(Feature Photo: A woodcut illustration of the city of Nuremberg with its castle in 1493; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
1485
RULERS & ROYALTY: Richard III is king of England until August when he dies and Henry VII becomes king – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
At some point early in the thirteenth century an English scholar known as John of Holywood, or Sacrobosco, wrote an astronomical treatise appropriately titled The Sphere, also translated as The Sphere of the World or Discussion on the Sphere; The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) of England has a printed copy of it that dates from 1485 (The Fourth Part of the World, Pg. 27-28) (Watch: The RAS show off the book!) (side note, can’t find a for sale copy anywhere, probably not translated to English)
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 12 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Future artist Michelangelo turns 10; He is growing up in the Republic of Florence, Italy
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 33
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 34; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 13 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 6 year old-son, Juan, a 5 year-old daughter, Joanna, and a 2 year-old daughter, Maria
August 22, The Battle of Bosworth takes place in which Henry VII rides against King Richard III; Richard dies, and Henry VII becomes king of England; Henry VII marks the beginning of the Tudor era in England
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 34
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 2
December 16, Queen Isabella of Castile and León, Spain, gives birth to a daughter, Catherine; Catherine will marry King Henry VIII of England in 1509 and become his first wife, he will then divorce her in 1533 in order to marry Anne Boleyn
1486
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 13 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Future artist Michelangelo turns 11; He is growing up in the Republic of Florence, Italy
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 34
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 35; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 14 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 7 year old-son, Juan, a 6 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 3 year-old daughter, Maria, and a five month-old daughter, Catherine
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 35
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 3
The first edition of Malleus Maleficarum or "Hammer of Witches" is published; It is written by a German Catholic clergymen named Heinrich Kramer, and is first published in the German city of Speyer; The book covers witchcraft and condemns sorcery as heresy, meaning it would result in the death penalty and burning at the stake; The University of Cologne condemns it for its unethical and illegal procedures as well as for being inconsistent with Catholic doctrines on demonology; The book makes a huge cultural impact (Photo: Title page of the seventh Cologne edition in 1520; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
1487
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 14 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Future artist Michelangelo turns 12; He is growing up in the Republic of Florence, Italy
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 35
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 36; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 15 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 8 year old-son, Juan, and a 7 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 4 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 1 year-old daughter, Catherine
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 36
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 4
1488
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 15 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist turns 13; He is growing up in the Republic of Florence, Italy; This year, he becomes the apprentice to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, who had been called to Rome to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel, which had only been completed seven years ago on 1481
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 36
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 37; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 16 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 9 year old-son, Juan, an 8 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 5 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 2 year-old daughter, Catherine
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 37
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 5
Duke Humfrey’s library over the Divinity School in Oxford, England is opened
Sebastian Münster is born in Ingelheim, Germany, a short distance down the Rhine from Mainz, he becomes a German humanist, and by the mid-sixteenth century, Germany’s most influential scholar in geography, and especially for his book Cosmography, which really put Germany on the map, and pretty much at the center of it, for most of his lifetime though, he will be better known as the translator and editor of many works in Hebrew including the Jewish histories of Josippon written at the end of the first millennium (as per the book Germany, A Nation in its Time, pg. 40, Wikipedia says it was written in the 10th century, the author is thought to be Josephus)
1489
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
January 3, Martin Truchseb von Wetzhausen, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order dies, and Johann von Tiefen becomes Grand Master
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 16 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist, turns 14; This year, Lorenzo di' Medici, the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, asks the artist Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, and Ghirlandaio sends Michelangelo Francesco Granacci; Lorenzo then became a great sponsor of Michelangelo's work
