1485 to 1490

1485

x - Russia ?+ Ivan III + the Great annexes Tver.

x - Treaty of Leipzig divides Saxony

x - Hernando Cortes born, Spanish conqueror of Mexico. He is credited with naming California after an island in "Sergas de Esplandian," a popular romance in the early 1500s. d.1547

x - The Tudor family ruled over England. u.1603

x - Diogo Cao, Portuguese explorer, sailed south beyond Cape Palmas, beyond Cape St. Catherine, until he reached Cape Cross at 22' south latitude.

x - Jean Clouet born, French painter. He painted "Francis I, King of France."1545

x - William Caxton, the first printer in Britain, published "Le Morte Darthur" by SirThomas Malory +* .

x - The medical encyclopedia "Gart der Gesundheit" described the female mandrake, thought to stop bleeding, and to scream when pulled by its roots.

jun 24 - Johannes Bugenhagen is born. Will be one of the main Reformers and pastor of the city church at Wittenberg, Bugenhagen helped Luther with his German Bible translation as well as translating the Bible into Low German himself.

aug 22 - Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at Bosworth. England's King Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet kings, was killed in the Battle of Bosworth. This victory establishes the Tudor dynasty inEngland ?+ and ended theWars of the Roses + .

oct 30 - Henry VII of England was crowned. The first king of 117-year Tudor dynasty

dec 16 - Katherine of Argon, first wife of Henry VIII, was born.

1486

x - Andrea del Sarto born, Italian painter. He represented what Vasari called the terza maniera, the third or modern manner of painting. d.1531

x - Heinrich Kraemer and Johann Sprenger, Dominican friars, published Malleus Maleficarum * The Witches' Hammer, which became the authoritative encyclopaedia 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.s.dec 05 1486

x - 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.

jan 18 - Henry VII married Elizabeth of York.

mar 04 - Jogaila was crowned king of Poland.

may 01 - Christopher Columbus ?+ convinced Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.

1487

x - 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.

sep 10 - Julius III, Italian Pope 1550-1555 poet who promoted the Jesuits, was born.

1488

feb 03 - 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.

1489

x - Symbols '+' and '?' come into use

x - The plague ravaged the Netherlands.u.1490

1490

c - The Medici went bankrupt.

c - Civil wars weakened Monomutapa in East Africa and by the 1500s the empire was split in two.

c - Muslims of the Songhai Empire in West Africa supported Askia Muham-mad, 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.

x - Beginnings of ballet at Italian courts

x - Printing of books on paper becomes more common in Europe.

x - Francois Rabelais, French satirist and humorist.

x - 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.

x - Linz became the capital of the province of Upper Austria.

x - 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.

x - 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 January Mostaert.

x - 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 in1450 .

x - In Venice the Aldine Press opened and went on to publish the first pocket editions of poetry and Greek classics.

Inline links found above : [1547] [1603] [1531] [dec 05 1486] [1450] [Russia ?+] [Ivan III +] [Thomas Malory +*] [England ?+] [Wars of the Roses +] [Malleus Maleficarum *] [Christopher Columbus ?+] [France ?]