*The Fifteenth Century 1450-1475* Return to home ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1450 May 8, Jack Cade's Rebellion-Kentishmen revolted against King Henry VI. (HN, 5/8/98) 1450 Jul 12, Jack Cade was slain in a revolt against British King Henry VI. (MC, 7/12/02) 1450 Oct 5, Jews were expelled from Lower Bavaria by order of Ludwig IX. (MC, 10/5/01) 1450 Oct 23, Juan de Capistrano (70), Italian saint, died. (MC, 10/23/01) 1450 Johannes Gutenberg began printing a bible with movable type in Mainz. He perfected interchangeable type that could be cast in large quantities and invented a new type of press. (NG, March 1990, p. 117)(WSJ, 10/31/96, p.A21)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14) 1450 Johannes Gutenberg was able to convince financier Johann Fust to loan him 800 guild-ers, a considerable sum. Gutenberg's experiments with printing were financed in large part by Fust, who later won a suit against Gutenberg to recoup his investment. Fust invested another 800 guilders in 1452, securing a partnership in Gutenberg's business. By 1455, impatient for results or perhaps simply due to estrangement from Gutenberg, Fust sued and won a settle-ment of just over 2,000 guilders: the sum of the two loans plus interest. Fust also gained control of Gutenberg's movable type and some of his printing equipment. Gutenberg was able to con-tinue some printing and eventually was granted a pension by the archbishop of Mainz in 1465. (HNQ, 1/12/01) c1450 In the mid 1400s Berbers took over the trade and learning centers of Timbuktu and Walata. (ATC, p.120) 1450 In Mexico City an Aztec cornerstone ceremony took place about this time intended to dedicate a new layer of building. In 2005 archeologists found a child found at the Templo Mayor ruins who was apparently killed as part of a ceremony dedicated to the war god Huitzilopochtli. (AP, 7/23/05) c1450 The Portuguese brought slaves to the uninhabited Cape Verde Island. (SFC, 8/5/98, p.A8) c1450 Legend has it that in the mid-15th century Vietnam, King Le Loi defeated Chinese in-vaders with a magic sword given to him by the gods. After the victory, the king was said to be boating on the lake when a giant golden turtle rose to the surface and grabbed the sword in its mouth before plunging deep into the water to return it to its divine owners. The lake was later renamed "Ho Hoan Kiem," which means "Lake of the Returned Sword." (AP, 11/3/03) c1450 The chiefs of Zimbabwe's gold producing provinces declared independence from Great Zimbabwe. A northern group led by King Mwene Mutapa conquered neighboring kingdoms and a new empire called Monomutapa was formed. (ATC, p.148) 1450-1455 Dieric Bouts painted "The Annunciation." The Getty Museum later acquired it for $7 mil-lion, but its authenticity was controversial. (WSJ, 4/9/99, p.W16) 1450-1460 The German Master E.S. made his drawing "Girl With a Ring." (WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20) 1450-1500 Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer. He discovered the Cape of Good Hope. (WUD, 1994, p.399) c1450-1500 Nyatsimba, Mwene Matapa or Monomotapa (Lord of the Plundered People or Ravager of the Lands), Chief of the Zimbabwe Empire. He conquered the middle Zambezi Valley and built stone citadels at Great Zimbabwe. He was known to have a corps of over 100 female bodyguards. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) c1450-1516 Hieronymus Bosch, painter was born. Hieronymous van Aken was born in the small Dutch Brabant city of 's-Hertogenbosch in Flanders. (AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.172)(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/11/01, p.A19) 1450-1532 The period of the Inca Empire. Inca mummies were later found on Mt. Ampato in 1995 and 1997. In 1998 archeologist found 6 frozen mummies sacrificed to Inca gods near the crater of the 19,100 foot El Misti volcano, 465 miles southeast of Lima, Peru. (SFEM, 4/13/97, p.16)(SFC,12/13/97, p.A14)(SFC, 10/3/98, p.C1) 1450-1650AD The Venetians occupied the capital city Crete, Iraklion. The forests of Crete provided the Venetians with cedars and firs for their fleets. (SFEC, 8/17/97, p.T10) 1450-1890 The period of the Little Ice Age. Temperatures over this period were a few degrees lower than during the 1900s. (SFC, 11/29/02, p.J6) 1451 Feb 3, Murad II, Ottoman sultan (1421-51), died of apoplexy. Mehmet II (19) became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He ruled until 1481. (ON, 10/00, p.10)(Ot, 1993, p.7)(MC, 2/3/02) 1451 Mar 9, Amerigo Vespucci (d.1512), Italian navigator, was born in Florence. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15384b.htm) 1451 Apr 22, Isabella I of Castile, Queen of Spain (1479-1504), patron of Christopher Colum-bus, was born in Madrigal, Spain. (HN, 4/22/98)(AP, 4/22/01)(MC, 4/22/02) 1451 Jun 28, An eclipse occurred that allegedly prevented the outbreak of war between the Mohawk and the Seneca Indians. (SCTS, p.6) 1451 Sep 21, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa ordered the Jews of Holland to wear a badge. (MC, 9/21/01) 1451 An Afghan named Buhlul invaded Delhi, and seized the throne. He founded the Lodi dy-nasty. (www.afghan, 5/25/98) 1451 In France Jacques Coeur was charged with poisoning Agnes Sorel, mistress to King Charles VII. Sorel had died in childbirth. Charles confiscated Coeur's property and put him in jail. Coeur escaped and fled to Rome. He died several years later fighting the Turks. