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Castilian prelate and diplomat Pedro, Cardinal González de Mendoza, dies at his native Guadalajara January 11 at age 66 after a career in which he has been called "the third king of Spain." A humanist, he has helped Isabella appoint bishops from the middle class and reform the Spanish episcopate.
Beatrice d'Este at Milan gives birth in February to a second son, who will be known as Francesco Sforza.
Naples surrenders in February to France's Charles VIII, who is crowned king. Alfonso of Naples has abdicated in favor of his son Ferrandino, 25, who retakes the city following the Battle of Fornovo July 6. Pope Alexander VI has organized a Holy League to drive out the French, Charles escapes to France, the Spanish general Gonzalo de Córdoba helps Ferrandino, the French fleet is captured at Rapallo, and a French army capitulates at Novaro.
France's Charles VIII sends home for reinforcements to help him in his Italian campaign; his wife, Anne of Brittany, replies that there are no Frenchmen left to send—only widows grieving for their lost husbands. Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan, arrives in September at the French camp with his wife, Beatrice, who impresses the French with her cleverness and tact.
Perkin Warbeck attempts a landing on English soil July 3 as supporters press his claim to the throne (see 1494). Financed by the dowager duchess Margaret of Burgundy, his small force encounters resistance and quickly retreats to Ireland, where the earl of Desmond helps him lay siege to Waterford, but he retreats again, this time to Scotland, where James IV lets him marry Lady Catherine Gordon, a cousin of the king (see 1496).
The Spanish infanta Juana marries Felipe the Handsome, Count of Flanders; a 15-year-old daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, she settles with her husband at Ghent (see 1504).
Portugal's João II dies at Alvor October 25 at age 40 after a 14-year reign in which he has encouraged exploration and overcome the feudal nobility, putting its leaders to death. João the Perfect (O principe perfecto) is succeeded by his 26-year-old brother-in-law, who will reign until 1521 as Manuel I in a golden age of exploration and discovery.
The Diet of Worms attempts to modernize the Holy Roman Empire. The Imperial Diet proclaims Perpetual Peace, sets up an Imperial Chamber and Court of Appeal, and imposes a general tax.
Christopher Columbus orders that every Hispaniola native over age 14 pay tribute money every 3 years to the king of Spain.
Augsburg merchant Jakob Fugger II leases Hungarian copper and silver mines (see 1494). Water-driven machinery devised by his engineer associate Johann Thurzo facilitates mining metals and refining them, enabling Fugger to supply customers at Antwerp, Danzig, Nuremberg, and Venice and in Poland, Prussia, and Russia. Now 36, Jakob will earn more than 500,000 gulden in the next 15 years by selling the products of his Hungarian mines plus 200,000 gulden per year from selling to the mints of Europe the silver he mines in the Tyrol and Carinthia, but the Fuggers' chief source of income is now the "quicksilver" (mercury) mines of Spain, whose control gives the family a grip on Spanish political power which it will maintain until 1634. As one of the leading European importers of Portugal's spices, the Fuggers will almost always earn a 20 percent return on their investment, and in most years their profit will exceed 50 percent (see 1546).
Syphilis strikes Naples in history's first recorded outbreak of the disease that will appear throughout Europe in the next 25 years, but the disease may have existed for years and been confused with leprosy. A more violent form of syphilis than the disease of later centuries, the "new" malady infects the army of France's Charles VIII. Frenchmen call it the Neapolitan disease, Italians the French disease (see Fracastoro, 1530).
Lithuania expels her Jews, as does Kraków, but within 5 years Poland will be regarded as the safest place for Jews in all of Europe (see 1573).
The University of Aberdeen has its beginnings with the issuance of a papal bull for its foundation. Glasgow-born bishop William Elphinstone, 63, has obtained the bull (see 1497).
Nonfiction: Erotemata by the classical Latin author Constantine Lascaris of antiquity is published at Venice in March by the new Aldine Press, founded by Italian printer-publisher-typographer Aldo (Teobaldo) Mannucci (or Manuzio), 45, who will be remembered as Aldus Manutius—Manutius Il Vecchio (the elder). Born at Sermoneta, he settled at Venice 5 years ago, gathered a group of compositors and Greek scholars, follows Erotemata with the Idylls of Theocritus and De Aetna by Pietro Bembo, and in 1501 will be the first to use italic type.
Painting: Vulcan and Aeolus by Florentine painter Piero di Cosimo, 33; Agony in the Garden and Virgin in Glory by Perugino. Cosmé Tura dies at Ferrara.
Leonardo da Vinci submits plans to control the Arno River and avoid its disastrous flooding. The Florentine artist-scientist-engineer now serves Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan (see 1679).
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