1461

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Year 1461 (MCDLXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–December

• February 2 – Battle of Mortimer's Cross: Yorkist troops led by Edward, Duke of York defeat Lancastrians under Owen Tudor and his son Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke in Wales.
• February 17 – Second Battle of St Albans, England: The Earl of Warwick's army is defeated by a Lancastrian force under Queen Margaret, who recovers control of her husband.
• March 4 – The Duke of York seizes London and proclaims himself King Edward IV of England.
• March 5 – Henry VI of England is deposed by Edward, Duke of York during the Wars of the Roses.
• March 29 – Battle of Towton: Edward IV defeats Queen Margaret to make good his claim to the English throne (thought to be the bloodiest battle ever fought in England).
• July 10 – Stephen Tomašević becomes last King of Bosnia on the death of his father Stephen Thomas; he is crowned on November 17 in Saint Mary's Church, Jajce.
• June 28 – Edward, Richard of York's son, is crowned as Edward IV, King of England (reigns until 1483).
• July – Byzantine general Graitzas Palaiologos honourably surrenders Salmeniko Castle, last garrison of the Despotate of the Morea, to invading forces of the Ottoman Empire after a year-long siege.
• July 22 – Louis XI of France succeeds Charles VII of France as king (reigns until 1483).
• August 7 – The Ming dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor; after setting fire to the eastern and western gates of the Imperial City, Beijing (which are doused by pouring rains during the day-long uprising), Cao Qin finds himself hemmed in on all sides by imperial forces, loses three of his own brothers in the fight, and instead of facing execution he flees to his home in the city and commits suicide by jumping down a well located within his walled compound.
• August 15 – The Empire of Trebizond, the last major Romano-Greek outpost, falls to the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II, after a 21-day siege.

Date unknown

• Cirencester Grammar School is founded in south-west England by the Bishop of Durham.
• Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli become students of Verrocchio.
• Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is founded by the Ottomans.
• François Villon writes Le Grand Testament.

Births

• February 6 – Džore Držić, poet and dramatist (d. 1501)
• April – Anne of France, princess and regent of France (d. 1522)
• May 25 – Zanobi Acciaioli, librarian of the Vatican (d. 1519)
• August 5 – Alexander Jagiellon, King of Poland (d. 1506)
• date unknown
  • Alessandro Alessandri, Italian jurist (d. 1523)
  • Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1510)
  • Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (d. 1533)

Deaths

• February 2 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (executed)
• March 28 – John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford (in battle)
• March 29
  • Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (in battle) (b. 1421)
  • Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles
• April 8 – Georg Purbach, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1423)
• July 22 – King Charles VII of France (b. 1403)
• August 7
  • Cao Qin, Chinese general and rebel of the Ming dynasty
  • Wu Jin, Mongol officer in the Ming dynasty Chinese military
  • Kou Shen, head official of the Chinese Censorate (b. 1391)
  • Lu Gao, head of the Imperial Guard for the Ming dynasty of China
• September 23 – Charles, Prince of Viana, King of Navarre (b. 1421)
• October 7 – Jean Poton de Xaintrailles, follower of Joan of Arc (b. c. 1390)
• November 6 – John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (b. 1415)
• probable
  • Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow
  • Domenico Veneziano, Italian painter

References