1470

1461 1462 1463 1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470

political events

Sweden's Karl VIII (Karl Knutsson Bonde) dies May 15 at age 60 (approximate), having had three separate reigns. The former king Kristian I of Denmark manages to assemble a fleet of 70 ships and a 3,000-man invasion force (but see 1471).

England's Henry VI regains his throne briefly from September to October with support from Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, who has returned from France with John de Vere, 13th earl of Oxford, now 28, whose father and brother were executed in 1462 by the constable John Tiptoff, 1st earl of Worcester. Worcester has condemned 20 of Warwick's followers and had them impaled. Oxford is made constable of England in place of Worcester, who goes into hiding; discovered and tried before Oxford, he is put to death at London's Tower Hill October 18 at age 43 in revenge for his butcheries, but the duke of Clarence disapproves of the restoration, deserts Warwick, and defects to Edward IV. Edward uses artillery to help his forces defeat the earl of Warwick in a battle at Stamford. He obliges Warwick to take refuge once again in France, but his enemies force him to flee to Holland while the duke of Clarence finds sanctuary in France (see 1471). London goldsmith's wife Jane Shore becomes mistress to the king without objection from her husband. She will enjoy Edward's favors until his death in 1483, after which she will become mistress to other leading political figures.

Hungary's Matthias Corvinus is proclaimed king of Bohemia and margrave of Moravia (see 1467), but Bohemia's George Podiebrad gains Polish support by promising the succession to a son of Poland's Casimir IV, and he forces Matthias to come to terms.

Venice loses Euboea (Negroponte) to Constantinople. An enormous Ottoman fleet lands an army that takes the Venetian territory in the continuing war between the Turks and Venetians that will continue until 1479. Admiral Pietro Mocenigo, 64, reorganizes the Venetian fleet; a nephew of the late admiral and doge Tommaso Mocenigo, he will take reprisals (see 1472).

exploration, colonization

Portuguese explorers reach Africa's Gold Coast. Fernão Gomes has sent João de Santarem and Pedro de Escolar to Africa in accordance with terms of a 5-year lease on the Guinea trade granted to Gomes last year on condition that he carry explorations forward by at least 100 leagues per year.

communications, media

The first French printshop opens at the Sorbonne under the direction of three German printers who have been invited to Paris by the university's rector and librarian (see 1454). The rector and librarian select the books to be printed and supervise every detail, opting for roman (rather than Gothic) type. The shop will be followed in the next few years by printshops in the Lowlands, the Swiss cantons, Castile, and Aragon (see Caxton, 1475).

French printer Nicolas Jensen, 50, sets up shop at Venice as a publisher and printer, having learned the art from the late Johannes Gutenberg at Mainz. Jensen cuts the first notable roman type for a text by Cicero and will be the first to use purely roman letters; most printers will continue to use at least some Gothic letters for years to come.

everyday life

Portugal's Princess Juana popularizes the farthingale—a wide-hipped skirt stiffened by whale bone that obliges women to walk sideways through doorways.

architecture, real estate

England's York Minster Cathedral of Saint Peter is completed after 250 years of construction on the site of a chapel erected for the baptism of Edwin of Northumbria in the 7th century.

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