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6) 1451 The Vatican Library was founded. (WSJ, 3/2/00, p.W10) 1451-1506 Christopher Columbus, was born in Genoa. He was probably the child of Spanish-Jewish parents exiled by the Inquisition. (V.D.-H.K.p.174) 1451 March 9, The birthday of Amerigo Vespucci (d.1512). He was the Italian navigator after whom America was named. He explored the New World coastline after Columbus. (CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.42)(AHD, p.1425) 1452 Mar 10, Ferdinand II, the Catholic King of Aragon (1479-1516) and Sicily (1468-1516), was born. He bankrolled Columbus and expelled Jews. (WUD, 1994 p.524)(MC, 3/10/02) 1452 Apr 15, Leonardo da Vinci (d.1519), Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary, was born in Vinci near Florence. He apprenticed to the painters Verrocchio and Antonio Pollaiuolo and was accepted to the Florentine painters' guild at twenty. Only seventeen surviving paintings can be attributed to him. These include: "The Last Supper" in Milan, the "Mona Lisa" and "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne" in the Louvre. He tried to express his immense knowledge of the world by simply looking at things. The secret he said was "saper vedere," to know how to see. His final "Visions of the End of the World" was a sketchbook in which he tried to depict his sense of the forces of nature, which in his imagination he conceived of as possessing a unity that no one had ever seen before. His use of a smoky atmosphere (sfumato) helped create an impression of lifelikeness. (V.D.-H.K.p.137)(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A16)(HN, 4/15/98) 1452 Jul 27, Ludovico Sforza (Ludovico il Moro, "The Moor," d.1508), Italian duke of Milan (1494-1500), was born. He was the second son of Francesco Sforza, and was famed as patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Sforza) 1452 Sep 21, Girolamo Savonarola (d.1498), was born in Ferrara. He became a Dominican monk, reformer, dictator of Florence (1494-98) and martyr. He was best known for his bonfires of the vanities in which corrupt books and images were set alight. (Hem.,4/97,p.53)(WUD, 1994, p.1272,1672)(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.W11)(MC, 9/21/01) 1452 Oct 2, King Richard III, of England (1483-85), was born. (MC, 10/2/01) 1452 The first pawn lender was founded in Perugia (Italy) by Franciscan monks to combat usury. (Econ, 5/27/06, p.73) 1452 Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II began construction of a new fortress called Rumeli Hisar on the Constantinople side of the Bosporus. He engaged Urban, a Hungarian engineer, to build a large canon and put him in charge of the canon foundries at Adrianople. (SFC, 9/1/96, BR p.8)(ON, 10/00, p.10) 1452-1510 Liu Jin, a court eunuch of the Ming dynasty in China. He abused his office to amass a great fortune and was executed for treason. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) 1453 Apr 6, Ottoman forces under Mehmet II opened fire on Constantinople. (ON, 10/00, p.11) 1453 Apr 22-1453 Apr 23, The Ottomans hauled 76 warships out of the water and dragged them on wood rails to bypass the Greek blockade of the Constantinople harbor. (ON, 10/00, p.12)(Ot, 1993, p.13) 1453 May 29, Constantinople fell to Muhammad II, ending the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, to the Ottoman Turks was led by Mehmed II. Emperor Constantine XI Dragases (49), the 95th ruler to sit on the throne of Constantine, was killed. The city of Constantinople fell from Christian rule and was renamed Istanbul. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque. Spice prices soared in Europe. Nicolo Barbaro wrote his "Diary of the Siege of Constantinople." Manuel Chrysophes, court musician to Constantine XI, wrote a thren-ody for the fall of Constantinople. In 2005 Roger Crowley authored ?1453 The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West.? (NH, 9/96, p.22)(Sky, 4/97, p.53)(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(ON, 10/00, p.12)(Ot, 1993, p.6)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A15)(SSFC, 8/14/05, p.F4) 1453 May 29, French banker Jacques Coeurs had his possessions confiscated. (SC, 5/29/02) 1453 Jul 4, 41 Jewish martyrs were burned at stake at Breslau, Poland. (Maggio) 1453 Jul 17, France defeated England at the 1st Battle at Castillon, France, ending the 100 Years' War. [see Oct 19] (HN, 7/17/98) 1453 Oct 19, In the 2nd Battle at Castillon: France beat England, ending the hundred year war. [see Jul 17] (MC, 10/19/01) 1453 Piero della Francesca (1415/1420-1492) began work on the "Legenda della Vera Croce" (The Legend of the True Cross) at the church of San Francesco in Arezzo. He was commis-sioned by the Bacci family of