1476 Dec 24, Some 400 Burgundy soldiers froze to death during
the siege of Nancy.
(MC, 12/24/01)
1476 Dec 26, Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Il Sforza del Destino), duke
of Milan, was murdered.
(MC, 12/26/01)
1476 The Swiss overcame Burgundy’s Charles the Bold at the Battle
of Murten.
(SSFC, 5/26/02, p.C5)
1476-1477 An edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was printed by William
Caxton. A copy of the red, leather-bound edition sold at auction in 1998
for $7.5 million.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A12)
1476-1507 Cesare Borgia, Italian cardinal, military leader and politician.
(WUD, 1994, p.171)
1477 Jan 5, Swiss troops defeated the forces under Charles the
Bold of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1477 Nov 18, William Claxton published the first dated book printed
in England. "Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers," by Earl Rivers.
It was a translation from the French. [see 1473/1474]
(HN, 11/18/99)
1477 Future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, a member of the Habsburg
family of Austria, married Mary of Burgundy, heiress of all the Netherlands.
In 1996 Andrew Wheatcroft wrote a history of the Habsburgs: "The Habsburgs."
(WSJ, 1/19/96, p.A-12)(SFEM, 6/28/98, p.6)
1477-1576 Titian (Titziano Vecellio), Italian painter. He painted "Venus
and Adonis and Allegory" with subjects Alfonso d’Este and Laura Diante.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.1488)
1478 Feb 7, Sir Thomas Moore (d.1535), English humanist, statesman
and writer, was born in London. He was best friend of Erasmus, and called
by Erasmus: "a man for all seasons." He studied law and rose to the post
of lord chancellor after the fall of Cardinal Wolsey. More would not accept
Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon nor his subsequent marriage
to Anne Boleyn. The king had charges of treason filed and More was beheaded
on July 6, 1535. He was canonized in 1935. The 1966 film "A man for All
Seasons" was based on his life. He is famous for "Utopia."
(V.D.-H.K.p.160)(CU, 6/87)(WUD, 1994, p.931)(HN, 2/7/99)
1478 Feb 18, George, the Duke of Clarence, who had opposed his
brother Edward IV, was murdered in the Tower of London. George underwent
forced drowning in a wine barrel ("A butt of Malmsey").
(HN, 2/18/99)(MC, 2/18/02)
1478 Apr 26, Pazzi conspirators attacked Lorenzo de'Medici but
killed Giuliano de'Medici (~24), Medeheerser of Florence.
(HN, 4/26/98)(MC, 4/26/02)
1478 Ten years after the death of Skanderbeg, his citadel at Kruje
was finally taken by the Ottoman Turks and Albania fell into obscurity
during several centuries of Turkish rule.
(HNQ, 10/5/98)(www, Albania, 1998)
1478 In Japan the Onin War ended after rival warlords died of
natural causes. Shogun Yoshimasa disinherited his brother and abdicated
in favor of his son.
(ON, 7/01, p.5)
1478 The Swiss began annexing the southern approaches to the strategic
and lucrative St. Gothard Pass over the Alps.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, p.T4)
1478-1483 The Gubbio Studiola was constructed in the shop of the Florentine
woodworker Giuliano da Maiana. The wood inlay art of intarsia was used
whereby the carving was done by knife rather than with saws. It was purchased
by the NY Metropolitan in 1939.
(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A12)
1478-1529 Baldassare Castiglione, Italian diplomat and author. He wrote
the "Book of the Courtier," in which the term sprezzatura was coined. It
described the art of making the difficult seem effortless.
(WUD, 1994, p.230)(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A12)
1478?-1533? Jan Gossaert (Mabuse), Flemish painter. He painted "St Luke
Drawing the Virgin Mary."
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.858)
1479 Mar 26, Vasili III, great prince of Moscow (1505-33), son
of Ivan III, was born.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1479 Sep 4, After four years of war, Spain agreed to allow a Portuguese
monopoly of trade along Africa's west coast and Portugal acknowledged Spain's
rights in the Canary Islands.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1479 Nov 6, Johanna, the Insane, Queen of Castilia (1504-20),
was born.
(MC, 11/6/01)
1479 Shkodra fell to the Ottoman Turks. Subsequently, many
Albanians fled to southern Italy, Greece, Egypt, and elsewhere; many remaining
were forced to convert to Islam.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1479 In Bosnia the Turks erected a mosque in the center of Banja
Luka. It was leveled by the Serbs in 1993.
(WSJ, 8/26/98, p.A1)
1480 Feb 13, Hieronymus Alexander, [Gir¢lamo Aleandro], Italian
diplomat, cardinal, was born.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1480 Apr 18, Lucretia Borgia (d.1519), murderess, was born. Lucrezia
Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara, was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, and
the sister and political pawn of Cesare Borgia. She was also considered
a patroness of the arts.
(HN, 4/18/98)(WUD, 1994, p.171)
1480 Giovanni Bellini painted "St. Francis in the Desert."
(WSJ, 1/14/00, p.W12)
1480 Sandro Botticelli painted "The Birth of Venus."
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A16)
1480 Bartolomeo Saachi de Platina had a cookbook printed titled:
"De honesta voluptate et valetudine." In 1997 it was valued at $37,000.
(SFC, 2/19/96, zz-1 p.2)
1480 The Spanish Inquisition was introduced by Ferdinand and
Isabella to enable the crown to control the inquiries into whether or not
converted Jews were really secret "Judaizers" who kept their original faith.