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 37
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 38; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 17 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 10 year old-son, Juan, a 9 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 6 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 3 year-old daughter, Catherine
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 38
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 6
1490
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor (House of Hapsburg) – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
In the 1490s, The German mapmaker Henricus Martellus makes the first scaled, accurate map of Central Europe (Picture of it in Germany, A Nation in its Time, Pg. 9)
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 17; He is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist, turns 15, and begins attending the Platonic Academy, a Humanist academy founded by Medici
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 38
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 39; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 18 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 11 year old-son, Juan, a 10 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 7 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 4 year-old daughter, Catherine (Photo: Portrait painted of Isabella I in 1490, Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Queen Isabella's daughter, Isabella of Aragon, marries Prince Alfonso of Portugal
May 17, Albert (who becomes Albert of Prussia) is born (d. 1568) in Ansbach, Brandenburg-Ansbach in the Holy Roman Empire (now Bavaria, Germany); He will be the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia (1510-1525) and will be the first Duke ever of Prussia when his uncle, the king of Poland, signs the Treaty of Kraków with him in 1525, giving him Prussia and letting Albert secularize it to become a hereditary realm; Until then though, Prussia will continue to be a Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights; Albert will be strongly influenced by Martin Luther (who is turning 7 years old this year), and will convert to Lutheranism/Protestantism; He will also be the first ruler to establish Protestantism as the official state religion of his lands
August 25 (approx.), Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, turns 39
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 7
1491
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor (House of Hapsburg) – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Innocent VIII is the 214th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 18 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist, turns 16; He completes his earliest known work called the "Madonna on the Stairs" in marble; (today it is held in the collections of the Casa Buonarroti, originally the home of Michelangelo and now a museum)
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 39
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 40; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 19 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 12 year old-son, Juan, an 11 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 8 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 5 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
Isabella of Aragon (Queen Isabella's daughter) is living in Portugal with her husband, Prince Alfonso of Portugal, but he dies in a riding accident and Isabella is sent back to Spain
June 28, Henry VIII is born to King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York of England, at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, near London (he will go on to marry Isabell's daughter Catherine)
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 40
During the winter semester, 18 year-old Nicolaus Copernicus attends the University of Kraków in Poland (now called Jagiellonian University) (Photo: Courtyard of the University of Kraków, Credit: Allie Caulfield, Wikimedia Commons)
November 10, Martin Luther, the future German priest, author and theologian, turns 8
1492
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III is Holy Roman Emperor (House of Hapsburg) – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Lorenzo di' Medici is the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, dies, and his Piero "The Unfortunate" de Medici becomes ruler – Innocent VIII, the 214th pope/bishop of Rome, dies, and Alexander VI becomes the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 19; He is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Future artist Michelangelo turns 17; He is growing up in the Republic of Florence, Italy
April 8, Lorenzo di' Medici, the de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy, dies, aged 43, (b. 1449) and his son Piero "The Unfortunate" de Medici (b. 1472) becomes ruler at 20 years old (Photo: Portrait of Piero in 1494; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 40
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 41; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 20 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 13 year old-son, Juan, a 12 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 9 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 6 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, The future King Henry VIII of England turns 1
July 25, Pope Innocent VIII dies, and Pope Alexander VI becomes pope/bishop of Rome
August 3, In the evening, Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer backed by the Spanish crown, sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, on the southwestern tip of Spain with three ships under his command: The largest, a carrack, named the Santa Maria, owned and captained by Juan de la Cosa, the other two were smaller caravels, the Niña and the Pinta
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 41
