augsburg.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Crinitus, Italian humanist (d. 1507)


date: January 29

text: January 29 – Giuliano Bugiardini, Italian painter (d. 1555)


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, last male member of the House of York (d. 1499)


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Luca Gaurico, Italian astrologer (d. 1558)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Beatrice d'Este, duchess of Bari and Milan (d. 1497)


date: September 6

text: September 6 – Artus Gouffier, Lord of Boissy, French nobleman and politician (d. 1519)


text: September 6 – Sebastiano Serlio, Italian Mannerist architect (d. 1554)


date: September 8

text: September 8 – John Stokesley, English prelate (d. 1539)


date: September 13

text: September 13 or April 1476 – Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI (approximate date; d. 1507)


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai, Italian Renaissance man of letters (d. 1525)


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Anne of York, seventh child of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville (d. 1511)


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Anne Shelton, elder sister of Thomas Boleyn (d. 1556)


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Thomas Murner, German satirist (d. c. 1537)


text: Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Spanish conquistador (approximate date; d. 1519)


date: January

text: January – Radu cel Frumos, Voivoid of Wallachia (b. c. 1437)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – John IV, Count of Nassau-Siegen (b. 1410)


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poet


date: March

text: March – Simon of Trent, Italian saint, subject of a blood libel


date: May 20

text: May 20 – Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk (born c.1404)


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Joan of Portugal, Queen of Castile (b. 1439)


text: September 6 – Adolph II of Nassau, Archbishop of Mainz (b. c. 1423)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – At the royal capital, Pekan, Ahmad Shah I of Pahang becomes the new Sultan of Pahang (now one of the federal states within Malaysia) upon the death of his younger brother, Muhammad Shah


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Paolo Uccello, Italian painter (b. 1397)


text: Theodorus Gaza, Greek scholar, one of the leaders of the revival of learning in the 15th century (b. c. 1400)


text: Masuccio Salernitano, Italian poet (b. 1410)


date: April 14

text: April 14 –The Treaty of Fribourg is signed by representatives of the Swiss Confederation and the Duchy of Savoy after France's King Louis XI intervenes to stop the war in Switzerland over former Savoyard territories in the Canton of Vaud.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – King Vladislaus II of Hungary enters into an alliance with Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, against Matthias Corvinus, King of Bohemia.

source_section: Events › October –December


date: January 19

text: January 19 – The siege of Burgos comes to an end as the Portuguese defender, Juan de Stúñiga, relinquishes control of the castle back to the Castilians.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – After turning down an offer of peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, Bohemia's King Matthias Corvinus leads troops across the Hungarian border and captures the fortress of Šabac.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – In the Swiss Canton of Vaud, after a seven-day siege, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, obtains the surrender of Swiss Confederacy troops at the garrsion of the village of Grandson (originally Grancione). The surrender had been obtained by the promises of Charles that the lives of the 412 Swiss defenders would be spared if they gave up, but Charles orders that they be executed anyway. Some are hanged, while others are drowned in Lake Neuchâtel over a period of four hours.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Battle of Toro is fought between Castilian and Portuguese forces during the War of the Castilian Succession). Although militarily inconclusive, the victory over Portugal ensures the Catholic Monarchs the Crown of Castile, forming the basis for modern-day Spain.


date: March 2

text: March 2 – In retaliation for the massacre of the Swiss defenders of the Grandson Castle, troops from the Canton of Bern and the Old Swiss Confederacy defeat the Burgundian troops of Charles the Bold and force him to flee.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Hans Böhm, the "rummer of Niklashausen", incites a peasant uprising in an around Niklashausen in the German Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg. He is captured and eventually executed on July 19.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – (1st waxing of Waso 838 ME) In what is now Myanmar, the Thet minority rebels against King Ba Saw Phyu of Arakan but the rebellion is quickly put down.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Burgundian Wars: In the Battle of Morat, The Burgundians suffer a crushing defeat, losing half of its army of at least 12,000 soldiers, at the hands of the Swiss, who sustain only 410 casualties.


date: July 26

text: July 26 – At the Battle of Valea Albă, fought at what is now Războieni in Romania, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II defeats Stephen III of Moldavia.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The Battle of Cabo São Vicente is fought as two Portuguese galleys, aided by 11 armed French pirate ships, encounter a set of five armed Spanish merchant ships. The French ships use incendiary weapons, though the fire destroys four of their own vessels as well as three enemy ships.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – Matthias Corvinus, as King of Bohemia, orders the Transylvanian Saxons in his employment to assist Stephen V Báthory in the invasion of the principality of Wallachia.