"The Spanish Inquisition," a history of the Inquisition was written by
Henry Kamen and a new edition was published in 1998.
(WSJ, 4/16/98, p.A1)
1480 In Hamburg a pioneering labor market appeared for hiring
day workers.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1480-1520 In France the fortress at Bonaguil in the Quercy province
was built by a baron as a bulwark against his vassals.
(SFEC, 7/11/99, p.T4)
1480-1521 Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator. He was assigned
the task of finding a route to the Spice Islands.
(V.D.-H.K.p.177)
1480-1533 A huge Inca cemetery was active in Lima at this time. It was
uncovered in 2002 with some 2,200 mummies.
(SFC, 4/18/02, p.A4)
1480-1538 Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter. He painted "Martyrdom
of St. Florian." He also painted a depiction of Alexander’s 333BC defeat
of Darius at Issus.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.43)(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W11)
1480-1557 Lorenzo Lotto, Italian painter, celebrated as a realist and
a man of religious fervor.
(WSJ, 1/15/98, p.A17)
1481 Mar 2, Franz von Sickingen, German knight, was born.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1481 Aug 30, Two Latvian monarchs were executed for conspiracy
to murder Polish king Kazimierz IV.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1481 Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II died at age 60. Kritovoulos authored
"History of Mehmet the Conqueror" in the 15th century.
(ON, 10/00, p.12)
1481-1512 Beyazid II followed Mehmed II in the Ottoman House of Osman.
(Ot, 1993, xvii)
1481-1530 In Spain the first burnings of 8 people occurred as a result
of the Inquisition trials. Over this period some 2000 people were burned.
(WSJ, 4/16/98, p.A20)
1482 Sep 1, Krim-Tataren plundered Kiev.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1482 A Milanese Duke commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to make an
equine statue that would have been the largest in the world. A clay cast
was made over 16 years but the appropriated bronze was used for cannons
and the clay cast was destroyed when the Duke’s castle fell to French invaders.
(Hem., 12/96, p.19)
1482 In Ghana Elmina Castle was built by Portuguese traders. It
later became a slave holding castle.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T10)
1482 Captain Diego Cao sailed south along the African coast and
landed at the mouth of the Zaire (Congo) River. He left four servants and
took four Africans hostage back to his king, John, in Portugal. This was
the first European encounter with the vast kingdom of the Kongo.
(ATC, p.149)
1482 The Ginkaku Temple, also known as the Silver Pavilion was
built in Kyoto, Japan. The Shogun who built it died before its completion
and it remains without silver.
(Hem., 2/96, p.58)
1483 Feb 14, Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, prince, founder
Mughal dynasty in India (1526-30), was born.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1483 Apr 6, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, d.1520), Dutch painter
(Sistine Madonna), was born to an unremarkable painter in the Duchy of
Urbino. He went on to paint famous works in the Vatican. After an apprenticeship
in Perugia, he went to Florence, having heard of the work da Vinci and
Michelangelo were doing. His last 12 years were spent on numerous commissions
in Rome. He died on his 37th birthday, his funeral mass being celebrated
in the Vatican. .
(HN, 4/6/98)(HNQ, 11/17/00)
1483 Apr 9, Edward IV (38), King of England (1461-70, 71-83) died.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1483 Jun 25, Edward V, king of England (Apr 9-Jun 25, 1483), was
murdered.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1483 Jun 26, Richard III, Duke of Gloucester, usurped himself
to the English throne.
(HN, 6/26/98)(MC, 6/26/02)
1483 Jul 6, England's King Richard III was crowned.
(AP, 7/6/97)
1483 Aug 9, Pope Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine
Chapel, which was named in his honor.
(HN, 8/9/98)
1483 Oct 17, The Reverend Dr. Tomas de Torquemada, OP, was appointed
inquisitor-general of Spain.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1483 Nov 2, Henry Stafford (49), earl of Buckingham and constable
of England, was beheaded during the reign of Richard III.
(HT, 3/97, p.20)(MC, 11/2/01)
1483 Nov 10, Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation,
was born in Eisleben, Germany. He was a monk in the Catholic Church until
1517, when he founded the Lutheran Church. He died in 1546.
(V.D.-H.K.p.163)(Voruta #27-28, Jul 1996, p.10)(SFC, 7/21/97,
p.A11)(AP, 11/10/97)
1483 When King Vladislav restored Catholic dominion, a dissident
band of Hussites threw the Catholic mayor [Prague?] out of the window.
(NH, 9/96, p.24)
1484 Mar 4, Casimir (Kazimierz), the son of Lithuania's
Grand Duke Casimir, died in Grodno at age 25. In 1602 he was declared a
saint and protector of Lithuania. St. Casimir was born Oct 3,1458, in Cracow.
(LHC, 3/4/03)
1484 Aug 12, Pope Sixtus IV died. His ruled was marked by nepotism
and he was involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the Medici in Florence.
