| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| England | Henry VII (1457-1509) | Aug. 22, 1485 | Apr. 21, 1509 |  |
| Scotland | James IV (1473-1513) | June 11, 1488 | Sept. 9, 1513 |  |
| France | Louis XII (1462-1515) | Apr. 7, 1498 | Jan. 1, 1515 |  |
| Germany | HRE Maximilian I (1459-1519) | Feb. 16, 1486 | Jan. 12, 1519 |  |
| Papacy | Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) (1431-1503) | Aug. 11, 1492 | Aug. 18, 1503 |  |
1500 World pop: 425M-540M; Peru: 10M; Dresden: 2,565; after the 1453 fall of Constantinople, Venice has 4K Greek immigrants, making it "another Byzantium" (Johannes Bessarion). 20K+ die of the plague this year and last in London. The Norse pop. of Greenland disappears by this year. The English Era of Expansion begins (ends 1648) as surplus agriculture begins in England, causing it to climb out of famine and launch frontier settlement throughout the world. According to Am. historian Norman Frank Cantor (1929-2004), this year marks the end of the Medieval Era or Middle Ages; "A high and strong culture is declining, but at the same time and in the same sphere new things are being born. The tide is turning, the tone of life is about to change" (Johan Huizinga); Europe begins to be run by bureaucratic monarchies. Between this year and 1800 Europe is at war 270 years out of 300? By now Spanish gold mines are producing $1M worth of gold annually; as treasure pours into Spain, however, prices rise. It takes until the year 1750 for the human technical knowledge in this year to double, according to French economist Georges Anderla (1921-2005); last in 1 C.E. On Jan. 26 Brazil (named after brazilwood, which produces a valuable red dye) is discovered by Spanish sailor Vicente Yanez Pinzon (1461-1513) in a 4-ship fleet at Cape Santo Agostinho (Cabo Santa Maria de la Consolacion) near Cape Sao Roque; his four ships then turn NW and discover the estuary of the Amazon River 4 mo. later, mistaking it for the Ganges River and naming it Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce; Pinzon then sails between Trinidad and the mainland and reaches the Gulf of Paria in Venezuela on May 1, then turns N, passes the Windward and Leeward Islands to the W, followed by Puerto Rico and Hispaniola to the N, then NW through the Bahamas, where he loses two ships, then returns to Palos in Sept.; meanwhile on Apr. 22 (24?) after leaving Lisbon on Mar. 9 with 13 ships and 1K crew on a royal trade expedition to India along Vasco da Gama's route along the Cape of Good Hope, Portuguese sailor Pedro Alvares (Álvares) de Cabral (1467-1526), lands in Brazil, claiming it for his king under the name Island of the True Cross; his shipmate Diogo Dias dances on the beach to the pipes of the Tupiniquim, easing their fears; Cabral sails for India after leaving a small force there; after losing half his fleet in a storm, he reaches SW India and founds the first Euro settlement his co-capt. Pero (Pedro) Vaz de Caminha (1450-1500) writes to the king of Portugal about newly-discovered Brazil that "The best fruit that can be taken from it... will be saving its people" (by Christianizing them); in 1503 Fort Kochi (Emmanuel) is built, and ruled by Portugal unti l663. On Feb. 17 the Battle of Hemmingstedt in Schleswig-Holstein sees the peasant republic of Dithmarschen defend itself against the Black Guard of King John (Hans) of Denmark by flooding the dikes. In the summer Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real (1450-1501) leaves Lisbon, and discovers Newfoundland ("Terra Verde"), visiting varous points between Labrador and the Bay of Fundy. After Polish prince Alexander Jagiellon (1461-1506) of Lithuania tries to force a number of Orthodox nobles to convert to Roman Catholicism incl. his wife Elena (Ivan III's daughter), Ivan III invades the Lithuanian borderlands again, taking Toropets and Dorogobuzh, and starting the Second Russian-Lithuanian War (ends 1503); on July 14 after the Russians fail to take Smolensk, the Battle of Vedrosha on the Vedrosha River 30 mi. W of Kaluga sees 40K Russians under Prince Daniil Vasiliyevich Shchenya (-1519) defeat 40K Polish-Lithuanian forces under hetman (since 1497) Konstanty Iwanowicz Ostrogski (1460-1530), killing 8K and taking many POWs, incl. Ostrogski, who escapes after three years; the Russians conquer Bryansk and turn it into a fortress. On July 15 (10:00 p.m.) Don Alfonso of Aragon (b. 1481), happy 2nd husband of 6-mo. happy pregnant Lucrezia Borgia is nearly assassinated on the steps of St. Peter's in Rome by 40 assassins on horseback, and even though she tries to rescue him and put him under guard, and either he or she sends men who shoot arrows at her brother Cesare Borgia (who is jealous of his beauty, while he suffers from pockmarks from syphilis, and wants the bum knocked off since his original plans to use him to marry somebody else fell through), he sends his henchman Don Micheletto to trick them to go into an adjoining room before strangling him; after she has son Rodolfo and mourns his loss they exile her to Nepi to shut her up. On July 19 Isabella I's son Dom Miguel da Paz (b. 1498), heir to Spain and Portugal dies, leaving her daughter Juana (Joanna) the Mad and her hubby Philip I the Handsome as heirs to Spain. On Aug. 10 (St. Lawrence's Day) Portuguese explorer Diogo Dias becomes the first Euro to sight Madagascar, naming it Sao Lourenco, connecting it with the Arabic Island of the Moon reported in 1490 by Portuguese explorer Pero (Pedro) da Covilha (Pêro da Covilhã) (1460-1527). In Aug. the Battle of Modon (Second Battle of Lepanto) is another V for the Ottoman fleet under adm. Kemal Reis, who bombards the Venetian fortress of Modon (Methoni) in W Peloponnese (held since 1125) (until 1686) and captures the town, after which he engages the Venetian fleet off the coast of Coron (Koroni) on the Gulf of Messina in the SW Peloponnese (the 2nd "eye of the republic of Venice" along with Modon) and captures the town (until 1686) along with a Venetian cmdr., leaving no stops for Venetian ships sailing to the Levant; he then sails across to Sapienza Island and sinks the Venetian galley Lezza; in Sept. he assaults Voiussa, and in Oct. he takes on Cape Santa Maria on Lefkada Island before returning to Constantinople a happy camper in Nov., after which Turkish cavalry is called in, reaching N Italy itself by 1503. On Sept. 12 Duke Albert the Bold (b. 1443) dies, and his eldest son George the Bearded (1471-1539) becomes duke of Saxony, becoming known for his excellent education and for remaining Catholic even though his younger brother Henry IV the Pious goes Protestant. On Sept. 15 John Morton (b. 1420) dies, and Winchester bishop (since 1493) Thomas Langton (-1501) is elected to succeed him as archbishop of Canterbury, but he dies next Jan. 27 before his election is confirmed, and Salisbury bishop (since 1500) Henry Deane (1440-1503) is elected next Apr. 26, becoming the first monk to become archbishop of Canterbury (until ?). In Sept. Amerigo Vespucci returns to Spain. On Oct. 21 emperor (since 1464) Go-Tsuchimikado (b. 1442) dies, and on Nov. 19 his eldest son Go-Kashiwabara (1464-1526) (personal name Katsuhito) becomes Japanese emperor #104 (until May 19, 1526), going on to scrape the bottom as far as imperial authority vis a vis the shogun. In Oct. Christopher Columbus is arrested in Hispaniola by gov. Francisco de Bobadilla for injustice to the Indians, and sent home to Spain in chains for rehabilitation; now that he's gone, Bobadilla is as cruel or even crueller to them? On Nov. 11 the secret Treaty of Granada is signed between Louis XII and Ferdinand II of Aragon partitioning the kingdom of Naples between them, and making Louis XII king of Naples, the Terra de Lavoro, and the Abruzzi, while Ferdinand becomes grand duke of Puglia and Calabria. On Nov. 16 after eight Franciscan friars arrive in India from Lisbon (the first Roman Catholic missionaries in India), three of them are massacred in Calcutta (Kolkata), and the remainder move to Muslim Cochin on the Malabar (W) coast, arriving on Dec. 24 under cmdr. Pedro Alvares Cabral; the ruler of Cochin is Unniraman Koyikal I (d. 1503); big surprise, since the Diaspora of the 1st-2nd cents., Cochin has been a safe haven for the coochie-coo Jews. Duke Ludovico Sforza the Moor recovers Milan from the French, but 2 mo. later they reconquer it, capture Sforza, and imprison him in France, where he dies in prison in 1508; the Sforza Dynasty of Milan (founded 1450) ends; the poor duchy of Savoy now lies between the French possessions of Milan and Naples. The Tartars stage two large attacks on Poland. Muhammad Shaybani Khan (1451-1510), a descendant of Genghis Khan leads the Uzbeks against the Timurids, capturing Samarkand and taking over Transoxiana (Turan), once (1447) ruled by Ulugh Beg from the Timurids, founding the Shaybani Dynasty (ends 1510). The Diet of Augsburg establishes the 20-member Council of Regency (Reichsregiment) for administering the Holy Roman Empire, and divides Germany into six "circles"; German king Maximilian I doesn't like it, and dissolves it in 1502, and after HRE Charles V revives it in 1521 in weakened form it ends up being dissolved in 1531, ending any chance for the HRE to become a unified nat. state. Emanuel (Manuel) I of Portugal marries Maria, Infanta of Spain. Leonardo da Vinci joins up with Cesare Borgia as a military engineer and cartographer, making him many maps using modern surveying methods, incl. one of the first making reference to America; by spring Borgia is defeated, and Leonardo returns to Florence, reduced to the role of a mere artist again; Cesare Borgia leads another expedition which conquers Romagna, Italy. Niccolo Machiavelli is sent by Florence to France to deal with the French king. Pope Alexander VI proclaims a Year of Jubilee, and preaches a Crusade against the Turks, imposing a tithe to pay for it; meanwhile German monk Martin Luther (1483-1546) issues a great proto-Protestant soundbyte: "I persuade myself verily, that the Day of Judgment will not be absent full three hundred years. God will not, cannot, suffer this world much longer... The Great Day is drawing near in which the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown." In this cent. Archangel in Russia begins an extensive trade with England and Holland, causing the town of Vologda 290 mi. NNE of Moscow to become a commercial center until the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703. In this cent. the Russian Cossacks settle the lower Don River, setting up the Territory of the Don Cossacks, ruled by the khan of the Crimea. In this cent. the Islamic kingdoms of Buayan and Magindanao on Mindanao in the S Philippines are founded. In this cent. Muslim Dyula-speaking Africans begin migrating from the declining Mali Empire into NE Ivory Coast, founding the city of Bego, later the city of Kong, displacing the animist native pop. In this cent. Spanish settlers from Castile begin planting Listan (Listán) Prieto (negro) ("Listan" = "Palomino") grapes in the Canary Ialdns, which are later brought to the Spanish colonies in Peru, and in Calif. in the late 18th cent. by Franciscan missionaries, where they become known as Mission grapes. In this dangerous cent. nice safe Vanitas (Lat. "emptiness") still life paintings become popular in Flanders and the Netherlands (until the late 17th cent.), portraying the vanity of earthly life. In this cent. the word "doctor" (Lat. "docere" = to teach) gains a medical connotation; late in the cent. the word "nurse" (Lat. "nutrire" = to suckle) gains the meaning of someone who looks after the infirm (Lat. "infirmus" = weak") rather than just a wet-nurse. In this cent. unusual numbers of women get into positions of rulership. In this cent. the Warburg Family of German Jews is founded by Simon von Cassel (d. 1566), who takes his surname from the city of Warburg; they continue to modern times. In this cent. the Jesuit School of Salamanca in Spain develops economic theory to a high level, only to be forgotten until the 20th cent., when their similarity to the Austrian School of Economics turns on Joseph Alois Schumpeter in his "History of Economic Analysis" (1954). In this cent. sailors from Genoa, Italy begin wearing denim, causing the word "jeans" to be coined; they get the stuff from Nimes, hence "serge di Nimes"? By this time German becomes the written language of the educated classes in Germany, and after Luther's 1522 pub. of the German trans. of the Bible, German spreads from midland Germany to the masses via public readings. In this cent. hereditary serfdom is reestablished in Poland, Russia, and Prussia. The Italian Renaissance begins to spread to England. The cuisine of Florence becomes #1 in Europe, causing Paris to adopt it and create French cuisine; Marco Polo brings a noodle dish from China that the Italians turn into pasta; Jewish immigrants from Catholic Spain bring the original pizza to Italy. A renaissance in painting begins in the Netherlands and Germany, with Albrecht Durer more than keeping up with his Italian rivals. In this cent. coffee (kahve) reaches Persia from Arabia; after being studied by physicians until they pass it, it spreads throughout the country in rocking chess-playing coffeehouses, displacing tea as the most popular beverage until around 1800. In this cent. the Lake Chad area of Africa is split among the rival kingdom of Kanem-Bornu (ends 1900) and the sultanate of Bagirmi (Baghermi) (1522-1897). Jews begin to borrow secular names (don't say Christian names) from Europeans. During the reign of Henry VII high class English women begin to wear a profusion of hair with heavy side locks; during the reign of Henry VIII men begin to part their hair in the center and comb it straight down the sides. The Neshnabek (True People, later the Potawatomi) migrate from the land N of Lakes Superior and Huron to an area along the E shore of Lake Michigan. The Venetian Art Style begins to diverge from that of Florence and Rome. The Galliard lively sexy French dance for two dancers in triple time filled with leaps, jumps, and hops becomes popular this cent. and next, and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England. In this cent. the Cairn Terrier is bred to flush and kill rats in manmade cairns in the Scottish Highlands. In this cent. the Norman village of Creton begins producing Cretonne, heavy unglazed printed cotton or linen cloth, used for curtains. The High Gothic period in German art (begun 1250) ends, and the High Renaissance period in European art begins (ends 1525). The first regular postal route between Vienna and Brussels opens. Silver guilders are introduced in Germany (and Austria until 1892). The U. of Valencia in Spain is founded. In this cent. Islam is introduced to Maluku (E Indonesia), starting with the sultans, then their familes and kin-based settlements, and reaching the entire pop. by the next cent. In this cent. the steel Rapier (from Sp. "espada ropera" = sword for wearing with clothing) becomes a status symbol in Spain, to be worn at all times; the best are made in Toledo. This year incunables (incunabula), books made from woodblocks with moveable type that imitate manuscripts are discontinued; since the invention of printing, over 1K printing offices have turned out approx. 10M books under 35K titles. In this cent. the first commercial colleges are founded in Venice. About this year the English word "fuck" first appears in a satirical poem aimed at the Carmelite friars of Cambridge U. About this time Italians coin the term "influenza" for diseases attributed to the influence of the stars. In this cent. the Scots begin making whiskey from malted barley. In this cent. it becomes a custom to attach satirical verses to the Pasquino, a classical statue in Rome. About this time the Polish Winged Hussars are first mentioned. In this decade the May Morris Dance (allegedly of Moorish origin), celebrating the Robin Hood story reaches its height of popularity. In this cent. the Poodle dog breed is developed in Germany - so why do they call it the French Poodle? In this cent. the Cittern, a cheap version of the lute with a flat rather than curved back (the guitar of its day) becomes a common barber shop instrument in England for customers to entertain each other; the top of the pegbox is often decorated with a small poorly-carved head, causing the reference to "cittern-heads" in Shakespeare's "Love's Labour Lost". Sports: Early in this cent. the first annual horse race is held in Chester, England near the Dee River. In this cent. the dance slash martial art form of Capoeira is developed in Brazil. Architecture: The Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp (begun 1352) is finished. King's College Chapel in Cambridge, Henry VII's Lady Chapel in Westminster (known for perfect fan vaulting) (last great architectural masterpiece of the Middle Ages?), and St. George's Chapel in Windsor are all built early in this cent., becoming the last gasp of English Gothic architecture. Ahu Akivi is built on Easter Island. Inventions: Early in this cent. the Spanish begin sailing Galleons, giant lumbering heavily-armed ships with three masts and 3-4 decks (a modification of the galley) used to transport gallons of treasure from South Am. (the Spanish Main) and other lands to home turf - click if you want to become a buccaneer? About this year Chinese inventor Wan Hu allegedly devises a flying chair using 47 rockets, which explodes, killing him, becoming the world's first astronaut; Wan-Hoo Crater on the Moon is later named after him. About this time the Chinese invent a rotary disk cutter for cutting jade. In this cent. the Yo-Yo is invented in the Philippine Islands; it weighs 4 lbs. and has a 20-ft. cord. In this cent. the Shirt is invented, and the word "buttonhole" coined. In this cent. black lead Graphite Pencils come into use in England. In this cent. modern copper-zinc brass comes into use, replacing the ancient copper-tin alloy. In this cent. the Spanish introduce the Musket (Sp. "little fly"), accurate to 400 yards, which replaces the arquebus; the slow reloading procedure necessitates the carrying of a pike for defense, which leads to the invention of the Bayonet. In this cent. Faience tin-glazed pottery with a pale buff body is first manufactured in Faenza in N Italy. In this cent. the Water Pipe (Bong) for smoking is introduced in Ming China. Science: The first Caesarian Section since Julius Caesar in 100 B.C.E. is carried out by pig gelder Jakob Nufer in Switzerland. Early in this cent. mercury starts to be used to treat syphilis. About this time Haast's Eagle, which grows up to 40 lb. and lives in the mountains of New Zealand becomes extinct; a predator, it might have preyed on humans? In this cent. (next cent.?) the elusive 10-ft.-tall 1K lb. Elephant Bird (Vouron Patra) (Aepyornis maximus) of Madagascar, the world's largest bird (with the world's largest egg) becomes extinct. A German engraving from about this time depicts a doctor wearing a mask with a birdlike beak containing perfume to protect against the Black Death. In this cent. the advent of the printing press causes the ranks of academics to be swamped with experimentalists looking to pub. more and more? Art: Anon., Globe of the World; engraved onto an ostrich egg, incl. the New World, showing North Am. as two tiny islands. Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), The Temptation of St. Anthony; The Ship of Fools - good title for the entire cent.? Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), The Mystical Nativity; contains a message predicting the End of the World within three years based on predictions of Girolamo Savonarola. Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1526), Life of St. George (9 scenes) (1600-). Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Self-Portrait; Lamentation for Christ (1500-3); Hans Durer (Dürer); The Great Passion (12 woodcuts). Gentile Bellini (1427-1507), Queen Caterina Cornaro. Il Giorgione (1478-1511), Doge Agostino Barbarigo (1420-1501). Michelangelo (1475-1564), The Entombment (1500-1) (unfinished); commissioned for the Church of Sant'Agostino in Rome; he gives the money back before returning to Florence. Il Perugino (1450-1523), Madonna and Child; Family of the Madonna (1500-2). Pinturicchio (1454-1513), Madonna Adoring the Child. Jean Poyet, The Massacre of the Innocents; illustration for the book "Hours of Henry VIII". Nonfiction: Anon., The Key of Solomon (Clavis Salomonis); a grimoire (magician's handbook). Hieronymus Brunschwig (1450-1512), Liber de Arti Distillandi (Das Buch der Rechten Kunst zu Distillieren); the first herbal and the first illustrations to depict chemical apparatus and operations. Juan de la Cosa, Map of the New World; earliest known map of the New World, by a shipmate of Christopher Columbus, who dedicates it to him, along with a vignette of St. Christopher carrying Infant Jesus on his shoulders. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Adagia (Paris); collection of 800 Latin and Greek proverbs stolen from his vast reading; he later blows it up to 3K proverbs and changes the title to "Adagiorum Chiliades" (The Thousand Proverbs), then runs it up to 4,658 by his death; many Euro "commonsense sayings" can be traced to this pub., incl. "One step at a time", "Make haste slowly", "Be in the same boat", "Lead by the nose", "From Heaven to Earth", "Weigh anchor", "Grind one's teeth", "Walk on tiptoe", "Even a child can see it", "Out of tune", "A point in time", "To call a spade a spade", "Give as good as one gets", "Can't live with women or without them", "Between a rock and a hard place", "Can't teach a dog new tricks", "Crocodile tears", "The bowels of the Earth", "Look a gift horse in the mouth", "Die laughing", "Break the ice", "Sleep on it", "Walk a tightrope", "Nowhere near the mark", "Complete the circle", "In the land of the blind the 1-eyed man is king". Plays: Anon., Mariken van Nieumeghen; Dutch miracle play about a woman selling her soul to the Devil; written about this time. Poetry: Francesco Berni (1497-1535), Burlesque Rhymes; invents the burlesque (It. "burla" = mocking jest) form in lit. Novels: Anon., Till Eulenspiegel (Lubeck); German Schwank book. Births: Spanish "Sun never sets" Hapsburg-Valois-Trastamara-Aragon king (1516-58) and HRE (1519-58) Charles V of Burgundy (d. 1558) on Feb. 24 in Prinsenhof Castle, Ghent, Flanders; son of Philip I the Handsome of Burgundy (1478-1506) and Juana the Mad of Castile (1479-1555); paternal grandson of HRE Maximilian I (1459-1519) and Mary of Burgundy (1457-82); maternal grandson of Ferdinand II the Catholic of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabella I the Catholic of Castile (1451-1504); brother of HRE Ferdinand I (1503-64), Eleanor of Austria (1498-1558), Isabella of Austria (1501-26), Mary of Austria (1505-58), and Catherine of Austria (1507-78); father of Philip II (1527-98); cousin of Mary I of England; heir of four Euro royal houses, who becomes the top Hapsburg ever - fill it up with burgundy, mad Juana? English Roman Catholic (last) archbishop of Canterbury (1556-8) cardinal (1536-) Reginald Pole (d. 1558) on Mar. 12 in Stourton Castle, Staffordshire; son of Welsh knight Sir Richard Pole (1462-1505) and Margaret Pole, 8th countess of Salisbury (1473-1541), daughter of Edward IV 's and Richard III's brother George Plantagenet, 1st duke of Clarence (1447-78); maternal grandson of George Plantagenet, 1st duke of Clarence and Isabelle Neville, duchess of Clarence; educated at Magdalen College, Oxford U. German scholar Joachim Camerarius the Elder (d. 1574) on Apr. 12 in Bamberg; his family name is Leibhard, but his forebears were all called Kammermeister (chamberlain to the bishops of Bamberg). Italian duke of Mantua (1519-40) Federico II Gonzaga (d. 1540) on May 17 in Mantua; son of Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519) and Isabella d'Este (1474-1539); brother of Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-57); created duke in 1530. Italian "Perseus and Medusa" goldsmith-sculptor Benvenuto Cellini (d. 1571) on Nov. 3 in Florence. Austrian Anabaptist leader Jacob (Jakob) Hutter (d. 1536) in Moos, St. Lorenzen, Pustertal. English Pilgrimage of Grace leader (atty.) Robert Aske (d. 1537) in Aughton (near Selby); 3rd cousin of Jane Seymour. Spanish conquistador Hernan Perez de (De) Quesada (d. 1544) in Granada, Castile. Portuguese naval cmdr.-explorer Joao (João) de Castro (d. 1548) in Lisbon. English poet-courtier Thomas Sternhold (d. 1549) in Blakeney, Glucesteshire; educated at Oxford U.; groom of the robes for Henry VII and Edward VI. Italian Mannerist artist Il Tribolo (Niccolo di Raffaeli di Niccolo dei Pericoli) (d. 1550) (b. 1507?) in Florence. English Protestant bishop Nicholas Ridley (d. 1555). Italian scientist Niccolo Tartaglia (Ital. "stammerer") (d. 1557). German painter-engraver Hans Burgkmair the Younger (d. 1559); son of Hans Burgmair the Elder (1473-1531). Spanish viceroy of Peru #5 (1556-61) Andres Hurdato de Mendoza y Cabrera, 3rd Marquis of Canete (Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, 3rd Marquis of Cañete) (d. 1561) in Canete; descendant of Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st marquis of Canete (-1490); father of Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th marquis of Canete (1535-1609). German painter Christoph Amberger (d. 1562); disciple of Hans Holbein. English bishop of London (1539-58) Edmund "Bloody" Bonner (Boner) (d. 1569); educated at Oxford U. Italian "Eustachian tube" anatomist Bartolommeo (Bartolomeo) Eustachio (Eustachius) (Lat. "giving fruit") (d. 1574) in San Severino (near Macerata). Italian Renaissance chef (to Pope Pius IV and Pope Pius V) Bartolomeo Scappi (d. 1577) in Dumenza, Lombardy. Deaths: Scottish poet Robert Henryson (b. 1420). English archbishop of Canterbury (1486-1500) Cardinal John Morton (b. 1420) on Sept. 15 in Knole, Kent. English bishop John Alcock (b. 1430) on Oct. 1 in Wisbeach Castle. Japanese emperor #103 (1464-1500) Go-Tsuchimikado (b. 1442) on Oct. 21. German duke Albert of Saxony (b. 1443) on Sept. 12 in Emden; buried in Meissen. Italian philosopher Lodovico Lazzarelli (b. 1447) on June 23. Portguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias (b. 1450) on May 29. Italian prince Alfonso of Aragon (b. 1481) in July in Rome (murdered). Portuguese infante Miguel da Paz (b. 1498) on July 19 in Granada.
1501 In Mar. after Rodrigo de Bastidas reaches Venezuela, then Colombia, he discovers the Magdalena River, finally exploring the whole coastline from Cape de Vela to the Gulf of Darien, incl. the coast of Panama. In Apr. the Moorish revolt in Grenada (begun Dec. 1499) is quashed. In May Gaspar Corte de Real (b. 1450) returns to Newfoundland, then disappears mysteriously after sending back two of his vessels - lost and found land? On May 14 Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) leaves Lisbon and sails along the coast of South Am., spreading joy to the natives, and convincing himself that this isn't Asia but a vast unexplored new continent, which he calls Mondus Novus (the New World). On June 1 Pope Alexander VI issues a bull instituting religious censorship of all printed books. On June 17 king (since 1492) Jan I Olbracht (b. 1459) dies, and in Dec. his brother Alexander I Jagiello (1461-1506) becomes king of Poland (until 1506), signing a truce with Bajazet II. On Aug. 9 the Danish-Swedish War begins (ends 1512) as King Hans of Denmark-Norway-Sweden receives a letter of succession from the Swedish nobles, and they siege queen consort (since Oct. 6, 1497) Christine (Christina) (1461-1521) in her castle in Stockholm (until 1502). On Aug. 29 after skillful use of heavy cavalry and artillery fire, the Battle of the Siritsa (Seritsa) River 6 mi. S of Izborsk is a V for 12K troops (8K infantry, 4K cavalry) of the Livonian Order under grandmaster (since 1494) Wolter von Plettenberg (1450-1535) over 40K toops of the grand duchy of Moscow under Vasily Nemoy Shuysky and the Pskov Repub. under Danil Shchenya. On Sept. 1 Lucrezia Borgia marries her 3rd hubby (his 2nd wife) Alfonso I d'Este (1476-1534), son and heir to Duke Ercole I d'Este of Ferrara (d. 1505), a great art patron who finds her repugnant; when the duke dies in 1505, she and her husband take over Ferrara, establishing a court which becomes known for its artists, writers and scholars, while his army becomes known for its top-of-the-line artillery, which he is so proud of he poses for portraits with his arm over a cannon's mouth; meanwhile the accusations of intrigues, murders, and deviltry fly, starting with having his brother Ferrante and half-brother Giulio convicted in Sept. 1506 of treason and put on the gallows, after which their sentence is commuted to life in priz in the Torre dei Leono, after which Ferrante dies after 34 years, and Giulio is pardoned in 1559 after 53 years, being laughed at in the streets for his outdated clothes. Louis XII of France, in alliance with Ferdinand II the Catholic of Aragon conquers Naples; after the French enter Rome, Pope Alexander VI declares Louis XII king of Naples; the Peace of Trent in N Italy between France and HRE Maximilian I recognizes France's conquests in Upper Italy. On Oct. 30 Cesare Borgia (illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI) allegedly holds the Ballet (Banquet) of the Chestnuts in the Palazzo Apostolico, featuring an orgy with 50 "honest prostitutes", who crawl naked on a floor strewn with you know what. The Medici Dynasty (House of Medici) in Florence is overthrown by a popular uprising, which declares the First Florentine Repub. (ends 1512); cousins (raised as brothers) Giovanni Medici and Giuliano Medici flee for Rome to plot a return. Spanish scholar (chaplain to Ferdinand II and Isabella I) Peter Martyr D'Anghiera (1457-1526) is sent to Egypt to dissuade the sultan from taking vengeance on the Christians in Egypt and Palestine for the defeat of the Moors in Spain. 16-y.-o. Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), youngest surviving child of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain makes a perilous journey to England to marry 14-y.-o. prince Arthur Tudor (1486-1502), son of Henry VII; Arthur's 10-y.-o. brother Prince Henry Tudor (later Henry VIII) is her escort; 4 mo. later Arthur dies of "sweating sickness", and Prince Henry is put at the head of the line for both the crown and her hand - lucky young Anakin Skywalker? Schaffhausen W of Lake Constance (northernmost canton) joins the Swiss Confederation, along with East Basel (West Basel in 1579). Circassian Al-Ashraf Kansawh al-Ghawri (Qansuh al-Ghauri) (1441-1516) becomes the next-to-last sultan of the Mamluk Empire (until Aug. 24, 1516), going on to complain to the pope about the Portuguese navy rounding the Cape of Good Hope and entering the Indian Ocea and Red Sea, and builds a fleet to take them on. Shiite cmdr. Ismail of Ardabil, leader of the Twelver Shia militant Safaviyya order and his army of 7K Shiite Qizilbash Red Heads defeat an army of 30K Sunnis under the leader of the White Sheep (Aq-Qoyunlu) Turk dynasty under Alwand Mirza at the Battle of Shurer in Azerbaijan, and captures their capital of Tabriz; Ismail proclaims himself shah Ismail I (1487-1524) (until May 23, 1524), founding the Turkish-based Shiite Persian Safavid (Safawod) Dynasty (ends 1722, then 1729-36), which converts Iran to Shia Islam after importing religious authorities from the Levant, becoming a rival to the Sunni Ottoman Empire and pissing them off by suppressing Sunni subjects and sending missionaries into Anatolia to stir up the Turkomans; the Safavid Dynasty goes on to expand Persian rule to all of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, most of Georgia, the North Caucasus, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, and parts of modern-day Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Turmenistan, reestablishing Persia as an economic stronghold between the East and the West, with an efficient state bureaucracy that patronizes fine arts and architecture; Ismail I becomes a prolific poet under the alias Khatai (Pers. "sinner"), establishing Azerbaijani as a lit. language. That's one small step for Africans, one giant leap for Europeans? The Spanish (Castilian) crown authorizes the African slave trade under its monopoly, giving permission to Flemish, German, Dutch, Genoan, and Portuguese merchants to engage in it; next year the first African slaves in America arrive in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo (modern-day Dominican Repub.), ordered by newly-appointed Hispaniola gov. (1502-9) Nicolas de Ovando y Caceres (Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres) (1460-1518); by 1503 there are so many that Ovando asks that the flow be stopped; at first they only accept Africans instructed in the Christian faith, prohibiting those from Muslim Moorish backgrounds - let's go round up some loose what? The seaport of Durazzo in Albania is captured by the Turks (until 1913). Philibert II the Handsome of Savoy does it and marries Margaret of Austria, only daughter of HRE Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy; too bad, handsome or not, he shoots blanks and leaves, er, dies childless in 1504. Portuguese explorer Joao de Nova (1460-1509) discovers Ascension Island off the W coast of Africa; too bad, he fails to report it, causing fellow Portugese explorer Alfonso de Albuqurque (1453-1515) to rediscover it in 1503 on Ascension Day (40th day of Easter) and name it; otherwise barren, it is a good place to hunt egg-laying green turtles. After Columbus brings sugar cane plantings, Hispaniola has its first sugar cane harvest. The U. of Santiago in Spain is founded. Michelangelo leaves Rome and returns to Florence (until 1505). It's a phenomenon known as deja vu? Pope Alexander VI creates his son Cesare Borgia as duke of Romagna, who seizes the principality of Piombino, fails to acquire Bologna and Florence, then takes Camerino and the duchy of Urbino. Il Sodoma (1477-1549) of Lombardy moves to Siena, Italy (after studying with Leonardo da Vinci?), founding the High Renaissance Sienese School of Painting with Pinturicchio. The Devil's Armor is hung in the village church of Santa Reparata S of Florence after a young man wearing it allegedly takes the name of the Virgin in vain as he passes by and could not take the armor off until he received her forgiveness, later donating it as a thanksgiving gift; in 1942 an artillery shell bursts in the church, making marks on it :) - Edward Harris, Hannibal (1999). Inventions: Space-saving Italic Script (Chancery Cursive) is first used in an Italian ed. of Virgil, becoming the first octavo (pocket-sized) book. Nonfiction: Idris Bitlisi (-1520), Hesht Bihisht; a history of the first eight Ottoman sultans, written at the order of Bayezid II. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Enchiridion Militis Christiani (The Manual of the Militant Christian); his 2nd most popular work; modeled on St. Augustine's "Enchiridion of Faith, Hope and Charity"; one of the first secular works to teach the basics of Christian morality to the new middle class, written for a woman friend whose hubby was fooling around; the word "enchiridion" (dagger) is a warning that she might Bobbit him? Aldus Manutius (1449-1515) (ed.), Works of Virgil; the first octavo (pocket-sized) book, introducing space-saving italic script, with a record press run of 1K (vs. the usual 200-500). Ottaviano dei Petrucci (1466-1539) pub. the first printed book of music in Venice. Giorgio Valla, De Expetendis Fugiendis Rebus. Art: Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Doge Leonardo Loredan (1505-5). Pinturicchio (1454-1513), The Annunciation. Raphael (1483-1520), St. Sebastian (1501-2). Luca Signorelli (1441-1523), Deeds of the Antichrist (Oviedo Cathedral); uses foreshortening. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Madonna with the Yarnwinder; survives only in copies. Plays: Conradus Celtis (1459-1508), Ludus Dianae; allegorical play; he also discovers mss. in Nuremberg of plays by 10th cent. nun Roswitha of Gandersheim (935-1000). Poetry: Gavin Douglas (1474-1522), The Palice of Honour; a dream allegory dedicated to James IV, a big patron of the arts. Births: German physician-botanist ("Father of German Botany") Leonhard (Leonhart) Fuchs (d. 1566) on Jan. 17 in Wemding, Bavaria; one of the Three Founding Fathers of Botany with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock. Italian physician-botanist Pietro Andrea Gregorio Mattioli (Matthiolus) (d. 1577) on Mar. 12 in Siena; educated at the U. of Padua. Italian polymath physician-mathematician-astrologer Girolamo (Geronimo) Cardano (d. 1576) on Sept. 24 in Pavia. Dutch Anabaptist leader David (Jan) Joris (Jorisz) (Joriszoon) (d. 1556) in Bruges. French "Delie" Lyonnese School poet-musician Maurice Sceve (Scève) (d. 1564) in Lyon. Portuguese physician (pioneer of tropical medicine) (Sephardic Jewish converso) Garcia de Orta (d'Orta) (d. 1568) (b. 1502?) in Castelo de Vide; Spanish Jewish immigrant parents; educated at the U. of Alcala de Henares, and U. of Salamanca. Deaths: Italian Venetian doge (1486-1501) Agostino Barbarigo (b. 1420) on Sept. 20 in Venice. Persian poet Mir Ali Shir Nava'i (b. 1441). Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte Real (b. 1450). Italian feminist writer Antonia Pulci (b. 1452). Polish king (1492-1501) Jan I Olbracht (b. 1459) on June 17.
1502 On Jan. 1 Amerigo Vespucci reaches Bahia de Todos Santos, then travels down the coast of South Am. to the River Plata; he returns to Lisbon on July 22, and concludes that South Am. is an independent continent, and is not India. On Jan. 20 Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos founds Rio de Janeiro (Port. "January River") (modern pop. 6M) in Brazil near Mt. Corcovado. In Jan. James IV of Scotland signs a Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Henry VII of England; excommunication by the pope is agreed to as the penalty for breaking the treaty, and all future English and Scottish kings have to renew it within 6 mo. of accession; as if he hadn't just signed a perpetual peace treaty with England, James IV of Scotland establishes a royal navy to protect merchant shipping and defend against the English navy, and refuses to give up his alliance with the French, receiving assistance in the form of money, materials, and shipwrights; since the English go on to violate the treaty, incl. the notorious case of the 1504 murder of Scottish march warden Sir Robert Ker of Ferniehurst (-1504) by English "Bastard" John Heron, it turns out to be a wise move - you're white and you can sing, okay? On Feb. 12 after receiving the title of adm. in Jan., Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) leaves Lisbon on his Second Voyage around Africa with 20 ships, discovering the Seychelles, then arriving in Calcutta on Oct. 30, killing Muslims and spreading Christianity all the way, after which he founds and gives Portuguese protection to Cochin (Emakulam), the first European settlement in India, and the center of Roman Catholic penetration. On May 11 after being returned to favor and getting an order last Sept. 3 to replace his enemy Francisco Bobadilla, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) begins his Fourth Voyage (last), leaving Cadiz with four ships (Capitano, Vizcaino, Santiago de Palos, El Gallego) and 140 men, with instructions to discover the Malacca Straits and not engage in trade, carrying a 2-year supply of food and Arabic speakers, arriving in Hispaniola on June 29, along with newly-appointed Hispaniola gov. (1502-9) Nicolas de Ovando y Caceres (Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres) (1460-1518); (a lares or cmdr., and member of the Military Order of Alcantara), future Incan Conquistador Francisco Pizarro Gonzalez (1471-1541), and future Dominican missionary Bartolome (Bartolomé) de las Casas (1484-1566), who accompanied him on his 3rd voyage in 1498, and starts out as a planter; Columbus arrests Bobbin' Bob and ships him to Spain, where he dies in a thrilla' of a shipwreck caused by a hurricane; Columbus goes on to discover Martinique (400 mi. NE of Venezuela), reaches Nicaragua on July 30, seizes a large native canoe containing cacao beans on Aug. 15, visits Costa Rica on Sept. 18, and lands in Portobelo (Porto Bello) (Sp. "Beautiful Port) in Panama on Nov. 2 and plants a colony; the Chibchan-speaking Cuna-Cuna (Cuna) (Kuna) (Guna) (San Blas) (Tule) Indians of Panama have several cases of hereditary albinism, causing legends of white Indians to arise; Ovando later becomes gov. of Santo Domingo, bringing 1.5K Spanish families to populate it and spread their seed into the new white Lebensraum, while instituting hyper-cruel genocidal measures against the West Indies aborigines, which reduce them from 500K in 1492 to 60K in 1507 - pardon me while I vomit? In Mar. after 7 mo. the siege of Queen Christine of Denmark ends when she promises to return to Denmark along with the 70 of 1K men she has left; too late, her hubby King Hans (d. 1513) arrives three days later with a large fleet, but since she is in Swedish hands he returns to Denmark, and she remains hostage until next year, after which King Hans' failure to retake Sweden mars his disposition for life. In May Miguel Corte Real (b. 1451) leaves Lisbon to search for his brother Gaspar, reaches Newfoundland, then mysteriously disappears; in 1503 King Manuel I sends another expedition to learn their fate, but they return after finding nothing, causing him to forget the idea of a Northwest Passage and concentrate on India; an archeologist later discovers evidence that he reached Mass. and lived until the year 1511. In July Alexander I of Poland attacks Novgorod; Ivan III attacks Smolensk, but is defeated by the Livonian Order. In Dec. having lost its ports in the Morea, and Durazzo in Albania, Venice signs the Peace Treaty of Lepanto with the Ottomans, ending the Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War (begun 1499), leaving Venice only Monemvasia, Nafplion, and Patras; the Ottomans are now the #1 naval and commercial power in the E Mediterranean - more reason to Go West, Young Man? The remaining revolting Moors in Granada crushed; Gibraltar is annexed to the Spanish crown; Isabella I the Catholic of Castile (1451-1504) forces the remaining Muslims in Spain to choose between conversion and exile so she can distribute Muslim land and people to Christian Castilians, causing many to feign conversion according to the Muslim doctrine of taqiyya (lying for the cause of Islam), while many flee to the N coast of Africa, found citadels and states, and turn into pirates known as Corsairs, going on to prey on Mediterranean and Atlantic shipping as far N as Britain and Iceland, and recruiting Christian converts to Islam; they are not stopped until 1816; meanwhile, copycat French corsairs begin attacking the Spanish fleet off the coast of Europe, the Azores, and Canaries, following them into the Caribbean; the English then say "let's get some" and follow their lead, and by 1650 the Golden Age of Piracy begins (ends 1726); meanwhile the Roman Catholic Spanish attempt to wipe out all traces of the infidel Moors in Spain, burning 1M Arabic mss. and churning out tons of coverup lit. and art. Ahuizotl dies and is cremated on a funeral pyre, and his nephew Montezuma (Moctezuma) II (1479-1520) becomes emperor of the Aztecs; in 2007 underground chambers in Mexico City containing the remains of Ahuizotl are uncovered. Joao de Nova discovers uninhabited Saint Helena Island in the S Atlantic Ocean 1.2K mi. W of Africa on the same latitude as the Angolan-Namibian border. Cesare Borgia's enemies join forces and rebel, inflicting several defeats on his army, but after French intervention is threatened, a number of the rebels withdraw and capture the town of Senigallia from duke Guidobaldo I of Urbino in an attempt to placate him; after Borgia arrives, he orders the entire group arrested, and has two of the leaders executed. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) becomes the right hand man of Soderini, the gonfalonier (life pres.) of Florence, and reorganizes the Florentine army (ends 1512). The U. of Wittenberg is founded in Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany by elector Frederick III the Wise, becoming a hotbed of the Protestant Reformation, with alumni incl. Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, and Luther's house the Lutherhaus becoming part of the campus; Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet becomes a student :); in 1817 it merges with the U. of Halle (founded 1691). Henry VII's mother Margaret, countess of Richmond and Derby founds professorships of divinity at Oxford and Cambridge. Portuguese traders take the first peanuts from Brazil and Peru to Africa; they reach China by 1573. Aldus Manutius of Venice founds the New Academy for Greek classical scholars, which counts as members Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) (in Italy from 1506-9) and Thomas Lincare, with rules written in Greek; the revival of Greek studies in Europe is led by Erasmus, who corresponds with over 500 scholars and politicians, giving advice and unfreezing the gloomy Roman Catholic atmosphere; too bad, Erasmus won't begin publishing his hit books dissing monasticism and scholasticism until he masters Latin later in this decade (around age 40). Architecture: The Church of St. Mary's in Danzig (Gdansk) (begun 1379) is finished, becoming one of the largest brick churches on Earth. After moving from Milan, where he had been court architect to Duke Ludovico Sforza in 1476-99, Urbino-born architect Donato Bramante (1444-1514) designs the Tempietto (It. "small temple") in San Pietro in Montorio Church in Rome on the alleged spot of the martyrdom of St. Peter, becoming the first example of the Tuscan order (a variation on the Doric order) in the Renaissance, bringing the High Renaissance to Rome. Nonfiction: Anon., The Cantino Planisphere (World Map); produced in Lisbon and smuggled to Italy by Albert Cantino, agent for the duke of Ferrara; the earliest map of South Am. showing part of Brazil and the Treaty of Tordesillas line of 1494. Ambrogio Calepino, Cornucopiae; the first polyglot dictionary; written by an Augustinian monk; starts out with Latin and Greek, then is extended to Italian, French, and Spanish, reaching 11 languages in the 1590 Basil ed. Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), Letters About the American Indians; explicit soft-core letters with juicy details about how they go around naked, their sexual habits, cannibalism, communism, etc., which go through many reprints in many languages throughout the cent., becoming one of the first printed bestsellers - the first porno on the Internet? Art: Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Baptism of Christ. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Crucifixion (Vienna). Gerard David (1460-1523), St. John the Baptist (triptych) (Bruges) (1502-7). Raphael (1483-1520), Solly Madonna; St. Sebastian (1502-3). Music: Josquin des Prez (1450-1521), First Book of Masses (Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi); by Louis XII's court composer; pub. by Ottaviano de Petrucci. Plays: Gil Vicente (1470-1536), Celebration of the Birth of Joao (John) III (pastoral monologue) (first play) - burning with love? Poetry: Conradus Celtis (Conrad Celtes) (1459-1508), Amores. Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530), Arcadia; pastoral romance about the frustrated love of Sincero for Phyllis, becoming the first non-dramatic Renaissance pastoral; written in the 1480s, a pirated ed. is pub. in Venice, and becomes a big hit. Births: Portuguese mathematician Pedro Nunes (Petrus Nonius) (d. 1578) on Jan. 11 in Alcacer do Sol; born into a Jewish converso family; educated at the U. of Salamanca, and U. of Lisbon (Coimbra); teacher of Christopher Clavius (1538-1612). German Wittelsbach elector Otto Henry, Elector Palatine (d. 1559) on Apr. 10 in Amberg; son of Ruprecht of the Palatinate (1481-1504) and Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landsut (1478-1504); brother of Duke Philip the Contentious of Palatinate-Neuburg (1503-48). Portuguese king #15 (1521-57) (founder of the Inquisition) Joao (John) III (the Pious) (the Grocer) (d. 1557) on June 7 in Alcacova Palace, Lisbon; son of Manuel I the Great (1469-1521) and Infanta Maria of Aragon (3rd daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile). French prince of Orange (last from the House of Chalon) Philibert of Chalon (d. 1530) in Nozeroy, Franche-Comte; son of John IV of Chalon-Arlay. English Lady Jane Grey backer politician-gen.-adm. John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland (d. 1553) in London; son of Edmund Dudley (1462-1510); husband of Jane Dudley, daughter of Sir Edward Guilford; has seven children, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1533-88), Guilford Dudley (1536-54), John Dudley, viscount Lisle and earl of Warwick (1530-54), Ambrose Dudley, viscount Lisle and earl of Warwick (1531-90), Mary Dudley (-1586), and Katherine Dudley (-1620). Spanish conquistador (Yucatan) Francisco de Montejo y Leon (El Mozo) (the Son) (d. 1565); son of Francisco de Montejo y Alverez (1479-1553). Italian painter Giulio Campi (d. 1572) in Cremona; son of Galeazzo Campi (1477-1536); brother of Antonio Campi (-1591) and Vincenzo Campi (1536-91). Spanish conquistador (Philippines) Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (d. 1572). Deaths: Italian Pitti Palace architect Luca Fancelli (b. 1430). Scottish royal mistress (of James IV) Margaret Drummond (b. 1475). English prince Arthur (b. 1486) (sweating sickness).
1503 On Jan. 9 after encountering a tropic storm with a water spout, Christopher Columbus lands at the mouth of Rio Belen, after which the natives lead him to a gold mine, causing him to establish a fort and garrison there, leaving one ship behind and returning to Spain with the loot, after which the natives siege it, but luckily Columbus finds out and returns to rescue them, and on Apr. 16 he leaves for home, but on June 20 is marooned in Jamaica after leaving a ship full of teredo worm holes in Puerto Bello and finding the two remaining ships also full of holes, but barters with the natives for a canoe, which he sends to Hispaniola with Diego Mendez for help, but the canoe is captured and Mendez returns, only to be sent again; meanwhile the mean Porras brothers Francesco and Adelanto turn the crew against Columbus, and 48 men abandon him and set out for Hispaniola in 10 canoes, but after encountering storms return. In Feb. after wreaking savage vengeance at a trading station in Calcutta, Vasco da Gama leaves India for Portugal; Alfonso de Albuquerque and his cousin Dom Francisco da Alameda help create the first Portuguese fortresses and trading posts in Cochin and Quilon, laying the foundation stone of Fort Cochin (Kochi) on Sept. 26; Unniram Koyikal I dies, and Unniraman Koyikal II (-1537) becomes ruler of Cochin (until 1537). On Apr. 28 after the Sack of Castellaneta in Apula, Italy (the heel) sees the citizens push back a French occupation force under the Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours (1472-1503), the Battle of Cerignola near Bari in S Italy sees 6.3K Spanish troops under gen. ("The Great Captain") ("Father of Trench Wafare") Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba (1453-1515) defeat the duke's 9K-man army, whose pikes and cannons are no match for the Spanish arquebuses; the duke is KIA. On June 10 Amerigo Vespucci leaves Lisbon for the New World on his Fourth Voyage. On Aug. 8 30-y.-o. James IV of Scotland marries Henry VII's 14-y.-o. daughter Margaret Tudor (1489-1541) in Holyrood Abbey in what becomes known as the Union of the Thistle and the Rose, putting the Scottish kings in line for the English throne if the Tudor line becomes kaput; Scottish poet William Dunbar (1460-1520) writes The Thrissill and the Rois, an allegorical prothalamion (prothalamium) in honor of the marriage, which features a 3-day tournament in Holyrood Palace courtyard that attracts famous champions from N Europe and in which the king leads from the front to wow his nobles, impressing Spanish ambassador Don Pedro de Ayala, who draws a flattering portrait of the couple after failing to get the king to marriage a Spanish princess, and expressing the hope that he will now give up his mistresses (no way?); Dunbar later writes the poem The Wooing of the King when He was in Dunfermeline, about his love romps, making James IV into the first JFK, whose amorous affairs don't affect his political popularity, and Margaret Tudor into the first Jackie?; the paltry £10K dowry shows that Henry VII isn't too enthusiastic about his daughter marrying down? On Aug. 18 Pope (since 1492) Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) (b. 1431) dies of accidental poisoning after he toasts to a couple of cardinals he was plotting to poison with the wrong cup (official explanation: malaria?); his Vatican apts. are sealed until the 19th cent.; on Sept. 22 Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini is elected Pope (#215) Pius III (1439-1503), but he dies on Oct. 18 after he is poisoned, er, the long investiture ceremony breaks his health, and on Nov. 1 Giuliano Dell (Della) Rovere is elected Pope (#216) Julius II (1443-1513) after the shortest conclave in papacy history, in which bribery is suspected, taking the name of 4th cent. Pope Julius I (337-52); he becomes known as "Il Pontiface Terribilis" for his pride and ambition, also "the Warrior Pope", fighting to end the power of the Borgia family over the Papal States, and reconcile the warring Orsini and Colonna families of Rome; too bad, he's also a pedophile who likes boys - because something is happening here and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones? In Aug. after the death of Cesare Borgia's father Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI), his enemies seize Urbino, Pesaro, Rimini, and other portions of his dominions within two mo., then Pope Julius II deprives him of the rest of his holdings and gives him safe passage to Spanish-held Naples. On Dec. 1 George the Rich of Bavaria-Landshut (b. 1455) dies, leaving no male heir, but remembering that an old agreement with the other Bavarian duchy of Bavaria-Munich to give succession to them in this case was technically illegal since the HRE is supposed to get it, he instead wills his duchy to his daughter Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut (1478-1504) and her hubby Duke Ruprecht of the Palatinate (-1505) (bishop of Freising in 1495-8), which is okay to him since they are related branches of the fractured House of Wittelsbach; too bad, mean duke Albert IV the Wise of Bavaria-Munich (1447-1508), remembering the 1329 Compact of Pavia dividing up the House of Wittelsbach between the Bavarian and Palatinate lines decides to keep the split going, beginning the bloody Landshut War of Succession (ends 1505), a 3-way struggle for control of beer-loving Bavaria between the Wittelsbach duchies of Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut and Ruprecht's Palatinate branch, which ends in many Landshut villages being reduced to ashes (Ergolding, etc.). On Dec. 29 the Aragonese under gen. Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, Duke of Terranova and Santangelo (1453-1515) defeat the French under the Marquis of Saluzzo with a surprise attack at the Battle of the Garigliano near Gaeta, Italy, ending French resistance in Naples. After the Crimean Tartars pillage the S Lithuanian towns of Slutsk, Kletsk, and Nesvizh and threaten Vilnius, grand duke Alexander Jagiello of Lithuania agrees to a truce with Ivan III of Moscow, ending the Second Russian-Lithuanian War (begun 1500), giving Russia about one-third of the grand duchy, incl. the area around the Upper Oka River, Smolensk, and a score of other towns (Vyazma, Chernihiv, Novhorod-Siverskyi), but keeping the Lithuanian borderlands; Poland surrenders the left bank of the Dnieper River to Russia; the pissed-off Lithuanian nobles appeal to Poland for military aid, leading to continuing wars through the 1560s; Alexander orders the building of a defensive wall around Vilnius (completed 1522). The Casa Contrataccion (Colonial Office) (La Casa y Audiencia de Indias) us established in Seville by Queen Isabella I to control all Spanish exploration and colonization, leaving a 20% tax (Quinto Real) on all precious metals entering Spain, along with other taxes of 10%-40%; in 1508 it pub. the Padron (Padrón) Real, the official secret map required to be kept by all ship pilots. The island of Sandbar, er, Zanzibar becomes a Portuguese colony. After getting a special papal dispensation to set aside the decree of the Lateran Council of 1215 that prohibits all marriages to the fourth degree by consanguinity or affinity (based on Leviticus ch. 18), Prince Henry Tudor of Wales (the future Henry VIII) is betrothed to 18-y.-o. allegedly virginal (ask her duenna?) widow Catherine of Aragon - everybody's taking a supermodel today, everybody's gonna get laid? James IV of Scotland makes a pilgrimage to Whithorn Cathedral in Dumfries and Galloway, having his mistress Janet Kennedy brought to Bothwell in Lanarkshire to bake his cookies; still feeling his oats, he later hooks up with Isabella Stewart, daughter of James Stewart, 1st earl of Buchan, who bears daughter Lady Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming (1505-63), who becomes a governess to her niece Mary Stewart, queen of Scots (and a mistress of Henri II of France?), and finds yet more time for Bessie Bertram and Janet Bare-Arse, who both receive royal gifts for services rendered. Portuguese merchant-explorer Antonio de Saldanha discovers Table Bay at the N end of the Cape Peninsula at the base of Table Mountain in South Africa (later home of Robben Island of Nelson Mandela fame). Santo Domingo gov. Nicolas de Ovando of Santo Domingo begins distributing enslaved Indians in encomiendas (Spanish-run fiefdoms of Indians slaves) to work the gold mines; meanwhile the Spanish found 15 towns on the island. 30-y.-o. Nicolaus Copernicus becomes doctor of canon law in Ferrara. Wealthy famous German sculptor Veit Stoss is defrauded of a large sum of money, forges the name of the embezzler on a promissory note to get even, is caught and branded on both cheeks as a punishment; he then starts a war with the town council of Nuremberg over payment of fees, and gets imprisoned twice, until HRE Maximilian I intercedes in 1508 and restores peace. Ercole I d'Este of Ferrara becomes the patron of French-Flemish composer Josquin des Pres (until 1504); too bad, plague breaks out in Ferrara in the summer, causing the duke and his family to scoot this year, and him the next, after which he settles in Sur-le-Conde on the French-Belgian border (SE of Lille), where he becomes provost of the college church of Notre Dame for life. Ludovico di Varthema (Barthema) (Vertomannus) (1470-1517) of Bologna, Italy becomes the first Euro non-Muslim to make the Hajj to Mecca posing as a Muslim, going on to pub. Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese in Rome in 1510. Architecture: Pope Julius II decides to raze the 4th cent. Basilica of Constantine in Rome on the edge of the Tiber River housing the bones of St. Peter and erect the vastly more ambitious St. Peter's Basilica, a total rebuilding job, with orders that it be taller than the #1 house of God, the 10-story Benedictine Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France; he appoints Urbino-born High Renaissance architect Donato Bramante (1444-1514) as chief architect, with indulgences proclaimed for those aiding the effort; Bramante begins the rebuilding work in 1506 and never finishes it, although his plans and drawings for the Vatican Palace and St. Peter's become famous after being executed by Michelangelo. Canterbury Cathedral (begun 1070) is finally finished after 433 years with the tower featuring fan vaulting by John Wastell - I don't know if you remember but I fell in love with you in these umpteen walls? Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey is begun (finished 1519). Inventions: The pocket handkerchief is invented by ?. Nonfiction: The first English tr. of Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ (1427) is pub. Art: Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), The Garden of Worldly Delights (The Millennium) (triptych) (1503-4). Matthias Grunewald (1465-1528), The Mockery of Christ; his paintings of the agony of Christ make him the #1 late German Gothic artist? Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), Virgin and Saints. Il Perugino (1446-1524), The Marriage of Joseph and the Virgin Mary; model for Raphael's "Sposalizio"; really painted by Lo Spagna? Raphael (1483-1520), Diotalevi Madonna; Madonna Connestabile (Madonna and Child with Book) (1503-4); Norton Simon's 2nd favorite painting of all time; The Crucifixion; shows flying angels catching the blood from Jesus' wrists and side in cups, while contemplative saints watch on, and one seems to have his hand out looking for a few drops; meanwhile Christ's usual expression of agony is missing - gimme summa dat blood? O draconian devil, o lame saint? Smile while you say that to the world's numero uno painting? Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) begins painting the surprisingly small 30.5 in. x 21 in. sfumato (smoky style) Mona Lisa (La Giocondo) (oil on a poplar board) (finishes in 1506); there are hidden lit. references to the works of Petrarch and Horace?; the model is Mona Lisa del Giocondo (nee Gherardini) (1479-1542), wife of Florentine merchant nobleman Francesco del Giocondo; she is mourning the death of her baby daughter so she wears a transparent veil; after spending four years on the portrait he leaves it with the Giocondos, then, shortly before going to France at the invitation of Francis I, he paints another portrait at the request of Giuliano de Medici of his mistress Costanza d'Avalos Piccolomini (-1560), whose nickname is La Gioconda (the Smiler); he uses the excuse that it is incomplete to keep it with him until death; the painting in the Louvre is the 2nd one, while the first one ends up in London; Raphael also makes a sketch of one of the two portraits; her face is 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% afraid, and 2% angry; the eye trick is caused by the left half of her face being bigger than the right, and the horizon on her left side being higher than on her right side; her eyebrows are shaved, her mouth is closed, her hair is parted, her hands are crossed, and her arms are not bare; an X-ray of the Louvre painting shows three different versions of the subject under the final one. Births: Italian Mannerist painter Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) (d. 1540) on Jan. 11 in Parma. German Roaman Catholic cardinal Johannes (Johann) (John) Gropper (d. 1559) on Feb. 24 in Soest. Spanish Hapsburg archduke of Austria (1521-64) and HRE (1556-64) Ferdinand I (d. 1564) on Mar. 10 in Alcala de Henares (near Madrid); son of Philip I the Handsome of Austria (1478-1506) and Joanna the Mad of Castile (1479-1555); younger brother of HRE Charles V (1500-58); motto: "Let justice be done though the world perish". Italian scholar Antonio Francesco Grazzini (Il Lasca) (Leuciscus) (d. 1584) on Mar. 22 in Florence. German Wettin elector of Saxony (1532-47) ("Champion of the Reformation") and duke (547-54) John Frederick I (the Magnanimous) (d. 1554) on June 30 in Torgau; eldest son of elector John the Steadfast (1468-132) and 1st wife Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (-1503) (dies on July 12); husband (1526-) of Sybille of Cleves (1512-54) (sister of Anne of Cleves); father of John Frederick II (1529-95); cousin of Maurice (1521-53). Danish-Norwegian king (1537-59) Christian III (d. 1559) on Aug. 12 in Gottorp; son of Frederick I and 1st wife Anna of Brandenburg. German Wittelsbach count palatinate of the Rhine and duke Philip the Contentious of Palatinate-Neuburg (d. 1548) on Nov. 12 in Heidelberg; son of Ruprecht of the Palatinate (1481-1504) and Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landsut (1478-1504); brother of Otto Henry, elector Palatine (1502-59). Italian Mannerist painter Agnoli di Cosimo (Il Bronzino) (d. 1572) on Nov. 17 in Florence; pupil of Raffaellino del Garbo and Pontormo. Italian duke of Parma #1 (1545-7) Pier Luigi Farnese (d. 1540) on Nov. 19 in Rome; bastard son of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (Pope Paul III); helped sack Rome in 1527. The man who can write history before it happens is born a Jew and baptized a Christian by age nine at a time when being Jewish is close to a death sentence? French doctor, astrologer and Wandering Jew (crypto-Christian) prophet Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus) (d. 1566) on Dec. 14 (noon) in St. Remy, Provence; eldest of four sons of Jaume (Jacques) and Reyniere, Jews who convert to Catholicism by 1512; youngest son Jean becomes procureur of the parliament of Provence, and writes ribald Provencal songs and commentaries. English "Tottel's Miscellany" 6' poet-diplomatist (father of the English sonnet) Sir Thomas Wyatt (OF "small fighter") (d. 1542) in Allington Castle, Kent; father of Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (1521-54); educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U. French printer Robert I Estienne (AKA Robert Stephanus) (d. 1559) in Paris. French anatomist Charles Estienne (d. 1564); born in a famous family of French humanist printers. Spanish poet and statesman Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (d. 1575). Deaths: German printer Peter Schoeffer (b. 1425) in Mainz. Italian pope (1492-1503) Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) (b. 1431) on Aug. 18 in Rome; his apts. in the Vatican are sealed for fear of future popes being associated with the Borgias, and are not reopened until 1889 by Pope Leo XIII. French nobleman Peter II, duke of Bourbon (b. 1438) on Oct. 10 in Moulins. Italian pope (1503) Pius III (b. 1439) on Oct. 18. Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder (b. 1440) on Dec. 14. Bavarian duke (of Landshut) George the Rich (b. 1455) on Dec. 1 in Ingolstadt. Italian painter Giovanni Donato da Montorfano (b. 1460) in Milan. English queen consort (1486-1503) Elizabeth of York (b. 1466) on Feb. 11 in Richmond. French gen. Louis d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours (b. 1472) on Apr. 28 in Cerignola, Italy (KIA).
1504 On Jan. 31 Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon sign the Treaty of Lyons, ceding Naples to Aragon; Ferdinand II of Aragon becomes Ferdinand III of Naples, giving the Spanish crown control of the Two Sicilies (until 1713); in 2018 the code used by Ferdinand II and Gonzalo de Cordoba, containing 88 symbols and 237 letters is finally cracked. In Jan. after working day and night since 1501 under dripping water, rarely taking his shoes off, workaholic Italian Florentine sculptor Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) finishes sculpting his dangly 16'4" Carrara marble Statue of David (most famous penis in history?), and unveils it to the Florentines, who adopt it as a symbol of their city and its republican aspirations, and make it the first statue displayed on a plinth since Roman times (they are young, beautiful David with the big slingshot and pouch of smooth stones at the ready, and the Medicis are big bad dumb Goliath?); the hard work doesn't seem to shorten Big Mike's lifespan any? On Jan. 21 London bishop (since 1502) William Warham (1456-1532) becomes lord chancellor of England, and archbishop of Canterbury on Mar. 9 (until Aug. 22, 1532), the last before the big split with the Mother Church. There's some things money can't buy, but for everything else there is Mastercard? The myth of white racial superiority based on the ease of scamming the less bright (white is bright) is born in the Americas? On Feb. 29 after Columbus and his crew, anchored in two damaged ships off Jamaica for a year get in trouble with the local Arawaks, who refuse to give them any more food in exchange for worthless trinkets, and learning of a total lunar eclipse in his Rabbi Abraham Zacuto Almanac, Columbus hornswaggles the chieftains to give food by pretending to blot out the Moon like he predicted three days earlier; they are finally rescued from Jamaica on June 29 by a relief caravel from Hispaniola, and return to Spain on Nov. 11, riddled with disease; too bad, Columbus claims to have found rich gold fields in Veraguas on the Isthmus of Panama, causing the area W of the Gulf of Darien to be misnamed Castilla del Oro, while the area to the E is called Nueva Andalusia, which incl. the N coast of South Am., and the combined areas are called Tierra Firme. In May Cesare Borgia is arrested in Naples for conspiracy, and imprisoned in the Castle of Medina del Campo (until 1506). On June 18 Amerigo Vespucci returns to Lisbon. On July 2 Bogdan III the One-Eyed (1470-1517) becomes prince (voivode) of Moldavia (until 1517); after demanding the hand of Elisabeth, sister of Polish king Alexander the Jagiellonian twice and being refused, he raids S Poland until they give her to him; in return he lets up on the Roman Catholic Church in Moldavia. On Sept. 10 Philibert II the Handsome (b. 1480) dies childless, and his half-brother Charles III the Good (1486-1553) (who had started life out with no expectations of inheriting any monarchy but got lucky when his father got lucky in 1496, putting him in this position) becomes surprise duke of Savoy (until 1553). On Sept. 12 Duke Albert IV of Bavaria-Munich defeats the Bohemian allies of Rupert of the Palatine in Wenzenbach, and kills him and his wife Elisabeth on Aug. 20 and Sept. 15 with the help of hero knight Gotz (Götz) von Berlichingen (1480-1562); they died of dysentery?; the HRE now has to decide whether he will exercise his own right to take Landshut or give it to Albert IV. On Sept. 22 wanting to keep Brittany independent of France, Anne of Brittany concludes the First Treaty of Blois, whereby the HRE recognizes French rule of Milan, betrothing 4-y.-o. Prince Charles (son of Juana the Mad and Philip I and grandson of HRE Maximilian I) (future HRE Charles V) to her infant daughter Claude, with the promise of both Brittany and Burgundy; too bad, the Valois kill the deal for fear of reducing the size of France, and the engagement is broken off in 1506 in favor of her French cousin Francis, duke of Angouleme (future Francis I); they marry in 1514. It's all about Ferdie? On Nov. 26 Queen (since Dec. 11, 1474) Isabella I of Castile and Leon (b. 1451) dies, and their mentally unstable daughter Joanna (Juana) the Mad (1479-1555) becomes queen of Castile (until Apr. 12, 1555) under her father Ferdinand II's regency; her husband Philip I the Handsome contests his rights to become joint ruler, but it doesn't really matter as both are absent in Flanders, leaving Ferdinand a free hand as actual ruler; Ferdinand V of Castile is no more, but he's still Ferdinand II of Aragon and Sicily, and Ferdinand III of Naples; early next year he persuades the Cortes that Joanna is too soft in the head to rule alone - plenty of bling to wear on armed forces' day? Babar (Baber) (Zahir ud-Din Muhammed) (1483-1530) captures Kabul, and establishes a kingdom in Afghanistan. The Funj Sultanate of Sennar (Sinnar) (Blue Sultanate) in E of Darfur in N Sudan with capital at Sennar is founded as a confederation of Islamic sultanates and dependent mainly animist tribal cheftaincies by Amara Dungas (-1534), who during the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517 successfully uses diplomacy to stop the Ottoman armies from advancing into his realm, and officially converts it to Islam in 1523, reaching its peak in the 16th cent.; it becomes kaput on June 14, 1821 when Mehmet Ali's son Ismail leads an army into Sennar without resistance and deposes last king (since 1805) Badi VII, then annexes it to Egypt on Feb. 13, 1841, later becoming part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Repub. of Sudan. The Scottish parliament sends Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly (-1524) with a royal fleet to pacify the Highlands. James IV of Scotland dumps his brother Duke James of Ross, and appoints his bastard son Alexander Stewart (1493-1513) as archbishop of St. Andrews to get his hands on the rich revenues, causing grumbling. Am. Indian Taino queen Anacaona (b. 1474), AKA the Golden Flower of Hispaniola is hanged by Spanish gov. Nicolas de Ovando along with her nobles for rebellion, and she goes on to become a heroine in Haiti. The Vienna-Brussels postal service is extended to Madrid. Pope Julius II gives the Shroud of Christ (Shroud of Turin) its own special feast day. Pope Julius II issues a bull establishing the U. of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, N Spain. Thomas More (b. 1478) becomes an English MP, and pisses off Henry VII by urging a decrease in a proposed appropriation, causing him to order his father imprisoned, not releasing him until a fine is paid and More leaves Parliament. The Islamic Funj Sultanate of Sennar (Sinnar) AKA the Blue Sultanate in N Sudan is founded (ends 1821). Architecture: The limestone-brick Amiriya Madrasa in Rada in S Yemen is built. Inventions: Peter Heinlein (Henlein) (1480-1542) of Nuremberg, Germany invents the coiled mainspring Pocketwatch (Watch) (portable clock), called the Nuremberg Live Egg; it only has an hour hand, and is so heavy it has to be worn on a belt or around the neck. Art: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Rest on the Flight to Egypt. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), The Adoration of the Magi; The Life of the Virgin (1504-05) (16 blocks); Adam and Eve (engraving); Philosophia, Mother of the Liberal Arts (engraving) (made for Conrad Celtis). Il Giorgione (1477-1510), Madonna Enthroned Between St. Francis and St. Liberale (triptych altarpiece of Castelfranco Cathedral). Michelngelo (1475-1564), Statue of David (Jan.) (begun 1501) (16'4" Carrara marble); most famous penis in history? Raphael (1483-1520), Spozalizio (The Engagement of Virgin Mary) (The Marriage of the Virgin) (first major work); Granduca Madonna (Madonna del granduca). Births: Italian Pope (1566-72) Pius V (Anthonio/Michele Ghisleri) (d. 1572) on Jan. 17 (St. Anthony's Day) in Bosco, Milan. Italian Mannerist "Rape of Helena" painter-sculptor-architect (in France) Francesco Primaticcio (d. 1570) on Apr. 30 in Bologna; spends most of his career working on Chateau Fontainebleau; known for his long-legged babes. English archbishop of Canterbury (1559-75) Matthew Parker (d. 1575) on Aug. 6 in Norwich. German landgrave of Hesse (1509-67) (Lutheran champion) Philip I (the Magnanimous) of Hesse (d. 1560) on Nov. 13 in Marburg, Hesse; son of William II of Hesse (1469-1509) and 2nd wife Anna of Mecklenburg. English adm. Sir George Carew (d. 1545); brother of Sir Peter Carew (1514-75). Spanish conquistador (founder of Guadalajara) Cristobal de Onate (Cristóbal de Oñate) (d. 1567) in Vitoria (Onate), Spain; son of Juan de Onate (Basque "at the foot of the mountain pass") of the House of Haro; father of Juan de Onate (1552-1626). English "Ralph Roister Doister" playwright-cleric Nicholas Udall (Udal) (Woodall) (Uvedale) (d. 1556) in Hampshire; educated at Westminster School, Winchester College, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford U; convicted in 1541 of buggery with two of his pupils at Eton College. Italian organist-composer Francesco di Bernardo Corteccia (d. 1571). Deaths: German astronomer Bernard Walther (b. 1430) in Nuremberg. Moldavian Christian prince (1457-1504) Stephen III the Great (b. 1433) on July 2 in Suceava, Romania; won 34 of 36 battles against the Ottomans. Italian architect-sculptor Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono (b. 1445) in Milan. Spanish queen Isabella I the Catholic of Castile and Leon (b. 1451) on Nov. 26. Italian astronomer Domenico Maria Novara (b. 1454) in Bologna. Dutch priest-reformer Jan Standonck (b. 1454) on Feb. 4/5. Florentine painter Filippino Lippi (b. 1457). German Wittelsbach bishop of Freising Ruprecht of the Palatinate (b. 1481) on Aug. 20 in Landshut (KIA?) (dysentery?).
