Fifteenth Century Timeline
Click on the dates to see information on that year.
1450
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The French defeat the English at the battle of Formigny in Normandy.
Within a month, the French have the entire duchy under their control. |
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The mercenary, Francesco Sforza, seizes power in Milan. As Duke of Milan
he founds a dynasty that rules Milan for a century. |
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A major rebellion against the government of Henry VI breaks out. A group
of insurgents, under the leadership of Jack Cade, rebel against high taxes and
rising prices, manage to occupy London for a month. Their lawlessness
results in the Londoners driving them out of the city. The rebels
disperse. Cade continues his resistance, but is wounded and
captured. He dies while being taken to London. |
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Navigator and explorer John Cabot is born in Genoa. His voyages helped lay the groundwork to
England's claim to Canada. |
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French artists Charonton and Froment set up their own school in Avignon.
Both these artists would be responsible for introducing Flemish naturalism into
French art. |
1451
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Johannes Gutenberg invents the movable type printing press. His unique
invention would be used without major change into the twentieth century. |
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University of Glasgow is founded in Scotland. |
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Isabella I future queen of Castile and Aragon, is born at Madrigal de las Atlas
Torres in Castile.
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Christopher Columbus is born in Genoa, Italy
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1452
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Leonardo da Vinci is born
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Ferdinand II (the Catholic, also known as Ferdinand V of Castile, Ferdinand III Naples and
Ferdinand II of Sicily) is born in Aragon. He and Isabella united the Spanish kingdoms
into the nation of Spain.
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Sculptor Ghiberti completes The Gates of Paradise, a pair of guilded doors
for the east entrance of the Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence. These panels are among
the greatest works of Italian Renaissance sculpture, demonstrating the mastery of linear perspective.
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1453
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Charles VII enters Bordeaux in triumph, the English garrison sail home, and
three hundred years of English rule in Aquitaine comes to an end. This
defeat also signals the end of the Hundred Years War. Only Calais remains
of the English possessions in France. |
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The Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, destroy the Byzantine empire and
establish the city as the capital of the Ottoman empire. |
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Edward of Lancaster, first son of Henry VI, is born at the Palace of Westminster. |
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Italian explorer and merchant, Amerigo Vespucci, is born in Florence. From his name
would be derived the name for the American continent. |
1455
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The Gutenberg Bible is printed. |
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Henry VI recovers from his illness and reclaims the reigns of government |
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Margaret Beaufort marries Edmund Tudor. |
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Lorenzo Ghiberti dies. He was a leading Florentine exponent of the International Gothic
style. |
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Alfonso de Borgia becomes Pope Calixtus III. |
1456
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Anne Neville, daughter of Richard, Earl of Warwick, and future wife of Edward of Lancaster and
Richard III, is born at Warwick Castle. |
1457
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Henry VII is born at Pembroke Castle in Wales. |
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