(PTA, 1980, p.420)
1484 Dec 5, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull deploring the spread
of witchcraft and heresy in Germany. He ordered that all cats belonging
to witches scheduled to be burned, be also burned. Kraemer and Sprenger,
two Dominican friars, had induced Pope Innocent VIII to issue a bull authorizing
them to extirpate witchcraft in Germany. [see 1486]
(SFEC, 1/5/97, zone 1 p.2)(HN, 12/5/98)(HNQ, 10/31/99)
1485 Aug 22, Henry Tudor defeated Richard III (32) at Bosworth.
England's King Richard III (1483-1485), the last of the Plantagenet kings,
was killed in the Battle of Bosworth. This victory established the Tudor
dynasty in England and ended the War of the Roses. 12 miles west of Leicester,
the forces of Richard III met the forces under Henry Tudor (later to become
Henry VII). Henry Tudor had returned from French exile on August 7 at Milford
Haven and assembled forces including two Yorkist defectors, Thomas Stanley
and his brother Sir William. These allies, plus the defection of Henry
Percy, the 4th earl of Northumberland helped decide the outcome of the
battle. Richard, whose forces had taken position on Ambien Hill, died fighting
in an attempt to get at Henry Tudor himself.
(AP, 8/22/97)(HN, 6/26/98)(HN, 8/22/98)(HNQ, 8/22/00)(MC, 8/22/02)
1485 Oct 30, Henry VII Tudor of England was crowned, after defeating
the forces of King Richard III at Bosworth Field.
(HN, 10/30/98)(MC, 10/30/01)
1485 Dec 16, Katherine of Argon, first wife of Henry VIII, was
born.
(HN, 12/16/98)
1485 William Caxton, the first printer in Britain, published "Le
Morte Darthur" by Sir Thomas Malory (c1400-1471).
(WUD, 1994, p.868)(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)
1485 The medical encyclopedia "Gart der Gesundheit" described
the female mandrake, thought to stop bleeding, and to scream when pulled
by its roots.
(WSJ, 7/7/98, p.A14)
1485 Diogo Cao, Portuguese explorer, sailed south beyond Cape
Palmas, beyond Cape St. Catherine, until he reached Cape Cross at 22’ south
latitude.
(V.D.-H.K.p.124)
1485-1545 Jean Clouet, French painter. He painted "Francis I, King of
France."
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.280)
1485-1547 Hernando Cortes, Spanish conqueror of Mexico. He is credited
with naming California after an island in "Sergas de Esplandian," a popular
romance in the early 1500s.
(HFA, '96, p.65)
1485-1603 The Tudor family ruled over England.
(WUD, 1994, p.1523)
1486 Jan 18, King Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, daughter
of Edward IV.
(HN, 1/18/99)(MC, 1/18/02)
1486 Mar 4, Jogaila was crowned king of Poland.
(LC, 1998, p.12)
1486 May 1, Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund
expedition to the West Indies.
(HN, 5/1/98)
1486 Jul 14, Andrea del Sarto (d.1531), aka Vanucchi or di Francesco,
Italian Renaissance artist (Recollets), was born. He represented what Vasari
called the terza maniera, the third or modern manner of painting.
(WUD, 1994, p.55)(WSJ, 10/29/96, p.A21)(MC, 7/14/02)
1486 Sep 14, Agrippa von Nettesheim, German occultist, alchemist,
royal astrologer, was born.
(MC, 9/14/01)
1486 Pico Mirandola challenged the scholars of all of Europe that
he would defend a list of nine hundred thesis drawn from various Greek,
Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic authors. His list came to the attention of the
Vatican, which found thirteen of the theses heretical. Pico was stunned
and issued an immediate recantation but was imprisoned for a short time
anyway. Later in Florence he wrote "On the Dignity of Man," where he implied
that man is the spiritual center of the universe, or that perhaps he is
one focus and God the other.
(V.D.-H.K.p.139)
1486 Heinrich Kraemer and Johann Sprenger, Dominican friars, published
Malleus melefircarum (The Witches‘ Hammer), which became the authoritative
encyclopedia of demonology throughout Christendom. The authority of their
work-which was a synthesis of folk beliefs that had until then been manifested
in local outbursts of witchfinding-lasted through the European witch craze
of the next three centuries. [see 1486, Dec 5]
(HNQ, 10/31/99)
1487 Jun 16, Battle at Stoke: Henry VII beat John de la Pole &
Lord Lovell.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1487 Sep 10, Julius III, Italian counter-Reformation Pope (1550-1555),
was born. He was also a poet and promoted the Jesuits.
(WUD, 1994, p.773)(HN, 9/10/98)(MC, 9/10/01)
1487 Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer, set out from Lisbon
in August, and sailed south to the Cape Verde Islands and past Cape Cross.
Storms forced him out to sea and when the winds moderated he continued
east but found nothing. He turned north and then sighted land.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1488 Feb 3, Bartolomeu Dias sighted the coast of Africa sailing
north and realized that he had rounded the continent. He saw the southern
tip on his return journey and named it the Cape of Good Hope. He continued
north to the Great Fish River near present day Port Elizabeth, and then
returned home.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1488 Jun 11, James III, king of Scotland, died in the battle of
Sauchieburn, Scotland.
(SC, 6/11/02)(PC, 1992, p.157)
1488 Oct 7, Andrea del Verrocchio, sculptor, painter, goldsmith,
died at 52.
(MC, 10/7/01)
1489 Apr 6, Hans Waldmann, Swiss military, mayor (Zurich), was
beheaded.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1489 Jul 2, Thomas Cranmer, first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury
(1533-1556), was born.
(HN, 7/2/01)
1489-1490 The plague ravaged the Netherlands.