1505 On Mar. 22 after signing the Treaty of Blois with Louis XII of France, who cedes his claim to the kingdom of Naples and the kingdom of Jerusalem to her, conditional on a male heir being produced, dead Isabella I the Catholic's husband Ferdinand II the Catholic marries teen fox (granddaughter of his half-sister) Germaine de Foix (1488-1538), daughter of Louis XII's sister. In May Amerigo Vespucci begins his Fifth Voyage (ends Dec.). On June 8 emperor (since Sept. 22, 1487) Hongzhi (b. 1470) dies, and on June 19 his 14-y.-o. eldest son Zhengde ("right virtue") (Zhu Houzhao) (1491-1521) becomes Ming emperor #10 of China (until Apr. 20, 1521), becoming friendly with the Muslims and commissioning Muslim eunuchs to produce blue-white porcelain with Persian and Arabic inscriptions, and being rumored to convert to Islam although his debauched lifestyle denies it; European syphilis reaches Canton; an edict prohibiting the slaughtering of pigs is passed during his reign; eunuch minister Liu Jin (1451-1510), leader of the Eight Tigers group of court eunuchs establishes his power in the Chinese govt., imprisoning 300+ officials and becoming the most corrupt official in Chinese history, the emperor in all but name? On July 2 (Wed.) German cocksman, er, law student Martin Luther (b. 1483) is struck by lightning in Erfurt (a four in a million chance?), and on July 16 sees the light and enters the St. Augustine Monastery (Augustinekloster) in Erfurt (130 mi. SW of Berlin) (until 1511). On July 30 German king Maximilian I holds a meeting at the Reichstag (Diet) in Cologne, and gives Bavaria-Landshut to Albert IV of Bavaria-Munich, finally uniting Bavaria (split since 1349) and ending the Landshut War of Succession (begun 1503), but reserves the fragmented Palatinate-Neuberg (Junge Pfalz), stretching from the Upper Danube in Franconia to the N end of the Upper Palatinate to George the Rich's grandsons Philip the Upright (Aufrichtige), Elector Palatine (1448-1508) and Otto Henry, Elector Palatine (1502-59), with capital at Neuberg an der Donau, and Palatine Count Frederick II as regent; for his trouble the HRE takes the city of Kufstein in the Tyrol on the Inn River (location of a neat 13th cent. fortress) for himself, and gives the imperial city of Nuremberg important territories, incl. Lauf, Hersbruck, and Altdorf; when Otto Henry grows up he becomes one of the top German Renaissance builders, building a magnificent palace in Neuburg an der Danau and improving Heidelberg Castle. On Oct. 27 grand duke (since 1462) Ivan III the Great (b. 1440) dies, and on Nov. 6 his son Vasily (Vasilii) (Basil) III Ivanovich (Gavril) (1479-1533) becomes grand duke of Muscovy (Moscow) and "sovereign of all Russia" (until Dec. 3, 1533). John Zapolya (1487-1540) and the anti-foreign Hungarian nobles secure a decree by the Hungarian Diet that after the death of the current king Vladislaus I, no foreign ruler will be chosen as king of Hungary - the Hungarian language is too hard for foreigners to learn? On Nov. 24 Ferdinand II of Aragon and Philip I the Handsome sign the Treaty of Salamanca, agreeing to rule horsehead-shaped Castile (the main cut of Spain) jointly with Ferdinand's daughter Juana the Mad; Henry VII repudiates the betrothal of his son Prince Henry to Catherine of Aragon, since her dead mother Isabella I's kingdom of Castile and Leon is breaking up and it's time to flush the garbage?; Catherine is left stranded without support in England. HRE Maximilian I begins reforming the Holy Roman Empire into a universal Hapsburg monarchy. The spics, er, Spanish Castilians take Qassasa and Marsa al-Kabir in the Maghreb (Maghrib) (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). The Uzbeks recapture Samarkand from the Timurids. Hugh Roe O'Donnell dies, and his son Sir Hugh Dubh (pr. "doo") O'Donnell (-1537) becomes king of Tyrconnell in Ulster, Ireland (until 1537), expanding O'Donnell power into N Connaught while developing an alliance with the English crown authorities in Dublin, getting knighted by Henry VII in London in 1513 after a 1511 pilgrimage to Rome; meanwhile he leaves his boy son Manus O'Donnell (-1564) in charge, who turns traitor and allies with the hated O'Neills, causing daddy to appeal to the Maguires for aid, leading to another clan war in 1522. Spanish navigator Juan de Bermudez (Bermúdez) (-1570) discovers Bermuda (650 mi. E of N.C.). in his ship La Garza en route from Hispaniola to Spain. The Khmer royal court moves from Phnom Penh to Udong. You're ruining my genius career, you bum? Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) sets out on his first expedition to the East Indies to install adm. Dom Francisco de Almeida (1450-1510) as the first Portuguese gov. (viceroy) of the East Indies, incl. India, where he works to exclude Muslims and Venetians from a slice of the commerce pie - I want to give you this Capitol One check for a million dollars? The Kilwa Sultanate off modern-day Tanzania, ruled since 1277 by the Abu Moaheb family is overthrown by the Portuguese, and begins fragmenting, with some being absorbed by Oman. In 1505 Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is discovered by Portuguese explorer Lourenco de Almeida (1480-1508) (son of Francisco de Almeida), who founds a settlement. Humanist churchman John Colet (1467-1519) becomes dean of St. Paul's in London (until 1519), going on to preach against auricular confession and clerical celibacy and promote Bible reading, influencing Erasmus. Albrecht Durer visits Venice for the 2nd time, and keeps a studio there until 1507, studying the Venetian masters, esp. Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), which ends his problem with angularity and stiffness in his figures. Monte Cassino Abbey in Italy, founded in the 6th cent. by St. Benedict of Benedictine Rule fame is joined with the monastery of St. Justina of Padua. The U. of Seville in Spain is founded as the Colegio Santa Maria de Jesus. Christ's College at Cambridge U. (founded 1437) is refounded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (1443-1509), mother of Tudor king Henry VII; alumni later incl. John Milton and Charles Darwin. The Barber Surgeons of Edinburgh is founded. A comet "as big as the Moon" is seen in London - ahoo, werewolves of London? James IV of Scotland builds the £8K ship Margaret at Leith using an imported wooden keel, then establishes larger royal dockyards at Newhaven and Airth on the Forth River to build larger ships. Architecture: Pope Julius II commissions Michelangelo to build his Tomb of Pope Julius II in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in the hills above the Colosseum, complete with 42 large statues; too bad, after spending over a year designing it and transporting marble from Carrara, the project is abandoned for lack of funds, and he takes until 1545 to finish it after joining the Spirituali and turning Moses' head away from the altar to signify that he doesn't look to the Church for salvation. The Mosque of Bayezid II in Constantinople is finished, becoming the first Ottoman monument showing influence from the Hagia Sophia basilica. Science: Italian mathematician Scipione del Ferro (1465-1526) partially solves the cubic equation, obtaining the full solution in 1520. Nonfiction: Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), Book of Prophecy (Prophecies); compiled before his 1502 voyage; how the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures inspired his discovery of the New World, predicting the End of the World in 155 years. Johannes Scotus, World Map. Jakob Wimpfeling (1450-1528), Epitome Rerum Germanicarum. Art: Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Altarpiece of Church of San Zaccaria, Venice. Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1526), Life of the Virgin Mary (6 scenes); incl. Donors in Adoration. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), The Life of the Virgin (engravings). Il Giorgione (1477-1510), Trial of Moses; Judgment of Solomon (twin paintings). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), The Maiden's Dream. Il Perugino (1445-1523), Combat of Love and Chastity. Raphael (1483-1520), Small Cowper Madonna. Il Sodoma (1477-1549), Life of St. Benedict (32 scenes) (1505-8) (Convent of Monte Oliveto, Siena). Titian (1477-1576), Christ Carrying the Cross (Chapel of San Rocco, Venice); Man of Sorrows (Scuola di San Rocco, Venice). Leonardo da Vinci (1453-1519) begins to paint the life-size Battle of Anghiari (a little fracas in which one man is killed falling off his horse) in the Council Chamber of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, but is called to Milan before finishing; later in this cent. Giorgio Vasari paints murals over it; in 2005 the image is found intact behind a false wall. Poetry: William Dunbar (1460-1520), The Dance of the Sevin Deidly Synnis (1505-8). Births: German Hohenzollern prince-elector #6 of Brandenburg (1535-71) (Roman Catholic-turned-Protestant) Joachim II Hector (d. 1571) on Jan. 31 in Colln; eldest son of Joachim I Nestor (1484-1535). Polish poet ("the Father of Polish Literature") Mikolaj (Nikolaj) (Nicholas) Rej of Naglowice (d. 1569) on Feb. 4 in Zurawno (modern-day Zhuravno, Ukraine). Swiss "Chronicon Helveticum" historian Aegidius (Giles) (Glig) Tschudi (d. 1572) on Feb. 5 in Glarus; known for his map drawings. English noblewoman Jane Boleyn (nee Parker), Viscountess Rochford (d. 1542) in Norfolk; sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn; lady-in-waiting to Catherine Howard. German adventurer Nikolaus Federmann (Nicolas de Federman) (d. 1542) in Ulm. English ambassador (to the HRE and Flanders) Philip Hoby (Hobby) (Hobbye) (d. 1558) in Leominster; half-brother of Sir Thomas Hoby (1530-66). French marshal (Roman Catholic) (favorite of Henry II) Jacques d'Albon, Seigneur de Saint-Andre () (d. 1562). Scottish Protestant reformer ("the Thundering Scot") John Knox (d. 1572) in Haddington; educated at the U. of Glasgow. English Bible scholar Richard Taverner (d. 1575) in Brisley (near Norwich); educated at Corpus Christi College and Cardinal College, Oxford U., and Cambridge U. Belgian Walloon composer Mattheus Le Maistre (d. 1577) in Roclenge sur Geer. Italian violinmaker family founder Andrea Amati (d. 1578) in Cremona; father of Antonio Amati (1550-) and Girolamo Amati (1551-1635); grandfather of Nicolo Amati (1596-1684); great-grandfather of Girolamo Amati (Hieronymus II) (1649-1740). French surgeon Pierre Franco (d. 1578); inventor of the suprapublic lithotomy cataract operation, and surgical repair of hernia; forerunner of urology. English organist-composer Thomas Tallis (d. 1585). Spanish "The Sinner's Guide" Dominican mystic monk poet Luis de Granada (Louis of Granada) (d. 1588) in Granada. Deaths: German composer Jakob Obrecht (b. 1430). Italian duke of Ferrara (1471-1505) Ercole I d'Este (b. 1431) on June 15. Polish-Lithuanian queen consort (1454-92) Elizabeth of Austria (Hapsburg) (b. 1436) on Aug. 30 in Cracow. Russian tsar (1462-1505) Ivan III the Great (b. 1440) on Oct. 27 in Moscow. Egyptian Muslim scholar Imam Jalaluddin al-Suyuti (b. 1445); leaves 20 vols. of Quranic studies, incl. Commentary of the Two Jalals. Chinese Ming emperor #9 (1487-1505) Hongzhi (b. 1470) on June 8. Algerian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Maghili (b. ?) in Tlemcen; known for bloodily expelling the city's Jews, who had lived there since 70 C.E.
1506 On Jan. 21 the Swiss Guard (Guardia Swizzera), consisting of 10 officers and 110 men (all required to be Swiss, and non-officers required to be non-married) begins guarding Pope Julius II; their colorful vertical-striped tunics are said to have been designed by artist Michelangelo. In the spring 30K Crimean Tartars (allies of Moscow) under Menli I Girai's sons Fetih I Giray and Burnas I Gray invade Lithuania, and are routed on Aug. 6 by 7K-10K Lithuanians under marshal (since 1500) prince Michael (Mikhail) Lvovich Glinski (1470-1534) in the Battle of Kletsk. In Mar. the Battle of Cannanore is a decisive V for a small Portuguese fleet under Lourenco de Almeida over a 200+ ship Indian fleet manned by Hindus, Arabs, and Turks equipped with cannons manufactured with the help of two Italians from Milan. On May 20 Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon) (b. 1451) ("Don Cristobal Colon, Almirante") dies in Valladolid, Spain in wealth and luxury, marking the end of an era. Who needs a mad queen in Castile? On July 12 Philip I the Handsome (Fair) of Castile (b. 1478) becomes king of Castile (the first Hapsburg), briefly uniting the the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon through his wife Joanna the Mad, heir presumptive to the crown of Aragon; on July 27 the Treaty of Villafafila (Villafáfila) is signed by Ferdinand II the Catholic and Philip I the Handsome in Benavente, Zamora, confirming the incapacity of mentally unstable Juana the Mad to rule, and requiring Federinand II to cede all power to Philip I, who is proclaimed king of Castile and the Indies; too bad, on Sept. 25 he suddenly dies in Burgos, Castile of typhoid fever (poisoned by Ferdinand II?), and his wife Joanna (Juana) the Mad of Castile (1479-1555) (Isabella I's daughter) attempts to rule from Torquemada, causing Castile to go into anarchy, plague, and famine that kills half the pop., causing a council of regency under Archbishop Cisneros is created, who invite her daddy Ferdinand II to arrive next July, who quickly restores health and order, and talks her on July 30 into abdicating in his favor, after which in Feb. 1509 she is confined to the Santa Clara Convent in Tordesillas (near Valladolid) for life, while remaining legal queen of Castile (until Apr. 12, 1555), taking her hubby Philip's corpse with her to talk to, causing rumors that she went er, mad; Ferdinand II (the Catholic) assumes the regency of Castile (until Jan. 23, 1516), while Philip's dominions in the Low Countries go to his son Charles (later HRE Charles V). On Aug. 19 king (since Dec. 12, 1501) Alexander I dies, and on Dec. 8 his brother Zygmunt (Sigismund) I Stary (the Old) (1467-1548) becomes king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania (until Apr. 1, 1548). On Nov. 12 after the king sets the Darien (Atrato) River as the boundary for the Terra Firme provinces of Castilla del Oro and Nueva Andalusia, Alonso de Ojeda (1465-1515) (new gov. of Nueva Andalusia) sails from Hispanola on two ships with 300 men, and on Nov. 15 Diego de Nicuesa (1464-1511) (former rich popular ladies man and official royal carver in Madrid, but an arrogant incompetent prick in the New World, causing him to be less popular than Ojeda), new gov. of Castilla del Oro sails from Hipanola on five ships with 700 men; Ojeda lands near Cartagena and tries to convert and subdue the pesky natives and squeeze them for gold, ending up pissing them off and getting most of his force killed, after which Nicuesa's force happens by after getting lost, and magnanimously rescues them, massacring every last Indian during their victory celebration, and taking a large booty; too bad, after ignoring his shipmates' advice and getting lost again, Nicuesa's ship runs aground off the coast of Panama, and half of his men are killed by hostile natives and disease by the time they make it to their destination overland at Belen, after which they find the land laid waste by the Indians to starve them, forcing them to move to new digs in Puerto Bello (Sp. "beautiful port"), finding a half-buried anchor left by Columbus, after which they are soon driven out by the Indians. In Nov. Cesare Borgia (b. 1476) escapes from prison in Naples to Navarre and joins the king in an expedition against Castile, where he is KIA in battle in Viana next year - another episode of Toy Story, starring the Artist Formerly Known as Prince? He needs a woman in Windsor? The Treaty of Windsor betrothes archduke Philip's sister Margaret of Austria to Henry VII's son Henry, prince of Wales; Philip undertakes the extradition of Yorkist pretender Earl Edmund of Suffolk, who is imprisoned in the Tower of London. Philips de Schone dies, and HRE Maximilian I becomes regent over the Dutch regions for the 2nd time, and appoints his daughter Margaret (Margaretha) (1480-1530) as governess. Genoa revolts from French rule. Bologna is incorporated by Pope Julius II into the papal states (until 1796). The castle of Scottish rebel Torquil MacLeod of Lewis in Stornoway (on the NE coast of the 100-mi.-long island of Lewis and Harris in NW Scotland) is sieged by Alexander, 3rd earl of Huntly, causing MacLeod to flee and rebel leader Donald Duck, er, Domhnall Dubh (-1545) to be captured; too bad, the pesky highlands keep up their revolt until 1509. The Uzbeks capture Bukhara (W of Samarkand). Swiss parish priest Ulrich Zwingli (b. 1484) is assigned to the town of Glarus, a center for recruiting mercenaries. Franz von Taxis becomes postmaster gen. for the Hapsburg Empire, founding a mail-carrying dynasty. Niccolo Machiavelli creates the Florentine Militia, Italy's first nat. army. Sultan Bajazet recovers Alessio (in modern-day Albania) from the Venetians. Timurid ruler (since 1469) Husayn Bayqara dies, and the Timurid Dynasty founded by Timur (Tamerlane) in Iran goes up for grabs. Yonsan Gun is depoosed in a coup for tyranny, and his half-brother Chungjong (Yi or Lee Yeok) (1488-1544) becomes Yi king of Korea (until Nov. 29, 1544). Ships from France (Fahlanki) enter the Humen (Bogue) (Bocca Tigris) Strait in the Pearl River Delta, and promise tribute; too bad, their noisy cannon piss-off the pop., causing the emperor to order them to leave immediately. After having to pass up a job as viceroy of India due to temporary blindness, Portuguese explorer Tristao da Cunha (1460-1540) (cousin of Afonso de Albuqueraue) sails to the E coast of Africa in a fleet of 15 ships to conquer Socotra Island, discovering the five volcanic Tristan da Cunha Islands 1.2K mi. from Saint Helena Island, the most remote archipelago on Earth, which remains uninhabited until 1810, visiting Madagascar and Mozambique before conquering Socotra - you don't even have a rear window wiper? Augsburg merchant Jakob Fugger (1459-1525) begins importing spices from the East Indies to Europe, and so profitably that he becomes known as "the Rich", one of the richest men in history - oh to live on Sugar Spice Mountain with the Fuggers and the colored balloons? The U. of Frankfurt an der Oder (European U. Viadrina Frankfurt), the first state univ. in Brandenburg is founded by Hohenzollern prince-elector (1499-1535) Joachim I Nestor (1484-1536); too bad, he backs the Roman Catholic Church all the way against the pesky Lutherans, then watches his wife Anna of Brandenburg and her hubby king Christian III of Denmark go Protestant, along with Brandenburg, and ends up fleeing to Saxony in 1528; the univ. is transferred to Breslau in 1811. The U. of Urbino in Urbino, Italy is founded. The Laocoon (Laocoön) Group (Laocoon and His Sons) of 2nd cent. B.C.E. sculptures are rediscovered at the palace of Titus in Rome. Leonardo da Vinci returns to Milan, and begins compiling the 72-page Codex Leicester ms. (finished 1508-9), which theorizes that sunlight reflected from the oceans acts as a secondary light on the Moon; he bequeaths it to his pupil Francesco Melzi, and it goes through the hands of Milanese sculptor Guglielmo della Porta, then Giuseppe Ghezzi in 1690, followed in 1717 by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, giving it its name; Armand Hammer acquires it in 1980, followed by Bill Gates in 1994. Architecture: The Vatican builds its Pentagon before the U.S. has even been thought of? Donato Bramante starts work on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by demolishing the original 4th cent. Church of St. Peter, employing 2.5K men for many weeks in throwing out tombs, statues, mosaics, icons and altars; too bad his new bldg. has faults in it which are found after his death and are too costly to fix, and it ends up taking 120 years and 27 popes, tapping out the resources of the Vatican - despite being totally vaporizable by a small suitcase-sized nuke? Seville Cathedral in Spain is finished, passing Hagia Sophia as the world's largest cathedral, later becoming the burial site of Christopher Columbus. Nonfiction: Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), Rudimenta Linguae Hebraica; first Hebrew grammar written by a Christian. Art: Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), The Last Judgment (1506-8). Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), St. Catherine (altar piece). Gerard David (1460-1523), The Annunciation. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Feast of Rose Garlands (church of San Bartolommeo, Venice); Christ Crucified; Madonna with a Siskin; an attractive little finch. Giorgione (1477-1510), Portrait of a Young Man; Laura (Portrait of a Young Bride); displays her wares to show she's fertile, and carries a laurel branch to show she's a virgin. Castelfranco Madonna; enthroned Madonna with St. Francis on right and St. Nicasius (St. George?) (St. Liberalis, patron of Castelfranco?) on the left, bearing the emblem of the Knights of Rhodes, with no ecclesiastical bldgs. in sight; paints it without a prior drawing. Raphael (1483-1520), Madonna of the Meadow (Madonna del Belvedere). Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531), Altar at St. Jacob's (Rothenburg). Births: Scottish humanist historian George Buchanan (d. 1582) in Feb. in Killearn, Stirlingshire; educated at Scots College, Paris. Spanish Jesuit co-founder and missionary ("Apostle of the Indies") (St.) Francis Xavier (Basque for "new house"?) (Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta) (d. 1552) on Apr. 7 in Javier, Navarre (Spain). English soldier and lord protector of England (1547-9) Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (d. 1552) (b. 1500?); son of Sir John Seymour (1474-1536) and Margery Wentworth (1478-1550); brother of Thomas Seymour (1508-49) and Jane Seymour (1509-37). German Roman Catholic humanist scholar bishop Michael Helding (d. 1561) (AKA Sidonius) in Langenenslingen bei Riedlingen-Sigmaringen; educated at the U. of Tubingen. Hungarian Renaissance composer-lutenist (first Hungarian classical composer?) Balint Bakfark (d. 1576) in Brasov, Transylvania; educated at the court of John Zapolya in Buda. Deaths: Italian painter-engraver Andrea Mantegna (b. 1431) in Mantua; buried in San Andrea Church, where his pupils adorn the walls with frescoes. Flemish composer Alexander Agricola (b. 1446). French Roman Catholic priest Johann Burchard (b. 1450) in Rome; leaves Liber Notarum, chronicling papal ceremonies, incl. the Banquet of the Chestnuts held by Cesare Borgia in the Papal Palace on Oct. 30, 1501. Italian-Spanish-Portuguese-Jewish Christ-bearing Dove (Devil's Spawn?) Christopher Columbus (b. 1451) on May 20 in Valladolid, Spain; dies in wealth and comfort after causing the looting, rape, torture, and death of an endless parade of millions of innocent people, and still believing he found a new route to Asia; leaves the Mayorazo (Majorat), an alleged last will and testament dated 1498, which is presented by Italian imposter Balthazar Colombo, and contains the first statement that Columbus was born in Genoa; he is buried in a church there; in 1509 his coffin is moved to Triana, near Seville; in 1541 it is moved to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Repub.; in 1795 after Santo Domingo falls to France it is moved to Havana; in 1902 it is moved to Seville, Spain; in 1877 it is discovered that his coffin is still in a vault beneath the Cathedral of Santo Domingo; in 1973 dust from his coffin enclosed in two lockets is put up for auction, but nobody bids; he's really in the Dominican Repub. in a coffin dug up in 1877? Polish king (1501-6) and Lithuanian grand duke (1492-1506) Alexander Jagiellon (b. 1461) on Aug. 19 in Vilnius. Korean Joseon king #10 (1494-1506) Yeonsan-gun (b. 1476) on Nov. 20. Spanish Castilian king (1506) Philip I the Handsome (b. 1478) on Sept. 25 in Burgos, Castile (typhoid fever).
1507 On Apr. 27-Aug. the 4-mo. Siege of Cannanore by 40K Indian nayar and 20K Indian samorin forces from Calicut aided by Arabs results in another Portuguese V after their massive artillery firepower staves off infantry attacks, only to be slowly starved until a tidal wave washes a load of lobsters ashore on Aug. 15, and 11 ships under Tristao da Cunha arrives on Aug. 27 from Socotra, landing 300 soldiers to relieve the siege. In Apr. Vasili III of Russia invades Lithuania with two armies, starting the Third Russian-Lithuanian War (ends 1508); the Crimean khan defects to the Polish-Lithuanian side; marshal Michael (Mikhail) Lvovich Glinski (1470-1534) of Lithuania revolts and attempts to turn Vilnius to Russia, but is defeated. On Aug. 13 Dawit II (Wanag Segad = "to whom lions bow") (Lebna Dengel) (1501-40) becomes Solomonic emperor of Ethiopia (until Sept. 2, 1540), with Empress Mother Eleni as regent (until 1516), sending Armenian emissary Mateus (Matthew) the Armenian (-1520) to Portugal in 1514 to seek aid in fighting off the neighboring Muslim countries. On Oct. 10 Alfonso de Albuquerque and Tristan de Cunha capture Hormuz Island at the mouth of the Red Sea. In Dec. 11-y.-o. Mary Rose Tudor (1496-1533), younger sister of Henry VIII is betrothed to 7-y.-o. archduke Charles of Burgundy (b. 1500) (later HRE Charles V), but it is later dropped after political alliances shift; meanwhile Margaret of Austria is made regent of the Netherlands and guardian of her nephew Charles. The Genovese revolt is crushed by Louis XII of France. The Diet of Constance recognizes the unity of the Holy Roman Empire, and founds the Imperial Chamber. The Portuguese under Dom Francisco de Almeida ravage the Muslim port of Goa and other seaports on the Indian coast. After discovering Socotra Island in 1503, Portuguese navigator Diogo Fernandes Pereira discovers volcanic mountainous reefed Mauritius Island 500 mi. E of Madagascar, naming it Ilha do Dirne, but doesn't settle it; he also discovers the rest of the Mascarenhas Archipelago incl. Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodrigues, becoming the first Euro to sail E of Madagascar. After Safavid Shiite propaganda makes inroads among the Turcomans of E Anatolia and Iraq, causing the Turkish sultan to deport large numbers of them to the Peloponnesus, the Safavids under Shah Ismail I invade Kurdistan and take Diyarbakr, Baghdad and all of Iraq (1507-8); meanwhile the wild-card Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani occupy the Timurid S capital of Herat, then begin raiding the Kazakhs to the N. Future world shaker Martin Luther is ordained - watch them barkers and colored balloons, brothers? English Roman Catholic priest Thomas Wolsey (b. 1475) becomes Henry VII's royal chaplain, and after showing his caginess as a diplomat he becomes dean of Lincoln in 1509. Danish king Christian II begins hooking up with commoner Norwegian girl (of Dutch heritage) Dyveke (Dutch "little pigeon") Sigbritsdatter (-1517), who becomes his mistress; when he later marries a royal babe, she dies of a broken heart in 1517, helped by eating poisoned cherries. Italian humanist Polydore Vergil (1457-1555), who came to England in 1501 as deputy collector of Peter's Pence and became bishop of Bath and Wells in Oct. 1504 is appointed historiographer to Henry VII, who commissions him to write the history of England (finished 1533). Albrecht Durer returns to Nuremberg from Venice (until 1520). Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Diaz de Solis sail along the E coast of Central Am. Secular Hebrew studies are introduced in French and German univs. Architecture: Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (begun 1489) is finished. German sculptor Peter Vischer the Elder (1455-1529) designs the Renaissance-style Shrine of St. Sebaldus in St. Sebaldus Church (Sebalduskirche) in Nuremberg, with a Gothic canopy and a statuette of himself, becoming his masterpiece (finished 1519). The Church of Santa Maria di Loreto in Rome, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546) is begun; they are still adding to it 75 years later. Science: Italian-born John Damian attempts to fly by strapping on chicken-feather wings and jumping from the walls of Stirling Castle in Scotland; too late he remembers that chickens don't fly. Orlando Galla of Venice improves the manufacture of glass mirrors. Nonfiction: Alvise Cadamosto, La Prima Navigazione per l'Oceano alle Terre de' Negri della Bassa Ethopia; the exploration of Gambia. The name "America" is first used by German cleric-cartographer Martin Waldseemueller (Waldseemüller) (1470-1520) of the Monastery of Saint-Die-des-Vosges in Lorraine, France in his Cosmographiae Introductio in honor of Amerigo Vespucci; it contains a world map titled Universalis Cosmographia incl. the first depiction of the Western Hemisphere, showing America as an island surrounded by water, and saying "It is fitting that this fourth part of the world, inasmuch as Americus discovered it, be called Amerige, or let us say, land of Americi, that is, America"; the depiction of a body of water to the W of America before the discovery of the Pacific Ocean remains a modern mystery; on Apr. 30, 2007 (500th anniv.) it is officially given to the U.S. by German chancellor Angela Merkel. Art: Il Giorgione (1477-1511) and Titian (1477-1576), Fondaco dei Tedeschi (Venice). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Madonna with Child and Four Saints (incl. St. Onuphrius). Il Perugino (1445-1523), Virgin Between St. Jerome and St. Francis. Raphael (1483-1520), Madonna di Casa Colonna. Births: Italian condottiero Ferrante I Gonzaga (Ferdinand de Gonzague) (d. 1557) on Jan. 28 in Mantua; 3rd son of Francesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519) and Isabella d'Este (1474-1539); brother of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-40); father of Cesar Gonzaga (-1575); uncle of Louis de Nevers (Gonzaga) (1539-95); pupil of Bernardino Baldi (1533-1617). Chinese Ming emperor #11 (1521-67) Jiajing ("admirable tranquility") (Zhu Houcong) (d. 1567) on Sept. 16; cousin of Zhengde; son of Zhu Youyuan, prince of Xing (1476-1519), 4th son of Changhua, and Lady Shao. French anatomist (prof. of anatomy at Montpellier) Guillaume Rondelet (Rondeletius) (d. 1566) on Sept. 27. German humanist educator (founder of the Gymnasium system) Johannes (Jean) Sturm (Ioannes Sturmius) (d. 1589) on Oct. 1 in Schleiden (near Cologne); does great things in Strasbourg beginning in 1537. Spanish gen. (under HRE Charles V and HRE Philip II) Fernando Alvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, "Iron Duke" of Alba (Alva) (d. 1582) on Oct. 27 - whose portrait bears a striking resemblance to British Prince Charles wearing a clown suit? English queen ("Anne of a thousand days") Anne Boleyn (Bullen) (d. 1536) (pr. BOO-len or buh-LIN); daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard (daughter of the duke of Norfolk); 2nd wife of Henry VIII; mother of Elizabeth I. Russian metropolitan (one of the five Russian hierarchs) (St.) Philip II of Moscow (Feodor Stepanovich Kolychev) (d. 1569) in Galich (modern-day Kostroma Oblast); born into a noble boyar family; feast days: Jan. 9, July 3, and Oct. 5. French chancellor (1560-68) Michel de l'Hopital (d. 1573) near Aigueperse, Auvergne (Puy-de-Dome). Deaths: Italian St. Francis of Paola (b. 1416) on Apr. 2. Venetian painter Gentile Bellini (b. 1429). Florentine painter Cosmo di Lorenzo Filippi Rosselli (b. 1439). German geographer-navigator Martin Behaim of Nuremberg (b. 1459) on July 29 in Lisbon. Italian "The Prince" Renaissance condottiere Cesare Borgia (b. 1475) on Mar. 12 in Viana, Spain; his portrait ends up being used for Jesus Christ?
1508 On Mar. 18 Bavarian duke (since 1465) Albert IV (b. 1447) dies after winning the War of the Landshut Succession (begun 1503) and introducing primogeniture via edict in 1506, and his, er, eldest son William IV (1493-1550) becomes duke of Bavaria in Ingoldstadt (until Mar. 7, 1550), going on to become a leader of the Counter-Reformation; too bad, younger brother Louis X isn't happy with getting none, finagling his way into a share by 1516. In the spring Michelangelo yields to Pope Julius II's pleas and returns to Rome (by force?), giving up the Medici tomb he wanted to sculpt, then late in the year after learning how to paint frescoes begins painting the vaulted Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (named after Pope Sixtus IV) for the Medicis (at the suggestion of Donato Bramante, who is jealous of him, and thinks he will refuse, break with the pope, or mess it up, either way causing him to leave Rome and let his relative Raphael become Rome's #1 painter?); it takes four years (until Nov. 1512), unassisted and grumbling all the way to paint 300 Biblical (all Jewish) figures and "ignudi" (nude youths) on 1K sq. yds. of plastered surface while lying curled up under the ceiling, writing a poem to a friend: "My stomach is thrust towards my chin,/ My beard curls up towards the sky,/ My head leans right over onto my back,/ My chest is like that of an old shrew./ The brush endlessly dripping onto my face/ Has coated it with a multi-colored paving./... I am as bent as a Syrian bow"; also, "I am neither working in a pleasant environment, nor am I a painter" (how degrading for a famous sculptor to have to do frescoes?); he refuses to camouflage the size and shape of the huge vaults, and instead uses painted tromp l'oeil (Fr. "trick of the eye") architecture to frame them; the paintings have Qabbalah messages, and there are two instances of ignudi flipping the fig at the pope? In Mar. the Battle of Chaul Harbor in India is a decisive Mamluk and Indian V over the Portugese under Lourenco de Almeida, becoming their first D in the Indian Ocean; Almeida dies during the sinking of his ship at the harbor entrance. On Apr. 10 Guidobaldo I da Montefeltro (b. 1472) dies without an heir, and after Pope Julius II (his other uncle) pulls strings, his nephew Francesco Maria I della Rovere (1490-1538) becomes duke of Urbino (until 1538), going on to work to recover Senigallia from the Borgias. On Oct. 8 after Michael Glinski is defeated at Minsk and Orsha, and the Polish-Lithuanian army forces the Russians to retreat, Tsar Vasili III signs an Eternal Peace Treaty with Lithuania, rolling the territorial boundaries back to 1503. On Dec. 22 Rene II (b. 1451) dies, and his son Antoine the Good (1489-1544) becomes duke of Lorraine (until 1544), going on to back the Counter-Reformation and quelch several popular revolts. Russia and Sweden sign a 60-Year Peace Treaty. The League of Cambrai is formed by Margaret of Austria, the Cardinal of Rouen (France), and Ferdinand II of Aragon (Spain) to divide the Italian possessions of long overripe Venice - you believe in Santa Claus don't you? German king (since 1493) Maximilian I (1459-1519) assumes the title of elected HRE without being crowned by Pope Julius II (between choir boys) after he confirms the fact that from now on the German king automatically becomes HRE without needing the papal formality. The Portuguese under Francisco da Alameda defeat the kingdom of Calicut in a sea battle. The Portuguese occupy Muscat, Oman (until 1648), building it up and fortifying it to protect their sea lanes to/from India. The Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani take Khurasan from the timid Timurids under Babar, and raid the Kazakhs. Sebastian (Sebastián) de Ocampo travels clear around Cuba, proving that it's an island. Castilian Conuistador Juan Ponce de Leon (1460-1521) begins the conquest of Puerto Rico (until 1512), founding the first settlement of Caparra next year, getting named gov. in 1509 (until 1512), and going on to discover gold and force the Taino Indians to work the mines, where they die like flies while he grows rich. Juan de Esquivel Barahona (1480-1519) settles Jamaica. The first sugar mills are established on Santo Domingo, which organizes enslavement expeditions to nearby islands. Jakob Fugger is created a hereditary knight of the Holy Roman Empire - Sir Fugger? His mother's called what? Pope Julius assigns Michelangelo-wannabe Raphael to paint a series of frescoes in the new exclusive Papal Apts. in the 3rd (top) floor of the Apostolic (Vatican) Palace in Rome (used for admin. purposes only until 1870, the papal residence being the Quirinal Palace); he works on them until 1517, while Michelangelo works in the bigger Sistine Chapel. Il Sodoma goes to Rome (until 1515) and paints frescoes in the Camera della Segnatura in the Vatican (where the pope signs acts of grace); too bad, most of them are later repainted by Raphael (1483-1520), who throws him a bone by painting his portrait beside his own in his "School of Athens" on one of the walls - it's not amica, it's how you're treated? The Latin term "encyclopedia" is coined from the Greek "enkyklios paideia", meaning "in a circle" plus "education". Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam confuses the vase or jar of Pandora with a box, creating a confusion that lasts till modern times - clean freak? Italian Venetian humanist (later cardinal) Girolamo (Hieronymous) (Jerome) Aleandro (Aleander) (1480-1542) begins teaching Greek at the U. of Paris, then becomes Vatican librarian in 1519, later heading the opposition to Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. Martin Luther becomes a student at the U. of Wittenberg - no spring break at Ft. Lauderdale for you, brother? Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar establish the first press in Scotland in Edinburgh; their first pub. is Bishop William Elphinstone's Aberdeen Breviary (1509-10), Scotland's first liturgy. Architecture: Althorp Manor in Northamptonshire, England is acquired by Sir John Spencer (1455-1522), going on to remain in possession of the Spencer family until modern times. Siena-born Italian architect-painter Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536) begins building the Renaissance-style Villa Farnesina in Rome (finished in 1511). Nonfiction: Guillaume Bude (1467-1540), Notes on the 24 Books of Pandects (Annotationes in XXIV. libros Pandectarum) (posth.); uses philology and history to throw light on the study of Roman law. Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), The Seven Secondary Intelligences (De Septem Secundeis id est Intelligentiis); history of the world based on astrology. Art: Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Praying Hands; Madonna with the Iris; at least a lot of German babes are really blonde? Giorgione (1477-1510), Sleeping Venus. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Sacra Conversazione; Madonna and Child with St. Dominic, St. Gregory and St. Urban; Portrait of a Young Man in Black in Front of a White Cloth. Bernardino Luini (1475-1532), Madonna del Roseto (Madonna with a Rose Garden); paints her with slightly squinted eyes, which Vladimir Nabokov later calls "Luinesque". Raphael (1483-1520), The Alba Madonna. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Anatomical Drawing of a Female; an unflattering drawing attempting to illustrate the circulatory and other systems, but only displaying his ignorance of women's private parts and his own homosexual proclivities? Plays: Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), Cassaria (comedy). Poetry: Robert Henryson (Henrysoun) (-1507), The Moral Fables of Aesop the Phrygian; "Although the nut's shell is hard and tough, it holds the delightful kernel. So there lies a wise and fruitful teaching underneath an imaginary fable. And learned men say it is very profitable to mingle merry sport with earnest matters, to lighten the spirit and speed the time." Novels: Conradus Celtis (-1459), The Maying or Disport of Chaucer (posth.); first book printed in Scotland? Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo, Amadis de Gaula (Gaul); rev. of a 14th cent. romance about a knight who loves Princess Oriana, becoming the #1 novel of chivalry, spawning many imitators incl. Miguel Cervantes. Births: Indian Mughal (Mogul) emperor #2 (1530-40) Humayun (Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun) (d. 1556) on Mar. 7 (Old Style) in Kabul; son of Babur (1483-1531); father of Akbar the Great (1542-1605). French Pleiade poet and classical scholar ("the Modern Pindar") Jean Dorat (Daurat) (Joan Dinemandy) (d. 1588) on Apr. 3 in Limoges; teacher of Jean-Antoine de Baif (1532-89). Italian #1 architect (founder of the Palladian style) Andrea Palladio (Andrea di Pietro della Gondola) (d. 1580) on Nov. 30 in Padua, Venice; moves to Vicenza at age 13. Flemish cartographer Regnier (Reiner) Gemma Frisius (d. 1555) on Dec. 9 in Dokkum, Friesland; educated at the U. of Leuven. English queen (1536-7) Jane Seymour (d. 1537); daughter of Sir John Seymour (1474-1536) and Margery Wentworth (1478-1550); brother of Edward Seymour (1506-52) and Thomas Seymour (1508-49). English lord high adm. Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (d. 1549); son of Sir John Seymour (1474-1536) and Margery Wentworth (1478-1550); brother of Edward Seymour (1506-52) and Jane Seymour (1509-37); husband (1547-8) of Catherine Parr (1512-48). Spanish explorer Juan de Salazar de Espinoza (Emiliano Gomez Suarez) (d. 1560) in Espinosa de los Monteros. Croatian ban (1542-56) Nikola Subic Zrinski (d. 1566) in Zrin. Deaths: Jewish statesman-theologian Isaac Abravanel (b. 1437). Bavarian duke (1465-1508) Albert IV (b. 1447) on Mar. 18 in Munich. French duke of Lorraine (1483-1508) Rene II (b. 1451) on Dec. 10 in Fains. Italian duke Ludovico Sforza ("Il Moro") of Milan (b. 1452) on May 27 in Loches Castle, France (POW). German humanist scholar-poet Conradus Celtis (b. 1459) on Feb. 4 in Vienna. German sculptor Adam Kraft (b. 1460); designed the Gothic tabernacle of Nuremberg's Church of St. Lawrence. Italian duke of Urbino (1482-1508) Guidobaldo I da Montefeltro (b. 1472) on Apr. 10 in Fossombrone (pellagra).
1509 On Feb. 2 after an Indian king who had paid tribute to Vasco de Gama in 1506 refuses to pay tribute to Dom Francisco de Almeida (1450-1510) (father of Lourenco de Almeida) the Portuguese win the Battle of Diu (Second Battle of Chaul Harbor) in the Arabian Sea off Diu, India against Indian forces allied with Egyptian Mamluks, wiping out their fleet and establishing Portuguese control over the spice trade; too bad, Ferdinand Magellan, who participates in the battle takes leave without permission, and falls out of favor with Almeida for trading illegally with the Moors, causing him to become unemployed until 1515. The second Cannae, or, Darling you gotta let me know, should I stay or should I go? HRE Maximilian I joins the League of Cambrai and sieges but fails to capture Padua from Venice, even though his troops hold it for a few weeks; Jakob Fugger lends him 170K ducats to finance his (fuggin'?) war against Venice; Pope Julius II della Rovere, "Papa de Terribile" joins the League of Cambrai and excommunicates Venice on Apr. 27; France declares war on Venice, and on May 14 the French defeat the Venetians at the Battle of Agnadello, making the Venetian Empire kaput; the Jewish-controlled Venetians now begin subverting England? In the spring Bogdan III of Moldavia invades Poland, and is severely defeated on Oct. 4 at the Battle of the Dniester River. On Apr. 21 (night) English king (since Aug. 22, 1485) Henry VII (b. 1457) dies rich in bed in Richmond Palace, and his athletic 6'2" 2nd son Henry VIII (1491-1547) becomes the 40th monarch of England and the 2nd Tudor king (until Jan. 28, 1547); favorite horse: Canicida; since he has no son, his brother-in-law James IV of Scotland is named his heir, which doesn't set well with the English; on June 11, claiming it was his dead father's wish, and ignoring politicians on both sides who dispute her claim to being a virgin, he marries Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), daughter of Ferdinand II after Pope Julius II okays it and issues a dispensation for the marriage; the lovely torture instrument called the rack is first commonly used in his reign? - it's all done with hidden ketchup and mayo packages? On Aug. 22 an earthquake in the Sea of Marmara followed by several weeks of aftershocks destroys Constantinople, followed by 66 more shocks between 1711-1894 - just when they begin copying Christian architecture? The Spanish under Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros capture Oran in North Africa. Portuguese-speaking aborigine Nzinga Mbemba (Mvemba a Nzinga) (1456-1543) becomes king Alfonso I of the Kingdom of Kongo in Congo, Cabinda, and N Angola, with capital at M'banza-Kongo, and sets about trying to Christianize the kingdom; too bad, in the long run his efforts fail - other than to sweeten the pot? Concerned about their growing power, the Safavids under Shah Ismail I invade Transoxiana to take on Muhammad Shaybani (ends 1610). Alfonso de Albuquerque becomes gov. of Portuguese India (until 1515). Nicolas de Ovando is replaced as gov. of Hispaniola (since 1502) by King Ferdinand with Diego Columbus after he makes a promise to Queen Isabella on her deathbead; Ovando is allowed to keep his property. Diego de Nicuesa founds the colony of Castilla de Oro on the Gulf of Uraba (Panama), extending to the Belen River. A Jewish persecution begins in Germany; converted Jew Johannes Pfefferkorn (1469-1524) receives authority from Maximilian I to confiscate and destroy all Jewish books in Germany, despite the opposition of humanist Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522). After Henry VII's death, Thomas Moore reenters public life, and is appointed under-sheriff of London next year. Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Diaz de Solis sail along the SE coast of South Am. Brasenose College (Ger. "Brassenhuss" = brewhouse) at Oxford U. is founded by lawyer Sir Richard Sutton (-1524) and Lincoln bishop (1496-) William Smyth (Smith) (1460-1514) on the site of a brewery, becoming the last of the pre-Reformation colleges; future students incl. author Richard Burton, antiquarian Elias Ashmole, and John Foxe. The first attempt to license medical doctors is made in Europe. Inventions: Wallpaper is invented as a substitute for tapestry. Nonfiction: Anon., Fortunate and His Sons (Augsburg); German book of Schwank stories. John Fisher (1469-1535), The Seven Penitential Psalms (London). Luca di Pacioli (1445-1517), De Divina Proportione (On the Divine Proportion); composed in 1498 in Milan; study of the golden ratio; illustrations by his math student Leonardo da Vinci, becoming the first skeletonic solids permitting an easily distinction between front and back, incl. the first printed illustration of a rhombicuboctahedron; the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City later takes their M logo from it. Art: Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt with St. John the Baptist; the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Calif. pays $22M for it. Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Madonna and Child. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Small Passion (1509-10) (37 woodcuts); incl. Christ Appearing to the Magdalen, showing him wearing a brimmed pirate-style hat and carrying a shovel with her kneeling before him. Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1449-94), Portrait of a Lady. Il Giorgione (1477-1510), Knight of Malta. Raphael (1483-1520), The Aldobrandini (Garvagh) Madonna (1509-10). Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), Miracles of St. Philip. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (1509-10) (1503?). Births: Spanish Dominican theologian-bishop Melchior Cano (d. 1560) on Jan. 1 in Tarancon, Cuenca. Italian cardinal (1538-) Ippolito II d'Este (d. 1572) on Aug. 25 in Ferrara; son of Duke Alonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia; brother of Duke Ercole II d'Este; named after his uncle. French "if you're happy don't clap your hands" Protestant predestinarian religious reformer (founder of the Presbyterian Church) John Calvin (Jean Chauvin) (Cauvin) (Caulvin) (d. 1564) in Noyon, Picardy; lives in Switzerland - the original chauvinist? Dutch Anabaptist leader John of Leiden (Leyden) (d. 1536) in Leiden; illegitimate son of a Dutch mayor; starts out as a tailor's apprentice. Spanish (Basque) conquistador Domingo Martinez de Irala (d. 1556) in Bergara, Guipuzcoa. Italian Mannerist painter-sculptor Daniele Ricciarelli da Volterra (d. 1566) in Volterra, Tuscany; known for his portrait of his boss Michelango, and being hired in 1565 to paint fig leaves on the genitals of Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" (1541), gaining him the nickname "Il Braghettone" (the Breeches Maker). Italian humanist physician-scholar-mathematician Federico Commandino (d. 1575) in Urbino; tr. of Euclid, Archimedes, Aristarchus of Samos, and Pappus of Alexandria; teacher of Guidobaldo del Monte (1545-1607). French marshal (1570-) (Roman Catholic) Gaspard de Saulx, Sieur de Tavannes (d. 1509) in Dijon. Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada (d. 1579) (b. 1496?) (b. 1506?) in Cordoba. Italian goldsmith-sculptor Leone Leoni (d. 1590). Italian Renaissance anti-Aristotelian philosopher-scientist ("First of the Moderns") Bernardino Telesio (d. 1588) in Cosenza, Calabria; teacher of Franciscus Patricius (1529-97). Deaths: French writer Philippe de Commines (b. 1445). Italian architect Simone de Cronaca (b. 1454). English king (1485-1509) Henry VII (b. 1457) on Apr. 21 in Richmond Palace. Nuremberg sculptor Adam Krafft (b. 1460).
| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| England | Henry VIII (1491-1547) | Apr. 21, 1509 | Jan. 28, 1547 | |
| Scotland | James IV (1473-1513) | June 11, 1488 | Sept. 9, 1513 | |
| France | Louis XII (1462-1515) | Apr. 7, 1498 | Jan. 1, 1515 | |
| Germany | HRE Maximilian I (1459-1519) | Aug. 19, 1493 | Jan. 12, 1519 | |
| Papacy | Pope Julius II (1443-1513) | Nov. 1, 1503 | Feb. 21, 1513 | |
1510 On Jan. 17 the Polish-Moldavian Peace Treaty is signed, and prince (since 1504) Bogdan III the One-Eyed (1470-1517) of Moldavia renounces all claims to Poland; too bad, the Tartars invade Moldavia twice, and carry away up to 74K slaves by next year, causing the Poles to send troops to his aid. On Jan. 22 the Jews are expelled from Colmar, Germany. On Jan. 29 Pskov, Russia's last free repub. loses its charter. In Jan. Gen. Alfonso de Albuquerque (1453-1515), Portuguese gov. of India loses a battle to the Muslim kingdom of Cochin, then captures the Muslim island of Goa off the coast of Malabar on Nov. 25, and razes its Muslim mosques and Buddhist shrines, establishing W Europe's first toehold in India, used to spread Roman Catholicism into Asia (AKA Nova Roma); Portugal retains it until 1961. On Feb. 10 Pope (since 1503) Julius II (1443-1513) makes peace with Venice and lifts his excommunication of it, and turns on Louis XII of France and his League of Cambrai; cagey swinger (3rd husband of Lucrezia Borgia) Duke Alfonso I d'Este of Ferrara (1476-1534) refuses to give up his allegiance to Louis XII, and rubs it in by taking the shards of Michelangelo's bronze statue of him toppled by the pop. of Bologna and making it into a cannon called "La Giulia", then mounting it on his castle ramparts, causing the pissed-off pope to excommunicate him and forfeit his fiefs, making Ferrara part of the Papal States; Alfonso tells the pope to stuff it and goes on to fight against the armies of both Venice and the pope; meanwhile the Swiss join the League of Cambrai. On Mar. 1 after getting caught stealing cattle, a Portuguese exploration party led by Portuguese viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida (b. 1450) (first Portuguese viceroy of India) is massacred at Table Bay by the native Khoikhoi (Hottentots), who kill 64 soldiers and 11 captains along with Almeida, causing the Portuguese to decide to stick to the E coast of Africa. In the summer the world's first known influenza pandemic starts in Asia and rapidly spreads to Africa and Europe by ship; the death rate is low and the pandemic ends quickly. Holy Dildoes, Batman? On July 2 Pope Julius II issues a bull authorizing the creation of a bordello in the Prostitute's Quarter, a special section of Rome considered not too close to the papal palace (but close enough to work off dinner); his successors Leo X and Clement VII require the hos to deed over one-fourth of their possessions to the convent of Santa Maria Magdalena. After what's left of his party (100 of 600) flees to yet another harbor, Spanish conquistador Diego de Nicuesa (1464-1511) utters the soundbyte "Let's stop here in the name of God", and they found Nombre de Dios (Sp. "Name of God") on the Atlantic coast of Panama, which becomes a major port of call for the Spanish treasure fleet, and the first Euro town in Panama and the Am. mainland; too bad, it is situated near an unhealthy swamp, and is hard to fortify, and by 1580 Veracruz, Mexico becomes more popular; meanwhile the party of Alonso de Ojeda (1465-1515) founds the colony of San Sebastian, then is forced out by the Indians, after which he sets out for Hispaniola, leaving Francisco Pizarro in charge, then gets shipwrecked before reaching Santo Domingo, croaking in 1515; meanwhile on Sept. 1 Ojeda's rich atty. friend (financial backer) Martin Fernandez de Enciso (1470-1528) heads out from Espanola, with poor ignorant pig farmer Vasco Nunez (Núñez) de Balboa (1474-1519) of Hispaniola stowing away on his ship to avoid creditors, after which he is discovered then talks him into going to the Gulf of Uraba, where they find San Sebastian deserted, then talks him into going to the W side of the gulf, where they found Santa Maria de la Antigua; too bad, yellow fever and malaria reduce the 800 original Spanish pop. to 60, causing them to revolt and elect Balboa as chief, after which in mid-Nov. a relief force for Nicuesa led by Rodrigo Enriquez de Colmenares arrives, finding Nicuesa in Nombre de Dios with far less than 100 men; too bad, Nicuesa throws a feast, gets drunk, and boasts of all the hell he will put his enemies through when he gets to Antigua, causing everybody to consider him a lunatic, after which Nicuesa makes a mistake and allows ambassadors to be sent ahead of him who spread the word. On Dec. 2 after Safavid Shiite Persian shah (since 1502) Ismail I (1487-1524) sends a force of Qizilbash to Transoxiana to aid Timurid ruler Babar in his war against the upstart Genghis Khan descendant Uzbeks, and they conquer former Timurid possessions Herat, Khurasan, and Samarkand from them, they defeat the griffinless Uzbeks at the Battle of Merv, and kill their leader Muhammad Shaybani (Sheibak Khan) (b. 1451), ending his dynasty; Ismail sends his head to the Ottoman sultan as a warning that Sunnis shouldn't mess with badass Shiites, and sends various body parts around his empire for display, making a golden drinking cup from his skull; Shaybani is succeeded by an uncle, a cousin and a brother, whose descendants rule Bukhara until 1598, then Khwarezm (Khiva) along the Amu Darya (Oxus) River until 1687; meanwhile a pro-Safavid insurrection led by Shah Kulu Baba captures most of E and SE Anatolia and causes Ottoman troops to switch sides, until a force commanded by the grand vizier defeats them and kills him. The Medicis reach Rome, and get Pope Julius II (who is also from a powerful and wealthy family) to support the raising of an army to recapture pesky republican Florence. John Zapolya is made gov. of Transylvania to get him away from the Hungarian king's daughter Anna, whom he is trying to marry. Sweden declares war on the Teutonic Order (ends 1511), and invades and conquers Ingermanland, while a Teutonic army sneaks through and captures Kexholm in Karelia, giving the pesky duchy of Courland ideas. Syphilis reaches the Shetland Islands. Hamburg becomes a free city of the Holy Roman Empire. Henry VII's ministers Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley are beheaded by Henry VIII for misadmin. of crown revenues. Tripoli in N Africa is taken by the Spanish under Don Pedro Navarro, Count of Oliveto; in 1523 it is assigned to the Knights of St. John. The E coast of America is explored by the Spanish as far as Charleston, S.C. Spanish slave owner Bartolome de las Casas (1484-1566) of Hispaniola becomes the first Roman Catholic priest (Dominican) to be ordained in the New World; in Sept. a group of Dominican friars led by Pedro de Cordoba arrives in Santo Domingo and get pissed-off by Indian slavery, denying slave owners the right to confession, incl. las Casas; next Dec. Antonio de Montesinos preaches against Indian slavery, calling it genocide, pissing-off the slave owners led by Diego Columbus, who get the king to recall the Dominicans from Hispaniola. Roman Catholic monk Martin Luther is sent to Rome as a delegate of his order (until 1511). Johann Eck (1486-1543) becomes a prof. of theology at the U. of Ingolstadt (until 1540), and a friend of Martin Luther until the latter's break with the Roman Catholic Church, receiving a copy of the 95 Theses in 1517 and going on the attack - you have to break a few Ecks to make an omelet? Bolognese line engraver (known for pirating Albrecht Durer's work) Marcantonio Raimondi (1475-1534) moves to Rome, working as Raphael's asst. to engrave his paintings from preliminary paintings which Raphael often finished differently; when Raphael dies in 1520, he goes on to engrave the works of his followers incl. Giulio Romano. After inheriting the wealth of his father Sir Henry Colet (lord mayor of London), St. Paul's dean (since 1505) John Colet (1467-1519) refounds St. Paul's School in London (1510-12) with an annual income, and dedicates it to the Child Jesus to give young boys a Christian education, with the Co. of Mercers appointed as trustees, becoming the first non-clerical education mgrs.; he starts out with 153 boys to go with John 21:11; after Erasmus turns it down, grammarian William Lilye (1468-1522) (first teacher of Greek in London) becomes its first headmaster. Abbot Philotheos (Philotheus) (Filofei) of Pskov (1465-1542) utters his Third Rome Prophecy: "The Church of Old Rome fell for its heresy; the gates of the second Rome, Constantinople were hewn down by the axes of the infidel Turks; but the Church of Moscow, the Church of the New Rome shines brighter than the Sun in the whole Universe... Two Romes are fallen, but the third stands fast; a fourth there cannot be"; he also pub. the Legend of the White Cowl, about a white cowl given by Emperor Constantine to Pope Sylvester I, which was eventually sent to Constantinople Patriarch Philotheos, who sent it to archbishop of Novgorod, causing the Russian Orthodox patriarch and metropolitans to wear white cowls; in 1564 a church council confirms their right to wear white cowls and use red wax seals on correspondence. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) succeeds Sandro Botticelli as grandmaster of the Priory of Sion (until 1519) :), and finishes compiling his Notebooks. Inventions: Leonardo da Vinci designs the Horizontal Water Wheel, basis of the water turbine. In this decade the Sunflower is introduced from the Americas to Europe by the Spanish; at first it is only used for ornament. Nonfiction: Anon., Probierbergbüchlein (assaying); Bergbüchlein (mining); the first European handbooks on metallurgy. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), Declamation On the Nobility and Excellence of the Feminine Sex; uses occult cabalistic ideas to try to prove the superiority of women, esp. his patron Margaret of Austria; "So let me begin my subject at the beginning. Woman was created as much superior to man as the name she has received is superior to his. For Adam means earth, but Eve is translated as life. And as far as life is to be ranked above earth, so far is woman to be ranked above man"; De Occulta Philosophia. Thomas More (1478-1535) (tr.), The Lyfe of Johan Picus Erle of Mirandula. Art: Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Charles the Great; Emperor Sigismund. Giorgione (1477-1510), Sleeping Venus; starts a trend of featuring the female figure as the principal subject of the picture - like the way they put Ahnuld out of the action movie biz? Sebastiano del Piombo, Salome. Raphael (1483-1520), Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament; incl. paintings of several theologians; The School of Athens; shows Plato with Leonardo da Vinci's face in a red robe waving a copy of "Timaeus", alongside Aristotle in a blue robe carrying his "Ethics"; portrays Greek artist (Alexander the Great's personal painter) Apelles (2nd from the left) with his own face; Heraclitus is shown with Michelangelo's face wearing a dark pink robe resting his head on his arm while writing; Socrates, Pythagoras, Diogenes, Epicurus, Euclid, Zoroaster, and Ptolemy are also depicted - where is the Dan Brown book on it? Il Sodoma (1477-1549), The Flagellation of Christ; Ecce Homo; Descent from the Cross; The Road to Cavalry. Titian (1488-1576), The Gypsy Madonna; Sacred and Profane Love (1510-12) (Villa Borghese, Rome) (clothed and nude figure in a sunny landscape). Music: Henry VIII (1491-1547), If Love Now Reigned. Plays: Anon., Everyman; morality play based on the 1495 Dutch morality play Elckerlijk by Peter Dorland van Diest. Novels: Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo, Las Sergas de Esplandian; first use of the name "California". Births: Italian duke of Florence (1532-7) Alessandro de' Medici "Il Moro" (The Moor) (d. 1537) on June 22 in Florence; illegitimate son of Giulio de' Medici (Pope Clement VII) and North African maid Simonetta da Collavecchio. Russian grand princess consort (1526-38) Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (d. 1538); niece of Mikhail Glinsky; wife (1526-) of Vasili III; mother of Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-84) and Prince Yuri (1532-63). English royal physician (to Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I) John Caius (Kays) (d. 1573) (pr. like keys) on Oct. 6 in Norwich, Norfolk; educated at Gonville Hall, Cambridge U.; founder of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge U. (1557). Dutch Flemish Northern Renaissance Mannerist painter Henri Met de Bles (Herry de Patenir) (d. 1550) in Bouvignes (Dinant?); AKA Il Civetta (It. "the Owl") from his signature. Spanish explorer, gangbanger and Mexico City councilman Francisco Vasquez de Coronado y Lujan (Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján) (d. 1554) in Salamanca, Castile. Finnish Lutheran theologian-bishop ("Man of the Dawn") ("Father of Written Finnish") Michael Agricola (d. 1557) in Torsby. English (Welsh) mathematician Robert Recorde (d. 1558) in Tenby, Wales. Spanish conquistador Lope "El Loco" (the Madman) de Aguirre (d. 1561) in Onate (Oñate); of Basque (car door ears) descent. French Old 100th Calvinist musician Loys "Louis" Bourgeois (d. 1561). English printer-engraver (Flemish refugee) Thomas Geminus (Lambrit) (d. 1562) in Lille. Italian composer-keyboardist Antonio de Cabezon (d. 1566). Portuguese financier (Jewish) Dona Gracia (Hannah) Mendes Nasi (Beatrice de Luna Miques) (d. 1569) in Lisbon; aunt of Don Joseph Nasi (1524-79); one of the wealthiest Jewish women of Renaissance Europe. English botanist William Turner (d. 1568). Flemish painter Frans Verbeeck the Elder (d. 1570) in Mechelen; one of 15 Frans Verbeecks from Mechelen. French portrait painter Francois Clouet (d. 1572); son of Jean Clouet (1480-1541); last of the French primitifs; likes solid pale delicate colors and doesn't use chiaroscuro. English soldier William Howard, 1st Baron of Effingham (d. 1573); father of Charles Howard, 2nd baron of Effingham and 1st earl of Nottingham (1536-1624); brother of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey (1517-47). Italian astronomer Aloysius Lilius (Luigi Lilio or Giglio) (d. 1576) in Ciro, Naples. Spanish Mannerist painter Luis de Morales (d. 1586) in Badajoz, Estremadura. Spanish viceroy #3 of New Spain (1566-8) Gaston Carrillo de Pealta y Bosquete, 3rd Marquis of Falces (d. 1587) in Pau, Navarre. English surveyor-gen. of Ireland (1559-89) Sir Valentine Browne (d. 1589). French Huguenot faience potter and writer Bernard (de) Palissy (d. 1589) near Agen. French barber surgeon Ambroise Pare (Paré) (d. 1590) in Bourg-Hersent (near Laval). Deaths: Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (b. 1445) on May 17. German preacher and theologian Johann Geiler von Kaiserberg (b. 1445). Italian nun St. Catherine of Genoa (b. 1447). Portuguese soldier Dom Francisco de Almeida (b. 1450) in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope; KIA in a battle with Khoikhoi Hotentots. Spanish navigator-cartographer Juan de la Cosa (b. 1450) on Feb. 28 in Turbaco, Colombia (KIA). Chinese minister Liu Jin (b. 1451) on Aug. 25 in Beijing; executed via death by a thousand cuts; 450K kg of gold and 9.7M kg of silver are found in his residence, making him one of the top 50 wealthiest persons of the past millennium. Uzbek ruler Muhamma Shaybani Khan (b. 1451) in Merv. Italian queen of Cyprus (1474-89) Caterina Cornaro (b. 1454) on July 10 in Venice. English soldier Edmund Dudley (b. 1462). Saxon duke Frederick von Wettin (b. 1474) on Dec. 14 in Rochliz; dies heirless because Teutonic grandmasters can have sex and sex and sex and sex, but not get married and shattered. Polish cardinal Frederick Casimir (b. ?) in Cracow; his Renaissance-style grave slab is designed by Peter Vischer the Elder.
1511 In Jan. after Pope Julius II forms the Holy League with HRE Maximilian I and Venice to drive the French out of Italy, with duke Francesco Maria I della Rovere (1490-1538) of Urbino as CIC of papal troops, and Sicilian viceroy (1507-9) and viceroy of Naples (since 1509) Ramon de Cardona (1467-1522) (who introduced the Inquisition in Naples, causing a popular revolt that gets the decree canceled by the Spanish king) as CIC of the League of Cambrai army; they capture Modena and Mirandola from the French, who strike back and take Bologna on May 13 after the arrival of new cmdr. Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours (1489-1512), causing the pope in Oct. to enlist Henry VIII of England and Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain in the Holy League, while James IV of Scotland renews his Auld Alliance with France and seeks to build up a rival league of France, Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark; too bad, on Jan. 20 after failing to take Bologna, Rovere has diplomat-cardinal Oliviero Carafa (b. 1430) (relative of Giovanni Pietro Carafa, who becomes Pope Paul IV) killed, causing him to be compared to mean Cesare Borgia. What's that noise? In Mar. insane tyrant Diego de Nicuesa is voted out of power in Antigua and deported on a dilapidated ship that wrecks en route to Espanola, killing all aboard; meanwhile after sending Enciso back to Spain, Balboa has fun enslaving and looting the local pop. the Catholic Spanish way, incl. setting wild dogs on same-sex married females (lesbians), gays, and other Indians he thinks are too un-Christian to fool with; after cents. of suppression of same-sex marriage and homosexuality, followed by a coverup for the winning side, in 2004 U.S. Pres. George W. Bush utters the immortal soundbyte: "The union of a man and woman is the most eduring human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith." On Apr. 9 St. John's College at Cambridge U. is chartered; Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) of Rotterdam, having "done" Oxford begins lecturing at Cambridge (until 1514), home of Thomas More, staying at Queen's College. On May 11 the Duchy of Courland declares war on the Teutonic Order (ends 1515), and gains the support of Poland-Lithuania, while the order gains the support of the Hanseatic League and distant England, which can't do much to help; after the 11K-man Courland army invades Memel, the Polish army under Michael Glinski invades Livonia and takes Dorpat, then conquers E Pomerania, while the Hansa army captures W Prussia; too bad, Sweden declares peace with the order in return for cash, and pumps up its army and invades Courland, causing Courland to make peace with the Hansa after agreeing to pay them 63 ducats, and Poland to make peace with the Order for 108 ducats, leaving Courland to fight on alone. On July 25 after Portuguese navigator Antonio de Abreu (1480-1514) leads a Chinese junk up the Malacca River at high tide, allowing them to land, the Portuguese under Gen. Afonso de Albuquerque conquer Malacca (Melaka)near the Strait of Malacca in the S Malay Peninsula, enter of the spice trade (until 1641); not seeking to colonize but only trade, they send envoys to open trade relations with neighboring states while building fortified trading posts; meanwhile the southernmost Malaysian state of Johore, home of 4,180 ft. Mt. Ophir (Gunung Ledang) is founded as a Muslim state, with capital at Johore Bahru (Baru) (Baharu) ("new") on the S coast, 15 mi. N of Singapore. On Aug. 2 Scottish high adm. and privateer (carrying a letter of marque from the Scottish crown) Sir Andrew Barton (b. 1466) is mortally wounded in a sea battle with English adm. Sir Edward Howard (1746-1513), beating a drum to encourage his sailors before bleeding to death, pissing-off his friend James IV, who claims an English violation of the 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace; the English counter with "who do ya think you're kidding, he's just a pirate"; Barton passes into an English folk song: "I am not hurt but I am not slain./ I'll lay me down and bleed awhile,/ Then I'll rise and fight again." Tits of the morning to ya, captain? On Aug. 14 the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (begun in 1508), painted by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) is officially unveiled, with Pope Julius celebrating Mass, although he takes until next All Saint's Day (Halloween) (Nov. 1) to put in the finishing touches (the lunettes) and invite the public to view it; his many Ignudi (nude youths with flaccid weenies at the corners of the main pictures, and nude women with big tits and shaved bushes) stir accusations of paganism, which Michelangelo answers by calling them symbols of truth and purity, and which the Church officials solve by painting over the lewd parts: he gets away with eight rams heads representing the female reproductive system at the bottom of giant Vs representing male organs; Eve holds her arms out in a V-shape representing you know what; "My eyes which are in love with beauty and my soul which is in love with salvation can only ascend to heaven by the contemplation of all the beauty surrounding me"; the Church is still debating whether women have souls; as a Neoplatonist he believes that the soul can attain grace and remember God only by breaking the chains binding it to Earth, i.e., by asceticism, and that beauty equates with goodness? On Aug. 15 after Christopher Columbus' son Diego sends an expedition commanded by Spanish conquistador Diego Velazquez de Cuellar (Velázquez de Cuéllar) (1465-1524) to conquer Cuba, he founds the city of Baracoa on the E tip (modern-day pop. 82K), becoming the oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba and its first capital, giving it the nickname "Ciudad Primada" (First City). In Nov. the English leave Navarre in S France after promised Spanish forces don't arrive; Henry VIII gets tired of faking it and begins to reform the English royal navy, building double-deck 1K-ton 70-gun ships - it's not the size of the package it's the motion of the ocean is a total lie? After Diego Columbus goes to Madrid to stake his claims, Juan Ponce de Leon is removed as Spanish gov. of Puerto Rico, causing him to begin exploring new areas to the N of Cuba to stake his own claims. Scottish sea capt. (a privateer known for preying on English and Continental shipping with his brothers John and Robert) Albert (Albrecht) I of Hohenzollern (1490-1568), maternal nephew of Polish king Sigismund I and member of the Hohenzollern family is elected grandmaster #37 of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia (until 1525), hoping to peacifully settle the long dispute over East Prussia, which has been held by the Order under Polish suzerainty since the 1466 Second Peace of Torun; meanwhile he refuses to submit to the Polish crown and negotiates with HRE Maximilian I to go to war if necesary - gotta pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and you know it don't come easy? On Oct. 11 Giovanni de' Medici (later Pope Leo X) is appointed papal legate of Bologna and the Romagna, working to end the Pisan Schism, which is backed by the Florentine Repub. (ends 1517). The first Spanish audiencia (royal tribunal and govt.) in America is founded in Santo Domingo (Española). The city of Parma is ceded to the Holy See. The longtime feud between the Colonna and Orisini families in Rome is ended by a papal bull; in 1571 the heads of both families marry the nieces of Pope Sixtus V and kiss and make up. Thomas Wolsey begins his rise to power with appointment as privy councilor in charge of foreign and domestic affairs in England. Deominian friar Antonio de Montesinos (1480-1545) gives a sermon decrying the mistreatment of the Am. aborigines. Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) becomes prof. of Greek at Cambridge, going on to trans. the New Testament and shake up the Bible-ignorant Roman Catholic world. The Cosentian Academy (Accademia Cosentina) (originally Accademia Parassiana) in Cosenza, Italy is founded by Aulo Giano Parassio (1470-1522), known for his large library; after his death Bernardino Telesio (1509-88) reorganizes and renames it Accademia Telesiana. Architecture: Leonaro da Vinci begins studies for the Trivulzio Monument for Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (1440-1518) of Milan. Margaret of Austria is begun of the late Gothic-style Church of Brou in Bourg-en-Bresse, on the Reysouze River 38 mi. NE of Lyons in memory of her hubby Philip IV the Fair of Savoy (finished 1536), later becoming the subject of a famous poem by Matthew Arnold, beginning "Down the Savoy valleys sounding,/ Echoing round this castle old,/ 'Mid the distant mountain chalets/ Hark! what bell for church is toll'd?" Architecture: The dome of newly-completed (1506) Seville Cathedral in Spain collapses; ditto in 1888. The Villa Farnesina (begun 1508) is finished. Inventions: The 4-mast 300-gun Great Michael is built at Newhaven dockyard in Scotland, becoming one of the largest wooden-walled ships ever built, using so much wood that it depletes the oak forests of Fife and causes Norwegian wood to have to be imported, skyrocketing the total cost to £30K after outfitting - shouldn't that be Great John Lennon? Science: Italian-born Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526) is appointed by HRE Charles V as the chronicler for the Council of the Indies, going on to pub. eight "Decades", descriptions of all the exciting voyages and discoveries in the New World, and become the first writer to realize the significance of the Gulf Stream, which is first discovered in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon's expedition. Nonfiction: Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526), Opera, Legatio, Babylonica, Oceanidecas, Paemata, Epigrammata; first of his eight Decades (1511-25); first account of the Spanish New World discoveries, incl. the first mention of "La Bermuda" among Atlantic islands. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), In Praise of Folly (The Praise of Folly) (Stultitiae Laus) (Morias Enkomion); written in 1509; inspired by Faustino Ferisauli's "De Triumpho"; big hit mocking superstition, helping launch the Protestant Reformation, which he never joins; makes a fan of Pope Leo X; dedicated to his friend Thomas More, on whose estate in Bucklersbury he composed it in one week; full of double and triple entendres, incl. the Dutch title, launching the field of Adoxography, "fine writing on a trivial or base subject"; the 1515 Basel ed. is illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526), Opera, Legatio, Babylonica, Oceanidecas, Paemata, Epigrammata; first historical account of the Spanish New World discoveries. Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), Augenspiegel (Mirror of the Eye); argues against the destruction of Hebrew books unless they contain anti-Christian polemic - I'm a believer, I'd never leave her if I tried? Arnolt Schlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten. Martin Waldseemuller, Map of Alsace, Lorraine, and the Rhine Valley; accurate. Art: Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1526), Life of St. Stephen (1511-20). Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Adoration of the Trinity. Il Giorgione (1477-1510), Pastoral Symphony; attributed to Titian because of the similarity of styles. Matthias Grunewald (1465-1528), Art for the Isenheim Altar (1511-15). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Self-Portrait. Raphael (1483-1520), Private Papal Library (first of three rooms in the papal apts.); on each of its four upper walls is a female muse (Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Justice); two frescoes adorn the lower wall; he also paints The Triumph of Galatea. Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), Frescoes in the Chiostro dello Scalzo, Florence (1511-26); grisaille (monochrome) frescoes, incl. The Baptism of Christ Titian (1488-1576), Life of St. Anthony (frescoes in the Scuola di San Antonio, Padua). Plays: Gil Vicente (1470-1536), Auto de los Cuatro Tiempos. Births: Scottish king (1513-42) James V (d. 1542) on Apr. 10 in Linlithgow, West Lothian; son of James IV (1473-1513) and Margaret Tudor (1489-1541) (daughter of Henry VII of England). Italian painter-architect-biographer and art historian Giorgio Vasari (d. 1574) on July 30 in Arezzo, Tuscany; coins the term "Renaissance" (Rinascita) in 1550; works for the Medicis restoring the broken hand of Michelangelo's statue of David and filling Florence with frescoes? Spanish (Catalan) scholar-scientist-physician-philosopher (Unitarian) ("Father of Comparative Geography and Ethnography") Michael (Miguel) Servetus (Serveto) (Servet) (d. 1553) on Sept. 29 in Villanueva de Sijena, Huesca, Aragon; mother's line is converted Jews; pioneer in the theory of the pulmonary circulation; at age 16 goes to the U. of Toulouse to study law, where he reads a Bible for the first time, shaking his faith in Roman Catholicism? German astronomer Erasmus Reinhold (d. 1553) on Oct. 22 in Saalfeld, Thuringia; educated at the U. of Wittenberg. Dutch Renaissance Latin poet Johannes (Janus) Secundus (Jan Everaerts) (d. 1536) on Nov. 15 in The Hague; son of Nicolaes Everaerts (friend of Erasmus). Burmese Hanthawaddy king #18 (1526-39) Thushin Takayutpi (d. 1539) in Pegu; eldest son of Binnya Rhan II (1469-1526). Portuguese physician-botanist (Jewish) Amatus Lusitanus (Amato Lusitano) (Joao Rodrigues de Castelo-Branco) (Haviv) (d. 1568) in Castelo-Branco; educated at the U. of Salamanca; discoverer of the circulation of the blood? Italian architect Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi (d. 1573) in Siena; son of Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536). Deaths: Italian diplomat-cardinal Oliviero Carafa (b. 1430) on Jan. 20 (executed). Flemish composer Johannes Tinctoris (b. 1436). Turkish adm. Kemal Reis (b. 1451) in the Mediterrean Sea (storm). Spanish conquistador Diego de Nicuesa (b. 1464) near Hispanola (shipwreck). English poet Stephen Hawes (b. 1475). Venetian painter Il Giorgione (b. 1477) in Venice (plague).