Arezzo to complete the work begun by Bicci de Lorenzo. (WSJ, 6/02/97, p.A20)(WSJ, 2/2/08, p.W14) 1453 In England Henry VI, of the house of Lancaster, suffered a nervous breakdown and Richard, the Duke of York, was named protector. (AM, 7/01, p.69) 1453 In Rome Agrippa?s Aqua Virgo was resuscitated as the Acqua Vergine Antica. (SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4) 1454 Feb 17, At a grand feast, Philip the Good of Burgundy took the "vow of the pheasant," by which he swore to fight the Turks. (HN, 2/17/99) 1454 Mar 6, Casimir proclaimed the attachment of Prussia to Polish rule. This began a 13-year war over Prussia (1454-1466). (LHC,3/6/03) 1454 Apr 9, The city states of Venice, Milan and Florence signed a peace agreement at Lodi, Italy. (HN, 4/9/99) 1454 Aug 22, Jews were expelled from Brunn Moravia by order of King Ladislaus. (MC, 8/22/02) 1455 Feb 23, Johannes Gutenberg (Johan Gensfleisch, c1400-1468) printed his 1st book, the Bible. Gutenberg printed Latin Bibles of which 11 were still extant in 1987. [see 1450] (SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)(MC, 2/23/02) 1455 Mar 18, Fra Angelico, Italian monk and Renaissance painter born around 1387 as Guido di Pietro, died. Fra Angelico gained a reputation as a painter under that name before joining the Dominicans in the 1420s. However, much of the influence found in his work is thought to come from Dominican teachings. He stayed at Dominican monasteries in Florence for most of his life doing a variety of religious painting until being called to Rome in 1445 by Pope Eugene IV, where he completed several chapel frescoes. Returning to Florence in the early 1450s, he died on a return visit to Rome in 1455 and is entombed at the church of Santa Maria della Minerva. In 1984 Fra Angelico was beatified by Pope John Paul II. (HNQ, 3/6/01)(http://gallery.euroweb.hu/bio/a/angelico/biograph.html)(WSJ, 11/9/05, p.D16) 1455 Apr 8, Alfonso de Borgia was elected as Pope Callistus III. (MC, 4/8/02) 1455 May 3, Jews fled Spain. (MC, 5/3/02) 1455 May 22, King Henry VI was taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, the 1st battle in the 30-year War of the Roses. The army of the Duke of York met the army of Queen Margaret at the Battle of St. Alban?s. The 2nd Duke of Somerset was killed as Yorkists briefly took possession of King Henry VI. (MH, 12/96)(HN, 5/22/99)(MC, 5/22/02) 1455 Aug 2, Johan Cicero, elector of Brandenburg (1486-99), was born. (MC, 8/2/02) 1455 Dec 1, Lorenzo Ghiberti (77), Italian sculptor, died. (MC, 12/1/01) 1455 The young Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II mobilized his army to march on Belgrade--and from there, possibly move on to the European heartland. (HN, 6/15/98) 1455 Some Portuguese had come to The Gambia following the expeditions promoted by Prince Henry. They had introduced groundnuts, tie main cash crop of today, cotton, and some tropical fruits from Brazil. Their number, however, was never large and they were soon ab-sorbed by intermarriage. (www.africanculture.dk/gambia/history.htm) 1455-1485 The War of the Roses. During the war Margaret of Anjou, wife of the feeble-minded King Henry VI, was head of the House of Lancaster whose heraldic badge was a red rose. She struggled against the House of York, whose badge was a white rose, for the control of the gov-ernment. (MH, 12/96) 1456 Mar 1, Wladyslaw Jagiello, king of Bohemia (1471-1516), Hungary (1490-1516), was born. (SC, 3/1/02) 1456 Jul 7, Joan of Arc was acquitted, even though she had already been burnt at the stake on May 30, 1431. (MC, 7/7/02) 1456 Jul 14, Hungarians defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Belgrade, in present-day Yugoslavia. The 1456 Siege of Belgrade decided the fate of Christendom. (HN, 7/14/98) 1456 Jul 22, At the Battle at Nandorfehervar (Belgrade), the Hungarian army under prince Ja-nos Hunyadi beat sultan Murad II. The siege of Belgrade had fallen into stalemate when a spontaneous fight broke out between a rabble of Crusaders, led by the Benedictine monk John of Capistrano, and the city's Ottoman besiegers. The melee soon escalated into a major battle, during which the Hungarian commander, Janos Hunyadi, led a sudden assault that overran the Turkish camp, ultimately compelling the wounded Sultan Mehmet II to lift the siege and retreat. (MC, 7/22/02)(PC, 1992, p.150)(HNPD, 7/23/98) 1456 Aug 11, Janos Hunyadi (69), Hungarian Prince and general strategist died of plague at about age 49. (PC, 1992, p.150)(MC, 8/11/02) 1456 Nov 25, Jacques Coeur, French merchant and banker, died in battle. (MC, 11/25/01) 1456 Dec 5, Earthquake struck Naples and 35,000 died. (MC, 12/5/01) 1456 Pope Calixtus III appointed his nephew Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol, later Pope Alexander VI, a cardinal. (PTA, 1980, p.424) 1456 A comet in the sky caused the Pope to issue a catchall edict to his followers to pray for deliverance from "The Devil, the Turk, and the Comet." (SFC, 3/28/97, p.A12) 1456-1496 Ercole de' Roberti, Italian artist. He was the predecessor to Dosso Dossi at the Ferrara court. (SFC, 4/27/99, p.C1) c1456-1856 