October 7, The crews of Christoper Columbus' ships spots immense flocks of birds
October 11, Christopher Columbus and his crew sight land
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The Earliest Meteorite in Recorded History
November 7, A large meteorite hits the earth, landing in a wheat field outside the walled town of Ensisheim, in Alsace, Germany (now in present-day France); The future Holy Roman/German Emperor Maximillian I is told that it is a good omen, and that he will find success in his wars against France and Turkey; Maximillian orders it to be kept in a local parish church where it is held to the wall by iron crampons to keep it from wandering at night and so that it will not leave in the same violent matter that it came; The Ensisheim meteorite is the oldest recorded meteorite in history, and can still be seen in the town's museum, though a piece of it was sent to Pope Pius III at the time and is kept in the Vatican (Photo: An illustration of the falling of the meteorite in the Nuremberg Chronicles in 1492; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 9
Erhard Etzlaub makes a regional map of Nuremberg’s hinterlands, it counts as one of more than one hundred regional maps scholars have discovered from the late Middle Ages, most of them made in Italy, England, and the Netherlands (Germany, A Nation in its Time, Pg. 20, also see the map on Pg. 21)
1493
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – Fredrich III, the Holy Roman Emperor (House of Hapsburg) dies, but his son does not ascend the throne until 1508 – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Charles VIII is king of France – Piero "The Unfortunate" de Medici is de facto ruler of the Republic of Florence, Italy – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 20 years old, he lives in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Future artist Michelangelo turns 18
April 7, King Charles VIII of France dies, aged 27, and Louis XII becomes king of France
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 41
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 42; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 21 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 14 year old-son, Juan, a 13 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 10 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 7 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, The future King Henry VIII of England turns 2; He is made Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
August 19, Fredrich III, Holy Roman Emperor / German Emperor, of the House of Hapsburg, dies; However, his son, Maximilian I will not ascend the throne as emperor until 1508
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 42
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 10
In Nuremberg, Germany, Hartmann Schedel’s work Liber Chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle in English) is printed in “royal format” (47x32.5 centimeters), with 326 folio pages in its Latin edition and 297 in its German edition, and it had 1,890 woodcuts, making it the most profusely illustrated work in the early stage of print, and one that expressed the pride, power, and wealth of the Nuremberg elite…Less the author than the conductor of the work, Schedel brought together an ensemble of extraordinary talent, including young Albrecht Dürer, Hieronymus Münzer (a doctor, traveler, and accomplished mapmaker), George Alt (who translated the Latin text into German), Michael Wohlgemut (from whom Dürer learned the art of making woodcuts), and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, Wohlgemut’s nephew and brilliant carver, illustrator, and painter in his own right. It was an immense and expensive production. Yet despite its cost (the monetary equivalent of five and a half oxen, in one estimate), the Nuremberg Chronicle became an overnight success, selling some 1,400 copies in Latin and 700 in German. Like many medieval chronicles, Schedel’s work narrate time along the seven days of creation, with each day standing for an era of history. (Germany, A Nation in its Time, Pgs. 16-17) (Photo: Pages from the Nuremberg Chronicles in 1493 showing the political structure of the Holy Roman Empire; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
In Spain, a history book commissioned by Queen Isabella and written by Diego de Valera, titled Chronicle of Spain is published; It highlights the kingdom’s ties to Greece; Isabella and her family believe themselves to be descended from Hercules, the legendary warrior, half-God and half-mortal; They also believe that the hero founded the cities of Arévalo, Segovia, Avila, and Salamanca, places that Isabella knows well; Hercules is also associated with the 120 ft. lighthouse off the coast of Galicia in northern Spain, in an area notorious for shipwrecks; It’s construction is viewed as a marvelous engineering feat, and a surviving illustration of the ways in which Greek mythology and biblical tales intermingled in the Spanish mind; In the dedication of Chronicle of Spain, Queen Isabella is referred to as Duchess of Athens through her marriage to Ferdinand; the land of Spain had been made a Roman province called Hispania in 38 B.C. (Isabella, The Warrior Queen, Pg. 9)
1494
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – No Holy Roman Emperor at this time – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Louis XII is king of France – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 21 years old, he is living in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Italian artist Michelangelo turns 19
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 42
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 43; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 22 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 15 year old-son, Juan, a 14 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 11 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 8 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
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You realize, of course...he's three.
