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Mary of Burgundy, daughter of the late Charles the Bold, dies March 27 at age 27 after a hunting accident in Flanders. Her husband, Maximilian of Austria, claims power over the Lowlands as regent for their infant son, Philippe; Brabant and Flanders reject his claims (see 1485).
Humanist-mercenary Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, dies at age 60 (approximate) and is succeeded by his 10-year-old son Guidobaldo (see 1502).
The Peace of Arras December 23 ends hostilities between the Hapsburg family and France's Louis XI, who has lived in isolation for the past 2 years in his spider's-nest château Plessis-les-Tours, two miles southwest of Tours, surrounded by astrologers and physicians. Burgundy and Picardy are absorbed into France.
Venice begins a 2-year war with Ferrara that will result in the Venetian acquisition of Polesine and Rovigo, the last expansion of Venice on the mainland.
The bishop of Liège is killed by "the Wild Boar of the Ardennes" Guillaume de la Marck, 36, a Belgian soldier for France's Louis XI (the Spider). La Marck will be captured in 1485 and beheaded.
Painting: Giving of the Keys to St. Peter by Perugino. Luca della Robbia dies at Florence February 23 at age 82.
An Act of Swans adopted by Parliament introduces a right of "possession by prescription" and a property qualification that restricts to landowners the right to own swans (see "swan upping," 1473). The Company of Vintners will receive rights to ownership by next year, and while swans owned by the Crown will remain unmarked, those of the Dyers will have a single mark, those of the Vintners two.
English wheat prices soar 74.7 percent following a bad harvest after years of plentiful food and stable prices.
Portuguese explorers find bananas growing on Africa's west coast and adopt a version of the local name for the fruit Musa sapientum (see 327 B.C.; de Berlanga, 1516).
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