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Burgundian Wars: Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, begins the Siege of Nancy, capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, in an attempt to regain control of it after Rene II, Duke of Lorraine, had captured it earlier. Rene II, aided by the Swiss Confederation, makes plans to break the siege, leading to the Battle of Nancy on January 5, 1477.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Báthory's invasion of Wallachia is successful in capturing Târgoviște.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – Vlad the Impaler declares himself reigning Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia for the third and last time. He is killed on the march to Bucharest, probably before the end of December. His head is sent to his old enemy, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, is assassinated by Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani while inside the Basilica di Santo Stefano Maggiore. Lampugnani, wearing hidden armour, stabs the Duke in the chest and two other aggrieved officials, Carlo Visconti and Gerolamo Olgiati, follow with other weapons.


text: Axayacatl, sixth Tlatoani of Tenochtitlán, is defeated by the Tarascans of Michoacán.


text: Goyghor Mosque is built by Musa ibn Haji Amir and his son, Majlis Alam.


text: Leonardo da Vinci is acquitted on charges of sodomy, after which he disappears from the historical record for two years.


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Andrea Vendramin is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Venice.


date: December 22

text: December 22 – Beatrice of Naples marries Mathias Corvinus at Székesfehérvár, 10 days after her coronation as Queen Consort of Bohemia and Queen Consort of Hungary.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Anne St Leger, Baroness de Ros, English baroness (d. 1526)


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Anna Jagiellon, Duchess of Pomerania, Polish princess (d. 1503)


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (d. 1536)


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Helena of Moscow, Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania and Queen consort of Poland (d. 1513)


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Adrian Fortescue, English Roman Catholic martyr (d. 1539)


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Anna Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1497)


text: July 21 – Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (d. 1534)


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Zhu Youyuan, Ming Dynasty politician (d. 1519)


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Kanō Motonobu, Japanese painter (d. 1559)


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Louise of Savoy, French regent (d. 1531)


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Guy XVI, Count of Laval (d. 1531)


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Yeonsangun of Joseon, King of Korean Joseon Dynasty (d. 1506)


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Lucy Brocadelli, Dominican tertiary and stigmatic (d. 1544)


text: date unknown – Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (d. 1526)


text: January 14 – Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, Duchess of York, second child of Richard Plantagenet (b. 1439)


text: January 14 – John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b. 1444)


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Pietro Mocenigo, Doge of the Republic of Venice, dies after 15 months in office.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Imagawa Yoshitada, 9th head of the Imagawa clan (b. 1436)


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Richard West, 7th Baron De La Warr (b. 1430)


date: March

text: March – John I Ernuszt, Ban of Slavonia


date: June 8

text: June 8 – George Neville, English archbishop and statesman (b. c. 1432)


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Regiomontanus, German astronomer (b. 1436)


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Lady Suk-ui, daughter of Yun Gi-Gyeon of the Haman Yun clan is installed as the new Queen Consort of Korea's King Seongjong of Joseon, two years after the death of Queen consort Han Song-yi, who produced no heir to the throne. Suk-ui, also known as Queen Yun, gives birth to an heir, Yeonsangun of Joseon, three months later. Queen Yun is deposed three years later and executed by poisoning.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – John II, Duke of Alençon, son of John I of Alençon and Marie of Brittany (b. 1409)


date: November 28

text: November 28 – James of the Marches, Franciscan friar


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Frederick I, Elector Palatine (b. 1425)


text: December 12 – Philip the Upright becomes the new Elector of the Palatinate within the Holy Roman Empire, upon the death of his adoptive father, the Elector Frederick I.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (assassinated) (b. 1444)


