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The Union of Constance is formed with subsidies on France's Louis XI, and the coalition embarks on a war against Burgundy's Charles the Bold.
Isabella succeeds to the throne of Castile and León December 13 upon the death of her half-brother, who has ruled since 1454 as Enrique IV. She confirms the new archbishop of Seville Pedro Cardinal González de Mendoza, 46, as chancellor Castile, a post to which he was appointed by Enrique last year after being created a cardinal by Pope Sixtus IV, but Enrique's daughter challenges the succession; she is married to Portugal's Afonso V and notes that Isabella was married 5 years ago to Aragon's Prince Ferdinand (see 1475).
Genoese seaman Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón), 23, begins discussing the possibility of a westward passage to Cathay (China). Also called Cristoforo Colombo, the young navigator uses projections made by German mathematicians and Italian mapmakers at Sangres (see 1421) to revive knowledge that the earth is round (see 1410). Columbus has the advantages of the compass invented in the 12th century and of the more recently invented mariner's astrolabe (see 1477; transportation, 1473; quadrant, 1731).
The Hanseatic League (Hanse) gains generous trading privileges in England by terms of the Treaty of Utrecht.
Astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, and theologian Ali Qushji ben Muhammad dies at Constantinople December 16, having entertained the possibility of the Earth's rotation. Formerly a prominent intellectual in the court of the late Ulug Beg at Samarkand, he was invited to Constantinople by the Ottoman sultan Mehmet and as a college professor has sought to free sciences from Aristotelian physical and metaphysical principles.
Philosopher Marsilio Ficino at Florence's Platonic Academy completes a translation of Plato's Symposium, which Florentine poet Girolamo Benivieni, 21, versifies, summarizing Ficino's commentary with the canzone "Of Heavenly Love" ("Do lo amore celeste").
Burgundian composer Guillaume Dufay dies at Cambrai November 27 at age 74 (approximate). He has made significant advances in the art of polyphonic music and is well known for his magnificats, masses, motets, and three-part chansons.
Antwerp Cathedral is completed (except for its spire) after 122 years of construction. The spire for the great Gothic structure will be completed in 1518.
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