January–March •
January 1 – The uninhabited island of
Annobón, off of the coast of West Africa, is claimed by Portuguese explorers who name it in honor of the New Year. A year later, it becomes the home of enslaved Africans who either marry or work of Portuguese citizens, or sold. •
January 9 –
Pope Sixtus IV lifts the order of
interdict that had been placed by
Pope Paul II on the late Bohemian King
George of Poděbrady and his sons, granting
absolution, after the sons convert to the Roman Catholic faith. •
January 22 –
Muhammad Jiwa Shah becomes the new
Sultan of Kedah, an absolute monarchy at the south of the Malay Peninsula and now part of Malaysia, upon the death of his father,
Ataullah Muhammad Shah. •
February 12 – The first complete inside edition of
Avicenna's
The Canon of Medicine (
Latin translation) is published in
Milan. •
March 6 – The original
University of Trier is founded in the
Electorate of the Paletine in what is now Germany, 18 years after the Pope had granted the Archbishop of Trier,
Jakob von Sierck, the papal dispensation to create a university. After 365 years, the university is closed in
1798, but re-established 172 years later in
1970. •
March 17 – An heir to the throne of Scotland is born to
Queen Margaret and
King James III. Prince James of the House of Stewart will become King
James IV of Scotland at the age of 15 in
1488.
April–June •
April 5 –
Philip I, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church as
Patriarch of Moscow since 1464, dies after a reign of almost nine years. •
May 7 –
Pope Sixtus IV appoints eight clerics to the College of Cardinals, the most in his career, the most since December 18,
1439 when 17 were appointed by
Pope Eugene IV. •
May 28 – The
Earl of Oxford, commander of what remains of the
Lancastrians during the
Wars of the Roses against the
Yorkists and King Edward IV of England, makes an unsuccessful attempt to land an army at
Essex at the village of
St Osyth. •
June 29 –
Gerontius, Bishop of Kolomna is appointed as the new Patriarch of the
Russian Orthodox Church.
July–September •
July 10 –
James II,
King of Cyprus, dies after a reign of nine years. In that his widow,
the Queen Consort Catherine, is eight months pregnant with the couple's son, she becomes Queen Regent and the throne is deemed to remain vacant until the child is born. •
July 27 –
René II, Count of Vaudémont becomes the new
Duke of Lorraine, at the time an independent principality within the
Holy Roman Empire, upon the death of his cousin,
Nicholas I. after his mother,
the Duchess Yolande gives up her rights to the throne. •
August 6 –
King James III of Cyprus becomes the
de jure monarch of Cyprus from the moment he is born, 27 days after the death of his father, King James II, although the rule of Cyprus is carried out by his mother, Catherine, Queen regent. King James III lives for only one year and 20 days before dying on August 26, 1474. •
August 11 – At the
Battle of Otlukbeli,
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II defeats the
White Sheep Turkmens, led by
Uzun Hasan. •
August 13 –
Nicolò Marcello is elected as the new
Doge of Venice following the July 28 death of
Nicolo Tron. •
September 7 – In Germany,
Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg destroys the
Tomburg Castle near
Wormersdorf in what is now the German state of
North Rhine-Westphalia. The one-day shelling of the castle with cannons takes place after a dispute with the Lord of Tomburg, Friedrich von Sombreff. The castle is never rebuilt and the ruins remain more than 550 years later. •
September 30 – • The
Earl of Oxford, John de Vere, seizes
St Michael's Mount in
Cornwall and defends it for the next five months against 6,000 troops of King Edward IV. • The
Trier Conference begins in the German city of
Trier as
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy make a grand entry into the city of
Trier for a meeting of central European leaders to respond to the threat of an invasion by the Ottoman Empire.
October–December •
October 1 –
Johannes Hennon publishes the medical treatise
Commentarii in Aristotelis libros Physicorum. •
October 7 – At
Trier, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, hosts an elaborate banquet for the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and various prince-electors of the electorates within the Empire, ostensibly to work towards a common union of nations to begin a new crusade against the Ottomans, but offends most of his guests because of his arrogant ambition. •
October 18 –
Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria becomes the first of the guests to walk out of the Duke of Burgundy banquet. •
October 31 – The Trier Conference breaks up after Charles the Bold fails to persuade the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick to help Charles become King of the Romans or to enter into an alliance against King Loouis XI of France. Frederick II instead proposes an alliance between the Empire, Burgundy, and France. Charles threatens to leave unless he can secure an alliance by a treaty marriage. •
November 4 – The negotiators for Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire tentatively agree on creating a Kingdom of Burgundy, ruled by Charles the Bold, that would become a member of the Empire and that would include Burgundy, Holland, Luxembourg, Savoy, Lorraine and other parts of what are now the Netherlands, Belgium and France. A coronation ceremony for Charles as King of Burgundy is tentatively scheduled to take place on November 25. •
November 20 – The
Battle of Vodna Stream, near
Râmnicu Sărat, ends after two days in what is now
Romania,
Stephen the Great,
Prince of Moldavia, routs the army of Wallachia, commanded by
Prince Radu the Handsome. Prince Radu then flees to Dâmbovița. •
November 23 – Prince Stephen of Moldavia begins the
siege of Dâmbovița Fortress, where Wallachia's Prince Radu has taken refuge in a war between the two monarchs. Prince Radu escapes during the night, leaving behind his wife, his daughter and his treasury, and the fortress surrenders the next day. •
December 23 –
Radu II returns as Prince of Wallachia one month after having been deposed briefly by
Basarab the Old.
Date unknown •
Stephen the Great of Moldavia refuses to pay tribute to the Ottomans. This will attract an Ottoman invasion in
1475, resulting in the greatest defeat of the Ottomans so far. •
Axayacatl,
Aztec ruler of
Tenochtitlan, invades the territory of the neighboring Aztec city of
Tlatelolco. The ruler of Tlatelolco is killed and replaced by a military governor; Tlatelolco loses its independence. • Possible discovery of the island of "
Bacalao" (possibly
Newfoundland off North America) by
Didrik Pining and
João Vaz Corte-Real. • The city walls and defensive moat are built in
Celje,
Slovenia. •
Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474, an astronomical wall calendar, is published in
Kraków, the oldest known
printing in
Poland. • Florentine physician
Marsilio Ficino becomes a
Catholic priest. • Possible date –
Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the first book to be printed in English, by
William Caxton, in
Bruges. • Severe
heat and drought in Europe == Births ==