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold and the new Duches, is forced by her disgruntled subjects to sign the Great Privilege, by which the Flemish cities recover all the local and communal rights which have been abolished by the decrees of the dukes of Burgundy, in their efforts to create a centralized state in the Low Countries.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Martin Truchsess von Wetzhausen is elected as the new Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights to succeed the late Heinrich Reffle von Richtenberg as ruler of a few territories in Prussia.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary signs a treaty with Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor at Korneuburg, ending the Hungarian blockade of Vienna in return for Frederick's support for making Matthias King of Bohemia and an indemnity of 100,000 florins.


text: Ivan III of Russia marches against the Novgorod Republic, marking the beginning of Russian Colonialism.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – At the Battle of Nancy in France, Charles the Bold of Duke of Burgundy, who had begun the siege of the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine on October 22, is forced to retreat from a larger force of troops from Lorraine, Alsace and the Swiss Army. During the retreat, the Burgundians pursued and then surrounded by the Swiss. Charles is struck in the head by a halberd and killed, while most of the Burgundian troops are slaughtered. The defeat brings an end to the Burgundian Wars.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – Two months after the death in battle of the Duke of Burgundy, an uprising and rioting take place in Bruges, and 15 local officials, including former mayor Anselm Adornes, are arrested by Burgundian troops, though they are later released without being charged.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Emperor Frederick II confirms his support of Vladislav Jagellonský as King of Bohemia, leading to Matthias Corvinus declaring war on the Holy Roman Empire.


text: The first edition of The Travels of Marco Polo is printed.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Pope Sixtus IV grants a special dispensation for Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the three-year-old son of King Edward IV, is betrothed to 4-year-old Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, in a waiver of canon law that sets a minimum age for marriage as 14 for boys and 12 for girls. The children's wedding will take place on January 15, 1478.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – William Caxton produces Earl Rivers' translation into English of Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, at his press in Westminster, the first full-length book printed in England on a printing press.


text: Thomas Norton (alchemist) writes Ordinall of Alchemy.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – William Hugonet, formerly the Chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy during the reign of Charles the Bold, is beheaded in Ghent by citizens who had blamed him for having reduced their independence. Hugonet is executed along with the Marshal of Brabant, Guy of Brimeu (Lord Humbercourt) and the Burgundian treasurer Jan van Melle.


text: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola starts to study canon law, at the University of Bologna.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Uppsala University is founded, becoming the first university in Sweden and all of Scandinavia.


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, marries Prince Maximilian, son of the Holy Roman Emperor, in Ghent, bringing her Flemish and Burgundian lands into the Holy Roman Empire, and detaching them from France.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – King Ferrante of Napoli marries Princess Juana, daughter of the Spanish King John II of Aragon and Navarre after being brought to Naples by King Ferrante's son Prince Alfonso, Duke of Calabria.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – The University of Tübingen, one of the 11 German Excellence Universities, is founded in Württemberg by Count Eberhard I.


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1527)


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Hermann of Wied, German Catholic archbishop (d. 1552)


date: January 16

text: January 16 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Anne of Brittany, sovereign duchess of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France (d. 1514)


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Jerome Emser, German theologian (d. 1527)


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, English noble (d. 1530)


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534)


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Jacopo Sadoleto, Italian cardinal (d. 1547)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Bartolomeo Fanfulla, Italian mercenary (d. 1525)


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Ferrante d'Este, Ferrarese nobleman and condottiero (d. 1540)


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Matthäus Zell, German Lutheran pastor (d. 1548)


text: Il Sodoma, Italian painter (d. 1549)


text: Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat (d. 1539)


text: Giorgione, painter in Italian High Renaissance (d. 1510)


date: January 2

text: January 2 – Gerolamo Olgiati, Italian assassin (executed)


text: January 2 – Carlo Visconti, Italian assassin (executed)


text: January 2 – Franzone, Italian assassin (executed)


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (in battle) (b. 1433)