1512 On Jan. 2 Swedish regent (since 1504) Svante Nillson (b. 1460) dies, and on Jan. 15 Eric Trolle (Erik Arvidsson) (1460-1530) is elected regent of Sweden, then desposed on July in favor of Sten Sture the Younger. On Feb. 6 John Colet (d. 1519), dean of St. Paul's in London since 1505 gives a Convocation Sermon to the clergy of Canterbury in London Cathedral, in which he calls himself "a man sorrowing for the ruin of the Church", and says that he came "to admonish you with all your minds to deliberate... concerning the reformation of the Church", saying that the four great evils it has fallen into are devilish pride, carnal concupiscence, worldly covetousness, and worldly occupations, which later causes him to be labeled a pseudo-Protestant although he stays loyal to the Roman Catholic Church and dies before the Reformation reaches England (and the Protestants later fall into the same evils themselves?); next year on Good Friday he gives another sermon before the royal court arguing against England's war with France on the grounds that all war is wrong and Christians should fight only for Christ. On Feb. 18 after 23K French forces in Italy (incl. 8.5K landsknechts and Gascon infantry) under new cmdr. (since 1511) Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours (1489-1512) begin capturing cities in the Romagna and Veneto to deny them to the Holy League, and Brescia revolts against the French and is garrisoned with Venetian troops, the Sack of Brescia sees the French attack in a rainstorm through a field of mud after removing their shoes, taking the city after the defenders suffer 8K-15K casualties, going on to sack the city and massacre thousands of civilians over the next five days, after which Bergamo plays a 60K ducat ransom to avoid the same fate; Gaston de Foix gains the nickname "the Thunderbolt of Italy", marching in late Mar. E from Bologna toward Ravenna accompanied by an Italian army under Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, causing Pope Julius II to sent a Spanish army under Ramon de Cardona, which passes Foril on Apr. 9, marches N along the Ronco River, and reaches Molinaccio on Apr. 10, find themselves only 1 mi. S of the French, separated by the river; on Apr. 11 (Easter) French forces aided by excommunicated (since 1510) duke Alfonso I d'Este of Ferrara defeat the 16K papal forces of the Holy League at the Battle of Ravenna (garrisoned by 5K men), with the Spanish army losing 9K KIA and the French army losing 4.5K KIA and 4.5K wounded despite the brilliant defenses of Spanish military engineer Pedro Navarro, Count of Oliveto (1460-1528) (obstacles and entrenchments, plu artillery mounted on light carts), with Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard (1473-1524) ("le chavlier sans peur et sans reproche") declared hero of the battle; Gaston de Foix is KIA, and Spanish cmdr. Pedro Navarro is captured; the Italian Wars begin to go bad for the French; the Swiss force the French to evacuate Milan in May; French rule ends in Genoa, and the Genoese regain control of Corsica, introducing their lovely practice of the vendetta (blood feud); Niccolo Machiavelli reorganizes the defense of the Repub. of Florence as the Medicis lead a large army towards it, and the Medicis win after a bloodbath, and Soderini is overthrown, along with the First Florentine Repub. (founded 1501); Machiavelli tries to transfer his services (Machiavellian-style?) to the victors, but is tortured on the rack and expelled (Machiavellian-style?), taking up new residence in a villa in Sant'Andrea in Percussina (near San Casciano in Val di Pesa) 12 mi. from Florence, where he takes up the writing of books (Machiavellian-style?); the Grisons (Graubunden) of E Switzerland seize the Valtellina in N Italy (E of Lake Como), causing Roman Catholic-Protestant strife there for the next cent.; the Swiss receive Locarno, Lugano, and Ossola (all later combined into Ticino) as their reward for helping against the French. On Apr. 25 sultan (since 1481) Bayezid II (b. 1447) is forced to abdicate by his Janissaries backed by his tall strong scheming son Selim I (Arab. "peace") (the Grim) (Yavuz) (1470-1520), who on May 26 becomes Ottoman sultan #9 (until Sept. 22, 1520) after quashing a rebellion of his brothers and nephews in Anatalia and having them strangled and shipped to Rancho de Cielo in Nov.; on May 26 Bayezid II dies en route to his hometown of double-walled Dimetoka; Selim I writes poetry under the alias Mahlas Selimi, while his arch-rival Ismail I writes it under the alias Khata'i. On May 3 the Fifth Council of the Lateran convenes in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (until Mar. 16, 1517), attended by 15 cardinals, 10 archbishops, 56 bishops, and the Latin patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, becoming the last before the Protestant Reformation, publishing decrees requiring local bishops to give permission before the printing of new books, rejecting the 1511 Conciliabulum of Pisa, and promoting a holy war against the infidel Turks to reclaim the Holy Land; the immortality of the soul becomes Church dogma (what about Ecclesiastes Ch. 9?); Martin Luther pub. his "95 Theses" 7 mo. after the council closes. In May Bogdan III, aided by Polish troops kicks the Tar, er, Tartars out of Moldavia, which becomes a vassal of the Turkish Empire on the same conditions as Wallachia, allowed to remain Eastern Orthodox but accepting a voivode selected by the Turks, who will not be allowed to build mosques, own land, settle, or be buried there; in 1514 Bogdan III sends his chancellor Tautu to negotiate with sultan Selim I, who demands 4K gold coins for jizya (tribute) a year, along with a 1-time gift of 40 horses and 40 falcons and other expenses, plus personal assistance leading a 4K-man army in time of war. In summer after receiving support from a papal bull, Castillian regent Ferdinand II of Aragon sends Don Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo y Enriquez, 2nd Duke of Alba (1460-1531) to complete the conquest of Iberian Navarre, who does it in two weeks. In July James IV and Louis XII renew the 1295 Auld Alliance; all citizens of France become Scottish citizens and vice-versa, keeping Scotland as the Cuba of Europe? On Aug. 10 after invading France, the 25-ship English navy under Sir Edward Howard defeats the 22-ship French and Breton fleet under Rene de Clermont at the naval Battle of Saint-Matthieu, with both sides using ships firing cannon through ports for the first time, and both losing their principal ships Regent and Marie la Cordeliere. On Oct. 21 Martin Luther is granted a doctorate in theology, and on Oct. 21 he joins the theological faculty of the U. of Wittenberg. On Nov. 1 Michelangelo's newly-finished Sistine Chapel ceiling is first exhibited to the public. On Dec. 27 the Spanish Laws of Burgos are passed, forbidding enslavement of Native Ams. and advocating Christian (Roman Catholic) conversion; conveniently, prior enslavement has killed most of them, and the Spanish colonists in Hispaniola begin to import African slaves from Guinea, who last longer under slavery conditions than aborigines, and allegedly can do 4x as much work - as Jimmy the Greek says? The Danish-Swedish War (begun 1501) ends - who won, Beowulf or Brigitte Nielsen? The Fourth Russian-Lithuanian War (ends 1522) begins after Russia invades Lithuania again and unsuccessfully sieges Smolensk, after which the Lithuanians under grand hetman (since 1497) Konstanty Iowanowicz Ostrogski (1460-1530) ravage Severia, and defeat the Crimean Tartars on Apr. 28 in the Battle of Wisniowiec, causing them to ally with Lithuania and begin devastating Russian territories. Ferdinand V of Spain annexes the kingdom of Navarre. The Diet of Cologne (Koln) futher reorganizes the fractured half-medieval German empire by renaming it to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, establishing 10 circles of states (Landfriedenskreise): Austria, Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Upper Rhine, Lower Rhine, Burgundy (until 1556), Westphalia, Lower Saxony, and Upper Saxony, consisting of 240 states (excluding the imperial knights), with Bohemia and the neighboring states of Moravia, Silesia, and, Lusatia not incl.; the Aulic Council is founded as a court under the control of the emperor rather than the imperial chamber, to which the latter's business is gradually diverted. Shia becomes the state religion of Safavid Persia. Golconda gains independence from India. After setting sail from Malacca last Nov. with three ships led by the Santa Catarina, along with 120 Portuguese and 60 slaves guided by Malay pilots, Portuguese navigator Antonio de Abreu (1480-1514) sails through Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Ambon Island, discovering Timor (Malay "timur" = east) at the E end of the Lesser Sunda Islands (modern-day pop. 3.1M), and the 10 volcanic Banda Islands 2K km E of Java (modern-day pop. 18.5K), world's only source of nutmeg and mace. Juan Ponce de Leon discovers the Turks and Caicos Islands, going on to capture and enslave the Taino and Lucyan natives for work in Hispaniola, depopulating them by 1513 and not recovering until the 17th cent. Portuguese explorer Pedro Mascarenhas (1470-1555) discovers Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and reaches Mauritius in the Mascarene Islands. Portuguese explorer Francisco Serrao (-1521) (cousin of Ferdinand Magellan) becomes the first Euro to sail E from Malacca through Indonesia and the East Indies and becoming a personal advisor to Sultan Bayan Sirrullah of Ternate. Ascanian prince Wolfgang of Anhalt-Kothen (Anhalt-Köthen) (1492-1566) grants brewing rights to the citizens of Ballenstedt in Saxony-Anhalt. A mutiny by Turcoman Qizilbash causes an entire Qizilbash army to be annihilated by the Uzbeks, ending Persian Safavid expansion in Transoxiana and leaving the NE Persian border open to nomad incursions. Albrecht Durer becomes court painter to HRE Maximilian I (until 1519). Paracelsus moves to Ferrara. Titan returns from a visit to Padua and gives up the Il Giorgione style, developing his own - welcome to the future? Augsburg issues a ban on quack doctors. The term "masque" is first used to denote a poetic drama. HRE Maximilian I's indebtedness to Jakob Fugger causes public resistance to trading monopolies in Germany to tank. The Portuguese discover nutmeg on Banda Island in the Moluccas. The word "masque" is first used to denote a poetic drama. Wolverhampton Grammar School in England is founded by Sir Stephen Jenyns (1450-1523). Inventions: A Dutch trader invents brandy (brandewijn) - I'm a dry and thirsty man? Nonfiction: Aleandro Aleander (1480-1542), Lexicon Graeco-Latinum. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), The Commentariolus; states that the Earth and the planets turn around the Naughty Naughty Sun. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style (De Ultraque Verborum ac Rerum Copa) (Paris); compiled while teaching at Cambridge U.; a bestselling textbook on rhetoric, dissing the "false copia" of blind followers of Cicero and promoting variety of expression and subject matter; "[Variety] is so powerful in every sphere that there is absolutely nothing, however brilliant, which is not dimmed if not commended by variety"; goes through 85 ed. in his lifetime, growing from 153 to 206 chapters. Thome Pires, An Account of the East from the Red Sea to Japan, Written in Malacca and India in 1512-15. Music: Erhart Deglin (of Augsburg), Liderbuch zu Vier Stimmen. Josquin des Pres (1450-1521), Second Book of Masses (Missa de Beata Virgine). Art: Hans Baldung Grien (1484-1545), The Trinity and Mystic Pieta - starring Julia Roberts? Michelangelo (1475-1564) finishes painting the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (begun in 1508), with the theme of "ante legem" (before Moses receives the Ten Commandments) to fit in with the lateral wall themes of "sub lege" (under the Law of Moses) and "sub gratia" (during the life of Christ), adding the ancestors of Jesus starting with Abraham, plus the soothsayers; the 300 Biblical figures are in chronological order, beginning with God Dividing the Light from the Darkness above the altar, Creation of the Sun, Moon and the Planets, God Dividing the Waters, The Creation of Adam (1510), The Creation of Eve, The Fall of Adam and Eve, The Sacrifice of Noah, The Deluge, and ending with The Drunkeness of Noah at the far end of the Chapel; Neoplatonists note that in reverse order they show the progression from the soul enslaved by earthly passions to a final state of grace - in a world sans women? Il Perugino (1445-1523), Altarpiece of the Church of Sant' Agostino in Perugia (1512-7). Raphael (1483-1520), Portrait of Pope Julius II; The Meeting between Leo I the Great and Attila the Hun (1512-4). Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), The Annunciation. Titian (1477-1576), Three Ages; Noli Me Tangere; Salome with the Head of John the Baptist; Self-Portrait; thought to be of Ariosto until modern times. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Self-Portrait as an Old Man. Poetry: Thomas Murner (1475-1537, Die Narrenbeschworung (satire). Births: German duchess Sybille of Cleves (d. 1554) on Jan. 17 in Dusseldorf; eldest daughter of Duke John III of Cleves (Cleve) (Kleve) (1490-1538) (leader of German Protestantism) and Duchess Maria of Julich-Berg (1491-1543); sister of Anne of Cleves (1515-57); wife (1526-) of elector John Frederick I the Magnanimous of Saxony (1503-54); mother of John Frederick II (1529-95), Johann Wilhelm (1530-73), Johann Ernst (1535), and Johann Frederick III (1538-65). Portuguese Avis king #17 (last) (1578-80) cardinal Henry (Henrique) I (d. 1580) on Jan. 31 in Lisbon; son of Manuel I (1469-1521) and Maria of Aragon (1482-1517); younger brother of John III the Pious (1502-57); great-uncle of Sebastian I (1554-78). Flemish cartographer-globemaker Gerhardus (Gerardus) Mercator (Gheert Cremer) (d. 1594) (Lat. "merchant") on Mar. 5 in Rupelmonde, East Flanders; student of Macropedius; educated at the U. of Leuven. Italian travel writer Ortensio Landi (d. 1553). English queen (1543-7) (6th and last wife of Henry VIII) Catherine (Katherine) Parr (Parre) (d. 1548); daughter of Sir Thomas Parr. Italian architect Galeazzo Alessi (d. 1572) in Perugia. Italian Venetian humanist printer Paulus Manutius (Paolo Mannucci or Manuzio) (d. 1574); 3rd son son of Aldus Manutius (1449-1515). Spanish historian Jeronimo (Geronimo) de Zurita y Castro (d. 1580) in Zaragoza; student of Hernan Nufiez. Italian architect-artist Pirro Ligorio (d. 1583) in Naples. Italian Venetian Rialto Bridge architect Antonio da Ponte (d. 1595). Italian painter Prospero Fontana (d. 1597). Scottish reformer churchman John Craig (Gael. "rock") (d. 1600) Deaths: French sculptor Michel Colombe (b. 1430) in Tours. Ottoman sultan #8 (1481-1512) Bayezid II (b. 1447) on May 26. Italian "America is named after me" explorer Amerigo Vespucci (b. 1454) on Feb. 22 in Seville, Castille, Spain. Italian anatomist Alexander Achillini (b. 1463). French gen. Gaston de Foix, duke of Nemours (b. 1489) on Apr. 11 in Ravenna, Italy (KIA).
1513 On Jan. 20 Vasco Nunez de Balboa writes a letter to the Spanish king containing the first known reference to El Dorado, a one-stop-shopping center for gold smelting, mentioning the Panamanian cacique Dabaibe (Dabeiba), whose people like to live in trees. On Feb. 20 King Hans (b. 1455) dies after falling from a horse in Skjern Creen, and on July 22 his harsh-ruling common-people-loving son Christian II (1481-1559) becomes king of Denmark and Norway (until 1523); the Swedes refuse to accept him until 1520; until 1972 only men named Christian or Frederick rule Denmark. You're very well-read, it's well known, but but but but a sword swallower comes up to you and he kneels, he crosses himself and clicks his high heels, hands you his throat and says thank you for the loan? On Feb. 21 Pope (since 1503) "Il Pontiface Terribilis" Julius II (b. 1443) dies, and on Mar. 11 Giovanni de' Medici is elected Pope (#217) Leo X (1475-1521), the "elegant pagan Pope" (Thomas Carlyle); the merchant-moneylender Medici family reaches new heights of power; Leo is only 38-y.-o., short, fat, with an effeminate countenance and weak eyes, and sweats a lot, and is a promiscuous homosexual who suffers from ulcerations of the anus so severe he has to be carried to the conclave on a stretcher; he sees the papacy as a big candy store, a way to live the life of Croesus and get women, er, men and boys, causing him to soon bankrupt the papal treasury and resort to selling indulgences on an unprecedented scale, turning the papacy into a virtual Mafia by stacking all the avenues of promotion with his relatives, for a price; the profligate pope bankrupts the treasury within a year of taking office; the Holy League begins to fall apart; cardinal-elector Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545) gives him 10K (30K?) ducats in return for the archbishopric of Mainz and the privilege of selling indulgences for eight years, half to go to repay him for the loan and the other half straight into the pope's pockets; Albert uses Dominican friar Johann Tetzel (Diezel) (1465-1519) to do the sales job, and the latter uses the sales pitch: "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs"; meanwhile duke Francesco Maria I della Rovere of Urbino, who was just created lord of Pesaro only to see his supporter Pope Julius II croak, loses it to Leo X's nephew Lorenzo II de' Medici. On Mar. 4 Puerto Rico gov. Juan Ponce de Leon (León) (1460-1521) sets out from Puerto Rico with 200 men, sighting Florida (Fla.) (Sp. "flowery") on Mar. 27 (Pascua Florida) (Easter Sunday), naming it, and planting orange and lemon trees there; the Fountain of Youth, allegedly to be found at a mysterious place called Bimini he looks for but doesn't find, and the Spanish end up launching six unsuccessful expeditions by 1563 to colonize Fla. In Mar. the Portuguese under Alfonso de Albuquerque unsuccessfuly try to capture Aden on the Red Sea coast from the Mamluks; he returns to India and defeats the kingdom of Calicut. On Apr. 30 leading Yorkist claimant and Tower of London inmate Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of of Suffolk (b. 1471) is executed. In May the French agree to equip the Scottish fleet, grant 50K francs, and provide seven war galleys commanded by #1 French adm. Gaston Pregent (Prégent) de Bidoux (1468-1528). HRE Maximilian I, Henry VIII, Ferdinand II of Aragon, and Pope Leo X sign the Treaty of Mechlin, agreeing to invade France, although England ends up footing most of the bill; Catherine of Aragon rules England as regent while her hubby Henry VIII goes to France; on June 30 after English ambassador Nicholas West (1461-1533) fails in efforts to keep Scotland neutral, then Cardinal Christopher Bainbridge, archbishop of York delivers a papal sentence of excommunication to James IV, the English land near Calais and take Therouanne (Thérouanne) and Tournai. On June 6 13K Swiss mercenaries coming to relieve the siege ambush and defeat 10K French, Venetians, and German Landsknecht mercenaries led by Louis II de La Tremoille (1460-1525) in one hour at the "no faira" Battle of Novara in N Italy 25 mi. W of Milan; the French take 5K-10K casualties vs. 1K for the Swiss, and the Swiss execute hundreds of German mercenaries, then pursue the French to Dijon, where the French pay them off to leave France; Louis XII gives up Milan and ends his Italian invasion; Lodovico's son Massimiliano is restored as ruler of Milan by the Swiss. In the summer the 13-ship Scottish fleet, led by the Great Michael and carrying 4K men under Earl James Hamilton of Arran sails N through the Pentland Firth and past the Hebrides, attacking the English stronghold of Carrickfergus in Ulster; too bad, Great Michael runs aground - more speed, Scotty? On Aug. 16 the English army (sans Henry VIII, who hasn't arrived yet) defeat the French at the Battle of the Spurs at Guinegate in N France. In Aug. James IV of Scotland (b. 1474) invades England with an army of 30K-40K (largest ever) (incl. 17 artillery pieces) to help his ally France, and on Aug. 28-29 captures Norham Castle, home of the hated Bishop of Durham, then moves S up the Till Valley in Northumberland, taking Etal Castle and Ford Castle (home of Bastard John Heron); meanwhile Henry VIII's diverts some forces from France under Earl Thomas of Surrey, and Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk, under the direction of English Queen Catherine of Aragon, and on Sept. 9 the Battle of Flodden (Branxton) Hill (Field) in N Northumberland on the edge of the Cheviot Hills sees stupid James IV leave his strategic position on Flodden Hill to attack the English on the marshy slopes of Branxton Hill, and use poor military tactics, getting his butt kicked and losing half his men, becoming the last medieval battle in Europe using knights and armor; "The flowers of the forest are withered away"; never again will Scotland defeat England in war?; James IV is KIA along with his son Alexander (b. 1493), Archbishop Alexander of St. Andrews, one bishop, two abbots, nine earls, and 14 lords of parliament; the clunky Scottish navy is sold to France; James IV's 17-mo.-old son James V (1511-42) succeeds him, with James IV's wife (Henry VII's sister) Mary Tudor as regent, which doesn't sit well with the Scottish people; does Catherine's military V stir up a wee bit of jealousy in her hubby Henry? Big year for surfers? On Sept. 25 (27?) after receiving reinforcements from Spain along with the title of capt.-gen. of Antigua, and hearing that his enemy Martin Fernandez de Enciso has been bringing charges of usurpation against him, making it necessary to do something big (turn some profit) to stay in power, then leaving on Sept. 1 with 190 Spaniards and 1K Indians to search for a great body of water described by an Indian friend, and fighting off pesky natives in dense jungles and swamps, Vasco Nunez (Núñez) de Balboa (1474-1519) climbs solo to a mountain peak and becomes the first Euro to see the Pacific (Peaceful) Ocean (Great South Sea); four days later he and his men reach the ocean and claim it and all shores washed by its waters as a possession of the Spanish (Castilian) crown, with Balboa wading into the sea in full armor to jazz it up, returning next Jan. with a treasure of loot incl. 40K pesos in gold, plus pearls and slaves; meanwhile on July 27 the king appoints 72-y.-o. Pedro Arias de Avila (Pedrarias) (1442-1531) as gov., and next year he sets out in 20 ships with 2K men and women, incl. Francisco de Coronado, Hernando de Soto, Diego de Almagro, and Pascual de Andagoya; meanwhile Balboa founds Castilla del Oro (Darien) on the base of the Isthmus of Panama on the South Am. mainland, with Spanish 1.5K colonists; the currency of Panama is later named after him (Costa Rica goes for Cristobal Colon, er, Christopher Columbus); the (rocky?) Balboa Monument is inagurated in Panama City on Sept. 29, 1924; Ferdinand Magellan names the Pacific Ocean in Nov. 1519; the Pacific is actually anything but peaceful during the hurricane season, but people get less seasick on it than they do on the Atlantic Ocean when rounding the Horn? Peasant revolts rock Wurttemberg and the Black Forest. The Polish-Lithuanian army drives the Russians from Vitebsk and Polotsk. Sultan Selim I accepts the submission of Moldavia, but forces it to pay an annual tribute of 4K gold coins, 40 horses, and 40 falcons in exchange for a high degree of autonomy. The guilds of Duisburg stage an unsuccessful revolt against the nobles. Appenzell E of Schwyz (S of Lake Constance) joins the Swiss Confederation, and each canton sends two delegates to a federal assembly. Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas (1470-1555) discovers uninhabited Reunion (Réunion) Island 400 mi. SE of Madagascar and 130 mi. SW of Mauritius, naming it Santa Apollonia, using the name Mascarene for the whole region; Arab sailors earlier called it Dina Morgabin (Western Island) - don't go away, I want you to stay? In 1513 the first European ship to land in China is a Portuguese caravel commanded by Jorge Alvares (Álvares) (-1521) that reaches Canton (Guangzhou); later in the year Rafael Perestrello, a cousin of Christopher Columbus is sent by viceroy Alfonso deo Albuquerque in a ship from Malacca, landing on the S shores of Guangdong. The Spanish found Bayamo in the West Indies. Sultan Selim I issues a firman regarding the Dionysiou Monastery. Titian is appointed supt. of govt. works at Venice. Pope Leo X gives Leonardo da Vinci rooms for his use at the Vatican Palace. Architecture: Pope Leo X begins the Vatican Sculpture Gallery. Chartres Cathedral 60 mi. SW of Paris is completed after 400 years. Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531) finishes the Tomb of HRE Henry II. Holyrood Palace at the foot of Canongate in Edinburgh, Scotland (begun 1473) is completed; it burns down in 1650, and is rebuilt by Charles II, becoming the official residence of the British sovereign in early summer. Nonfiction: Euchaius Rosslin (1470-1526), Der Schwangern Frauwen und Hebammen Rosengarten (Der Rosengarten) (The Rose Garden); Latin tr. pub. by his son Eucharius Rosslin the Younger in 1532 as "De Partu Hominis"; first English tr. by Richard Jonas pub. in 1540 as "The Birth of Mankind"; 2nd English tr. by Thomas Raynalde pub. in 1545 by Thomas Geminus as "The Woman's Booke"; becomes the #1 English ref. work on midwifery for the next cent. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1547), The Prince (Il Principe); written in vernacular Italian, first circulated this year, and pub. in 1532, becoming the first work of modern political philosophy, taking effective truth as more important than abstract ideals, in conflict with the Scholastic views of the time; teaches generations of Europeans the art of unscrupulousness; dedicates it to Lorenzo Medici, hoping for a job, but get snubbed, and instead sees his name become associated with their modus operandi, with the term Machiavellian becoming a perjorative, as well as Old Nick for the Devil; a favorite of Napoleon, Mussolini, and Lindsay Lohan; forever after everybody wants to be a Machiavellian prince?; "On Taking Power", "On Allies and Subordinates", "Qualities for Praise or Blame", "Liberality or Miserliness?", "Cruelty or Compassion?", "Be Feared or Loved?", "Keeping One's Word or Not?", "Importance of Appearances", "Avoid Being Despised and Hated", "The Value of Enemies", "On Gaining Renown", "Choosing Subordinates", "Avoiding Flatterers", "Living with Chance"; "He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation"; "It is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both" (ch. 17). "God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us"; "Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations"; "There is no surer sign of decay in a country than to see the rites of religion held in contempt." Ottoman adm. Piri Reis (Haji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri) (1465-1554) pub. a Map of the Known World in two parts on long-lasting gazelle skin; only the Western portion survives, becoming the oldest surviving map of the Americas, discovered in Constantinople in 1929; it depicts Queen Maud's Land in Antarctica as it looked millions of years ago, and shows Antarctica as ice-free? Art: Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), St. Peter and St. Paul. Giovanni Bellini (1428-1516), Portrait of a Nude Woman; waits to age 85 to paint his first female nude? Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Knight, Death and the Devil (copper engraving); first of the three Meisterstiche (master engravings) (1513-4). Gaudenzio Ferrari (1471-1546), The Life of Christ (21 frescoes) (Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan); incl. The Crucifixion - busy, busy, going places? Michelangelo (1475-1564), Statue of Moses (1513-15); part of the tomb of Pope Julius II in the della Rovere family tomb in San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains) Basilica in Rome; he portrays him with horns protruding from his head because of a Bible mistranslation of "rays of light"? (or because it's easier to make?). Il Sodoma (1477-1549), The Death of Lucretia (Cleopatra); presented to Leo XIII, who creates him a cavaliere; Deposition from the Cross; The Marriage of Alexander the Great and Roxane with the Family of Darius III (his masterpiece?) (Bamberg Cathedral). Plays: Bibbiena (Cardina Bernardo Dovizi), La Calandria (comedy). Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), La Mandragola (comedy). Poetry: Judah Abrarbanel (AKA Leo Hebraeus) (-1535), Dialogues of Love (Dialoghi di Amore); basis for Baldassare Castiglione's 1514 "Il Cortegiano" (pub. 1527). Gavin Douglas (1474-1522), The Eneados (13 vols.); a fouthy tr. of Virgil's "Aeneid", finished just before the Battle of Flodden. Births: Italian singer-composer Domenico Maria (Dominicus) Ferrabosco (d. 1574) on Feb. 14 in Bologna. English scholar-diplomat Sir Thomas Smith (d. 1577) on Dec. 23 in Saffron Walden, Essex; educated at Queen's College, Cambridge U., and the U. of Padua; knighted in 1548; not to be confused with Thomas Smith (1522-91). Irish rebel Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (d. 1537) (AKA Silken Thomas) in London, England; son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th earl of Kildare and Elizabeth Zouche, distant cousin of Henry VII. Scottish Calvinist martyr George Wishart (d. 1546). Scottish Presbyterian church founder John Knox (d. 1572) in Giffordgate, Haddington; educated at St. Andrews U. Deaths: German Meistersinger Hans Folz (b. 1437) in Jan. in Nuremberg. Italian painter Pinturicchio (b. 1454). Danish-Norwegian-Swedish king Hans (b. 1455) on Feb. 20 in Aalborg; dies after falling from his horse in Skjern Creek. Irish lord deputy of Ireland (1477-94, 1496-1513) Gerald FitzGerald, 8th earl of Kildare (b. 1456) on Sept. 3 in County Kildare. Scottish king (1488-1513) James IV (b. 1474) on Sept. 9 in N England (KIA at the Battle of Flodden). Scottish archbishop (of St. Andrews) Alexander Stewart (b. 1494) on Sept. 9 in N England (KIA at the Battle of Flodden).
1514 On Mar. 12 Portuguese explorer Tristao da Cunha (1460-1540) marches down the streets of Rome in an elaborate procession to present the new conquests of Portugal to Pope Leo X, who receives them at Castel Sant'Angelo; the procession features pet white Indian elephant Hanno the Elephant (1510-16), (given to him by the king of Cochin), whom popey adopts, becoming his favorite pet, dying two years later from complications of treatment for constipation with a gold-enriched laxative. On May 18 Claude of Brittany (1499-1524) (daughter of Anne of Brittany by Louis XII) marries Duke Francis of Angouleme (later Francis I of France) in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which leads to the permanent incorporation of Brittany into France after Claude's death despite everything her mommy could do. On June 30 new gov. Pedro Arias de Avila arrives in Darien, finding Balboa and his men living in mud huts surrounded by a wooden palisade and on the verge of starvation, after which Avila decides to starve Balboa's men until enough die that he can justify moving the colony to the Pacific side of the isthmus, which they do later this year, founding the settlement of Panama, which goes on to become the center for exploration to the S incl. the conquest of the Incas; Balboa becomes engaged to Avila's daughter in 1516, which doesn't stop Avila from plotting his demise. On Aug. 23 after war begins between the Suni Muslim Ottomans under Selim I and the Persian Shiites under Ismail I, they meet at the Battle of Chaldiran (Chaldoran), which is a V for the Ottomans over the Savadis; Shah Ismail is wounded but escapes to Dagestan; Selim enters Tabriz on Sept. 15 and massacres the pop.; the Persian silk trade is closed; the last battle between Turkey and Iran until ?. In Aug. Erasmus visits Basel and is given a go-ahead by publisher Johann Froben to prepare a trans. of the Greek New Testament for printing, racing to scoop the Complutensian Polygot Bible (1514). In Sept. Thomas Wolsey becomes archbishop of York. On Oct. 9 after Thomas Wolsey of England arranges a peace with France, and France makes a truce with all of its enemies except Maximilian I, Henry VII's bodacious 18-y.-o. sister Mary Rose Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk (1496-1533) marries 52-y.-o. Louis XII in Abbeville, the twice-married er, heirless old man seeking to produce an heir, and dying next Jan. 1 after 3 mo. of shagging her, which conks him out, and leaving her unpregnant, after which Mary is called the "French queen"; the custom of slashing (scissoring) of clothing originates in France and spreads to England; Catherine of Aragon's influence at court starts to wane, although she remains popular and is a favorite of Mary Rose Tudor. No wonder the Commies sold the Hungarians on Communism? An army of 100K Hungarian peasants under Gyorgy (Juraj) Dozsa (1470-1514) are gathered to crusade against the Turks; when the crusade is suspended, the peasants turn on the nobles for past injustices; the nobles, led by John Zapolya (1487-1540) (gov. of Transylvania and future John I of Hungary) defeat them at the Battle of Temesvar, execute Dozsa by roasting him alive on a red-hot iron throne with a red-hot iron crown placed on his head and a red-hot iron scepter forced into his hand, his only exclamation being "These dogs!"; after cooking him, his half-starved followers are forced to eat him, after which they are sentenced to perpetual servitude - well, they do call them hungarians? On Sept. 8 after the Russians take Smolensk, the Battle of Orsha is a V for 35K Lithuanians under Hetman Konstanty Iwanowicz Ostrogski (1460-1530) over 80K Russians under Vasily III, which is used for anti-Russian propaganda in Europe. Diego de Velazquez conquers Cuba and wipes out most of its pop., declaring himself gov. - let's get this party started? The original Miranda Warning? Pope Leo X issues a bull denouncing slavery and the slave trade; too bad, there's a catch?; Spain sends a force of 2K men to the New World to conquer lands and men for the glory of Christendom armed with the Requerimiento, a manifesto to be read to the aborigines informing them that they must convert or else be enslaved; since they can't understand Spanish, they are routinely enslaved and made to look like it is their own decision? To pacify the whisperers, Mary Tudor, regent of Scotland marries Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (1489-1557), who takes control of the boy king James V (1511-42) and the realm of Scotland; too bad, his pro-English policies piss the Scots off, causing a power struggle with the Hamilton family (earls of Arran). For his Scottish butt-kicking services at Flodden Field in 1513 the attainder on his family name is reversed, and Sir Thomas Howard (d. 1524) regains the dukedom of Norfolk (2nd duke); his son Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473-1554), who commanded the English vanguard at Flodden is made 2nd earl of Surrey. Franciscan Francis Suriano obtains the S part of Calvary from the sultan of Cairo. Green peas come into use in England. Pineapples first arrive in Europe - all they need now is Spam? King Manuel I of Portugal imports an Indian elephant, causing a stir. The Spanish found Trinidad and Puerto Principe in the West Indies. On Aug. 25 the city of Havana (San Cristobal de la Habana) (modern-day pop. 2.1M) in Cuba on the Almendares River near the Straits of Floida is founded by Spanish conquistador Diego Velazquez de Cuellar (Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar) (1465-1524), and named by Panfilo de Narvaez (Pánfilo de Narváez) (1470-1528); on Dec. 20, 1592 Philip II of Spain grants it city status; it is later officially designated "Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies". The House of Fugger secures the right to sell papal indulgences in Germany - the love of money is the root of all what? The Corporation of Trinity House is founded in London to provide navigational help on the Thames River. Architecture: Diego Columbus lays the cornerstone for the Cathedral of Our Holy Lady Mary of the Incarnation in the Dominican Repub., becoming the first Roman Catholic cathedral in the New World; it was originally made of royal palms. Salamanca Cathedral is begun (finished 1733). The Rani Sipari Mosque is built in Ahmadabad, India. Raphael finishes the 2nd room of the papal apts., and begins work on the 3rd and final room. Science: Dutch writer Giel Vander Hoecke becomes the first to use the + and - signs in a book on arithmetic? - were they ad hoc signs? Nonfiction: Anon., The Complutensian Polygot Bible (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin) (6 vols.); sponsored by Spanish Cardinal Francisco (Gonzalo) Jimenez (Ximenes) de Cisneros (1436-1517) and ed. by Alfonso de Zamora; sponsored by Complutense U. in Madrid; this year the New Testament is printed in Alcala de Henares, Spain, followed by the Old Testament in 1517, but pub. is delayed until Pope Leo X sanctions it in 1520; Cisneros dies 5 mo. after the project's completion; too bad, the bulk of the copies are destroyed when a ship en route from Spain to Italy sinks in a storm; Philip II of Spain later finances a new ed. edited by Bible scholar Benito Arias Montano (1527-98), which is printed in Amsterdam by Christophe Plantin (1520-89) in 1568-72. Anon., Septem Horae Canonicae (Kitab Salat al-Sawai); first book printed in Arabic type; pub. in Italy. Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), The Last Will and Testament of the Elephant Hanno; on the occasion of the death of Pope Leo X's pet elephant Hanno (1510-16); mocks the leading figures of Rome, incl. Leo X, and launches his career as "the Scourge of Princes". Guillaume Bude (1467-1540), De Asset et Partibus; treatise on ancient coins and measures; his masterpiece? Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), pub. Annales Hirsaugienses... Complectens Historiam Franciae et Germaniae (The Annals of Hirsau... including the History of France and Germany) (2 vols.); shows great mastery of the Latin language and eloquent phrasing, but is soon discovered to be filled with fictional passages; printed in 1609, becoming one of the first humanist history books. Art: Giovanni Bellini (1428-1516), The Feast of the Gods; his last almost-finished painting (finished by his pupil Titian); commissioned by Duke Alfonso I d'Este of Ferrara. Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), The Garden of Worldly Desires (Earthly Delights); humanity without a fall, living in paradise without knowledge of right and wrong. Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534, Four Saints (Altarpiece of St. Martha); his masterpiece? Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Portrait of Henry of Saxony. Dosso Dossi (1483-1542), Circe and Her Lovers in a Landscape. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Melancholia (copper engraving); St. Jerome in His Study (copper engraving). Raphael (1483-1520), The Fire in the Borgo (fresco) (Vatican); Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (1514-15); Raphael's diplomat humanist friend Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529) in front of a blank background instead of the usual landscape, with the deepest face ever painted, topping Leonardo da Vinci's La Jaconda?; too bad, a few years later Castiglione's wife dies of an unexpected illnness, and he becomes a monk, then seven years later is appointed bishop of Avila by HRE Charles V; the painting ends up 20 paces from Leonardo's painting in the Louvre, except Mona Lisa, which is an adjacent room. way ahead of its time?; Raphael's mastrpiece? Il Sodoma (1477-1549), Marriage of Alexander and Roxana; Alexander in the Tent of Darius (two frescoes in the Villa Farnesina, Rome). Plays: Lucas Fernandez, Farsys y Eglogas. Births: Italian humanist architect cardinal Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro (Barbarus) (d. 1570) on Feb. 8 in Venice; educated at the U. of Padua; friend of Torquato Tasso and Andrea Palladio; student of Pietro Bembo. Austrian mystic mathematician-cartographer (only pupil of Nicolaus Copernicus) Rheticus (Rhaeticus) (Georg Joachim von Lauchen) (d. 1574) on Feb. 16 in Feldkirch; father George Iserin got rich by stealing from his patients, causing him to be executed in 1528, stripping his family name, causing him to adopt the name Rheticus, meaning the Roman province incl. parts of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Italian duke of Urbino (1539-74) Guidobaldo II della Rovere (d. 1572) on Apr. 2; son of Francesco Maria I della Rovere (1490-1538) and Eleonora Gonzaga. French architect ("Father of French Neoclassical Architecture") Philibert Delorme (de l'Orme) (d. 1570) on June 3-9 in Lyon. English Greek scholar Sir John Cheke (Cheek) (d. 1557) on June 16; educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U.; student of George Day (1501-56); cheeky reviver of Greek learning in England. Dutch Flemish anatomist ("Founder of Modern Human Anatomy") Andreas Vesalius (Andre Vesale) (Andreas Vesal) (Andreas van Wesel) (d. 1564) on Dec. 31 in Brussels. English adventurer Sir Peter Carew (d. 1575); brother of Sir George Carew (1504-45). Dutch Flemish Renaissance architect-sculptor Cornelis Floris de Vriendt (d. 1575) in Antwerp; son of Cornelis I de Vriendt (-1538); brother of Frans Floris (1517-70). Deaths: Scottish bishop William Elphinstone (b. 1431). Flemish composer Gaspar van Weerbecke (d. 1440). Italian architect Donato Bramante (b. 1444) on Mar. 11 in Rome; dies after erecting the E gallery of the Vatican Palace, which was supposed to go with a W gallery, and connect with St. Peter's 1500 ft. to the N; the E gallery contains the Nicchione (apse) on the N, and the Cortile di San Damaso on the S. French queen Anne of Brittany (b. 1477) on Jan. 9 in Blois.
1515 On Jan. 1 king (since Apr. 7, 1498) Louis XII (b. 1462) dies, and Francis (Francois) I (1494-1547), son of his first cousin Charles d'Angouleme (1459-96) becomes French Valois king #9 (until Mar. 31, 1547), the first French Renaissance monarch, and "the father of France's devotion to culture", reigning at the same time as Henry VIII of England, and having to cope with the 1517 Protestant Revolution of Martin Luther too, but not copping out his religion over pretty petticoats like horny I'm Henry the Eighth I Am, staying loyal to the security cams of the Roman Catholic cause; too bad, he fell out with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, getting in ? wars with him for 38 years (1521-59); his favorite residence is the Palace of Fontainebleau 35 mi. SE of Paris on 200 acres in the 42K-acre Fontainebleau Forest, where he assembles the Fontainebleau School in the 1530s to decorate it; his well-educated brain babe sister Marguerite d'Angouleme (1492-1549) sets up a salon that becomes known as the "New Parnassus", fostering Francois Rabelais (1494-1553), Clement Marot (1496-1544), Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85) et al; Francis I signs an alliance with 15-y.-o. Archduke Charles of Hapsburg (Austria) (1500-58) (future HRE Charles V), who becomes gov. of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands; on Mar. 24 Francis I makes his friend and cousin Count Charles III de Montpensier and de Bourbon, Duke of Chatellerault (1490-1527) the (youngest ever?) constable of France (until 1523); Francis I hires German Landsknecht mercenaries,and makes a brilliant crossing of the supposedly impassable Alps, followed by a brilliant military V on Sept. 13-14 over the Swiss and Venetians at the Battle of Marignano, where the superiority of artillery and cavalry over the supposedly superior Swiss infantry tactics is proven, then a few days later defeats Swiss mercenaries and seizes the Italian duchy of Milan, becoming its gov. (until 1519); after conquering Lombardy, the French make peace with the Swiss on Nov. 12 and with Pope Leo X on Dec. 14; the Swiss retain most of the Alpine passes plus a French subsidy in return for the right of the French to enlist mercenaries; Francis I becomes the first French king to appoint port-chaise-d'affaires (royal porta-potty attendants). On Mar. 3 the Lateran Council issues the decree De Impressione Librorum, requiring the imprimatur (pr. im-pri-MAT-ur) (Lat. "let it be printed") on all books pub. in Roman Catholic lands under penalty of excommunication of the offenders, along with confiscation and destruction of the books. On Mar. 3 after Mary Rose Tudor "the French Queen" returns to England after doing her warming-up-the-old-man thing for her big brother, she secretly marries (his 3rd marriage) her real beau, Henry VIII's master of the, er, horse Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1484-1545), son of Henry VII's standard-bearer Sir William Brandon (1456-85) (who was slain personally by Richard III on Bosworth Field), and whom had been one of Henry VIII's favorites, called a "second king"; too bad, this act pisses-off Henry VIII, who was still trying to get the promised gold and jewels for his sister's marriage from the French, and the privy council urges the dork's execution for treason until his friend Cardinal Wolsey intervenes, and reminds Henry of his affection for his sister, after which they are heavily fined (£200K, the amount of Mary's dowry from Louis XIII, plus another £24K for the bother), and allowed to officially marry on May 13 in Greenwich Palace; luckily the Anne Boleyn thingie is in the future, for she detests that bitch and sides with Catherine of Aragon, while Brandon is on the king's side? In Mar. Russia forms an alliance with the Livonian Knights, but fails to take Vitebsk. On July 22 the First Congress of Vienna between HRE Maximilian I, Sigismund of Poland, and Vladislav II of Hungary regarding the mutual succesion of the Hapsburgs and Jagellons (Jagiellos) allies the two dynasties, and makes Maximilian I's brother Ferdinand potential heir to the Hungarian throne. On July 25 Spanish navigator Juan de Bermudez returns to Bermuda (first time 1505), leaving a dozen pigs and sows for future stranded mariners. On Sept. 10 archibishop of York Thomas Wolsey (1475-1530) becomes a cardinal; William Warham resigns, and on Dec. 24 Wolsey becomes lord chancellor of England, getting so powerful that the Venetian ambassador calls him "ipse rex" (the king himself). On Dec. 24 after arriving in Seville in Nov., slave-owning Spanish Dominican friar Bartolome de las Casas (1484-1566), who witnessed the extermination of the Arawaks (Tainos) of Cuba in 1513, causing him to flop on the issue of Indian slavery, complaining that "everything done to the Indians thus far was unjust" pleads to Charles V of Spain to replace Indian slaves with more "hearty" African slaves, and a license is given to Lorens de Gominot to import 4K African slaves (four for each Spanish emigrant) to Spanish Am. sugar plantations in the West Indies, causing de las Casas to later be blamed for launching African slavery in the Americas; in 1518 an 8-year monopoly is given by Charles V to La Bresa, who sells it to the Genoese, who buy their W African slaves from the Portuguese. The Scottish parliament names John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany (1484-1536) (French son of James III's bad brother Alexander) as protector (gov.) of Scotland (until 1524), who goes on to work with the young king's tutor Gavin Dunbar (1495-1547), archbishop of Glasgow (1524-) to turn him into a Francophile; see-you-tomorrow Queen Regent Margaret Tudor escapes to England. Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquers and annexes E Anatolia and Kurdistan; the Dulkadir principality (founded 1337) is annexed. The Teutonic Order offers Memel to the duchy of Courland in exchange for a peace, ending their war (begun 1511), and causing Courland to double its territory after spending years fighting minor rebellions; too bad, the Martin Luther thingie becomes popular in Courland, causing it to worry how to keep its alliance with Catholic Poland going. A rebellion against Hapsburg rule begins in Frisia in Germany, led by giant super-strong 7' warrior Piers Gerlofs Donia, who keeps his outnumbered army until he lays down his arms in 1520 after never being defeated in battle, and dies the same year in his house in Sneek of natural causes. After they fail to learn their lesson of 1468, the Portuguese again destroy the Morrocan town of Anfa (Casablanca). Florentine prof. of law Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), who entered the service of Pope Leo X in 1515 is made gov. of the papal states of Reggio and Modena, followed by Parma in 1521, then vice-regent of Romagna in 1523, lt.-gen. of the papal states in 1526, and gov. of Bologna in 1531. Sugar cane is introduced to Puerto Rico - sugar is expensive, slaves are cheap, ola? The first nationalized factories (for weapons and tapestries) open in France. The city of Santiago de Cuba (modern-day pop. 431K) is founded by Diego Valazquez de Cuellar as the capital of Cuba; next year it burns down, and is rebuilt. Raphael is appointed chief architect of St. Peter's to replace the late Donato Bramante, and is commissioned to replace the 4th cent. church, to create the pope's tomb, and to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Leonardo da Vinci becomes a military engineer attached to the army of Charles III de Montpensier and de Bourbon, constable of France (until 1517). A free grammar school is founded in Wolverhampton, England (13 mi. NW of Birmingham). Architecture: The Elizabethan-style Hampton Court Palace in Richmond upon Thames, London is begun by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (finished in 1530); after Henry VIII seizes it in 1529, it becomes one of only two palaces owned by the king to survive to modern times along with St. James's Palace. Nonfiction: Gerard of Cremona (tr.), Ptolemy's "Almagest" (Venice); Latin trans.; used by Nicolaus Copernicus in formulating his heliocentric theory. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Education of a Christian Prince (Institutio Principis Christiani). Fiction: Mutianus Rufus, Ulric von Hutten et al., Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum; a satire of scholarship in dog Latin in support of Reuchlin. Plays: John Skelton (1460-1529), Magnificence. Johann Grieninger of Strasbourg, Till Eulenspiegel. Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478-1550), Sofonisba; first play in blank verse, and first modern tragedy, becoming a model. Art: Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), St. Mark the Evangelist (Palazzo Pitti, Florence); his masterpiece?; Undraped St. Sebastian; both painted to prove that he doesn't need to always do small draped figures. Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), Madonna of St. Francis. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), The Holy Trinity in a Glory of Angels (1515-18); shows Christ's pubic hair. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Triumphal Arch (24 woodcuts); he had planned on 90, but circumstances?; Marginal Drawings in the Prayer Book of HRE Maximilian I (pen and ink). Gerard David (1460-1523), The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt. Raphael (1483-1520), The Raphael Cartoons (1515-6); seven large cartoons of Gospel scenes for tapestries for Pope Leo X, who commissioned 10 for the Sistine Chapel to hang below Michelangelo's famous celing. Titian (1488-1576), Flora. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), The Deluge; a series of drawings portraying the destruction of the world in a flood. Births: German physician-botanist Valerius Cordus (d. 1544) on Feb. 18 in Hesse (Erfurt?); educated at the U. of Marburg, and U. of Leipzig. Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun and mystical poet ("seraphic virgin") (St.) Teresa de Jesus of Avila (Jesus) (Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumada) (d. 1582) on Mar. 28 in Gotarrendura (Avila), Castile; founds 13 monasteries; feast day: Oct. 15; originates the Roman Catholic belief that Mary's hubby Joseph aids home sellers after she buries a medal of him, prays to him, and gets land for convents. Italian Counter-Reformation scholar and cardinal (1592-) ("the Third Apostle of Rome") (St.) Philip (Filippo) Romolo Neri (d. 1595) on July 21 in Florence; founder of the Congregation of the Oratory; feast day: May 26; patron saint of laughter, humor, and joy. English queen (1540) (Henry VIII's wife #4) Anne of Cleves (d. 1557) on Sept. 22 in Dusseldorf; 2nd daughter of Duke John III of Cleves (Cleve) (Kleve) (1490-1538) (leader of German Protestantism) and Duchess Maria of Julich-Berg (1491-1543); sister of Sybille of Cleves (1512-54). Scottish queen consort (1538-42) Mary of Guise (d. 1560) on Nov. 22 in Bar-lde-Duc, Lorraine, France; 2nd wife of James V; mother of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87). English politician Sir Nicholas Bacon (d. 1579) on Dec. 28 in Chislehurst, Kent; educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge U.; brother-in-law of William Cecil (1520-98); knighted in 1559; foster parent of Sir Francis Bacon. English (Welsh?) "Beware the Cat" novelist-poet-writer William Baldwin (d. 1563) in West Country; educated at Oxford U. French humanist theologian Sebastian Castellion (Catellio) (Chateillon) (Chataillon) (Castello) (d. 1563) in Saint-Martin-du-Frene, Duphine, Savoy; more learned than John Calvin? English humanist scholar Roger Ascham (d. 1568) in Kirby Wiske, Yorkshire; educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U.; first prof. of Greek at Cambridge U. (1540); tutor to Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth (1546-8); secy. to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. Spanish Escorial architect Juan Bautista de Toledo (d. 1567) in Toledo (Madrid?). French #1 Renaissance Mannerist sculptor-architect Jean Goujon (d. 1568) in Normandy. English diplomat Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (Throgmorton) (d. 1571); father of Bess Throckmorton (1564-1647). French Protestant mathematician-philosopher Petrus Ramus (Peter Ramus) (Pierre la Ramee) (Ramée) (d. 1572) in Cuth, Vermandois district of Picardy; of impoverished noble parentage; educated at the U. of Paris; raised a Roman Catholic, he thinks himself out of it in middle age? - I was an ignoramus? English breed mare countess Margaret Stewart Lennox, Countess of Lennox (d. 1578); daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th earl of Angus and Margaret Tudor (1489-1541) (sister of Henry VIII); wife of Matthew Stewart, 4th earl of Lennox (1516-91). French Louvre architect Pierre Lescot (d. 1578) in Paris. Croatian Ottoman adm. Piyale (Piali) Piasha (d. 1578). Italian anatomist Giambattista Canano (Canani) (d. 1579) in Ferrara. French architect Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau (d. 1584) in Paris; known as Du Cerceau (Fr. "hoop") from a circle sign over his workshop; one of the first to introduce the Italian Renaissance style to France, passing it on to his Parisian-based sons Baptiste du Cerceau (1560-1602), Jacques II du Cerceau (1556-1614), and Jean Androuet du Cerceau (1585-1650), who work on the Tuileries, Louvre, Pont-Neuf, and Chapel of St. Denis. Dutch Mannerist painter Lambert Sustris (d. 1584) in Amsterdam; father of Friedrich Sustris (1540-99); collaborator of Titian (1488-1576); teacher of Girolamo Muziano (1532-92). Dutch "De Praestigiis Daemonium" occultist physician Johann Weyer (Wier) (d. 1588) in Grave; disciple of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535). Deaths: Venetian humanist printer-typographer Aldus Manutius (b. 1449) on Feb. 6. Portuguese navigator Alfonso de Albuquerque (b. 1453) on Dec. 16 off the shores of Goa, India. Spanish gen. Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba (b. 1453) on Dec. 2 in Cordoba. Spanish explorer Vicente Yanez Pinzon (b. 1461) in Triana, Seville. French king (1498-1515) Louis XII (b. 1462) on Jan. 1 in Paris. Spanish conquistador Alonso de Ojeda (b. 1465) in Santo Domingo.
1516 On Jan. 23 Castilian king (since 1474) Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile and Leon) (b. 1452) dies, and his 16-.y.-o. grandson Charles of Burgundy (future HRE Charles V) is crowned Charles (Carlos) I of Spain (1500-58) (until Aug. 27, 1556), founding the Spanish Hapsburg (Habsburg) Dynasty (ends 1700); his mother Joanna (Juana) the Mad (1479-1555) becomes nominal joint ruler of Castile, even though she spends the rest of her life in the castle of Tordesillas doing who knows what with her hubby's remains; Charles I grants licenses to the Flemings to transport African blacks to the Am. colonies - the original Psycho? In Feb. Catherine of Aragon, after a stillborn daughter, a short-lived son, another miscarriage, and another short-lived son Henry (less than 2 mo.) (he jousted before her in a surcoat and horse trappings embroidered with her initials) to celebrate his birth) gives birth to Mary Tudor (1516-58), Henry VIII's first child, who grows up to carry on her grandmother's Catholic blood sports - like the new Dirt Devil, with more power and suction? On Mar. 13 Ladislas II Jagiello (b. 1456) dies, and his 10-y.-o. son Louis II Jagiello (1506-26) becomes king of Bohemia and Hungary, and the last of the Jagiello line. On Apr. 23 to stop widespread adulteration, Bavarian duke (1508-50) William IV (1493-1550) issues his Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Regulations) before a committee in Ingolstadt, declaring that only barley, hops and water can be used, later allowing yeast and wheat; in 1987 the law is ruled not to apply to imported beer; in 1993 the Vorlaufiges Biergesetz (Provisional Beer Law) is passed, expanding the Reinheitsgebot to pemit more ingredients; later, due to microbial infections in summertime, William IV's successor (1550-79) Albert (Albrecht) V (1528-79) prohibits all brewing between Apr. 23 and Sept. 21, causing only lagers to be brewed; meanwhile William IV makes his younger brother Louis X (1495-1545) co-duke of Bavaria, spliiting Bavaria until 1545. On Aug. 13 Charles I of Spain signs the Peace of Noyon, giving Milan to France, ending the War of the Holy League (League of Cambrai) (begun 1508); Massimiliano is expelled from Milan by the French and Venetians; meanwhile, broken by the defeat at Marignano, the Swiss make peace with France and negotiate the Treaty of Freiburg and Perpetual Alliance, and neutrality becomes the official policy; Duke Charles III of Bourbon fails to be paid by Francis I for his war expenses, and gradually turns against him, while Francis I and Charles I become mortal enemies for the next 27 years, while Spain enters its Golden Age (ends 1659) - never mix bourbon and burgundy? Jerusalem changes hands for the ???th time, this time for four centuries? On Aug. 24 the Ottomans under Selim I defeat the Mamluks at the Battle of Marj Dabiq (Marjdabik) (Marg Dayek) 26 mi. N of Halab (N of Aleppo) in Syria; the Morons, er, Mormons, er, Mamluks refuse to use gunpowder and artillery, calling it a "dishonorable weapon", relegating it to inferior units while taking on the Ottomans with valor and elan instead; Selim I then takes Aleppo, followed on Sept. 26 by Damascus, then Palestine, incl. Jerusalem (3rd most holy city in Islam) on Dec. 28; the Mamluk empire in Syria (founded 1250) ends, and the gunpowder-toting Automatic Ottomans rule the roost; on Dec. 30 Sultan Selim I secretly visits Jerusalem for devotions, then annexes all of Syria and moves on to Cairo. In Aug. Henry VIII has the 1290 Round Table of Arthur in the Church of Winchester repainted by an artist from Southampton, with his own face for Arthur, believing that the Welsh Tudors are a fulfillment of the prophecy that Arthur will rule England again; he also has visions of becoming HRE until his split with the pope; too bad, when he later begins destroying the old Medieval Catholic culture of England he has the bones of Arthur and Guinevere in Glastonbury destroyed - which makes Arthur un-PC among the Tudors, becoming the reason that S hakespeare never writes a play about him? The Poles take Velikiye Luki and Toropets from the Russians. The Concordat of Bologna between Francis I and Pope Leo X rescinds the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438, and strengthens French royal power over the Church, securing their internal independence in ecclesiastical appointments - does this concordat of baloney later strengthen the Protestant cause in France, or defuse it? After the Spanish establish themselves on a small island in front of Algiers, an force local ruler Salim al-Tumi to sign a peace treaty, pay tribute, and take an oath of obedience to Ferdinand II of Aragon, Algiers is captured and al-Tumi assassinated by Ottoman brothers Oruc Barbarossa and Haydreddin Barbarossa, who are sent by Sultan Selim I. Pope Leo X avoids an assassination attempt by his own cardinals. Ponhea Chan (d. 1566) becomes king of Khmer (Cambodia) (until 1566). The last secular prince of Montenegro resigns and transfers the civil govt. to the Greek Orthodox Catholic bishop (vladika) of Montenegro. Venice reacquires its Italian dominions lost to the League of Cambrai by diplomacy, although it is kaput as a political power, which doesn't stop it from requiring Jews to move from Ghetto Vecchio (old ghetto) near a copper foundry to the Ghetto Nuovo (new ghetto) on the island of Carregio, becoming the first use of the term "ghetto. Leonardo da Vinci's patron Giuliano de' Medici dies, and in 1518 he moves to the Chateau of Cloux connected to the Palace of Cloux near Amboise (near Tours) after Francis I hires him as "first painter and engineer and architect of the king"; his former boss Charles III de Montpensier lives in Amboise; too bad, he begins suffering paralysis in his right hand. Francesco Maria I della Rovere is excommunicated and ousted from Urbino by Pope Leo X in favor his nephew Lorenzo II de' Medici, causing Rovere to plot a comeback. Franz von Taxis is made postmaster gen. of the Netherlands, and imperial mail service is extended to Naples and Rome. After serving as chaplain with mercenaries from his Swiss parish of Glarus, Ulrich Zwingli denounces the mercenary system and is forced out by the town officials to Einsiedeln 20 mi. SE of Zurich, where he reads Erasmus' Latin trans. of the New Testament and is so turned on that he memorizes it, becoming a Bible-thumping Protestant. Martin Luther gives a sermon in which utters the soundbyte: "To assert that the pope can deliver souls from purgatory is audacious. If he can do so, then he is cruel not to release them all." Spanish explorer Juan Diaz de Solis (1470-1516) reaches the mouth of the Rio de la Plata (Sp. "silver river") (confluence of the Uruguay and Parana Rivers) region of South Am., and discovers "Purple Land" Uruguay (filled with small purple flowers); he later is killed with his landing party on the banks of the river by fierce dark heavy-set semi-nomadic Charrua aborigines while searching for a passage to the Pacific Ocean; the Charruas get their hackles up and prevent colonization until 1624, adopting horses and bolas until they are finally exterminated by the first pres. of Uruguay in 1831. The first loaves of sugar are presented to Carlos I of Spain by Hispaniola's inspector of gold mines. Franciscan missionary Fra Tomas de Berlanga introduces wheat, oats, and bananas into Hispaniola. The Portuguese introduce maize into China. Dyestuff indigo arrives in Europe. Giovanni Bellini (b. 1430) dies, and Titian becomes official painter of Venice with a pension, spending two years to produce his gorgeous Assunta (Assumption of the Virgin), which makes him #1 in N Italy. The Mamluk/Late Arab Period in archaeology ends, and the Ottoman Period begins (ends 1917). Tekkiyeh Mosque on the bank of the Barada River W of Damascus is begun as a refuge for poor pilgrims. Inventions: Engraving of music on plates is used for the first time in Italy. Italian wood engraver Ugo da Carpi (1455-1523) writes a Letter to the Venetian Senate claiming to have invented chiaroscuro engraving, although it was practiced earlier in Germany. The first recorded use of the Iron Maiden for torture is on Aug. 14 on "a forger of coins... placed inside, and the doors shut slowly, so that the very sharp points penetrated his arms and legs in several places, and his belly and chest, and his bladder and the root of his member, and his eyes, and his shoulders, and his buttocks, but not enough to kill him; and so, he remained making great cry and lament for two days, after which he died"; actually German philosopher Johann Philipp Siebenkees (1759-96) makes up the story in 1793, and they're not actually used until the 19th-20th cents.? Nonfiction: The infallible Word of God of Protestant Bible-thumpers gets off to a fallible start? In Oct. Desiderius Erasmus pub. ("rushes out rather than edits") ("praecipitatum verius quam editum") the Textus Receptus (Lat. "received text") of the New Testament (Novum Instrumentum Omne), with side-by-side Greek and Latin text, becoming the first Bible divided into verses; the first ed. uses the Latin Vulgate, which the Church considers as "their" Bible, but in later eds. he pisses-off Roman Catholics by using his own Latin trans. of the Greek in its place; he uses a small set of late medieval (12th cent.) mss. found in Basel, plus a ms. of St. John's Revelation borrowed from friend Johannes Reuchlin, which is hard to read and is missing the final six verses, causing him to fill in from the Latin Vulgate, creating a bastard Greek ms., which is later used to prepare the King James version; he pisses-off the Trinitarians by not incl. the Johannine Comma (Comma Johanneum) (Heavenly Witnesses) in 1 John 5:7-8: "There are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness on Earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one", because it is not found in Greek mss., only "There are three that bear witness: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one", but later tickles the Trinitarians pink by incl. it in later eds. after they give him a fake Greek ms. in which they insert it themselves?; he goes on to pub. four more eds. by 1535, which become the "editio princeps" used by W European printers for the next three cents.; English royal physician Linacer (a Roman Catholic) gets and reads a copy, then exclaims "Either this book is not true, or we are not Christians" (a true Protestant in the making?). Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, La Grande Abridgement (Old French legal cases). Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526), Decades; New World discoveries. The original I Have a Dream? Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Utopia (Gr. "no place" - pun on "good place"); Amerigo Vespucci crewmember Ralph Hythlodaye tells about his visit to an island where land is owned in common by the snobs (with plenty of slaves for the menial work), everybody has a job, and there is universal education and religious toleration, contrasting this perfect society with the hellhole of England; it recommends penal slavery instead of death as a punishment for crimes, eventually spawning the English Poor Laws, and becomes the father of Communism?; influences Nostradamus?; since More wears an itchy-scratchy goat hair shirt for most of his life, judge it by the source? Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1525), De Immortalitate Animae. Music: Josquin des Pres (1450-1521), Third Book of Masses (Missa sine Nomine). Novels: Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), Orlando Furioso; boastful Saracen leader Rodomonte inspires the word "rodomontade" to be coined. Poetry: Garcia de Resende, Cancioneiro Geral, an anthology of Portuguese and Spanish poems. Art: Fra Bartolommeo, Pieta; in Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Raphael (1483-1520), The Sistine Madonna. Titian (1488-1576), The Assumption of the Virgin (Assunta) (1516-18) (San Nicolo dei Frari, Venice); some of the figures reach almost 9 ft. tall; famous for her vivid red robe; the work that gives Titian an internat. rep. Births: English Roman Catholic Tudor queen (last) (1553-8) (first reigning queen of England) "Bloody" Mary I (d. 1558) on Feb. 18 in Placentia Palace, Greenwich; daughter and only child of Henry VIII (1491-1547) (who names her after his sister Mary Tudor) and Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536); first child to survive infancy, incl. a stillborn sister and three brothers; half-sister of Edward VI (1537-53); granddaughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain; wife (1556-) of Philip II of Spain (1527-98). Portuguese politicial advisor (to Philip II) Ruy Gomez de Silva (Rui Gomes da Silva) (d. 1573) on Oct. 27 in Chamusca; husband (1553-73) of Ana de Mendoza, princess of Eboli (1540-92); starts out as Philip II's page boy. Italian anatomist Renaldus Columbus (Realdo Colombo) (d. 1559) in Cremona, Lombardy; educated at the U. of Padua; pupil of Vesalius, and pioneer in the theory of pulmonary circulation; discoverer of the clitoris? German-Swiss naturalist-zoologist Konrad von Gesner (d. 1565). Flemish (Dutch) composer Cyprien de Rore (d. 1565). Scottish regent (of James VI) James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (d. 1581). English "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" Protestant clergyman-historian John Foxe (d. 1587) in Boston, Lincolnshire; educated at Brasenose College, Oxford U. Deaths: Italian artist Giovanni Bellini (b. 1430). Italian sculptor-architect Giuliano da Sangallo (b. 1443). Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch (b. 1450). Spanish king Ferdinand II/V the Catholic (b. 1452) on Jan. 23 in Spain. Bohemian-Hungarian king (1490-1516) Vladislav II Jagiello (b. 1456) on Mar. 13 in Buda, Hungary. German polymath Johannes Trithemius (b. 1562) on Dec. 13 in Wurzburg. Italian painter Giovanni Antonio Beltraffio (b. 1467).
1517 On Jan. 20 the Ottomans under sultan (since May 26, 1512) Selim I Khan "the Grim" (1465-1520) conquer and sack Cairo, and finish conquering Egypt from the Mamluks, occupying Cairo on Apr. 13, after which they conquer Mecca and the other holy places of Arabia, even (gasp) Nazareth; the Mamluk Empire (founded 1250) is kaput, but the Mamluks are retained as an Egyptian ruling class as vassals; Yemen is annexed to the Ottoman Empire; Grim I becomes the first caliph of the entire grim Islamic world. On Jan. 23 after hiring away 6K Venetian troops sieging Verona, Francesco Maria I della Rovere recaptures Urbino from papal condotierro Francesco del Monte, causing Pope Leo X to hire a 10K-man army under Lorenzo II de' Medici to get it back; on Apr. 4 Lorenzo is wounded by an arquebus while sieging Mondolfo Castle, and is replaced by Cardinal Bibbiena, who is defeated at the Battle of Monte Imperiale and retreats to Pesaro; too bad, Rovere runs out of money to pay his troops, and in Sept. he signs a treaty with the pope allowing him to retreat to Mantua with his artillery along with the famed Urbino library - I have an amazing fund of useless information which serves me very well at dinner parties? The original Meet the Fuggers II? On Mar. 16 Pope Leo X's Fifth Lateran (18th Ecumenical) Council closes after ending the Pisan Schism (begun 1511) along with the Jewish and Italian monopoly on moneylending, overturning the Church's prohibition on usury. On May 1 the Evil May Day Riots riots see London apprentices fall on French residents, causing the English govt. to intervene and suppress them; Cardinal Wolsey orders 16 rioters hung, but hundreds more are pardoned by "Bluff Harry the King". On May 17 archbishop-elector Albrecht of Mainz gives force to Pope Leo X's 1515 bull requiring imprimaturs for pub. books - too late to stop the Reformation? On June 11 Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert discover Hudson Bay. On July 1 the first burning of Protestants at the stake goes to the eternal honor of the Netherlands; the same day inquisitor Adrian Boeyens (later Pope Adrianus VI) becomes a cardinal. On Aug. 26 the Treaty of Rouen is signed by France and Scotland; Scottish bishop Gavin Douglas goes to France to arrange the marriage of 5-y.-o. James V to Princess Madeleine, daughter of Francis I. On Sept. 18 Flanders-educated Archduke Charles, having assumed the title of king Charles I of Castile arrives in Spain from the Netherlands with a large Flemish retinue, makes a triumphal entry into Valladolid, then proceeds to alienate most of the pop. with his haughty disdain, starting with making his former tutor Guillaume (William) de Croy, Lord of Chievres (Chièvres) (1458-1521) his chief minister of Spain on the death of Cardinal Jimenez, and granting a monopoly on the African Negro slave trade to Flemish merchants. On Sept. 20-Oct. 18 a Lithuanian-Polish expedition to Pskov under Konstanty Ostrogski and Jerzy Radziwill ends in defeat to the Russians at the Siege of Opochka; meanwhile the Crimean Tartars devastate Russian territories again; Russia annexes the town of Ryazan on the Oka River. With Catholic indulgences, crime does pay? The papal quest for filthy lucre finally reaps public reaction, creating the Protestant schism? On Oct. 31 (Wed.) (Halloween or All Hallows' Eve) German Roman Catholic Augustinian friar Martin Luther (1483-1546), after becoming sick of the indulgences peddled by Dominican friar Johann Teufel, er, Johann Tetzel (1465-1519) et al., and convinced that 1517 marks the end of the Babylonian Captivity of the Congregation, nails his Ninety-Five (95) Theses (Disputation on the Power of Indulgences) (written in in Latin) to the door of the Wittenberg Palast (Palace) (Castle) Church in Saxony on the Elbe River (known for housing 5K+ holy relics, which he detests), arguing against indulgences and other Roman Catholic Church abuses, starting out pulling his punches then within a few years claiming that the pope is the Antichrist, "and his seat is that of Satan himself", and that "The treasures of indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the wealth of men", igniting the already-smoldering Protestant Reformation (he could have picked a more PC date than Halloween?); he really just sent them to Mainz archbishop Albert of Brandenburg that day, then posted them on the church door sometime in mid-Nov.?; his offer of a public debate is declined, but his theses are soon translated from Latin to German and pub., causing the German middle and merchant classes, who are already chafing at Italian efforts at domination to rise to his support in reaction to the fugging Fuggers (successor to the Medicis) and other papal bankers who are draining Germany of gold for Rome with this holy racket (the Fuggers are behind the loans made by Albert of Brandenburg to the pope); the big revelation to Luther that gave him strength was from the Bible, incl. the Seven Trumpets in Rev. Ch. 8, and Rev. 13:5, where it says that the Antichrist will rule the world for 42 mo., which he turns into 1260 years instead of days, setting year 1 in 539 C.E., and claiming that Christ will therefore return in the year 1799, thus it's time to get started whipping things up? - the wildlife experience, more than a museum? In Oct. after Manuel I of Portugal rejects him, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) gets Charles I of Spain (later HRE Charles V) to sponsor a voyage to Asia by way of South Am., financing it with 8,751,125 gold maravedis and naming him captain next Mar. 22 with a 10-year monopoly and a 20% cut, leaving in search of the Spice Islands in July; little did he know how large little old Asia is? Pope Leo X issues a bull calling for a 5-year peace in Christendom. On Feb. 8 Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba (Francisco Hernández de Córdoba) (-1517) leaves Havana in three ships with 100 men, and lands on the Yucatan Peninsula while on a slave-hunting expedition from Cuba, discovering traces of the once-great Mayan civilization;he gets the name Yucatan straight from the local Mayans, who reply "Yukatan" ("I don't understand you") when he asks them their name?; an attempt by Hernan Cortes to defame his rival Diego de Velazquez in a letter to the king of Spain, the Nahuatl word "Yokatlan" meaning "place of richness" all along? After claiming to see a "column of fire", St. Cyril of Novozeno founds a Russian Orthodox monastery on Ongenny Ostrov Island (Russ. "Fiery Island") on beautiful White Lake in the Vologda region of C Russia; after the Oct. 1917 Russian Rev. it is converted into a prison by the Bolsheviks, with small inhuman 2-man cells that prisoners must stay in for 22.5 hours/day. The Portuguese found a factory in Colombo, Ceylon - any orange pekoe and pekoe? The Portuguese reach Canton, China by sea. Coffee arrives in Europe for the first time - that first cup? Spanish courtier and skirt-chaser Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) begins military duty under Antonio Manrique de Lara, viceroy of Navarre. Ludwig Senfl replaces Isaak as court composer to Maximilian I. Hans Sachs (1494-1576) settles in Nuremberg, becoming leader of the Nuremberg Meistersingers - there's a party tonight? HRE Maximilian I crowns Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) the "King of Poets". Corpus Christi College in Oxford U. is founded by English prelate-statesman Richard Foxe (1448-1528) for the advancement of classical education; next year its chapel is built, complete with an altar designed by Rubens; it goes on to produce theologians Reginald Pole, John Jewel and Richard Hooker, and educator Thomas Arnold. The College des Trois Langues (Collegium Trilingue) (College of Three Languages) in Louvain (Leuven), Belgium is founded by the will of humanist Joeroen van Busleyden (Hieronymus Buslidius) (1470-1517), friend of Erasmus. Science: Polish Renaissance mathematician-astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) turns economist and pub. the first known argument for the Quantity Theory of Money; in 1519 he pub. the first known version of Gresham's Law, that bad money drives out good, which is 1858 is named after English financier Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-79) by Scottish economist Henry Dunning Macleod (1821-1902). Girolamo Fracastoro explains fossils as the remains of living organisms, but questions that they all came from Noah's flood - he goes too far up the family tree in his search of genealogy? Nonfiction: Anon., The Rabbinic Bible; contains a special "anti-Christian polemic" page by David Kimhi. Hans von Gersdoff, Feldtbuch der Wundtartzney; first depiction of an amputation, recommending use of a tourniquet - we'll have to take your hands and gersd off? Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), De Arte Cabbalistica. Art: Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), Christ in the Temple. Matthias Grunewald (1465-1528), Maria Schnee Chapel Altarpiece (Aschaffenburg). Quentin Massys, Portrait of Erasmus. Sebastiano del Piombo, Raising of Lazarus. Raphael (1483-1520), Lo Spasimo. Andrea del Sarto (1486-1531), Madonna of the Harpies. Plays: Bartolome de Torres Naharro, Propalladia; seven Spanish comedies. Poetry: Teofilo Folengo (1496-1544), Opus Maccaronicum; satirical Latin poems on contemporary romantic epics. Henry Watson, The Grete Shyppe of Fooles of the Worlde (2 vols.); tr. of Sebastian Brant's 1494 work. Births: English Protestant courtier Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (d. 1554) (AKA Marquess of Dorset) on Jan. 17; son of Thomas Grey (1477-1530); great-grandson of Elizabeth Woodville (queen of Edward IV); husband of Frances Brandon (1517-59), daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor (1495-1533) and Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (1484-1545); father of Lady Jane Grey (1537-54), Katherine Grey (1540-68) and Mary Grey (1545-78); makes Leicestershire solidly Protestant. Japanese emperor #106 (1557-86) Ogimachi (d. 1593) on June 18; eldest son of Go-Nara (1497-1557). Belgian botanist Rembert Dodoens (Rembertus Dodonaeus) (d. 1585) on June 29. French cardinal (1561-) and statesman ("dominating imperial statesman of the whole century") Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (d. 1586) on Aug. 20 in Besancon; son of Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle (1484-1550), chancellor under HRE Charles V. English soldier-poet Henry Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk and 3nd Earl of Surrey (d. 1547); son of Lord Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk (1443-1524). French naturalist (founder of marine biology) Pierre Belon (Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus) (d. 1564) near Le Mans (Sarthe). English lord Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland (d. 1570) in Skipton, Yorkshire; husband of Eleanor Brandon (1519-47), daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor (1495-1533) and Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (1484-1545); father of Margaret Clifford (-1596). Dutch Flemish painter Frans Floris (Frans de Vriendt) (d. 1570) in Antwerp; son of Cornelis I de Vriendt (-1538); brother of Cornelis Floris de Vriendt (1514-75). Italian musical theorist Gioseffo Zarlino (d. 1590) in Chioggia, Venetia. English bishop-theologian-lexicographer Thomas Cooper (Couper) (d. 1594) in Oxford; educated at Magdalen College, Oxford U. Irish archbishop (of Dublin) James Beaton (d. 1603). Deaths: Spanish cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros (b. 1436) on Nov. 8. German-Dutch composer Heinrich Isaac (b. 1450) on Mar. 26. Moldavian prince (1504-17) Bogdan III the One-Eyed (b. 1504). Dutch humanist Joeroen van Busleyden (b. 1517) on Aug. 27 in Bordeaux. Italian painter Fra Bartolommeo (b. 1472) on Oct. 6 in Florence.