(WSJ, 10/12/98, p.A17)
1490 Mar 23, 1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishna Torah" was
published.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1490 In Venice the Aldine Press opened and went on to publish
the first pocket editions of poetry and Greek classics.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1490 A version of the legal handbook "Statham’s Abridgement" was
printed. A copy later became part of the collection of the SF law library
and was stolen by a city bookbinder. The text is classed as part of the
"incunabula," or books printed in the first 50 years after the introduction
of movable type by Gutenberg in 1450.
(SFC, 5/15/97, p.A26)
1490 Anne of Brittany married by proxy the recently widowed Maximilian
of Hapsburg who had inherited Burgundy and Flanders from his first wife.
Brittany was under siege by France and Maximilian failed to send troops
in its defense. Anne had her marriage annulled and married the French Dauphin
who had been engaged to marry Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian
and Mary of Burgundy. Anne’s portrait was later painted by Jan Mostaert
(WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A13)
1490 Christopher Columbus was permitted to make his proposal to
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. He asked to be made a noble
with eternal title in the family, and to receive 10% commission on all
transactions from his found domain. He was initially turned down and left
for France and England, but was then called back and his requests were
met.
(V.D.-H.K.p.175)
1490 Linz became the capital of the province of Upper Austria.
(StuAus, April '95, p.39)
1490 Ashikaga Yoshimasa (55), former Shogun of Japan (1449-1478),
died.
(ON, 7/01, p.5)
1490 The Portuguese king sent teachers and missionaries to Mani-Kongo
in southwest Africa. Mani-Kongo converted to Christianity and later his
son became king with the Christian name of Affonso I.
(ATC, p.152)
c1490s Muslims of the Songhai Empire in West Africa supported Askia
Muhammad, who overthrew Sunni Ali’s son, and declared Islam the state religion.
Songhai grew and expanded to become the greatest trade empire of West Africa.
(ATC, p.121)
c1490s Civil wars weakened Monomutapa in East Africa and by the 1500s
the empire was split in two.
(ATC, p.148)
c1490s The Medici went bankrupt.
(Wired, 8/96, p.118)
1490-1495 Tullio Lombardi created his sculpture "Adam."
(WSJ, 5/18/00, p.A24)
1490-1500 Hieronymus Bosch, Dutch artist, painted "Christ Mocked (The
Crowning With Thorns)."
(WSJ, 6/19/00, p.A42)
1490 Francois Rabelais (d.1553), French physician, satirist and
humorist, was born. [see 1494]
(WUD, 1994, p.1183)(V.D.-H.K.p.143)(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.G5)
1491 Jun 2, Henry Tudor (Henry VIII ruled 1509-1547) was born
in Greenwich, son of Henry VII. An inventory of his wealth in 1547 estimated
his wealth at £300,000 and his military equipment at another £300,000.
[see June 28]
(V.D. -H.K.p.161)(HN, 6/2/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1491 Jun 28, Henry VIII, King of England (1509-1547) and founder
of the Church of England, was born at Greenwich. He later divorced four
times. [see June 2]
(CFA, '96, p.48)(AP, 6/28/99)(HN, 6/28/99)
1491 Nov 15, 6 Jews and 5 Conversos (Jews who pretend to be Catholic
converts) were accused of killing Christians in La Guardia, Spain.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1491 Dec 24, Ignatius Loyola (d.1556), Spanish soldier and ecclesiastic,
was born. He founded the Society of Jesus, i.e. the Jesuits, wrote Spiritual
Exercises, and introduced a new flexibility that enabled a worldwide ministry.
(CFA, '96, p.60)(CU, 6/87)
1491 Perkin Warbeck appeared in Ireland and claimed to be the
missing Duke of York, thought by many to have been murdered by Richard
III. After winning support in France and Scotland, Warbeck's fortunes turned
and he was captured and executed in 1497.
(HNQ, 4/17/02)
1491 Pietro Roccabonella, doctor of medicine and lecturer at the
Univ. of Padua, died.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, BR p.8)
1492 Jan 2, Boabdil, the leader of the last Arab stronghold in
Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen
Isabella I. Sultan Muhammad XI surrendered, ending Muslin rule in Spain.
The combined Catholic forces of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
drove out the last of the Berbers from Spain. The Moors were expelled.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella took the town of Grenada, the last Moslem
kingdom in Spain. The event became marked by an annual festival that began
around 1516.
(ATC, p.73,100)(AP, 1/2/98)(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.T11)(HN, 1/2/99)(WSJ,
1/2/02, p.A6)(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.C20)
1492 Jan 23, "Pentateuch," a Jewish holy book, was first printed.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1492 Mar 30, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed a decree
expelling all Jews from Spain. Jews numbered about 80,000 and it was estimated
that about half chose to convert. [see Mar 31]
(HN, 3/30/98)(WSJ, 4/16/98, p.A20)
1492 Mar 31, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued
an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, except those willing to convert
to Christianity. In 2002 Claudia Roden authored "The Ornament of the World,"
a collection of stories of Sephardic Jews in Spain from 750 to 1492. [see
Mar 30]
(AP, 3/30/97)(WSJ, 4/26/02, p.W12)
1492 Apr 8, Lorenzo I de' Medici ("il Magnifico"), ruler of Florence
(1469-92), died.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1492 Apr 17, A contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and
a representative of Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus
a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to find the Indies [to Asia].