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Jean VIII, Count of Vendôme


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Adriana of Nassau-Siegen, consort of Count Philip I of Hanau-Münzenberg (b. 1449)


date: April 3

text: April 3 – William Hugonet, former chancellor of Burgundy (executed)


date: May 10

text: May 10 – In England, John Stacy, Thomas Burdet and Thomas Blake are convicted of high treason after being charged with "imagining and compassing" the death of King Edward IV. Stacy and Burdet are hanged, drawn and quartered the next day.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Charlotte de Brézé, French countess (b. 1446)


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Adolf, Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen (1465–1471) (b. 1438)


date: July 21

text: July 21 – The 1475 Treaty of Picquigny between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France, is extended by agreement between England's King Edward IV and France's King Louis XI, with a provision that the cessation of hostilities will continue for one year after the death of one of the two monarchs.Louis.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Jacques d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Latino Orsini, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1411)


date: December 19

text: December 19 – Maria of Mangup, Princess-consort of Moldavia


date: March 28

text: March 28 – The initial draft of the Treaty of Brno, between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Bohemia, is agreed upon by envoys from both kingdoms, subject to modifications.


text: September 1 – King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary accepts the draft of the Treaty of Brno with slight modifications regarding the division of the lands of the Bohemian crowned claimed by both Hungary and King Vladisalus II of Bohemia. Under the terms, Vladislaus II cedes Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia to Corvinus, and both monarchs are permitted to refer to themselves as "King of Bohemia".


text: The Demak Sultanate, the first Islamic state on the island of Java (now in Indonesia), ruled by Panembahan Jimbun, gains independence from Majapahit, after a civil war.


text: January 15 – After a three month rebellion that began on October 9, Novgorod surrenders to Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, bringing an end to the separate existence (under Ivan) of the Novgorod Republic. The annexation of Novgorod becomes the beginning of the transition of the principality of Moscow to the Russian Empire.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother King Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – The Fourth Siege of Krujë comes to an end as the Albanian city surrenders to the Ottoman Empire, which had prevented food and supplies from reaching the town for a year. After the surrender, made on a promise that the occupants would be allowed to leave, most of the men in Krujë are killed and the women and children taken away to be sold as slaves.


text: June 15 – In the Battle of Khoy, Yaqub Aq Qoyunlu defeats his older brother, the Sultan Khalil of Aq Qoyunlu, and becomes the new Sultan. Khalil is executed after his capture.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – The Battle of Kokovo takes place when 600 peasants and miners in the Duchy of Carinthia, led by King Matjaž, attempt to defend their territory against a force of 20,000 Ottoman Turkish invaders.


date: June 28

text: June 28 – A group of 500 of the Canarian natives, led by Adargoma, attack the Castilian invaders in the Battle of Guiniguada, and are forced to retreat from the larger and better armed Castilian force.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – A fleet of Portuguese warships arrives at the Bay of Isletas to rescue the Canarians and drive the Castilians off of Gran Canaria. Alerted to the Portuguese invaders, Rejón arranges for an ambush of the first to come ashore.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Eskender succeeds his father Baeda Maryam as Emperor of Ethiopia, at the age of seven, initially under the regency of his mother, Romna Wark.


date: December 28

text: December 28 – In the Battle of Giornico, Swiss troops defeat the army of Duchy of Milan, leading to the cession of the Leventina District by Milan to the Canton of Uri.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Captain Juan Rejón of Aragon, charged with leading the conquest of the Canary Islands for the Spanish crown, departs with 600 men on three ships from the El Puerto de Santa María, at the time part of the Kingdom of Seville.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – After a rendezvous with other Castilian Navy ships, Captain Rejón and 1,300 men arrive at the Bay of Isletas on Gran Canaria island.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Following a storm that prevents the landing of other ships at the island of Gran Canaria, the Portuguese Navy withdraws and sails back to Portugal.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – The Spanish Inquisition begins as Pope Sixtus IV promulgates the papal bull Exigit sinceras devotionis affectus, permitting the Crown of Castile, at the request of Queen Isabella, to create the office of Inquisitor General, with the Dominican bishop Tomás de Torquemada to prosecute accused heretics.


text: Possibly the first reference to cricket


date: August 24

text: August 24 – In the Swiss canton of Lucerne, the Amstaldenhandel, a conspiracy by innkeeper Peter Amstalden of Schüpfheim to overthrow the canton government is foiled when Amstalden is arrested. After being interrogated and tortured, Amstalden is beheaded in November.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – The wedding of Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the 4-year-old son of King Edward IV of England to Anne de Mowbray, the 5-year-old daughter of the Count of Norfolk, takes place in England.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – The University of Copenhagen is established by decree of King Christian I, who sets down the rules and laws to govern the institution.


text: Mondino de Liuzzi's Anathomia corporis humani, the first complete published anatomical text, is first printed (in Padua).