1518 Pop. of Aztec Mexico: 30M; by 1568 this is down to 3M. On Apr. 8 Spanish conquistador Juan de Grijalva (1489-1527) sails with 170-300 people on four ships from Matanzas, Cuba to Yucatan, discovering Cozumel and arriving on May 1 in Tobasco, where he first observes cigarette smoking, renaming the Tobasco River Rio Grijalva, then discovers Mexico and names it New Spain to thank them for not smoking; on Dec. 18 the Spanish start a smallpox epidemic among the aborigines in Santo Domingo, which soon spreads to Yucatan, Mexico, and Peru, ultimately killing 20M (50%-90% of the indigenous pop.), and clearing the way for smoke-free Euros. In mid-July the Dancing Plague of 1518 hits Strasbourg, France, starting with Frau Troffea and growing to three dozen in a week and 400 by Aug. ,until it fades in Sept. In July after he has been raiding E Abyssinia for 25 years, always choosing Lent so that the Christian Ethiopians will be weak from fasting, the Ethiopians under emperor (since Aug. 13, 1507) Dawit II skip the observance of Lent and ambush and kill Emir Mahfuz of Adal, causing Dawit II to adopt the style "Wanag Segad", meaning "to whom lions bow"; meanwhile a Portuguese fleet burns the former Adal capital of Zeila in Somalia. On Oct. 2 the Battle of Brannkyrka sees Gustavus Wasa and several Swedish nobles captured by the Danes and held hostage. In Oct. the Peace (Treaty) of London, a non-aggression pact between England, France, the HRE, Spain, and Pope Leo X is devised by Cardinal Wolsey, who wants to get all 20 leading states of Europe to end warfare; too bad, the peace is broken in a few years with wars between Denmark and Sweden, and England and Spain against France, but a pan-European peace movement gets started and picks up steam, culminating in the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Martin Luther is summoned by Cardinal (since 1517) Thomas Cajetan (Gaetanus) (Thomas or Tommaso de Vio) (Jacopo Vio) (1469-1534) to the Diet of Augsburg, where he refuses to recant and appeals to Pope Leo X, causing papal nuncio Karl von Miltitz (1490-1529) to mediate; meanwhile Johann Eck pub. Obelesci (Obelisks), attacking Luther, which are answered by Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt (Carlstadt) (Karolostadt) (AKA Brother Andrew) (1486-1541), who challenges him to a debate, which is held next June. Tommaso de Vio of Gaeta (AKA Cajetan or Gaetanus) (1469-1534) (not to be confused with Theatines founder St. Cajetan). The Siege of Polotsk by the Russians is broken after Lithuanian forces allegedly have a sighting of their patron saint St. Casimir Jagiellon (1458-84). Catherine of Aragon's last recorded miscarriage happens this year. After capturing Tenes, Ottoman adm. Oruc Barbarossa captures Tlemcen in NW Algeria, whose sultan flees to Morocco, giving Oruc control of the country behind the Spanish base of Oran 70 mi. away, threatening their supply routes; too bad, the Spanish counterattack, killing Oruc and regaining the Tlemcen region, only to see the red-bearded king Arouj of Morocco lead an army that expels them; too bad, Arouj is KIA in a battle with the Spanish, causing his brother Khair-ed-Din to appeal to the Turkish sultan for help, and after they drive the Spanish out of N Africa, he is appointed rep. of the Barbary States of Algiers and Tunis (modern Algiers and Tunisia), with HQ in Algiers, which with Tripoli (Libya) and Tangier (Morocco) (AKA the Barbary or Berber Coast) send pirate corsairs into the Mediterranean until the 19th cent., intercepting ships and holding hostages for ransom (Muslim jizya) - ending up as a Las Vegas casino? Thomas More, having worked his way up with Henry VIII becomes a member of the privy council; Thomas Wolsey is appointed Pope Leo X's legate a latere (confidential rep.) in England, which gives Henry VIII ideas about using him to rid himself of his menopausal Portuguese wife? Diego de Velazquez is appointed gov. of Cuba by the king of Spain; he and Hernán (Hernan) Cortes (1485-1547) organize a military expedition to Mexico, with Cortes countermanding Velazquez's orders and following the coast of Yucatan, clashing with Indians in Tabasco and reaching San Juan de Ulua (Ulúa) on the Gulf of Mexico near modern-day Veracruz; the Tabasco natives give Cortes several hot women, incl. Malitzin (Doña Marina) (Malinche), a Mexican slave who speaks Mayan and Nahuatl and becomes his common-law wife and official interpreter. The Muslim Bahmani Kingdom of the Deccan in India divides into the five sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Barar, Bidar, Dijapur, and Golkonda, and begin a push against the Hindu Vijayanagara Kingdom to the S. Mahmud of Bidar, India dies, and minister Kasim Barid continues in power, plotting for his dynasty to mount the throne (1527). The Franciscans come to Goa - the Indians wish they'd come and goa? Henry VIII of England presents 400 battle mastiffs to Charles I of Spain (HRE Charles V). The Mayan town of Tulum ("wall") on the E side of the Yucatan Peninsula is first mentioned by Juan Diaz, a member of Juan de Grijalva's expedition; cliff ruins survive to modern times, becoming a popular destination for tourists, esp. Yoga lovers. Porcelain is imported to Europe from E Asia; by modern times Limoges, France becomes a great place for porcelain hunters. The Royal College of Physicians in London is founded by charter from Henry VIII by physician Thomas Linacre (1460-1524), becoming the oldest medical inst. in England. Melanchthon becomes prof. of Greek at the U. of Wittenberg. Ariosto arranges regular performances at the court theater of Ariosto. Kronen (Ger. "crown") Brewery in Dortmund, Germany is first mentioned; in 1845 it converts to lager brewing; in 1871 it introduces Dortmund Export. Inventions: Spectacles for the shortsighted are developed by ?. Nonfiction: Anon., The Secret Grimoire of Turiel; the 18th watcher of the 20 leaders of the 200 fallen angels mentioned in the Book of Enoch. Martin Fernandez de Enciso (1470-1528), Suma de Geografia que Trata de Todas Las Partidas del Mundo; first pub. description of the avocado, which he says is grown near Santa Marta, Colombia. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Colloquies; ironic examination of religious practices with hidden meanings for the learned; 13 eds. are pub. by 1533, expanding to 50 colloquies. Henry of Ghent (1217-93), Quodlibeta (posth.) (Paris). Adam Riese (1492-1559), Practical Arithmetic. Johannes Trithemius, Cryptography; first book on the subject? Art: Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538), St. Florian (altarpiece). Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), Diana Returning from the Chase (Abbess' Salon, Convent of San Paolo, Parma). Dosso Dossi (1483-1542), Jupiter, Mercury and the Virtue. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Portrait of Jakob Fugger. Raphael (1483-1520), Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals; La Fornarina (1518-9); The Transfiguration (1518-) (last masterpiece). Il Sodoma (1477-1549), St. George and the Dragon. Veit Stoss (1438-1533), Annunciation and Seven Joys of the Virgin (wood sculpture in the Lorenzkirche in Nuremberg). Titian (1488-1576), The Tribute Money. Births: German Lutheran theologian Johann Funck (Funk) (Funccius) (d. 1566) on Feb. 7 in Wohrd (Nuremberg); educated at the U. of Wittenberg. French caged (1526-9) dauphin Francis III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1536) on Feb. 28; eldest son of Francis I (1494-1547) and Claude (1499-1524) (daughter of Louis XII). Dutch Flemish composer Ihan Gero (d. 1583). Venetian painter Jacopo Robusti, "Il Tintoretto" (Ital. "The Little Dyer") (d. 1594). Deaths: Hindu poet and religious reformer Kabir (b. 1440). Italian celeb mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei (b. 1442) on Nov. 24. Spanish gov. (of Hispaniola) Nicolas de Ovando (b. 1460) on May 29 in Madrid - RIP?
1519 Wherever we go that's where the party's at? On Jan. 1 Ulrich (Huldrych) (Huldreich) Zwingli (1484-1531) is appointed priest of the Great Cathedral (Grossemunster) in Zurich, Switzerland, starting the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland (basis for the later Puritans, Pilgrims, and Huguenots) with popular lectures based on Erasmus' new and improved translations of the Bible, causing an admirer to place his printing press at his disposal; meanwhile Zwingli encounters the writings of Martin Luther, forming a cross-country connection, making the Protestants really dangerous? On Jan. 12 after clashing with Panama gov. Pedro Arias de Avila, Vasco Nunez de Balboa (b. 1474) is framed then beheaded for treason - tresor chocolat? On Jan. 12 HRE Maximilian I (b. 1459) dies, and on June 28 his 19-y.-o. grandson Charles of Hapsburg (Charles I of Spain) is elected over Francis I of France as HRE Charles V (1500-58) (until Aug. 27, 1556); this ultimate lucky dude speaks German, Spanish, Italian, French and Flemish, but despite this he promotes the Inquisition in the Netherlands, which becomes "much more pitiless than that of Spain" (Philip II); the Spanish pop. is opposed to his leaving the country with Spanish men and money, fomenting the Comunero Revolt next year. In Feb. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes (Hernán Cortés) (1485-1547) renounces the authority of Diego de Velazquez, relocates the city of Havana (from the Indian name Guanabacoa meaning "site of the waters") in Cuba to the N coast as a Spanish naval base (modern-day pop. 2M), then takes off with on 11 ships with 400-600 men (70 musketeers, 40 crossbowmen, and several hundred Indian and Cuban servants), incl. 2nd-in-command Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras (1495-1541) and chronicler Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1496-1584) for New Spain (Mexico), and on Apr. 21 he lands in Veracruz with his well-armed men, 16 horses, 14 pieces of artillery, and a big pair of balls, and founds the city of Villa Rica de la Veracruz (Vera Cruz) (Sp. "true cross") (modern-day pop. 520K/702K) in Mexico after burning his own ships to keep his men from returning to Cuba; after his soldiers elect him as chief magistrate and send reps to the crown for confirmation, Cortes leaves a small garrison then begins travelling through Aztec villages, finding altars piled with skulls and smelling of rotten blood mixed with flowers while sending envoys to Emperor Montezuma (Moctezuma) II (1480-1520, who is zapped out by the belief that these white dudes are gods and Cortes is pale-faced feathered-serpent man-god Quetzalcoatl (whose arrival is predicted by the Mayan priests this year after some lost Viking stumbled ashore long ago?), and avoids confrontation; Cortes gains support from the Totonacs, then ends up in 11K-ft. mountains where their clothing is inadequate, and several servants die, then crosses desert salt lakes without food and water, until he comes to the independent city of Tlaxcala, and faces 149K fierce warriors with obsidian clubs and spears, holding out for two weeks on a little hill until they suddenly give up, welcome him as a friend, and offer him their daughters, then offer to help him fight their worst enemies the Aztecs (Mexica); on Mar. 12 Cortes and his men arrive in Potonchan (Potonchán) on the left bank of the Grijalva (Tabasco River), finding them hostile, after which on Mar. 25 they win a V over the Aztecs at the Battle of Centla, where Diego de Ordaz (1480-1532) distinguishes himself, going on to climb 17,802 ft. (5,426m) Popocatepetl (Popocatépetl) in C Mexico 40 mi. SE of Mexico City with two comrades, becoming the first white Euros, impressing Cortes native allies, after which HRE Charles V authorizes Ordaz to pus the volcano on his coat of arms; after passing through the narrow streets of Cholula (known for its Great Pyramid) Cortes and his men meet fierce resistance, incl. rooftop ambushes, and kill 3K and sack it, the news reaching Montezuma, who says his heart is "washed in chilies" with grief; Cortes brings horses to the Am. mainland for the first time? On Mar. 29 Francesco II Gonzaga (b. 1466) dies of syphilis contracted from hos, and his son Federico II Gonzaga (1500-40) becomes marquis of Mantua (until mar. 25, 1530), with his wife Isabella d'Este acting as regent; on Apr. 7, 1521 he is invested by HRE Charles V, a first for his family, which is now legit and PC; too bad, he suffers from congenital syphilis, which messes with his mind and causes an early death. In Mar. with backing from gov. Francisco de Garay, Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez (Álvarez) de Pineda (1494-1520) leaves Santiago, Jamaica with three ships and 270 soldiers, exploring and mapping the Gulf of Mexico coastline, establishing that Florida is a peninsula instead of an island; on June 2 he reaches Mobile Bay (Alabama River), then discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, and reaches Corpus Christi Bay in Tex. on June 24 (Feast of Corpus Christi), making the first known map of the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. incl. Texas, anchoring off Villa Rica de la Veracruz shortly after Hernan Cortes leaves, causing the latter to turn around to meet him, after which Pineda attempts in vain to negotiate a boundary between the lands they claim, then sails N to the "Las Palmas" (Panuco) River, landing near modern-day Tampico and spending 40+ days repairing his ships; too bad, next Jan. the Huastecs attack and kill him, although 60 colonists are evacuated by Diego de Camargo. On Apr. 5 Francois Rabelais (1495-1553) enters the Franciscan monastery at Fontenay-le-Comte in Poitou, where he studies Greek, pissing-off the authorities. On May 2 Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452) dies without fulfilling two major dreams, to fly, and to complete his famous horse sculpture; he produces a total of 17 paintings, some unfinished, and all suffering devolution from the many untested experimental materials and paints he used - did he hear about the Reformation? In June-July Martin Luther's man Andreas Rudolf Bodenstein von Karlstadt (Carlstadt) (Karolostadt) (AKA Brother Andrew) (1486-1541) and Pope Leo X's man (former friend of Luther) Johann Maier von Eck (1486-1543) engage in the Leipzig Debate (Leipziger Disputation) in Pleissenburg Castle, debating about grace, free will, the primacy of the pope and infallibility of papal decisions, and purgatory; after getting pissed-off bigtime, Eck charges Luther with being a Hussite heretic; the judges fail to reach a verdict, but the public allegedly goes with Eck; papal chamberlain Karl von Militz advises Luther to write a letter of submission to Pope Leo X, and Luther acquiesces (better soft paper than cold steel and hot lead?); too bad, when Protestants and Roman Catholics debated, they often use their common but more distant enemy Islam as an escape valve, pretending to praise it for being better than the other in such and such a category, with Luther actually claiming that to make a war on the infidel Ottomans is to rebel against God, who has been sending them to punish the sins of Roman Catholicism, beginning a 500-year appeasement jag that softens the West up for 9/11?; "The Reformation generated more vehement and coherent arguments between Christians, the ultimate effect of which was to favour the Muslims. It became customary amongst Catholics and Protestants for each to censure the 'vices' of the other's religion and to emphasize that the infidel [Muslims] exemplified the corresponding 'virtue,', which naturally would have been much better suited to the Christians... In fact the arguments between Catholics and Protestants frequently led to a competition as to which of the two could hurt the adversary more by heaping praise upon the infidel"; "The Reformation produced one logical if unexpected result: a definite boost to the positive evaluation of Islam, and therefore to the birth and development of an often conventional and mannered pro-Islamic stance." (Bernard Lewis) On Aug. 15 Pascual de Andagoya (1495-1548) founds the city of Panama City (modern-day pop. 880K) as the seat of govt. for Pedro Arias de Avila, bringing in 400 (later 1.5K) settlers, incl. Hernando de Soto; Avila refounds Nombre de Dios on the Alantic side, and clears a route across the isthmus; Panama City becomes the base for Spanish exploitation of the W coast of South Am., incl. the unfortunate Incas, whose treasure later flows in from the coast, is loaded onto mules, and transported over the jungle trail to Porto Bello on the Caribbean for loading onto Spanish galleons. On Sept. 20 Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) leads an expedition of 237 men sailing from Spain in five small ships incl. flagship Trinidad, Concepcion, San Antonio, Victoria, Santiago in search of a westerly route to the Spice Islands in Indonesia (the Indies), which ends up circumnavigating the globe, starting by sighting the equator on Nov. 27, sighting South Am. on Dec. 6, and anchoring near modern-day Rio de Janeiro on Dec. 13, reaching Rio de la Plata next Feb., then sailing S to Puerto San Julian, Argentina next Mar. 30, where they overwinter, surviving a mutiny on Easter (Apr. 1-2); on Oct. 21, 1520 they reach Cape Virgenes and and discover the Magellan Strait the NE coast of Brazil, then sail S to Puerto San Julian, Argentina, overwintering sailing S to Puerto Santa Cruz, Argentina in the winter; on Oct. 18 they begin navigating the Magellan Strait between South Am. and Tierra del Fuego (later site of the city of Punta Arenas, Chile, southernmost city on Earth); after mistakenly believing that native Tehuelches are giants, he names Patagonia from the Spanish word pata or feet, "Land of the Bigfeet"; actually they avg. 5'11", compared to 5'1" for the Spaniards, but it takes until the end of the 18th cent. to debunk the myths; on Nov. 28 after one is wrecked in a storm and the other returns to Spain, three of the five ships sail into a "beautiful peaceful ocean", which Magellan names the Pacific Ocean because of how calm and peaceful it is compared to the Atlantic Ocean (how could he know about them hurricanes?); 98 days later they reach the Philippine Islands; Megellan's brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa (1480-1521) accompanies him, leaving The Book of Duarte Barbosa, one of the first examples of Portuguese travel lit. On Nov. 8 (the Aztec day of 1 Wind, known for robbery, violation and deceit) Cortes enters the Aztec capital (island city with three main bridges) of Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico, calling the city "the most beautiful thing in the world", then lucks out with his white skin wowing them, with the Aztecs feeling like they "ate stupefying mushrooms", and is mistaken for the god Quetzalcoatl (it is the 4-Movement year in the Aztec calendar, when the 5th and last sun or creation of the world is slated to end, if sacrifices are not made), and uses it to gain access to Montezuma II, who greets him in the palace courtyard (which later becomes the Hospital of Jesus), telling him, "They said you would return"; Montezuma then takes Cortes "by the hand, and pointed out to him the different parts of the city" from the summit of the temple (Diaz), then gives Cortes a tour of the temple of the war god Hutsilopochtli, which grosses Cortes out with its bloody walls and human hearts, causing him to ask Monty if he will give up Devil worship and permit a cross and a picture of the Virgin Mary to be placed there, which pisses-off Montezuma, who tells him not to bring the subject up again; after one week Cortes, learning of an Aztec attack at Veracruz makes a bold power play and arrests Montezuma after a 4-hour argument, after which Montezuma caves in and becomes his puppet, acknowledging the sovereignty of HRE Charles V; Cortez finds that the avocado is a diet staple; this might be where the Am. aborigines first get their hands on horses, incl. some Arabian horses brought from Spain; chocolate is first encountered by Euros at Montezuma's court (they mix it with chilies instead of sugar, and use water instead of milk). In Dec. the Teutonic Order goes to war with Poland over East Prussia (ends 1521). The Russians ravage Kreva in Belarus; meanwhile the Crimean Tartars attack Lviv in Ukraine and Lublin in Poland. The Revolt of the Brotherhoods (Rebellion de las Germanias) of the artisan guilds (Germanies) in Valencia, Spain against the govt. of Charles I (HRE Charles V) begins (ends 1523), inspiring a similar revolt in Majorca in 1521-3. Francis I attempts to test the loyalty of Charles of Bourbon by offering his widowed mother to him for marriage, which he rejects. Swedish leader Gustavus Wasa escapes to Lubeck, Germany. The Jews are expelled from Regensburg, Germany. Young English deb Anne Boleyn (b. 1507) goes to the French court (until 1521). A silver mine near the Czech (Bohemian) town of Joachimsthal (Ger. "James Valley") begins minting the Joachimsthaler, which eventually becomes known as the taler (thaler) (dollar). Charles III de Montpensier and de Bourbon (1490-1527) succeeds Leonardo da Vinci as grandmaster of the Priory of Sion (until 1527); his entourage incl. Jean de Joyeuse, Lord of Rennes-le-Chateau :). A family of moles are tried in absentia in Stelvio Pass in N Italy for damaging crops "by burrowing, so that neither grass nor green thing could grow"; they are sentenced to exile with safe conduct and given 14 extra days if they have infants to raise. Architecture: St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England (begun 1473) is finished. Nonfiction: Johann Eck (1486-1543), De Primatu Petri (On the Primacy of the Pope). Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Colloquia. Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), On the French Disease (De Morbo Gallico); about his treatment for syphilis, which he contracted in 1508, becoming one of the first patient narratives. Art: Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Portrait of HRE Maximilian I; holds a globe in his hand; Virgin Mary and Christ Child with St. Anne; painted after he goes Lutheran. Titian (1477-1576), Worship of Venus. Plays: Sebastian Brant (1457-1521), Narrenschiff; introduces Hans Wurst (Hanswurst), a vulgar clown AKA Pickelhering; spreads over Germany and Austria, and ends up banned in Leipzig in 1737. Novels: Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes (1478-1557), Book of the Very Striving and Invincible Knight Don Claribalte (Valencia); chivalric romance. Births: French prince of Orange (1530-44) Rene (Renatus) of Chalon (Nassau-Breda) (d. 1544) on Feb. 5 in Breda. Spanish gov. #1 of Fla. (1565-74) adm. Pedro Menendez de Aviles (Menéndez de Avilés) (d. 1574) on Feb. 15 in Aviles (Asturias); founder of St. Augustine, Fla. (1565). French Huguenot leader adm. Gaspard II de Coligny, Seigneur de Chatillon (d. 1572) on Feb. 16 in Burgundy; son of Gaspard I de Cologny, marshal of Chatillon-sur-Long. French Roman Catholic gen.-statesman ("Le Grande Guise") Francis (Francois) of Lorraine, 2nd Duke of Guise (d. 1563) on Feb. 17 in Bar-le-Duc, Lorraine; son of Claude of Lorraine (1496-1550) and Antoinette de Bourbon; father of Henri de Lorraine Guise, 3rd duc de Guise (1550-88). French king (1547-59) Henry (Henri) II, Duke of Orleans (b. 1559) on Mar. 31 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye; 2nd son of Francis I and Claude; grandson of Louis XII. French queen consort/regent (1547-89) Catherine de' Medici (de Medici) (de Medicis) (de Médicis) (d. 1589) on Apr. 13 in Florence; wife of Henry II; daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici, duke of Urbino (to whom Machiavelli dedicated "The Prince"); niece of Pope Clement VII; born into the richest non-royal family in France; mother of four sons, three of whom become French kings, all weak; mother-in-law of Mary, Queen of Scots; has a "face resembling a plank of wood", is fond of broccoli, truffles and melons, and insists on table manners and the table fork, introducing the French to Italian tastes and founding modern French cuisine; her subjects despise her as a foreign interloper, calling her "the maggot from Italy's tomb" and "Madame La Serpente"; Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots calls her a "Florentine shopkeeper's daughter" whom she couldn't forgive for being a commoner? Italian physiologist-botanist Andrea Cesalpino (Andreas Caesalpinus) (d. 1603) on June 6 in Arezzo, Tuscano; educated at the U. of Pisa. Tuscan grand duke (1537-74) Cosimo I de' Medici (the Great) (d. 1574) on June 12 in Florence; son of condottiere Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (1498-1526) and Maria Salviati. French Protestant theologian-poet (in Switzerland) (disciple of John Calvin) Theodore Beza (de Besze) (d. 1605) on June 24 in Vezelay, Burgundy, France. English merchant-financier (founder of the Royal Exchange in London) Sir Thomas Gresham (the Elder) (d. 1579); namesake of Gresham's Law ("bad money drives out good"); educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge U.; apprentices to his merchant uncle Sir John Gresham (1495-1556), becoming one of the wealthiest men in England; knighted in 1559. English archbishop of Canterbury (1576-83) Edmund Grindal (d. 1583) in Hensingham (near St. Bees), Cumberland; educated at Magdalene and Christ's Colleges and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge U. Ottoman grand adm. (Muslim convert) Uluj Ali (Uluc Ali Reis) (Giovanni Diongini Galeni) (d. 1587) (AKA Uchali, Occhiali) in Le Castella, Calabria. Italian "History of the New World" historian Girolamo Benzoni (d. ?) in Milan. Deaths: Japanese hero Hojo Soun (b. 1432). German painter Michael Wolgemut of Durer (b. 1434). Italian Triple X Ultimate Extreme Renaissance Man Leonardo da Vinci (d. 1452) on May 2 in Cloux (near Amboise), France; in 1737 three fingers, a tooth, and a vertebra are removed from his body by admirers: leaves Treatise on Painting, compiled by his student Francesco Melzi; "The movement which is depicted must be appropriate to the mental state of the figure, otherwise the figure will be considered twice dead: dead because it is a depiction, and dead yet again in not exhibiting motion either of the mind or of the body"; "I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do"; "Many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitude"; "Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence, he is just using his memory"; "Art is never finished, only abandoned"; "The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions"; "There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see"; "Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active"; "I have discovered that it is of some use that when you lie in bed at night, and gaze into the darkness, to repeat in your mind the things you have been studying. Not only does it help the understanding, but also the memory"; "If you do not rest on the good foundation of Nature, you will labor with little honor and less profit"; "Nature never breaks her own laws"; "There is no result in Nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment"; "Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature. Necessity is the theme and the inventress, the eternal curb and law of nature"; "Although Nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence as I said before with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason"; "Experiment is the interpreter of Nature. Experiments never deceive. I t is our judgment which sometimes deceives itself because it expects results which experiment refuses. We must consult experiment, varying the circumstances, until we have deduced general rules, for experiment alone can furnish reliable rules"; "Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?"; "He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast"; "Wisdom is the daughter of experience"; "The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects"; "Learning never exhausts the mind"; "Water is the driving force of all nature"; "Life well spent is long"; "While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die"; "Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel"; "In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time"; "Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O wretched mortals, open your eyes!"; "The Medici created and destroyed me." Austrian HRE (1508-19) Maximilian I of Hapsburg (b. 1459) on Jan. 12 in Wels, Upper Austria; the Tomb of HRE Maximilian I features a cool Renaissance statue of King Arthur, and Gothic-style statue of King Theodoric by Peter Vischer the Elder. Italian marquis of Mantua (1484-1519) Francesco II Gonzaga (b. 1466) on Mar. 29 (syphilis contracted from hos). English dean of St. Paul's (1505-19) John Colet (b. 1467) on Sept. 10 in London (sweating sickness). Italian sculptor Domenico Fancelli (b. 1469) in Zaragoza, Spain. Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa (b. 1474) on Jan. 12 in Panama (beheaded in Acla Square) - goes pacifically? Italian thrice-married femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia, duchess of Ferrara (b. 1480) on June 24 (night); dies from complications of giving birth to a daughter on June 14 - a little old for that?
| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| England | Henry VIII (1491-1547) | Apr. 21, 1509 | Jan. 28, 1547 | |
| Scotland | James V (1511-42) | Sept. 9, 1513 | Dec. 14, 1542 | |
| France | Francis I (1494-1547) | Jan. 1, 1515 | Mar. 31, 1547 | |
| Germany | HRE Charles V of Hapsburg (1500-58) | June 28, 1519 | Aug. 27, 1556 | |
| Papacy | Pope Leo X (1475-1521) | Mar. 9, 1513 | Dec. 1, 1521 | |
| Ottoman Empire | Sultan Selim I the Grim (1465-1520) | Apr. 24, 1512 | Sept. 22, 1520 | |
1520 An infected African slave spreads smallpox to Mexico on a Spanish ship, decimating the pop., spreading to Central Am. and the Incan Empire in time to soften them all up for Spanish conquest. Roman Catholic Europe has a sugar situation it can't handle? This year Europe is introduced to Protestantism; Martin Luther (1483-1546) pub. 24 bestselling works all in one year, incl. the "big three" pamphlets Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Of the Liberty of the Christian, and On the Babylonian Captivity of the Christian Church (Oct. 6), which contains the soundbytes: "Whether I will it or not, I become wiser every day, urged on as I am by so many illustrious masters. Two years ago, I attacked indulgences, but with so much indecision and fear, that I am now ashamed of it. It is not, however, to be wondered at, for I was alone when I set this stone rolling"; "I denied that the papacy was of Divine origin, but I granted that it was of human right. Now, after reading all the subtleties on which these gentry have set up their idol, I know that the papacy is none other than the kingdom of Babylon, and the violence of Nimrod the mighty hunter. I therefore beseech all my friends and all the booksellers to burn the books that I have written on this subject, and to substitute this one proposition in their place: The papacy is a general chase led by the Roman bishop, to catch and destroy souls"; they get quickly distributed all over Europe - and the caca soon hits the fan among his loving Catholic brethren down at the Sunset Grill? On Jan. 18 the Battle of Lake Asunden (near Borgesund) sees Christian II along with a large army of French, German, and Scottish mercenaries defeat a peasant army; on Jan. 19 the Battle of Bogesund on icy Lake Asunder near Bogsund sees Christian II's army led by Otte Krumpen (1473-1569) intercepted by a force led by Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger (b. 1492), who is hit in the leg by a cannonball, killing his horse, causing his men to scatter, after which he dies on icy Lake Malaren on Feb. 5 of his wounds while retreating to Stockholm near Lake Malar, and on Nov. 4 after conquering Stockholm, Christian (Kristian) II (1481-1559) of Denmark and Norway is crowned king of Sweden, forcing it back into the Kalmar Union, knighting Krumpen; too bad, on Nov. 7-9 Christian II stages the Stockholm Bloodbath (Massacre) of 80-90 people (mostly nobility and clergy supporting Sten Sture the Younger incl. Eric Vasa) after reneging on a promise of gen. amnesty, causing them to rally behind Gustav Vasa (Gustavus Wasa) to oust the bloody Indian giver. On Mar. 10 Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey (1473-1554) (uncle of Anne Boleyn) is appointed lord deputy of Ireland, with orders from Henry VIII to use persuasion rather than violence, facing the thankless task of pacifying the rival factions of the Earl of Kildare and Earl of Ormonde, sending letters demanding money and troops; he is recalled at the end of 1521 to take command of the English fleet for naval operations against France. Fun in the sun of Mexico NOT, or How 500 white men conquered 7M-30M red men suffering from auto-reverse racism, and reduced their pop. to 3M in 50 years? In Mar. displeased at the resistance of Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes (Hernán Cortés) (1485-1547) to his authority as gov. of Cuba, Diego Velazquez sends an expedition under Panfilo de Narvaez (Pánfilo de Narváez) (1470-1528) from Havana, which lands at San Juan de Ulua on Apr. 23 and captures Cempoala; in May Cortes leaves Tenochtitlan under the protection of Pedro de Alvarado and 200 men, then defeats Narvaez on May 26 and takes him prisoner at Vera Cruz, persuading his men to join him. On Apr. 9 a Portuguese embassy led by Dom Rodrigo de Lima arrives in Massawa, Ethiopia, meeting with emperor Dawit II on Oct. 19, who tells him that the Muslim threat to Ethiopia is kaput, and he finally leaves in 1526. On May 20 20-y.-o. Netherlands-raised HRE Charles V leaves Spain to visit his new empire in Germany after squeezing his alienated Spanish subjects for money (he first goes to Aix-la-Chapelle to be crowned HRE); the War of the Communidad (Comunero Rebellion) breaks out in Castile against Charles the absentee king's rule (the largest urban rebellion in early modern Europe) when Juan de Padilla (1490-1521) starts an uprising in Toledo, and attempts to gain the support of Charles V's mother Mad Joanna, claiming that she isn't really insane but that Charles is keeping her incommunicado, then organizing a Holy League (Santa Junta) at Avily in July; too bad, the radicals take over, causing the nobles to quit. On June 7-24 Francis I and Henry VIII meet at the Field of the Cloth of Gold on Balinghem Plain between Guines and Ardres near Calais to sign a commercial treaty and discuss uniting against Charles V; despite splendid banquets and tournaments and gorgeous trappings, Henry declines, and later allies with Charles, who visits him at Dover and Canterbury. Holy bullshit? On June 15 Leo X's 41-point papal bull Exsurge Domine condemns pesky freethinker Martin Luther as a heretic, comparing him to a fox and a boar, and orders him to recant his views on that reformation thang within 60 days while calling for the burning of all his writings; after it backfires as a way to pull Luther's support from under his feet, on Dec. 10 Luther defiantly burns the bull, er, papal B.S., er, bull, along with the canon law near the Luther Oak in Wittenberg; the Catholics now begin calling Luther the Antichrist (forgetting the pagan Roman emperors and Muhammad), while the Protestants begin calling the pope the Antichrist; Leo X's main man Johann Maier von Eck (1486-1543) goes to Rome then returns to Germany as papal legate to enforce the bull. Like a cheating husband who won't go away? In June Cortes returns to Tenochtitlan, where Montezuma II always gets a kick out of watching Spanish soldiers play cards, and observes Aztecs (Mexica) writing with lead crayons (pencils?), but this time the cocoa bean-bartering Aztecs have had it up to there with Cortes and his cruel lt. Alvarado, who attacked warriors during religious celebrations, and believing their king has lost his aura, on June 30 they stone Montezuma II while trying to persuade them to kiss white Spanish butt from the palace roof (he dies on July 3), then trap and cut off Alvarado and his men, destroy the three bridges leading out of the island city, and siege them, but Alvarado makes a portable bridge out of ceiling beams and sneaks out at midnight; too bad, he is spotted halfway across, saves his life by jumping over Alvarado's Leap in the causeway, and loses three-fourths (800) of his men killed or captured (later used for sacrifices to the war god) before escaping and regrouping with Cortes under a huge ceiba (silk-cotton) (kapok) tree in what becomes known as La Noche Triste (the Sad Night), in which Cortes sits under the tree and weeps; after making sure his shipbuilder Martin Lopez is still with him, he says, "Okay, let's go, for we lack nothing", and they head back to their race-traitor allies in Tlaxcala; meanwhile Montezuma II (b. 1479) is succeeded as Aztec king by his younger brother Cuitlahuac (Cuitláhuac) (1476-120), who prepares to finish Cortes off, but on July 7 Cortes kicks their butts in the Battle of Otumba, with 100K-200K Aztecs getting their butts kicked by 500 Spaniards and a few hundred Tlaxcalans, losing only 73 Spanish KIA; in late Sept. after a reign of 80 days Cuitlahuac dies of the smallpox, and is succeeded by Montezuma II's nephew Cuauhtemoc (Cuautehmóc) (Cuitlahuac) (d. 1521), the last Aztec ruler; Cortes returns to Tlaxcala, receives reinforcements, and ends up making Texcoco his base on Dec. 31 while he prepares to return with 600 men and tens of thousands of native allies, having a stroke of genius and building a fleet of 13 40-ft. brigantines on land, which he has disassembled to be hauled overland by 8K native porters back to Tenochitlan for a final siege. Nothing beats jellin' like Magellan? On Sept. 20 after spending more money on sherry than weapons, Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) leads an expedition of 237 men sailing from Spain in five small ships incl. flagship Trinidad, Concepcion, San Antonio, Victoria, Santiago in search of a westerly route to the Spice Islands in Indonesia (the Indies), which ends up circumnavigating the globe, starting by crossing the equator on Nov. 27 and sighting South Am. on Dec. 6, reaching modern-day Rio de Janeiro on Dec. 3, then sailing S to Rio de la Plata in Feb. 1520, and overwintering in Puerto San Julian in Argentina, surviving a mutiny on Easter (Apr. 1-2); on Oct. 21, 1520 they reach Cape Virgenes and begin navigating the Magellan Strait between South Am. and Tierra del Fuego (later site of the city of Punta Arenas, Chile, southernmost city on Earth); after mistakenly believing that native Tehuelches are giants, he names Patagonia from the Spanish word pata or feet, "Land of the Bigfeet"; actually they avg. 5'11", compared to 5'1" for the Spaniards, but it takes until the end of the 18th cent. to debunk the myths; on Nov. 28 after one is wrecked in a storm and the other returns to Spain, three of the five ships sail into the Pacific Ocean, which Magellan names because of how calm and peaceful it is compared to the Atlantic (how could he know about them hurricanes?); 98 days later they reach the Philippine Islands. With the Roman Catholic Church splintering, the Ottomans see their chance? On Sept. 22 sultan (since 1512) Selim I the Grim (b. 1465) dies while preparing an expedition against pesky Hospitaler-held Rhodes after expanding the Ottoman Empire from 2.5M sq. km to 6.5M sq. km, leaving a bunch of Turkish and Persian poetry, and a royal treasury filled to the brim and locked with his own seal and the soundbyte: "He who fills the treasury more than this may use his seal to lock it" (no one takes him up until the empire collapses four cents. later?), and on Sept. 30 his son Suleiman (Suleyman) I (the Magnificent) (the Law Giver) (1494-1566) (known for wearing a giant turban) becomes Ottoman sultan #10 (until Sept. 7, 1566). Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) keeps Zurich from sending mercenaries to the wars, and gets permission from the city's gov. council to preach the "true divine Scriptures", which he claims are against the practice of celibacy; he gets the church council to forbid all religious teachings not based on the Bible, incl. the stricture against eating meat during Lent - now he's done it? The Anabaptist ("Re-Baptizer") Movement begins in Germany under pastor Thomas Muntzer (Müntzer) (1489-1525), who preaches that it's the "end of all ages", stirring up the unsuccessful Peasant Revolt in 1524; in this decade Austrian South Tirol reformer Jacob Hutter (1500-36) founds the pacifist communistic Hutterites, a group of Anabaptists in Moravia, who after his execution end up moving to the U.S., settling in the Dakotas, Montana, and Alberta, Canada, and living communally. 300 African slaves arrive in Cuba. The Portuguese send trader Thome (Thomé) Pires to Peking (returns 1521). English scholar Robert Whittington (Wittinton) (1480-1553) writes the soundbyte about future Roman Catholic saint Sir Thomas More: "More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons." Henry VIII orders the building of bowling lanes in Whitehall Palace. The Wailing (Western) Wall, all that's left of the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem is uncovered under a dung heap and becomes a place of permanent prayer for Jews that they really love to kiss? The word "con" in the sense of directing the steering of a ship is first used; it "undoubtedly had an affinity to cunning". Albrecht Durer travels in the Netherlands this year and next, where he studies Flemish masters incl. the van Eycks, causing him to make his colors more rich and subtle in the last stage of his career. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546), nephew of Giuliano da Sangallo becomes chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica. The Mannerism movement in art, a reaction to the classical straight jacket of Leonardo da Vinci's and Raphael's harmony and proportion, featuring contorted poses and harsh lighting and coloring begins in Italy, and spreads to the Netherlands (ends 1600) - all that stuff that was cute when he was little ain't cute no more? Architecture: Michelangelo finishes the Medici Chapel in Florence. Inventions: German gunsmith August Kotter invents the spirally-grooved rifle barrel for straighter shooting - welcome back, Kotter? About this time the Violin emerges in its modern form in the region of Milan, Italy. The Wheel Lock is invented in Italy, leading to the creation of single-handed pistols. About this time the lager method of brewing is invented in Bavaria, Germany after Saccharomyces eubayanus yeast is brought back from the beech trees in Patagonia in South Am. and brewers fuse it with their yeast. Science: Scipione del Ferro (1465-1526) finds the complete solution to the cubic equation. Swiss walking wonder medical student Philippus Paracelsus (Lat. "Greater than Celsus") (Aureolus Theophrastus Philippus Bombastus von Hohenheim) (1493-1541) wanders through Europe, and introduces Laudanum (spiced wine and opium) as a painkiller and cure-all, blissfully unaware of its addictive properties - the original Timothy Leary? Nonfiction: Henry of Ghent (1217-93), Summa Theologica (posth.) (Ghent). Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), The Life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca; about one of his heroes (1281-1328); Summary of the Affairs of Lucca; Discourse on the Reform of the Florentine Repub.. Art: Hans Baldung Grien (1484-1545), Nativity. Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), The Ascension of Christ (San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma) (1520-24); power tour of chiaroscuro fresco. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Portrait of Luther. Matthias Grunewald (1465-1528), St. Erasmus and St. Maurice. Veit Stoss (1445-1533), Crucifix (sculpture in the Sebalduskirche in Nuremberg). Titian (1477-1576), Bacchus and Ariadne (1520-3); painted for Duke Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara after Raphael is given an advance but dies; Venus Anadyomene (Venus Rising from the Sea) (1520-5); eventually owned by Queen Christina of Sweden. Births: Croatian Lutheran scholar Matthias Flacius Illyricus (d. 1575) on Mar. 3 in Labin. Polish king and grand duke of Lithuania (1548-72) Sigismund (Zygmunt) II Augustus (d. 1572) on Aug. 1 in Cracow (Krakow); only son of Sigismund I the Old (1467-1548); member of the Hapsburg Order of the Golden Fleece. German dramatist-poet and brewer Heinrich Knaust (d. 1580) on Aug. 31 in Hamburg; educated at the U. of Wittenberg. English statesman (chief adviser to Elizabeth I) William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (Burleigh) (d. 1598) on Sept. 13 in Bourne, Lincolnshire; son of Richard Cecil (-1552) and Jane Heckington; educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U.; known for his knowledge of Greek. Spanish conquistador-chronicler Pedro Cieza de Leon (León) (d. 1554) in Llerena. English mathematician-surveyor (inventor of the theodolite) Leonard Digges (d. 1559); father of Thomas Digges (1546-95). Ethiopian Solomonic emperor (1540-59) (Christian) Gelawdewos (Claudius) (Asnaf Sagad I) (d. 1559); younger son of Dawit II and Sabla Wengel. Portuguese writer Jorge de Montemayor (d. 1561) in Montemor, Coimbra. French explorer-colonizer Jean Ribault (Ribaut) (d. 1565) in Dieppe, Normandy. French Renaissance humanist-feminist poet ("La Belle Cordiere") Louise Labe (Labé) (d. 1566) in Lyon; after learning foreign languages in a convent school, she dresses in male clothing and fights as a mounted knight for the dauphin (Henry) at the Siege of Perpignan, and participates in tournament jousts in Lyon in honor of Henry II's visit, becoming known as "la belle Amazone". Roman Catholic theologian (Jewish convert) Sixtus of Siena (d. 1569). Dutch Flemish painter (in England) Hans Eworth (Ewouts) (Jan Euworts) (d. 1574). Dutch portraitist Sir Antonis (Antoon) Mor (Moro) (d. 1576) in Utrecht; discovered by Cardinal Granvelle, going on to make portraits of Granvele, the Duke of Alva, Mary I of England, William I the Silent of Orange et al. Italian Venetian School composer Andrea Gabrieli (d. 1586); father of Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612). French printer Christophe Plantin (d. 1589) in Saint-Avertin. Italian composer-lutenist Vincenzo Galilei (d. 1591) in Santa Maria a Monte, Tuscany; father of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642); experimentally discovers that the ratio of tension of two equal-length strings tuned an octave apart is 4:1. Fleming ambassador to Turkey (1555-62) Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (Augerius Busbequius) (d. 1592) in Comines. Deaths: Spanish courtier-ambassador Don Diego de Guevara (b. 1450) in Brussels. Scottish poet William Dunbar (b. 1460). Ottoman sultan (1512-20) Selim I the Grim (b. 1465) on Sept. 22 (sirpence or skin cancer): "A carpet is large enough to hold two sufis, but the world is not large enough for two kings." Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral (b. 1467) in Santarem. Italian poet Cardinal Bibbiena (Bernardo Dovizi) (b. 1470). German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller (b. 1470) on Mar. 16. Mexican Aztec emperor Montezuma II (b. 1479) on July 3. Italian "Prince of Painters", "the New Apelles" Raphael (b. 1483) on Apr. 6 (Good Friday) in Rome; dies suddenly and unexpectedly on his birthday at age 37; "He was laid out in the room where he last worked, and at his head hung his painting of the transfigured Christ, which he had just completed for Cardinal de' Medici. The contrast between the picture, which was so full of life, and the dead body filled everyone who saw it with bitter pain." (a friend) Swedish regent (1513-20) Sten Sture the Younger (b. 1492) on Feb. 3 in Lake Malar. Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda (b. 1494) near Tampico, Mexico (KIA).
1521 Count to ten then lose your temper like a lion? On Jan. 3 after Martin Luther refuses to retract 41 of his 95 theses, Pope (since 1513) Leo X (1475-1521) issues the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, excommunicating him; given safe passage by HRE Charles V, Luther travels to the Imperial Diet of Worms (sounds yummy?) (electors, princes and nobles, and town delegates) to argue his case, arriving on Apr. 16, triumphantly having his say, with the soundbyte: "Since Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other"; after being cross-examined by papal nuncio Cardinal Alexander, he leaves in one piece on Apr. 25, his safe conduct pass good for 21 days; on Apr. 26 after papal rep. (appointed cardinal in 1536) Girolamo (Hieronymous) (Jerome) Aleandro (Aleander) (1480-1542) leads the opposition to him, the Edict of Worms bans Luther and his writings from the Holy Roman Empire, prohibits all new doctrines, and declares Luther an outlaw that anybody can kill after May 14; a bull issued by Pope Leo X follows on June 16, amounting to a death warrant; in an edict to Netherlanders, the pope's man HRE Charles V states: "As it appears that the aforesaid Martin [Luther] is not a man, but a devil under the form of a man, and clothed in the dress of a priest, the better to bring the human race to hell and damnation, therefore all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death and forfeiture of all their goods"; on his way back to Germany Luther is "kidnapped" on May 4 under orders of his protector Elector Friedrich (Frederick) III the Wise (1463-1525) of Ernestine Saxony (whose brother John of Saxony is a Lutheran), and hidden in his castle at Wartburg for a year for safekeeping, pretending to be neutral but consenting to end worship of his 19K+ saints and relics in 1523, along with the Catholic mass; meanwhile Luther's more radical associate Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt (Carlstadt) (Karolostadt) (AKA Brother Andrew) (1486-1541) continues the Reformation in Wittenberg in Luther's absence, pushing for complete separation from the Church, and showing just what unfettered Bible reading can do to a person brought up Catholic?; Luther's books are burned in Rome, and in retaliation the faculty and students at the U. of Wittenberg burn the papal constitutions, the canon law, and works of scholastic theology outside the Elster Gate; Luther adds the pope's excommunication bull to the burning heap; while in hiding Martin Luther translates the New Testament into his most unwormly German. On Feb. 28 after discovering the Northern Mariana Islands (Guam, Rota, Saipan, Tinian, Asuncion), and naming them "Ladrones" (Sp. "thieves") for the thievish practices of the native Chamorros, Magellan and his men reaching Guam ("land of sails", named for their lateen sails) and find supplies, then take off and sight the Philippine Islands; on Apr. 27 (dawn) Magellan is KIA in the Battle of Mactan with the islanders led by chief Lapu-Lapu before he can circumnavigate the globe; one of the three remaining ships is abandoned, and the last two set sail, with the Victoria commanded by Magellan's 2nd-in-command Juan Sebastian de Elcano (del Cano) (1476-1526), who changes Magellan's plan and sails W into the Indian Ocean, reaching the Spice Islands on Nov. 6 with 115 crew, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope on May 6, 1522 and limping home on Sept. 6, 1522 with 18 aboard, making a small net profit from their cargo of 26 tons of cloves and cinnamon. On Apr. 15 the College of Sorbonne in Paris formally condemns the teachings of Martin Luther. On Apr. 20 after a 16-year reign in which he overtaxed his people and let bandits flourish while he decimated his court officials for questioning his weird ways and got off on travelling around the country incognito, allowing court eunuchs to entrench themselves inextricably, emperor (since 1505) Ming Zhengde (b. 1491) dies after his pleasure boat capsizes, and on May 27 his 15-y.-o. cousin Zhu Houcong becomes Jiajing ("admirable tranquility") (1507-67), Ming emperor #11 (until Jan. 23, 1567), continuing the same. On Apr. 23 the uprising of the comuneros (municipalities) under Juan de Padilla is defeated in the Battle of Villalar, and Padilla and the other leaders are executed; royal absolutism settles into Spain for cents. in reaction. On May 17 Henry VIII's rival (leader of the disaffected nobles pissed-off at the way the court is run by low-born bums like Thomas Wolsey) Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (b. 1478) is executed as a traitor, ending the line (until 1617) - putting a stevie nicks in it? On May 26 Hernan Cortes sieges Tenochtitlan, and on Aug. 13 he defeats the Aztecs after 80 days of starving the 250K pop. (a tactic unknown in their history?), reducing them to eating lizards and grass, capturing 800 women and children foraging at night for food, then taking the city street by street until the Aztecs, reeling from starvation, white man's measles and smallpox make their last stand at the stacked pyramid of Tlatelolco, sister city of Tenochtitlan to the N; the Aztec Empire (founded 1428) ends (7M-30M people torpedoed by a few hundred Satanists, er, Saints, er, Spaniards?), and the Spanish Empire in Am. begins with the forceful seizure of Mexico, which becomes known as New Spain (until 1821), with Cortes as viceroy #1 (until Dec. 24), followed by Cristobal (Cristóbal) de Tapia (until Dec. 30), followed by Cortes again (until Oct. 12, 1524) after Tapia clears him of misconduct; Cortez sees bison in Montezuma's menagerie; in 1524 Mexico City is founded on the razed ruins of Tenochititlan after the lake is filled-in by Aztec slaves; king #4 (since 1487) Cosijoeza (Cocijoeza) (-1529) of the nearby Zapotecs in SE Mexico hears of the Spanish V and decides to lay low to avoid the same fate, allying with the Mixtecs (Mixteca) in modern-day Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla, but that doesn't stop the Spanish from attacking them next year, and subduing them by 1527, the Zapotec bat god and Mixtec jaguar god proving impotent against Spanish cannon, firesticks, and biological warfare. In May Spanish knight Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) is badly wounded in the legs by a cannonball in a battle against the French at Pamplona (Pampeluna), and undergoes a religious conversion at home in the castle of Loyola in N Spain (after receiving the last sacraments and claiming to see the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying the Infant Christ in her arms?), then vowing to lead a life of absolute chastity and devotion to her (perhaps the cannonball smashed more than two legs?); in 1522-4 he writes Exercitiae (Spiritual Exercises), getting him in trouble with the Inquisition for mysticism - the Roman Catholics produce their answer to Luther? In July Juan Ponce de Leon (b. 1460) dies in Havana, Cuba, having failed to capitalize on his royal patent to colonize Fla., although he introduces cattle and swine, which run wild in the swamps; after his death rumors circulate that he was searching in Fla. for the Fountain of Youth - there weren't enough wealthy swine-chomping Jewish senior citizens yet? On Aug. 28 after King Hieronymus of Hungary pleads in vain for Western aid against the advancing Ottoman hordes, and Charles V is too busy with the pesky Lutherans, the French and other imperial matters, Belgrade, "the key to Hungary" is conquered by the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman I, who makes big plans for further penetration of the degenerate West, beginning with Hapsburg lands along the Danube River. In Sept. the French, who had been supporting the communeros with designs on Navarre invade it along with the Low Countries, beginning the Italian (Four Years') War (ends 1526), the first of ? wars between HRE Charles V and Francis I of France until 1559; the French take Pampeluna and Fontarabia, after which uncrowned HRE Charles V's imperial forces reverse them and attack N France, then are stopped in turn on Nov. 19 by Pierre Terrail, Chevalier (Signeur) de Bayard (1473-1524) in C France at the Siege of Mezieres (Mézières); Charles V allies with England and the pope (who needs him to fight Martin Luther and his German princes), while Francis I allies with Venice; meanwhile Francis I's lavish livestyle of several thousand civil and personal servants, retinue, entertainments, construction and military adventures causes France to incur its first nat. debt and borrow money. On Oct. 11 Pope Leo X declares English king Henry VIII the Defender of the Faith (Fidei Defensor) for his June pub. Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (Defense of the Seven Sacraments) refuting Martin Luther, becoming the #1 anti-Lutheran polemic of the cent., going through 20 eds.; meanwhile on Dec. 1 Leo X (b. 1475) dies of a winter chill (after writing sometime in his career "It has served us well, this myth of Christ"?), allowing Francesco Maria I della Rovere to recover his duchy of Urbino; Martin Luther replies to Henry VIII in 1522 with the book Against Henry, King of the English (Contra Henricum Regem Anglie), causing Thomas More to reply to him in 1523 with the book Responsio ad Lutherum; meanwhile Martin Luther takes advantage of this plus Charles V's military diversion to initiate public worship in Germany, with liturgy in vernacular German, and to preach along with Ulrich von Hutten against Jakob Fugger for lobbying the papacy to drop the age-old medieval prohibition against charging interest on loans - a rare natural death for a Medici? On Oct. 25 HRE Charles V bans wooden bldgs. in Amsterdam. On Nov. 20 the Arabs blame a lack of water in Jerusalem on the Jews making wine. Greeeen-acres is the place for me? On Dec. 13 king (since Oct. 25, 1495) Manuel I the Fortunate (b. 1469) dies, and his son Joao (John) III (the Pious) (the Grocer) (1502-57) becomes king #15 of Portugal (until June 11, 1557) at the height of its grate powah, piously establishing the Inquisition in 1536 and riding it over the hump to the start of its downward slope, going on to preside over the colonization of Brazil, abandoning Muslim territories in North Africa in favor of trade with India and investment in Eurpe, improving trade relations with England, Flanders, and the Baltic and Rhineland regions, while securing a monopoly over the spice trade (cloves and nutmeg) from the Maluku Islands, gaining then nickname "the Grocer King"; during his reign the Portuguese become the first Euros to make with China (Ming Dynasty) and Japan (Muromachi Period); despite unleashing the Inquisition, he supports humanists incl. poet-playwright Gil Vicente (1465-1536), mathematician Pedro Nunes (1502-78), and physician Garcia de Orta (d'Orta) (1501-68); when he dies the Portuguese empire has reached 4M sq. km. (1B acres). Scottish bishop Gavin Douglas is exiled to England. Gustavus I Vasa resists Danish rule, and captures Stockholm from the Danes. Poland grants Duke Albrecht I of Prussia a 4-year truce in its war with his Teutonic Order, and the dispute is referred to HRE Charles V, while Albrecht continues war preparations. HRE Charles V grants his Roman Catholic brother Ferdinand Hapsburg (later HRE Ferdinand I) possessions and rights in Austria, making him gov. of the duchy of Wurttemberg to check the spread of the pesky Reformation; Ferdinand marries Anne of Hungary, sister of Louis II of Bohemia and Hungary, and daughter of Ladislas II of Hungary and Bohemia, while Ladislas II of Hungary marries Mary of Austria. Thomas More is knighted. Ascanian prince Wolfgang of Anhalt-Kothen (Anhalt-Köthen) (1492-1566) meets Martin Luther at the Diet of Augsburg, claims that "He gained my heart", and goes Lutheran, introducing the Reformation in Anhalt-Kothen in 152, and Anhalt-Bernburg in 1526, becoming the 2nd and 3rd countries after the electorate of Saxony to officially adopt Protestantism. Bartolome de las Casas tries unsuccessfully to found a peaceful settlement for natives at Cumana (Cumaná) on the Venezuelan coast, becoming the first Spanish city in South Am. The Portuguese allied with Hormuz invade and seize Bahrain from Jabrid ruler Migrin ibn Zamil (-1521), who is KIA; the Portuguese rule Bahrian until 1602. French lawyer Bartholomew Chassene defends some rats that had destroyed a barley crop, arguing that "evilly disposed cats" owned by the prosecutors had intimidated them from appearing in court, and demanding a cash guarantee; when the prosecution refuses, the case is dismissed. Spanish slaver Francisco de Gordillo and his buddy Pedro de Quejo explore the E coast of Ga. as far N as S.C. in search of fresh meat. Silk manufacture is introduced to France. The College of Sarbonne in Paris condemns a book by reformer (humanist) Roman Catholic theologian Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples (Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples) (1455-1536) rejecting the view of the Three Marys of the Gospels being the same person; in 1523 he pub. a French trans. of the New Testament, followed by the whole Bible in 1530, helping launch Protestantism and making a fan of William (Guillaume) (Guilhem) Farel (1489-1565), who becomes an evangelist and founds the Reformed Church in Switzerland; in 1525 the theology faculty of the U. of Paris forbids further translations of the Bible. Architecture: Chateau de Chenonceaux in the Loire Valley (begun 1513) is completed for royal tax collector Thomas Bohier; Francis I latches onto it in 1535. Science: Bologna surgery prof. Jacopo Berengario da Carpi pub. a Commentary on Mondino containing a number of anatomical discoveries, incl. the action of the cardiac valves, and the fact that the kidney is not simply a sieve; he coins the term "vas deferens". Nonfiction: Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Dell' Arte Della Guerra. John Major (1467-1550), Historia Majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae (Paris); De Gestis Scotorum (Paris); first major history of Scotland since Andrew of Wyntoun (1350-1425); written in Latin. Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), Loci Communes; pro-Lutheran. Piri Reis (1465-1554), Book of the Sea (Kitab-i Bahriye). Art: Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Madonna and Child with Saints; Christ Leaving His Mother in the Temple; San Bernardino Altarpiece. Il Parmigianino (1503-40), The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine and Christ; the work of an 18-y.-o. kid? Palma Vecchio (1480-1528), Adoration. Births: German Lutheran Albertine Wettin duke of Saxony (1541-7) and elector of Saxony (1547-53) Maurice (Moritz) I (d. 1553) on Mar. 21 in Freiberg; eldest son of Henry IV the Pious (1473-1541) and Katharina of Mecklenburg; elder brother of Augustus I (1526-86); cousin of Elector John Frederick I (1503-54). German Counter-Reformation Jesuit theologian ("the Second Apostle of Germany") (St.) Peter Canisius (Pieter de Hondt) (d. 1597) on May 8 in Nimwegen, Netherlands; first German to join the Jesuits (1543); canonized in 1925; feast day: Apr. 25. Italian duke of Parma and Piacenza #2 (1556-86) Ottavio Farnese (d. 1586) on Oct. 9 in Valentano; 2nd son of Pier-Luigi Farnese; grandson of Pope Paul III; brother of Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese (1530-65). Japanese warlord (daimyo) Takeda Shingen (d. 1573) on Dec. 1 in Kai Province. English queen consort (1540-1) Catherine Howard (d. 1542) (b. 1523?) in Lambeth, London; granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk, who is poor, causing her to be raised by her grandmother the duchess of Norfolk. English rebel Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (d. 1554) in Chatham, Kent; son of Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) father of the English sonnet. French La Pleiade poet-priest (bishop of Chalon-sur-Saone in 1578-94) Pontus de Tyard (Thyard) (Thiard) (d. 1605) in Bissy-sur-Fley, Burgundy; supporter of Henry III against the House of Guise. Deaths: Dutch composer Josquin des Pres (b. 1445) on Aug. 27 in Conde; composed 20+ masses. French-Flemish composer Josquin de Prez (b. 1450) on Aug. 27 in Conde-sur-l'Escaut (near Lille). German "Ship of Fools" author Sebastian Brant (b. 1457). English viceroy Sir Edward Poynings (b. 1459). Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon (b. 1460) in July in Havana. Florentine painter Piero di Cosimo (b. 1462). Portuguese king (1495-1521) Manuel I the Fortunate (b. 1469) on Dec. 13 in Lisbon. Italian pope (1513-21) Leo X Medici (b. 1475) on Dec. 1 in Rome. English traitor Edward Stafford, 3rd duke of Buckingham (b. 1478) (executed). Portuguese explorer-writer Duarte Barbosa (b. 1480) on May 1 in Cebu, Philippines; dies at the feast of Rajah Humabon; leaves The Book of Duarte Barbosa (1516?), an early example of Portuguese travel lit. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (b. 1480) on Apr. 27 in the Philippines; KIA with natives. Chinese Ming emperor #10 (1505-21) Zheng De (b. 1491) on Apr. 20.
1522 On Jan. 9 Adrian Florensz Boeyens Dedel of Utrecht, inquisitor (regent) of Spain and HRE Charles V's Catholic tutor is elected Pope (#218) Adrian (Hadrian) VI (1459-1523), becoming the last "barbarian pontiff" (retaining his baptismal name); all popes will be Italian after this until Polish-as-a-pickle John Paul II (1978); he proceeds to try to reform the unreformable, and is hampered by a bout of plague hitting Rome, getting it himself. On Feb. 7 the Treaty of Brussels is signed by HRE Charles V, splitting the Hapsburgs into Spanish and Austrian branches, and granting his brother Ferdinand yet more possessions in SW Germany and the Tirol. On Mar. 22 Henry VIII makes "Red" Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde (1467-1539) (cousin of Thomas Butler, 7th earl of Ormonde, who died childless in 1515, after which he seized the estates) his lord lt. of Ireland (until May 13, 1524); after up-and-coming Thomas Boleyn pulls strings, the king makes him give him his earldom in Feb. 1528 in return for being made earl of Ossory, and when the Boleyns fall he gets it back in Feb. 1538. On Apr. 2 Swiss ex-Catholic priest Ulrich Zwingli, past of the Great Church of Zurich celebrates his new freedom by reaching for the sky and marrying widow Anna Reinhard (1487-1538), with whom he had been living openly; too bad, his followers get arrested for taking his advice and eating meat during Lent, but he vigorously defends them, getting them off with a slap on the salami, which pisses off Pope Adrian VI, who bans him from the pulpit and asks the Zurich council to repudiate him as a heretic, esp. for calling on the bishop of Constance to allow allow priests to marry. On Apr. 24 Sir Thomas Boleyn (1477-1539), husband of Elizabeth Howard (1486-1539), daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk becomes treasurer of the king's household; about the same time his raven-haired daughter Anne Boleyn (1507-36) (who returned from the French court in 1521 to become Catherine of Aragon's lady-in-waiting) has a short fling with Henry Algernon Percy (1502-37), heir to the earldom of Northumblerland, but after her secret admirer Henry VIII sends him an offer he can't refuse, Percy gets the message and marries somebody else; meanwhile her sister Mary Boleyn (1499-1543) vies for Henry's affections, but by next year he falls head over heels for Anne, beginning the "King's Affair", enjoying kissing her pretty duckies, meanwhile discovering in a fractured reading of the Bible book of Leviticus (Ch. 18) that "If a man shall take his brother's wife... he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless", which he uses to justify the "great matter" of dumping his 40-y.-o. wife Catherine of Aragon, who never gave him a male heir, although she did give him a female child, Henry VIII's bloody Bible-damned Roman Catholic daughter Mary Tudor (1516-58), who is sent to live in Wales, the traditional home of the heir to the English throne (don't say prince of Wales). On May 6 uncrowned HRE Charles V visits Henry VIII, and on June 19 they sign the Treaty of Windsor, both agreeing to invade France; Charles returns on July 6, and on Aug. 27 with the help of Florence, Mantua and the papacy defeats the forces of Francis I at the Battle of the Biacocca, expelling the French from Milan and Lombardy; imperial troops then restore the Sforza and capture Genoa, causing pissed-off Genoese soldier of fortune Andrea Doria (1468-1560) to enter the service of Francis I to help restore French rule, fighting the fleet of Charles V (until 1528); HRE Charles IV makes Massimiliano's brother Francesco Maria Sforza (Francesco II Sforza) (1495-1535) ruler of Milan. In the summer 200K Ottomans with 400 ships under Suleiman I the Magnificent take the Dodecanese, and siege the Hospitaler stronghold of Rhodes, held by the Knights of Rhodes (St. John) (Hospitalers) since 1309, tunneling under the walls and setting off explosions until they could take the city with hand-to-hand fighting, but only after Venetian engineer Tadini (Tadino) holds them off for months with clever subterranean alarms; the Knights of Rhodes surrender on Christmas Eve (Dec. 21?), and are granted safe passage to look for a new home, ending up in Malta in 1530, whose walls are built on stone that can't be undermined, with the remaining citizens given exemption from conscription and taxation for five years, and Tadini (who was shot in the eye, keeping him from scaling the walls to see the best way to bombard the enemy, helping them win) allowed to leave;, going to Genoa to fight the invading Turks a 2nd time, losing again; the Turks control the Dodecanese until 1912. On Sept. 6 the first circumnavigation of the Earth (not circumcision?) is completed by the remnant of Magellan's crew under Juan Sebastian de Elcano (del Cano) (1476-1526) in the Vittorio; only 18 of the original 237 Europeans who set out in 1519 return (along with 3-4 Indonesians), bringing plumes from the Bird of Paradise of bird-shaped New Guinea; the spice cargo barely pays the expenses; Charles I presents de Elcano with a coat of arms containing a globe and the legend "You Went Around Me First"; later 17 more men arrive in Spain, incl. 12 captured by the Portuguese in Cape Verde, and five survivors of the Trinidad between 1525-7. On Oct. 15 HRE Charles V names Hernando Cortes as gov. and capt-gen. of New Spain (Mexico), and he gets right to work enslaving the garbage people, er, natives and distributing them to encomiendas (slave plantations) run by his men. The Fourth Russian-Lithuanian War (begun 1512) ends with Lithuania ceding about a quarter of its Ruthenian possessions to Russia, incl. Smolensk, with the Dnieper River established as their new border. Duke William IV of Bavaria-Munich, who had started out sympathetic to the Reformation then flip-flopped issues Bavaria's first religious edict, banning promulgation of Luther's works. The Knights' War (Revolt) (Poor Barons' Rebellion) (ends May 7, 1523) begins in SW Germany when the Protestant imperial princes, led by "the Last Knight" Franz von Sickingen (1481-1523) and "Humanist Knight" Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) form a fraternal assoc. in Franconia and the Rhineland against the bishops of Bamberg and Wurzburg and papal influence in Germany in favor of unification of all German-speaking lands, secularization of all church principalities and estates, and establishment of a "nobleman's democracy headed by a monarch", then attack the lands of the archbishop of Trier; they try to use Martin Luther's name but he declines, then in the fall unsuccessfully siege the archiepiscopal city of Trier, run by archbishop Richard Greiffenklau for seven days before running out of gunpowder, and retreat to Ebernberg, and Sickingen has a ban placed on him on Oct. 22 by the imperial regency council - they can't be a Toys R' Us kid anymore? HRE Charles V doesn't take any chances and introduces the Spanish Inquisition to the Netherlands - I like to chill? The First Diet of Nuremberg is visited by Duke Albrecht I of Prussia, who uses the photo opp to lobby for allies in his war against the Poles; too bad for the whole Holy Roman Empire, he meets Lutheran rock-me-through-the-night theologian Andreas Osiander (1498-1552), who gets converted to Protestantism and then converts him, causing Albrecht to travel to Wittenberg to meet Martin Luther, who advises him to junk the Teutonic Order, get married (to a woman instead of his hand?), and convert Prussia into a hereditary Protestant duchy; he goes for it, getting the Teutonic Knights to secularize, repudiate allegiance to Rome, and throw their support behind Luther, but he has to play cagey with Pope Adrian VI at first, pretending he's actually trying to punish knights himself who convert to Protestantism, while having Luther send carpetbagging missionaries all over Prussia to prepare the way by doing the converting? After the O'Neill clan led by Conn O'Neill ally with Munster and Connacht along with the MacDonnells of Antrim and English and devastate Tyrconnell, taking the castle of Ballyshannon, the Battle of Knockavoe (Cnoc-Buidhbh) near Knockavoe (near Strabane), County Tyrone, Ireland sees the O'Donnell clan led by Hugh Dubh O'Donnell (-1618) and his older brother Manus O'Donnell (sons of Sir Hugh Dubh O'Donnell) stage a surprise night attack on the camp of the O'Neills, killing 900 and taking an immense booty. Cortes strikes N from Mexico City and subdues the Panuco (Pánuco) River region; meanwhile Cortes' Zaragoza-born lt. Cristobal de Olid (1492-1524) strikes S from Mexico City and subdues Colima (Nahuatl "colli" + "maitl" = "ancestors or gods" + "domain of") and part of Jalisco (Nahuatl "sandy plain"); meanwhile Spaniards settle in Michoacan (Nahuatal "place of the fishermen") after the Tarascan (Purepecha) pop. allies with Cortes (1522-4); the Tarascans are later rewarded with craft-oriented villages (wood, copper, cloth, clay). Cortes' lt. Pedro de Alvarado subdues Tehuantepec. The first of many large scale slave revolts (11 in the next 31 years) is crushed in Hispaniola. Gil Gonzalez Davila (Dávila) (de Avila) (-1543) and Andres Nino (Niño) (-1532) begin a combined land-sea expedition W from the Isthmus of Panama; Davila conquers the area around the Gulf of Nicoya and Lake Nicaragua, while Nino discovers the Gulf of Fonseca (Ampala), AKA the Bay of Conchagua (fronting El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua), in which the island of Ampala, the Pacific port of Honduras is later located. Pascual de Andagoya (1495-1548) leads a land expedition from Panama, and becomes the first Spaniard to set foot in Biru (Peru), where he learns of the fabled rich and powerful Inca Empire, but ill health forces him to return. Francisco Montana ascends Mt. Popocatepetl (Aztec "smoking mountain") in Mexico. The Portuguese arrive in Madras, India, and built the port of Sao Tome, named after St. Thomas, whom they believe preached in the area in 52-70 C.E. Gustavus I Vasa becomes admin. (regent) of Sweden, and pledges to free it from Danish control. The town of Ruzhinoy (Ruzhany) on the Ruzhanka River in Belarus (27 mi. NE of Pruzhany) is first mentioned, becoming the home of Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir and other famous Jews. Michele de Nostredame (Nostradamus) begins studying medicine in Montpellier, France, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 1525, getting a medical license and going out into the countryside to help plague victims. Timurid miniature painter Bihzad (Behzad) of Herat, is brought by Shah Isma'il from Herat to Tabriz, and appointed dir. of the royal library, where he founds an artistic school known for fine Persian ms. illustrations - all them pinks and blues and gold backgrounds? Two Christian brothers in Ottoman Egypt, Kyrmidoles and Gabriel are taken to the emir by an angry Muslim mob, ordered to convert to Islam, and then killed after they refuse. Inventions: German painter Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) designs a flying machine for use in war - you drive? Nonfiction: Alessandro Alessandri (1461-1523), Dies Geniales; a nonsequential encyclopedia. Hector Boece (1465-1536), Lives of the Bishops of Murtlack and Aberdeen. Jacopo Berengario da Carpi (1460-1530), Isagogae Breves; replaces the work of his teacher Mondino de Liuzzi. Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros (1436-1517) (ed.), The Complutensian Polyglot Bible; first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, with parallel columns in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Aramaic; a whopping 600 copies are printed, 123 of which survive to modern times. Martin Luther (1483-1546), German Trans. of the New Testament; "a Bible for the masses"; he returns to Wittenberg, where printer Hans Lufft (1495-1584) prints 100K copies in the next 40 years; the complete Bible with the Old Testament is pub. in 1534; he also pub. Ennarationes Epistolarum et Evangeliorum quas Postillas Vocant Postils (Christmas Postils). Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), De Septem Secundeis (On the Seven Secondary Spirits Moving the Orbs); German Benedictine ' monk predicts the future to the year 1789. Art: Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), St. Catherine - no Parmigianino - but it's not bad for the kids' room? Francesco Parmigianino (1503-40), Frescoes in the Palma Cathedral. Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531), Tomb of Archbishop Lorenz (Warzburg Cathedral). Titian (1477-1576), Duke Alfonso I d'Este; The Resurrection Altar. Poetry: Henry VIII (1491-1547), Green Groweth the Holly; Mexicans hearing Anglos singing it in the 1800s began calling them "gringos"? John Skelton (1460-1529), Colin Clout; Why Come Yet Not to Courte?; clerical satires against Cardinal Wolsey. Births: French duke Charles d'Angouleme, Duke of Orleans (d. 1545) on Jan. 22; 3rd (favorite) son of Francis I and Claude de France (daughter of Louis XII). German Franconian Hohenzollern margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1527-53) Albert II Alcibiades (the Warlike) (d. 1557)K on Mar. 28 in Ansbach. Italian naturalist ("Father of Natural History Studies") Ulisse (Ulissi) (Ulysses) Aldrovandi (d. 1605) (AKA Aldrovandus) on Sept. 11 in Bologna; prof. of natural history at the U. of Bologna; writes the first book on fishes that doesn't lump them with other aquatic forms; founder of the first botanical garden in Europe (Bologna). Dutch (Flemish) statesman-gen. Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Prince of Gavre (d. 1568) on Nov. 18 in Hainault. French gov. of the Netherlands (1559-67) duchess Margaret of Parma (d. 1586) on Dec. 28; illegitimate daughter of HRE Charles V and a Fleming mother; wife of Duke Ottavio Farnese of Parma; mother of Alexander Farnese (1545-92). Spanish duchess of Florence (1539-62) and breed mare Eleanor of Toledo (Leonor Alvarez de Toledy y Osorio) (d. 1562) in Alba de Tormes, Salamanca; wife of Cosimo I de'Medici; the first modern lady-consort; mother of Maria de'Medici, Grand Duke Francesco I of Tuscany, Duchess Isabella of Bracciano, Cardinal Giovanni de'Medici, Duchess Lucrezia of Modena, Pietro de'Medici, Garzia de'Medici, Grand Duke Ferdinando I of Tuscany, Anna de'Medici, and Pietro de'Medici. Italian mathematician Ferrari (d. 1565). Dutch (Walloon) "Belgic Confession" Calvinist theologian Guido de Bres (Bray) (d. 1567) in Mons (modern-day Belgium); starts out as a glass painter. Flemish (Dutch) painter Pieter "Peasant" Brueghel the Elder (d. 1569); father of Pieter "Hell" Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638) and Jan "Velvet" Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). Italian painter Bernardino Campi (d. 1590) in Cremona; studies with Giulio Campi and imitates Titian's style. Dutch poet-dramatist-writer Dirck (Dirk) Volkertszoon Coornhert (d. 1590) in Amsterdam. French humanist jurist Jacques (de) Cujas (Cujacius) (d. 1590) in Toulouse. French painter Jean Cousin (d. 1594). English humanist mathematician-writer Thomas Blundeville (d. 1606) in Newton Flotman, Norfolk; educated at Gresham College. Bolognese painter Lavinia Fontana (d. 1614). Deaths: Spanish scholar Antonio de Nebrija (b. 1444). Italian sculptor-architect Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (b. 1447) on Aug. 27/28 in Milan. German humanist scholar Johann Reuchlin (b. 1455) on June 30; excommunicated by Pope Leo X in 1520. English patriarch Sir John Spencer (b. 1455) on Apr. 14. French regent Anne of Beaujeu (b. 1461) - Angelina Jolie 500 years ahead? English playwright Henry Medwall (b. 1462). Spanish gen. Ramon de Cardona (b. 1467) on Mar. 10 in Naples, Italy; a Renaissance cenotaph is built for him in his hometown of Bellpuig. English grammarian William Lilye (b. 1468) on Feb. 25 in London (plague). Italian scholar Cosentius (b. 1470). Scottish poet and bishop of Dunkeld Gavin Douglas (b. 1476) of the plague while in exile in England.
