1480s

This is a list of events occurring in the 1480s, ordered by year.

1480

January–December

• March 6 – Treaty of Toledo: Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain recognize the African conquests of Afonso of Africa, and he cedes the Canary Islands to Spain. (?? see Treaty of Alcáçovas )
• July 28
  • Mehmed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes.
  • An Ottoman army lands near Otranto, Italy. Pope Sixtus IV calls for a crusade to drive it away.
• August 12 - Ottoman invasion of Otranto - Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam. The Martyrs of Otranto are canonized in 2013.
• September 27 – Consorts and co-rulers Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile initiate the Spanish Inquisition (looking for heretics and unconverted Jews).
• October – Great stand on the Ugra river: Muscovy becomes independent from the Golden Horde. The Theotokos of Vladimir icon is credited with saving Moscow.

Date unknown

• The Lighthouse of Alexandria's final remains disappear when Qaitbay, Sultan of Egypt, builds the Citadel of Qaitbay on its site.
• Magdalen College School, Oxford, established by William Waynflete.

1481

January–December

• May 3 – Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Bayezid II.
• May 21 – Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway dies and is succeeded by his son John (1481–1513).
• June 21 – The papal bull Aeterni regis grants all land south of the Canary Islands to Portugal.
• August 29 – John II of Portugal starts to rule in his own right.
• September 10 – Alphonso II of Naples recaptures the city of Otranto.
• December 26 – Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats the troops of Utrecht.

Date unknown

• With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou reverts to the French crown under Louis XI of France.
• Symeon I succeeds Maximus III as Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Ludovico Sforza emerges as Regent of Milan (until 1499).
• Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies and is succeeded by his brother Tízoc.
• Fribourg and Solothurn become Cantons of Switzerland.
• Fire destroys the roof and the spires of the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Rheims.
• The Aztec Calendar Stone or Sun Stone is carved.

1482

• March 27 – Death of Mary of Burgundy triggers the first of the Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria.
• August 1 – Anglo-Scottish Wars: Richard, Duke of Gloucester invades Scotland and captures Edinburgh.^[1]
• August 24 – Capture of Berwick: Scots surrender the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed to Richard, ending his campaign.^[1]

Undated

• The Portuguese erect the Fort of Sao Jorge de Mina (Fort Elmina) near the mouth of the River Benya on the Gold Coast.
• Tizoc rules the Aztecs.
• Diogo Cão, a Portuguese navigator, becomes the first European to sail up the Congo.
• Ivan III renounces the Mongol Khanate rule over Russia.
• Johann Reuchlin visits Florence and meets Marsilio Ficino.
• Johannes Trithemius becomes a novice at the abbey of St. Martin at Sponheim in the diocese of Mainz.

1483

January–December

• January 1 – Jews are expelled from Andalusia.
• February 11 – Creation of the General Council of Inquisition in Spain.
• April 9 – Edward V becomes King of England.
• April 29 – Gran Canaria, the main of the Canary Islands is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile, very important step in the expansion of Spain.
• April 30 – Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit until July 23, 1503, according to modern orbital calculations.
• April – King Edward V of England and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York reside in the Tower of London. Later this year, rumors of their murders start circulating. By December the rumors have reached France. This is the beginning of the mystery concerning the fates of the two Princes in the Tower.
• June 13 – William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, is executed, in the first recorded execution at the Tower of London.
• June 20 – The powerful Fernando II, Duke of Braganza is executed in Portugal, followed by more than 80 other noblemen, for his plot against the Royal crown.
• June 25 – Before his coronation, King Edward V of England is deposed by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who becomes King as Richard III of England.
• July 6 – Richard III is crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey.
• July 20 – John of Denmark is crowned King of Norway.
• August 9 – The Sistine Chapel opens in the Apostolic Palace in Rome.
• September 3 – The Princes in the Tower, uncrowned 12-year-old Edward V of England and his 10-year-old brother, Richard, Duke of York, are perhaps murdered this night in the Tower of London.^[2]
• October – A rebellion by the Duke of Buckingham is crushed by Richard III of England.

Date unknown

• Isaac Abravanel flees Portugal after being implicated in a plot against the king.
• The Prince of Moscow builds the fortress of Ivangorod facing Narva.
• Giovanni Bellini is named official painter of the Republic of Venice.
• Flavio Biondo publishes his Historiarum ab inclinatione romanorum imperii.

1484

January–December

• March 26 – William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, prints his translation of Aesop's Fables.
• May 14 – Charles VIII of France (Charles l'Affable) is crowned.
• July 6 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
• July 22 – Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, is defeated by forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas is captured.
• August 29 – Pope Innocent VIII succeeds Pope Sixtus IV as the 213th pope.
• September 21 – Treaty of Nottingham: Three-year truce between the kingdoms of England and Scotland signed.
• December 5 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the Papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus giving the inquisition a mission to hunt heretics and witches in Germany, led by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.

Date unknown

• The first sugar mill becomes operational in the Gran Canaria.
• The first cuirassier units (kyrissers) are formed in Austria.
• The King of Portugal appoints a commission of mathematicians to perfect tables to help seamen find their latitude.
• Maximilian I, Duke of Burgundy, orders foreign merchants to leave Bruges. Most merchants move to Antwerp, greatly contributing to its growth as an international trading center.
• The Imperial Army of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated by the Hungarians in the Battle of Leitzersdorf.