(AP, 4/17/97)(HN, 4/17/98)
1492 May 15, Cheese and Bread rebellion: German mercenaries killed
232 Alkmaarse.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1492 Jun 16, Jan Coppenhole, Flemish rebel leader, was beheaded.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1492 Aug 3, Christopher Columbus departed Palos, Spain, with the
Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina on a voyage that would take him to
the present-day Americas. The Santa Maria was formally listed as La Gallicia
and the Nina as Santa Clara. He sailed across the Ocean Sea, as the Atlantic
was then called, and headed for Cipangu, i.e. Japan.
(AP, 8/3/97)(HN, 8/3/98)(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.23)(SFEC, 8/8/99,
Z1 p.8)
1492 Aug 11, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol (61), father of Cesare
and Lucretia, became Pope Alexander VI (d.1503). He siphoned off untold
riches from Church funds. Borgia arrived in Rome from Spain in 1449 and
Italianized his name from Borja to Borgia. His rise in the church was helped
a great deal when his uncle became Pope Calixtus III.
(HN, 8/10/98)(PTA, p.424)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)(MC, 8/11/02)
1492 Sep 6, Columbus' fleet sailed from Gomera, Canary islands.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1492 Oct 7, Columbus missed Florida when he changed course.
(MC, 10/7/01)
1492 Oct 8, Columbus' fleet about 400 sea miles from Puerto Rico.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1492 Oct 11, Columbus' ships sighted land (the Bahamas) on the
horizon.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1492 Oct 12, (Old Style calendar; Oct. 21 New Style), Christopher
Columbus sited land, an island of the Bahamas which he named San Salvador,
but which was called Guanahani by the local Taino people. [HFA gives the
date as Oct. 11] Pinta’s lookout, Rodrigo de Triana, saw a white cliff
in the moonlight on the morning of Oct 12. Italian explorer Christopher
Columbus, or Cristobal Colon to his Spanish patrons, led a group of exhilarated
sailors ashore on a sunny Caribbean island they christened San Salvador.
Seeking to establish profitable Asian trade routes by sailing west, Columbus
seriously underestimated the size of the Earth--never dreaming that two
great continents blocked his path to the east. Columbus, returning to Spain
after his first expedition, submitted a report of the wonders he had seen
to Ferdinand and Isabella. The original report was not illustrated, but
later editions, were imaginatively illustrated with woodcuts showing cowering
Indians and an ocean-going ship with oars. Even after four voyages to America,
Columbus believed until the end of his life in 1506 that he had discovered
an isolated corner of Asia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.176)(HFA, '96, p.40)(NH, 10/96, p.22)(AP, 10/12/97)
(HNPD, 10/12/98)
1492 Oct 16, Columbus' fleet anchored at "Fernandina" (Long Island,
Bahamas).
(MC, 10/16/01)
1492 Oct 17, Columbus sighted the isle of San Salvador (Watling
Island, Bahamas).
(MC, 10/17/01)
1492 Oct 19, Columbus sighted "Isabela" (Fortune Island, Bahamas).
(MC, 10/19/01)
1492 Oct 21, Columbus landed on San Salvador Island (Bahamas-Watling
Island).
(MC, 10/21/01)
1492 Oct 25, Christopher Columbus and his ship Santa Maria landed
in Dominican Republic.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1492 Oct 26, Columbus' fleet anchored on Ragged Island Range,
Bahamas.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1492 Oct 26, Lead pencils were 1st used.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1492 Nov 5, Christopher Columbus learned of maize (corn) from
the Indians of Cuba.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1492 Nov 15, Christopher Columbus noted the 1st recorded reference
to tobacco.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1492 Nov 21, Pinta under Martin Pinzon separated from Columbus'
fleet.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1492 Dec 5, Columbus discovered Haiti. His flagship Santa Maria
was wrecked off the coast and he established the settlement of La Navidad
where he left 40 crew members with instructions to obtain gold and find
its source. When he returned on his 2nd voyage he found the town burned
and all the Spaniards dead.
(HFA, '96, p.20)(AM, 7/97, p.58)
1492 Dec 6, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Santo
Domingo in search of gold. He landed on a Sunday and named the island Dominica.
(HN, 12/6/98)(SFC, 7/31/99, p.C3)
1492 Dec 31, 100,000 Jews were expelled from Sicily.
(MC, 12/31/01)
c1492 Andrea Montegna, Italian painter, created his "Descent Into
Limbo," a depiction of Christ descending into limbo to liberate the souls
of the righteous. In 2003 the work sold for $28 million.
(SFC, 1/24/03, p.D2)
1492 Leonardo da Vinci drew a flying machine.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1492 Jews began arriving in Morocco after their expulsion from
Spain.
(SFEC, 7/25/99, p.T11)
c1492 In Portugal about this time King Manuel I, bedazzled by
the Moorish tiles at the Alhambra in Spain, brought home enough to decorate
his palace in Sintra.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T6)
1492 Sephardic Jews were welcomed by the Ottoman Empire after
their expulsion from Spain.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T4)
1492-1870 Some 11 million African people were brought to the New World
as slaves during this period.
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.4)
1493 Jan 4, Columbus left the new world on return from 1st voyage.
(MC, 1/4/02)
1493 Jan 4, Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow, announced the 1st
war with Lithuania. In fact the war had begun in 1487.