1523 On Jan. 1 the Hospitalers are allowed by the Ottomans to leave Rhodes. In Jan. Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) appears before the Great Council of Zurich to defend himself against charges of heresy, and he soapboxes bigtime and slams Church dogmas, image, relic, and saint worship, clerical celibacy, and the Mass; the Great Council is impressed, and withdraws the canton of Zurich from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Constance, and confirms its previous ban against preaching not founded on the Bible, which amounts to an official adoption of the Protestant Reformation; Zwingli goes on to turn Zurich into a theocracy ruled by him and a Christian magistrate, converting monasteries into hospitals, and eliminating Catholic Mass and confession, teaching that true Christians don't need some turkey and some mistletoe, er, the pope and the Roman Catholic Church? In the spring Franz von Sickingen (b. 1481) plunders Kaiserslauten, causing the rulers of Trier, Hesse, and the Palatinate, with help from the Swabian League to march on Landstuhl, sieging him in his castle, which he had thought impregnable until artillery are used (one of the first times in Euro history); on May 6 he is mortally wounded, and croaks on May 7, after which his castle is razed, ending the Knights' War (begun 1522), along with the power of German knighthood, after which most of the rebellion's supporters have their castles confiscated, causing the bankrupt knights to overtax their peasants, and all to quit paying church tithes, fomenting the Peasants' Revolt next year; meanwhile Ulrich von Hutten goes to Zurich to meet with Zwingli, then to Basel to try to talk Erasmus of Rotterdam to side with the Reformation, but he refuses to see him, and he dies of his 15-y.-o. syphilis on Ufenau Isle on Lake Zurich on Aug. 29. On June 6 after the Danes surrender, Gustav (Gustavus) I Eriksson Vasa (Wasa) (1496-1560) is elected king of Sweden (until Sept. 29, 1560), establishing the Vasa Dynasty (ends 1672), which takes Sweden and Finland (a province of Sweden) Lutheran; Christian II of Denmark is deposed and exiled by his nobles, and his uncle the duke of Schleswig-Holstein becomes Frederick I (1471-1533) of Denmark and Norway (until Apr 10, 1533); he never visits Denmark or learns to speak Danish, and is never actually crowned king of Norway although elected? The pope who excommunicates Henry VIII very clemently is VII instead of VIII? On Sept. 14 Pope (since 1522) Adrian VI (b. 1459) dies, and on Nov. 19 Giulio de' Medici, nephew of Lorenzo II de' Medici is elected Pope (#219) Clement VII (1478-1534), known for wearing a beard - now that the Roman Church is under attack, the Man better be a good ole billy-bob-boy from back home? Russia annexes Novgorod-Seversk (Novhorod-Siverskyi). Thomas More becomes speaker of the English House of Commons; low-born Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540), former soldier in the French army who returned to England around 1510 to become a moneylender and ended up as the confidential business mgr. of Cardinal Wolsey gets the latter's help to become an MP, beginning his rise. Duke Charles of Bourbon, tired of Francis I's attempt to claim Bourbon from him, and incurring the enmity of Francis' mother Louise of Savoy, flees the country, and next year renounces France and joins up with HRE Charles V, making a private alliance with him and Henry VIII of England to conquer and partition France; either before or after that, he is deprived of his estates and perquisites as constable of France; the province of Bourbonnais is annexed to the crown (until 1661). Wurtenburg goes Lutheran, as does Strasbourg, France, known for its pate de foie gras; Martin Luther returns to Wittenberg and introduces public worship with liturgy and communion in German in Electoral Saxony and Hesse; meanwhile the diversion of the HRE by his war with France allows the Protestant movement to spread fast. Mori Motonari (1497-1571) becomes head of the Mori clan in Japan. Jewish mystery man (a swarthy dwarf in Oriental costume with Messianic claims) David Reubeni (Reuveni) (1490-1541) visits Jerusalem, claiming to be the Messiah, a prince of a remote Jewish kingdom that is the home of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, claiming he came to remove a stone from a pagan temple placed into the Western Wall of the Temple Mount by rebel Jeroboam during the reign of King Solomon, not realizing that the wall was built by Herod the Great, causing Jews to jeer him until he leaves, after which he turns up in Italy claiming to be King David; in Nov. 1525 after presenting a letter of recommendation from Pope Clement VI, he meets with King John III the Pious of Portugal in Almeirim, claiming that he is the son of dead King Suleiman of Habor, which has 300K Israelite subjects, seeking an alliance between Christians and Jews against the Muslims, which he finds hard to stomach since he is busy persecuting suspected Marranos (fake Jewish converts to Roman Catholicism), but agrees to grant him eight ships with 4K cannon; too bad, 5 mo. later after some conversos stage a revolt near Badajoz, the king asks him to leave his kingdom, and he heads for the papal court in Avignon, followed by Bologna then Ratisbon (Regensburg), where he is put in chains and taken to HRE Charles V in Mantua, who hands him over to the Inquisition for extra crispy. HRE Charles V makes Ferdinand II of Aragon's widow Germaine de Foix and her new hubby (since 1519) margrave Johann of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1493-1525) joint viceroys of Valencia, who bring Castilian Spanish with them, downgrading the local Catalan dialect; she goes on to end the Revolt of the Brotherhoods (begun 1519), signing 100 death warrants, with 700 more executions performed; in Dec. 1524 she signs a gen. pardon but imposes big fines; on July 5, 1525 Johann dies, and Germaine marries Neapolitan prince Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (1488-1550). Portuguese settlers are expelled from China. Pedro de Alvarado conquers the Mayan Quiche (Quiché) tribe, based in the fortified city of Utatlan, along with the Cakchiquel (Kaqchikel) tribe in Guatemala. The Indians in the Panuco River region in N Mexico revolt, and are suppressed by Cortes' lt.; Cortes' men begin the subjugation of Chiapas (ends 1528). Gil Gonzalez Davila obtains a license to continue his exploration, and returns to Central Am. by way of Honduras. Portuguese sailor Simao de Abreu discovers Celebes (Sulawesi) in the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia E of Borneo, followed in 1525 by Gomes de Sequira; a base is established in Makassar, which is taken by the Dutch in 1665 after arriving in 1605. Ignatius Loyola vists the holy sites of Jerusalem, but finds them too dangerous to stay long, so he returns to Barcelona to pursue a univ. education. Sugar is first grown in Cuba. By this year four out of every five books pub. in Germany are pro-Reformation. Inventions: The first marine insurance policies are issued in Florence. Nonfiction: Jean Froissart (1337-1410), Chronicles, Part One; trans. by John Bourchier, Lord Berners; covers the years 1322-1400 (first half of the Hundred Years' War). Anthony Fitzherbert, Book of Husbandry; first English manual of agriculture. Hans Judenkunig of Vienna (1450-1526), Manual of Lute Playing (first ever). Art: Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), An Unknown Man; Hans Imhof. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Master Marsilio and His Wife; Miracles of St. Clare of Assisi. Il Perugino (1446-1523), The Adoration of the Shepherds. Veit Stoss (1445-1533), Altar of Maria (Bamberg Cathedral). Titian (1477-1576), St. Christopher Carrying the Infant Christ (Doge's Palace, Venice); Entombment of Christ. Poetry: Hans Sachs (1494-1576), Die Wittenbergische Nachtigall; pro-Luther verse allegory. John Skelton (1460-1529), A Goodly Garland, or Chapelet of Laurell. Births: French king (1589-90) cardinal (1548-) Charles X of Bourbon (d. 1590) on Sept. 22 in La-Ferte-sous-Jouarre, Seine-et-Marne; 8th child of Charles IV de Bourbon and Francoise d'Alencon. Italian anatomist Gabriello Fallopio (Fallopius) (d. 1562) in Modena; pupil of Vesalius; discoverer of the Fallopian tubes and the semicircular canals of the ear, and namer of choice body parts incl. the vagina, placenta, and clitoris; leaves the study for the priesthood at Modena to study medicine. English statesman Sir Walter Mildmay (d. 1589) in Moulsham, Essex; son of Thomas Mildmay of Chelmsford (1515-66); educated at Christ's College, Cambridge U.; chancellor of the exchequer (1566-89). Deaths: Italian painter Luca Signorelli (b. 1441). German artist Thomas Burgkmair (b. 1444). Italian painter Il Perugino (Pietro Vannucci) (b. 1446). Italian wood engraver Ugo da Carpi (b. 1455). French artist Gerard David (b. 1460). German sculptor Adolf Daucher (b. 1460). Italian scholar Alessandro Alessandri (b. 1461). Chinese artist Tang Yin (b. 1470). German knight Franz von Sickingen (b. 1481) on May 7 in Landstuhl (KIA). German humanist Ulrich von Hutten (b. 1488) on Aug. 29 in Ulfenau Island, Lake Zurich (syphilis).
1524 On Jan. 1 20K abandon their homes in London after Bible Millennium Fever prophets use a 1499 pub. of a Tubingen, Germany mathematician about a planetary alignment to predict a flood which never happens; another prophet predicts Feb. 20 based on another planetary alignment in the constellation Pisces, but it's a no-show also. The Great German Peasants' Revolt (War) (ends May 15, 1525) against their lords in Thuringia (Swabia and Franconia in S Germany), led by Thomas Muntzer (Müntzer) (Munzer) (1489-1525), Florian Geyer of Giebelstadt (1490-1525), and Michael Gaismair (1490-1532) begins, fueled by the writings of Martin Luther (1483-1546), who thinks that if he can take on the pope and Church he can also challenge the socioeconomic inequalities of German feudalism, and pub. the Twelve Articles; too bad, he soon turns against them, and pub. the virulent pamphlet Against the Murdering and Thieving Hordes of Peasants, calling for their extermination, and looses on them landgrave Philip I the Magnanimous of Hesse (1504-67), who met Luther at the 1521 Diet of Worms then went Lutheran this year after a personal meeting with Philipp Melanchthon (no wonder that the Communists later decide to junk all of Christianity?); meanwhile (well-named?) German bookbinder Hans Nut (-1527) predicts the Second Coming of Christ exactly 3.5 years after the start of the Peasant's Revolt, which will be the start of 1K years of free food, love, and sex, then claims that he is the Messiah and gathers a following; too bad, he is killed during a prison escape in 1527. On Mar. 10 Henry VIII has a jousting accident which causes him to start leading a sedentary life without giving up his hearty eating habits - it's that lower belly fat that's a killer? On Mar. 1 Italian Florentine explorer (sailing under the French flag) Giovanni da Verrazano (Verrazzano) (1485-1527), sent by Francis I of France to explore the North Am. coast between Fla. and Newfoundland in hopes of finding a passage to the Pacific Ocean lands near Cape Fear, N.C.; on Apr. 17 after sailing S along the S.C. coast, turning N, discovering the Outer Banks of N.C. (thinking that it splits North Am. in two with the "Sea of Verrazano"), then missing Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River, he discovers the mouth of the Hudson River and New York Bay, and anchors in the Narrows of New York Harbor between Staten Island and Long Island (home of the Manhasset, Shinnecock, Patchogue, and Montauk Indians), where a party of Lenape arrive in a canoe "clad with fowl feathers of diverse feathers. They came towards us very cheerfully, making great shouts of admiration, showing us where we might come to land most safely with our boat"; thinking that the Hudson River is a freshwater lake, he follows the S coast of Long Island past Block Island Sound, then records an island about the size of Rhodes (Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay near modern-day Newport?), where he meets "two kings more beautiful in form and stature than can possibly be described" (Massasoit's great-grandfather?); he then heads to the coast of Maine, then Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, then back to France - the first wop-dago in New York Harbor, and in a stolen vehicle? On Apr. 9 Vasco da Gama begins his Third Voyage to India, and dies in Cochin, India on Dec. 24. On May 13-14 Gov. Hernan Cortes of New Spain receives the Twelve Apostles of Mexico, Franciscan missionaries who begin mass Christianization of their captive audience - bam, and the dirt is gone? On May 23 Shah Ismail I (b. 1487) dies in Tabriz, and his 10-y.-o. son Tahmasp I (1514-76) becomes Safavid shah of Persia (until 1576), letting the pesky Qizilbash Turkoman tribeman run riot until he can attain the age of majority and put them in their place. On Sept. 1 the Treaty of Malmo (Malmö) is signed by Denmark, confirming the independence of Sweden under Gustavus I. In Aug. after the French under Protestant soldier Gideon Bonnivert invade Italy, and turncoat Frenchman Duke Charles of Bourbon helps HRE Charles V drive them out of Italy, leading the imperial army into Provence, they unsuccessfully siege Marseille; meanwhile Chevalier de Bayard (b. 1473) is mortally wounded, and dies on Apr. 30 in Romagnano Sesia, Italy. The Protestant princes of Germany get together at Ulm and take on HRE Charles V, causing his younger brother Ferdinand of Austria (to whom he entrusted the govt. of Germany in 1522) to form an alliance with the two dukes of Bavaria (William IV and Louis X) and the bishops of S Germany to stop the Satanic Protestant Reformation, which the Bavarian dukes have been suppressing since 1522; older duke William IV becomes a main leader of the Counter-Reformation, but since his younger brother Louis X claims the throne of Bohemia, he opposes the Hapsburgs (until 1534). The Second Diet of Nuremberg convenes to contine the work of the First Diet of 1522; the League of Catholic Princes is formed in Ratisbon. Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk dies, and his son Sir Thomas Howard becomes the 3rd duke of Norfolk, going on to become the #1 peer in England, picking the winning side in the Henry VIII divorce fight; his 7-y.-o. son Henry Howard (1516-47) (1st cousin of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) becomes earl of Surrey, going on to receive a classical ed. in the English and French courts and becoming a poet and sonnet lover. Pedro de Alvarado founds the city of Guatemala City (modern-day pop. 2.9M) at the base of the Volcan del Agua ("Volcano of Water") (a volcano with a water-filled crater) in Valle de la Ermita (Hermitage Valley) as the capital of the Spanish capt.-generalcy of Guatemala, which incl. most of Central Am.; it becomes the capital of Guatemala in 1776. Panama gov. Pedro Arias de Avila sends Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba (Córdoba) (1475-1526) to conquer Nicaragua, with help from Hernan Cortes and Hernan Ponce de Leon, and he founds Granada in Nicaragua (first Euro city in Central Am.), followed by Leon. Cortes sends Cristobal de Olid to conquer and settle Honduras, but he goes rebel and is killed by one of Cortes' lts.; Cortes then personally leads an expedition and founds Trujillo,_Honduras on Trujillo Bay in NE Honduras before returning to Mexico City. Would-be conquistador stud of all time, middle-aged, illiterate but cagey Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541) under Avila's authority leads the first of two expeditions, along with Panama resident (since 1514) Diego de Almagro the Elder (1475-1538) to explore the Pacific coast S of Panama, which is rumored to contain gold (ends 1525). At the direction of HRE Charles V, Spanish scholar-diplomat count palatine Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526) is made abbot of Jamaica by Pope Clement VII, and orders the construction of the first stone church there, although he never visits it. South Am. turkey is served for the first time at the English court - too much dark meat? Architecture: Square 28m-long 3-story Chateau d'If on If Island 1 mi. offshore in the Bay of Marseille is begun by Francis I (finished 1531) after a 1516 visit, pissing-off Marseille, whose 1481 annexation deal gave them the right to provide for their own defense. Nonfiction: Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), Cosmographicus Liber; work on astronomy and navigation that becomes popular throughout Europe until the end of the cent., and makes him a favorite of HRE Charles V, who showers him with titles and gold. Pope Clement VII (1478-1534), Poison Trials on Condemned Criminals; poison trials conducted on three condemned criminals, touting the antidote oil of Gregorio Caravita. Piston-pumping porno is born in Romo? I Sedici Modi (The 16 Sexual Positions) is pub. by Raphael's chief pupil Giuliano Romano (1492-1546), with engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi (1475-1534); Pietro Aretino (1492-1556) writes 16 Sonnets to accompany them; becomes one of the most notorious works of erotic art after it pisses-off Pope Clement VII, who has Raimondi clapped in the Vatican prison, causing Romano to flee, after which the Medicis intervene, and Aretino and Raimondi are expelled from Rome; the drawings of copulating couples in acrobatic "Aretinian postures" were originally drawn on the walls of the Vatican by Romano to get even with the pope for being late in paying him for other work, and Raimondi makes copper plates of them, prints them and circulates them among the upper class in Rome; the sonnets aren't written until Aretino is expelled from Rome, creating modern porno with its depiction of women as greedy for sex, and using bald words like cazzo (prick), potta (cunt), culo (ass), and fottere (fuck) to shock and excite, while trying to justify it as okay by blaming the clergy for centuries of sexual repression of the people, and portraying them as totally corrupt anyway (IOW let's all do it like the clergy); late in the year Romano accepts an invitation from Duke Federigo Gonzaga of Mantua to help drain the marshes, build flood fortifications along the Po and Mincio Rivers, and restore and adorn the Palazzo del Te, ducal palace and other bldgs.; Raimondi is allowed to return after several months of sniveling. London printer Jan Wynkyn de Worde pub. a trans. of Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Romanorum (Historia Danica) (containing the source of the story of Amleth or Hamlet), as well as Robert Wakefield's Oratio, in which italic type is used for the first time in England. Music: Johann Walther (1496-1570) and Martin Luther (1483-1546), Geystlick Gesangk-Buchleyn (hymnal). Art: Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Judgment of Paris. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Willibald Pirckheimer; Hieronymus Holzschuher - he's giving you that look you pretend isn't bothering you? Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), The Legend of St. Barbara (Trescore). Il Parmigianino (1503-40), Self-Portrait. Births: Ottoman sultan #11 (1566-74) (blonde) Selim II (the Yellow) (the Sot) (d. 1574) on May 28; son of Suleiman I the Magnificent (1520-66) and Roxelana (Hurrem). German-Swiss theologian and physician Thomas Erastus (Liber) (Lieber) (Liebler) (Lieber) (d. 1583) on Sept. 7 in Baden, Aargau; Erastus is Latin for beloved or lovely; argues that the sins of Christians should be punished by the state not the church, causing enthusiasts to go too far and conclude that the state should be supreme in all church matters? French humanist Pleiade poet (deaf) (cat hater?) ("Prince of Poets") Pierre de Ronsard (d. 1585) on Sept. 11 in Couture-sur-Loir, Loir-et-Cher; court poet of Charles IX. Spanish diplomat-administrator (Jewish) Don Joseph Nasi (Nassi) (Joao Miquez) (d. 1579); nephew of Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi (1510-69); escapes to Portugal, then Antwerp, France, Venice, and Constantinople in 1554, one step ahead of the Inquisition, and gets in good with the sultans; educated at the U. of Louvain. English Bible scholar (Protestant) William Whittingham (d. 1579); educated at Brasenose College, Oxford U. Portuguese #1 epic-lyric poet Luis Vaz de Camoes (Camões) (Camoens) (Camoëns) (d. 1580) (b. 1525?) in Lisbon; has an unhappy love affair at the royal court, loses an eye in N Africa (1547-9), and holds a civil service job in India (1553-69). English horticulturist Thomas Tusser (d. 1580). English "The Arte of Rhetorique", "Logique" rhetorician-diplomat-judge secy. of state (of Elizabeth I) (1577-81) Sir Thomas Wilson (d. 1581). Italian painter-architect Antonio Campi (d. 1587) in Cremona; imitator of the style of Correggio. Spanish gov. of Puerto Rico (1579) Juan Ponce de Leon II (d. 1591) in San Juan, Puerto Rico; son of Juan Ponce de Leon (1460-1521). French marshal (1577-) Armand de Gontaut, Baron de Biron (d. 1592); father of Charles de Gontaut (1562-1602). Swiss Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation leader Ludwig Pfyffer (d. 1594) in Lucerne. English MP Peter Wentworth (d. 1596); son of Sir Nicholas Wentworth (-1557); brother of Paul Wentworth (1533-93); father of Thomas Wentworth (1568-1628). English "A Survey of London" historian-antiquarian John Stow (Stowe) (d. 1605) in St. Michael, Cornhill, London. Flemish Renaissance sculptor Giovanni da Bologna (Jean Bologne) (Jean Boullongne) (d. 1608) in Douai; pupil of Michelangelo. French celeb Martin Guerre (Daguerre) (d. ?) in Hendaye; grows up in Artigat; husband (1538) of Bertrande de Rois. Deaths: English soldier Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk (b. 1443). Croatian humanist poet Marko Marulic (b. 1450) on Jan. 5 in Split. Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama (b. 1460) on Dec. 24 in Cochin, India (malaria); his male line goes extinct in 1747. English physician Thomas Linacre (b. 1460). German painter Hans Holbein the Elder (b. 1465). Spanish conquistdor Diego Velazquez de Cuellar (b. 1465) on June 12 in Santiago de Cuba. Papal mistress Giulia Farnese (b. 1474). French military hero (the last medieval knight) Pierre Terrail, Signeur de Bayard (b. 1473) on Apr. 30 in Romagnano Sesia, Italy. Italian painter Gian Giacomo Caprotti (b. 1480) on Jan. 19 in Milan; inherited Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and "The Infant St. John the Baptist". Persian Safavid shah #1 (1502-24) Ismail I (b. 1487) on May 23 in Tabriz. French queen Claude (b. 1499) on Oct. 20; her death frees Francis I to go hog wild and end up dying of syphilis in 1547?; the walnut-sized Claude (greengage) plum is named after her. Spanish Renaissance sculptor Vasco de la Zarza (b. ?).
1525 On Jan. 2 after the radical Anabaptists challenge Zwingli's rule in Zurich, they are defeated in a disputation before the Great Council, and its leaders banished, gathering a peasant army which overruns Lorraine, until Claude of Lorraine, 1st Duke of Guise (1496-1550) destroys them in Lupstein (near Saverne), for which he is created the 1st duke of Guise in 1528 by Francis I when he returns from captivity, becoming the first non-prince of the royal house to hold the title, after which the Guises, who are descendants of the House of Anjou claim precedence over the Bourbon princes of Conde and Conti. On Jan. 21 after forcing his childless wife Solomoniya Saburova to become a nun, Russian tsar Vasili III marries bodaceous babe Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (1510-38), who bears sons Ivan IV the Terrble (1530-84) and Prince Yuri (1532-63) - time to trade-in a forty for two twenties? On Apr. 8 after two years of secret negotiations, the Treaty of Cracow (Krakow) between Albrecht I Hohenzollern of Brandenburg (1490-1568) of Prussia and Sigismund I the Old (Zygmunt I Stary) of Poland makes Prussia a hereditary duchy and Polish fiefdom for Albrecht and his brothers (AKA the Prussian Tribute); on July 6 Duke Albrecht (grandmaster of the Teutonic Order since 1511) announces his conversion to you-should-have-heard-what-I-seen Lutheranism, disavows the supremacy of the pope, declares Lutheranism the state religion of Prussia, making it the first Euro Lutheran state, dissolves the Teutonic Order and converts its land into a secular duchy (fief of the Hohenzollerns under the Polish crown) in East Prussia with himself as duke #1, and of course confiscates Church property to help with his finances and pay off any uppity nobles; he marries Dorothea (-1547), daughter of Frederick I of Denmark, and makes Konigsberg the capital of East Prussia, turning it into a Lutheran cultural center; later the district passes by inheritance to the elder branch of the House of Hohenzollern, which has ruled Brandenburg since 1415; the Teutonic Knights don't all go with the program, and on Dec. 16, 1526 Walter von Cronberg (1477-1545) is elected as grandmaster #38 (until 1543), receiving Prussia as his fief at the imperial diet in Augsburg after Albrecht refuses a summons; too bad, with all the wars going on (with the Protestants, peasants and Turks) the imperial ban never gets enforced, and Albrecht slides by; in modern times the HQ of the Teutonic Knights is listed as Singerstrasse in Vienna. The greatest French defeat since Agincourt, and it comes down to power tools? On Feb. 24 (a.m.) after imperial troops under Francesco Maria I della Rovere invade S France, and Francis I crosses Mt. Cenis pass and recaptures Milan, 23.5K French and Swiss troops (incl. 6.5K cavalry) are decisively defeated by the 23K-man German-Spanish army (incl. 4K cavalry) of HRE Charles V, led by Constable Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (1490-1527) and Naples-born Fernando Francesco de Avalos (Davalos), Marquis of Pescara (1489-1525) at the 4-hour Battle of Pavia outside the city walls at the Mirabello hunting preserve, with 15K French vs. 500 imperial casualties, becoming the first modern battle, with handheld firearms (muskets) (arquebuses) (harquebuses) (harquebi?) defeating traditional men-at-arms; after this the arquebus becomes the standard infantryman's weapon; 1.5K Spanish arquebusiers close in on the king, and a group of French nobles interpose to protect him, during which Louis II de La Tremoille (b. 1460) is shot through the heart and killed (the first Secret Service man to take a bullet for his president?); Francis I is captured in Pavia and held POW in Madrid, while Hapsburg Power Tools Charley the Fifth becomes master of Italy, magnanimously abdicating in Nov. in favor of his son dauphin Francis (b. 1518), which is magnanimously rejected; Charles of Bourbon is rewarded with the duchy of Milan; Bramante's use of candelabrum shafts as exterior decorations to pilasters in Milan is seen by the French and Spanish, and widely imitated in their home countries after they get back; cagey Marguerite d'Angouleme works overtime to get her brother Francis I back, riding horseback 12 hours a day in the winter to meet a safe-conduct deadline while writing letters at night and making use of the fact that Charles V once wanted to join her posse and marry her. On May 15 the Battle of Frankenhausen sees a combined army of Duke George of Saxony, Philip I of Hesse, and Elector Frederick III of Saxony defeat the peasant army of Thomas Munzer (b. 1489), losing six KIA and two wounded while killing 3K-10K badly-equipped untrained fleeing peasants; on May 27 Munzer is beheaded, along with 60K of his peasants, ending the Peasants' Revolt (begun 1524); meanwhile the dukes of Bavaria ally with the archbishop of Salzburg to suppress a farmer uprising in S Germany; meanwhile the Mennonite Church is founded in Zurich by ex-Anabaptist (former Catholic priest) Menno Simons (1496-1561), who wisely drops their Antinomian licentiousness in favor of proper biblical prudery to keep his head? Speaking of head? On June 27 Martin Luther marries former nun Katherina von Bora (1499-1552), who bears him six children, becoming known as "die Lutherin" - finally a nun gets some? In July the Scottish parliament approves a plan for four groups of magnates to share custody of 13-y.-o. James V in 3-mo. rotations, starting with Archibald Douglas, 6th earl of Angus, but when his time is up he reneges, not wanting his rival James Hamilton, 1st earl of Arran to get his hands on the kid, which later backfires as James turns on Angus and hates his guts for life; meanwhile English diplomat-churchman Thomas Magnus (1463-1550) is sent by Cardinal Wolsey of England to talk Margaret Tudor into living with her hubby Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus again, and she responds by divorcing him and marrying her 3rd (last) hubby Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven (1495-1552), master of the Scottish artillery (only Jewish member of the Scottish aristocracy) on Mar. 3, 1528, embarrassing her brother Henry VIII. The Hapsburgs obtain Cremona, Italy (until 1859). The Lutheran Reformation reaches Tartu, Estonia; the furnishings of the diocesan cathedral on Toome Hill are destroyed, and the bishop flees the mobs. A peace is signed between England and France. Pedro de Alvarado conquers El Salvador E of Guatemala, and becomes gov. of the Guatamala-Salvador district. Muslim Turkish Mongol chief (5th-gen. descendant of Tamerlane) Babar (Babur) (Baber) ("Tiger") (Xahir-ud-Din Muhammad) (1483-1530), prince of Ferghana in Afghanistan marches through Afghanistan and Persia, headed for the Punjab. Inca chief #11 Huayna Capac dies, and his sons Huascar (1491-1533) and Atahualpa (Atahualpa) (Atabalipa) (Atawallpa) (1501-33) begin a war of succession (ends 1532); meanwhile Pizarro's expedition reaches the San Juan River before turning back, discovering the existence and wealth of the Incan Empire - we'll be baack? Italian Franciscan friar Matteo Bassi (da Bascio) (Matteo Sarafini) (1495-1552) founds the Capuchin Order (Order of Friars Minor Capuchin) in an effort to return to the "true" way of solitude and penance of St. Francis; on July 3, 1528 Pope Clement VII issues the bull "Religionis Zelus", approving ' the order under the nominal jurisdiction of the Conventuals. Rodrigo de Bastidas (1467-1527) founds Santa Marta on the NW coast of South Am. N of Darien, the first permanent settlement in Nueva (New) Granada in N South Am. which eventually extends S to the Amazon. Prolific Venice-born painter Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1557), who spent time in Treviso (1503-6), the Marches (1506-8), Rome (1508-10), and Bergamo (1513-25) moves to Venice to wrap up his career for the next 25 years (until 1549). Hops is introduced to England and Germany from Artois, causing the term "ale" to become restricted to hopped brews. English scholar William Tyndale (1495-1536), fulfilling his vow "If God preserves my life, I will cause a boy that driveth a plow to know more of the Scriptures than the pope" (given to a Roman Catholic bishop who told him that he respects the word of the Pope more than the Bible) finishes his trans. of the New Testament into English from the original Greek (instead of the Latin vers. used by John Wycliffe in 1381), then has it printed in "safe" Worms, Germany by Peter Schoeffer (Schöffer) (1425-1503) (apprentice of Johannes Gutenberg) before being smuggled into England; he then begins work on the Old Testament. Architecture: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey presents Hampton Court to Henry VIII, and endows Cardinal (Christ Church) Cathedral in Oxford, with John Taverner (1490-1545) as the first organist and master of choristers; in 1522 the priory is surrendered to Wolsey to be used as the site for a college; meanwhile the fact that the Church is England's largest landowner, owning over a one-third of the country (more than the king), and that the clerics live it up and dress in fine clothes causes popular indignation, all focused on him? Tuscan-born Florentine super artist-architect Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) begins the Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) in Florence, Italy under commission from Medici pope Clement VII to house the Medici family library, ending up containing 11K mss. and 4.5K books, introducing the Mannerist Style of Architecture, a reaction to his own harmonious ideals, getting into asymmetrical compositions; too bad, when he leaves Florence in 1534, only the walls of the reading room are complete, and it doesn't open until 1571 after others carry out his plans. Inventions: Fernando Francesco de Avalos, Marquis of Pescara (1489-1525) invents the Harquebus (Arquebus) (first portable shotgun) just in time for the Battle of Pavia on Feb. 24. German mathematician Christoff Rudolff (1499-1545) introduces the radical sign for square roots in mathematics in Coss, the first German textbook on algebra. Amaretto (It. "a little bitter"), made of apricot kernels and brandy is invented by a young widowed innkeeper, who presents it to Leonardo da Vinci's pupil Bernardino Luini (1475-1532), who is painting frescoes for the church at Saronno. Nonfiction: Pietro Bembo (1470-1547), Prose della Volgar Lingua; earliest example of popular Italian writing. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Manual on Geometry; first one pub. in Germany. Jean Froissart (1337-1410), Chronicles, Part Two (posth); tr. John Bourchier. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes (1478-1557), La General y Natural Historia de las Indias (Toledo); first description for Euros of tobacco, pineapple, and the hammock; mentions how tasty the meat of the peacocks in the West Indies is, i.e. turkeys. Polydore Vergil (1470-1557), Life of St. Gildas. Juan Luis Vives, De Subventione Pauperum; demands state help for the poor. Art: Polidoro da Caravaggio (1495-1543) and Maturino da Firenze (1490-1528), Mary Magdalene (San Silvestro al Quirinale, Rome); St. Catherine of Siena (San Silvestro al Quirinale, Rome); Landscape (San Silvestro al Quirinale, Rome). Dosso Dossi (1483-1542), Jupiter and Mercury. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Madonna and Child with St. Anne; Virgin and Chld. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), An Architect. Bernardino Luini (1475-1532), St. Agnes and St. Catherine (Convento Maggiore, Milan) (1525-30). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Portrait of a Young Man; Man with a Golden Animal Paw. Il Sodoma (1478-1549), St. Sebastian; Rape of the Sabine Women; Three Fates. Palma Vecchio (1480-1528), Three Sisters. Titian (1477-1576), Vanitas. Plays: Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Clizia; the char. Nicomaco is himself. John Skelton (1460-1529), Colyn Cloute; satire of Cardinal Wolsey, which gets him driven into sanctuary for life. Births: Italian Renaissance polyphonic Roman School composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (d. 1594) on Feb. 3 in Palestrina (SE of Rome). French author-poet Joachim du Bellay (d. 1560). Italian theologian (Socinianism founder) Laelius Socinus (Lelio Sozzini) (d. 1562) in Siena. Dutch stadtholder (1549-68) Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg (d. 1568); son of Louis de Ligne, baron of Barbancon and Maria of Bergen (1503-66). Polish religious leader Peter Gonesius (Piotr of Goniadz) (Giezek) (d. 1573) in Goniadz; educated at the U. of Padua. Scottish secy. of state (1558-73) Sir William Maitland of Lethington (d. 1573); educated at St. Andrews U. Ottoman Valide sultan (1574-83) Nur-Banu ("Princess of Light") (Cecilia Vernier Baffo) (d. 1583) in Venice, Italy; niece of Venetian doge Sebastiano Venier. Irish Kildare Geraldine heir Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kilare (d. 1585); son of the 9th earl of Kildare and Countess Elizabeth of Kildare; half-brother of Silken Thomas, 10th earl of Kildare. Deaths: Itlian sculptor Andrea della Robbia (b. 1435) on Aug. 4. Italian painter Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (b. 1445). German financier Jakob Fugger (b. 1459). French gen. Louis II de La Tremoille (b. 1460) on Feb. 24 (KIA in the Battle of Pavia). Italian physician-philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi (b. 1462) on May 18 in Bologna. German Saxon elector Frederick III the Wise (b. 1463) on May 5. French duke Charles IV, duc d'Alencon (b. 1489). Italian condottiero Fernando Francesco d'Avalos (b. 1489) on Nov. 4 in Milan. German Anabaptist founder Thomas Muntzer (b. 1489) on May 27 in Muhlhausen (executed). German Protestant rebel leader Florian Geyer (b. 1490) on June 10 near Wurzburg; stabbed in the Gramschatzer Wald by two servants of his traitor brother-in-law Wilhelm von Grumbach. German-born Spanish viceroy of Valencia (1523-5) Johann of Brandenburg (b. 1493) on July 5 in Valencia. Spanish Conquistador Javier Alonso Luis Fernandez de Lugo (b. ?); born in Sanlucar de Barrameda; of Galician descent; father of Pedro Fernandez de Lugo (1475-1536).
1526 On Jan. 14 the Four Years' (Italian) War (begun 1521) is ended by the Treaty of Madrid, renouncing all French claims to Italy, Burgundy, Flanders et al., promising to restore Bourbon to Charles of Bourbon, and proposing a crusade against Muslims and Lutherans; on Mar. 15 imprisoned Francis I is forced to exchange himself for his two sons Francis III, duke of Brittany (b. 1518) and Henri II (b. 1519), who end up spending three years in captivity, changing them into TB-infected ghouls who like to dress in black; after signing the treaty on Mar. 23, Francis I promptly reneges on his promise to Charles of Bourbon (causing the latter to turn against him), then joins the anti-Spanish Holy League of Cognac on May 22, which incl. the pope, Florence, Venice, and the Sforza, with the goal of restoring the 1522 status quo; Charles of Bourbon is given an army to invade N Italy with, but no funds or military supplies, pissing his troops off, causing them to get out of control and pillage and loot, forcing the Sforza out of Milan on July 24 and attacking Rome on Sept. 20; on Sept. 21 the Vatican is looted by a mob organized by Cardinal Pompeo Colonna (1479-1532) and supported by members of the hungry army of the Constable de Bourbon; meanwhile HRE Charles V sieges Arles in Burgundy (SE France), site of an archiepiscopal see. Babar conquers North India and turns it into a Tower of Babel? On Apr. 20-21 the First Battle of Panipat sees the Delhi Sultanate under Ibraham Lodi defeated by Turkic Muslim Babar (Babur) (Baber) ("Tiger") (Xahir-ud-Din Muhammad) (1483-1530), who occupies Delhi and Aghra and becomes emperor #1 of the Mughal (Mogul) Empire in N India (until Dec. 26, 1530), which peaks at 4M sq. km, making it the 2nd largest after the Maurya Empire (5M sq. km), founding a line that "builds like giants and finishes like jewelers", adopting Hindustani (derived from an obscure dialect of Western Hindi, which, along with Eastern Hindi is derived from Prakrit) as its official language; religious toleration is allowed, and the Muslims introduce Arabic and Persian words and form the subdialect of Urdu, written in a Persian script, pissing-off "patriotic" Hindus, causing them to create the artificial subdialect of Hindi (different than the Western Hindi language, parent of Hindustani), purging the Muslim words and substituting Sanskrit, and writing it with the Devanagari script, causing a Hindustani subdialect war in India. Henry VIII of England begins to petition Pope Clement VII for an annulment of his marriage to sterile wife (since June 1509) Catherine (Katherine) of Aragon (1485-1536) whose nephew HRE Charles V controls the pope, petitions back; Henry VII offers Reginald Pole (1500-58), dean of Exter (a Plantagenet) the archbishopric of York if he will support the divorce, but he refuses and flees to the Continent, then pub. the treatise "Pro Ecclesiasticae Unitatis Defensione", dissing the idea, causing the king to begin persecuting his family, executing his mother Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (1473-1541) (last surviving member of the House of Plantagenet) on May 27, 1541 in a bloody botched beheading (beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XII); Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) turns against the king on religious principles; Henry revamps the royal library to use it to prove his right to do what he intends to do anyway. On May 19 emperor (since 1500) Go-Kashiwabara (b. 1464) dies, and on June 9 his 2nd son Go-Nara (1495-1557) (personal name Tomohito) becomes Japanese Yamato emperor #105 (until Sept. 27, 1557). In June the First Diet of Speyer, led by Charles V's regent Ferdinand meets to deal with the Lutherans, receiving a protest petition from the Protestants, but ends up leaving it to each prince in the empire what if anything to do by the time it recesses on Aug. 27 to deal with the Ottomans. On Aug. 29 the most tragic battle in Hungarian history takes place as all 25K members of the Hungarian army of Louis II suffer a crushing defeat at the First Battle of Mohacs (Mohács) ( Plain) (second in 1687) in S Hungary on the the right bank of the Danube River (115 mi. S of Budapest) by the Janissaries and artillery of Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, with the Hungarians losing 10K infantry and 4K cavalry plus two archbishops, 11 bishops, 16 bannerets, and 12 magnates, causing the Ottoman Empire to become #1 in C Europe; Louis II (b. 1506) is KIA trying to escape, causing Suleiman I to utter the soundbyte: "I came indeed in arms against him; but it was not my wish that he should be thus cut off before he scarcely tasted the sweets of life and royalty"; a week later the city of Pest (across the Danube River from Buda) (home to a large Jewish pop.) is captured, opening the way to the Danube Basin and leading to the partitioning of Hungary between the Ottoman Empire, the Hapsburg Monarchy of Austria, and the Principality of Transylvania; childless Louis (Ladislas) II Jagiello (b. 1506) of Hungary and Bohemia is KIA, and HRE Charles V's brother Ferdinand I of Austria (later HRE Ferdinand I) of the cadet line of Hapsburgs is elected his successor by virtue of his marriage to Louis' II's sister Anna; the Jagellon line in Bohemia dies out, and the Hapsburgs (Habsburgs) of Austria succeed to the throne in Bohemia, merging Bohemia (incl. Wroclaw/Breslau) into Austria, reintroducing the Roman Catholic religion, and making the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary hereditary possessions of the Hapsburg archduchy of Austria, which later becomes the Austrian-Hungarian Empire - HRE Frederick III would be proud? On Sept. 29 after landing in Winyah Bay near modern-day Georgetown, S.C. Spanish explorer Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon (Vázquez de Ayllón) (1475-1526) founds the colony of San Miguel de Guadalupe in the Carolinas, becoming the first white Euro colony in the modern-day U.S., and the first to use African slave labor; too bad, of 600 colonists, 450 die within 3 mo., and after Ayllon dies on Oct. 18 the rest head back to Hispaniola in the winter. One potato, two potato, thirteen? In late Nov. Francisco Pizarro lands his 2nd expedition in Ecuador in the Gulf of Guayaquil, sees his men grumble thinking he's nuts, then draws a line in the sand, promising unimaginable riches if they cross it, and the "Glorious 13" do so, even though no Euro knows for sure of the existence of any undiscovered civilization on the W side of the South Am. continent; in order to justify the filthy lucre they're going to steal for their personal enrichment, they have a coverstory that it's in the name of the Catholic Spanish crown, to convert the poor unenlightened savages to Christ under their loving stewardship, bringing along Catholic priest Hernando de Luque, dean of the Panama cathedral. An Anglo-Scottish peace is signed. The Hanseatic League and Thuringia go Lutheran. Poland-Lithuania wars with the Teutonic Knights, and the Poles invade S Livonia and capture Dorpoat, after which a peace is agreed to in return for a 90 ducat reparation payment; the Lutheran duchy of Courland officially backs its old Roman Catholic ally Poland but luckily doesn't need to send troops. HRE Charles V marries Isabella of Portugal. Released by Cortes, Panfilo de Narvaez returns to Spain and is appointed Spanish gov. of Florida ("Land of Flowers"), launching the Narvaez (Narváez) Expedition next year, with 300 men assigned to explore Florida (Fla.) (Sp. "land of flowers"); now all he has to do is conquer it from a bunch of hostile aborigines and nasty wild beasties - without the Crocodile Hunter? Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba rebels against Panama Gov. Pedro Arias de Avila and is captured and beheaded. Pedro de Alvarado becomes gov. of Honduras, while the Spanish settlers begin infighting; Alvarado founds San Pedro Sula in NW Honduras, and dispatches an expedition to found Gracias a Dios in NE Honduras. King (since 1492) Binnya Ran II (b. 1469) dies, and his 15-y.-o. eldest son Thushin Takayutpi (1511-39) becomes Hanthawaddy king #18 of Burma (until 1539), proving witless, frittering away his daddy's kingdom and allowing rival kingdoms to gobble it up. Sebastian Cabot is financed by a group of merchants in Sevilla to begin an expedition to reach the Moluccas, but he gets diverted into the Rio de la Plata while searching for a passage to the east. The Moravian Brothers (Anabaptists) settle in Moravia (until 1622). The Jews in Hungary are persecuted. Anabaptists in St. Gallen, Switzerland begin running through the streets shouting that the Last Day will arrive in exactly one week, causing the town to shut down as the pop. gets right with Gawd, only to see the Big Day come and go, after which humanist scholar Joachim Vadian (1484-1551) is elected mayor, leading the conversion of the city to Lutheranism, causing iconoclastic riots; meanwhile the Roman Catholic abbey holds out until 1803 - two balls and a strike, two on, two out, tie game, fifth inning? Swabian furrier Melchior Hoffman (1498-1544), who converted to Lutheranism in 1522 pub. On the Twelfth Chapter of Daniel, a pamphlet predicting the End of Days in Easter, 1533, when Elijah and Enoch will appear and overthrow the pope, then get martyred, beginning a 42-mo. tribulation period, after which Christ will return; of course, he thinks he's Elijah, and ends up in prison in Strasburg. The Portuguese visit New Guinea. Hans Holbein the Younger visits England for the first time. Ignatius Loyola is jailed for six weeks at Alcala for his suspect new brand of spirituality. English scholar Myles (Miles) Coverdale (1488-1569), who entered the Augustinian monastery of Cambridge in 1514 after Roman Catholic ordination as a priest leaves after being influenced by prior Robert Barnes (1495-1540) (who went Lutheran), and hooks up with William Tyndale (1494-1536), starting to trans. the Bible and Apocrypha into English. Francisco de Sa de Miranda (1485-1558) founds the Italianate School of Lit. in Portugal. After training in Hamburg, Hannover, Germany-born brewer Cord Broyan (-1570) invents light brown barley-wheat top-fermented Broyhan Beer, which becomes a hit, gaining wide distribution, causing Hannover in 1609 to limit the number of brewers to 317 and force the burghers to join a shareholders co. and guild, which becomes Gilde Brauerei; it ends up being owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Inventions: The card game Piquet is first played - don't piquet your nose? Nonfiction: A Swedish Trans. of the New Testament is pub., and Michael Agricola (1510-57) sets out to trans. it into Finnish, although virtually nothing had ever been pub. in that language and he has to wing it. Anon., Deliberations on the Reality and Heresy of Witchcraft; "What remedy will destroy the plague of those witches". Hector Boece, Historia Gentis Scotorum. Jean Francois Fernel (1497-1558), Monalosphaerium. Martin Luther (1483-1546), The German Mass and Order of Divine Service (Jan.); splits with the Roman Catholic Mass; The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics (Sept.); argues for the literal presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper against the Sacramentarians incl. Ulrich Zwingli, Andreas Karlstadt, Johannes Oecolampadius, Caspar Schwenckfeld et al., but splits with the pope in his claim that the sacraments are good works that can be used to merit salvation, which is obtained through faith. Polydore Vergil (1470-1557), Liber de Prodigiis; a Latin dialogue between Polydore and his friend Robert Ridley of Cambridge. Art: Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), The Assumption of the Virgin (1526-30) (Parma Cathedral). Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), The Four Apostles (his masterpiece?); Erasmus and Melanchthon (copper engraving). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Christ Carrying His Cross; Young Man with a Book. Births: Flemish physician-botanist-horticulturist Charles de l'Ecluse (l'Écluse) (L'Escluse) (Carolus Clusius) (d. 1609) on Feb. 19 in Arras; introducer of the potato to Germany, and the tulip bulb culture to the Netherlands. Engish lord chamberlain (1585-96) Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (d. 1596) on Mar. 4; son of Anne Boleyn's sister Mary Boleyn (1499-1543) (Henry VIII's mistress); 1st cousin of Elizabeth I; father of George Carey, 2nd baron Hunsdon (1547-1603). German humanist writer-statesman and astrologer Heinrich Rantzau (Ranzow) (Ranzovius) (d. 1598) on Mar. 11; son of Johan Rantzau (1492-1565); great-uncle of Josias von Rantzau (1609-50); friend of Tycho Brahe. German Lutheran Albertine Wettin elector of Saxony (1553-86) Augustus I (d. 1586) on July 31 in Freiberg; 2nd son of Henry IV the Pious (1473-1541) and Katharina of Mecklenburg; younger brother of Maurice I (1521-53). German Count Palatine (1543-69) Wolfgang of Zweibrucken (d. 1569) on Sept. 26 in Zweibrucken; only son of Count Louis II (-1532) and Elizabeth of Hesse; husband (1545-) of Anna of Hesse, daughter of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse; father of Charles I, count Palatine of Zweibrucken-Birkenfield (1560-1600). Spanish adm. (Roman Catholic) Alvaro de Bazan (Álvaro de Bazán), 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz de Mudela (d. 1588) on Dec. 12 in Granada; never loses a battle; his personal galley is called La Loba (The Seawolf), named after its golden figurehead. Italian agronomist Giovan Vettorio Soderini (d. 1596) in Florence; educated at the U. of Bologna. Ottoman royal poet ("Sultan of Poets") Baki (Mahmud Abdulbaki) (d. 1600) in Constantinople; friend of Suleiman I. Deaths: Austrian lutenist-composer Hans Judenkunig (b. 1450). Italian-born Spanish historian Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (b. 1457) in Oct. in Granada. Italian painter Vittore Carpaccio (b. 1460). French poet Jean Marot (b. 1463) in Paris. Japanese Yamato emperor #104 (1500-26) Go-Kashiwabara (b. 1464) on May 19. Italian mathematician Scipione del Ferro (b. 1465) on Nov. 5. Burmese king (1492-1526) Binnya Ran II (b. 1469) in Pegu. German physician Eucharius Rosslin (b. 1470) in Frankfurt on Main. Spanish explorer Diego Colon (b. 1474) on Feb. 23/26 in La Puebla de Montalban, Spain. Spanish explorer Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon (b. 1475) on Oct. 18 in San Miguel de Gualdape. Spanish round-the-world explorer Juan Sebastian de Elcano (b. 1476) on Aug. 4 in the Pacific Ocean; dies of malnutrition on an expedition to claim the East Indies for Charles I.
1527 Early in the year Ferdinand is crowned king of Bohemia in Prague, followed by king of Hungary, and reorganizes the the Hapsburg admin. in Austria; last Nov. 11 a strong Hungarian nationalist party of nobles supported by the Turks crowned John (Janos) Zapolya as king John I (1487-1540) (until July 22, 1540) and started a civil war, with John's son John Sigismund later getting into the act (ends 1562). On Mar. 16 Mughal emperor Babar wins the Battle of Kanwaha near Agra, extending his domain. In Apr. Francisco Pizarro, leading his four Mafia-like brothers and a small party of armed horsemen lands at Tumbez (Tumbes), confirming the existence of the Inca Empire; he then goes to Spain to tell of his discovery and get backing for a Mafia-style takeover of innocent peoples in the name of Christ, Mother Church, and Spain, not necessarily in that order? If we make it through December everything's gonna be all right I know? After HRE Charles V, Habsburg ruler of Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands doesn't provide for their pay, the German-Spanish army of Duke Charles III of Bourbon (1490-1527), to whom he promises booty ravages N Italy looking for loot, arriving at the gates of Rome on May 5; after Pope Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici) refuses to pay a big enough ransom they sack Rome, starting on the fog-smothered morning of May 6, killing 4K; entire hospitals and orphanages are emptied, and their raped bodies drowned in the bloody Tiber River; the pope retreats to Castel Sant'Angelo just E of the Vatican on the Tiber, where he holes-up for 8 mo.; on May 6 (early in the action) Charles III of Bourbon is KIA by an arrow (bullet?) shot by Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71); papal army CIC Duke Francesco Maria I della Rovere of Urbino, who sits idly by during the imperial invasion is blamed for the sack of Rome, lowering his capital yet further with Clement VII; this whole affair symbolizes the downfall of Renaissance Italy to imperial Spanish rule, and the end of the High Renaissance?; Charles V later apologizes, claiming that Bourbon and his army were out of control, and the pope forgives him; Francis I seizes the remainder of Bourbon's estates and labels him a traitor, painting the doorways of the Bourbon Palace in Paris yellow; the 9th cent. line of Bourbon in France ends, but never fear, another line breaks through to royalty via Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendome, who marries Jeanne d'Albret of Navarre and has son Henry of Navarre, who becomes Henry IV in 1589; meanwhile Italian engraver Marcantonio Raimondi is held for ransom by the Spanish troops of Charles V, and after paying the ransom ruins him financially, he drags back to his hometown of Bologna, staying for life. In May after Henry VIII puts him up to it, Cardinal Wolsey, papal legate to England sets up a secret tribunal in his London home of York Place, which calls Henry VIII to answer to the charge of having lived for 18 years unlawfully with the wife of his deceased brother Arthur, planning to hustle an annulment through and get the pope to agree before Catherine of Aragon finds out and tells her nephew HRE Charles V; too bad, on June 1 the news of the sacking of Rome and the taking of the pope prisoner by Charles' troops throws a wet tampon on the plot; speaking of wet tampon, Anne Boleyn is busy working to throw one on Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset (1519-36), son of mistress Elizabeth "Bessie" Blount (1502-1540), whom Henry VIII is considering making his heir; Catherine describes Anne as "a woman who is the scandal of Christendom". On June 22 ater conquering the 4th cent. C.E. city of Sunda Kelapa from the Portuguese, Javanese Demak Sultanate gen. Fatahillah founds the city of Jakarta (originally Jayakarta) (modern-day pop. 9.6M/30.2M), which on Mar. 4, 1621 is taken over by the Dutch, who rename it Batavia; on Aug. 8, 1942 it is renamed Jakarta, becoming the 2nd largest urban agglomeration after Tokyo. In the summer Ignatius Loyola is questioned by the Inquisition (Dominicans) in Salamanca, and made to do 21 days in jail for his suspect new brand of spirituality. In Nov. Giovanni da Verrazano (b. 1485) is captured off the coast of Cadiz and hanged for piracy by order of HRE Charles V; either that or he is eaten by cannibals in the Carribean - cocky New Yorker? The Second Florentine Repub. (ends 1532) is founded after another revolt against the Medici. Kurpfalz (Electoral Palatinate) and Hesse go Lutheran, with landgrave Philip I the Magnanimous of Hesse (1504-67) closing down the monasteries in his principality and founding U. of Marburg on July 1, becoming the first Protestant univ. After the New Testament is pub. in Swedish in 1526, the Reformation begins in Sweden under king (1523-60) Gustav I Vasa (1496-1560), who obtains the right to confiscate Church property and suppress monasteries from the Council of Vasteras, and in 1536 founds the Lutheran Swedish Church, breaking with Rome completely and abolishing canon law, ending the Swedish Middle Ages; the Bible is trans. into Swedish in 1541, and Finnish in 1543. Marguerite d'Angouleme, whose first hubby Duke Charles of Alencon died in 1525 marries Henri d'Albret, the future Henry II, titular king of Navarre, making her Margaret of Navarre (1492-1549); she bears Jeannne d'Albret (1528-72), who becomes the mother of French king Henry IV in 1453. Former royal bodyguard Mac Dang Dung (-1541) deposes the last Le king, seizes the throne of Vietnam, and founds the Mac Dynasty (ends 1692), with the Le (based in Hanoi), Nguyen (based in Hue), and Trinh (based in Hanoi) families vying for power, the latter two pretending to be supporting the Le Dynasty, which nominally continues to rule until 1787. Flemish composer Adrian Willaert (1490-1562) becomes maestro di cappella at St. Mark's in Venice. Sebastian Cabot visits Paraguay (Guarani "pararaguay" = great river, meaning the Piranha River), long settled by the Tupian-speaking Guarani Indians, travels up the Parana and Paraguay Rivers, and builds the fortification of Santa Espiritu, which is sieged by pissed-off natives. Nuno (Nuño) Beltran de Guzman (Guzmán) (1490-1544) becomes the royal gov. of Panuco district. Juan Martinez de Ampies (Ampúes) (Ampues) is sent by the govt. of Santo Domingo to found the invasion base of Santa Ana de Coro (Sp. "wind") in Venezuela, which in 1529 HRE Charles V grants to the Welser Family of merchants of Augsburg, Germany, to which he is heavily in debt. Paracelsus lectures on medicine at the U. of Basel. Ferdinand de Gonzaque (Ferrante I de Gonzaga) (1507-57) succeeds Charles III de Montpensier and de Bourbon as grandmaster of the Priory of Sion (until 1557) (1575?) :). Nonfiction: Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), Ein Newe und Wolgegrundete Underweisung aller Kauffmanns Rechnung in Dreyen Buchern, mit Schonen Regeln und Fragstucken Begriffen; handbook of commercial arithmetic, incl. a variant of Pascal's Triangle. Hector Boece (1465-1536), Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People); Scottish history to 1438; written for the accession of James III; big hit; too bad, it's full of inaccuracies, and kisses kingly butt too much, esp. in the treatment of Macbeth; pub. in 1536 from Latin into Scots by John Bellenden, becoming the oldest book of Scots prose to survive to modern times. Lionardo Giachini (Leonardus Jacchinus), Treatise on the Medicinal Virtues of the Melon (Popone). Marco Girolamo Vida (1490-1560), De Arte Poetica. Art: Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), Madonna of St. Jerome. Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), Sir Thomas More and His Family. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), The Annunciation; Portrait of Andrea Odoni. Parmigianino (1503-40), Vision of St. Jerome. Poetry: Marcus Hieronymus Vida (1485-1566), Scacchia Ludis; 658-line poem about a chess game between Apollo and Mercury, with rooks called towers, leading to the modern names castle and castling, and the name Caïssa (a Thracian dryad) for the goddess of chess. Novels: Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Novella; archdemon Belphegor (Baal Peor) is sent by Pluto to Florence, marries, then returns to Hell to get away from the nagging bitch? Births: Dutch geographer-cartographer Abraham Oretelius (d. 1598) on Apr. 14 in Antwerp. Spanish king (1556-98), HRE (1558-98), king of the Two Sicilies (1554-98), king consort of England (1554-8), king of Chile (1554-6), Portuguese king (as Philip I) (1580-98) ("the Terror of the Protestants") Philip II (the Prudent) (d. 1598) on May 21 in Valladolid; only legitimate son of HRE Charles V (1500-58) and Isabella of Portugal (1503-39) (daughter of Manuel I); the 1588 Spanish Armada king. English (Queen Elizabeth I's) astrologer and mathematician-astrologer John Dee (d. 1609) on July 13 in Tower Ward, London; student of Marsilio Ficino (1433-99). Austrian HRE (1564-76) (Roman Catholic) Maximilian II (d. 1576) on July 31 in Vienna; son of Ferdinand I and Anne of Bohemia-Hungary. English MP and lord warden of the Cinque Ports Sir William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham (d. 1597) on Nov. 1; son of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham (-1558) and Anne Braye (-1558); educated at the King's School, Canterbury, and Queens' College, Cambridge U. Welsh cartographer and MP Humphrey Llwyd (Lhuyd) (d. 1568) in Foxhall, Denbigh, Denbighshire; educated at Brasenose College, Oxford U.; coiner of the term "British Empire". French La Pleiade Renaissance poet Remy (Rémy) (Rémi) Belleau (d. 1577) in Nogent-le-Rotrou; student of Marc Antoine Muret and George Buchanan. English statesman-soldier Sir William Drury (d. 1579) on Oct. 2 in Hawstead, Suffolk; grandson of House speaker Sir Robert Drury (-1536); educated at Gonville College, Cambridge U. Spanish mystic poet Luis de Leon (d. 1591). Italian Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (Arcimboldi) (d. 1593) in Milan; known for kinky portraits of heads made out of fruits, veggies, flowers, roots, fish and books. Italian Mannerist painter-sculptor-architect Pellegrino Tibaldi (Pellegrino di Tibaldo de Pellegrini) (d. 1596) in Puria di Valsolda, Milan; grows up in Bologna; father of Domenico Tibaldi (1541-83); student of Perin del Vaga. Austrian mistress (of HRE Charles V) Barbara Blomberg (d. 1597); mother of Don John of Austria (1547-78). Spanish Roman Catholic priest and Orientalist (ed. of "The Antwerp Polyglot") Benito Arias Montano (d. 1598) in Fregenal de la Sierra, Extremadura. Flemish geographer Abraham Ortelius (Oertel) (Ortell) (d. 1598) in Antwerp; pupil of Gerhardus Mercator. Deaths Italian writer Francesco Colonna (b. 1433); leaves the Latin epic poem "Dream of Delfilo" (Delfili Somnium) (pub. in 1959). Portuguese explorer Pero da Covilha (b. 1460) in Ethiopia. Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas (b. 1467). Italian duck-plucker Niccolo Machiavelli (b. 1469) on June 21 in Florence; dies after receiving last rites; bured in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence, complete with a monument with the epitaph "Tanto Nomini Nullum Par Elogium" (No eulogy would be appropriate to such a great name): "God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us"; "Men are more apt to be mistaken in their generalizations than in their particular observations." Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano (b. 1485) in Nov. in Cadiz (executed). Spanish conquistador Juan de Grijalva (b. 1490) on Jan. 21 in Honduras (killed by natives). French traitor gen. Charles III de Bourbon (b. 1490) on May 6 in Rome (KIA while sacking the City of God for the Priory of Sion?).
1528 Plague breaks out again in England. On Jan. 1 a planned attack on Erfurt by Anabaptist leader Hans Romer, who thinks Christ is coming this year is stopped in advance after he is betrayed. On Feb. 2 Ignatius Loyola arrives in Paris on foot, spending the next six years in loyal destitution. On Feb. 18 after returning from captivity in Madrid in 1526 and finding the Louvre uncomfortable, Francis I begins demolition of the great central tower of the Louvre to make it into a palatial residence; on Mar. 15 HE announces plans to make Paris his principal residence and begins the large hunting lodge Chateau de Madrid in Neuilly on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. Welcome to Hurricane Country? In Apr. 1528 the Narvaez (Narváez) Expedition, led by 1-eyed Spanish explorer Panfilo de Narvaez (Pánfilo de Narváez) (1470-1528) sails from Cuba with 300 soldiers and colonists in an attempt to colonize Florida (Fla.) (Sp. "land of flowers"), and lands on Apr. 14 near Cape Corrientes after discovering Pensacola Bay in the Fla. Panhandle; after exploring a dismal swampland filled with people who don't want them they end up in Tallahassee, and on Sept. 22 they set sail in five crude barges and try to reach the Panuco River, but get shipwrecked in Nov. on the Texas coast, where he tells his men "every man to himself - Spain ends here"; too bad, the Apalachee Indians kick his butt, and he barely escapes to the Mississippi River before being killed in Nov.; on Nov. 6 after surviving a storm at the mouth of the Mississippi River, his treasurer Alvar Nunez (Álvar Núñez) Cabeza de Vaca (1490-1557) (Sp. "cow head") and three others, incl. African (Moroccan) slave Esteban Dorantes (Estevanico) (1500-39) (first African to set foot in the future U.S.?) land on Galveston Island in Texas, and run into the Karankawa (Carancahua) coastal Indians, who take pity and feed them, showing them giant oyster beds and how to eat cattail "nuts"; Cow Head ends up separated from the other survivors, enslaved and taken to the mainland next spring, and spends eight years walking to the Spanish colony in Mexico while getting kicked around and meeting the indigenous pop. incl. the peyote-smoking Coahuiltecans (pr. cal-TEK-ans), becoming the first Euro to view Am. bison (buffaloes); he also later reports seeing "a devilish thing, and it is that I saw one man married to another"; when Estevanico returns to New Spain, he tells about hearing of the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. In June 16-y.-o. king (since Sept. 9, 1513) James V (1512-42) escapes from Edinburgh Castle when his foster daddy and chancellor Archibald Douglas, 6th earl of Angus and the latter's uncle (whom he admires) Sir Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie ("Greysteil") (1490-1535) are absent (the latter visiting his mistress in Dundee), and reaches Stirling, where he declares himself of the age of majority and begins his personal rule, kicking Angus and his clique out of the govt., then unsuccessfully sieging the cool Douglas stronghold of Tantallon Castle (built in the late 1300s on a cliff face opposite the Bass looking onto the Firth of Forth 3 mi. SE of North Berwick) in the fall; he snubs the Reformation of Henry VIII and appoints cardinal (last before the Scottish Reformation) David Beaton (1494-1546) as archbishop of Saint Andrews, who gets into a jurisdiction war with Glasgow archbishop Gavin Dunbar (1490-1547); meanwhile he raises church taxes, taking in £72K in the next four years, undermining church power. The Weavers' Riot in Kent begins in protest against Cardinal Wolsey's plan to move the English staple town for wool from Antwerp to Calais. After failing to win concessions for Genoa from Francis I, Andrea Doria (1468-1560) switches sides to HRE Charles V, establishes a repub. with his backing, and finally ends internal strife and gets Genoa turned into a banking and shipbuilding center; he refuses the title of doge, but accepts that of imperial adm., with palaces, privileges, and the style of "liberator and father of his country". In a meeting in Bridewell Palace (Bridwell Prison in 1556), Henry VIII explains to the nobles and citizens of London his reasons for seeking a divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon (his official, not real reasons, viz., the need to continue the line of a Welsh brewer with a male heir?); the pope sends Cardinal (since 1534) Lorenzo Campeggio (1474-1539) (last cardinal protector of England since Jan. 22, 1523) to England as his legate to hear the case, with secret orders to delay as long as possible, since the pope dares not mess with HRE Charles V's aunt? Francis I of France declares war on HRE Charles V, abrogating a treaty between the two countries, causing Charles V to accuse him of ungentlemanly conduct and challenge him to a duel; although it is never arranged, the incident becomes famous and causes European gentlemen to think they have the right to avenge all slights on their honor by similar challenges, although honor duels are never legalized and in some countries are outlawed; judicial duels are still okey-dokey artichokey? Chiapas in Mexico is subdued. Salamanca-born Spanish adelantado Francisco de Montejo (1479-1553) begins the conquest of Yucatan from the Mayans (until 1535); he fails, but his son El Mozo finally gets it done in 1546. Philip Melanchthon pub. Unterricht der Visitatorn an die Pfarherrn im Kurfürstentum zu Sachssen, proposing educational reforms in Germany along with an explanation of his evangelical doctrine of salvation sans popes. The Khmer royal court moves to Lovaek. The city of Oaxaca (pr. hwah-SAH-kah) (from the Nahuatal word "Huaxyacac", the native guaje tree) In SE Mexico (modern-day pop. 3.9M) (which started as an Aztec fort in 1486) is settled by the Dominicans, who form a bishopric in 1535; in 1535 HRE Charles V gives it a charter. Dutch glass painter David Joris (Jan Jorisz) (Jan Joriszoon) (1501-56), who settled in Delft in 1524 is arrested for trying to stop a Roman Catholic procession carrying the Eurcharist, and is pilloried and banished for three years, causing him to begin wandering in N Europe for the next eight years, officially joining the Anabaptists in 1533 then returning to Delft in 1536 as a consecrated bishop; in 1538 he declares himself the Messiah, causing him to become wealthy, and in 1544 he moves to Basel and lives under an assumed name until death. Architecture: A mosque is built in the N Indian town of Ayodhya in the state of Uttar Pradesh on a site believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of Lord Rama, becoming India's perennial religious flashpoint. Diego de Siloe becomes architect of Granada Cathedral. Inventions: After conquering the Aztecs in 1519-21 and being heaped with honors, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes (Hernán Cortés) (1485-1547) returns to Spain, bringing chocolate from Montezuma's court back to the court of HRE Charles V in Spain in ships which use gold for ballast, where it is given to monks who hide it away for a cent. - the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Nonfiction: Johann Agricola (1494-1566), Book of German Proverbs. Martin Agricola (1486-1556), Eyn Kurtz Deutsch Musica. Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529), Il Libro del Cortegiano (The Courtier) (Venice); written in 1514; "It is very rare for an evil soul to inhabit a beautiful body. For outer beauty is the true sign of inner goodness... Beauty and goodness are more or less the same thing. This particularly applies to the beauty of the human body, whose main function, it seems to me, is to reflect the beauty of the soul"; "The beauty of the book is such that it deserves to be read in all ages; and as long as courts endure, as long as princes reign and knights and ladies meet, as long valor and courtesy hold a place in our hearts, the name of Castiglione will be held in honor" (Torquato Tasso) - no fun for Ugly Betty? Erasmus (1466-1536), Ciceronianus; protests against slavish imitation of Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, causing Julius Caesar Scaliger to pub. two orations dissing him - in whose style and vocabulary, guess? Jean Francois Fernel (1497-1558), Cosmotheoria; determines the degree of the meridian based on the revolutions of carriage wheels between Paris and Amiens; De Proportionibus. Sebastian Franck (1499-1543), The Vice of Drinking. Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), Arminius (posth.). Paracelsus (1493-1541), Die Kleine Chirurgia; the first Euro surgery manual, which crusades for the use of chemicals in the treatment of disease, pioneering the use of minerals incl. lead and mercury as drugs, and coining the name "zink" (zinc) (Ger. "pointed"). Fiction: Alfonso de Valdes, Dialogo de Mercurio y Caron. Art: Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), Holy Night (La Notte) (Nativity) (Adoration of the Shepherds) (1528-30) (Church of San Prospero, Reggio Emilia); la chandell (of the candle) chiaroscuro. Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), The Artist's Family. Titian (1477-1576), Portrait of Girolamo Fracastro. Births: Bavarian duke (1550-79) (Roman Catholic) (leader of the German Counter-Reformation) Albert (Albrecht) V (d. 1579) on Feb. 29. German Welf prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1568-89) and duke of Brunswick-Luneburg Julius of Brunswick-Luneburg (Brunswick-Lüneburg) (d. 1589) on June 29 in Wolfenbuttel; youngest son of Duke Henry V (1489-1568) and Maria (1496-1541), daughter of Henry of Wurttemberg; educated at the U. of Cologne, and U. of Leuven; father of Henry Julius (1564-1613). Italian duke of Savoy (1553-80) Emmanuel (Iron Head) (Testa de Fer) Philibert (d. 1580) on July 8 in Chambery; only child of Duke Charles III of Savoy (1486-1553) and Beatrice of Portugal (1504-38) (sister-in-law to HRE Charles V). Portuguese poet Antonio Ferreira (d. 1569) in Lisbon. Spanish conquistador Jeronimo (Jerónimo) Luis de Cabrera (d. 1574) in Seville; father of Jeronima de Contreras, wife of Rio de la Plata gov. Hernando Arias de Saavedra (1561-1634). Spanish conquistador Juan de Garay (d. 1583) in Orduna, Navarre (Junta de Vilalba de Losa, Castile?). Italian painter Paolo Veronese (Cagliari) (d. 1588) in Verona. Belgian engraver (Protestant) Theodor (Theodorus) de Bry (d. 1598) in Liege; flees to Strasbourg in the 1560s, then Frankfurt-am-Main in 1588. Italian painter Federico Barocci (d. 1612) in Urbino. Deaths: English prelate-statesman Richard Foxe (b. 1448). Spanish military engineer Pedro Navarro (b. 1460) on Aug. 28 Naples; in the prison of Castel Nuovo at Naples (smothered by a pillow?). German painter Matthias Grunewald (b. 1465). Spanish adventurer Panfilo de Narvaez (b. 1470) in Nov. on the Mississippi River. German artist Albrecht Durer (b. 1471) on Apr. 6. Italian painter Palma Vecchio (b. 1480) on July 30. Austrian Anabaptist Balthasar Hubmair (b. 1485) in Vienna (burned at the stake). Italian artist Giovanni Francesco Penni (b. 1488). Italian painter Maturino da Firenze (b. 1490) (d. 1527?) in Rome.