Gypsies living in the principalities that today makeup Romania lived as slaves. [as stated in a work by Isabel Fonseca titled: "Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey." (WSJ, 10/19/95, A-18) 1457 Jan 28, Henry Tudor (later Henry VII), 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), was born in Pembroke Castle, Wales. (www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_vii_king.shtml) 1457 Nov 23, Ladislaus V (17), posthumous king of Hungary and Bohemia, died. (MC, 11/23/01) 1457 Aug 14, Gutenberg's financier Johann Fust and calligrapher Peter Schoffer published the 2nd printed book. This is the oldest known exactly dated printed book. (HN, 8/14/00)(MC, 8/14/02) 1457 Koshamain, an Ainu chieftain on the island of Hokkaido, led a rebellion against Japa-nese encroachment, but it was put down by Nobuhiro Takeda. (Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214) 1457 Pattani, later southern Thailand, was declared an Islamic kingdom. (AP, 9/23/05) 1457 King James II of Scotland (James of the Fiery Face) banned "Futeball" on the grounds that it threatened national defense by drawing young men away from archery practice. He banned "Golfe" for the same reason. "Nocht usit and utterlie cryit doun." (SFC, 8/10/96, p.E4)(Hem., 1/97, p.47) 1458 Jan 24, Matthias Corvinus (1440-1490), the son of John Hunyadi, was elected king of Hungary. Under his rule Hungary was the most important state in central Europe. For his fight-ing force he ordered every 20 houses to provide one horse soldier. "Husz" is 20 in Hungarian and so the light cavalryman became know as a Hussar. His illuminated breviary is held by the Vatican library. (WUD, 1994, p.1672)(Sky, 9/97, p.26)(HN, 1/24/99) 1458 Mar 2, Hussite George van Podiebrad was chosen king of Bohemia. (SC, 3/2/02) 1458 Jun 27, Alfonso V of Aragon died. Ferdinand I succeeded to the throne of Naples, but Pope Calixtus III declared the line of Aragon extinct and the kingdom a fief of the church. (Wikipedia) 1458 Filippino Lippi, painter, was born. His father was the Carmelite friar Fra Filippo and his mother was a nun. His work includes the drawing "Kneeling Male Saint," and the color painting "Male Saint Holding the Body of the Dead Christ." One of his students was Raffaellino del Garbo. (WSJ, 12/3/97, p.A20) 1458 Benedetto Cotrugli published the first known work on double-entry bookkeeping. It was invented in Italy around 1340. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55)(WSJ, 11/10/99, p.A20) 1459 Mar 2, Adrian VI [Adriaan F Boeyens], Netherlands, Pope (1522-23), was born. (SC, 3/2/02) 1459 Mar 3, Ausias March, Catalan poet, died. (SC, 3/3/02) 1459 May 2, Pierozzi Antoninus, Italian archbishop of Florence, saint, died. (MC, 5/2/02) 1459 May 12, Sun City, India, was founded by Rao Jodhpur. (MC, 5/12/02) 1459 Oct, The Lancastrians defeated the Yorkists at Ludford. (AM, 7/01, p.69) 1459 The Serbs fell under Turkish rule and all of Serbia became the property of the sultan and all Serbs became bond-slaves to the land. Serbian national identity survived with the resto-ration in 1557 of the Serbian patriarchate at Pec. (HNQ, 3/25/99) 1459-1519 Maximilian I. Holy Roman Emperor from 1493-1519. (WUD, 1994, p.886) 1459-1525 Jakob Fugger II, German banker. He minted his own money and maintained banks in every European capital. He held a contract for managing the Pope's money and collected cash for the remission of sins. He bankrolled the election of Charles V. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) 1459-1912 The Ottoman Empire ruled over the Kosova region of Serbia. (SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8) 1460 Apr 4, University of Basle, Switzerland, formed. (MC, 4/4/02) 1460 Apr 8, Ponce de Leon was born in Spain. He searched for fountain of youth and found Florida. (MC, 4/8/02) 1460 May 9, In the Netherlands the courtyard Episcopal palace at Atrecht had witch burnings. (MC, 5/9/02) 1460 Jun, English Yorkist earls returned and met Henry VI?s Lancastrian army at Northamp-ton. Henry was captured and taken to London to serve as a figurehead. (AM, 7/01, p.69) 1460 Jul 10, Wars of Roses: Richard of York defeated King Henry VI at Northampton. (MC, 7/10/02) 1460 Sep, The Duke of York returned to England from Ireland. The nobility would not allow his usurption of the crown but agreed to pass it to him on Henry?s demise. (AM, 7/01, p.69) 1460 Nov 13, Prince Henry the Navigator (b.1394), Portuguese prince and patron of explor-ers, died. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator) 1460 Dec 30, The English Duke of York, Richard Plantagenet, was killed by Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield. Queen Margaret hung his head over the gate of the city. (MH, 12/96)(HN, 12/30/98)(Econ, 12/18/10, p.111) 1460 The Ottomans conquered southern Greece. (AM, May/Jun 97 p.56) 1460s Benozzo Gozzoli, a pupil of Fra Angelico, painted a portrait of Christ titled "The Holy Face." (SFEC, 8/8/99, p.D7) 1460 Rogier van der Weyden painted his "Portrait of a Lady." (WSJ, 12/14/01, p.W20) 1460 In 2009 academic Julian Luxford found a note written in Latin by a medieval monk about this time that read when translated into English: "Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies." (AP, 3/14/09) 1460-1464 Rogier van der Weyden painted "The Lamentation Over the Body of the Dead Christ." (SFEC, 12/26/99, p.C17) 1460-1470 Machu Pichu was built under the Inca King Pachacuti in the Peruvian Andes. It was oc-cupied for about 50 years before 180 Spanish conquistadors wiped out a 40,000-man Inca army. In 2003 a nearby complex of structures called Llactapata (high city) was discovered. (SFC, 11/8/03, p.A2) 1460?