(LHC, 1/4/03)
1493 Jan 9, Christopher Columbus 1st sighted manatees.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1493 Jan 12, This was the last day for all Jews to leave Sicily.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1493 Mar 15, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding
his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
(AP, 3/15/97)(HN, 3/15/98)
1493 Apr 15, Columbus met with King Ferdinand and Isabella in
Barcelona.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1493 May 1, Phillippus Paracelsus (d.1541), physician and alchemist,
was born in Switzerland. He was christened as Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus
Bombastus von Hohenheim.
(HN, 5/1/98)(NH, 6/00, p.30,34)(MC, 5/1/02)
1493 May 4, Pope Alexander VI divided the non-Christian world
between Spain and Portugal.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(HN, 5/3/98)(HN, 5/4/98)
1493 Aug 19, Maximilian succeeded his father Frederick III as
Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick III of Innsbruck (77), German Emperor (1440-1493),
died.
(HN, 8/19/98)(MC, 8/19/02)
1493 Sep 24, Columbus began his 2nd expedition to New World. [see
Sep 25]
(MC, 9/24/01)
1493 Sep 25, Christopher Columbus set sail from Cadiz, Spain,
with a flotilla of 17 ships on his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
[see Sep 29] He was accompanied by 13 clerics; Alvarez Chanca, a physician
who left valuable accounts of the voyage; Juan Ponce de Leon; Juan de la
Cosa, a cartographer; and Columbus’s younger brother Bartholomew.
(AP, 9/25/97)(AM, 7/97, p.58)
1493 Sep 29, Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his second
voyage to the new world. [see Sep 25]
(HN, 9/29/98)
1493 Oct 30, Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Dominica.
[see Nov 3]
(MC, 10/30/01)
1493 Nov 3, Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbee Isles
(Dominica) during his second expedition. He and his crew of 1,500 built
the town of La Isabela on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.
It was abandoned within 5 years due in part to poor relations with the
Taino Indians. This area was part of the chiefdom of Higuey. [see Oct 30]
(HN, 11/3/98)(AM, 7/97, p.54,60)
1493 Nov 4, Christopher Columbus discovered Guadeloupe during
his second expedition.
(HN, 11/4/98)
1493 Nov 10, Christopher Columbus discovered Antigua during his
second expedition.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1493 Nov 11, Columbus discovered Saba, North Leeward Islands (Netherland
Antilles).
(WUD, 1994 p.1257)(MC, 11/11/01)
1493 Nov 19, Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico on his
2nd voyage. Juan Ponce de Leon was a member of Columbus’ crew.
(HT, 4/97, p.28)(MC, 11/19/01)
1493 Dec 7, Columbus left the ruined settlement of La Navidad
and sailed east for a month till he reached the site that became La Isabela
in the Dominican Republic.
(AM, 7/97, p.58)
1493 Columbus landed a small herd of swine on the island of Cuba.
(ON, 4/01, p.4)
1493 Columbus named Montserrat after the monastery near Barcelona.
He did not bother to land on the island.
(NH, Jul, p.20)
1493 Columbus sailed into St. Croix’s Salt River Bay.
(NG, Jan, 1968, C. Mitchell, p. 73)
1493 Columbus discovered a group of islands, now called the Virgin
Islands, that he christened Las Once Mil Virgenes, in memory of St. Ursula
and her 11,000 martyr virgins who were slaughtered by the Huns at Cologne
in the 5th century.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, p.T8)
1493 One copy of the 600-page "World Chronicle" of physician Hartmann
Schedel is held at the Library of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria.
Anton Koberger, a Nuremberg publisher, published 2,500 copies of the "Nuremberg
Chronicle" by Hartmann Schedel. It included woodcuts by Michael Wohlgemuth,
Wilhelm Pleyenwurff and Albrecht Durer.
(StuAus, April '95, p.49)(SFC, 3/1/02, p.D18)
1493 In Russia after a major fire in Moscow, Ivan III forbade
the construction of wooden buildings in the old city.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.33)
1493-1519 Maximilian I (1459-1519), Holy Roman Emperor over this period.
(WUD, 1994, p.886)
1494 Jan 6, The 1st Roman Catholic Mass in the New World marked
the official establishment of La Isabela.
(AM, 7/97, p.58)
1494 Jan 25, Ferdinand I (b.1423), cruel king of Naples, died.
He was also called Don Ferrante and was the natural son of Alfonso V of
Aragon.
(MC, 1/25/02)(Wikipedia)
1494 Jan, In the Dominican Republic there was a failed rebellion
against Columbus. The revolt was organized by Bernal de Pisa, the royal
accountant, who was unhappy with the poor return of gold. Pisa was jailed
and several others were hanged.
(AM, 7/97, p.57,59)
1494 Feb 2, Columbus began the practice using Indians as slaves.
(HN, 2/2/01)
1494 Feb 20, Johan Friis, chancellor (Denmark, helped formed Lutheranism),
was born.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1494 Apr 20, John Agricola, [Schneider], German theologian, prime
minister, was born.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1494 Apr 30, Christopher Columbus arrived in Guantanamo Bay on
his 2nd voyage to the Americas.
(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A7)
1494 May 3, Columbus discovered Jamaica and named it "St. Iago."
[see May 5]
(MC, 5/3/02)
1494 May 5, During his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere,
Christopher Columbus first sighted Jamaica and commented on the daily rains.
Columbus landed on the island of Jamaica, which he names Santa Gloria.
[see May 3]
(NOHY, 3/90, p.183)(AP, 5/5/97)(HN, 5/5/98)
1494 May 25, Jacopo Pontormo (d.1557), Italian painter (Sepulture
of Christ), was born. He represented what Vasari called the terza maniera,
the third or modern manner of painting.