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Thomas More, English statesman and humanist (d. 1535)


date: May 26

text: May 26 – Pope Clement VII (d. 1534)


date: June 30

text: June 30 – John, Prince of Asturias, Son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (d. 1497)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Louis V, Elector Palatine (1508–1544) (d. 1544)


date: July 8

text: July 8 – Gian Giorgio Trissino (d. 1550)


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Giulio d'Este, illegitimate son of Italian noble (d. 1561)


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Barbara Jagiellon, Duchess consort of Saxony and Margravine consort of Meissen (1500–1534) (d. 1534)


date: July 22

text: July 22 – King Philip the Handsome of Castile (d. 1506)


date: August

text: August – Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Spanish historian (d. 1557)


date: December 6

text: December 6 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian courtier and writer (d. 1529)


text: Jacques Dubois, French anatomist (d. 1555)


text: Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (d. 1553)


text: Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess (d. 1547)


date: January 6

text: January 6 – At Tabriz, Khalil Mirza is proclaimed the Sultan of Aq Qoyunlu (now in Iran) after the death of his father, Uzun Hasan. Khalil is overthrown by his brother Ya'qub in July.


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Cristoforo della Rovere, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1434)


date: February 18

text: February 18 – George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1449)


date: April 26

text: April 26 – On Easter Sunday, the Pazzi family attacks Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of the Republic of Florence, and kills his brother Giuliano, during High Mass in Florence Cathedral. A total of 80 accused conspirators are executed. With the death of his brother and co-ruler Giuliano, Lorenzo becomes the sole ruler of Florence.


text: April 26 – Giuliano de' Medici, son of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (assassinated) (b. 1453)


date: May 14

text: May 14 – The Siege of Shkodra in Albania begins. Federico Gonzaga becomes the new ruler of the independent Duchy of Mantua in Italy, three days after the death of his father, Ludovico III.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (b. 1412)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Yolande of Valois, Duchess consort of Savoy (b. 1434)


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Donato Acciaioli, Italian scholar (b. 1428)


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Emperor Baeda Maryam I of Ethiopia (b. 1448)


text: date unknown – Aliodea Morosini, Venetian dogaressa


date: January 25

text: January 25 – The Treaty of Constantinople is signed between the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Venice, ending 16 years of war between the two powers; Venice will cede Negroponte, Lemnos and Shkodër, and pay an annual sum of 10,000 gold ducats.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, concludes a treaty with the Swiss Confederacy hindering the recruitment of Swiss mercenaries by the Emperor.


date: April 2

text: April 2 – The Peace of Olomouc is signed between King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and King Vladislaus II of Bohemia, bringing the Bohemian–Hungarian War (1468–1478) to an end.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – The University of Copenhagen is inaugurated by King Christian I of Denmark, seven months after he had issued a royal decree on October 4 establishing its creation.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – The Treaty of Alcáçovas (also known as the Treaty or Peace of Alcáçovas-Toledo) is signed between the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side, and the King of Portugal and his son on the other side, ending the four-year War of the Castilian Succession.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – The ratification of the Treaty of Constantinople in Venice ends the Siege of Shkodra after fifteen months, and brings all of Albania under the Ottoman Empire.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The Battle of Guinegate is fought in the Duchy of Burgundy at what is now the French town of Enguinegatte, as at least 12,000 French infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 8,000 archers commanded by Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes are confronted by Maximilian, Duke of Burgundy whose 16,000 men have superior weapons, including the pike. With 11,000 troops grouped in formations of 100 men apiece using the pike square formation" borrowed from Switzerland, the Burgundian troops defeat the French invasion.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – In the Battle of the Breadfield, the army of the Kingdom of Hungary, led by Pál Kinizsi and István Báthory, defeats the army of the Ottoman Empire and Transylvania and Hungary, leaving at least 10,000 Ottoman Turks dead.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – The surviving suspect in the Pazzi conspiracy and April 26, 1478, assassination of Giuliano de' Medici in the Republic of Florence, is executed after being returned to Florence by order of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. The conspirator, Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli, is hanged from a window of the Palazzo del Popolo, Florence's "Palace of the People".