1529 100K+ die of the sweating sickness in London, Lubeck, and Hamburg; France is spared. On Feb. 21-Apr. 22 the Second Diet of Speyer (Spires) attempts to set aside the judgment of the first Diet and outlaw the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire; on Apr. 19 the term "Protestant" emerges when the Minority Decision of Protest is signed by six Lutheran princes and 14 free cities of the empire, it declares that decisions of conscience in religious matters are between an individual and God - sounds like they're talking about abortion? On Mar. 7-9 imam Ahmad ibn Ibraham al-Ghazi Gragn ("left-handed") (the Conqueror) (1507-43) of Adal in N Somalia launches the bloody Ethiopian-Adal War (Futuh al Habash) (Conquest of Abyssinia) (ends 1543) for the Muslim sultanate of Adal in the N Horn of Africa, using Ottoman-supplied cannons and a largely Somali army equipped with matchlocks to win the Battle of Shimbra Kure against emperor (since Aug. 13, 1507) Dawit II (Lebna Dengel), suffering such heavy losses that he withdraws for two years before returning and occupying two-thirds (three-fourths?) of Ethiopia before dying on Feb. 21, 1543, after which his forces withdraw; in 1577 Muhammad Jasa transfers the Ada capital from Harar to Aussa, after which the sultanate (founded 1415) ends in 1559 amid infighting with Afar tribes; after the Ethiopians are supplied with cannons by the Portuguese, the war becomes easier to fight. On Apr. 21 Spanish diplomat Gonzalo Fernandez comes to Ireland to visit the Earl of Desmond in Dingle, who requests the Spanish king to supply him with a small fleet of four large 200-ton ships and six smaller ones with cannons along with 500 Fleming soldiers to fight the pesky English Protestants, which he reduces to just the artillery after being asked what signal service he had done to justify it. On May 6 Mughal emperor Babar scores another V at the Battle of Gogra (Ghaghra). On May 29 the Penon (Peñón) of Algiers Fortress is taken from the Spaniards and their Kabyles allies by Hayreddin Barbarossa; the Ottomans expel Spain from Algeria. On June 29 Pope Clement VII and HRE Charles V conclude a treaty by which the HRE agrees to reinstate the Medicis in Florence, and on Oct. 24 an imperial and Spanish army under Philibert of Chalon, Prince of Orange (1502-30) and Pier Maria III de' Rossi sieges Florence (ends Aug. 10); Michelangelo Buanarroti is put in charge of the defense of the bell tower of San Miniato al Monte, hanging mattresses from it to protect against cannon fire, giving rise to the saying go to the mattresses? On July 26 after wowing HRE Charles V with trinkets brought from Peru, the queen's Capitulations of Toledo authorize Francisco Pizarro to proceed with the conquest of Peru, renamed New Castile, with the right of discovery and conquest for a distance of 200 leagues S of the Gulf of Guyaquil, along wth the office of adelantado (gov.) and capt.-gen.; Diego de Almagro is given command of the fort of Tumbes, and Hernando de Luque is named its bishop. In July papal legate Cardinal Campeggio announces that the whole matter of the royal divorce case must be referred to Rome for the pope's personal adjudication; two days after he departs for Rome in Aug., useless fall-guy Cardinal Wolsey is tried and convicted of exceeding his authority as a papal legate and deprived of his seals as lord chancellor by none other than Charles Brandon, 1st duke of Suffolk, whose neck he had saved back in 1515 over his treasonable marrige to Henry VIII's sister, to whom Wolsey utters the soundbyte "If I, simple Cardinal, had not been, you should have had at this present no head upon your shoulders wherein you should have had a tongue to make any such report in despite of us"; as well as all official posts and honors except for the archbishopric of York, to which he retires after his right-hand man Thomas Cromwell leads the opposition to an attempt in Parliament to pass a bill of attainder against him; on Oct. 25 Sir Thomas More is made lord chancellor (until 1532), becoming the first layman to hold the post; in Oct. Henry VIII summons the English Reformation Parliament, which sits for seven year (until 1536); Thomas Cromwell survives his dismissal in spades, becoming Henry VIII's right-hand man and showing his stuff by gathering all the grievances of the English people against the privileged Catholic Church into a list, and going on to manage the dissolution of the monasteries; Sir Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk becomes pres. of the king's council; the pope adjourns the commission to consider Henry's annulment to Rome, which is a V for Catherine; Cambridge U. divine Thomas Cranmer suggests to Henry VIII that he need not wait for Rome to annul his marriage, but might refer the question of his marriage to the divines of the univs.; the happy king appoints him archdeacon of Taunton, a royal chaplain, and gets him a post in the household of Anne Boleyn's father Sir Thomas Boleyn, now the earl of Wiltshire. On Aug. 5 the Treaty (Peace) of Cambrai (Ladies' Peace) (Ladies' Charter) (Paix des Dames), negotiated by HRE Charles V's aunt Margaret of Austria and Francis I's mother Louise of Savoy, duchess of Angouleme is signed in Cambrai in N France; Francis I pays 2M crowns and renounces his claims on Italy (Naples), Flanders and Artois; Charles V promises not to press his claims on Burgundy for the time being, and releases the French prince POWs; Venice, Florence, and the pope are left along against Charles V; Francis I marries Charles' sister Eleanor. On Oct. 1-4 Roman Catholic Church dropouts Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli meet at the Marburg Colloquy in Marburg, Hesse, but don't quite see eye to eye over the thorny issue of consubstantiation vs. transubstantiation, i.e., whether the sacramental bread and wine are totally substantively converted into the body and blood of Christ, or whether the body and blood of Christ are substantively present with the unchanged eucharistic bread and wine; and let's not forget impanation, where the union is only mystical - this Christ he's quite a fellow? On Oct. 23 Nostradamus re-enrolls at Montpellier to obtain his doctorate in medicine. Swinging Ulrich Zwingli converts six of 11 Swiss cantons to the Reformation, the remaining five Forest (Rural) Cantons form an alliance with Austria to move against them, causing them to form their army and civil war to loom, later known as the Milk Soup War (First War of Kappel) because they end up basically agreeing that fighting over religion isn't worth it? The Ottomans invade Hungary, and John Zapolya (John I) emerges from hiding in the Carpathians and defeats Ferdinand's army, then surrenders to Sultan Suleiman I, who confirms his crown; the Ottomans begin a siege of Vienna in the fall, but are unsuccessful and retreat - the first time they show that they can be beaten? Hamburg goes Lutheran, receiving refugees from the Netherlands and France. After HRE Charles V repeays a loan by giting them the colony of Venezuela (Klein-Venedig), colonists sent by the Welsers of Augsburg establish a govt. in Venezuela, with Ambrosio Alfinger (1500-33) (of the wonderful German Welser banking family, which strong-fingered its way in via banking debts) as gov., which treats natives like manure while sending expeditions along the Orinoco and into the Andes searching for the fabled El Dorado and gold, gold, gold. Nuno de Guzman becomes first pres. of the audiencia of New Spain, and conquers the Chichimeca region N and W of Mexico City, incl. Jalisco and Sinaloa. Francisco de Montejo begins the conquest of Tabasco (until 1540). James V ousts pro-English Archibald Douglas, 6th earl of Angus as Scottish chancellor, and replaces him as warden of the East March by George, 4th Lord Home (-1549), then ousts Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, giving his position of keeper of the privy seal to George Crichton (-1543), bishop of Dunkeld ("He is said to have thanked God that he knew neither New or Old Testaments") (to whom Pope Alexander VI presented the 300-lb. brass eagle Dunkeld Lectern in 1530), and his position as provost of Edinburgh to Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell (1493-1546); both Douglases are exiled to England; already a big squirt, the 17-y.-o. king (whose daddy died in 1513 flodden his bishop?) goes on to father seven bastards by six mistresses, making use of fear of Scottish conversion to Protestantism to blackmail the pope and Scottish church hierarchy into giving him £72K up front and then appoint his royal bastard infants to head positions at the abbeys of Kelso, Melrose, and Holyrood, and the priories of Piteenweem, St. Andrews, and Coldingham in order to get his hands on their great wealth, making his daddy James IV's ghost proud of his little boy? Bernardino de Sahagun founds a Franciscan mission in Mexico - bakes great chocolate chip cookies? Jean Clouet (1480-1541) becomes court painter to Francis I. Michelangelo designs fortifications in Florence. Cambridge preacher Hugh Latimer gives two Sermons on the Card, tolerating the use of playing cards by Christians; by modern times they have it all figured out: Ace=God, Deuce=New and Old Testaments, Trey=Trinity, Four=Four Gospels, Five=The Five Wise Virgins (out of 10), Six=#Days God Created the Earth In, Seven=Day God Rested, Eight=#Worthy People Saved in the Flood, Nine=#Lepers (out of 10) Who Didn't Thank Jesus for Being Cured, Ten=Ten Commandments, King=Father, Queen=Mary, Jack=Devil or Son; #spots on all cards = 365 (#days in year); #cards in deck = 52 (#weeks in year); #suits = 4 (#seasons); #face cards = 12 (#months), #tricks = 13 (a quarter year). Women go on stage for the first time in Christian Italy. Architecture: Duke Alfonso I d'Este of Ferrara builds the Chamber of Alabaster to house his top collection of magnificent paintings in white marble walls with a gilded ceiling. Science: Italian humanist physician Giovanni Battista da Monte (Johannes Baptista Montanus) (1498-1551) introduces clinical sickbed examination of patients at the U. of Padua - is there a doctor in the padded house? Nonfiction: Anon., Kunst und Recht Alchemei-Buchlein (Worms); alchemy manual. Henricus Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex; attempts to prove the superiority of women. Guillaume Bude (1467-1540), Commentaries on the Greek Language (Commentarii Linguae Graecae); revives the study of ancient Greek lit. in France - keeps you glued to your seat? Baldasare Castiglione (1478-1529), How to Achieve True Greatness. Ludwig Hetzer and Hans Denck, The Worms Bible; introduction dated Apr. 13, 1527; the first complete Bible translation of the Reformation, by two Anabaptists, beating Luther by five years; goes through 17 eds. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Large Catechism (Apr.) (short sermons on articles of faith); Short Catechism (Q&A form for children). Gian Giorgio Trissino (1478-1550), Castellano; proposes the Italian letters I/J and U/V. Art: Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538), Battle of Alexander. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery. Bernardino Luini (1475-1532), The Passion and the Last Supper (Santa Maria degli Angeli, Lugano). Music: Martin Luther (1483-1546), A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (1527-9); based on Psalm 46. Plays: Antonio Telesio, Imber Aureus; mythological tragedy. Novels: Antonio de Guevara (1481-1545), Reloj de Principes (Valladolid) (first work); a didactic novel about the life of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius; becomes an internat. hit. Births: German duke of Saxony (1554-95) John (Johann) Frederick II (d. 1595) on Jan. 8 in Torgau; eldest son of John Frederick I (1503-54) and Sybille of Cleves (1512-54). Italian Platonic philosopher-scientist Franciscus Patricius (Francesco Patrizi or Patrizzi) of Cherso (d. 1597) on Apr. 25 in Cherso (Cres), Repub. of Venice (modern-day Croatia); his family allegedly were nobles who were forced to flee Bosnia after the Ottoman takeover; educated at the U. of Padova; student of Bernardino Telesio (1509-88); master of Giordano Bruno; inventor of the 13-syllable versi martelliani verse form. Indian ruler of Vilcabamba Titu Cusi Yupanqui (Don Diego de Castro) (d. 1571); son of Manco Inca Yupanqui. French Huguenot explorer Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere (René Goulaine de Laudonnière) (d. 1574) in Poitou (Sables d'Olonne?). English historian Raphael Holinshed (Hollingshead) (d. 1580) in Cheshire. Italian madrigal composer Bartolommeo Spontone (d. 1586). English politician-courtier Sir Henry Sidney (d. 1586); father of Mary Sidney Herbert (1561-1621); childhood court companion of Edward VI. Spanish physician-psychologist Juan Huarte de San Juan (y Navarro) (d. 1588) in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. English The Bard's father John Shakespeare (d. 1601); son of Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield (d. 1561); marries Mary Arden (d. 1608), and has sons William (1564-1616), Gilbert (1566-1612), Richard (1574-1613), Edmund (1580-1607), and daughters Joan (1558-58), Margaret (1562-62), Anne (1571-9). Flemish Mannerist sculptor (in Italy) Giambologna (Jean Boulogne) (Giovanni Bologna) (d. 1608) in Douai (modern-day France); student of Jacques du Broeucq; moves to Italy in 1550, and florence in 1553. Deaths: German sculptor Peter Vischer the Elder (b. 1460). English poet-dramatist John Skelton (b. 1460). Italian sculptor Andrea Sansovino (b. 1467). Spanish dramatist Juan del Encina (b. 1469). Chinese philosopher Wang Yang-ming (b. 1472). Italian writer-diplomat Baldasare Castiglione (b. 1478) on Feb. 2 in Toledo, Spain. German papal nuncio Karl von Miltitz (b. 1490) on Nov. 20 near Gross-Steinheim (accidentally drowns). African king Askia Mohammed Toure (b. ?) of Songhay (W Sudan).
| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| England | Henry VIII (1491-1547) | Apr. 21, 1509 | Jan. 28, 1547 | |
| Scotland | James V (1511-42) | Sept. 9, 1513 | Dec. 14, 1542 | |
| France | Francis I (1494-1547) | Jan. 1, 1515 | Mar. 31, 1547 | |
| Germany | HRE Charles V of Hapsburg (1500-58) | June 28, 1519 | Aug. 27, 1556 | |
| Papacy | Pope Clement VII (1478-1534) | Nov. 19, 1523 | Sept. 25, 1534 | |
| Ottoman Empire | Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent (1494-1566) | Sept. 30, 1520 | Sept. 7, 1566 | |
1530 Juan de la Barrera of Seville, Spain begins transporting African slaves directly from Africa to the New World, bypassing Europe, starting a stampede; a significant percentage are Muslim, but they have to convert to Christianity or face death; the African slave trade will eventually bring 10M slaves to America. About this time Muslim Barbary Pirates begin raiding the coasts of continental Europe and Britain, kidnapping 1.25M Christian men, women, and children by 1789 when the U.S. puts an end to it; according to observers by the early 1600s there are around 35K Euro slaves in the Barbary Coast towns of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers at any one time; between 1609-16 slavers capture almost 500 British vessels, plus 27 from Plymouth in 1625. On Jan. 5 (Dec. 26 Old Style) Mughal emperor #1 (since 1526) Babar (b. 1483) dies, and his son Humayun (Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun) (1508-56) becomes Mughal (Mogul) emperor #2 of India (until Feb. 22, 1556), going on to Persianize his court. In Jan. Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541) sets sail for Panama accompanied by brothers Gonzalo Pizarro (1510-48) and Hernando Pizarro (1508-78), plus a small group of recruits - with dreams of wealth and power dancing in their heads? On Mar. 23 HRE Charles V gives the three habitable Maltese islands (of five), Malta, Comino, and Gozo to the Knights of Rhodes (St. John) (Hospitaller) (until 1798), who change their name to the Knights of Malta, working to stem the Muslim threat on the Mediterranean; the capital Valletta occupies a rocky tongue of land 3K yards long, and the cathedral ends up housing tombs of the knights; St. Paul was supposedly shipwrecked in Malta in 58 C.E., making them feel cool about camping out there? In the spring James V of Scotland rides to the Scottish borders to get the border magnates to know who's boss, getting them to voluntarily imprison themselves (remain in ward) to demonstrate loyalty. In June after being crowned as HRE by Pope Clement VII (last imperial coronation by a pope), Charles V, egged on by the pope to go to war tries to be diplomatic and asks the Lutherans to present their beliefs at the Diet of Augsburg, hoping to bring them back into the Roman Catholic fold; on June 25 Philip (Philippus) Melanchthon (1497-1560) prepares the Augsburg Confession, codifying Lutheran doctrines, and it is signed by the Protestant princes, while the Roman Catholics (Johann Eck et al.) prepare the Confutation of Augsburg (Confutatio Augustana), rejecting the doctrines as heretical; the Diet recesses on Sept. 2, and Charles V gives the Lutherans until Apr. 15 of next year to conform or face the dreaded Imperial Cameral (Chamber) Court (Reichskammergericht) (created by the Diet of Worms in 1495); in Dec. eight princes and 11 cities of the Holy Roman Empire agree to form the Schmalkaldic League against Charles V and his Roman Catholic allies to defend against any possible attacks, and tell the court to shove it, causing the Holy Roman Empire to institute criminal code and police regulations. On Aug. 10 the combined troops of HRE Charles V and Pope Clement VII win their siege of Florence (begun Oct. 24), installing Alessandro de' Medici "il Moro" (1511-37) as the new ruler on May 1, 1532 (until Jan. 6, 1537); Philibet de Chalon (b. 1502) is KIA on Aug. 3, and is succeeded by his sister's son Rene (Renatus) of Nassau-Breda (Chalon) (1519-44). In Nov. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (b. 1475) is arrested on a charge of high treason, and dies on the way to the Tower in Leicester Abbey; Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) is sworn into the King's Council, and is sent to Rome with the earl of Wiltshire by the king to present his position regarding his requested marriage annulment; Henry VIII confiscates Wolsey's home (York Place), hiring Anthony van Wyngaerde and enlarging it into Whitehall Place for his white ho, er, babe Anne Boleyn, becoming the largest (albeit ugly) residence in Europe (cap. 600) and the seat of royal power until it burns down in 1698. Moldavian troops in the name of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman invade the Polish side of the Pokutia (Pokuttya) in the Prut River Valley S of the Dniester River; Polish king Zygmunt I Stary sends an envoy to the sultan, who replies that he didn't authorize it, and the Poles are free to kick them out as long as they don't invade Moldavia, and the Polish parliament levies a tax on the serfs to raise 4.8K cavalry and 1.2K infantry, led by Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561). Duke Charles III of Savoy imprisons Swiss patriot Cluniac monk Francois Bonivard (1496-1570) in the dungeons of the Castle of Chillon on Lake Geneva near Montreux (until 1536), after which he goes Protestant, causing him to become the subject of Lord Byron's 1816 poem The Prisoner of Chillon; "Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!/ Brightest in dungeons, Liberty!" 20-something James V of Scotland spends most of this decade as Europe's most eligible bachelor, attracting offers from Denmark, Italy, France, and England, and getting wined and dined and awarded the English Order of the Garter, the French Order of St. Michael, and the Imperial Order of the Golden Fleece. In this decade the Spirituali movement in Rome arises to try to reform the Church from within without splitting like the Protestants; members later incl. English Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-58), Italian Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga (1505-63), poet Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547), and her friend Michelangelo (1475-1564); Pope Paul IV (reigns 1555-9) later looses the Inquisition on them and destroys them by the 1560s, ending any hope for internal reform until the 20th cent. - the more the Church changes the more it remains the same? German Anabaptist Melchior Hoffman (Hofmann) (1495-1543) performs the first infant baptisms in Strasbourg, launching a struggle by the violent Anabaptist sect of German pastor martyr Thomas Muntzer (Müntzer) (1489-1525), leader of the German peasant uprising in 1525 in opposition to Martin Luther to take over the state of Munster (Münster); as Antinomians who believe that the "elect" can do no wrong, licentiousness reigns in their ranks. The Antwerp Exchange is founded. Francis I of France founds the College de France in Paris as an alternative to the Sorbonne after being influenced by Parisian #1 scholar Guillaume Bude (Budé) (1467-1540); it gives free public lectures but doesn't grant degrees; the motto is "Docet Omnia" (Teaches Everything); "Not acquired truths, but the idea of free research" by Maurice Merleau-Ponty is inscribed in golden letters above the main hall - I'm one well-rounded Frog? William Tyndale coins the word "Passover", followed next year by "Evangelical"; he also claims that "the properties of the Hebrew tongue agreeth a thousand times more with the English than with the Latin". Benvenuto Cellini makes the Morse (Cope) Button, a 6-in.-diam. round, flat gold gem-encrusted button with a diamond at the center and an image of God the Father, becoming the world's most valuable button; made for Pope Clement VII, it takes 18 mo. and a staff of 10. Titian goes to Bologna to paint HRE Charles V's portrait. Architecture: Hampton Court Palace in Richmond upon Thames, SW London (begun 1515) is finished. In this decade the 13m Lobnoye Mesto ("place of the forehead") is built in Red Square in Moscow in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, used for speeches and ceremonies by the tsar, almost never for executions. Inventions: Parisian publisher Claude Garamond (1480-1561) creates the Garamond Type Font, the first Roman type font; he is created "imprimeur du roi" by Francis I. The Italian game of Lo Giuoco di Lotto, predecessor of Bingo is invented. In this decade the bottle cork is invented in Europe. In this decade the spinning wheel comes into gen. use in Europe. In this decade the workman's bench comes into use in Europe. Science: Flemish cartographer Regnier (Reiner) Gemma Frisius (1508-55) proposes finding longitude by means of difference of times, causing Jean-Baptiste Morin to comment "I do not know if the Devil will succeed in making a longitude timekeeper but it is folly for man to try" - now all we need is a Mickey Mouse watch? Nonfiction: Otto Brunfels (Braunfels) (1488-1534), Herbarium Vivae Icones (3 vols.) (1530-6); illustrated by Hans Weiditz (1495-1536) of the Albrecht Durer school; greatly superior to existing pedantic herbals but makes the mistake of trying to compare Euro to ancient Greek and Roman flora and fauna. Martin Bucer (1491-1551), Confession Tetrapolitana; advocates Protestants praying the Hail Mary. Johann Eck (1486-1543), Operum Johannis Eckii Contra Lutherum (5 vols.) (1530-5). Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), A Little Book of Good Manners for Children (De Civilitate Morum Puerilium); address to 11-y.-o. Henry of Burgundy, son of Prince Adolph of Veere, telling him how to act in the presence of adults; English trans. pub. in 1532; "Young bodies are like tender plants, which grow and become hardened to whatever shape you've trained them" - I'm an expert on softball and soft law? Gemma Frisius (1508-55), De Principiis Astronomiae Cosmographicae; describes how longitude can be determined with an accurate enough clock. Franz Helm, Manual on Artillery; depicts rocket cats. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526), De Orbe Novo (On the New World) (posth.); describes first contact between Euros and Native Ams., and contains the first Euro ref. to India rubber; Opus Epistolarum (posth.); 812 letters to/from Spanish and Italian dignitaries in 1487-1525. Melanchthon (1497-1560), Apologia. Paracelsus (1493-1541), Opus Paramirum; introduces the system of salt, sulfur, and mercury in as the three "prime elements" from which all things are made, inventing chemical therapy and chemical urinalysis, suggesting a biochemical theory of digestion, and coining the term "tartar" for the stony crud on teeth (really saliva plus bacteria), becoming known as "the Father of Toxicology" (grandfather of pharmacology), and "the Devil's Doctor". Art: Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), Adoration of the Shepherds. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Angel of the Annunciation. Francesco Primaticcio (1504-70), The Rape of Helena (1530-9). Il Sodoma (1477-1549), Ordination of St. Alfonso; Adoration of the Magi. Titian (1477-1576), The Death of St. Peter Martyr; Portrait of Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici; The Penitent Mary Magdalen (1530-5). Poetry: Fracastorius (Girolamo Fracastoro) (1478-1553), Syphilis, or the French Disease (Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus); about a shepherd named Syphilis (who does it with sheep?), giving the venereal disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum its name, containing the germ of the Germ Theory of Disease, later taken up by Louis Pasteur. Births: German duke of Saxony (1566-72) and Saxe-Weimar (1572-3) Johann Wilhelm (d. 1573) on Mar. 11 in Torgau; 2nd son of John Frederick I and Sibylle of Cleves. French Huguenot (Calvinist) leader Louis I of Bourbon, Prince of Conde (Condé) (d. 1569) on May 7 in Vendome; founder of the House of Conde, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. Italian cardinal Ranuccio "Cardinalino" Farnese (d. 1565) on Aug. 11 in Valentano; brother of Ottavio Farnese (1521-86); grandson of Pope III, who creates him cardinal at age 15. Grand prince of Moscow (1533-47) and tsar (czar) #1 of Russia (1547-84) Ivan IV (the Terrible) (Fearsome) (Grozny) Vasilyevich (d. 1584) on Sept. 3 (Aug. 25 Old Style) in Kolomenskoye; son of Vasily III (1479-1533); grandson and namesake of Ivan III the Great (1440-1505); son of an unsanctified marriage after daddy Vasily III goes childless for 20 years, does a Henry VIII and divorces his wife and sends her to a convent, then weds fertile 23-y.-o. babe Elena Glinska, causing a holy man to predict that the young tyke will make Russia run red with rivers of blood. English diplomat Sir Thomas Hoby (d. 1566); half-brother of Sir Philip Hoby (1505-58); educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U. Irish king Shane O'Neill (d. 167) in County Tyrone; son of Conn O'Neill, 1st earl of Tyrone (1480-1559). Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowsky (Kochanowski) (d. 1584) in Sycyna. Irish Roman Catholic archbishop of Cashel (1583-4) Dermot O'Hurley (d. 1584) in Lickadoon Castle, Lickadoon, Ballyneety, County Limerick; descendant of the Dal gCais clan of Munster. English solicitor-gen. (1569-79) and lord chancellor (1579-87) Sir Thomas Bromley (d. 1587); 2nd son of George Bromley of Hodnet and Jane Lacon. English Puritan statesman-spymaster (nemesis of Mary, Queen of Scots) Sir Francis Walsingham (d. 1590) in Scadbury Park, Chiselhurst, Kent; English secy. of state (1573-90) under Elizabeth I, who calls him "her Moor" for his swarthy complexion and black clothes; educated at King's College, Cambridge U.; real father William dies, after which his mother marries Sir John Carey, a relative by marriage of Anne Boleyn. French "Six Books on the State" jurist-historian and political philosopher Jean Bodin (d. 1596) in Angers; founder of French political science. German organist-composer Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach (d. 1597). Spanish El Escorial architect Juan de Herrera (d. 1597) in Movellan, Cantabria; educated at the U. of Valladolid. Swiss mathematician Conrad (Konrad) Dasypodius (Hasenfratz) (d. 1600). English archbishop of Canterbury (1583-1604) John Whitgift (Witgift) (d. 1604) in Grimsby, Lincolnshire; educated at Queen's College and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge U. Deaths: Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro (b. 1458) in Aug. in Rome. Italian anatomist Jacopo Berengario da Carpi (b. 1460) in Ferrara; leaves his fortune to Duke Alphonso I of Ferrara (hubby of Lucrezia Borgia). Lithuanian hetman Konstanty Ostrogski (b. 1460) on Aug. 10. Castilian princess Juana of Beltraneja (b. 1462) in Lisbon. German humanist Willibald Pirckheimer (b. 1470). English statesman Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (b. 1475) in Nov. in Leicester Abbey. Indian Moghul emperor #1 (1526-30) Babar (b. 1483) on Jan. 5 (Dec. 26 Old Style) in Agra. French prince of Orange Philibert of Chalon (b. 1502) on Aug. 3 in Florence, Italy (KIA).
1531 A couple of hundred Euro guns and Toledo swords beat an empire of 5M-10M still in the Bronze Age as the Inca Empire (begun 1438) ends so fast that it makes your head spin? In Jan. after organizing a military expedition in Panama, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541) sets sail for Pizarria, er, New Castile, er, Peru (aided by an El Nino?), lands in Tumbes, and founds San Miguel de Piura at the foot of San Miguel Volcano, becoming the first Spanish city in South Am.; he then gathers more recruits, and in autumn begins traversing one of the convenient adobe-walled Incan royal roads laced with tambos (relay stations); meanwhile handsome 30-y.-o. Atahualpa (1501-33), while fighting his half-brother Huascar (1495-1533) over the succession for Inca (king) learns of the white newcomers through his spies, and, in case they happen to be gods, orders his people to feed and house them along the way, causing them to be the first Euros to taste yummy potatoes and hamsters (the first Euro customers of McDonald's golden arches?); some of his men observe the process of head shrinking, and decide that the Incans are devil worshippers, while the Incans are wowed by their first sight of horses; in early Nov. they leave the coast and begin traversing the Andes; meanwhile Atahualpa receives news from his spy (dressed as a commoner) Apu ("divinity") that they are not gods but men who get sick and die, and plans to kill all of them but the blacksmith, the horse breeder, and the barber (who must have plenty of mojo by the way people enter his tent all worn-out and leave with their skin as fresh as a baby's butt?). Either a big year for Roman Catholic miracles in Mexico, or a load of moose hockey they made up after killing the witnesses and creating a New World Order? In spring the Spanish reach Queretaro (Querétaro) ("place of the ball game or great city") in C Mexico, inhabited by the ruling Purepecha (Tarasca) (Tarascos) and the subject Otomi, along with a few Chichimecas ("barbarians"), and ally themselves with Otomi chief Conin, striking a deal with the Indians to embrace Spanish rule and the Roman Catholic religion if they are defeated in a weaponless battle, and just as the Spanish are about to lose, St. James the Greater allegedly appears in the darkened sky holding a fiery Holy Cross, causing the Indians to concede; on July 25 the city of Santiago de Queretaro (Querétaro) is founded 160 mi. NW of Mexico City, becoming known as Mexico's 3rd city after Mexico City and Puebla, becoming a staging base for conversion efforts in the N and later used as the starting point for Father Junipero Serra's journey to Alta Calif. On Apr. 15 cook Richard Roose is executed at Smithfield by boiling for putitng poison in his food; Henry VIII radilroaded the sentence through for fear of it happening to him?; in 1952 Margaret Davy becomes the 2nd person boiled at Smithfield for poisoning; in 1547 Edward VI repels the law. On July 14 the U. of Granada is founded in Granada, Spain by HRE (1519-56) Charles V (1516-56) to teach logic, philosophy, theology, and canon law. On Aug. 22 6K Poles under Jan Amor Tarnowski (1488-1561) defeat 20K Moldavians under Prince Petru Rares (Petru IV) (1487-1546) at the Battle of Obertyn S of the Dnieper River in modern-day Ukraine, and kick them out of the Pakutia; 7K Moldavians are KIA vs. 256 Poles, and 1K POWs are taken. On Oct. 11 the Roman Catholic Forest Cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Zug, Lucerne, and Unterwalden) (7K troops) march on Protestant Zurich (2-3.5K troops), and win the Second Battle (War) of Kappel, with 500 Protestant casualties, incl. chaplain and standard bearer Ulrich (Huldrych) Zwingli (b. 1484), who is KIA: Protestant reformer Johannes Oecolampadius (Heussgen) (b. 1482) dies on Nov. 24, causing Erasmus to write: "We are freed from great fear by the death of the two preachers, Zwingli and Oecolampadius, whose fate has wrought an incredible change in the mind of many. This is the wonderful hand of God on high"; a peace treaty is signed on Nov. 20. In Dec. the Virgin of Guadalupe appears to Juan Diego on a hill in Tepeyac NW of Mexico City, giving him a bunch of fresh roses along with an image of herself on tilma (cactus cloth) which never decays, which convinces the local bishop to build a church and millions of Aztecs to convert to Roman Catholic Christianity, where they are groomed in the simple faith, with each church becoming their Disneyland of saints they can pray to - yes, she talks to dark-skinned cannibals too, Homes Esse? The Schmalkaldic League is finalized; only Nuremberg and Brandenburg-Ansbach opt out of it. HRE Charles V creates the Council of State, and makes his loyal brother Ferdinand (who resides in Venice) king of Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany, and heir to the Holy Roman Empire, with the title of king of the Romans. Henry VIII is recognized as the Supreme Head of the Church in England; Henry sends Thomas Cranmer to the court of HRE Charles V; meanwhile Thomas Cromwell becomes privy councillor. Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck (1489-1553), one of the original Protestants who signed the petition presented to the Diet of Speyer in 1529 persuades his home city of Strasbourg to join the Schmalkaldic League. Capt. Diego de Ordaz (Ordás) (1480-1532) of Leon discovers the 1.7K-mi.-long Orinoco River in Venezuela (3rd longest in South Am.), and explores it for almost 200 mi., then dies on his return voyage to Spain. Mazatlan (Mazatlán) (Nahuatl "place of deer") on the W coast of Mexico is founded by the Spanish, with indigenous settlers; in the mid-19th cent. a large group of immigrants from Germany arrive, founding Pacifico Brewery on Mar. 14, 1900. Nueva Galicia in W Mexico, which incl. Guadalajara is founded, with Santiago de Compostela as capital. Panama gov. Pedro Arias de Avila becomes gov. of Nicaragua, and sends an expedition along the San Juan River to the sea which wastes and enslaves the natives along the way. European cultivation of tobacco begins in Santo Domingo. Inventions: The Abbey of Saint-Hilare in the Limoux region of Languedoc in S France begins producing France's first sparkling wine; Dom Perignon's doesn't come out until 1693. Science: Halley's Comet ("the great comet") appears, sparking a wave of superstitious hysteria; it is later used by Edmund Halley as the first of three (1607, 1682) used to predict the appearance of the 1758 one because they all have a Nodus Ascendus of about 20 deg. in Taurus. Nonfiction: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535), Libri Tres de Occulta Philosophia (Three Books About Occult Philosophy); a grimoire (magician's handbook). Sir Thomas Elyot (1499-1546), The Boke Named the Governour; treatise on education and politics. Erasmus (1466-1536), The First Complete Ed. of Aristotle's Works. Robert Estienne (Stephanus) (1503-59), Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (4 vols.); the first Latin-English dictionary. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy; written in 1517; a discussion of early ancient Roman history claiming that a republic is superior to a principality while calling leaders of democracies princes, and proposing the concept of checks and balances; it contains the soundbytes: "Governments of the people are better than those of princes"; "Government consists mainly in so keeping your subjects that they shall be neither able nor disposed to injure you"; "No prince ever benefitted by making himself hated"; "Let not princes complain of the faults committed by the people subjected to their authority, for they result entirely from their own negligence or bad example"; "In a well-ordered republic it should never be necessary to resort to extra-constitutional measures"; "Doubtless these means [of attaining power] are cruel and destructive of all civilized life, and neither Christian, nor even human, and should be avoided by every one. In fact, the life of a private citizen would be preferable to that of a king at the expense of the ruin of so many human beings"; "In fact, when there is combined under the same constitution a prince, a nobility, and the power of the people, then these three powers will watch and keep each other reciprocally in check"; too bad, when the Medicis overthrow the Florentine Repub. in 1512, he flops and writes "The Prince (Il Principe)" to suck up to them and get a job, which doesn't work, but at least he gave it the old Macchiavellian try; in 1513 after surviving torture, he retires to his state in Sant'Andrea in Percussina and turns brain man and writer, making himself immortal. Beatus Rhenanus (1485-1547), Rerum Germanicarum Libri Tres (3 vols.); best history of Germany so far? Michael Servetus (1511-53), On the Errors of the Trinity; "In the Bible there is no mention of the Trinity... We get to know God, not through our proud philosophical concepts, but through Christ"; "How much this tradition of Trinity has alas, alas! been the laughing stock of Mohammedans only God knows. The Jews also shrink from giving adherence to this fancy of ours, and laugh at our foolishness about the Trinity, and on account of its blasphemies, they do not believe that this is the Messiah promised in their Law. And not only the Mohammedans and the Hebrews, but the very beasts of the field, would make fun of us, did they grasp our fantastic notion, for all the workers of the Lord bless the One God. This most burning plague, therefore, was added and superimposed, as it were, on the new gods which have recently come, which our fathers did not worship. And this plague of philosophy was brought upon us by the Greeks, for they above all men are most given to philosophy; and we, hanging upon their lips, have become philosophers, and they never understood the passages of the Scriptures which they adduced with regard to this matter"; too bad, he makes himself a target for the Catholic Inquisition and Protestants both. William Tyndale (1494-1536), A Pathway Into the Holy Scripture. Art: Hans Sebold Beham, The Seven Planets (woodcuts). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), St. Sebastian and St. Christopher (triptych). Poetry: Clement Marot (1496-1544), L'Adolescence Clementine (Clémentine) (debut). Births: Irish lord treasurer (Protestant) Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde (Ormond) and 3rd Earl of Ossory, Viscount Thurles (d. 1614) in Feb. in Ormond; son of James Butler, 9th earl of Ormonde (1514-46); childhood friend of Elizabeth I. English lord Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby (d. 1593) in Sept.; husband of Margaret Clifford (-1596), daughter of Henry Clifford, earl of Cumberland (1517-70) and Eleanor Brandon (1519-47), daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary Stuart (1495-1533) and Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (1484-1545). Scottish Protestant regent James Stewart (Stuart), 1st Earl of Moray (Murray) (d. 1570); bastard son of James V of Scotland and Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John Erskine, 4th earl of Mar; half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots; half-uncle of James VI. Spanish painter Alonzo Sanchez (Sánchez) Coello (d. 1588) (b. 1532?) in Benifairo de les Valls (near Valencia). Irish "Pirate/Sea Queen of Connacht", "Dark Lady of Doona" Grace (Granuaile) (Grainne) O'Malley (d. 1600) in Connacht; daughter of Owen "Black Oak" Dubhdarda and Margaret O'Malley; wife of Richard-an-Iarainn AKA Black Dick (-1583), chief of the MacWilliam clan in Ireland. English grand inquisitor Richard Topcliffe (d. 1604); known for torture. Italian sculptor Pompeo Leoni (d. 1608); son of Leone Leoni (1509-90). French-Scottish Renaissance composer-organist Guillaume Costeley (d. 1606) (b. 1530/1531?) in Fontanges-en-Auvergne. English teacher ("Founder of English Lexicography") Richard Mulcaster (d. 1611) in Cumberland; educated at Eton College, and King's College, Cambridge U.; coiner of the term "football" (footeball). Deaths: Spanish politican-gen. Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo, 2nd duke of Alba (b. 1460) on Oct. 19. German sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider (b. 1460) on July 7 in Wurzburg. German painter Hans Burgkmair (b. 1473). Indian swami Vallabha Acharya (b. 1479). German Reformation leader Johannes Oecolampadius (b. 1482) on Nov. 24. Swiss Reformation leader Ulrich Zwingli (b. 1484) on Oct. 11 in Kappel (KIA); his reform movement fails to evolve into its own church. Florentine painter Andrea del Sarto (b. 1486).
1532 In Feb. Anne Boleyn's 1st cousin (future English Renaissance poet) Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47) marries Lady Frances de Vere (1517-77), daughter of John de Vere, 15th earl of Oxford (not to be confused with Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford, who is suspected of being the real Shakespeare); they have two sons, Henry Howard, 1st earl of Northampton (-1614) and Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk (1536-72), and three daughters, Katherine Howard (1538-96), Magaret Howard (1543-90), and Lady Jane Howard (1547-93); meanwhile Henry VIII's cutie pie Anne Boleyn becomes the marchioness of Pembroke. Breathe better, sleep better with Breathe Rite? The English Church formally breaks its ties with Rome? In Mar. the anticlerical Reformation Parliament, led by Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell presents the Supplication Against the Ordinaries, a long list of grievances against the Roman Catholic Church by the ordinary people to the king, proposing that he be given the power to investigate and reform Church abuses; when clerical MPs oppose it, Henry VIII forces them to state whether their loyalty is with him or the pope, saying, "We thought that the clergy of our realm had been our subjects wholly, but now we have well perceived that they be but half our subjects, yea, and scarce our subjects"; on May 15 the Submission of the Clergy by the convocation of the English Church in Canterbury accepts Henry's claim that all ecclesiastical legislation is subject to royal approval, undoing the work of the 664 Synod of Whitby; an act is passed abolishing annates (fees newly-elected bishops pay to Rome), and setting up machinery to appoint new bishops without consulting the pope, pissing-off loyal papist, er, Roman Catholic (who lived under the Carthusian discipline in 1499-1503) Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), who resigns as lord chancellor on May 16 and retires from public life, pissing-off Henry VIII. In Apr. Pope Clement VII appoints illegitimate Alessandro de' Medici ("Il Moro") ("the Moor") (1510-37) as gonfalonier of Florence and hereditary duke of Urbano (until 1537); the Florentine Repub. is kaput; Florence becomes capital of the grand duchy of Tuscany (until 1859). On May 26 the Treaty of Scheyern, negotiated and signed on behalf of Francis I of France by his humanist diplomat Guillaume (William) du Bellay, Seigneur of Langey (1491-1543) creates the League of Scheyern with the dukes of Bavaria, the elector of Saxony, and the landgrave of Hesse to unite the German princes against HRE Charles V and evict the Hapsburgs from the duchy of Wurttemberg. On Aug. 5-30 after fhe Ottomans under Suleiman I invade Hungary, the Siege of Koszeg (Koszeg), sees 800 Hungarians hold the 80K-man Ottoman army back for 25 days, after which they are stopped at Carinthia and Croatia, and withdraw by next year to regroup. On Aug. 13 after Francis I invites them and buys off some MPs, the Edict of Union is signed in Nantes, formally uniting the duchy of Brittany (founded 846) with France by marriage. On Aug. 22 William Warham, archbishop of Canterbury dies, and Henry VIII appoints Thomas Cranmer to the vacancy, which freaks him out as he has just married Margaret, niece of Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander in Germany, and it's his 2nd marriage; meanwhile Martin Luther advises Henry VIII "that it would be better for him to take a concubine than to ruin his people". The classic victory of Euro guns, germs, and steel over superior numbers? On Nov. 16 after Atahualpa (1501-33) imprisons Huascar and kills all members of the royal family he considers a threat, becoming the 12th and last Inca, and the Spaniards get scared at the 80K-man Incan army but remember what Cortes did to the Aztecs after capturing their leader and exploiting the confusion, Pizarro invites Atahualpa to a meeting, which takes place at Cajamarca (8.9K ft. alt.) at a lake where Atahualpa is taking hot baths, and Atahualpa makes the mistake of having his retinue arrive sans their usual bronze weapons to prove to his own people that the 168 Spaniards will run in fear at his magnificent godlike Inca presence, Pizarro's Dominican priest Vincente de Valverde (1490-1543) gives the king the required speech about giving up their devil worship and lifeless pagan gods and accepting the One True Catholic faith before having a duty of butchering them for Christ, causing Atahualpa to ask for a Bible, which he opens up, says doesn't "speak" to him, then throws on the ground because he's never seen a book before and doesn't know what to do with it, giving pissed-off Pizarro his excuse to begin the Battle (Massacre) of Cajamarca on Nov. 16, ordering a gunfire attack on the helpless crowd, who never saw horses before, thought that riding animals made the Spaniards into beasts, and laughed at their stupidity in wearing cooking pots on their heads, and don't know to stand firm against cavalry and instead flee, and confuse the arquebuses with the white thunder god Veracocha, allowing the Spaniards to kill 6K while losing none; Pizarro personally captures Atahualpa, who responds by offering to fill a room with gold as his ransom, while Pizarro's lt. Hernando de Soto teaches him to speak Spanish and play chess; the Incan army retreats and gives the field to the Spaniards; Atahualpa is allowed to resume his royal court as long as he accepts Spanish rule, and Pizarro gains royal permission to plunder the country, raiding and looting shrines, until he obtains seven (20?) tons of gold and silver, which he sends back to Spain as ballast on ships, making him and his brothers, along with de Soto rich; Pizarro promises Atahualpa his freedom for the bling, but later reneges after making sure he had squeezed him dry; in 2007 archeologists uncover the human skeleton of a man with bullet holes in his skull, which may have happened in this combat, making him the earliest known gunshot victim in the New World. On Dec. 4 (night) a fire damages the Shroud of Turin at Sainte-Chappelle in Chambery (Chambéry) in SE France, with molten silver from the reliquary producing a symmetrical mark through the layers of the folded cloth, causing patches (14 large triangles and 8 smaller ones) to be added to it by Poor Clare nuns by May 2, 1534 - no connection with Jesus Weeps plus Pizarro Stinks My Name Up? In Dec. although it refuses to pay homage to Roman Catholic Poland, the ambitious Protestant Grand Duchy of Courland invades Prussia after striking a deal with Polish king Sigismund I to help return it to their control, defeating and annihilating a 5K-man Prussian army, then sieging Konigsberg, and capturing it in Dec.; meanwhile Prussia allies with the English, who land 22K troops to fight the First Battle of Memel, which is a D for the English, who lose 12K men vs. 3K for Courland, pissing-off Henry VIII and causing him to prepare another invasion force. The imperial navy under adm. Andrea Dorea captures Koroni and Patras in Greece from the Turks. The Third Diet of Nuremberg sees HRE Charles V offer the Peace of Nuremberg to the Protestant princes of the Schmalkaldic League, giving them immunity from the imperial court and the right to follow their religion until a gen. church council can meet. Cotopaxi in the Andes Mts. of Ecuador 35 mi. S of Quito (19,388 ft. alt.) (highest active volcano in the world) erupts this year and next for the first time on record. John Calvin begins the Reformation in France. The last Venetian commercial fleet comes to England, as Venice is ruined by the diversion of the Far Eastern trade to the oceanic route and the advance of the Turks. Cortes sends an expedition from Mexico City to the Pacific coast, reaching N Sinaloa and Baja Calif. by next year. The Portuguese begin the colonization of Brazil (Brasil), named after brazilwood, which produces a prized red dye; sugar cane is cultivated first, requiring intensive labor of enslaved indios, which they busily interbreed with while forcing them to learn their superior Euro culture - Caesar would be proud? The city of Guadalajara in the Antemarac Valley near the Rio Grande de Santiago 275 mi. W of Mexico City (modern-day pop. 1.5M/4.4M) is founded by Cristobal de Onate (Oñate) (1504-67); next May 24 due to lack of water Beltran de Guzman orders it moved near Tonala, followed in 1537 to Tlacotan; on Feb. 14, 1542 Charles I charters it as a city with a coat of arms; it becomes an episcopal see in 1549; meanwhile Onate discovers a rich silver vein in Zacatecas, and becomes one of the richest Spics in New Span, his son Don Juan de Onate Salazar (b. 1552) going on to become gov. of New Spain. Mirovice in S Bohemia gains a city emblem and begins to keep record books. Hans Holbein the Younger settles in England. Nostradamus stays with philosopher Julius Caesar Scaliger in Agen, marries a young girl "of high estate, very beautiful and admirable", and they have a son and daughter, but they all die of the plague, hurting his medical rep., and he also falls out with Scaliger; his wife's family sues him for the return of her dowry. HRE Charles V becomes Titian's patron. French physician Francois Rabelais (1494-1553) moves to Lyons, a book pub. center rivaling Florence, and pub. the Medical Letters of Giovanni Manardi of Fierra (June), a reprint of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates (July), and the Last Testament of Lucius Cuspidius (Sept.); meanwhile he attempts to edit almanacs to make fun of astrologers, cranking out the bestsellers Gargantua and Pantagruel - and the rest is, er, history? Architecture: Henry VIII orders the red-brick Tudor style 4-courtyard "low and mean" (Daniel Defoe) St. James's Palace in London built on the site of a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Younger (finished 1540). Science: Nicolas Copernicus' ms. on his heliocentric theory is complete, but he fears to pub. it, thinking it will be considered absurd - absurd enough to get him burned along with it? The first account of the mass migration of lemmings ("destroying", for what they do to vegetation) in Norway is pub. Nonfiction: Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), Ein Kurtzer Bericht der Observation und Urtels des Jungst Erschinnen Cometen; his observations of the 1531 comet, noting that the tail always points away from the Sun; Quadrans Apiani Astronomicus; on sextants. Antonio Brucioli (1497-1566), Italian Trans. of the Bible (Venice); Protestant-leaning Roman Catholic humanist becomes the first to trans. the Bible from the original Hebrew-Greek texts, incl. the big buzzword "Ieova"; it becomes popular among Italian Protestants for the next cent. Otto Brunfels (1488-1534), Herbarum Vivae Eicones (Strasbourg); first Western book on botany based on personal observation? Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine Histories (Istorie Florentine) (8 vols.) (posth.); commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici (later Pope Clement VII) in 1520 and presented to him in May 1526; starts with the 5th cent. fall of the Western Roman Empire to 1215, then covers the history of Florence ending with the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico in 1492, sucking-up to the Medicis and trying to make their takeover seem like evolution; The Prince (Il Principe) (posth.); written in vernacular Italian and first circulated in 1513; the first work of modern political philosophy, taking effective truth as more important than abstract ideals, in conflict with the Scholastic views of the time; causes the term Machiavellian to come into use as a perjorative, as well as Old Nick for the Devil; forever after everybody wants to be a Machiavellian prince?; "He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation"; "It is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both." Art: Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534), Jupiter and Io; Jupiter and Antiope (1523?); gives pagan gods expressions of spiritual ecstasy? Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), The Payment. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), St. Lucia Before the Judge. Parmigianino (1503-40), Cupid Carving His Bow (1532-4). Veit Stoss (1438-1533), Mary and St. John (sculpture in the Sebalduskirche in Nuremberg). Poetry: Luigi Alamanni (1495-1556), Opere Toscane; early Italian blank verse. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), Chaucer's Works (Canterbury Tales, Book of the Duchess) (posth.); incl. Robert Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid (Criseyde) (Troilus and Criseyde) by mistake. Novels: Francois Rabelais (1495-1553), Les Grandes et Inestimables Cronicques du Grand et Enorme Geant (Énorme Géant) Gargantua (The Grand and Inestimable Chronicles of the Great and Enormous Giant Gargantua) (July); an almanac making fun of astrologers, which becomes a hit, causing him to issue in Oct. the sequel Pantagruel, Bk. 1 about Gargantua's son, followed by a rewrite of Gargantua (1533); both books become giant hits, all pub. under the anagram Alcofribas Nasier, and repub. in 1548 and 1550; the chars. Panurge, Picrochole, and Frere Jean bring out the conflict between humanism and religion, and express the ideas that Euro thinkers are thinking but are afraid to admit to; coins hundreds of new French words, some of which become part of the language; the censors of the Sorbonne label it as obscene, making it more popular? Births: French Pleiade poet Jean-Antoine de Baif (Baïf) (d. 1589) in Venice, Italy. English master of the horse (Queen Elizabeth I's beau) Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (d. 1588) (pr. LEST-ur) on June 24; son of John Dudley (1503-53); brother of Guilford Dudley (1536-54); his eldest brother John, earl of Warwick (1530-54) is master of the horse under Edward VI. German landgrave William IV of Hesse-Cassel (Kassel) (d. 1592) on June 24 in Kassel. French dramatist-poet Etienne Jodelle (d. 1573) in Paris. English Calvinist lawyer-politician-poet ("Rackmaster-General") Thomas Norton (d. 1584) in London; educated at Cambridge U. English Roman Catholic cardinal (1587-) William Allen (d. 1594) in Rossall (near Fleetwood), Lancashire. Belgian composer Orlando di Lasso (de Lassus) (Roland Delattre) (d. 1594) in Mons. English adm. (pioneer of the English slave trade) Sir John Hawkins (Hawkyns) (d. 1595) in Plymouth; father of Richard Hawkins (1562-1622); knighted in 1588; his 2nd cousin Francis Drake starts out as his apprentice. Irish lord of Tyrone (1567-95) Sir Turlough Luineach O'Neill (d. 1595) near modern-day Newtownstewart; son of Niall Connallach; husband (1569-) of Lady Agnes Campbell (1526-1601), daughter of the 3rd earl of Argyll; father of Sir ARthur O'Neill (-1600). Italian radical miller Menocchio (Domenico Scandella) (d. 1599) in Montereale English explorer Sir Ralph Lane (d. 1603); knighted in 1593. Flemish Mannerist painter Marten (Martin) (Maerten) de Vos (the Elder) (d. 1603) in Antwerp. Italian mathematician Fabrizio Mordente (d. 1608) in Salerno; educated t the U. of Naples. Scottish soldier James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (d. 1609). English moneylender (Charterhouse School founder) Thomas Sutton (d. 1611) in Knaith, Lincolnshire; becomes Master of the Ordinance in the North in 1569, then becomes a moneylender at 10%, becoming known as "Riche Sutton" and "Croesus". Hindu poet Goswami Tulsidas (Tulsi Das) (d. 1623) (b. 1511?) (b. 1568?) in Soron, Uttar Pradesh. Italian Renaissance painter Sophonisba (Sofonisba) Anguissola (Angussola) (Anguisciola) (d. 1625) in Cremona. Deaths: Italian painter Bernardino Luini (b. 1475) in Milan. Spanish explorer Diego de Ordaz (b. 1480) in Venezuela. German Anabaptist reformer-rebel Michael Gaismair (b. 1490) on Apr. 15 in Padua, Italy; murdered by two soldiers who want to collect a bounty placed on his head by HRE Ferdinand I.
1533 On Jan. 25 after she maneuvers to wait until the last moment, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are secretly married in a turret in Whitehall Palace, and in Feb. she comes out of her chamber and admits to "a furious hankering to eat apples, such as she had never had in her life before", after which "she broke into a fit of hysterical laughter and rushed back into her room". On Mar. 30 twice-married obscure cleric Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) is consecrated as archbishop of Canterbury after the papal bull Romanus Pontifex from Pope Clement VII arrives confirming his nomination by Henry VIII, thus ending clerical celibacy in the Anglican Church (Henry had blackmailed the pope by threatening to terminate the papacy's annates); not satisfied with that bone, Henry VIII, faced with the pregnancy of his royal baby factory Anne Boleyn takes the world-shaking step of breaking with the Roman Catholic Church (as to who is the boss, not the doctrines?), has the Act (Statue) in Restraint of Ecclesiastical Appeals passed on Apr. 7 to make it illegal to appeal his decision to any authority outside England, stating "This realm of England, is an empire... governed by one Supreme Head and King", then has Cranmer annul his 23-year marriage to Catherine of Aragon on May 23, and on May 28 pronounce his Jan. marriage legal, then on June 1 crown bun-in-the-oven Anne Boleyn (1507-36) as queen of England; in July the Act Concerning Ecclesiastical Appointments and Absolute Restraint of Annates (Appointment of Bishops Act) becomes effective, depriving the pope of his main source of income along with his last power in Tudor England; on July 11 Pope Clement VII excommunicates Henry VIII, which doesn't bother him one pert ducky little bit, and he sends his prelate Edmund Bonner (1500-69) (who argued Henry VIII's case a year earlier in defense of his divorce) with a notice of intent to appeal to a gen. council; meanwhile Archbishop Cranmer foreswears allegiance to the pope, directs the erasure of the pope's name from every prayer book, and pronounces himself the new head of the English Church, becoming the virtual pope of England, with most of the powers incl. the issuing of bulls (a seven deep-sixes an eight?); you-better-drop-kids-quick Queen Anne begins her Thousand Days; Catherine of Aragon, who had for some time been living under house arrest in the country has her rank reduced to princess dowager of Wales, and is forced to live in several dank and unhealthy castles for the rest of her life, starting with Ampthill in Bedfordshire, then Buckden, finally Kimbolton Castle in Huntingdonshire, while constantly being put under pressure to sign away her rights and those of her daughter Mary, which she endures religiously. On Apr. 10 king (since 1523) Frederick I (b. 1471) dies after walking a tightrope between the Roman Catholic and Protestant camps and capturing Christian II last year as he tries for a comeback, and his strongly Lutheran son (who had been at the Diet of Worms in 1521, and was wowed by Martin Luther) Christian III (1503-59) is crowned king of Denmark and Norway next Aug. 12 (until Jan. 1, 1559) over the objection of Catholics, causing the Roman Catholic vs. Lutheran Count's Feud (Grevens Fejde) for succession in Denmark (ends 1536), with Christian III leading the Lutherans, and Count Christopher of Oldenburg (1504-66) leading the Lubecks in an effort to put Christian II on the throne; Christian II is backed by the nobles of Jutland, and Christopher by the Hanseatic League and peasants. On May 25 19 men and six women Anabaptists are tried in St. Paul's Church in London, and 14 won't deny their faith and are condemned to be burned, with a man and a woman burned in Smithfield, and the rest sent to various towns for burning. In May 1533 the first three Spaniards arrive in the Incan city of Cuzco (Cusco) (elev. 11,200 ft./3,400m) (modern-day pop. 435K) (founded by the Killke people about 900) in SE Peru in the Urubamba Valley at the E end of the Knot of Cuzco, followed in Nov. by big bad Francisco Pizarro and his conquistadors, plundering the palaces and temples then rebuilding the city. On Aug. 29 after Francisco Pizarro receives his filthy ransom brought by his half-brother Ruminahui (Ruminawi) (Rumiñahui) ("stone-eyed") (real name Ati Pillahuaso) (-1535), then reneges on pardoning Atahualpa and sets up a kangaroo court treason trial with his brothers as judges, causing him to convert to Christianity to avoid being burned alive, they kill him "like a llama", beheading him at his table, causing the Incans to go nuts in their belief in "apachacuti" (the world upside down); on Nov. 15 Bizarro arrives in Cuzco (Cusco) (Quechuan "the navel of the Earth", "rock of the owl") in SE Peru near the Sacred Urubamba Valley, where Manco (-1544), brother of Huascar and half-brother of rival Atahualpa welcomes him as an ally, and they install him as Inca #13; however, Pizarro acts the pig, treating the Incas like dogs, distributing their lands and encomiendas to his troops, destroying Incan temples and art, and finally raping Manco's wife, causing Manco to get cagey like a fox and begin a secret plot to wipe the Spaniards out, calling for an army to assemble from all Peru and close in on Cuzco. On Sept. 7 (Sept.) Elizabeth Tudor (d. 1603) is born in the afternoon in Greenwich Palace, and on Sept. 10 the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London come down the Thames River in their ermine robes and chains to attend her christening; the king is not present - the queen must be thinking what? On Nov. 1 John Calvin (Jean Cauvin) (1509-64) delivers his first speech in Geneva attacking the Church and calling for reforms. On Dec. 3 Russian grand prince (since Nov. 6, 1505) Vasily III (b. 1479) dies of a gangrenous boil, and his 3-y.-o. enfante terrible son Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-84) (named after grandfather Ivan III the Great) becomes grand duke of Moscow (until Mar. 28, 1584), with his mother Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya (1510-38) as regent, followed by others until 1543, growing up watching the boyars fight and steal Moscow blind and learning to hate them. To mend the longstanding political rupture between France and the Italian city-states, Pope Clement VII's orphaned niece Catherine de' Medici (1519-89) marries French dauphin Duke Henri of Orleans (1519-59) (future Henri II), a marriage of 14-year-olds (he is still in the royal nursery); his father Francis I hangs around the bedchamber on the wedding night until he is "satisfied that each had shown valor in the joust"; afterwards the squirt prefers to joust with his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who is nearly 20 years his senior. Thomas Cromwell becomes chancellor of the exchequer. Baja (Lower) Calif. is first visited by the Spanish. Pedro de Heredia y Bernandez (1505-54) founds the city of Cartagena de Indias on the NW coast of South Am. between Darien and Santa Marta in modern-day Colombia (modern-day pop. 970K/1M) under direct royal authority. The Barbary city-states become provunces (vilayets) of the Ottoman Empire, with self-financing beys who do as they please? North Vietnam splits into Tongking and Annam. The first lunatic asylums in Europe open for business. Paulus Manutius (1512-74) becomes head of the Aldine Press in Venice, concentrating on Latin classics, esp. Cicero. HRE Charles V makes Titian count palatine and knight of the Golden Spur, and he now enjoys superstar status, with a luxurious home in Venice that becomes the center of a lit.-artistic circle. The first Tsar's kabak is opened in Moscow, serving vodka and other liquors, becoming known as Russia's taverns. Architecture: The Gothic-Baroque Salamanca Cathedral (begun 1513) (original cathedral 1102), commissined by Ferdinand V of Castile is finished; it is consecrated in 1733, and declared a nat. monument in 1887; in 1992 Jeronimo Garcia adds a 20th cent. astronaut to the exterior. Science: Flemish cartographer Regnier Gemma Frisius (1508-55) becomes the first to pub. the Triangulation Method for surveying. Nonfiction: Anon., Allerhand Farben und Mancherley Weyse Dunten zu Bereyten (Augsburg); manual for producing paints and inks. Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), Horoscopion Apiani (Ingolstadt); on sundials; Instrument Buch; on astronomical instruments. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), A Playne and Godly Exposition or Declaration of the Commune Crede ("A Dialog called the Symbole or instructyon in the christen fayth or belyue, made by Mayster Erasmus of Roterdame. The persones speakynge, are the Mayster, and the Disciple, the one is marked by M the other by D"); written at the request of Thomas Boleyn, 1st earl of Wiltshire, explaining the Apostle's Creed from Erasmus' Roman Catholic POV after a dispute with Martin Luther. Regnier Gemma Frisius (1508-55), Libellus de Locurum Describendorum Ratione, et Eorum Distantiis Inveniendis; first pub. of the theory of triangulation in surveying. Lionardo Giachini, Novæ Academiæ Florentinæ opuscula; disses "barbaric" Arab medicine for the pure medicine of Galen, helping found the Galenic Academy, going on to be called the greatest physician of his time by Girolamo Cardano. Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Confutation of Tyndale's Answer; supports the Catholic side. Michael Servetus (1511-53), The Restitution of Christianity; attempts to reconcile Jews to Christianity by rejecting the Trinity, calling it "a sort of three-headed Cerberus"; he also rejects predestination; he pub. it privately, and sends a copy to John Calvin in 1546, which ends up getting him burned. John Heywood (1497-1580), The Pardoner, the Frere, the Curate, and Neighbour Pratte. Nicholas Udall (1504-56), Floures for Latine Speaking. Art: Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), The Ambassadors; incl. a pun on his name "hollow bone". Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Madonna and Child with St. Catherine and St. James the Just; Venetian Woman in the Guise of Lucretia. Titian (1477-1576), Portrait of HRE Charles V. Music: Johannes Ott, 121 Neue Lieder, von Berumbten Dieser Kunst Gesetzt (Nuremburg). Philippe Jacques Verdelot, Arcadelt et al., First Book of Madrigals (Rome). Plays: John Heywood (1497-1580), A Play of Love. John Skelton (1460-1529), Magnificence (morality play). Births: French Renaissance writer ("Father of the Essay") Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (d. 1592) on Feb. 28 in Saint-Michel-de Montaigne (near Bordeaux); rich parents in the herring biz. Italian duke of Mantua (1540-50) Francesco III Gonzaga (d. 1550) on Mar. 10; son of of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-40). Dutch prince of Orange (1544-85) (Lutheran) ("Father of the Dutch Repub.") ("Soldier of the Reformation") William I (the Silent) (d. 1584) on Apr. 24 in Dillenburg (near Wetzlar), Nassau (Hesse, Germany); founder of the House of Orange-Nassau; eldest son of Count William of Nassau and Juliana of Stolberg-Werningerode; father of Maurice of Nassau (1567-1625). Italian "Cronica dei Matematici" writer-mathematician Bernardino Baldi (d. 1617) on June 5 in Urbino, Marche; speaks 12-16 languages; tutor of Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-57). Spanish "Araucana" soldier-poet Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga (Zúñiga) (d. 1594) on Aug. 7 in Madrid; created duke of Lernia in 1564. English "Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" (1558-1603) Elizabeth I (d. 1603) on Sept. 7 [Virgo] (afternoon) (Sun.) in Greenwich Palace, London; daughter of Henry VIII (1491-1547) and 2nd wife Anne Boleyn (1507-36); last Tudor ruler of England; gets Plantagenet blood from her daddy, Welsh blood from her granddady Henry VII, commoner blood from her mother, Howard blood (earls of Surrey and dukes of Norfolk) through her mother's mother Elizabeth Howard, and Carey and Sackville blood through her mother's dad - and ends up sterile and childless? Transylvanian prince (1571-86) and Polish king consort (1576-86) Stephen (Stefan) Bathory (Báthory) (d. 1586) on Sept. 27 in Somlyo; son of Stephen Bathory (d. 1534); husband of Anna Jagiellon (1523-96). Swedish king (1560-8) Eric XIV (d. 1577) on Dec. 13 in Stockholm Castle; son of Gustav I (1496-1560) and Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513-35). Italian musician David Riccio (Rizzio) (Rizzo) (d. 1566); secy. to and favorite of Queen Mary of Scots. Polish composer Waclaw of Szamotuly (Szamatuli) (Waclaw Szamotulski) (Venceslaus Samotulinus) (d. 1567) (1520-60)? Irish Desmond Rebellions leader Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond (d. 1583). French artist-explorer Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (d. 1588) in Morgues (7 mi. E of Chateaudun). English MP Paul Wentworth (d. 1593); son of Sir Nicholas Wentworth (-1557); brother of Peter Wentworth (1524-96). Italian Jesuit writer Giovanni Pietro (John Peter) Maffei (d. 1603). Deaths: German sculptor Veit Stoss (b. 1438); dies wealthy and famous. Polish-German sculptor Veit Stoss (b. 1450). Danish-Norwegian-Swedish king (1524-33) Frederick I (b. 1471) on Apr. 10 in Gottorp. Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto (b. 1474) on July 6 in Ferrara; his house becomes a 20th cent. tourist spot. Russian grand duke (since 1505) Vasily III (b. 1479); dies of a gangrenous boil. Dutch painter Lucas van Leyden (b. 1494) on Aug. 8 in Leiden. English duchess Mary Tudor, duchess of Suffolk (b. 1495) on June 25 in Westhorpe, Suffolk. French queen Mary Rose Tudor (b. 1496) on June 25 in Westorpe Hall, Suffolk.
1534 In Feb. after Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare is summoned to London, he appoints his 21-y.-o. son "Silken" Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (1513-37) (AKA Lord Offaly) in his absence as lord deputy of Ireland; on June 11 after hearing rumors that his father has been executed in the Tower of London and that he's next, he declares a revolt against the stankin' English in front of the council at St. Mary's Abbey in Dublin with 140 horsemen wearing silk fringes on their helmets, then in July after gaining recruits sieges Dublin Castle, which has been held by the stankin' English since the Strongbow (Richard Fitz Gilbert) era in 1171; too bad, on July 28 after his army is routed, he has archbishop John Alen (Allen) of Clontarf (b. 1476) executed for trying to mediate, alienating the Irish clergy. In Feb. after Melchior Hoffman prophesies the return of Christ in 1533, with Strasbourg becoming the New Jerusalem, preceded by a purging of the ungodly, the Munster (Münster) Rebellion, led by John of Leiden (1509-36) takes over Munster, Germany, proclaiming himself king of Munster and installing Bernhard Knipperdolling (1495-1536) as mayor until June 24, 1535, when the Lutherans retake it; Hoffman is imprisoned for life. On Mar. 23 Pope Clement VII pronounces Catherine of Aragon's marriage valid; not to be outdone, on Mar. 23 the English Parliament passes the First Act of Succession, followed in Nov. by the Act Respecting the Oath to the Succession, vesting the English succession in the children of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (i.e. future Elizabeth I), and requiring everyone in England to swear allegiance to Henry VIII as the head of the English Church; Sir Thomas More is imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to take the oath, during which time he writes Treatise on the Passion, and Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation. On Apr. 20 English Roman Catholic nun Sister Elizabeth Barton (b. 1506), "the Maid of Kent", "the Holy Maid of London", an English ecstatic (epileptic) opposed to Henry VIII's matrimonial policy is executed at Tyburn after she talks too much and claims a message from the Virgin Mary that if goes he through with his divorce of Catherine of Aragon he "should no longer be king of this realm... and should die a villain's death" within 6 mo. - thefore, doctor, take your own medicine? On Apr. 20 Saint-Malo, Brittany-born French explorer Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) begins his First Voyage to North Am., arriving in the New World on May 20, crossing the Strait of Belle Isle and exploring Newfoundland; on June 24 he lands at Gaspe (Gaspé), Quebec, claiming Canada (Iroquois "Kanata" = "group of huts") for France, erecting the 30-ft.-high granite Jacques Cartier Cross (Cross of Gaspé) overlooking the Bay of Gaspe on July 24, with the inscription "Long live the king of France", which is rebuilt in granite in Gaspe, Quebec on July 24, 1534; on Aug. 10 (Feast of St. Lawrence) he discovers the Gulf of St. Lawrence (named after 3rd cent. St. Lawrence), sighting the coast of Labrador and Prince Edward Island, then explores the St. Lawrence River. In Apr. an 80-ship Ottoman fleet led by Lesbos-born Turkish privateer adm. Barbarossa (Redbeard) II Hayreddin Pasha (1478-1546) recaptures Coron, Patras, and Lepanto from the Spaniards, then crosses the Strait of Messina in July, capturing a large number of ships around Reggio Calabria as well as the Castle of San Lucido, then destroys the port of Cetraro, and in July attacks Campagnia, sacking Capri and Procida and bombarding the ports of Naples; not done yet, in Aug. he attacks Lazio and Gaeta and works his way up the Tiber River, causing the church bells of Rome to sound an alarm; he then turns S, attacks Ponza, Sicily, and Sardinia, then captures Tunis in N Africa in Aug. from Hafsin Sultan Mulei Hassan, who asks HRE Charles V to plan a counterattack; Barbarossa also captures the strategic Tunisian port of La Goulette, and waits for the emperor to bring it on. On Aug. 15 as the Protestant Reformation rocks Paris, seven Roman Catholic friends incl. (St.) Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) and (St.) Francis Xavier (1506-52) meet in a chapel in Montmartre and form the nucleus of the Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus), (officially created in 1540), who become known as the pope's marines (stormtroopers), leading armies against Protestants and evangelizing in pagan lands - the Nazis of Roman Catholicism? On Sept. 25 Pope (since Nov. 19, 1523) Clement VII (b. 1478) dies after ordering Michelangelo to paint "The Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel and eating a Death Cap mushroom, and on Oct. 13 Alessandro Farnese, "the Petticoat Cardinal" (brother of Pope Alexander VI's mistress Giulia Farnese, who had four known bastard children then allegedly was completely converted) is elected Pope (#220) Paul III (1468-1549), becoming the last Renaissance pope (lover of nepotism, lavish banquets, arts, and all that jazz), and the first pope of the Counter-Reformation; Clement's death causes the huge dowry for Catherine de' Medici promised French king Francis I to remain unpaid, causing him to complain "The girl has come to me stark naked"; Pope Paul III has a long list of murders, incl. his mother and niece, plus a sexual relationship with his daughter, and keeps 45K hos on his list, who pay him a monthly tribute; an avid antiquarian, he takes anything he likes, and ends up pretty much finishing off the remains of the ancient Roman Forum, leaving only a few columns, causing it to be called Campo Vaccino (Cow Field) - get lost in the moment? On Oct. 16 the Count's Feud in Denmark caused by the deposition and exile of Roman Catholic king Christian II in 1523 and his support by Protestant Count Christpher of Oldenburg that led to a peasant uprising in N Jutland in favor of Christian II sees Danish capt. Klemen Anderson "Skipper" Clement (1484-1536) defeat a Lutheran noble army in Svenstrup; too bad, Christian III makes a separate peace, then sends an army under his Protestant gen. Johan (Johann) Rantzau (1492-1565) to crush the peasants in Dec. in their HQ in Aalborg, massacring 2K-3K, breaking Clement on the wheel on Sept. 9, 1536 in Viborg then beheading him and placing his head on a spike with a lead crown; a statue is erected in his honor in 1931; meanwhile Christian III gets Gustav Vasa I of Sweden to send two armies to ravage C Scania and Halland, defeating the peasants at Loshult. On Oct. 18 Parisians wake up to find Protestant placards posted around the city decrying the "insufferable abuses of the papal mass" and its "hocus-pocus" (Hoc est corpus meum) of transubstantiation; one of the placards is found on the door of Francis I's bedchamber in Amboise; the establishment launches a bitter counterattack, incl. weeks of persecution and executions. In Nov. the First Act of Supremacy completes the breach of the Church of England with the Roman Catholic Church, with ambassador ? issuing the soundbyte: "This Act of Supremacy is no less than declaring the king to be the pope of England"; it is followed by the 1534 Treasons Act (repealed by the 1547 Treasons Act), which makes it treason to disavow the Act of Supremacy, punishable by death, which is soon used on Sir Thomas More; in practice, mere allegiance to the pope is considered treason. On Dec. 6 after Francisco Pizarro's on-the-make lt. (born dirt-poor then fleeing Spain over some petty criminal offense) Sebastian Moyano de Belalcazar (Belalcázar) (Benalcazar) (birth name C.J. Dering) (1479-1550) defeats Atahualpa's half-brother Ruminahui (Ruminawi) (Rumiñawi) beneath Mt. Chimborazo and establishes control in Quito (elev. 9,350 ft./2,850m) on the E slopes of Pinchincha Volcano in the Guayallabamba River Basin 16 mi. S of the Equator (modern-day pop. 2.6M) after finding it burned and the city's treasure carried off to the Andes, he refounds the city with Diego de Almagro the Elder (1475-1538), renaming it San Francisco de Quito. On Dec. 23 the Treaty of Bassein with Portugal is signed by Sultan Bahadur Shahof Gujarat, offering Portugal the seven islands of Bombay, along with the nearby strategic town of Bassein, surrendering them next Oct. 25. In winter the strife between Ivan IV's regent and the Russian govt. gives Lithuanian grand hetman (since 1531) Jerzy Radziwill (1480-1541) his chance to invade Severia with a 20K-man army in an attempt to recover the territories lost to Vasily III, causing three Russian armies under Prince Vasily Shuisky and Prince Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky to invade Lithuania, and advance as far as Vilnius and Navahrudak (Naugarduka) (in Belarus), building the fortress of Ivangorod on the Sbezh River. A 15K-man English force fights the Second Battle of Memel, and is again defeated by the forces of Courland, finally accepting a peace next Aug., giving Courland E Prussia and Memel. Thomas Cromwell becomes the king's secy., and invents a new excuse for taxation other than the maintenance of war, namely, the maintenance of peace; this device brings £2M to the king's treasury by 1547, which he squanders; a decree forbids English farmers to own more than 2K sheep. The Swabian League of SW Germany (created 1488) is dissolved. The Confession of Basel is drafted by Swiss Protestant theologian Oswald Myconius (Molitoris = Lat. "miller") (1488-1552), who was given the name Myconius by Erasmus, alluding to the expression "bald-headed Myconian". Bavarian dukes William IV and Louis X end their feud with the Hapsburgs after reaching an agreement with Ferdinand I in Linz. The Hafsid Dynasty in Ifriqiya (Tunisia) (founded 1228) ends. Florence-born Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540) resigns as gov. of Bologna to serve the Medicis in Florence, bitterly hating the despots while serving them loyally; in his later years he writes the greatest historical work of the cent., La Storia d'Italia, which of course is pub. posth. - I know I need to lose a few pounds, but them starving cages suck? John Farlyon becomes the first Master (Yeoman) of the Revels in England, followed in 1544 by Sir Thomas Cawarden (1559) (first independent office), in 1560-72 by Sir Thomas Benger (1520-77), in 1573-79 by Sir Thomas Blagrave (-1590), and in 1579-1610 by Sir Edmund Tylney (Tilney) (1536-1610), who gets into gen. censorship and licensing of theaters, which in 1624 is put directly into the hands of the Lord Chamberlain, followed in 1737 by the Licensing Act of 1737, which gives the power to the Examiner of the Stage, who works for the Lord Chamberlain; the function is not abolished until 1968 by the Theaters Act; Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2 refers to Benger's child actors from The Children of St. Paul's with the line: "An aery of children, little eyeases that cry out on the top of question and are most tyranically clapped for it: these are now the fashion; /and so berattle the common stages that many wearing rapiers are afraid to goose quills and dare scarce come hither." "Tall tobacco" (Nicotiana tabacum) is transplanted from Central Am. to Cuba and Santo Domingo. Francois Rabelais accompanies his patron William du Bellay to Rome, and returns with Giovanni Boccaccio's book On Rome, which he tr. and pub. with his own notes. Sports: The first known fox hunt in England is held in Norfolk to hunt "vermin" (foxes). Architecture: Regensburg Cathedral (begun 1273) is finished. Italian architect Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570) begins St. Francesco della Vigna in Venice. Michelango finishes the Tomb of the Medicis, then moves from Florence to Rome. Palais Granvelle in Besancon, France is begun (finished 1547). Nonfiction: Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), Instrumentum Primi Mobilis; treatise on trigonometry with sine tables. Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), The Ragionamenti (Discussions): The Lives of Nuns, the Lives of Married Women, the Lives of Courtesans (1534-6); two Roman hos (one old, one young) tell their secrets, plus what happens among housewives and nuns, incl. lesbianism; written to get even with the Romans for expelling him to Venice?; founds the porno lit. industry in Europe? Regnier Gemma Frisius (1508-55), Tractatus de Annulo Astronomicae; describes the astronomer's ring, and notes that comets display a proper motion against the background stars. Lucas Horenbout (Hornebolt), The Black Book of the Garter; complete manual of the Knights of the Order of the Garter, founded in 1348 by Edwad III, prominently featuring Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Martin Luther (1483-1546) (tr.), Die Bible; the complete Bible in German; like an A-bomb dropped on Germany, allowing everybody to finally read the Bible themselves and see how Roman Catholic Church teachings don't square with it? Polydore Vergil (1470-1555), Anglica Historia (26 vols.) (Basel); 27th vol. added in 1555; admits that his vers. of events differs from that of the English, Scottish, and French, causing accusations of destroying source books or shipping them off to Rome to cover his tracks; knocks Geoffrey of Monmouth and disses King Arthur, exposing his Italian nationalism?; "The whole countrie of Britain... is divided into iv partes, whereof the one is inhabited of Englishmen, the other of Scottes, the third of Wallshemen, and the fowerth of Cornishe people, which all differ emonge them selves, eitehr in tongue,... in manners, or ells in lawes and ordinaunces." Art: Baccio Bandinelli (1493-), Hercules and Cacus (5.05m marble sculpture) (1525-34) (Piazza della Signoria, Florence); stands to the right of the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio. Polidoro da Caravaggio (1495-1543), Christ Carrying the Cross (1530-4). Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Holy Family with Sts. Jerome, Anne and Joachim. Parmigianino (1503-40), Madonna of the Long Neck. Births: Danish-Norwegian king (1559-88) Frederick II (d. 1588) on July 1; son of Christian III and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. French poet-satirist Jean Passerat (d. 1602) on Oct. 18 in Troyes; educated at the U. of Paris. Chilean rebel leader Lautaro ("swift hawk") (d. 1557) in Treguaco. Palestinian Jewish mystic rabbi Isaak (Isaac) ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (d. 1572) (AKA Ha'ARI = the lion) (Ha'ARI Hakadosh = the holy ARI) (ARIZaL = ARI of blessed memory) in Jerusalem; Ashkenazi father, Sephardic mother; father of modern Kabbalah; teacher of Hayim Vital (1542-1620). Croatian humanist writer Stanislav Pavao (Paul) Skalic (Paulus Scalichiis) (d. 1573) in Zagreb. Spanish (Basque) explorer Capt. Francisco de Ibarra (d. 1575) in Eibar, Gipuzkoa. Dutch anatomist Volcher Coiter (d. 1576) in Groningen. Japanese overlord Oda Nobunaga (d. 1582). Spanish poet Fernando de Herrera (AKA El Divino) (d. 1597) in Seville. English statesman Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (d. 1601); son of William Herbert, 1st earl of Pembroke (1501-70) and Anne Parr (1514-52) (lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's six wives, and sister of 6th wife Catherine Parr); husband (1553-4) of Catherine Grey, Catherine Talbot, and (1577-) Mary Sidney; father of William Herbert, 3rd earl of Pembroke (1580-1630) and Philip Herbert, 4th earl of Pembroke (1584-1649). Spanish composer-theologian Fernando Las Infantas (d. 1609). Deaths: Italian architect Antonio da Sangallo the Elder (b. 1453) on Dec. 27. Italian painter Lorenzo Costa (b. 1460) in Mantua. Italian cardinal Thomas Cajetan (b. 1469) on Aug. 9 in Rome. Lithuanian marshal prince Michael Glinski (b. 1470). Italian engraver Marcantonio Raimondi (b. 1475). Italian duke (of Ferrara) Alfonso I d'Este (b. 1476) on Oct. 31. German botanist Otto Brunfels (b. 1488) on Nov. 23. Italian painter Antonio da Correggio (b. 1489) on Mar. 5 in Correggio.
