1503

This article is about the year 1503. For the computer game, see Anno 1503.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1470s 1480s 1490s – 1500s – 1510s 1520s 1530s
Years:	1500 1501 1502 – 1503 – 1504 1505 1506

1503 by topic
Arts and science
Architecture - Art - Literature - Music - Science
Lists of leaders
Colonial governors - State leaders
Birth and death categories
Births - Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments - Disestablishments
Works category
Works

Events

January 20 – Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive right to trade with the New World.
January 24 – Construction of Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey begins in the perpendicular style, the final stage of English gothic art.^[1]
February 13 – Disfida di Barletta: Thirteen Italian knights defeat thirteen French knights near Barletta.
February 23 – French-Spanish Wars in Italy – Battle of Ruvo: The Spanish defeat the French.
April 21 – Battle of Cerignola: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat the French under the Duc de Nemours, who is killed (considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms).
May 10 – Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands, which he names Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there.
May 13 – Naples is captured by the Spanish.
May 20 (Feast of the Ascension) – Ascension Island is first definitely sighted, by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque.^[2]
May 28
- James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married by Pope Alexander VI according to Papal Bull.
- The Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England is signed; it actually lasts for ten years.

July 23 – Orbital calculations suggest that on this day, Pluto moves outside Neptune's orbit, remaining there for 233 years.
July 30 – Saint Helena is first definitely sighted, by ships of Portuguese navigator Estêvão da Gama returning from the East.^[3]^[4]^[5]
August 8 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
August 20 – Stephen III of Moldavia concludes a treaty with Sultan Beyazid II preserving Moldavia's self-rule at the cost of an annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire.
September 22 – Pope Pius III (Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini) succeeds Alexander VI as the 215th pope, but dies on October 18.
October 30 – Queen Isabella I of Spain prohibits violence against native tribes.
October 31 – Pope Julius II succeeds Pius III as the 216th pope (some sources list November 1 as the date of election).
December 29 – Battle of Garigliano, near Gaeta, Italy: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Ludovico II, the Marquis of Saluzzo. The French forces withdraw to Gaeta.

Vasco da Gama establishes India's first Portuguese fortress at Cochin.
Canterbury Cathedral is finished in England after 433 years of construction.
Mariotto Albertinelli paints his masterpiece, The Visitation of the Virgin.
Hieronymus Bosch works on the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.
Leonardo da Vinci starts work on the Mona Lisa.
The book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is re-published in an English translation.
The pocket handkerchief comes into general use in polite European society.
From this year until 1650, sixteen million kilograms of silver and 185,000 kilograms of gold will enter the port of Seville.

January 11 – Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola), Italian artist (d. 1540)
March 10 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1564)
March 22 – Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (d. 1583)
April – Henry II of Navarre (d. 1555)
June 1 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (d. 1567)
June 28 – Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (d. 1556)
June 30 – John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (d. 1554)
August 12 – Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)
November 17 – Agnolo di Cosimo, Italian artist and poet (d. 1572)
December 14 or 21 – Michel de Nostredame, called Nostradamus, French physician and writer of Les Propheties (1555) (d. 1566)
date unknown
- Lucas David, Prussian historian (d. 1583)
- Robert Estienne, French printer (d. 1559)
- John Frith, English Protestant priest and martyr (d. 1533)
- Shimazu Katsuhisa, Japanese nobleman (d. 1573)
- Tomé de Sousa, Portuguese nobleman, first general-governor of Brazil (d.1573 or 1579)
probable – Nicholas Bourbon, French poet

^ Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 137–140. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ "Ascension History". Mysterra Magazine. http://www.mysterra.org/webmag/ascension-island/history.html. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
^ Schulenburg, A. H. (Spring 2002). "The discovery of St Helena: the search continues". Wirebird: the Journal of the Friends of St Helena 24: 13–19.
^ Leite, Duarte (1960). História dos Descobrimentos. II. Lisbon: Edições Cosmos.
^ da Montalboddo, Fracanzio (1507). Paesi Nuovamente Retovati & Nuovo Mondo da Alberico Vesputio Fiorentino Intitulato. Venice.