-1526? Pedro Alvarez Cabral, Portuguese navigator, discovered and claimed Brazil for Portugal on April 22, 1500. (AHD, p.185)(HFA, '96, p.28) 1460-1550 Jack Eddy, solar physicist, examined tree ring data in the 1970s and found a dearth of solar activity during this period. (NG, 7/04, p.28) 1461 Feb 2-3, The English houses of York and Lancaster battled at Mortimer?s Cross, the Battle of the Three Suns. In the War of the Roses Edward of York defeated the Welsh Lancas-trians in the 2nd battle of St Alban's. (MH, 12/96)(AM, 7/01, p.69)(MC, 2/2/02) 1461 Feb 17, The Houses of York and Lancaster battled again at St. Alban?s. Queen Marga-ret defeated the Earl of Warwick and freed Henry VI. (MH, 12/96)(AM, 7/01, p.69) 1461 Mar 4, Henry VI was deposed and the Duke of York was proclaimed King as Edward IV and continued as King of England until 3 October 1470. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_of_England) 1461 Mar 29, Edward IV secured his claim to the English thrown in defeating Henry VI?s Lan-castrians at the battle of Towdon (Towton). Some 50,000 fought and an estimated 28,000 were killed as the War of the Roses continued. (AM, 7/01, p.69)(AM, 7/01, p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton) 1461 Jun 28, Edward IV was crowned king of England. (www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk/months/june.html) 1461 Aug 10, Alfonso ed Espina, bishop of Osma, urged an Inquisition in Spain. (MC, 8/10/02) 1461 The Pope's godson discovered a source of alum, used in dyes. This led to a booming business for the Catholic Church. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42) 1462 Jun 27, Louis XII, King of France (1498-1515), was born. (HN, 6/27/02) 1462-1464 Piero della Francesca, Italian artist, painted ?The Resurrection? about this time. (WSJ, 12/17/05, p.P14) 1462-1524 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer. (V.D.-H.K.p.174) 1463 Jan 5, French poet Francois Villon was banished from Paris. (MC, 1/5/02) 1463 Oct 29, Alessandro Achillini, Italian physician and philosopher, was born. (MC, 10/29/01) 1463 The Venetians regained southern Greece for a short period. (AM, May/Jun 97 p.56) 1463 The Ottomans conquered Bosnia. (www.bartleby.com/67/314.html) 1463-1494 Pico della Mirandola, born in the duchy of Ferrara and died in Florence. He studied Aris-totelian philosophy at Padua, and canon law at Bologna. He learned Hebrew, Aramaic and Ara-bic before he was twenty. He became acquainted with the Hebrew Kabbala and was the first to use cabalistic doctrine to support Christian theology. (V.D.-H.K.p.138) 1464 May 15, The English Houses of York and Lancaster battled at Hexham. Among the Lan-castrians the 3rd Duke of Somerset was killed. (MH, 12/96) 1464 Jun 18, Roger Van Der Weyden (b.1400), Flemish painter, died. He had mastered the new technique of oil painting and served as the official painter to the city of Brussels. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogier_van_der_Weyden)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.107) 1464 Jun 19, French King Louis XI formed a postal service. (MC, 6/19/02) 1464 Aug 1, Piero de Medici (1416-1469) succeeded his father, Cosimo, as ruler of Florence. He was nicknamed Il Gottoso (the Gouty One) and squandered the family fortune. (HN, 8/1/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) 1464 Mino da Fiesole sculpted the altar for Rome?s Santa Maria Maggiore. (WSJ, 10/22/96, p.A20) 1464 Desiderio da Settignano (b.~1439), Renaissance sculptor, died in Florence. (WSJ, 9/11/07, p.D6) 1464 Under the guidance of Sunni Ali, the Songhai began to conquer their neighbors and ex-pand their kingdom. Goa became the capital of the Songhai empire. When Sunni Ali died rule was passed to his son, a non-Muslim. (ATC, p.121) 1464-1471 Pope Paul II, Pietro Barbo, succeeded Pius II. He was responsible for a Papal Bull that established a 25-year interval between Holy Years. (PTA, 1980, p.418)(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15) 1465 Feb 11, Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII, was born in London. (MC, 2/11/02) 1465 The Nevill Feast at Cawood Castle in Yorkshire, England. 