1535 On Jan. 10 Incan leader Ruminahui dies after being tortured by the Spanish, never revealing the whereabouts of the Incan treasure - another Indiana Jones flick in the making? On Jan. 18 Francisco Pizarro (d. 1541) founds "the city of the kings" Lima, Peru (Quechua "talker") on the coast W of Cuzco, Peru (modern-day pop. 9.7M/12.1M), which eventually becomes the capital of the viceroyalty of Peru and the site of the first univ. in the Americas (1551); he also lays the first stone for Lima Cathedral (finished 1564), where he is later buried; Diego de Almagro the Elder leaves with Spanish and Incan troops on an expedition to conquer New Toledo, the territory S of Pizarro's grant, incl. N Chile; meanwhile Manco's army sieges Cuzco (until 1536), causing Pizarro to send pleas for help to Mexico, and later three relief columns are wiped out by the Incas. In Jan. the Swedish army of Johan Rantzau captures Helsingborg Castle and burns it to the ground, then in June defeats Count Christopher of Oldenburg in the Battle of Oksnebjerg (Øksnebjerg). On Mar. 10 the Galapagos Islands are discovered by Spanish bishop of Panama #4 Fray Tomas de Berlanga (1487-1551) while sailing to Peru to settle a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and his lts. In Mar. Silken Thomas' Maynooth Castle in County Kildare, Ireland is taken by an English force under Sir William Skeffington by bribing a guard while Fitzgerald is away in gathering reinforcements, putting the garrison to death after promising them a pardon, which becomes known as the "Maynooth Pardon", after which Fitzgerald, failing to spark a gen. uprising against the stanking' English s surrenders to new Irish lord deputy Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane (1479-1541) under the promise of the king's mercy, after which the dope is sent to the Tower in Oct., then hanged, drawn and quartered in Tyburn, England with his five uncles on Feb. 3, 1537 - I thought maybe, but they really are stankin' English? On Apr. 17 after three high-ranking noblemen decline the position, Spanish Hungarian ambassador Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza y Pacheco, 4th Count of Tendilla (1495-1552) becomes viceroy of New Spain (until Nov. 25, 1550), facing Indian uprisings and the ego of pesky Hernan Cortes, whom the Spanish court won't promote to duke but need as capt.-gen. of New Spain for his military abilities, going on to do a stellar job. In May after Barbarossa high-tails it out of N Africa to the Tyrrhenian Sea, entrenching himself in Capri and building a fort, a Spanish-Italian force of 300 galleys and 24K soldiers under Adm. Andrea Dorea recaptures Tunis, Bone (Annaba) and Mahdiya, and frees 20K Christian slaves for a giant V for Christ against Muhammad; meanwhile Francesco Maria dies without heirs, and Charles V gains control of Milan, starting yet another war with Francis I of France (ends 1538); meanwhile fidgety Barbarossa raids coastal Algiers and Spain, destroys the ports of Majorca and Minorca, captures several Spanish and Genoese galleys and liberates their Muslim slaves, and in Sept. repulses a Spanish attack on Tlemcen in NW Algeria. Hey, do us all a favor and kill yourselves? On June 10 HRE Charles V issues an Edict Against the Anabaptists; "And since it has come to our knowledge, that notwithstanding our aforesaid decrees, many and various sectarians, even some who call themselves Anabaptists, have proceeded, and still daily proceed, to spread, sow, and secretly preach their aforesaid abuses and errors, in order to allure a, great number of men and women to their' false doctrine and reprobate sect, to seduce them and to rebaptize some, to the great reproach and disregard of the sacrament of holy baptism,... and of our edicts, statutes and ordinances; therefore we, intending to guard against and remedy this, summon and command you, that, immediately upon receipt of this, you cause it to be proclaimed within every place and border of your dominions, that all those, or such as shall be found, polluted by the accursed sect of the Anabaptist, of whatever rank or condition they may be, their chief leaders, adherents, and abettors, shall incur the loss of life and property, and be brought to the most extreme punishment, without delay; namely, those who remain obstinate and,continue in their evil belief and purpose, or who have seduced to their sect and rebaptized any; also those who have been called prophets, apostles or bishops - these shall be punished with fire. All other persons who have been rebaptized, or who secretly and with premeditation have harbored any of the'aforesaid Anabaptists, and who renounce their evil purpose and belief, and are truly sorry and penitent for it, shall be executed with the sword, and the women be buried in a pit." On June 22 after refusing to swear allegiance to Henry VIII, asserting that Parliament does not have the right to usurp papal authority in favor of a king, Roman Catholic cardinal-bishop John Fisher (b. 1469) of St. Vitalis is beheaded for treason; on July 6 Sir Thomas More (b. 1478) is ditto at Tower Hill after a trial on July 1; "I can shift for myself" on the way down, he says; another good one: "I die the king's good servant, but God's first"; parting shot: "Though you have warrant to cut off my head, you have none to cut off my beard"; he is canonized in 1935, and in Nov. 2002 Pope John Paul II declares him the patron saint of good Roman Catholic politicians. In June Munster capitulates to a Hessian army under Prince Bishop Count Franz von Waldeck (1491-1553) of Munster, and Roman Catholicism prevails again in Germania, er, Germany; Anabaptist leader John of Leiden (1509-36) is captured, then tortured and executed along with Bernhard Krechting (1499-1536) and Bernhard Knipperdolling (1495-1536) with red-hot tongs for an hour next Jan. 22, then killed with burning daggers to the hearts, after which their dismembered corpses are raised in three iron cages above St. Lambert's Church (Cathedral) (Lambertuskirche) in Munster, where the bones are not removed for 50 years, and the cages are left hanging to modern times. In fall the first complete printed English Bibles translated by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale appear in England; Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) is appointed vicar-gen. (vice-regent) of England, and commissions Coverdale to prepare an official vers. for the Anglican Church (finished 1539). On July 11 German Roman Catholic prince-elector of Brandenburg (1499) Joachim I Nestor (b. 1484) dies in exile in Saxony, and his eldest son Joachim II Hector (1505-71) becomes Hohenzollern prince-elector #6 of Brandenburg (until Jan. 3, 1571), reneging on his contract with his father to remain Roman Catholic and officially going Lutheran in 1555. Henry VIII invests some of his big bucks to erect a series of sea fortifications at the Isle of Wight and elsewhere. Sultan Hairun (Khair ul-Jamal) (-1570) becomes Muslim ruler of Ternate in North Maluku (E Indonesia), who with the four neighboring kingdoms control the clove trade; the Portuguese begin treating him as the head of the whole region, giving him and his son ideas? In France the Chambre Ardente (Burning Chamber) is created for the trial of heretics by wealthy Jean de Lorraine, Cardinal of Lorraine (1498-1550); during the reign of Henri II (1547-59) it becomes infamous for its atrocities against Huguenots. Henry VIII begins wearing a codpiece after Anne Boleyn sees Duke Fabrizio of Bologna doing it, and utters the soundbyte: "Be that thine codling [immature apple], or art thou glad to see me?" :); being the cock of the rock, he has his designed to bragging proportions, starting a fashion - the first English monarch to stuff his fabrizio with balogna? Jacques Cartier makes his Second Voyage to North Am., taking the St. Lawrence River to visit the Canadian Indian settlement near Cape Diamond on Oct. 11, which in 1608 becomes the city of Quebec City (Algonquin "shut-in place, narrow passage, strait") (modern-day pop. 531K/800K). capital city of the French-speaking province of Quebec; he also visits an Indian settlement at the foot of Mount Royal, future site of Montreal. Cortes unsuccessfully attempts to found a colony in Baja Calif. Portuguese traders obtain the right to anchor ships in the harbor of Macau (Macao) (Chin. "Magang" = harbor of Mazo, goddess of sailors) on the Pearl River (modern-day pop. 650K); it takes until 1552-3 to obtain permission to erect storage sheds onshore, followed by crude stone houses in Nam Van, establishing a permanent settlement in 1557 for 550 taels/year of silver (1 tael = 41.6 lbs.), which they hold until 1999. Cabeza de Vaca finally meets up with his three fellow Spaniards and they escape from Indian enslavement, following the Rio Grande River to N Mexico, where he becomes known as a healer, attracting a crowd of thousands who follow him everywhere while he ends up going half-Indian and half-naked, probably with an Indian babe in tow, becoming the first Spaniard to give up being a haughty conquistador and view the Indians as people?; his party follows the Great Comanche Trail to the Grand Indian Crossing, eating the sparse Indian chow of paper-shell pine nuts, nupai cacti, worms and spiders, then along the Sierra Madre Mts., finally following the Shell Trail through Ariz. and New Mexico past the abandoned Casas Grandes and other pueblos, and into Copper Canyon, where he befriends the dignified Tarahumara (Rarámuri) ("people who walk straight") Indians, whom he calls the most open and intelligent he's met; they becoming known for their long-distance running ability - as he mellows out they all get more open and intelligent? The Portuguese obtain the right to trade in Macao. The city of Recife, Brazil is settled by the Portuguese (modern-day pop. 1.5M). Paraguay is first settled as a Spanish possession. Francisco de Montejo gives up trying to conquer Yucatan (begun 1527), and is appointed gov. of Honduras, continuing his subjugation of Tabasco. The radical Statute of Uses, forced by Henry III on Parliament curbs the power of English landowners to use land without paying royal fees called feudal incidents. The study of canon law is forbidden in Cambridge U., which goes on to concentrate on math and science, while Oxford U. sticks to traditional classical studies - the origin of the Two Cultures of C.P. Snow? The Mexico City Mint (La Casa de Moneda de Mexico), the first mint in America is established in Mexico City by viceroy Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, minting silver and copper macuquinas as well as Spanish dollars (doubloons) (Sp. "dobla" = double), which are worth 8 reales (escudos) ("shields") and are soon cut-up into 8 pie-shaped "pieces of eight". Nonfiction: John Bourchier (Lord Berners) (1467-1533) (tr.), The Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius (posth.). Jacopo Berengario da Carpi (1460-1530), Anatomia Carpi (posth.). first to print figures illustrating his text?; best book on anatomy until Andreas Vesalius (1514-64). Miles Coverdale (1488-1569), The Bible and Apocrypha in English (Antwerp); first complete trans. in printed form; dedicated to Henry VIII but printed abroad; its distribution in England is greatly facilitated by the king after the break with the pope; his phraseology is incorporated in subsequent English Bible versions - read it from coverdale to coverdale? Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo (1478-1557), Historia General y Natural de las Indias; mentions Ponce de Leon's search for the waters of Bimini to cure his impotence. Marino Sanudo the Younger (1466-1536), Diarii (1496-1535) (Venice). Art: Hans Holbein the Younger (1498-1543), Portrait of King Henry VIII; destroyed in the 1698 Whitehall fire. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Portrait of a Goldsmith in Three Views. Poetry: Marcus Hieronymus Vida (1485-1566), Christiados libri sex (The Christiad in Six Books) (6 vols); in the style of Virgil. Novels: Francois Rabelais (1494-1553), Gargantua and Pantagruel (new ed.). Births: Italian composer Pietro Vinci (d. 1584). French Renaissance sculptor Germain Pilon (d. 1590) in Paris. English navigator-explorer Sir Martin Frobisher (d. 1594) in Altofts, Yorkshire; knighted in 1588. Dutch composer Giaches de Wert (d. 1596). Swedish (Finnish) adm. Baron Klaus (Cls) Eriksson Fleming (d. 1597) in Pargas. English "Plutarch's Parallel Lives" writer-translator Sir Thomas North (d. 1604). English Puritan divine Thomas Cartwright (d. 1603) in Hertfordshire; educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U. Italian dancer-choreographer ("Il Trombone") (inventor of the Five Basic Positions of Ballet) Cesare Negri (d. 1605) in Milan. Florentine painter Alessandro Allori (d. 1607). French "Satire Menippee" poet-judge-officer Nicolas Rapin (d. 1608) in Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendee. English master of the revels Sir Edmund Tylney (Tilney) (d. 1610). Italian "Natural Magic" polymath philosopher-playwright Giambattista (Giovanni Battista) della Porta (d. 1615) in Vico Equense (near Naples); son of Nardo Antonio della Porta. English benefactor (founder of Wadham College, Oxford U.) Dorothy Wadham (nee Petre) (d. 1618); daughter of Sir William Petre (1505-72); wife (1555-) of Nicholas Wadham (1531-1609). Deaths: German Livonian Order grandmaster (1494-1535) Wolter von Plettenberg (b. 1450) on Feb. 28. Jewish physician-writer Judah Abrarbanel (b. 1460). English cardinal St. John Fisher (b. 1469) in Tower Hill, London (beheaded); Pope Paul III makes him a cardinal while he's awaiting death in prison for denying that Henry VIII is the supreme head of the church in England; beatified by Pope Leo XIII on Dec. 29, 1886; canonized on May 19, 1935 by Pope Pius XI. English Yorkist imposter Lambert Simnel (b. 1475). English martyr Sir (St.) Thomas More (b. 1478) on July 6 in London (beheaded for denying that you know who is the supreme head of you know what); his head is placed on London Bridge for 1 mo.; his daughter Margaret Roper (1505-44) is buried with his head; he ends up becoming a hero in the Soviet Union for his Commie attitude in his work "Utopia"; Fisher and More are beatified on Dec. 29, 1886 by Pope Leo XIII, and canonized on May 19, 1935 by Pope Pius XI, and on Oct. 31, 2000 Pope John Paul II declares More the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians"; first of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales (1535-1679). German Roman Catholic elector of Brandenburg (1499-1535) Joachim I Nestor (b. 1484) on July 11 in Stendal, Saxony (in exile). German physician-writer Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (b. 1486) on Feb. 18 in Grenoble. Italian poet Francesco Berni (b. 1497) on May 26 in Florence.
1536 The cent.-long Tudor Reconquest of Ireland begins (ends 1730), with English under Henry VIII forcing Irish nobles to give up their Gaelic custom of electing chieftains in favor of Roman, er, English-style male primogeniture via the legal mechanism of surrender and regrant, receiving new English feudal titles that change the "Macs and Oes" into Englishmen, incl. the earl of Thomond (O'Briens), earl of Clanrickard (Mac William Burkes), baron of Upper Ossory (MacGillapatricks), and earl of Tyrone (O'Neills) - so they'll become as corrupt as they are? On Jan. 6 New Spain viceroy Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza founds the Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, Mexico, allowing the sons of Aztec nobles to study Latin, rhetoric, philosophy and music, becoming the first univ. in the Americas - no more of that bouncing heads down the pyramid stuff? On Jan. 7 Spanish-born English queen (princess dowager of Wales) Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485) dies in exile in Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire, still claiming to be be England's only rightful queen; she dies after dictating a Letter of Forgiveness to Henry VIII. In Jan. 40-something Henry VIII (b. 1491), who is used to tiring 8-10 horses on each hunt is thrown from his horse during a jousting tournament at Greenwich, lays unconscious for two hours, and becomes partially lame; he never jousts again (beds excepted), and his plentious meat-and-sugar-heavy Henry VIII Royal Diet quickly catches up with the sedentary monarch, who begins developing multiple medical problems, beginning with obesity; his example is followed by the English nobility, and later by the commoners, and their descendants in the U.S.?; meanwhile his servants content themselves with leftover pot vegetables, giving them a healthier diet - that explains fat women like Wynona Judd and Kirstie Alley? On Feb. 2 the city of Buenos Aires (Sp. "fair winds") (Our Lady St. Mary of the Good Winds) (modern-day pop. 2.9M/13.6M) in Argentina on the estuary of the Rio de la Plata is settled by Spanish conquistadors led by Pedro de Mendoza (1487-1537), who began colonizing the year before; Juan de Ayolas (-1537) and Domingo Martinez de Irala (1509-56) lead expeditions up the Parana and Paraguay Rivers in search of a route to Peru; after fighting the Guarani, crossing the Chaco to the Andes, and seizing some booty, Ayola is killed along with his whole co. by the Payagua; meanwhile de Irala escapes, and next year is elected capt. gen. of the Rio de la Plata by his men, going on to relocate the pop. of Buenos Aires to Asuncion in 1841 before the city is abandoned; in 1552 he is confirmed by Charles V as gov., building encomiendas and forcing the native pop. into them. On Feb. 17 the Dynasty of Phantoms ruling the Bandari Jungle in Africa begins as the first Phantom, "the Ghost Who Walks", son of Sir Christopher Standish swears his oath - The Phantom comic strip by Lee Falk and Ray Moore (debuts Feb. 17, 1936). On Feb. 25 Tyrolean Anabapist Hutterites leader Jacob Hutter (b. 1500) is burned at the stake in Innsbruck for heresy. On Mar. 31 after Protestant Geneva revolts against the authority of the duchy of Savoy and repudiates the authority of its Roman Catholic bishop, Swiss forces from Bern under Hans Franz Nageli (Nägeli) (1497-1579) take Lausanne, followed by Vaud (N of Lake Geneva) and other territories from Savoy, who all join the Swiss Confederation; HRE Charles V triumphantly enters Rome and delivers a speech before Vatican officials publicly challenging Francis I of France to a duel; the Bernese who conquer Vaud release writer Francois Bonivard (Bonnivard) (1493-1570), "the Prisoner of Chillon", who goes Protestant after four years of captivity. On Apr. 18 Incan emperor Manco escapes from prison in Cuzco and launches the 10-mo. Siege of Cuzco held by Hernando Pizarro (ends Mar. 1537). On May 2 Queen Anne Boleyn is imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of adultery with her brother, three gentlemen of the privy chamber, and a court musician, and of conspiring with them against the king's life; on May 14 Thomas Cranmer declares her marriage to Henry VIII null and void - luckily the other eight got away with it? On May 3 Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) orders his men to abduct Iroquois Chief Donnacona (-1539) from the village of Stadacona on modern-day Quebec City to take him back to France with them so he can tell the king his stories of the splendors of the New World; he dies in France in 1539; Cartier first uses the name Canada in his writings - Donna, Donna, my Donnacona? On May 12 the four commoner conspirators are tried, followed by Queen Anne Boleyn and her brother on May 15, and all are convicted of high treason after the court musician confessed under torture to adultery, although the others maintain their innocence; Anne's father Thomas Boleyn and her uncle the duke of Norfolk are instrumental in her kangaroo trial, with Norfolk presiding over the 26 peer judges, then pronouncing her sentence; the trumped-up proceedings of adultery and witchcraft (based on her having a 6th finger and an extra nipple, a goiter on the neck, et al.) get lost; on May 17 the musician is hanged and the four commoners beheaded incl. her brother George Boleyn, and on May 19 Henry VIII has the head of Anne Boleyn (b. 1507) severed from her pretty duckies by expert swordsman (one of the king's inner council) Sir William Kingston (1476-1540) (compliments of his wily advisor Thomas Cromwell) after he last words, "I have a little neck"; on May 20 after Parliament invalidates the marriage to enable it, Henry betrothes Anne's plug-ugly but fertile maid of honor Jane Seymour (1508-37), then marries her on May 30 after a 11-day party; Hans Holbein the Younger becomes court painter to Henry VIII, and makes a Drawing of Plug-Ugly Queen Jane Seymour; Anne's daughter (future queen) Elizabeth is declared a bastard, even though later both Parliament and the king name Henry's children Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, in that order, as heirs to Henry's throne. On May 23 after Manuel I's request in 1515 is stalled until after his death, Joao (John) III the Pious establishes the Portuguese Inquisition (until 1821), and places the U. of Coimbra under Jesuit control; now those who got too much loot from America can get it redistributed legally after they are rocketed to Hell? - that's smokin' pious of ya, kingey? On May 29 after a meeting between Martin Luther and Protestant leaders from S Germany led by Martin Bucer (1491-1551), the Wittenberg Concord is signed; too bad, Bucer later disavows it on petty technicalities. On June 26 Spanish navigator Andres de Urdanet arrive in Lisbon from the Maluku Islands, completing their circumnatigation of the Earth which began with the Loaisa Expedition of 1525. On June 27 Spanish gov. of Guatemala Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras (1495-1541) founds the city of San Pedro Sula in NW coastal Honduras (modern-day pop. 661K/1.45M), which goes on to become Honduras' 2nd largest city after Tegucigalpa. On July 25 Pizarro's lt. Sebastian de Belalczar founds the city of Santiago de Cali (modern-day pop. 2M/5M), followed by Pasto (1537) (modern-day pop. 480K), and Popayan (Jan. 13, 1537) (modern-day pop. 439K) in the Cauca River Valley of SW Colombia (1536-7); Pizarro's men bring back the potato to Europe. In July after sieging Malmo and Copenhagen, Christian III defeats Count Christopher of Oldenburg, then on Aug. 12 stages a coup on his Roman Catholic-dominated council of state, arresting three bishops, ending the Counts' Feud (begun 1634), officially establishing the Lutheran Church in Denmark and Norway on Oct. 30, and earning him a congratulatory letter from Martin Luther; he pays for the cost of the war by confiscating the property of the Roman Catholic bishops, who are imprisoned until they agree to marry and give up their privileges, although some die in prison in protest; too bad, he uses German mercenaries, who go on to spoil Roman Catholic churches, making the king and his nobles rich, but stinking up Lutheranism, and drawing condemnation from Luther himself; for the next six years German counselors dominate the king, causing a war over control of the kingdom (ends 1542); Iceland also goes Lutheran - it's hard to resist, very hard? In July Turkish adm. Hayreddin Barbarossa, who was called back to Istanbul last year to form a naval fleet to attack the Hapsburg kingdom of Naples captures Otranto, followed by the Castro Fortress and the city of Ugento in Puglia. On Oct. 6 after being condemned in Brussels at the behest of Henry VIII, Lutheran sympathizer William Tyndale (b. 1494) is strangled and then burned at the stake by the Old Skool, who consider the Bible dangerous in the hands of the unlearned for making an "illegal" English trans. of the Bible. Spain invades Provence over the Milan succession; meanwhile Francis I of France goes to war against the Habsburgs again (until 1538), attacking Charles V for the 3rd time by invading Italy and seizing the dominions of the house of Savoy (until 1559), causing Duke Charles III to flee to exile for the rest of his life (until 1553). Parliament passes the First Laws in Wales Act, legally annexing Wales to England as a single state; 2nd act in 1542. The English Parliament declares the authority of the pope void in England; meanwhile on Oct. 1 after Henry VIII orders the Dissolution (Suppression) of the Monasteries (ends 1541), causing 376 religious houses in England to be dissolved by royal decree, the Pilgrimage of Grace in Yorkshire sees 40K men led by lawyer Robert Aske (1500-37) of Doncaster march through N England protesting the looting of the churches and monasteries by Henry's iconoclastic govt., also seeking relief from tax collectors; pro-Roman Catholic Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk negotiates their surrender; Don't Aske is executed for treason next July 12; meanwhile Thomas Cromwell rises to Baron Cromwell of Oakham and Lord Privy Seal, setting up a bureaucratic machine to administer all the income generated by selling Church land and closing monasteries; too bad his big schmuck arrogance and venality causes him to make a lot of enemies; Thomas Mildmay (1515-66) gets a lucrative job as royal admin. of the ecclesiastical revenues annexed to the crown, allowing him to later set up his son Walter Mildmay as privy chancellor and chancellor of the exchequer under Elizabeth I; next year Henry VIII introduces legislation in the Irish Parliament to close the monasteries, which faces considerable opposition, causing only 16 of 400 to be closed, but after regrouping he gets about half closed by the time of his death in 1547 - magic green, cleans like magic? Francisco Pizarro breaks Manco's siege of Lima and corners them at the Temple of Sacsayhuaman, where the brave warriors hold out in a last-ditch stand, the last ones filling their mouths with dirt, scourging their faces, then jumping off the cliff to commit suicide rather than be captured alive; Pizarro then stages savage reprisals, while Manco and his remaining people and refugees retreat over the 12.4K-ft. Colpa Pass (highest in Andes) down into the headwaters of the Amazon in Amazonia to set up a last outpost for their way of life in in Vilcabamba (Willkapampa), the Lost Valley of the Incas (rediscovered in the 20th cent.), with the Chaullay River as boundary; Manco tells his people that if they are forced to accept the white man's gods they are to play along but keep worshiping the ancestral gods under cover. 17-y.-o. dauphin Henri (Henry), Duke of Bourbon (future King Henri II of France) (still in the royal nursery) meets 36-y.-o. lusty widow Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566), wife of the Grand Senechal of Normandy, and she becomes his mistress just in time to enjoy his sexual peak, while his plug-ugly wife Catherine de' Medici (a commoner and despised foreigner) is forced to endure the humiliation; fortunately, she befriends Catherine, who dutifully evicts young Henri from her bed to make him perform his conjugal duties. Cabeza de Vaca and his party of half-starved former conquistadors who started out way back in 1528 in Florida meet up with fellow Spanish conquistadors (slave traders) on the Sinaloa River in NW Mexico on the Gulf of Calif., and after fighting to keep his Indian pals from being turned into slaves, he returns to Spain next year, where he argues for humane treatment for them, bringing his Journal of his fantastic trip, which many think is fiction - but can't put down? Spanish conquistador Diego de Almagro the Elder (1475-1538) founds the city of Valparaiso (Valparaíso) in C Chile (modern-day pop. 284K/930K), named by his lt. Juan de Saavedra after his hometown Valparaiso de Arriba in Cuenca Province, Spain. After receiving orders from Prophet Muhammad in a dream, Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent orders the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem, building them 2 mi. long and 40 ft. high by 1541; Ottoman court architect Sinan designs the Damascus Gate in the N wall; the water system is overhauled and improved; Suleiman invites Jews to settle there; by 1553 the pop. of Jerusalem is 13,384 incl. 1,650 Jews and Christians. French Protestant William (Guillaume) (Guilhem) Farel (1489-1565) persuades John Calvin to remain in Geneva; after their expulsion in 1538, he talks him into returning in 1541, turning Geneva into the Protestant Rome. About this time the Black Rood of Scotland in Durham Cathedral disappears during all the looting of English Roman Catholic churches. Finnish Catholic Bishop Skytte sends Michael Agricola to Wittenberg, Germany to study theology and language, and he begins translating the Bible into Finnish with the approval of Swedish King Gustavus I. The only surviving copy of Beowulf from Anglo-Saxon times (originally written in the 8th cent. C.E.) narrowly escapes destruction when Henry VIII empties the monasteries. Architecture: Henry VIII establishes the 350-acre Hyde Park in C London after taking land from Westminster Abbey for a hunting ground; it opens to the public in 1637, becoming popular for May Day parades, becoming the largest of the four royal parks forming a chain from the entrance of Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Green Park past the main entrance to Buckingham Palace. Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540) completes the stucco Gallery of Fontainebleau. Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570) designs St. Mark's Library in Venice. Science: India Rubber is first mentioned. Cardinal Nicolaus von Schonberg asks Nicolaus Copernicus to make his heliocentric theory known to the learned world, but he is still too chicken - doesn't want to risk becoming extra crispy? Nonfiction: John Calvin (1509-64), Institutes of the Christian Religion (Christianae Religionis Institutio); definitive ed. 1559; founding document of his Reformed Church, pub. in Geneva, making converts in Paris, Lyons, Grenoble, et al.; becomes a roadmap of Protestant thought. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Table Talk (Colloquia Mensalia, or Divine Discourses at His Table); full of golden nuggets of wisdom, e.g., "If a Jew, not converted at heart, were to ask baptism at my hands, I would take him to the bridge, tie a stone round his neck, and hurl him into the river; for those wretches are wont to make a jest of our religion." Nicholas Massa, Manual of Anatomy; fairly knowledgeable? Paracelsus (1493-1541), Grosse Wundartzney (Wundarznei). Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-58), Pro Ecclesiasticae Unitatis Defensione. Art: Michelangelo (1475-1564), The Last Judgment; on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel (1536-41). Music: Heinrich Finck (1445-1527), Schone Auserlesene Lieder (posth.); songbook. Philippe Verdelot (1485-1550), The Madrigal Book (Spain); first songbook with lute accompaniment. Births: English soldier (Roman Catholic martyr) Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (d. 1572) on Mar. 10; son of Henry Howard (1516-47); grandson of Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk (1473-1554); older brother of Henry, 1st earl of Northampton (1540-1614); father of Philip Howard (1557-95). Italian Dominican priest-astronomer Egnatio (Egnazio) (Ignazio) Danti (Pellegrino Rainaldi Danti) (d. 1586) in Apr. in Perugia. English almost-king Guildford (Guildord) Dudley (d. 1554); son of John Dudley (1502-53) and Jane Dudley; brother of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester (1533-88); husband of Lady Jane Grey (1537-54). Scottish nobleman James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell (d. 1578); husband of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1567-70). Italian painter Vincenzo Campi (d. 1591); brother of Giulio Campi (1502-72) and Antonio Campi (-1591). English military leader Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton (d. 1593); eldest son of the 13th baron Grey de Wilton and Mary, daughter of the 1st earl of Worcester. Ottoman Muslim religious scholar Saduddin Efendi (d. 1599). Spanish explorer Juan Fernandez (d. 1602). Dutch nobleman Count John (Johann) VI the Elder of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1606) in Dillenburg; 2nd son of Count William I and his 2nd wife Juliane of Stolberg-Wernigrode (brother of William I of Orange); husband (1559-) of Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg (1537-79); father of 13 children incl. Count John VII (1561-1623). English "Gorboduc" statesman-poet (lord high treasurer) Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset and Baron Buckhurst (d. 1608) in Buckhurst, Sussex; son of Richard Sackville (1507-6) (maternal cousin of Anne Boleyn); created baron of Buckhurst in 1567, and earl of Dorset in 1604; the real Shakespeare? Polish poet Jan Kochanowski (d. 1612) in Sycyna. Swiss physician Felix Platter (Plater) (d. 1614) on Oct. 28 in Basel; son of Thomas Platter the Elder (1499-1582); brother of Thomas Platter the Younger (1574-1628); first proponent of the Germ Theory of Disease? English architect Robert Smythson (d. 1614). English statesman and lord high adm. (cmdr. of the English fleet against the 1588 Spanish Armada) Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham, 1st Earl of Nottingham (d. 1624) (AKA Howard of Effingham); son of William Howard, 1st Baron of Effingham (1510-73); nephew of Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk (1473-1554); created knight of the garter in 1574. Spanish "De Reg" Jesuit historian Juan (John) de Mariana (d. 1624) in Talavera (near Toledo); educated at the U. of Alcala. Deaths: French theologian Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples (b. 1455) (d. 1537?) in Nerac. Scottish philosopher Hector Boece (b. 1465). Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (b. 1466) in Freiburg; calls Sir Thomas More "Omnium Horarum Homo" (Man for All Seasons). Italian diarist Marino Sanuto the Younger (b. 1466) in Venice. Portuguese actor-poet Gil Vicente (b. 1470). Italian painter Galeazzo Campi (b. 1477). Italian painter-architect Baldassare Peruzzi (b. 1481) on Jan. 6 in Rome. Danish peasant rebellion leader Skipper Clement (b. 1484) on Sept. 9 in Viborg (executed by breaking on the wheel). Spanish-born English queen (princess dowager of Wales) Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485) on Jan. 7 in Kimbolton Castle, Huntingdonshire; dies after dictating a Letter of Forgiveness to Henry VIII. English reformer William Tyndale (b. 1494) on Oct. 6 in Brussels, Belgium (burned at the stake); last words: "Lord, open the king of England's eyes"; "I defy the Pope and all his laws; if God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost" (reply a a Roman Catholic bishop who told him that he respects the word of the Pope more than that of the Bible". Austrian Anabaptist Hutterites leader Jacob Hutter (b. 1500) on Feb. 25 in Innsbruck (tortured and burned alive for heresy). English queen Anne Boleyn (b. 1507) on May 18 in London (beheaded); they forget to make her a coffin, and her body is buried in an old arrow chest in front of the altar at St. Peter's ad Vincula inside the Tower of London, which is dug up in 1875 during Tower repairs along with the remains of three other women (Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, Lady Jane Grey, Lady Rochford), after which Queen Victoria has each given a proper reburial beneath the altar in new coffins with nametags; the body of Catherine Howard disappears (quicklime)? Dutch Anabaptist leader John of Leiden (b. 1509) on Jan. 22 (executed along with Bernhard Krechting and Bernhard Knipperdolling); their bodies are tortured first, then kept in raised cages above St. Lambert's Church for 50 years. Dutch poet Johannes Secundus (Jan Everaerts) (b. 1511) on Sept. 25 in Saint-Amand; leaves Book of Kisses (Liber Basiorum) (pub. 1541) - the good die young? French dauphin Francis III, duke of Britanny (b. 1518) on Aug. 10 in Touron; his Italian secy. Sebastiano de Montecuccoli confesses under torture to poisoning him, and he is executed on Oct. 7; Francis III's younger brother Duke Henry of Orleans succeeds him as heir to France.
1537 The winter of 1536-7 sees a great frost in England, allowing Henry VIII to travel from C London to Greenwich along the Thames River by sleigh. On Jan. 1 James V of Scotland marries Madeleine de Valois (1520-37), 5th child and 3rd daughter of French king Francis I and Claude of France (daughter of Louis XII) in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris after first visiting France to check out Mary of Bourbon, daughter of the Duke of Vendome (who offers a 100K crown dowry), and dumping her for being a "misshapen hunchback"; too bad, Madeline is little better, and the babe dies of TB on July 7 at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh right after they arrive in Scotland. On Jan. 6 Duke Alessandro de' Medici (b. 1510) of Florence is assassinated by his distant cousin Lorenzino de' Medici (1514-48) (AKA Lorenzaccio or Bad Lorenzino) after luring him with his sister widow Laudomia, and Cosimo I the Great de' Medici (1519-74) succeeds him; in 1548 Cosimo pays an assassin to kill Lorenzino in front of his lover's house in Campo San Polo, Venice. In Jan. Henry VIII and Jane Seymour spend a lot of time in bed? On Feb. 3 Silken Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (b. 1513) and his five uncles are executed in Tyburn, London for rebellion, and the English Crown tries to capture his 12-y.-o. half-brother Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare (1525-85), new head of the FitzGerald Dynasty, who is hidden by his aunt Lady Eleanor McCarthy, and seeks to protect him by accepting a marriage offer from Manus O'Donnell (-1564), who in July after the death of his father Sir Hugh Dubh O'Donnell succeeds as king of Tyrconnell in Ulster, Ireland (until 1555); Kildare relative Conn O'Neill (1480-1559) (later 1st Earl of Tyrone) forms the short-lived Roman Catholic Geraldine League incl. the O'Donnells, O'Neills, O'Briens of Thormond et al., allying to restore Lord Kildare to his rightful position and later to overthrow English rule in Ireland. In Feb. Martin Luther writes the Smalcald Articles questioning the primacy of the pope/pontiff/pontifex maximus, which are presented to a meeting of the Schmalkaldic League. On Mar. 25 Charles of Bourbon-La Manche (b. 1489) dies, and Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507-57), HRE Charles V's viceroy of Sicily (1535-46) becomes CIC of the imperial army in Italy. On Apr. 17 after returning from his unprofitable journey to Chile, Diego de Almagro the Elder defeats Francisco Pizarro's troops at Cuzco, claims that it lies within his claim, and occupies it, taking Pizarro's brother Hernando prisoner and declaring himself gov. beginning a 19-year civil war; in Nov. Pizarro gives up attempts at a peace settlement and prepares to invade; meanwhile the native Mapuche (Araucanian) Indians in Chile revolt, beginning the Arauco War, which ends in a push with the Bio Bio River as a permanent frontier until 1883. The big prick finally does it? On May 27 there is a Te Deum sung in St. Paul's Cathedral in London for joy at the quickening of the queen's child; on Oct. 12 sickly Prince Edward VI (d. 1553), son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour is born, and she dies 12 days later on Oct. 24; Henry wears mourning for the only time for one of his queens. On May 29 Pope Paul III issues the bull Sublimus Dei, declaring that the American native "savages", "being truly men, are apt to receive Christian faith", and "are not to be reduced to slavery", with automatic excommunication for violators; too bad, the Catholic Conquistadors are also under orders to convert them, so they get around the letter of the law by having a priest ask them in Spanish if they accept Christ, and when they don't understand Spanish, that makes them enemies of Christ, allowing them to be enslaved anyway - typical official cover story to allow the systematic extermination of Indios to go on unperturbed? On July 12 the Battle of Abancay in Peru is a decisive V for Spanish troops of Nueva Toledo under Diego de Almagro and Rodrigo Orgonez over troops of Neva Castilla under Alonso de Alvarado, who is captured and escapes, hooking up with the Pizarro brothrs, who raise another army to take him on. On July 17 James V has Lady Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis (b. 1498), sister of his enemy Archibald Douglas, 6th earl of Angus convicted witchcraft andf burned at the stake on Castle Hill in Edinburgh, adding to his image of ruthlessness; after being forced to watch his mother burn, her teenie son John Lyon, 7th Lord Glamis (1521-58) confesses and is imprisoned, then is later released, and his estates confiscated on Dec. 3, 1540, but he gets them restored on Mar. 13, 1543; James V's image probably needs no help after his persecution of the Armstrongs, Humes, Johnstons, Maxwells, Scotts, and other border families with Douglas ties, not to mention his forcing of the earls of Morton and Crawford to give their earldoms to the crown?; Lady Janet's ghost begins haunting Glamis Castle, making a knocking sound mimicking the hammering of the workmen building her scaffold. On Aug. 12 Lutheran Danish-Norwegian king (1534-59) Christian III is finally crowned in Copenhagen Cathedral - pope not invited? On Aug. 15 after hostile Guarani attacks cause Buenos Aires to be abandoned, and Juan de Salazar de Espinoza (Emiliano Gomez Suarez) (1508-60) to lead colonists up the Parana and Paraguay Rivers, they found the seaport of Asuncion (Asunción) on the Paraguay River (modern-day pop. 525K/2.2M); the site becomes the launching point for the Jesuits until they are expelled in 1767. In Aug. a huge Ottoman fleet led by adm. Barbarossa and adm. Lutfi Pasha (1488-1564) captures the Aegean and Ionian islands of the Repub. of Venice, incl. Syros, Aegina, Ios, Paros, Tinos, Karpathos, Kasos, and Naxos, then captures Corfu and raids Calabria, all of which pisses-off Pope Paul III, who calls for a Holy League against the *?!*? infidels; Venetian-born Cecilia Venier Baffo (1525-83), niece of Venetian Doge Sebastiano Venier is captured on Paros and taken to Istanbul, where in 1574 she becomes Valide sultan (co-regent) Nur-Banu ("Princess of Light"), #1 wife of Sultan Selim II and mother of Murad III. French statesman Michel de l'Hopital (1507-73) becomes counselor to the French parliament (until 1547), then becomes chancellor to the king's sister Margaret of France, duchess of Berry. The Lithuanians allied with the Crimean Tartars ravage the Ryazan region, while a 7K-man Polish force under Jan Tarnowski defeats the Russians at the Battle of Starodub on the Babinets River after the voevoda is captured and 13K inhabitants are massacred, then overrun Severia and Gomel (Homel) in Belarus; the Russians counterattack, defeating a 40K-man Lithuanian army at the Battle of Sebezh, then build the fortress of Velizh and devastate the suburbs of Vitebsk, causing a 5-year ceasfire to be signed, granting Gomel to Lithuania, and Sebezh and Velizh to Russia. The fortress of Klis in Croatia is captured by the Ottomans; it is not recaptured until 1648. Hugh Dubh O'Donnell dies, and his son Manus O'Donnell (-1564) succeeds as king of Tyrconnell in Ulster, Ireland (until 1555). Henry VIII reneges on the surrender terms and has the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace and similar risings put down and executed for treason, along with leader Robert Aske. Francis I of France appoints William du Bellay gov. of Turin, followed by gov. of the Piedmont in 1540, and he goes on to foster humanist scholars and writers, keeping a large library in Turin. Unniram Koyikal II dies, and Veera Kerala Varma (d. 1565) becomes ruler of Cochin, India. Henry VIII introduces the Protestant Reformation into Ireland, and begins the dissolution of Roman Catholic monasteries, giving a share of the spoils to native chieftains along with English titles to pacify them under the "surrender and re-grant" system, forcing them to surrender their lands then regranting them under English tenure, destroying traditional clan successions; an English commission holds courts throughout Ireland, but respects the Irish right to their own brehon system of laws to keep the peace; too bad, the Irish Celts balk at being Anglicized, and begin fomenting revolt (when not fighting each other). The Spanish found a settlement in Chachapoyas ("warriors of the clouds") on the NE frontier of Peru (elev. 7.6K ft.). Honduras gov. Francisco de Montejo begins crushing a revolt in Higueras (until 1544), and founds Comayagua in Chile; Ines de Suarez (Inés de Suárez) (1507-80) of Extremadura, Spain, whose first husband left her to go to the New World follows him, becoming the first Euro woman in Chile, only to find that he died, then settles in Cuzco, Peru, where she hooks up with new lover Pedro de Valdivia, becoming a female conquistadora. The Mandinka Kaabu (Gabu) (N'Gabu) (Ngabou) Empire of Senegambia in modern NE Guinea-Bissau and Senegal splinters from the Mali Empire (ends 1867). After being ruled by the Western Gangas, Cholas, and Hoysalas since the 4th cent., the modern city of Bangalore in the S Indian state of Karnataka (modern-day pop. 8.7M/12.3M) is founded by Kempe Gowda I (1510-69), vassal of the Vijayanagara Empire, which falls in 1565, after which it changes hands several times until the British capture it in 1799 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War; in 2006 it is renamed Bengaluru, becoming known as "the Silicon Valley of India". John Travers, chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin becomes the first of the Irish Catholic Martyrs who die for their faith (until 1714); on Sept. 22, 1992 Pope John Paul II beatifies 17 of them. The first Roman Catholic hymnal is pub. in Vete. The first conservatories of music are founded, one in Naples for boys, and one in Venice for girls. (St.) Angela Merici (1474-1540) founds the Order of the Ursulines in Brescia in N Italy to educate young girls. Roman Catholic priest Menno Simons (1496-1561) of the village of Witmarsum in Friesland in N Netherlands becomes an Anabaptist (rebaptizer, rejecting infant baptism), severing all ties with the Church, becoming a hunted man. Martin Luther gives a sermon in which he becomes the first to attribute the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament not to Apostle Paul but to Apollos of Alexandria, who is mentioned in Acts 18:24-28. Francois Rabelais moves to Montpellier to teach (until 1539). Architecture: Duke Louis X of Bavaria begins Landshut Palace, the first Renaissance palace N of the Alps (finished 1543), modeled after the Palacco del Te in Mantua. Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-80) designs Villa Godi in Ludo di Vicenza, Veneto, Italy, becoming his first commission (finished in 1542). Science: French barber surgeon Ambroise Pare (Paré) (1510-90), in the service of Francis I during the attack on Turin discovers that soldiers with gunshot wounds that have not been scalded with the usual boiling oil of elders fare better than those who do, causing him to discard the accepted practice and prepare poultices with more humane cold ingredients incl. egg yolks, turpentine, and rose oil, used by the ancient Romans - it's a triple mess-kit cozy? Andreas Vesalius (1514-64) becomes prof. of anatomy at Padua (until 1544), founding a school that turns up the heat on the subject no matter whom it shocks. Nonfiction: Anon., The Complete Works (Opera Omnia) of Cicero; (4 vols.) (Venice). Anon., Matthew's Bible. Johann Eck (1486-1543), German Trans. of the Bible; commissioned by Roman Catholic duke William IV of Bavaria in Ingolstadt to counter the influence of Martin Luther's German Bible; first German Bible to contain the name "Jehovah" (marginal comment on Ex. 6:3). Gerhard Mercator (1512-94), Map of Flanders (his first). Pedro Nunes (1502-78), Treaty about the Sphere with Theory of the Sun and the Moon (Tratado da sphera com a Theorica do Sol e da Lua); tr. of "Tractatus de Sphaera" by Johannes de Sacrobosco, "Theoricae Novae Planetarum" by George Purbach, and Ptolemy's "Geography"; Treatise in Defense of the Maritime Chart; first discussion of the Rhumb line, a path with constant bearing relative to true north (loxodrome); Treatise About Some Navigational Doubts. Robert Recorde (1510-58), Introductions for to Lerne to Recken with the Pen. Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554), Trattato di Architettura (6 vols.); spawns "more hack architects than he had hairs on his beard." (Giovanni Lomazzo) Niccolo Tartaglia (1500-57), Nova Scientia; discusses projectile trajectory and the motion of heavy bodies, proposing which discusses projectile trajectory and the motion of heavy bodies, proposing Tartaglia's Theorem, Tartaglia's Theorem, that the trajectory of a projectile is a curved line, and that a projectile fired at an elevation of 45 deg. will travel the farthest, founding the science of Ballistics - heavy balls as a cure for stammering? Art: Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570), Facade of the Doge's Palazzo Loggietta (Venice). Titian (1477-1576), Portrait of King Francis I. Births: Chinese Ming emperor #12 (1567-72) Longqin ("great celebration) (Zhu Zaihou) (d. 1572) (AKA Prince of Yu) on Mar. 4; son of Jiajing (1507-67); father of Wanli (1563-1620). Japanese overlord (2nd great unifier of Japan) Toyotomi Hideyoshi (d. 1598)on Mar. 17 in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya; husband of Yodo-dono, niece of Oda Nounaga; father of Toyotomi Hideyori (1953-). Italian surgeon-anatomist ("the Father of Embryology") Hieronymus Fabricius (Hieronymo Fabrizio) (Girolamo Fabrici) (d. 1619) on May 20 in Acquapendente, Latium; educated at the U. of Padua; Galileo's personal physician and William Harvey's teacher. English king (1547-53) Edward VI (d. 1553) on Oct. 12 in Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex; son of Henry VIII (1491-1547) and his 3rd wife Jane Seymour (1508-37); firt English monarch raised as a Protestant. English 9-day queen Lady Jane Grey (Dudley) (d. 1554) in Oct.; great-granddaughter of Henry VII and great-niece of Henry VIII; daughter of Henry Grey, 1st duke of Suffolk (1515-54) and Frances Brandon (1517-59), daughter of Henry VII's sister Mary Tudor (1495-1533) and Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (1484-1545); husband of Guilford Dudley (1536-54). Swedish king (1568-92) Johan (John) III Vasa (d. 1592) on Dec. 20 in Stegeborg Castle; 2nd son of Gustav I Vasa (1496-1560) and Margarete Leijonhufvud (1516-51). Spanish Jesuit scholar Francisco Ribera (d. 1591) in Vallacastin; confessor of Teresa of Avila. Scottish lord chancellor of Scotland (1568-93) John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (d. 1595); 2nd son of Sir Richard Maitland; knighted in 1581. Korean field marshal Gwon (Kwon) Yul (d. 1599). Italian architect-sculptor Giacomo della Porta (d. 1602) (b. 1533)? in Porlezza, Lombardy. Deaths: Italian Florentine painter Lorenzo di Credi (b. 1459) in Florence. Austrian organist-composer Paul Hofhaimer (b. 1459). German satirist Thomas Murner (b. 1475) in Oberehnheim, Alsace. French noble Charles of Bourbon-La Manche (b. 1489) on Mar. 25 in Amiens. English Pilgrimage of Grace leader Robert Aske (b. 1500) on July 12 in York (hanged). English queen (1536-7) Jane Seymour (b. 1508) on Oct. 24 in Hampton Court Palace (postnatal complications from the birth of Edward VI). Florentine duke (1532-7) Alessandro de' Medici (b. 1510) on Jan. 6 (assassinated). Irish rebel Silken Thomas, 10th earl of Kildare (b. 1513) on Feb. 3 in Tyburn, London (executed for treason).
1538 In Feb. Pope Paul III assembles the Holy League consisting of the papacy, Spain, the HRE, the Repub. of Venice, and the Maltese Knights to fight the infidel Muslim Ottoman fleet. On Mar. 10 English ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire Sir Philip Hoby (Hobby) (Hobbye) (1505-58) arrives in Brussels with painter Hans Holbein the Younger on a mission from Thomas Cromwell to paint a portrait of Christina of Denmark (1521-90) (daughter of Christian II) for Henry VIII, who sends them to France in Aug. to paint more eligible babes incl. Princess Margaret of France, Antoinette, duchess of Guise, Anna of Lorraine et al. On Apr. 4 (Apr. 13 Old Style) Ivan IV the Terrible's mother Elena Glinskaya (b. 1510) is poisoned, and her favorite young boyar Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev-Obolensky (-1539) takes control as regent for the young tsar. On Apr. 26 Diego de Almagro the Elder (b. 1475) is defeated by Pizarro at Salinas (near Cuzco), and executed, leaving son Diego de Almagro the Younger to carry on his name in Peru; meanwhile the Spanish gain control of 12.5K-ft. alt. Lake Titicaca in the Andes SE of Cuzco. On May 17 Afghan rebel Sher Shah ("Tiger King") Suri (Farid Khan)(1486-1545) drives out Mogul emperor Humayun and becomes emperor of Delhi (until May 22, 1545), founding the Suri Dynasty (ends 1556), going on to coin the term "Rupiya" (Rupee) (Sansk. "rupyakam" = silver coins) for a silver coin weighing 178 grains; he also mints copper Dam coins and gold Mohur coins, which the Mughal emperors later standardize. On June 18 Francis I and HRE Charles V sign the nice 10-year Treaty of Nice through the mediation of Pope Paul III, ending their 1535 war over Milan inconclusively, giving Francis most of the Piedmont. On July 25 Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana founds the city of (Santiago de) Guyaquil, Ecuador (modern-day pop. 3.5M/5M), then heads N, entering the Cauca River Valley in Colombia in search of the Big Score, AKA El Dorado - by the 20th cent. it turns out be, not golden powder, but white? On Aug. 4 after sending future archbishop (of St. Andrews) David Beaton to scout out a new French wife, James V of Scotland marries Mary of Guise-Lorraine (1515-60), daughter of Claude de Lorraine, duke of Guise, and sister of Duke Francois of Guise and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, a babe made more desirable by being approached by Henry VIII, who scares her into his arms; the Auld Alliance is reaffirmed, French influence in Scotland jumps, and Henry VIII is royally pissed-off; the dowries for James' two French marriages total £168,750, 5x what his daddy James IV got from stingy Henry VII in 1503 - now if they will just stay Roman Catholic, the Auld Alliance will keep them from being absorbed by Protestant England? On Aug. 6 the city of Bogota (Bogotá) (Santa Fe de Bogota on the Bogota Plateau i (modern-day pop. 8M/10M) s founded on the site of the Chibcha town of Bacata by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada (1495-1576), who began moving up the Magdalena River in 1536 on a commission from the govt. of Santa Marta on the coast, defeating and sacking Chibcha chiefdoms along the way; he names the new city after his native town of Santa Fe. On Sept. 28 the Battle of Preveza in NW Greece between the Ottomans under Adm. Hayreddin Barbarossa and the Holy League under Adm. Andrea Doria is a V for the Ottomans, securing Turkish dominance of the Mediterranean for 33 years (until 1571); one tiny bright spot for Christ, the Venetians capture Castelnuovo (Herceg Novi) in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro (until 1539). In Sept. the Siege of Diu begins when Mamluk sultan (since 1525) Hadim Suleiman Pasha sends a fleet of 72 ships from Aden (largest Ottoman fleet in the Indian Ocean) to support the sultan of Gujarat, and they give up after a Portuguese relief fleet arives and the Gujarat sultan fails to back them up; the Portuguese maintain control of Diu until 1961. On Nov. 30 the city of La Plata (Ciudad de la Plata de la Nueva Toledo) (modern-day Sucre) in SC Bolivia (modern-day pop. 30K) is founded by Pedro Anzures, Marques de Campo Redondo, becoming the home of the Roman Catholic metropolitan see of Bolivia. In Dec. James V's widely hated Lutheran-persecuting chief counselor David Beaton (1494-1546) is appointed a cardinal. Ferdinand I of the Hapsburgs becomes king of a split Hungary, with John I Zapolya claiming the other half, but since he is childless he magnanimously agrees to let the crown pass to Ferdinand upon his death. Henry VIII ensures the popularity of the Anglican Church by abolishing the Roman Catholic monasteries, relics, and shrines in S England and sharing the loot with his non-Catholic pop.; Thomas Cranmer carries out his orders for the desecration of the profitable shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral (incl. burning his bones after he is summoned to face charges of treason and fails to appear in court and is found guilty in absentia, his shrine's treasures carried away in two coffers and 26 carts), and the abolition of many Roman Catholic church festivals; on Jan. 23, 1888 a skeleton is found in Becket's crypt of a 6'2" 50-y.-o. man with a fractured skull, but since it doesn't fit the eyewitness descriptions that the crown of his head was knocked off, the jury is still out; in Sept. informed that he needs his own non-Catholic Bible to prove his independence from the papacy, Henry is handed a copy of dead Tyndale's "illegal" Bible (printed in Paris) without knowing it, and approves it, and the English govt. directs every parish in England to purchase a Tyndale Bible of the largest size possible, to be set up in each church for easy reading by parishoners; Cranmer goes on to work to unite the new Church of England with the German Lutheran Church, and invites Protestant refugees to England, incl. Peter Martyr (Pietro Martire Vermigli), and Bernardino Ochino. The Moldavians invade the Pakutia again, and are repulsed, pissing-off the Ottoman sultan, who removes the Moldavian hospodar and utter the soundbyte: "He has disturbed the Porte's best friend, the king of Poland." Havana is burned by slaves and French pirates - send some more of them ships with ballasts of gold? The Abyssinian city of Axum is captured by Mohammed, Prince of Leila. Pozzuoli on the Bay of Naples is ruined by another earthquake. The S Burmese kingdom of Toungoo (on the Sittoung River) conquers the Mons kingdom of Pegu. Ivan Ovchina is thrown in prison by the boyars. John Calvin is expelled from Geneva and settles in Strasbourg, Germany; meanwhile the Lutheran U. of Strasbourg in Alsace, France is founded by Johannes (Jean) Sturm (1507-89) as the first humanistic Protestant Gymnasium, becoming a univ. in 1621 and a royal univ. in 1631, becoming the 2nd largest univ. in France in modern times after Aix-Marseille U.; students incl. Angelus Silesius and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Two engineers trusted with the restoration of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem mistakenly leave Mt. Zion and King David's Tomb outside the walls, pissing-off the sultan, who has them executed. Mimar Sinan (1489-1588) becomes chief architect to the Ottoman sultan (until 1588), going on to build a bunch of magnificent mosques. Nostradamus is accused of heresy after he remarks to a workman casting a bronze statue of the Virgin that he is making devils; the Inquisitors order him to go to Toulouse, but he flees from the Church authorities for the next six years. The names "America" and "North America" are used by Gerardus Mercator for the first time in his maps. Architecture: Michelangelo begins planning a square (trapezoid) for the Civic Center of Rome and the buildings facing it, symbolizing Rome as the center of the world. Inventions: The Diving Bell is invented by Guglielmo de Lorena of Italy. Nonfiction: Sir Thomas Elyot (1499-1546), Bibliotheca; English-Latin dictionary. Melanchthon (1497-1560), Ethica Doctrinae Elementa. Art: Titian (1477-1576), Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple; Adonis with His Dog; Venus of Urbino (The Urbino Venus); commissioned by Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino (1514-72). Plays: John Bale (1495-1563), A Comedy Concerning the Three Laws of Nature, Moses and Christ, Corrupted by the Sodomytes, Pharisees and Papystes Most Wicked; stage directions incl. "Let Idolatry be decked like an old witch, Sodomy like a monk of all sects, Ambition like a bishop, Covetousness like a Pharisee or spiritual lawyers, False Doctrine like a popish doctor, and Hypocrisy like a gray friar"; A Tragedy; or Enterlude Many Jesting the Chief Promyses of God Unto Man; The Temptacyon of Our Lorde; A Brefe Comedy or Enterlude of Johan Baptystes Preachynge in the Wilderness; Kynge Johan (King John); first English historical drama, which rails against the Roman Catholic Church, claims that King John was a Lollard, and was poisoned for it by a monk of Swinestead; "This noble Kynge Johan, as a faythfull Moses/ Withstode proude Pharao for his poore Israel". Paul Rebhun (1506-40), Hochzeitsspiel auf die Hochzeit zu Kana (verse drama). Poetry: Clement Marot (1496-1544), Thirty Psalms of David. Births: German Jesuit astronomer-mathematician Christopher Clavius (d. 1612) on Mar. 25 in Bamberg, Bavaria Italian duke of Mantua and Montferrat (1550-87) Guglielmo (William) I Gonzaga (d. 1587) on Apr. 24 in Mantua; 2nd son of Federico II Gonzaga (1500-40) and Margaret Palaeologina of Montferrat. Itlian Mannerist painter-architect-writer Gian (Giovanni) Paolo Lomazzo (d. 1600) on Apr. 26 in Milan; goes blind in 1571. Italian Roman Catholic Church historian and cardinal (1596-) Caesar Baronius (Cesare Baronio) (d. 1607) on Aug. 30 in Sora, Naples; pupil of St. Philip de Neri; prevented from becoming pope by Spain because of his support of papal claims on Sicily; coins the term "Dark Ages" for the period from 500-1100 C.E. Italian archbishop-cardinal of Milan (St.) Carlo (Charles) Borromeo (d. 1584) on Oct. 2 in Milan; born in his father's Arona Castle on Lake Maggiore; canonized in 1610. Italian poet-dramatist-diplomat Giovanni Battista Guarini (d. 1612) on Dec. 10 in Ferrara; father of singer Anna Guarini, contessa Trotti (1563--98). English MP and writer Reginald Scott (Reynold Scot) (d. 1599) in Smeeth, Kent; educated at Hart Hall, Oxford U. Scottish poet-jurist Sir Thomas Craig (d. 1608); educated at the U. of St. Andrews. Flemish botanist-physician Matthias de Lobel (l'Obel) (Matthaeus Loelius) (d. 1616) in Lille; namesake of the Lobeliacae family of latex-producing New World plants incl. Indian tobacco. Deaths: Spanish conquistador Diego de Almagro the Elder (b. 1475) in Cuzco, Peru (executed). Spanish novelist Fernando de Rojas (b. 1475). German artist-architect Albrecht Altdorfer (b. 1480) on Feb. 12 in Regensburg. French-born queen consort of Aragon, Naples, Sardinia, and Sicily (1505-16) on Oct. 18 in Lliria (N of Valencia), Spain. German duke of Cleves (1521-38) John III the Peaceful (b. 1490) on Feb. 6. Italian duke of Urbino (1508-38) Francesco Maria I della Rovere (b. 1490) on Oct. 20 in Pesaro (poisoned); his death is portrayed in Elizabethan theaters, becoming the play "The Murder of Gonzago", referenced in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and reworked into "The Mousetrap". Russian grand princess consort (1526-38) Elena Glinskaya (b. 1510) on Apr. 4 (poisoned). Moorish ex-king of Granada Boabdil (Abu Abdullah) (b. ?) in Morocco; KIA in a war for the king of Fez against the king of Morocco.