(WUD, 1994, p.1118)(WSJ, 10/29/96, p.A21)(SC, 5/25/02)
1494 Jun 7, Spain and Portugal divided the new lands they had
discovered between themselves.
(HN, 6/7/98)
1494 Sep 12, Francois I of Valois-Angoulome, king of France (1515-47),
was born.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1494 Nov 5, Hans Sachs, cobbler, poet, composer, was born in Nuremberg.
He was also the prototype for Wagner's "Die Meistersinger."
(MC, 11/5/01)
1494 Nov 6, Suleiman I (d.1566), the Great, Ottoman sultan (1520-66),
was born. Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, was reported
to have a harem of 2,000 women.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(MC, 11/6/01)
1494 Nov 8, Uprising against Piero de' Medici in Florence, Italy.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1494 Lodovico il Moro, the duke of Milan, commissioned Leonardo
da Vinci to paint "The Last Supper" (Cenacolo).
(WSJ, 6/2/99, p.A24)
1494 Luca Pacioli, considered the father of accounting, published
a book on bookkeeping.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55)
c1494 Father Ramon Pane wrote an account of the Taino religion
at the request of Christopher Columbus.
(AM, 7/97, p.61)
1494 Carol Verardi in Basel published an illustrated report of
the first expedition to the new world by Christopher Columbus.
(HNPD, 10/12/98)
1494 The earliest report of Scots making whiskey was made. [see
1495]
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1494 The head of the Medici family fled Florence in the face of
a French invasion. Savonarola took the opportunity to lead Florence in
restoring a representative government.
(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.W11)
1494-1547 In France the time of King Francois I. The stench along the
Seine drove him from the Hotel des Tournelles. Cesspools and the guild
that emptied them, the Maitres Fy-Fy, developed at this time.
(Hem., 3/97, p.132)
1494-1553 Francois Rabelais, French satirist: "If you wish to
avoid seeing a fool you must first break your mirror." [see 1490, 1553]
(AP, 2/23/98)
1494-1576 Hans Sachs, German Meistersinger. He authored stories, songs,
poems and dramatic works. He later became the central figure in Wagner’s
Meistersinger.
(WUD, 1994 p.1258)(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A17)
1495 Jan 28, Pope Alexander VI gave his son Cesare Borgia as hostage
to Charles VIII of France.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1495 Feb 5, The 1st Lithuanian Russian war ended with the signing
of a peace treaty in Moscow.
(LHC, 2/5/03)
1495 Mar 8, Juan de Dios, Portuguese-Spanish saint, founder (Brothers
of Mercy), was born.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1495 Jun 1, The first written record of Scotch Whiskey
appeared in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland. Friar John Cor was the distiller.
The later J&B brand stood for Justerini and Brooks. [see 1494]
(DTnet, 6/1/97)(SFEC,12/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1495 Nov 27, Scottish king James IV received Perkin Warbeck (21),
a pretender to the English throne. James gave Warbeck, a Walloon, Lady
Catherine Gordon in marriage.
(MC, 11/27/01)(PCh, 1992, p.160)
1495 Leonardo da Vinci sketched a design of a parachute.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, zone 1 p.6)
1495 The Taino Indians on Hispaniola staged an organized attack
on the Spaniards, but it was easily crushed.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)
c1495 The 500-year-old body of a young Inca girl was found frozen
near the summit of Mt. Ampato, Peru, by American archeologist Johan Reinhard
in 1995. The girl was killed by a crushing blow to the head probably in
a ritual sacrifice.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A8)
1495-1498 Leonardo da Vinci worked on "The Last Supper" in Milan under
commission for Duke Ludovico Sforza. The 15 by 28 foot work was undergoing
a 20 year restoration in 1998 by Dr. Pinin Brambilla Barcilon.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, Par p.4)
1496 Jan 6, Moorish fortress Alhambra, near Grenada, surrendered
to the Christians.
(MC, 1/6/02)
1496 Mar 5, English king Henry VII hired John Cabot (Giovanni
Caboto) to explore.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1496 Mar 9, Jews were expelled from Carinthia, Austria.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1496 Mar 10, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to
the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain. He returned to
Spain to ask for more support for his La Isabela colony on Hispaniola.
(AM, 7/97, p.59)(AP, 3/10/98)
1496 Mar 12, Jews were expelled from Syria.
(HN, 3/12/98)
1496 cApr, Bartolome Columbus moved the colony to a new settlement
on the south coast, named Isabela La Nueva. It was established on the east
bank of the Ozama River. Columbus established Santo Domingo in what is
now the Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(AM, 7/97, p.59)(SFEC, 2/14/99, p.T10)
1496 Dec 5, Jews were expelled from Portugal by order of King
Manuel I.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1496 The "Treatyse of Fyshynge wyth an Angle" by Dame Juliana
Berner was published. It was the first book on fishing ever written. [see
1425]
(WSJ, 7/29/96, p.A11)
1496-1497 Michelangelo sculpted "Bacchus," considered his first masterpiece.
(WSJ, 2/29/96, p.A-14)
1496-1498 Albrecht Durer made his woodcut "The Four Avenging Angels"
from the Apocalypse.
(LSA, fall/96, p.23)
c1496-1544 Clement Marot, early vernacular French writer.
