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Contents: political eventsexploration, colonization education literature art |
England's Henry VII dies at Richmond, Surrey, April 21 at age 52 after a reign of nearly 24 years. He is succeeded by his athletic, well-educated son, who ascends the throne at age 17 and will reign until 1547 as Henry VIII. A faithful Roman Catholic, the new king creates Margaret Plantagenet Pole, 35, countess of Salisbury and reverses the attainder of her late brother, Edmund of Warwick, who was executed in November 1499. Henry is married June 11 to his late brother Arthur's widow, Catherine of Aragon, now 23, daughter of Ferdinand II (but see 1533). The late king's mother, Margaret Beaufort, duchess of Richmond, dies June 29 at age 66, having developed a reputation for education and piety.
Pope Julius II excommunicates Venice April 27 (see 1508). His League of Cambrai comprising Aragonese, Ferrarese, French, Hungarian, and Savoyard forces triumphs over the Venetians May 14 at Agnadello. Ferrara's Alfonso I d'Este proves his skill in mechanics and artillery design, but although Venice loses some territories on the mainland the city itself is untouched (see 1510).
The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I joins the League of Cambrai but fails in a siege of Padua, despite valiant efforts by the formidable army (Landsknechte) of mercenary infantrymen organized chiefly by Georg von Frundsberg and armed with pikes and swords.
Florentine forces capture Pisa, ending a long war. Florence's gonfalonier Piero di Tommaso Soderini has created a national militia in place of the mercenaries that have heretofore fought the city-state's battles.
Polish forces under the command of Jan Tarnowski, 21, defeat an army led by the Moldavian prince Bogdan in southeastern Poland.
The Battle of Diu February 2 in the Indian Ocean brings victory to Portugal's Indian viceroy Francisco de Almeida, who destroys a Muslim fleet of Arabs and Egyptians to establish Portuguese control over the spice trade. Portuguese navigator Ruy de Sequeira visits Malacca following the defeat of the Muslim fleet in the Battle of Diu and finds that its natives have been selling cloves to Arab merchants in exchange for copper, quicksilver, vermillion (a rosewood), cambray cloth, cumin, silver, porcelain, and metal bells (see 1511). Afonso de Albuquerque arrives at Cochin to replace Almeida as viceroy, Almeida questions his authority and imprisons him, but he is obliged in November to recognize that Albuquerque's commission is legal and sets sail in December for Lisbon (see 1510).
Spanish forces invade North Africa. Francisco Cardenal Jiménez de Cisneros, 73, and Pedro Navarro, 49, lead a crusade against the Muslim rulers of Oran, Bougie, and Tripoli.
Portuguese explorer Diego Alvaros Correa founds the first European settlement in Brazil near Porto Seguro.
Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda ventures into territory that will be called Colombia.
Diego Columbus (Colón) arrives at Santo Domingo in July, having married a niece of the duke of Alva and received accreditation as governor of the Indies although still under 30 (see 1506; 1511).
Juan Ponce de León seizes control of Boriquén (Puerto Rico), making himself governor (see 1508). The native population of some 60,000 Taíno tribespeople have developed a thriving civilization based on agriculture and fishing; Ponce de Léon puts them to work mining gold, a gold smelter is set up as Franciscan friars arrive with cattle and horses, the natives are required to pay a tribute in gold to the Spanish crown, and natives of other islands are brought in to work in the placer mining enterprise (see 1511; Florida, 1513; San Juan, 1521).
Spanish conquistadors found a colony at Darien on the Isthmus of Panama (see Balboa, 1513).
Brasenose College is founded at the University of Oxford by William Smyth, bishop of Lincoln, with financial support from Sir Richard Sutton (see Magdalen, 1458; Corpus Christi, 1517).
St. Paul's School is founded at London by the humanist theologian John Colet, 43 (year approximate). The son of a former lord mayor of London, the London-born Colet has lectured at Oxford, invited Desiderius Erasmus to speak there, and was appointed dean of St. Paul's Cathedral 5 years ago.
Nonfiction: Psalterium Quintuplex by French humanist theologian Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples, 54, consists of five Latin versions of the Psalms. Born in Picardy, Lefèvre has written student manuals on mathematics and physics, trying to separate religious studies from the older Scholasticism with these and with new, annotated translations (and paraphrases) of Aristotelian works on ethics, metaphysics, and politics.
Fiction: Praise of Folly (Moriae Encomium) by Desiderius Erasmus is a witty satire on male idiocy. Erasmus has been teaching at the University of Cambridge, where he will remain until 1514.
Poetry: The Ship of Fools (The Shyp of Folys of the Worlde) by English poet Alexander Barclay, 34, who has adapted the popular German satire Das Narrenschiff of 1494 by Sebastian Brant.
Engraving: The Temptation of St. Anthony by Lucas van Leyden.
Painting: Madonna with Angels and Saints by Gerard David; St. Anne altarpiece by Flemish painter Quentin Massys, 43.
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