1481

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Year 1481 (MCDLXXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar).

Events

January–December

• May 3 – Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Bayezid II.
• May 21 – Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway dies and is succeeded by his son John (1481–1513).
• June 21 – The papal bull Aeterni regis grants all land south of the Canary Islands to Portugal.
• August 29 – John II of Portugal starts to rule in his own right.
• September 10 – Alphonso II of Naples recaptures the city of Otranto.
• December 26 – Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats the troops of Utrecht.

Date unknown

• The Constitució de l'Observança was approved by the Catalan Courts, establishing the submission of royal power to the laws of the Principality of Catalonia.
• With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou reverts to the French crown under Louis XI of France.
• Symeon I succeeds Maximus III as Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Ludovico Sforza emerges as Regent of Milan (until 1499).
• Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies and is succeeded by his brother Tízoc.
• Fribourg and Solothurn become Cantons of Switzerland.
• Fire destroys the roof and the spires of the Notre-Dame de Reims cathedral.
• The Aztec Calendar Stone or Sun Stone is carved.

Births

• January 15 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (d. 1511)
• March 2 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)
• March 7 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1537)
• May 3 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish venerated Christian (d. 1534)
• May 14 – Ruprecht of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1504)
• July 1 – King Christian II of Denmark, Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union (d. 1559)
• August 28 – Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet of the Renaissance (d. 1558)
• November 11 – Christoph von Scheurl, German writer (d. 1542)
• December 18 – Sophie of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg by birth, and by marriage Duchess of Saxony (d. 1503)
• December 27 – Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Margrave of Bayreuth (d. 1527)
• date unknown – Yan Song, Chinese prime minister (d. 1568)
• probable – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (d. 1545)
• date unknown – Imperia La Divina, Roman courtesan, counted as the first famous courtesan in Europe (d. 1512)

Deaths

Mehmed II, the Conqueror

• January 6 – Akhmat Khan, khan of the Great Horde
• May 3 – Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432)
• May – Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha, Ottoman (Turkish) grand vizier
• May 21 – King Christian I of Denmark and Norway (b. 1426)
• August 23 – Thomas de Littleton, English judge and legal author (b. c. 1407)
• August 28 – King Afonso V of Portugal (b. 1432)
• November 19 – Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (b. 1472)
• date unknown
  • Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan
  • Charles IV, Duke of Anjou, titular King of Naples (b. 1436)
  • Jean Fouquet, French painter (b. 1420)
  • Ikkyu, Japanese Zen Buddhist priest and poet (b. 1394)
  • Mary Woodville, English noblewoman (b. c. 1454)
  • Erik Axelsson Tott, regent of Sweden (b. 1415)

References