2,500 people were enter-tained. The guests ate over several days, 113 oxen, sic wild bulls, 1,000 sheep, 2,000 each of geese, pigs, and chickens, 12 porpoises, and 4,000 cold venison pasties. Such a feast would show how many fighting men a family could muster. (N.G., Nov. 1985, M. Girouard, p.74) 1465 King Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. (MH, 12/96) 1465-1487 In China during the Chenghua reign blended enamels over a blue underglaze decoration reached a classic stage of development. Lady Wan, consort of the emperor, was intimately as-sociated with porcelains and their design. (SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37) 1466 Mar 8, Francesco Sforza (b.1401), Italian condottiere, duke of Milan, died. He was the founder of the Sforza dynasty in Milan, Italy, and the brother of Alessandro, with whom he often fought. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Sforza) 1466 Oct 19, The peace of Torun ended the 13-year War of the Cities (1454-1466), between the Teutonic knights and their own disaffected subjects in Prussia. The Peace of Thorn (Torún) ended the war between the Teutonic knights (a German military and religious order) and their subjects in Prussia, led by King Casimir IV (1427-1492) of Poland. Poland was given Pomerelia and West Prussia, and the knights retained East Prussia, with a new capital at Königsberg (Ka-liningrad). The knights, formerly strictly a German order, were forced to accept Poles as mem-bers and their grand master became a vassal of the Polish king. (HN, 10/19/98)(http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/T/TeutonKn.html) 1466 Oct 26, Desiderius Erasmus (d.1536), scholar and author (In Praise of Folly), was born in Rotterdam. He was of illegitimate birth, but became a priest and a monk. He excelled in phi-lology, the study of ancient languages, namely Latin and Greek and worked on a new transla-tion of the New Testament. The more he studied it, the more he came to doubt the accuracy of the Vulgate, St. Jerome's translation into Latin, dating from around 400. "In Praise of Folly" is his most famous work... In it Erasmus had the freedom to discourse, in the ironic style of Lucian (the Greek author whose works he translated), concerning all the foolishness and misguided pompousness of the world. (V.D.-H.K.p.159-160)(MC, 10/26/01) 1466 Nov 30, Andrea Doria, Genoese statesman and admiral, was born. (MC, 11/30/01) 1466-1520 Montezuma II, Aztec emperor. He amassed great wealth through taxation in Mexico and Central America. He used his wealth to build his capital at Tenochtitlan. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) 1466?-1530 Quentin Massys, Flemish painter. He painted "The Moneylender and His Wife." (AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.882) 1466-1772 Danzig (Gdansk) was occupied by German religious-knights. (Voruta #27-28, Jul 1996, p.10) 1467 May, In Japan the 11-year Onin War began in Kyoto. In 1967 H. Paul Valery authored "The Onin War." (Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)(ON, 7/01, p.5) 1467 Jun 15, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, died. (HT, 6/15/00) 1468 Feb 3, Johannes Gutenberg (Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg b.c1400), German inventor of movable type, died. (SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)(WSJ, 9/14/00, p.A24) 1468 Feb 29, Pope Paul III was born. (SFC, 2/29/00, p.A1) 1468 Dec 3, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano succeeded their father, Piero de Medici, as rulers of Florence, Italy. (HN, 12/3/98) 1468 Juan Reixach created his panel of St. Vincent Ferrer in the Hispano-Flemish style. (WSJ, 3/2/05, p.D9) 1468 Skanderbeg of Albania died and the Turks absorbed Albania into the Ottoman Empire. Over the next five centuries most Albanians converted to Islam. (CO, Grolier?s / Albania)(www, Albania, 1998) c1468 The area around Bosnia was occupied by the Turks in the late 15th cent. (SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10) 1469 Apr 15, The guru Nanak (d.1539), 1st guru of Sikhs, was born to Hindu parents in La-hore. Nanak assimilated tenets of pantheistic Hinduism and monotheistic Islam and founded Sikhism in the Punjab. He refused to accept the caste system and the supremacy of the Brah-manical priests and forbade magic, idolatry and pilgrimages. Brahma is the Hindu god of crea-tion. Turbaned followers would sport the main of the lion, Singha or Sikh. The sacred Sikh book, Granth Sahib, was compiled by the 5th guru, Arjun, in 1605. (WUD, 1994, p.1326)(Hem., 3/97, p.28)(SFEM, 9/19/99, p.74)(SFC, 9/22/99, p.E1)(WSJ, 10/12/01, p.W17)(MC, 4/15/02) 1469 May 3, Nicolo Machiavelli (d.1527), political advisor and author, was born. He was a his-torian and author of "The Prince." He saw in Cesare Borgia, the bastard son of Pope Alexander VI, the prospect of an Italy free of foreign control. "Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations." (V.D.