1497 Jan 6, Jews were expelled from Graz, Syria. [see Mar 12,
1496]
(MC, 1/6/02)
1497 Feb 16, Philipp Melanchthon, German Protestant reformer (Augsburgse
Confessie), was born.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1497 Mar 9, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Polish astronomer,
made the 1st recorded astronomical observation.
(WUD, 1994 p.322)(MC, 3/9/02)
1497 May 2, John Cabot departed for North America. [see Jun 24]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1497 May 10, Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci left for his 1st
voyage to New World.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1497 May 13, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated Girolamo Savonarola
for heresy. In Florence the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498)
had led the burning of musical instruments, books and priceless works of
art. He preached against corruption in the Church and civil government.
(Hem., 4/97, p.53)(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(MC, 5/13/02)
1497 June 24, Italian explorer John Cabot (1450-1498?), (aka Giovanni
Caboto), on a voyage for England, landed in North America on what is now
Newfoundland or the northern Cape Brenton Island in Canada. He claimed
the new land for King Henry VII. He documented the abundance of fish off
the Grand Banks from Cape Cod to Labrador.
(CFA, '96, p.48,82)(NH, 5/96, p.59)(WUD, 1994, p.206)(AP, 6/24/97)
(HN, 6/24/98)
1497 Jul 8, Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer, departed on a
trip to India. He sailed from Lisbon enroute to Calicut, India. His journey
took him around South Africa and opened the Far East to European trade
and colonial expansion.
(V.D.-H.K.p.143)(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(MC, 7/8/02)
1497 Aug 6, John Cabot returned to England after his first successful
journey to the Labrador coast.
(HN, 8/6/98)
1497 Sep 7, Sailor Perkin Warbeck became [briefly] England’s King
Richard I. Warbeck had invaded Cornwall after failing to find support in
Ireland. He was soon forced to surrender and was imprisoned in the Tower
of London.
(MC, 9/7/01)(PCh, 1992, p.161)
1497 Sep, Henry VII defeated the Cornishmen at Blackheath. An
insurrection in Cornwall had developed over taxes to support English defenses
against Scottish invasion forces.
(PCh, 1992, p.161)
1497 Nov 18, Vasco da Gama reached the Cape of Good Hope.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1497 Nov 22, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape
of Good Hope.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1497 Portuguese Jews were forced to convert to Christianity and
were known as "New Christians," though many continued to practice their
original faith in secret.
(WSJ, 6/8/98, p.A21)
1497 In Scotland the Declaration of Education Act required children
to go to school.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, Z1 p.8)
1498 Mar 2, Vasco da Gama's fleet visited Mozambique Island.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1498 Apr 7, A crowd stormed Savonarola's convent of San Marco
in Florence, Italy.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1498 Apr 8, Charles VIII (27), King of France (1483-98), was beheaded.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1498 May 20, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived at Calcutta,
India.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1498 May 23, Girolamo Savonarola (45), moral scourge of
Florence (1494-98), was hanged. An enraged crowd burned Girolamo Savonarola
at the same spot where he ordered cultural works burned the year before.
(Hem., 4/97, p.53)(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(MC, 5/23/02)
1498 May 30, Columbus departed with 6 ships for his 3rd trip to
America. [see Jun 7]
(MC, 5/30/02)
1498 May, Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, the chief Indian trading
port , at 11? north latitude. He was not welcomed by the Muslim traders
who saw him as a Christian and competitor. He returned to Lisbon swearing
revenge.
(V.D.-H.K.p.174)
1498 Jun 7, Christopher Columbus left on his third voyage of exploration.
[see may 30]
(HN, 6/7/98)
1498 Jun 21, Jews were expelled from Nuremberg, Bavaria, by Emperor
Maximillian.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1498 Jun 26, Toothbrush was invented. In China the first toothbrushes
with hog bristles began to show up. Hog bristle brushes remained the best
until the invention of nylon.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.E3)(MC, 6/26/02)
1498 Jul 31, During his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere,
Christopher Columbus arrived at the island of Trinidad.
(AP, 7/31/98)
1498 Albrecht Durer made his woodcut titled "The Bath House."
(WSJ, 10/29/99, p.W1)
1498 The Vienna Boys School and Choir was founded by Emp. Maximilian
I.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.C5)
1498 The first pawnshop reportedly opened in Nuremberg, Germany.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, Z1 p.8)
1499 Mar 31, Pius IV (Gianangelo de' Medici), Italian lawyer,
pope (1559-65), was born.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1499 Aug 25, Battle at Sapienza: An Ottoman fleet beat Venetians.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1499 Sep 10, The French marched on Milan.
(Hem., 12/96, p.19)
1499 Nov 12, Perkin Warbeck, Flemish sailor, was hanged for conspiring
to escape from the tower of London with the imprisoned earl of Warwick.
[see Nov 23]
(PCh, 1992, p.162)
1499 Nov 23, Perkin Warbeck, Flemish sailor, was hanged. [see
Nov 12]
(MC, 11/23/01)(AP, 11/23/02)
1499 Nov 28, Edward Plantagenet, 18th Count of Warwick, was beheaded.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1499 Michelangelo completed his "Pieta" for the Vatican.
(OG)
1499 The Spanish play "Celestine" was published.
(WSJ, 11/19/98, p.A21)
1499 Anne of Brittany initiated the white wedding gown.
(SFEM, 6/28/98, p.7)