June 28, The future King Henry VIII of England turns 3; This year, he is made Earl Marshall of England, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and a Knight of the Bath; A month after these ceremonies, he is created Duke of York, and a month after that ceremony, he is made Warden of the Scottish Marshes--and he's already Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
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August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 43
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 11
1495
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – No Holy Roman Emperor at this time – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Louis XII is king of France – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 22 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Italian artist Michelangelo turns 20
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 43
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 44; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 23 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 16 year old-son, Juan, a 15 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 12 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 9 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, The future King Henry VIII of England turns 4
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 44
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 12
1496
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – No Holy Roman Emperor at this time – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Louis XII is king of France – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 23 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Italian artist Michelangelo turns 21
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 44
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 45; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 24 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 17 year old-son, Juan, a 16 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 13 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 10 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, The future King Henry VIII of England turns 5
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 45
November 10, Future German priest, author and theologian, Martin Luther, turns 13
Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini’s (papal legate) extremely influential and widespread epistolary treatise titled Germania which he wrote back in 1457-1458 is published as An Account of the Rites, Site, Mores, and General Condition of Germany, in which he rebuffs the complaints about the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, demonstrating that the Germans have become wealthy and civilized, and had Christianity and the Roman church to thank for it, further in the book he describes Germany as a place full of prosperity and beautiful cities and castles (Germany seems to be taking shape as a people/country at this time) (GNT 7)
1497
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – No Holy Roman Emperor at this time – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Louis XII is king of France – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Johann von Tiefen is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order until he dies on August 25
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 24 years old, he lives in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights; From 1497, he is a chapter cannon in the Warmian Cathedral (northwest Poland)
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist, turns 22
April 3, Prince Juan, Queen Isabella's son, marries 16 year-old Margaret of Austria in Burgos Cathedral
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 45
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 46; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 25 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 17 year old-son, Juan, a 16 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 13 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 10 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, Future King Henry VIII of England turns 6
August 25 (approx.), Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, turns 46
In September, Isabella of Aragon (Queen Isabella's daughter) marries Manuel I king of Portugal
October 4, 18 year-old Prince Juan, Queen Isabella's son, dies in Salamanca, a city in Castile, Spain, leaving his wife Margaret of Austria a widow; Isabella is devastated, and keeps his dog with her in memory of him; His cause of death is unknown; Prince Juan is then entombed in the Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás in Ávila, Spain (Photo: Prince Juan's tomb, Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
November 10, Martin Luther, the future German priest, author and theologian, turns 14
1498
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – No Holy Roman Emperor at this time – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Louis XII is king of France – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Fredrick of Saxony becomes Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 25 years old, he is growing up in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist, turns 23; He begins working on his famous Pieta sculpture of Mary with Jesus after the Crucifixion
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 46
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 47; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has a 26 year-old daughter, Isabella of Aragon, a 17 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 14 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 11 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, Future King Henry VIII of England turns 7
August 23, Isabella of Aragon, Queen Isabella's first born daughter, dies in Zaragoza, Aragon, after giving birth to a son, who dies before his second birthday
August 25 (approx.), The Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, Christopher Columbus, turns 47
November 10, Martin Luther, the future German priest, author and theologian, turns 15
1499
RULERS & ROYALTY: Henry VII is king of England / Elizabeth of York is queen – No Holy Roman Emperor at this time – Isabella I is queen of Castile and León, Spain – Ferdinand II is king of Aragon, Spain – Louis XII is king of France – Alexander VI is the 215th pope/bishop of Rome
Fredrick of Saxony is Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, Poland, the land of the Teutonic Order
February 19, Nicolaus Copernicus turns 27; He is living in Prussia, Poland, which is under the control of the Teutonic Knights
March 6, Michelangelo, the Italian artist, turns 24; He completes one of his most famous sculptures, the Pietà this year; The statue was commissioned by the French ambassador to Rome, Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, who had it made for his funeral monument; (Today it is housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, in Rome) (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
April 15, Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist, turns 47
April 22, Queen Isabella I of Castile and León, Spain turns 48; She is married to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Spain, and has an 18 year-old daughter, Joanna, a 15 year-old daughter, Maria, and a 12 year-old daughter, Catherine of Aragon
June 28, Future King Henry VIII of England turns 8
August 25 (approx.), Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, navigator, and 1st governor of the Indies, turns 48
November 10, Martin Luther, the future German priest, author and theologian, turns 16
“As the fifteenth century drew to a close, Germany was still imperfectly known. Descriptions of the silhouettes of its cities, the bends of its rivers, the slopes and heights of its mountains, the location and density of its forests, and even the character of the people were rare, sparse in detail, and wanting in exactness. No charts drew the German lands to scale and no drawings showed its borders. And no one had described Germany as a space with a recognizable shape.”
(Germany, A Nation in its Time, Pg. 3)
An alchemist named Switchard Fronberger sets up an astro-alchemical project for Maximillian I, king of the Romans and king in Germany (and who will become the Holy Roman/German Emperor in 1508); The project will theoretically produce silver in 1547 and gold in 1598; This is according to Leonhard Thurneysser, a scholar and miracle doctor at the court of the elector John George in Brandenburg