-H.K.p.109)(AP, 11/15/98)(HN, 5/3/99) 1469 May 19, Giovanni della Robbia, Italian sculptor, was born. (MC, 5/19/02) 1469 May 31, Manuel I, king of Portugal (1495-1521), was born. (HN, 5/31/98) 1469 Oct 17, Crown prince Fernando of Aragon married princess Isabella of Castile. (MC, 10/17/01) 1469 Dec 3, Piero de' Medici (53), ruler of Florence, died. (MC, 12/3/01) 1469 Fra Filippo Lippi, a Carmelite friar and painter and father of Filippino Lippi, died. Sandro Botticelli was one of his students. (WSJ, 12/3/97, p.A20) 1469-1472 The islands of Sao Tome and Principe were discovered by Portuguese navigators and settled by 1500. (AP, 7/18/03) 1469 Apr 15, The guru Nanak (d.1539), 1st guru of Sikhs, was born to Hindu parents in La-hore. Nanak assimilated tenets of pantheistic Hinduism and monotheistic Islam and founded Sikhism in the Punjab. He refused to accept the caste system and the supremacy of the Brah-manical priests and forbade magic, idolatry and pilgrimages. Brahma is the Hindu god of crea-tion. Turbaned followers would sport the main of the lion, Singha or Sikh. The sacred Sikh book, Granth Sahib, was compiled by the 5th guru, Arjun, in 1605. (WUD, 1994, p.1326)(Hem., 3/97, p.28)(SFEM, 9/19/99, p.74)(SFC, 9/22/99, p.E1)(WSJ, 10/12/01, p.W17) 1470 Mar 2, In England at Lose Coat Field, canon under Edward IV turned a group of Lin-colnshire rebels into a panicked mob. (MH, 12/96) 1470 Jun 30, Charles VIII, King of France (1483-98), invaded Italy, was born. One of his feet had 6 toes which prompted his wearing broad, square tip shoes. (HN, 6/30/98)(SFC, 3/13/99, p.E6) 1470 Oct 9, Henry VI of England was restored to the throne. (HN, 10/9/98) 1470 Nov 1, Edward V, King of England, was born. [see Nov 3] (HN, 11/1/98) 1470 Nov 3, Edward V, King of England (Apr 9-Jun 25 1483), was born. [see Nov 1] (MC, 11/3/01) 1470 The earliest documented work by Botticelli was made. "Fortitude" was an allegory por-traying a woman who embodies the virtue of inner strength. (SFC, 6/20/97, p.A9) 1470 The first book printed in France was an ornate ninth-century transcript produced for the grandson of Charlemagne. It is held by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. (WSJ, 9/26/95, p.A-20) 1470 In Portugal Princess Juana popularized the farthingale, a wide-hipped skit stiffened by whale bone. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R40) c1470 The Quechua-speaking Incas came to dominate what is now Bolivia a mere 75 years before the Spaniards arrived. (NH, 11/96, p.37) 1470-1650 The period of the second of four waves of rising prices over the last 800 years as de-scribed by David Hackett Fisher in his 1996 book: "The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History." (WSJ, 12/19/96, p.A16) 1471 Mar 22, George van Podiebrad, king of Bohemia (1458-71), died. (MC, 3/22/02) 1471 Mar, Edward IV returned to England. (MH, 12/96) 1471 Apr 11, King Edward IV of England captured London from Henry VI in the War of the Roses. (MC, 4/11/02) 1471 Apr 14, On Easter Sunday Edward IV led an army of mercenaries and Yorkists at the Battle of Barnet and defeated the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick. Richard Neville Warwick (42), 2nd earl of Salisbury, was killed in battle. Margaret of Anjou returned from France. With her son, the Prince of Wales, she planned to join with Jasper Tudor, a Welsh ally, and attack Edward west of London. (MH, 12/96)(HN, 4/14/00) 1471 May 4, The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians in the Battle of Tewkesbury between the English House of Lancaster and House of York. King Edward IV routed the forces of ex-queen Margaret. The Lancastrian forces were led by Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset. Ed-ward, the 17-year-old prince of Wales, was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury. (MH, 12/96)(HN, 5/4/99)(www.britainexpress.com/History/battles/tewkesbury.htm) 1471 May 6, The 4th Duke of Somerset and other Lancastrian nobles were beheaded at the Tewkesbury marketplace after trial presided over by the Duke of Gloucester, Constable of Eng-land. (MH, 12/96) 1471 May 21, Henry VI, king of England (1422-61, 70-71) and France (1431-71), was killed in the tower of London and Edward IV took the throne. (HN, 5/21/98) 1471 Jul 15, Eskender (d.1494), Emperor of Ethiopia, was born. Eskender was killed at age 22 fighting the Maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskender) 1471 Jul 25, Thomas A. Kempis (91), [Thomas Hammerken von Kempen], German writer, monk, died. His popular "Imitation of Christ" went through 99 editions by the end of the century. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(Internet) 1471 Jul 26, Pope Paul II died. (PTA, 1980, p.418) 1471 Aug 7, Francesco Della Rovere succeeded Paul II as Pope Sixtus IV. (PTA, 1980, p.420) 1471 In Pec, Kosovo, the Qarshise Mosque was built. It was destroyed by Serbs in 1999. (SFC, 9/7/99, p.A12) 1471-1474 A particular Spanish, copper-based coin called a blanca was issued. (NH, 10/96, p.24) 1471-1528 Albrecht Durer, German artist. He is particularly known for his woodcuts for book illustra-tions. (SFEC, 2/9/97, DB p.6)(WSJ, 11/7/00, p.A24) 1472 Mar 28, Fra Bartolommeo (d.1517), Florentine Renaissance painter, was born. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fra_Bartolommeo) 1472 Apr 15, Leon Battista Alberti (b.1404), Italian humanist, architect (Philodoxis), died. He wrote the 1st Italian grammar, the 1st theory of painting as an art, and the treatise "On the Art of Building." In 1970 Joan Gadol authored a biography. In 2000 Anthony Grafton authored the bi-ography "Leon Battista Alberti." (WSJ, 11/30/00, p.A20)(MC, 4/15/02) 1472 Hans Memling painted ?The Virgin and Child With St. Anthony Abbot and Donor.? (SFC, 10/18/05, p.D2) 1472 In Siena the Monte dei Paschi began taking deposits and making loans to the poor at better rates than the moneylenders. As of 2009 this was the oldest existing bank. Clerical groups had already established "monti di pieta" (mounds of money for charity). In Siena the original capital came from taxes. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R48)(Econ, 11/3/07, p.101)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.74) 1472 The Orkney Islands were part of Norway until this year. (SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T3) 1472-1553 Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter and graphic artist. He painted "Cardinal Albrecht as St. Jerome." (AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.339) 1473 Feb 19, The astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) was born in Torun, Poland. He prom-ulgated the theory that the earth and the planets move around the sun. (WUB, 1994, p. 322)(HN, 2/19/98)(AP, 2/19/98) 1473 Lorenzo de Medici, Italian banker and poet, wrote: "It is hard to live in Florence if you do not control the state." (WSJ, 1/19/04, p.A12) 1473 The game of golf was played in Scotland at the Old course at St. Andrews. (SFC, 6/25/95, p.T-7) 1473-1474 The book "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye" was translated and printed from the French by William Caxton. A copy sold in 1998 for $1.2 million. (SFC, 7/9/98, p.A12) 1474 Mar 21, Angela Merici, Italian monastery founder, saint, was born. (MC, 3/21/02) 1474 May 9, Peter van Hagenbach, Elzasser knight, land guardian, was beheaded. (MC, 5/9/02) 1474 Sep 8, Ludovico Ariosto, Italy, poet (Orlando Furioso), was born. (MC, 9/8/01) 1474 Nov 27, Guillaume Dufay (b.1399), French-Flemish composer, died. His work included "Ecclesiae militantis," a 5-part motet on Pope Eugenius IV?s short-lived supremacy over the Eastern Orthodox Church. (WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A15)(MC, 11/27/01) 1474 Dec 12, Isabella crowned herself queen of Castilia & Aragon. (MC, 12/12/01) 1474 Bartolome de Las Casas (d.1566), ?Apostle to the Indians,? was born in Seville, Spain. (http://tinyurl.com/brzzu) c1474 Ercole de' Roberti, Italian artist, painted "St. Jerome in the Wilderness." (SFC, 4/27/99, p.C1) 1474 By this year Venice passed a patent statute that included many of the elements of mod-ern patent laws. (www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-23-4-a-the-origins-of-patent-and-copyright-law.html) c1474-1478 Leonardo da Vinci created his portrait "Ginevra de Benci." (WSJ, 12/14/01, p.W20) 1474-1515 Mariotto Albertinelli, painter. He painted "The Visitation." (AAP, 1964) 1474-1556 Bartolome de Las Casas, a Dominican priest, made a copy of the original log of Colum-bus? voyage from a copy given to Columbus before his 2nd voyage. It is the only surviving copy. (NH, 10/96, p.23) 1475 Mar 6, Michelangelo Buonarroti (d.1564), painter, sculptor and architect, was born. His early mentor was Bertoldo di Giovanni, a pupil of Donatello. His work included "The Creation of Adam" and the "Pieta Rondanini." He at one time proposed to sculpt the 5,000 foot Monte Sagro in Carrara into the statue of a giant. (WUB, 1994, p. 904)(WSJ, 2/29/96, p.A-14)(AAP, 1964)(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T11)(SFEC,10/19/97, p.T4)(HN, 3/6/98) 1475 Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol, later Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), was born. He was made a church cardinal before his 20th birthday. (SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3) c1475 Andrea del Verrochio created his sculpture "Sleeping Youth." (WSJ, 1/29/02, p.A18) c1475 Dieric Bouts, Flemish painter, created his painting "Virgin and Child." (SFEC, 12/19/99, DB p.42) 1475 Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the Holy Year by building the Sistine Chapel and the Sixtus Bridge over the Tiber River. (SFC, 12/24/99, p.A15) 1475-1476 Petrus Christus (b. c1415), Netherlandish painter, died in Brugge. (www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=2806) 1475 In China?s Yunnan province the old Jihong Bridge over the Lancang River was rein-forced with 18 iron chains over the 280-foot chasm. (SFEC, 10/6/96, T5) 1475 British fishermen lost access to fishing grounds off Iceland due to a war in Europe. The cod catch did not go down and it is presumed that they had discovered the cod-rich waters off Newfoundland, whose discovery was later attributed to John Cabot. (SFEM, 11/15/98, p.23) 1475 The Olavinlinna castle was founded by the governor of Viipuri on the border between Sweden-Finland and Russia. (SFEC, 4/11/99, p.T4) 1475-1495 An 11-piece set of tapestries were created with scenes from the Trojan War. They in-cluded "The Death of Troilus, Achilles and Paris." They were later housed at the Museo Cat-edralicio, Zamora, Spain. (WSJ, 4/11/02, p.AD7) 1475-1509 Italian architects invited by Ivan III built the Kremlin Cathedrals of the Assumption and the Archangel. (DVD, Criterion, 1998) Go to 1476AD