1485

January–December

• Spring – Multiple earthquakes near Taishan, China
• June 1 – Matthias of Hungary takes Vienna in his conquest of Austria (from Frederick III) and makes the city his capital.
• August 5–August 7 – The first outbreak of sweating sickness in England begins.
• August 22 – The Battle of Bosworth is fought between the armies of King Richard III of England and rival claimant to the throne of England Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Richard dies in battle and Henry Tudor becomes King Henry VII of England.
• September 12 – Muscovian forces take hold of Tver.
• September 15 – Peter Arbues is assaulted while praying in the cathedral at Zaragoza, Spain; he dies on September 17. He had been appointed Inquisitor of Aragon by the Inquisitor General, Tomás de Torquemada, in the campaign against heresy and crypto-Judaism.
• October 30 – King Henry VII of England is crowned.
• November 2 – The Peace of Bourges freezes the Mad War.

Date unknown

• Leon Battista Alberti's De Re Aedificatoria (written 1443–52 and published posthumously) becomes the first printed work on architecture.
• From about this date, Leonardo da Vinci produces a number of designs for flying machines, including the aerial screw or helicopter (probably unworkable).^[3]

1486

January–December

• January 18 – King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York are married, uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York after the Wars of the Roses.
• February 16 – Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt (crowned April 9 at Aachen).

Date unknown

• Tízoc, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies. Some sources suggest that he was poisoned, others that he was the victim of "sorcery" or illness. He is succeeded by his brother Auitzotl.
• Sigismund, Archduke of Tyrol, issues Europe's first large silver coin, the guldengroschen, which will later become the thaler.
• Giovanni Pico della Mirandola returns to Florence and writes Oration on the Dignity of Man.
• The Medici giraffe arrives in Florence.
• Johann Reuchlin begins studying the Hebrew language.

1487

January–December

• January 29 – Richard Foxe becomes Bishop of Exeter.
• March – Archduke Sigismund of Austria, largely on the poor advice of his counselors, declares war on Venice and seizes silver mines in and around the Valsugana Valley.
• May 24 – Lambert Simnel is crowned King "Edward VI of England" in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland. He claims to be Edward, Earl of Warwick and challenges Henry VII for the throne of England.
• June 16 – Battle of Stoke Field: The rebellion of pretender Lambert Simnel, led by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, and Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell, is crushed by troops loyal to Henry VII.
• August – Bartolomeu Dias leaves Lisbon on his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.
• August 13 – End of the Siege of Malaga (1487), when the Spanish take Málaga.
• September 9 – Hongzhi becomes Emperor of China (Ming dynasty).
• 30 November – Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria promulgated the Reinheitsgebot, specifying three ingredients – water, malt and hops – for the brewing of beer.

Date unknown

• Afonso de Paiva and Pero da Covilhã travel overland from Lisbon in search of the Kingdom of Prester John (Ethiopia).
• The witch-hunters' manual Malleus Maleficarum, written by Heinrich Kramer with James Sprenger, is published at Speyer in the Holy Roman Empire.
• Aztec emperor Auitzotl dedicates the Great Temple Pyramid of Tenochtitlán with thousands of human sacrifices.
• Italian architects work on the Moscow Kremlin.
• Leonardo da Vinci creates his "Vitruvian Man" drawing (approximate date).
• Stockport Grammar School founded in the north of England.

1488

January–December

• January 8 – Royal Netherlands Navy is formed by decree of Maximillian of Austria.
• February 3 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south and entering the Indian Ocean.
• February 28 – Ch'oe Pu (1454–1504), the Korean Commissioner of Registers for the island of Cheju, shipwrecks on the southeast coast of China in Taizhou, Zhejiang, during the Ming Dynasty. From then until July 12 he and his crew are hosted by Chinese military courier officers to travel along the Grand Canal of China, all the way to Beijing, and then finally back across the Yalu River into Korea. His written commentary on Chinese customs, foreign and domestic trade, and transport in places such as Hangzhou and Suzhou are valuable records of Ming era culture and commerce.
• June 11 – Battle of Sauchieburn leads to James IV of Scotland becoming king.
• July 28 – Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier: Troops loyal to King Charles VIII of France defeat rebel forces led by the Dukes of Orleans and Brittany in the main engagement of the Mad War.
• September 9 – Anne of Brittany becomes Duchess of Brittany at the age of 11. Her marriage to King Charles VIII in 1491 effectively ends Breton independence from France.

Date unknown

• Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford, takes possession of Cardiff Castle.
• Michelangelo Buonarroti becomes apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio.
• The city of Bikaner in western India is founded by Rao Bika.
• Rathbornes Candles established in Dublin; the company will still be trading into the 21st century.

1489

January–December

• March 14 – The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice.
• March 26 – The Treaty of Medina del Campo between England and Spain includes provision for a marriage between Arthur, the son of King Henry VII of England, and Princess Catherine of Aragon.
• July 17 – Delhi Sultanate: Sikandar Lodi succeeds Bahlul Khan Lodi as sultan.
• November 29 – Arthur Tudor is named Prince of Wales.
• December 11 – Jeannetto de Tassis is appointed Chief Master of Postal Services in Innsbruck; his descendants, the Thurn und Taxis family, later run much of the postal system of Europe.

Date unknown

• Typhus first appears in Europe during the siege of Granada.
• A gold coin equal to one pound sterling, called a sovereign, is issued for Henry VII of England.
• King Henry VII of England gives a city charter to Southwold.
• Lucas Watzenrode becomes bishop of Warmia.
• Johannes Widmann publishes his mercantile arithmetic Behende und hüpsche Rechenung auff allen Kauffmanschafft in Leipzig containing the first printed use of plus and minus signs, to indicate trading surpluses or shortages.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References