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Christopher Columbus, an experienced mariner and successful trader in the thriving Genoese expatriate community in Portugal, marries Felipa Perestrelo Moniz (Italian on her father's side), and receives as dowry her late father's maps and papers, charting the seas and winds around the Madeira Islands, and other Portuguese possessions in the Ocean Sea.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Grand Admiral Gedik Ahmed Pasha of the Ottoman Navy gives the order to ravage the Greek island of Zakynthos, at the time a territory of the Republic of Venice, and the Ottoman troops destroy most of the island's churches and monasteries and many of its dwellings.


text: Johann Neumeister prints a new edition of Juan de Torquemada's Meditations, or the Contemplations of the Most Devout.

source_section: Events › Ongoing


text: The plague breaks out in Florence.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – The Peace of Olomouc is ratified by King Matthias and King Vladislaus during festivities in Olomouc.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours (d. 1516)


date: March 13

text: March 13 – Lazarus Spengler, German hymnwriter (d. 1534)


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Ippolito d'Este, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1520)


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1552)


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (d. 1574)


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Pompeo Colonna, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1532)


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian scholar and poet (d. 1552)


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Lisa del Giocondo, Florentine noblewoman believed to be the subject of the Mona Lisa (d. 1542)


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Catherine of York, English princess, aunt of Henry VIII (d. 1527)


date: October 28

text: October 28 – John Gage, English courtier of the Tudor period (d. 1556)


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Philip I, Margrave of Baden (d. 1533)


text: November 6 – Joanna of Castile, Queen of Philip the Handsome, daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1555)


date: December

text: December – Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, Ottoman Valide Sultan (d. 1534)


text: Vallabhacharya, Indian founder of the Vallabha sect of Hinduism (d. 1531)


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1417)


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Fernando II already co-ruler of Crown of Castile with his wife, Isabella I, becomes the King of Aragon upon the death of his father, King Juan II of Aragon and Navarre. He and Isabella rule together over Aragon and Castile, unifying the two kingdoms and controlling most of the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, King Juan's daughter, Leonor de Trastámara, who had served as regent during times when her father was away fighting in war, becomes Queen of Navarre.


text: January 20 – King John II of Aragon (b. 1397)


date: January 28

text: January 28 – Leonor de Trastamara, who had served as regent of the Kingdom of Navarre in Spain during the absence of her father, Juan II, is crowned at Tudela. She dies 15 days later at the age of 53.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Catherine of Cleves, duchess consort regent of Guelders (b. 1417)


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Eleanor of Navarre, queen regnant of Navarre (b. 1426)


text: February 12 – Francisco Febo becomes the King of Navarre at the age of 11 upon the death of his grandmother, Queen Leonor (whose late son Gaston de Foix was Francisco's father). Francisco's mother, Magdalena of Valois, serves as regent.


date: February

text: February – Antonello da Messina, Italian painter (b. c. 1430)


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet (b. 1440)


date: June 11

text: June 11 – John of Sahagún, Spanish Augustinian friar, priest and saint (b. 1419)


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Jacopo Piccolomini-Ammannati, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1422)


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Fulk Bourchier, 10th Baron FitzWarin, English baron (b. 1445)


text: November 6 – James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton


text: Ólöf Loftsdóttir, politically active Icelandic woman (b. c. 1410)


text: Euzois succeeds Athendodorus, as Patriarch of Constantinople.

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: Emperor Antoninus Pius hosts a series of grand games, to celebrate Rome's 900th anniversary.


text: Xun Yue (or Zhongyu), Chinese official and historian (d. 209)


text: Athendodorus, Patriarch of Constantinople.