1539 On Jan. 12 the Treaty of Toledo ends the conflict between Charles V and Francis I; Roman Catholic Spain and France are now allies against England, worrying Protestant English king Henry VIII. On Apr. 17 Roman Catholic Saxon duke (since 1500) George the Bearded (b. 1471) dies, and his Protestant brother Henry IV the Pious (1473-1541) becomes duke of Saxony (until Aug. 18, 1541), making Lutheranism the state religion. In Apr. the Statute of Six Articles (against Lutheranism), engineered by Thomas Cromwell is passed; Hugh Latimer resigns as bishop of Worcester in July; Edmund Bonner is made bishop of London, supporting Henry VIII's doctrine of the supremacy of the king in both spiritual and temporal matters; Cromwell rises to Lord Great Chamberlain - meaning, one mistake and he loses his head? On May 18 Pizarro's lt. Hernando de Soto (1496-1542), having returned to Spain as a hero and married Isabel (Ines) del Bobadilla (1505-43) (daughter of a relative of Queen Isabella) in 1537, and obtained the governorship of Cuba and a royal patent to colonize the Am. Gulf coast and search for a passage to the Orient, sets sail from Spain on seven ships with 620 volunteers, 200+ horses and 500 livestock, reaching Port Charlotte (Tampa Bay?), Fla. on May 30, while his wife Isabel becomes the first woman gov. of Cuba, watching every day for his return; on Dec. 25 he celebrates the first Christmas in Tallahassee; too bad, he ends up stumbling around the Am. SE and killing tens of thousands of aborigines, incl. by burning their cities, but never sees the ocean again, getting killed on the Mississippi River in 1543. On July 8 after being sent by Hernan Cortes, Francisco de Ulloa (d. 1540) leaves Acalpulco in three small ships to seek the mythical Strait of Anian leading to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reaching the Gulf of California, which he calls the Sea of Cortes; on Sept. 12 after one ship is lost in a storm, he resumes his voyage, saling S along the E coast of the Baja California Peninsula, landing at the Bay of La Paz to take on supplies, then rounding the tip and sailing N along the W shore in the Pacific Oean, reaching 28 deg. N near Isla de Cedros before bad weather forces him to turn back, until his ship is swept inland by a tsunami, causing it to become known as the Lost Ship of the Desert; too bad, his reports are used to depict Calif. as an island. In Aug. Hans Holbein delivers a deceptively attractive portrait of Anne of Cleves to Henry VIII, who is smitten; the marriage contract is finalized at Hampton Court on Oct. 6; Anne arrives on Dec. 11 at Calais, waiting for a favorable wind to carry her to Dover while Henry waits at Greenwich; she lands at Deal on Dec. 27 and heads for Rochester. In Sept. the Ottomans under Adm. Hayreddin Barbarossa capture the islands of Skiathos, Skyros, Andros, and Serifos from the Repub. of Venice, and recapture Castelnuovo. On Dec. 8 German Duke Philip the Contentious (1503-48) of Palatinate-Neuburg (based in Heidelberg) visits the court of Henry VIII of England to woo his daughter Bloody Mary, meeting with her on Dec. 17 in Hertford Castle, presenting her a gift and kissing her; too bad, since he is related to Henry VIII's 4th wife Anne of Cleves he sends him packing, and despite visiting England again 3x, he only gets to see her once - if they had married and she had become a Protestant, how many would have been saved from burning? Francisco's brother Gonzalo, gov. of Quito leads an expedition into the Andes to find and capture Inca king Manco, and it reaches the upper Amazon, but is ambushed with giant boulders rolled onto his men, killing 36, causing him to wait for reinforcements; Manco taunts him by telling him that he's killed 2K Spaniards and they're next?; meanwhile Manco harbors Spanish and other refugees, incl. enemies of the Pizarros, which turns out to be his big mistake? China attacks Vietnam. After an invasion by rival king Tabinshwehti of the smaller kingdom of Toungoo, witless king (since 1526) Takayutpi (b. 1511) loses the Battle of Naungyo and flees to Prome, begging for help, then falls ill and dies near Maubin while trying to collect war elephants, ending the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in S Burma (founded 1287), allowing the Taungoo Dynasty to be founded in Burma, becoming the largest empire in SE Asia until it collapses in 1599, gobbling up Siam, Manipur, the Chinese Shan states, and Lan Xang. The first criminal court in England is established at Old Bailey on the W wall of London (destroyed in 1666). Ivan Ovchina dies in prison, and the boyars take control of the infant tsar. Sebastian de Belalcazar meets German adventurer Nikolaus Federmann (1505-42), an agent of the Welser banking family of Augsburg (rivals of the Fuggers) as he heads towards the Bogota plateau, and they get into a fight with each other and Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada over jurisdiction, which the Spanish crown resolves, confirming Belalcazar as gov. of Popayan; Belalcazar, accompanied by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and Federmann explores the Magdalene River Valley in C Colombia. New Spain viceroy Antonio de Mendoza sends Franciscan friar Sancho Panza, er, Fray Marcos de Niza (1495-1558) N from Mexico City to investigate reports by Cabeza de Vaca of the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola; he reaches the Zuni (Zuñi) pueblos of New Mexico and returns with glowing reports that impress Coronado - the women go around showing what? The Spanish under Gomez de Alvarado found the settlement of Leon de Huanuco (Huánuco) in the Inca town of Yarowilca on the NE frontier of Spanish Peru, moving in 1541 to the Pilco Valley. Chudovo in W Russia is first mentioned. A royal edict commands the French to confine shitting to private bathrooms in their own homes - except in New Orleans? James V of Scotland issues the gold Bonnet Piece, a coin with his portrait on one side wearing a bonnet instead of a crown, and an imperial crown on the other. Juan Pablos (Giovanni Paoli) establishes the first printing press in the New World in Mexico, its first pub. being La Escala Espiritual de San Juan Climaco. Westminster Abbey in London becomes a cathedral after becoming the seat of a 1-time bishop; in the reign of Elizabeth I it becomes headed by a dean. The Maltese Falcon is sent by the Knights Templar to HRE Charles V of Spain :) France holds a public lottery. Wittenberg prof. Georg Joachim (Rheticus) journeys to Frauenberg to study Nicolaus Copernicus' ms. on the heliocentric theory. Inventions: The first Christmas Tree is displayed in Strasbourg Cathedral; meant to represent the Garden of Eden, it is hung with apples. Nonfiction: Martin Bucer (1491-1551), Strasburg Liturgy; for public confession of sins; "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (1 Tim. 1:15) John Calvin (1509-64), Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Miles Coverdale (1488-1569), The Great Bible (fall); the first English Bible, commissioned by Thomas Cromwell and pub. by the English govt., becoming the official English version for the Anglican Church; the cover shows Henry VIII at the top, with Christ whispering into his ear as he passes on the word of God to Archbishop Cranmer and Cromwell, who passes it to the clery and laymen, who cry "Vivat Rex" (God save the king); Cromwell orders one to be housed in every church in England; "Go to now (most dear reader) and sit thee down at the Lord's feet and read his words, and, as Moses teacheth the Jews, take them into thine heart, and let thy talking and communication be of them when thou sittest in thine house, or goest by the way, when thou lyest down, and when thou riseth up. And above all things fashion thy life and conversation according to the doctrine of the holy ghost therein." (preface) Sir J. Elliott, Cookbook - or, why heart-unhealthy English cooking sucks? Antonio de Guevara (1481-1545), Lives of the Ten Emperors; Libro de los Inventores del Arte de Marear (Valladolid); Aviso de Privados y Doctrina de Cortesanos; the concept of the courtier and the court society; "As far as religion is concerned, if one wakes up in the middle of night, it is to laud the Lord in the Divine worship. But at the court, one stays awake all night infinite times, for no other reason than to keep up with people (el mundo)"; The Golden Letters (Epistolas Familiares) (1539-45) (Valladolid); an internat. hit. Olaus Magnus (1490-1557), Map of Scandinavia; first accurate large-scale map of a large Euro region. Melanchthon (1497-1560), De Officio Principum. Richard Taverner (1505-75), The Taverner Bible; a revision of the Matthew Bible; doesn't make much of a splash because of tardy timing. Richard Taverner (1505-75) (tr.), Proverbs or Adages by Desiderius Erasmus Gathered Out of the Chiliades and Englished. Art: Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), Portrait of Anne of Cleves. Il Sodoma (1477-1549), The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine. Music: Georg Forster (1514-68), Frische Teutsche Liedlein (secular songs) (1539-56). Plays: The Gentse Spelen, a collection of allegorical plays is performed at Ghent. Births: French lawyer-scholar (Calvinist-turned-Roman Catholic) Pierre Pithou (Petur Pithoeus) (d. 1596) on Nov. 1 in Troyes. English playwright George Gascoigne (d. 1578). English soldier-navigator Sir Humphrey Gilbert (d. 1583) in Compton, Devonshire; half-brother (mother's side) of Sir Walter Raleigh; educated at Eton School, and Oxford U.; knighted in 1570. Swiss engraver Jost Amman (d. 1591). Italian Socinianism founder Faustus Socinus (Faust Socyn) (Fausto Paolo Sozzini) (d. 1604) in Siena; nephew of Laelius Socinus (1525-62). Spanish statesman (secy. of Philip II) Antonio Perez (d. 1611) in Valdeconcha, Guadalajara. Spanish soldier-historian ("El Inca") Garcilaso de la Vega (d. 1616) in Cuzco, Peru; son of conquistador Sebastian de la Vega y Vargas. English lord Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621); husband of Catherine Grey (1540-68), sister of Lady Jane Grey (1537-54); father of Edward, Lord Beauchamp (1561-1612) and Thomas Seymour (1563-1619). Deaths: Indian Sikhism founder Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji (b. 1469) - sounds like computer system programming jargon? German duke of Saxony (1500-39) George the Bearded (b. 1471) on Apr. 17 in Dresden. Scottish archbishop James Beaton (b. 1473). Italian diplomat-cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio (b. 1474) on July 25. Italian marquesa of Mantua (1490-1539) Isabella d'Este (b. 1474) on Feb. 13. English politician-diplomat Thomas Boleyn (b. 1477) on Mar. 12. Italian metallurgist Vannoccio Biringuccio (b. 1480). Spanish explorer-scholar Ferdinand Columbus (b. 1488). Burmese Hanthawaddy king #18 (last) (1511-39) Thushin Takayutpi (b. 1511) in Ingabin (near Maubin).
| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| England | Henry VIII (1491-1547) | Apr. 21, 1509 | Jan. 28, 1547 | |
| Scotland | James V (1511-42) | Sept. 9, 1513 | Dec. 14, 1542 | |
| France | Francis I (1494-1547) | Jan. 1, 1515 | Mar. 31, 1547 | |
| Germany | HRE Charles V of Hapsburg (1500-58) | June 28 1519 | Aug. 27, 1556 | |
| Russia | Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-84) | Dec. 3, 1533 | Mar. 28, 1584 | |
| Papacy | Pope Paul III (1468-1549) | Oct. 13, 1534 | Nov. 10, 1549 | |
| Ottoman Empire | Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent (1494-1566) | Sept. 30, 1520 | Sept. 7, 1566 | |
1540 I can't see me loving nobody but you, for all of, er, some of my life? Grand Canyon jokes here? On Jan. 1 Henry VIII has a comical meeting with Anne of Cleves (1515-57) in disguise in Rochester, and finds her portrait quite exaggerated and her person loathsome, then tries to back out of his marriage, but power politics prevents him, and on Jan. 6 he reluctantly marries his 4th wife to bring about an alliance with a German principality and counter the Treaty of Toledo; in Apr. Henry creates his chief minister Thomas Cromwell (b. 1485) the earl of Essex, then turns on him after having many impotent nights with his new wife (who has big floppy duckies instead of pert little ones like he likes?, blaming him for hooking him up with an ogre, letting Cromwell's enemies loose on him; on June 10 Cromwell's archenemy, lord treasurer Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473-1554) arrests him for treason, and Parliament turns on him too; meanwhile on July 9 Henry divorces Anne at the convocation of Canterbury and York, giving her the title of "My Lady the Queen's Sister", then on July 30 secretly marries his real lover, the very tight and right Catherine Howard (1521-42) (his 5th wife), Anne Boleyn's cousin, and niece of Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk; the same day Thomas Cromwell is executed after reconverting to Roman Catholicism, and Norfolk becomes his successor; the same day English Lutheran Robert Barnes (b. 1495) is burned at the stake; Bible translator Miles Coverdale flees to the Continent for the next eight years (until 1548); too bad, Catherine begins secretly hooking up with handsome young stud Thomas Culpeper (1514-41) with the aid of her lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1505-42), widowed sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn - moral: please the head of your nation or you could lose yours? Don't just take your family on a vacation, take them on an adventure? Whitey finally reaches the far side, and it's gone in a flash? On Feb. 23 Francisco Vazquez (Vázquez) de Coronado (1510-54), gov. of Nueva Galicia leads an expedition of 400 men plus 1.3K-2K Indios, four Franciscan monks, and several slaves from Compostela, Mexico, exploring N Texas and invading New Mexico and conquering the Zunis (Zuñis); on Sept. 8 they establish winter HQ at the Indian pueblos of Kuau and Puaray, using it as a base for vain searches for the riches of Quivira; in 1934 archaeologists unearth ancient paintings of Indian god-demons behind 85 layers of adobe plaster; on May 9 Spanish navigator Hernando de Alarcon (Alarcón) leaves Coronado's party, goes by sea to the Gulf of Calif., then completes the explorations of Francisco de Ulloa the preceding year, satisfying himself that there is no open water passage between the gulf and the South Sea (Pacific Ocean); he then travels up the Colorado River (which he names the Buena Guia), becoming the first Euro to navigate it, viewing Am. bison (buffalo) ("tatanka"); Garcia Lopez de Cardenas (García López de Cárdenas) leaves Coronado's party and discovers the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River in modern-day Ariz.; another lt. of Coronado reaches the pueblos of the Hopi (Moqui); Capt. Hernando de Alvarado leaves Coronado's party and explores the Rio Grande River, stopping halfway at Isleta Pueblo (S of modern-day Albuquerque), which becomes a stopping place for every future Spanish explorer in New Mexico. On Feb. 28-Sept. 19 the European Super Drought of 1540 causes Milan, Italy to be completely dry for 5 mo., while in Zurich it only rains 4x, causing the water table in Switzerland to drop over 1.5M and thousands along the Ruhr River to die of poisoning from dirty water; Lindau Island becomes connected to the mainland after the water level in the Bodensee sinks; the water flow in the Elbe River is reduced to one-tenth normal, allowing people to walk across them, along with the Rhine and Seine Rivers; by Aug. trees begin shedding their leaves early, after which fires destroy more communities than in the preceding millennium, causing a blanket of smoke to shroud Europe, turning the Sun and Moon into flaming red balls; prices for flour and bread zoom sky high. In Mar. Pedro de Valdivia (Valdavia) (1497-1553), who began working for Francisco Pizarro in 1535 and helped him fight Diego de Almagro (the N part of Peru had been under Almagro's jurisdiction) leads an expedition of 150 Spanish soldiers plus some Peruvian Indians across the Atacama Desert into the C valley of Chile, accompanied by his babe Ines Suarez. In the spring James V of Scotland launches a naval expedition to the Scottish N and W Isles, and returns to Edinburgh in early July with a number of hostages, which are secreted in the castles of Dunbar, Tantallon, and Bass Rock to keep their unruly chieftains in line. In the spring the simmering hatreds caused by the abuses of Nuno de Guzman in La Gran Chichimecha in NC Mexico cause the natives of Nueva Galicia to revolt in the Mixton (Mixtón) Rebellion (War), which New Spain viceroy Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza ruthlessly quashes by next Dec. In Apr. Hungarian king (since 1526) John I Zapolya (b. 1487) finally finds out he has a son in the oven, John II Sigismund Zapolya (1540-71)), causing him to rescind his agreement to let his rival Ferdinand I claim the Hungarian throne upon his death; he dies on July 22, nine days after John is born, and Zapolya's royal counselor, Dalmation-born monk (later cardinal) George Martinuzzi (AKA Frater Georgius) (1482-1551) becomes regent for John II, along with secret Protestant Peter Petrovich, claiming the throne for the young tyke, backed by the Turkish sultan and other enemies of the Hapsburgs, but Ferdinand I continues to claim Hungary and sends an army which sieges Ofen, giving the sultan his excuse to invade Hungary in support of the tyke - pour me another cup of coffee? In May Sebastian de Belalcar is granted governorship of Popayan by HRE Charles V, soon getting into a border dispute with new neighboring province gov. (until 1542) Pascual de Andagoya (1495-1548). On Aug. 28 Federico II Gonzaga (b. 1500) dies of syphilis, and his son Francesco III Gonzaga (1533-50) becomes duke of Mantua and marquis of Monteferrat (until 1550), going on to marry a daughter of Ferdinand I in 1549 to cement his position. In Aug. Scottish master of works Sir James Hamilton of Finnart (-1540) AKA "the Bastard of Arran" (bastard son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and Mary Boyd of Bonshaw, legitimated in 1512), who had tried to get Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie rehabilitated in 1529 is executed for plotting to kill his 2nd cousin James V, who confiscates his considerable wealth - thanks, suckah? On Sept. 3 Gelawdewos (Claudius) (1521-59) is crowned Solomonic emperor Asnaf Sagad I of Ethiopia (until Mar. 23, 1559). On Sept. 27 Pope Paul III issues the bull Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae, confirming the Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus) of (St.) Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), but limiting its membership to 60 (until 1543); Loyola is appointed superior-gen. #1 of the Jesuits, becoming known for opposing discrimination against converted Jews, calling the Spanish insistence on "purity of blood" (discrimination against Catholics of Jewish ancestry) "the Spanish whim". In Oct. after the Ottomans take their remaining outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas, Venice signs a peace treaty with Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent in Constantinople, agreeing to recognize the Turkish territorial gains and pay 300K gold ducats. Gonzalo Pizarro receives reinforcements then continues chasing Manco and his Incas through steamy jungles, finding his jungle city abandoned, then searches for 2 mo. more before giving up and returning. Ottoman adm. Barbarossa II sacks Spanish-held Gibraltar, causing Charles I of Spain (HRE Charles V) to order stronger defenses built; in Sept. he tries to induce Ottoman adm. Barbarossa II Heyruddin to switch sides, offering him a job as adm.-in-chief plus control of Spain's territories in N Africa, but he tells the infidel dog to stuff it. The property of the Hospitallers (Knights of Rhodes) in England is confiscated. Scottish Queen Mary of Guise is crowned at Holyrood with a newly-remodelled crown. A religious conference is held in Worms (ends 1541), where Johann Eck et al. defend Your Father's Roman Catholicism against uppity horned Lutherans. Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de Leon (1520-54) discovers the ruins of Tiahuanaco in the Peruvian-Bolivian altiplano 12 mi. S of Lake Titicaca. Speaking of horned monarchs, Henry VIII arbitrarily decides that no horse stallion in his realm should be shorter than 15 hands, 13 for mares, causing breeds like the Cornish to be extinguished, and others like the Exmoor and Dartmoor to get taller; he orders every archbishop and duke to keep seven trotting stallions of min. height 14 hands at age 3, and every person having benefices of 100 pounds a year along with "every layman, whose wife shall wear any French hood or bonnet of velvet" to keep one trotting stallion. After the Portuguese bring sugar cane to Brazil, Santa Catalina Island boasts 800 cane sugar mills; the N coast of Brazil, Demerara, and Suriname have 2K more. In this decade the Protestant Reformation is introduced to Brandenburg, Germany, and its electors become leading champions of the Protestant cause. The Antinomian Controversy in Germany (how faith in Christ frees believers from all obligation to observe the moral laws of the Old Testament, therefore let's do it here now and not worry about it) ends when its backer Johann Agricola (Schnitter) (1494-1566) pub. a retraction (of course being no longer obligated doesn't mean that one shouldn't do it voluntarily, since Christ is in the heart now, therefore to go against his will would be a sin against the Holy Spirit and therefore unforgivable?) - crying out, Merry Christmas, my friend? A large Spanish force led by Francisco de Montejo El Mozo (The Son) (1502-65), son of Francisco de Montejo y Alverez (1479-1553), along with brothers Gaspar Pacheco and Melchor Pacheco leave Tabasco, Mexico to begin the their 2nd and final attempt at the conquest of Yucatan (ends 1546). The seaport of Campeche in Mexico, named after the local logwood (palo de campeche) is founded on the site of a native village at the mouth of the San Francisco River, becoming one of three open ports on the coast of the Gulf of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. Valladolid la Nueva (later Comayagua) on the Humuya River (70 mi. NW of Tegucigalpa) is founded in Honduras as the admin. center of the Spanish colonial govt. midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean by New Spain viceroy Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza. Icelander John Greenlander finds a Skraeling corpse at the site of the extinct Greenland west coast settlement, made unable to fish or raise crops by glaciers moving into the fjords; "By him lay his iron knife, bent and almost worn away." By this time the Romani and Sinti from India arrive in Germany, splitting into the Eftavagarja (Seven Caravans), which migrate to France, Portugal and Brazil (becoming the Manouches), and the Estraxarja (From Austria), who migrate to Italy and C Europe. James V of Scotland orders the crown remodelled. The English Parliament legalizes the growing of hops. The Worshipful Co. of Barbers and the Guild of Surgeons merge to form the Co. of Barbers and Surgeons, led by Henry VIII's royal surgeon Thomas Vicary (1490-1561), with both professions allowed to extract teeth; in 1546 Vicary becomes suptd. #1 of St. Bartholomew's Hospital; the barber pole begins displaying red stripes for surgery and white ones for haircutting and teeth extraction; barbers are paid higher wages until surgeons begin working on British ships during naval wars; the co. is licensed to perform dissections of the cadavers of executed criminals, with four held each year in Barber-Surgeon's Hall, with Vicary establishing the first formal teaching of anatomy in England; in 1745 the surgeons break away to form the Co. of Surgeons. Henry VIII founds regius professorships of Greek, Hebrew, divinity, civil law, and physics at Oxford U. and Cambridge U.; Sir John Cheke (Cheek) (1514-57) becomes the first regius prof. of Greek at Oxford, and Roger Ascham (1515-68) at Cambridge. Jean Clouet's son Francois Clouet (1510-72) becomes court painter to Francis I. Francois Rabelais moves to Paris and reads his hit books "Gargantua" and "Pantagruel" to Francis I, which pleases him so much that he grants a license to pub. Bk. 3; meanwhile Rabelais is invited to Turin to be the physician of gout-stricken William du Bellay (d. 1543), staying until 1542 writing Bk. 3, which is pub. in 1546. In this decade the univ. town of Padua, Italy begins keeping a botanical garden; the first one in Europe? In this decade Antwerp in Belgium becomes an important commercial city. In this decade stage comedians in N Italy create improv. Inventions: Blue ribbon for best complementary inventions in the same year? French surgeon Ambroise Pare (Paré) (1510-90) invents the first Artificial Limbs. Italian munitions manufacturer Camillo Vettelli begins producing the first Pistols (for horse soldiers) at (guess where?) Pistoia in Tuscany (21 mi. NW of Florence), all made possible by the invention of the wheel lock; Henry VIII ends up owning a 4-chamber arquebus with a 2'9" barrel, 7.5" chamber, and 0.5" bore; others begin combining the pistol with a battle-axe or dagger - I'll pare off those lame legs after you come to be ventilated by a pistol? Science: Ether is first produced from alcohol and sulfuric acid by ?. After being forced to flee to Paris and change his name to Villanovus, Freethinking Spanish physician Michael Servetus (1511-53) discovers the Pulmonary Circulation of the Blood. Nonfiction: Petrus Apianus (1495-1552), Astronomicum Caesareum; dedicated to HRE Charles V; notes that the tail of a comet observed in 1531 pointed away from the Sun, and incl. the first scientific drawing of a comet. Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480-1539), De la Pirotechnica (posth.); first prof. handbook of metallurgy, smelting, ore reduction, and cannon-molding, and first modern book on how to operate a foundry. Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Cranmer's (Great) Bible; revised ed. of Miles Coverdale's Great Bible of 1539. Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-74), Narratio Prima de Libris Revolutionum; announces Nicolas Copernicus' heliocentric theory in advance; states that medicine could achieve the perfection to which Copernicus had brought astronomy - there are 206 what and over 700 what in the human body? Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558), Commentarii in Hippocratis Librum de Insomniis; De Causis Linguae Latinae Libri XVIII; first modern work on the syntax of Latin. Augustinus Steuchus, De Perenni Philosophia. Art: Jacopo Bassano, Flight into Egypt. Agnolo Bronzino (1503-72), An Allegory (Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time). Il Sodoma (1477-1549), Pieta. Titian (1477-1576), A Young Englishman; Cain Killing Abel; Sacrifice of Abraham; David and Goliath (Church of the Salute, Venice); shows the influence of Michelangelo in emphasizing muscular form. Plays: Sir David Lindsay (1490-1555), Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis (morality play). Births: English Roman Catholic Jesuit priest-martyr (St.) Edmund Campion (d. 1581) on Jan. 24 in London; educated at St. John's College, Oxford U.; starts out Protestant, rises to being put in line for archbishop of Canterbury, then goes Roman Catholic in 1571 so he can get some of them tasty wafers, and ends up hanged, drawn, and quartered when he tries to upend Queen Liz. English statesman (crypto-Roman Catholic) Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton (d. 1614) on Feb. 24 in Shottesham, Norfolk; younger brother of Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk (1536-72); "The leadernedest councillor in the kingdom to present to the king his Advancement of Learning" (Francis Bacon). Dutch (Flemish) "The Wilhelmus", "The Roman Beehive" writer-statesman (first Dutch cryptographer?) Philip (Philips) van Marnix, Lord of Sainte-Aldegonde (Marnix van St. Aldegonde) (d. 1598) on Mar. 7 (July 2?) in Brussels; son of Jacob van Marnix, baron of Pottes; pupil of John Calvin and Theodore Beza. Indian maharana of Mewar (1572-97) Pratap Singh I (d. 1597) on May 9 in Kumbhalgarh (Rajsamand). Spanish aristocrat (blind in the right eye) Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda y de Silva Cifuentes, Princess of Eboli, Duchess of Pastrana (d. 1592) on June 29 in Cifuentes, Guadalajara; wife (1553-73) of Ruy Gomez de Silva, 1st prince of Eboli (1516-73). Hungarian king (1540-70) John II Sigismund Zapolya (Zápolya) (d. 1571) on July 7 in Buda; son of John Zapolya (1487-1540) and Isabella Jagiello (1519-59). French Protestant #1 Renaissance classical scholar ("Father of Chronological Science") Joseph Justus Scaliger (d. 1609) on Aug. 4 in Agen; 10th child and 3rd son of Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558); inventor of the Julian Day system; educated at the U. of Paris; reads the works of Homer in 21 days and all the other Greek poets in 4 mo.? English countess Lady Catherine (Katherine) Grey, Countess of Hertford (d. 1568) in Aug.; younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. French poet Pierre de Boscosel de Chastelard (d. 1564) in Dauphine; grandson of Chevalier de Bayard (1476-1524); crazy in love with Mary, Queen of Scots. Spanish world chess champion #1 and Roman Catholic priest-bishop Rodrigo "Ruy" Lopez de Segura (d. 1580) (b. 1530?) in Zafra (near Badajoz); of Marrano Jewish descent; moves to Salamanca. Spanish adm. Don Juan Martinez de Recalde (d. 1588) in Bilbao, Biscay. English lord chancellor (1587-91) Sir Christopher Hatton (d. 1591); educated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford U.; knighted in 1578. English painter and Am. colonist John White (d. 1593) in London; half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh; grandfather of Virginia Dare (1587-). English painter, er, writer-translator William Painter (Paynter) (d. 1595) in Kent; educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U. English noblewoman Margaret Stanley, Countess of Derby (d. 1596); 3rd daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York; heir to Elizabeth I under the Third Succession Act; mother of William Stanley, 6th earl of Derby (1561-1642). Italian-Dutch painter-architect Friedrich Sustris (d. 1599 in Padua; son of Lambert Sustris (1515-84); son-in-law of Jan Kraeck (1540-1607); pupil of Giorgio Vasari. French mathematician (Roman Catholic) Francois Viete (Viète) (Franciscus Vieta), Seigneur de la Bigotiere (Bigotière) (d. 1603) in Fontenay-le-Comte, modern-day Vendee; educated at the U. of Poitiers; starts out as an atty. Italian composer Orfeo Vecchi (d. 1604). French biographer Pierre de Bourdeilles, Seigneur de Brantome (d. 1614) in Perigord. English Roman Catholic polyphonic church music organist-composer ("Father of Musick") William Byrd (Birde) (d. 1623) in Lincolnshire; pupil of Thomas Tallis (-1585); foremost composer of the Elizabethan age. English free man Thomas Francklyne (Franklyne) (Franklin) ("freeman") (d. ?) in Ecton, Northamptonshire; great-great-grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. Deaths: Portuguese explorer Tristao da Cuha (b. 1460). French scholar Guillaume Bude (b. 1467) on Aug. 23 in Paris; his wife moves to Geneva and becomes a Calvinist, and coupled with his request to be buried at night it leaves the suspicion that he is one too, causing his family to flee to Switzerland during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572; leaves Notes on the 24 Books of Pandects (pub. 1508), using philology and history to throw light on the study of Roman law. Italian Ursulines founder St. Angela Merici (b. 1474) on Jan. 27 in Brescia. English knight Sir William Kingston (b. 1476) on Sept. 14 in Painswick. Italian statesman-historian Francesco Guicciardini (b. 1483) on May 22 in Arcetri; leaves The History of Italy (Storia d'Italia) (20 vols.), covering 1494 to 1534, "the one work he wrote not for himself, but for the public" (Felix Gilbert); pioneers the use of govt. documents to support arguments, and a realistic analysis of people and events, which is first pub. in 1561, followed by an English trans. in 1579. "Francesco Guicciardini might be called a psychological historian - for him the motive power of the huge clockwork of events may be traced down the mainspring of individual behavior. Not any individual, be it noted, but those in positions of command: emperors, princes and popes who may be counted on to act always in terms of their self-interest - the famous Guicciardinian particolare." (Sidney Alexander) "The young historian was already doubtlessly aware of the meaning of historical perspective; the same facts acquiring different weight in different contexts, a sense of proportion was called for." (Nicolai Rubinstein) "Machiavelli and Guicciardini are important transitional figures in the development of historical writing. The historical consciousness that becomes visible in their work is a significant rupture in our thinking about the past... Human agency was a central element in the historical thought of Machiavelli and Guicciardini, but they did not have a modern notion of individuality... They started to disentangle historiography from its rhetorical framework, and in Guicciardini's work we can observe the first traces of a critical historical method." (Sidney Alexander) "If we consider intellectual power [the Storia d'Italia] is the most important work that has issued from an Italian mind." (Francesco de Sanctis) English statesman Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex (b. 1485) on July 28 (beheaded). Hungarian king (1526-40) John Zapolya (b. 1487) on July 22. Spanish humanist scholar Juan Louis Vives (b. 1492) on May 6 in Bruges; leaves De Causis Corruptarum Artium. Italian painter (at Fontainebleau) Rosso Fiorentino (b. 1494) in Paris. English Lutheran reformer Robert Barnes (b. 1495) on July 30 (burned at the stake). Italian duke of Mantua (1519-40) Federico II Gonzaga (b. 1500) on Aug. 28 in Marmirolo (congenital syphilis). Italian painter Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola) (b. 1503) on Aug. 24 in Casalmaggiore - make my veal parmigiana kosher? French mistress (of Francis I) Ferronier (b. ?); wife of the lawyer Le Ferron, who allegedly contracted syphilis in the hopes of passing it to the king through the beautiful one I love?
1541 On Feb. 12 after penetrating Chile's central valley, Pedro de Valdivia founds the city of Santiago (Del Nuevo Extremo) (modern-day pop. 7.3M); hostile Indians siege the settlement until reinforcements from Peru arrive in Dec. 1543; once the city is established, he dumps his babe Ines Suarez? In late Feb. Gonzalo Pizarro leads an expedition from Quito into Amazonia with 220 conquistadors, 4K highland natives, and 200 horses in search of the fabled rich El Dorado; the jungle can't support the natives and they all die of starvation, while the Spanish are reduced to eating their horses; they find a waterfall allegedly containing the gold of Atahualpa, but don't find any; on Nov. 9 they reach the Coca River, and by Christmas are on the verge of starvation; after a boat is built using melted-down horsehoes for nails, Francisco de Orellana (1511-46) leads 57 men, incl. Dominican missionary (chronicler and mapmaker) Father Gaspar de Carvajal (1500-84) on a food-gathering expedition, promising to return in a few days, but the current is too strong and they can't return, so they begin descending the network of rivers leading into the Amazon, getting into an epic lock-up-your-daughter adventure (ends 1542), which Carvajal records in his cool Journal of Gaspar de Carvajal. On Apr. 7 Spanish Jesuit missionary ("Apostle of the Indies") (St.) Francis Xavier (Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta) (1506-52) leaves Lisbon aboard the Santiago carrying a letter from the pope appointing his apostlic nuncio to the East, reaching Portuguese Mozambique in Aug., then leaving next Mar. for Goa, arriving on May 6 and becoming head of Saint Paul's College, which becomes the first Jesuit HQ in Asia; in Oct. 1542 he sails for the Pearl Fishery Coast at Cape Comorin, converting the Paravas, while failing to reach the high-caste Brahmins but building almost 40 churches; in spring 1545 he sails for Portuguese Malaca, leaving in Jan. 1546 for the Maluku Islands, starting with Ambon Island and returning to Malacca in summer 1547. On May 8 after failing to find the fabled Mayan city of Yupaha (discovered in 2011 near Brasstown Bald Mt. in Ga.?), and reaching Mobile Bay in Ala., then fighting fierce Choctaw chief Tuscaloosa ("black warrior") (-1540), Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto (1496-1542) and his 400 men discover the Mississippi River (2nd longest river in the U.S. after the Missouri River), and cross it near Randolph, Tenn., then explore Ark., becoming the first Euros to see Hot Springs, then Okla. and Tex. On May 23 Jacques Cartier begins his Third Voyage; in summer he and the Sieur de Roberval attempt to found the Charlesbourg-Royal settlement on the St. Lawrence River near the mouth of the Cap-Rouge River with 400 colonists; in Sept. 1543 after Indian raids, scurvy, and bad weather, it is abandoned. On June 26 Francisco Pizarro (b. 1470) is stabbed by the son of his first business partner in cahoots with Almagro partisans, who set up Almagro's mestizo son Diego de Almagro the Younger (-1542) as gov. of Peru, however royal judge Cristobal Vaca de Castro deposes him next Sept. 16 in a bloody battle in Chupas, and he is executed in Cuzco a few days later, ending the great Almagro name in Peru; Pizarro dies after conquering 480K sq. mi. of Inca territory from Ecuador S through the Andes to Bolivia. On Aug. 18 Duke Henry IV the Pious of Saxony (b. 1473) dies, and he wills that his lands be equally divided between his two sons Maurice I (1521-53) and Augustus I (1526-86), but after this is found contrary to Albertine law the elder son Maurice gets it all (until 1553). On Sept. 28 HRE Charles V personally leads an expedition of 500 ships incl. 80 galleys, 24K Spanish, Italian, and Spanish soldiers, and 12K sailors against Algiers, defended by 5K Ottoman troops and 800 Moors, arriving on Oct. 19, and disembarking troops on Oct. 23, surrounding the city except the N part; too bad, on Oct. 24 a storm disrupts his landing operations, and Adm. Andrea Dorea and old fart Hernan Cortes save some of the fleet from running aground, while Charles V is surrounded and saved only by the stiff resistance of 150 Knights of Malta, after which an indecisive land fight the fleet holes-up in Cape Matifu 5 mi. to the E, and departs for Spain on Nov. 23 after Charles V throws his horses overboard, reaching Cartagena on Dec. 3 with a loss of 130 carracks and 17 galleys plus hundreds of troops, leaving 12K men behind, who are massacred or taken captive, causing a glut on the A lgiers slave market, with Christian slaves going for the price of an onion; the disaster causes Charles V to give up trying to open Christian shipping in the W Mediterranean and lick his wounds. On Oct. 18 Margaret Tudor (b. 1489) dies in Methven Castle in Scotland. On Nov. 12 Queen Catherine Howard is sent to the Tower on suspicion of immoral conduct with Thomas Culpeper, whose chambers are searched, revealing a love letter from Catherine mentioning Lady Rochford, and they, along with Catherine's alleged paramour (when living with her grandmother the Duchess of Norfolk) Francis Dereham are tortured and executed on Dec. 10, Dereham getting the full treatment of hanging-drawing-quartering, and lucky Culpepper only beheading because of his Howard family connections; Catherine Howard is imprisoned in Syon House in Isleworth, NW London. After invading Tir Eogain, new (since July 7, 1540) lord deputy of Ireland Sir Anthony St. Leger (Sellenger) (1496-1559) defeats the Geraldine League and its leader Conn O'Neill, king of Tir Eogain, who is captured and sent to a parliament in Trim, then goes to England to convert to Protestantism and submit to Henry VIII, who creates him the 1st Earl of Tyrone and presents him with a nice gold chain and money, receiving land grants in the Pale in Balgriffin and being made a privy councillor in Ireland, pissing-off his Gaelic Roman Catholic clansmen and causing his son Shane O'Neill (1530-67) to begin a campaign to be recognized as The O'Neill despite the English and branches of his own family backing other claimants; meanwhile Henry VIII convenes the Irish Parliament to pass the 1542 Crown of Ireland Act on June 18, abolishing the high kingship of Ireland and changing his old title of lord of Ireland (conferred by the pope) to king of Ireland, making make him head of the Irish Church, discarding the old fiction that Ireland is a feudal province of the Church and that England was still a Roman Catholic country and establishing the new Kingdom of Ireland (ends Jan. 1, 1801); meanwhile in actual fact the Irish fight for every chance to break free from the stankin' English, who to them are nothing but plunderers - which only makes the Irish pop. more determined to never become Protestant? The Scottish Parliament passes laws to protect the honor of the Mass, prayer to the Virgin Mary, images of the saints, and the authority of the pope. Suleiman I the Magnificent invades and annexes Hungary, and occupies Ofen and the Hungarian capital of Buda on the pretext of protecting infant king John II, setting it up as capital of a Turkish province along the Danube River, which remains in Ottoman hands for 147 years (until 1688), splitting Hungary into three parts, ruled by the Ottomans, the Hapsburg monarchy of Austria, and the principality of Transylvania; Suleiman I allegedly tricks Hungarian gen. Count Balint Torok (Bálint Török) de Enying (1502-51) by inviting him to a sumptuous dinner in his tent and giving him the first coffee tasted by a Euro, while sending his best soldiers to take Buda Castle; meanwhile John II's mommy Isabella continues to rule the principality of Siebenurgen, while the stern rule of George Martinuzzi (1482-1551) causes a cabal against him, which he responds to by switching over to Ferdinand I's side and entering secret negotiations with him. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado sets out from New Mexico on a 2K-mi. expedition across N Tex., the Okla. Panhandle, and E Kan. in search of the fabled rich Seven Cities of Cibola, esp. the city of Quivira (ends 1542); he carves his name and the date on a rock while searching for gold near the Cimarron River 20 mi. from modern-day Kenton, Okla. where the Santa Fe Trail later crosses the river, returning to Mexico City next spring with empty saddlebags after failing to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola; meanwhile Hernando de Soto explores the E border of Okla. The Mayans are finally subdued by the Spanish - that's 1521 for the Aztecs, 1531 for the Incas, and 1541 for the Mayans, aim and fire, bada bing, bada boom? An earthquake cracks the water-filled crater of the Agua Volcano (Volcan del Agua), flooding Guatemala City, causing a new capital to be built at Antigua Guatemala (27 mi. from modern-day Guatemala City). The Ottomans seal the Golden Gate on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem to prevent a possible entrance by the Jewish and/or Christian Messiah, putting a cemetery in front because it's taboo for a Jewish priest to walk through one. A religious conference is held in Ratisbon in Germany, where Johann Eck continues defending Roman Catholicism; meanwhile John Calvin (1509-64) returns to Geneva, which until his death in 1564 becomes his stronghold, and founds the Presbyterian Church, which spreads to Scotland in 1560 via his disciple John Knox, and becomes the state church of Scotland in 1592 - they were smart enough to abandon the corrupt Mother Church, but not smart enough to avoid becoming established churches that persecute enemies like it does? Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-47), son of Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk is made knight of the garter, and in 1543 joins the English army in France, where his prowess gains him the title of field marshal, becoming the man in England needing to wear shades, his future is so bright? Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca leads an expedition through the Rio de la Plata (ends 1542), discovering Iguazu ("big water") Falls on the border of modern-day Brazil and Argentina, largest waterfall on Earth. Architecture: The elaborate Renaissance Lonja (Exchange) de Zaragoza in Saragossa, Spain is begun (finished 1551). Nonfiction: Domingo del Castillo, a pilot for Hernando de Alarcon draws a Map of the Baja Calif., the Gulf of Calif., and the Lower Colorado River. Science: Italian anatomist Giambattista Canano (Canani) (1515-79) pub. an anatomical tract that shows each muscle separately in its relations with the bones. Nonfiction: Johann Eck (1486-1543), Against the Defenses of the Jews; virulent anti-Semitic pamphlet claiming that any attempt by "Jew protector" Andreas Osiander to claim that the "blasphemous race" doesn't kill Christian kids and desecrate the eucharistic host is full of scheisse; "Could they but drown all Christians in one spoon, they would eagerly do it"; a Roman Catholic equals or bests Martin Luther in anti-Semitic rhetoric? Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-74), Tabula Chorographica auf Preussen und Etliche Umbliegende Lender (Map of Prussia and Neighboring Lands); presented to Duke Albrecht of Prussia. Art: At least it won't drip in my face anymore? Michelangelo (1475-1564), The Last Judgment (1536-41); fresco on the wall of the Sistine Chapel behind the altar of St. Peter's; unveiled on Dec. 25 (Christmas Day); depicts the horrors of ending up in hopeless, faithless, loveless, naked Hell as a result of one's sins, causing Pope Paul III to fall to his knees in fear, mumbling "Lord, save me from my sins on the Day of Judgment"; Michelangelo rejects classical proportions in favor of movement and dramatic effect, and portrays himself as St. Bartholomew, holding his skin after being flayed, showing his contempt for having to do the job; he puts the pope's master of ceremonies Biagio da Cesena in the lower right corner as Minos, judge of the underworld (complete with ass ears) after he criticizes the ignudi (nude figures) on the ceiling; the fresco is painted on the spot where a portrait of Pope Sixtus IV had been erased by Medici Pope Clement VII to get even for the 1478 Pazzi Plot; the abundance of ignudi sparks a "Fig Leaf Campaign", organized by rich, high-living but religiously ultra-orthodox statesman (later archbishop of Naples and cardinal) Oliviero Carafa (1430-1511) and Monsignor Sernini (ambassador of Mantua), who get Daniele Ricciarelli da Volterra (1509-66) hired in 1565 (after the Council of Trent condemns nudity in religious art) to paint over the genitalia, earning him the nickname Il Braghettone (the breeches painter); since St. Blaise (holding his iron combs) is shown behind St. Catherine (holding her breaking wheel) looking at her naked ass, he chisels them both off and repaints them; luckily, Pope Pius IV dies at the end of 1565, and his scaffolding is taken away for the new papal elections, stopping him from messing up the lower half of the fresco; "It was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns" (Biagio da Cesena); meanwhile in Dec. Daniele gets a commission to do a series of frescoes in the Orsini Chapel in the Trinita dei Monti, and Michelangelo gives him some sketches to use. Plays: Giovanni Cinzio Giraldi (1504-73), Orbeche (tragedy). Poetry: Clement Marot (1496-1544) and Theodore Beza (1519-1605), Trente Psaumes; a trans. of the Psalms, which becomes wildly popular and advances the cause of the Reformation after being adopted by John Calvin; condemned by the Sorbonne, making it more popular? Births: French "Satire Menippee" poet (in Latin) (Calvinist-turned-Roman Catholic) Florent Chrestien (d. 1596) on Jan. 26 in Orleans; student of Henri Estienne; tutor of Henry IV. Italian grand duke of Tuscany (1574-87) Francesco I de' Medici (d. 1587) on Mar. 25 in Florence; son of Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-74). English earl marshal Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex (d. 1576) on Sept. 16; eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux (-1547) and Dorothy Hastings, daughter of Henry VIII's mistress Anne Stafford; Ottoman historian Mustafa Ali (d. 1600). Polish patriot Jan Zamoyski (d. 1605). English secy. of state William Davison (d. 1608); of Scottish descent. French (Gascon) Huguenot writer-historian Lancelot Voisin de La Popeliniere (Popelinière) (d. 1608). Spanish-Greek Mannerist painter El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (d. 1614) in Heraklion, Crete (Repub. of Venice); settles in the old Jewish quarter of Toledo. Greek Catholic Church founder Ipaci Pocei (b. ?). Deaths: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro (d. 1470) on June 26 in Lima (stabbed); dies after conquering 480K sq. mi. of Inca territory from Ecuador S through the Andes to Bolivia. English countess Margaret Pole of Salisbury (b. 1473) on May 27 in the Tower of London (executed); last member of the House of Plantagenet other than her son Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-58), who says he will "never fear to call himself the son of a martyr"; the beheading is bloodily botched, requiring 11 axe strokes; beatified on Dec. 29, 1886 by Pope Leo XII. German Protestant Saxon duke (1539-41) Henry IV the Pious (b. 1473) on Aug. 18 in Dresden. Italian astronomer-diplomat Celio Calcagnini (b. 1479) in Ferrara. French portrait painter Jean Clouet (b. 1480). Spanish sculptor Damia Forment (b. 1480) in Santo Domingo de la Calzada; dies after completing the Renaissance altar of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada (begun 1537). Lithuanian grand hetman Jerzy Radziwill (b. 1480) in Apr. German magician Johann Georg Faust (b. 1480) in Staufen im Breisgau; dies after an alchemical explosion in Hotel zum Lowen, his "greviously mutilated" body whose face kept turning to the ground despite the body being turned on its back being taken as proof that the Devil hd personally come to collect. Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado (b. 1486) in Mexico; killed in an Indian revolt. German Protestant leader Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (AKA Brother Andrew) (b. 1486) on Dec. 24. Scottish queen (1502-13) Margaret Tudor (b. 1489) on Oct. 18 in Methven Castle, Perthshire. Jewish mystery man David Reubeni (b. 1490) (d. 1535?) in Spain (Portugal?). German-Swiss physician-alchemist-philosopher Paracelsus (b. 1493) on Sept. 24 in Salzburg; dies having failed to find the "alkahest" (universal solvent) (a term he coined): "Medicine is not only a science, it is also an art"; "So I have traveled throughout the land and was a pilgrim all my life, alone and a stranger feeling alien. Then Thou has made grow in me Thine art under the breath of the terrible storm in me." Flemish composer Wulfard Hellinck (b. 1496). English courtier Thomas Culpeper (b. ?) on Dec. 10 in Tyburn (beheaded). Am. courtier Francis Dereham (b. ?) on Dec. 10 in Tyburn (executed).
1542 In the last 50 years 300K Spaniards have emigrated to the New World, while the cruel mistreatment of the Caribbean aborigines has almost exterminated them; the Spanish monarchs finally ban the enslaving of Caribbean natives this year (what's left of them). On Jan. 6 after horribly kicking a bunch of Mayan butt, the Spanish under Francisco de Montejo El Mozo set up their capital in the Mayan city of T'ho, which they rename Merida (Mérida); the lord of Mani converts to Roman Catholicism, aiding the conquest of the rest of the peninsula; meanwhile on Nov. 20 the Spanish audiencia of Confines de Guatemala y Nicaragua is established, with jurisdiction over Chiapas and Guatemala, adding Yucatan in 1549 (until 1560). On Jan. 8 Francisco de Orellana's expedition reaches the Napo River ("River of Cinnamon"), and they become the first Europeans to enter Amazonia, visiting the Lumara and other Indian tribes along the way, and building a dictionary of their languages while infecting them with white man's diseases incl. smallpox; meanwhile, Gonzalo Pizarro and his starving men finally give up on them and turn back, fighting hostile Indians and the elements in an epic hellish struggle before a pitiful few straggle back half-naked with only their swords, Pizarro swearing that Orellana is "the worst traitor that ever was" and vowing to have him executed; by this time Orellana's party finds lodging with the Apurina (Apurinã) people on the Purus River, and rests for 2 mo. while building a 30-ft. boat, leaving in late Apr. to finish the remaining 2K mi. down the river to the Atlantic, passing the Lost Empire of the Amazon (the Amajua Confederation), crossing the border into Brazil, passing the Rio Negro (Negro River) (with inky black water that flows for 430 mi. before mixing with the silty water of the Amazon River), and finally reaching the mouth of the Amazon River in Aug. after 8 mo. and 2.5K mi. on the river with 47 survivors; after beating the treason charges with his cool Journal, he returns to Spain, gets appointed gov. of Amazonia, spends 11 mo. trying to find the mouth again, and dies in parts unknown. On Feb. 13 after more evidence is dug up and a bill of attainder passed by Parliament, Henry VIII's 5th wife Catherine Howard (b. 1520) is executed in the Tower of London on charges of adultery, becoming the last wife he executes; her lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn, viscountess Rochford (b. 1505) (who had gone insane, causing the king get a law passed allowing the execution of the insane) is executed next after giving a long speech showing she wasn't really?; not that all the Howards are in equal trouble, as her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk is sent to lead an English expedition into Scotland with his son Henry Howard, although he loses his influence at court. In the spring Francisco Vazquez de Coronado returns to Mexico City with empty saddlebags after failing to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola - you-u-u-u made me leave my happy home? On May 21 Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto (b. 1496) dies of fever in the Indian village of Guachoya on the banks of the Mississippi River near modern-day McArthur, Ark.; his men, who had been trying to palm him off as a god try to disguise his death and sink him in the river in the night, but the natives see through it, and the expedition decides to return home, building ships and sailing in July down the Mississippi River, continuing to the Panuco River, where they find refuge in the Spanish frontier town of Panuco, then return to Mexico City a mo. later, with 311 of the original 620; the expedition was a dud, but it did leave horses and swine with the Indians, along with Euro diseases, causing permanent hostility. In May Jesuit missionary (St.) Francis Xavier (Francisco Javier) (1506-52) arrives in Goa after a 13-mo. sea voyage from Lisbon. In summer after pissed-off Roman Catholic peasants in Smaland in S Sweden under the leadership of Nils Dacke (-1543) start the Dacke War, a revolt against Lutheran king Gustavus I Vasa; next Aug. Dacke is killed, and the revolt is quashed. In July taking advantage of Spain's weakened navy, the Moors under Hassan Agha attack Mers El Kebir (Kébir) ("the Great Harbor"), harbor of Spanish-held Oran in NW Algeria. On Aug. 28 the Battle of Wofla near Lake Ashenge in Tigray, Ethiopia sees an army of 600-900 Ottoman musketeers and 20 Ottoman cavalry along with several thousand soldiers led by imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (b. 1507), of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal crush a Portuguese expeditionary force of 290 musketeers and 23 Ethiopians, killing leader Cristovao da Gama (b. 1516) along with 160 Portuguese and eight Ethiopians, and capturing most of their muskets. In Aug. after Henry VIII renews his claim to be overlord of Scotland, the Scots under the earl of Huntly defeat the English under Lord Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk at the Battle of Haddon Rig near Berwick, causing Norfolk to abandon his invasion of Scotland in Oct., and the Scots to plan an invasion of England. On Sept. 28 Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (-1543), sent by New Spain viceroy Antonio de Mendoza in search of a northern strait discovers California (Calif.), landing at modern-day San Diego, and continuing N, discovering Monterey Bay on Nov. 16, and naming it Bahia de los Pinos because of the forest of pine trees; too bad, colonization is slow, and the first Spanish mission isn't founded until 1769 - why not call it Cabrillofornia? On Nov. 1 New Spain vicery Antonio de Mendoza sends an expedition of six galleons and 370-400 men led by Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (1500-44) from New Spain to the "Islas del Poniente" (Islands of the West), taking Ferdinand Magellan's route, and after discovering Eniwetok (Enewetak) Atoll they enter Baganga Bay next Feb. 29, discovering Mindanao, which Lopez names Caesarea Karoll after Charles V, receiving a friendly reception, staying 32 days and suffering famine before leaving on Mar. 31, being intercepted by Portuguese ships wanting to know why there are trespassing on Portuguese territory; after hostile reception by the natives and more Portuguese, Villalobos is imprisoned by the Portuguese on Amboyna Island, where he dies next Apr. 4 after giving the name "Islas Felipinas" (Philippines) (after Charles V's son Philip II) to the Leyte region, which is later extended to the whole archipelago; 85 remaining crew members are shipped back to Lisbon on a Portuguese ship, and the rush to make the Philippines Philip's begins. On Nov. 2 HRE Charles V issues the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians, inspired by Bartolome de las Casas, easing the plight of Indian slave labor; on Mar. 25 1544 New Spain viceroy Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza proclaims them; too bad, when the Spanish encomienda grant-holders balk, he takes a clue from what happened in Peru and revokes them. On Nov. 24 after a 15K-18K-man Scottish army under Robert Maxwell, 4th Lord Maxwell (1493-1546) (one of the ambassadors sent to France in 1537 to negotiate the marriage of James V to Mary of Guise) attempts to invade England, it is routed at the Battle of Solway Moss by a 3K-man English force led by Sir Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (1495-1568) after James V unexpectedly places his favorite Sir Oliver Sinclair de Pitcairnis (St. Clair) (-1576) of Roslin (grandson of the Oliver Sinclair who completed Rosslyn Chapel in the 1480s) in charge of the Scottish army, who don't respect him and abandon the field, after which he is caught between a bog and a river, giving up after only a few are killed, Sinclair being captured along with 1.2K POWs, incl. Lord Maxwell and his eldest son Robert, who are kept as insurance for many years, the English rumoring that he preferred to be captured rather than face mean 30-y.-o. James V (b. 1511), who remains behind in Lochmaben, then hides in Falkland Palace in Fife, where he contracts a fever, then "turns his face to the wall and dies" (another untimely Stewart death) on Dec. 14 (same place where David Stewart was starved to death in 1402, then remodeled in the French style by James V), six days after the disappointing Dec. 8 birth in Linlithgow Palace (overlooking Loch Lothian) of Mary Stuart (Stewart), Queen of Scots (1542-87) to his French-born wife Mary of Guise (1515-60), who had borne sons James in 1540 and Arthur in 1541 only to see them both die in 1541, exactly like James IV's first two sons of the same names; on Dec. 14 Mary Stuart is declared queen, with James Hamilton, 2nd earl of Arran appointed gov. (regent); John Knox later claims that on his deathbed James V hears of the birth, then says, "It cam wi' a lass and it'l gang wi' a lass"; Sir Walter Scott later claims he used to visit his subjects incognito as "the guidman of Ballengreich". The 6-year struggle of the Danish party to throw out German counselors results in a Herredag in Copenhagen, with the charter amended requiring native-born Danes to fill high state offices, and the Danish nobles voting Christian III a 5% tax on their property to pay off the war debt owed the Germans and Holsatians. Pope Paul III establishes the Holy Office (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) (Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition) in Rome to intercept appeals from defendants of the Inquisition and forward them directly to the Holy See, ending up being used to speed up the persecution of scientists promoting Copernicus' heliocentric system - I'm feeling really nonjudgmental today? The Second Laws in Wales Act (first in 1535) completes the annexation of the legal system of Wales to England. HRE Charles V offers a 100 guilders reward for the arrest of Mennonite founder Menno Simons; by the year 2000 there are 1.3M Mennonites (why not Simonites?) in 65 countries, opposing the taking of oaths, military and govt. service, and favoring plain dress and living - the original Jehovah's Witnesses without the door-knocking? The real Shogun, not starring Richard Chamberlain? Antonio da Moto and other Portuguese sailors become the first Europeans to reach Japan when they land at small Tanegashima Island in Kagoshima (off the S coast of Kyushu) aboard a shipwrecked Chinese ship; the muskets they are carrying are quickly copied, and spread all over Japan; too bad, they also bring Jesuits - changing the way they clean their houses? Lord high adm. (since 1540) John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (1485-1555), ancestor of philosopher Bertrand Russell is made lord privy seal of England (not created earl until 1550). French king Francis I goes to war against the Habsburgs and HRE Charles V for the 4th time, allied with the Ottomans; Charles V allies with Henry VIII. HRE Charles V gives Milan to his son Philip II of Spain. The Spanish viceroyalty and audiencia of Peru is created, with Blasco Nunez (Núñez) de Vela (1490-1546) as viceroy #1 of Peru (until Jan. 18, 1546); too bad, Charles I charges him with enforcement of the dangblasted none-too-popular New Laws of the Indies, providing for more humane treatment of aboriginal indios and the eventual abolition of the encomiendas, causing the Spanish conquistadors, led by Gonzalo Pizarro to calculate the odds of an independent Peru - the Ten What? After traveling 1K mi. through S Brazil, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca arrives in Asuncion, Paraguay with colonists and a Spanish royal commission to become gov., but Domingo de Irala challenges him and gains royal confirmation instead in 1544. Cochabamba Valley (Quecha "cocha" + "pampa" = lake + plain) in C Bolivia is first settled by Garcia Ruiz de Orellana. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado crosses W Okla. in search of the golden city of Quivira, claiming it for Spain; meanwhile Hernando de Soto explores the E border of Okla., and Don Diego del Castillo explores the Wichita Mts. for 6 mo. looking for gold and silver; in spring 1542 Coronado returns to Mexico City with empty saddlebags after failing to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola - you-u-u-u made me leave my happy home? San Miguel El Grande on the altiplano in Mexico between Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental in modern-day E Guanajuato, Oaxaca is founded by Franciscan monk Frey Juan de San Miguel, becoming an important stop on the Old Camino Real silver route from Zacatecas; renamed San Miguel de Allende in 1826 after Spanish gen. Ignacio Allende (1769-1821). The English Parliament makes witchcraft a capital crime; the law carries over to English colonies - gotta fight that Devil Inside wherever we go? Bavaria places heavy taxes on drinks. Buckingham College in Cambridge, England (founded 1428) is refounded as Magdalene College (pr. MOD-lin) by chancellor Sir Thomas Audley; not to be confused with Magdalen College in Oxford, founded in 1448. Henry VIII's gardener brings the apricot from Italy to England. Inventions: In 1537 Portuguese mathematician Pedro (Petrus Nonius) (1502-78) invents the Nonius, predecessor of the Vernier scale. Science: French physician Jean Fernel (1497-1558) becomes the first to observe that when the ventricles contract (systole), the arteries increase in size due to the blood entering them; an accurate understanding of heart circulation is still far off. Nonfiction: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1490-1557), Naufragios (original title: "La Relacion y Comentarios"); an account of his journeys in the U.S. Southwest in 1528-36, containing detailed accounts of the tribes he encountered while acting as a trader and faith healer, making him a proto-anthropologist. Valerius Cordus (1515-44), Dispensatorium; a pharmacopeia, presented to the city council of Nuremberg; becomes central to the war between physicians, apothecaries, and midwives. Jean Fernel (1497-1558), De Naturali Parte Medicinae; establishes his rep as a top French physician, and becomes part 1 of his 3-part Universa Medicina. Leonhard Fuchs (1501-66), Glossary of Botanical Terms; shows no attempt at comparative morphology. Edward Halle (1497-1547), The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York (Hall's Chronicle) from Henry IV (1367-1413) to Henry VII (1399-1547); 2nd ed. by Richard Grafton in 1548; a main source used by Shakespeare for his historical plays. David Joris (1501-56), 'T Wonder Boeck (The Wonder Book); pub. anon. Pedro Nunes (1502-78), About the Twilight (De Crepusculis). Georg Joachim Rheticus (1514-74), De Lateribus et Angulis Triangulorum (On the Sides and Angles of Triangles). John Rotz, Map of South Am.; shows Indians carrying brazilwood logs to trade with Euros. Poetry: Antoine Heroet (-1568), La Parfaicte Amye (Lyons); develops the idea of purely spiritual love based on the Italian Neo-Platonists, causing a firestorm of controversy. Music: Benedictus Appenzeller (1480-1589), Des Chansons a Quattre Parties (Antwerp). Births: English naval cmdr. Sir Richard Grenville (Greynville) (d. 1591) on June 15 in Bideford, Devon; of Cornish descent; son of Sir Roger Grenville (-1545), son of Sir Richard Grenville (1495-1550); grandfather of Sir Richard Grenville (1600-58); cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert. Spanish supermystic Roman Catholic Carmelite monk poet (St.) John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (Juan de Yepes y Alvarez) (d. 1591) on June 24 in Fontiveros (near Avila); feast day: Nov. 24. English nobleman (Roman Catholic) Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland (d. 1601) on Aug. 18; son of Henry Neville, 5th earl of Westmorland (1525-65) and Lady Anne Manners, 2nd daughter of Thomas Manners, 1st earl of Rutland; grandson of Ralph Neville, 4th Baron of Neville and 1st Earl of Westmoreland (1364-1425); husband (1563-) of Jane Howard (1533-93). husband (1560-76) of Lettice Knollys (1543-1634); created earl on May 4, 1572. Spanish navigator-explorer Alvaro de Mendana (Mendaña) de Neyra (Neira) (d. 1595) on Oct. 1 in Congosto, Leon. Italian Roman Catholic Jesuit bishop and cardinal (1599-) (St.) Robert Bellarmine Bellarmino) (d. 1621) on Oct. 4 in Montepulciano, Tuscany; nephew of Pope Marcellus II; teacher of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-91); canonized on June 29, 1930 by Pope Pius XI; declared a doctor of the Church in 1931; feast day: Sept. 17 (May 13); "The Church of God had not his equal in learning." (Pope Clement VIII) Indian Mughal (Mogul) emperor #3 (1556-1605) (Sunni Muslim) Akbar the Great (Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar) (d. 1605) on Oct. 15 in Umerkot, Sind; son of Humayun (1508-56); father of Jahangir (1569-1627). Scottish Stewart queen (1542-67) and queen consort of France (1559-60) Mary Stuart (Stewart), Queen of Scots (Mary I) (d. 1587) on Dec. 8 in Linlithgow, West Lothian; daughter of James V (1512-42) and Mary de Guise (1515-60); first bride to wear white to a wedding; first golfer to use a caddy; her doctor invents marmalade. German "St. Matthew Passion" composer Jakob Meiland (d. 1577) in Hechingen. Scottish leader (Roman Catholic-turned-Protestant) Esme (Esmé) Stewart (Stuart), 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox (d. 1583); cousin of Lord Darnley, father of James VI/I (his lover?). Japanese samurai Hattori Hanzo (Masanari) (d. 1596) in Mikawa Province. Korean PM (1592-) Yu Seong-ryong (d. 1607) in Uiseong, Gyeongsang Province; learns the teachings of Confucius by age 8? Italian Mannerist painter Federico (Federigo) Zuccari (d. 1609) in Sant'Angelo, Vado (near Urbino). English poet-novelist Nicholas Breton (Britton) (Brittaine) (d. 1626) in Layer Breton, Essex. Deaths: Russian abbot Philotheos of Pskov (b. 1465). Italian "Mona Lisa" model Lisa del Giocondo (b. 1479) on July 15 in Florence; bured in Sant'Orsola Convent; her remains are disinterred in 1985 to build an underground garage and end up in a Florence garbage dump? Italian Luther-opposing cardinal Hieronymus Aleander (b. 1480) on Feb. 1. Italian painter Dosso Dossi (b. 1483). Belgian Flemish painter Barend van Orley (b. 1490) on Jan. 6 in Brussels. Swiss-German composer Ludwig Senfl (b. 1492). Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto (b. 1496) on May 21 in the Indian village of Guachoya on the banks of the Mississippi River near McArthur, Ark. (fever). Spanish poet Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (b. 1503). English poet Sir Thomas Wyatt (b. 1503) on Oct. 11. German adventurer Nikolaus Federmann (b. 1505) in Feb. in Valladolid, Spain. English noblewoman Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (b. 1505) on Feb. 13 in the Tower London (beheaded). Scottish king (1513-42) James V (b. 1512) on Dec. 14 in Falkland Palace, Fife. English queen (royal wife #5) Catherine Howard (b. 1520) on Feb. 13 in the Tower of London (beheaded); last words: "I die a Queen, but I would rather have died the wife of a Culpepper"; the Ghost of Catherine Howard allegedly haunts Hampton Court and the Tower of London.
1543 Earl in the year Gustavus I Vasa of Sweden double-crosses the Dacke rebels, and defeats them; Dacke's followers then double-cross and kill him. On Feb. 21 the Battle of Wayna Daga (Amharic for "grape-cultivating altitude") E of Lake Tana in Ethiopia sees 8.5K Ethiopian Christians led by Solomonic emperor (since 1540) Gelawdewos and aided by 70 Portuguese musketeers and 60 cavalry fight 14K infantry and 1.2K cavalry from the Muslim Sultanate of Adal led by imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (b. 1507), who is KIA by a Portuguese musketeer, ending the Ethiopian-Adal War (begun 1529). On Mar. 14 Pope Paul III issues the bull Injunctum Nobis, removing the 1540 membership limitation on the Jesuits. The original Coppertone Baby kept his ass out of the Sun on purpose? On May 24 (May 14 Old Style) (Mon.) Nicolaus Copernicus (Lat. "copper worker") (b. 1473) dies in Frombork, Poland after allegedly awakening from a stroke-induced coma long enough to view the first printed copy of his magnum opus Six Books on the Revolutions of the Celestial Orbits (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium), advancing the Heliocentric Theory (which he had shelved, claiming it to be incomplete or even erroneous, but more likely afraid of Catholic reprisals?), which was pushed through the press by his one and only pupil Georg Joachim Rheticus (Rhaeticus) (von Lauchen) (1514-74) (a Lutheran math prof. whose father had been executed for heresy), and is pub. posth. in safe Protestant Nuremberg; it is (fawningly?) dedicated to Pope Paul III, and incl. a cautious (mendacious?) Preface by Andreas Osiander (1498-1552) of Konigsberg, stating that the revolution of the Earth is a mere mathematical convenience and not necessarily a physical fact (although Coppertone Baby had considered it otherwise?); "There have already been widespread reports about the novel hypotheses of this work, which declares that the Earth moves whereas the Sun is at rest in the center of the Universe. Hence certain scholars, I have no doubt, are deeply offended and believe that the liberal arts, which were established long ago on a sound basis, should not be thrown into confusion. But if these men are willing to examine the matter closely, they will find that the author of this work has done nothing blameworthy. For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study. Then he must conceive and devise the causes of these motions or hypotheses about them. Since he cannot in any way attain to the true causes, he will adopt whatever suppositions enable the motions to be computed correctly from the principles of geometry for the future as well as for the past. The present author has performed both these duties excellently. For these hypotheses need not be true nor even probable. On the contrary, if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is enough. Perhaps there is someone who is so ignorant of geometry and optics that he regards the epicyclc of Venus as probable, or thinks that it is the reason why Venus sometimes precedes and sometimes follows the Sun by forty degrees and even more. Is there anyone who is not aware that from this assumption it necessarily follows that the diameter of the planet at perigee should appear more than four times, and the body of the planet more than sixteen times, as great as at apogee?"; "The massive bulk of the Earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens" (Copernicus); the kind of reception awaiting Copernicus' followers is shown right away, when the first Auto da Fe, AKA Act of Faith, or burning alive of heretics (Protestants) by the Spanish Inquisition dressed in weird sinister hoods takes place in the island of Goa in SW India (goa to Hell, you heretics?), and Pope Paul III issues his first Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books); each lucky heretic gets to wear a black sanbenito painted with flames and devils to his own BBQ - toast them marshmallows on a stick, hooray for Christ? On July 1 the Treaty of Greenwich is signed in an attempt to provide peace between Scotland and England for the lifetimes of Henry VIII and 1-y.-o. Mary, Queen of Scots, calling for her marriage to Henry's sickly son Prince Edward (VI). In July the Third Succession to the Crown Act names Henry VIII's heirs as Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, then the heirs of his younger sister Mary Rose Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk (1496-1533), which incl. Lady Jane Grey; Elizabeth's bastard status is left unchanged. The English game is now parr six? In July Henry VIII (more in need of a nurse than a wife?) marries previously broken-in Catherine Parr (1512-48), his 6th and last wife and the only one other than Anne of Cleves to not get her head parted or cleaved from her body and survive him; the list now incl. Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr (CAJACC) (3 Catherines, 2 Annes, and 1 Jane); Parr's first hubby was Lord Borough. Turkish adm. Barbarossa II cruises toward Marseille with 210 ships and 30K troops to assist his ally Francis I of France, captures Reggio Calabria, lands on the coasts of Campania and Lazio, threatens Rome from the mouth of Tiber until Francis I intervenes to tell him to cool lit, then satisfies himself with raiding several Italian and Spanish settlements, then sieges Nice, which holds them off a long time but gives up on Aug. 5, after which Barbarossa takes 2.5K captives and pillages the city; he then lands at Antibes and Ile Sainte-Marguerite near Cannes, sacks San Remo, Monaco, and La Turbie, then winters in Toulon while sending occasional ships to bombard Spanish costal cities. On Sept. 9, 1543 Mary Stuart (1542-87) is crowned queen of Scotland in Stirling (until July 24, 1567), becoming known as Mary, Queen of Scots; too bad, within months her betrothal is cancelled by the Scottish Parliament under urging of her pro-Roman Catholic guardians; Henry VIII responds with plans to occupy S and E Scotland in the Rough Wooing, causing Mary to be kept in Stirling for safety, driving Scotland back into the arms of the French; the Scottish Parliament removes the prohibition against vernacular Bibles. On Nov. 1 the U. of Pisa (founded 1343) is officially refounded by Cosimo I de' Medici, who next year founds the Orto Botanico di Pisa, becoming te first univ. botanical garden in Europe. On Dec. 29 the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-84) in Russia begins when he tells his regents to stuff it and calls his boyars together, then orders boyar leader Prince Shishkabobsky, er, Andrei Shuisky thrown into a pit of starving dogs; the Russian term Grozny actually means Awesome (a term of respect) not Terrible, although he amply lives up to the latter name through his violent unpredictable behavior? - how about Gross? Future Philip II of Spain marries Maria of Portugal. An English army led by Henry Howard fights on the side of HRE Charles V in an effort to acquire the Netherlands. King Sigismund of Poland grants the right of coining money to his vassal the Duke of Prussia, causing the Estates of Poland to pass a decree that that privilege is inseparable from the crown. After getting the Sorbonne pissed-off, Clement Marot flees France for Geneva, followed by Piedmont. Portugal passes a law ordering a search for descendants of Jews so they can be expelled. The first Portuguese land in Japan on Tanegashima Island, introducing firearms to Japan. Juan Rodriguez de Cabrillo (b. 1499) dies of gangrene on Santa Catalina Island, and his pilot Bartolome (Bartolomé) Ferrelo (1499-1550) continues the expedition, exploring the Pacific coast as far as Oregon. Nimjegen, Netherlands-born (St.) Peter Canisius (1521-97) becomes the first German to join the Jesuits, going on to become a leader of the Counter-Reformation. Speaking of Prohibited Books? The Spirituali Movement in Rome, which hopes to reform the Church without splitting like the Protestants pub. the anon. The Benefit of Christ's Death (Beneficio di Cristo), their masterpiece proving that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, not through works or the Church; after they pub. 40K copies, the Church declares it heretical and places it on the Prohibied Index and starts to come down on them, but Pope Julius III purposely slows down the Inquisition until his death, after which Pope Julius IV lets the dogs loose and exterminates them by the 1560s. Architecture: Clover-leaf-shaped Hurst Castle on Pebble Split in Hampshire (old Wessex) is built by Henry VIII to guard the coast. Inventions: Spanish navigator Blasco da Garay designs a steamboat for HRE Charles V. Nonfiction: Girolamo Cardano (1501-76) (tr.), Euclid's Elements; first trans. into a modern Euro language, correcting errors in the Latin trans obtained from an Arabic source, esp. in Book V, becoming a favorite of Galileo. Petrus Ramus (1515-72), Animadversiones in Dialecticam Aristotetlis (Criticisms of the Aristotelian Dialectic); pisses off the learned doctors of the Sorbonne, who get Francis I to issue an edict to suppress it; Ramus counters by getting a job as pres. of the College de Presles in 1545 - the original Little Richard and Elvis Presley put together? Niccolo Tartaglia (1500-57) (tr.), Euclid's Elements; the first into a modern language (Italian) - collective groan from zillions of schoolboys? Andreas Vesalius (Andre Vesale) of Brussels (1514-64), The Fabric of the Human Body (De Humani Corporis Fabrica) (7 vols.), and the companion vol. Epitome (both in Basel); illustrations by Titian's studio; the first illustrated anatomy of the human body, and the most detailed and extensive to date - is it Science or is it Porno? Martin Luther (1483-1546), On the Jews and Their Lies; calls for their Nazi-like persecution incl. pogroms 400 years before the little-miss-sunshine Nazis, causing their persecution and expulsion from Prague, Worms, Vienna, Genoa, and the papal states over the next 130 years; "A base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be counted as filth"; "Full of the Devil's feces... which they wallow in like swine" (synagogues); "Incorrigible whore and an evil slut". Art: Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71) designs a gold-ivory-enamel Saliera (Saltcellar) for Francis I of France, featuring nude figures of Earth (female) and Sea (male), which becomes his only gold sculpture to survive to modern times; on May 1, 2003 it is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in a smash-and-grab robbery in which the guards miss the event and have no clue as to who did it; 3 years later it is found in a forest N of the city. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Christ Giving His Blood; Husband and Wife. Il Sodoma (1477-1549), Sacred Conversation (Sacra Conversazione); St. Sebastian with Madonna and Angels. Titian (1477-1576), Ecce Homo. Births: Japanese Tokugawa shogun #1 (1603-16) Tokugawa Ieyasu (Iyeyasu) (Matsudaira Takechiyo) (d. 1616) on Jan. 31 in Mikawa. German Wittelsbach prince (Calvinist) John Casimir, Count Palatinate of Simmern (d. 1592) on Mar. 7 in Simmern; 3rd and youngest son of Elector Palatine Frederick III and Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. English "My Mynde to Me a Kingdome Is" poet-courtier (Rosicrucian?) Sir Edward Dyer (d. 1607) in Oct. in Sharpham Park, Somerset; educated at Balliol College or Pembroke College, Oxford U. English noblewoman Lettice (Laetitia) Knollys (d. 1634) (pr. like knolls) on Nov. 8 in Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire; wife (1560-76) of Walter Devereux, 1st earl of Essex (1541-76), (1578-88) Robert Dudley, 1st earl of Leicester (1532-88), and (1589-1601) Sir Christopher Blount (1555-1601); mother of Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex (1565-1601) and Lady Penelope Rich (1563-1607). Italian anatomist and papal physician (to Gregory XIII). Constanzo Varolio (d. 1575) in Bologna. English navigator and buccaneer ("the Queen's Pirate") ("Il Gran Luterano") Sir Francis Drake (d. 1596) in Tavistock, Devon (b. 1549)?; first Englishman to go around and come around the Earth; knighted in 1581 - I don't sweat the small stuff? English novelist-balladist Thomas Deloney (d. 1600). Italian Roman Catholic missionary (to China) Michaele Ruggieri (d. 1607). Swiss architect Domenico Fontana (d. 1607) in Melide (modern-day Ticino), Switzerland (near Lake Lugano); protege of Pope Sixtus V. Scottish judge Sir John Skene, Lord Curriehill (d. 1617). Jewish Qabbala mystic Hayim (Chaim) ben Yosef Vital (d. 1620) in Safed, Palestine; successor of Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-72). Deaths: Da Man Wid Da Plan Himself? Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (b. 1473) on May 24 in Frombork (Frauenburg), Warmia (180 mi. N of Warsaw) (stroke); on Nov. 3, 2008 Polish archeologists based in Pultusk in C Poland announce the discovery of his grave under the floor of Frombork Cathedral; on May 22, 2010 Roman Catholic clerics bless his remains with holy water and he is reburied as a hero. German margrave George the Pious (b. 1484) on Dec. 27. German anti-Reformation Catholic theologian Johann Eck (b. 1486). French humanist diplomat Guillaume (William) du Bellay, lord of Langey (b. 1491); dies en route from Turin, Italy to France, with his physician Francois Rabelais present, who eulogizes him in "Garantua and Pantagruel", Bk. III, Ch. 21 and Bk. IV, Ch. 27. Swiss-German composer Ludwig Senfl (b. 1492). Italian poet Agnolo Firenzuolo (b. 1493). Italian painter Polidoro da Caravaggio (b. 1495) (strangled in bed by a workman with a cloth, who is tortured, hung, drawn, and quartered). German Anabaptist leader Melchior Hoffman (b. 1495); dies in prison; leaves writings that influence Menno Simons and David Joris; his followers are called Hoffmanites or Melchiorites. German painter Hans Holbein the Younger (b. 1497). Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (b. 1499) on Jan. 3 in Santa Catalina Island (gangrene). German humanist writer Sebastian Franck (b. 1499): "To substitute Scripture for the self-revealing Spirit is to put the dead letter in the place of the living Word."
1544 In the spring the Ottomans under adm. Barbarossa II siege San Remo, Italy for a 2nd time, then land at Borghetto Santo Spirito and Ceriale, defeat a Spanish-italian fleet and raid the kingdom of Naples, after which they reach Genoa with 210 ships and demand the release of Ottoman adm. Turgut Reis (Capt. Dragut) (Capt. Darhouth) (1485-1565); after Adm. Andrea Dorea parleys with Barbarossa, he agrees to release him in exchange for 3.5K gold ducats; in May after repulsing Spanish attacks on S France, Barbarossa assaults San Remo a 3rd time, sails to Vado Ligure in N Italy, and takes a bribe to stop further attacks on Genoese cities, then in June arrives in Elba, threatening to bombard Piombini unless the son of Sinan Reis is released, then captures Castiglione della Pescaia, Talamone, and Orbetello in Grossetto, Tuscany, followed by Montiano, Porto Ercole, and Giglio Isle, and sieges Citavecchia until French envoy Leone Strozzi (1515-54) of Florence calls him off; he then assaults Sardinia, lands in Ischia in July, captures Forio and the Isle of Procidia, meets 30 galleys under Giannettino Doria in front of Pozzuoli and chases them away to Messina, then tries to attack Salerno but has to call it off because of strong winds, landing at nearby Cape Palinuro, after which he enters the Strait of Messina and lands at Catona, Fiumara, and Calanna near Reggio Calabria, followed by Cariati and Lipari, bombarding it for 15 days until he captures it; he is then recalled to Istanbul after Sultan Suleiman and HRE Charles V agree to a truce, retiring next year in Istanbul, and dying in 1546 after writing 5-vols. of Memoirs of Hayreddin Pasha ("The Mediterranean Was Ours"). In the summer the Siege of St. Dizier sees the imperial army of HRE Charles V siege St. Dizier on its advance into Champagne, and on July 13 Cahrles V arrives with an army of 14.1K men incl. 1.6K sappers; on July 15 Rene of Chalon (b. 1519) dies in the siege, with Charles V at his bedside, and his 11-y.-o. Lutheran 1st cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg AKA William I the Silent (Taciturn) (1533-84) becomes prince of Orange (until July 10, 1584), with HRE Charles V as regent, who requires the Lutheran boy to get a Roman Catholic education, which doesn't take; William I founds the House of Orange-Nassau, later leading the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Hapsburgs, becoming "the Father of the Fatherland". On July 19 the Siege of Boulogne in Pas-de-Calais by the English under Henry Howard, earl of Surrey begins, and is joined a few weeks later by Henry VIII, taking the castle on Sept. 18 by digging tunnels under it; Surrey is made cmdr. of its garrison (until 1546); Edward Seymour is promoted from lt.-gen. to capt.-gen.; meanwhile on Sept. 14 the dauphin's army attacks Montreuil, causing the duke of Norfolk to want raise the siege, which is countermanded by Henry VIII on Sept. 18, who leaves for England at the end of Sept., causing 4K English troops to be left to defend the city, while the rest withdraw to Calais, where they are trapped, allowing the dauphin to concentrate on Boulogne, nearly capturing it on Oct. 9; the siege ends in Mar. 1550; meanwhile after invading Picardy, France and running out of ale, the English are forced to drink hopped beer for 10 days; Francis I loses again, and signs the Treaty of Crespy, cementing relations with HRE Charles V by marriage, specifying that Francis I's son the Duke of Orleans (d. 1545) is to marry either Charles V's daughter, with Burgundy (incl. Holland, Belgium and Franche-Comte) as her dowry, or Charles' niece, with Milan as her dowry; in return Francis is to return Savoy and Piedmont to the Duke of Savoy; too bad, the duke of Orleans suddenly dies next year, voiding the treaty; Henry Howard is made field marshal under his father's command, and is wounded at the Siege of Montreuil in the Pas de Calais. The English under Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (1506-52) (brother of Jane Seymour) invade Scotland and burn Edinburgh as part of the rough wooing. Newly-appointed royal viceroy Blasco Nunez Vela arrives in Peru (New Castile), only to be expelled to Panama in chains by Gonzalo Pizarro, who claims rulership of Peru, causing him to gather an army for a comeback in 1546. French cardinal David Beaton (1494-1546) becomes co-regent of Mary, Queen of Scots along with her mother Mary. The Succession Parliament meets in Vasteras, Sweden, and the estates agree on several Reformation principles, eliminating Masses, many holy days, holy water, incense, and adoration of the saints. Bishop George Martinuzzi of Grosswardein gets legislation passed in Siebenburgen, Hungary preventing the spread of Protestantism, but co-regent Peter Petrovich gets its enforcement stopped. Duke Albrecht of Hohenzollern decrees that the Polish people of his lands should receive a Polish trans. of the Bible, but takes until 1550 to find a translator. Chungjong dies, and his son Injong II (1515-45) becomes Yi king of Korea (Joseon) (until Aug. 8, 1545). After assisting their brother Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada in conquering Colombia and founding Bogota, Spanish conquistador Hernan Perez de Quesada (1500-44) and his brother Francisco flee for political reasons, and are killed by lightning while sailing to Cuba; the Colombian natives call it divine retribution for killing the last of the Chibcha kings. The silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia (highest city in the world, alt. 13,420 ft. or 4,090m) are discovered by Diego Huallpa, becoming the most important Peruvian mining center until 1585; the city of Potosi is founded at the foot of the Cerro Rich (rich hill) on Apr. 10, 1545 as Carlos V City; the port of Nombre de Dios in Panama becomes the major port of call for the Spanish treasure fleet, reaching 200K pop. until the rise of Veracruz, Mexico in 1580. The first complete Riksdag since 1530 is assembled in Sweden; the Act of Hereditary Settlement fixes the Swedish succession in the male line; the first truly nat. army in Sweden is established. Inca chief Manco is assassinated in Vilcabamba by seven exiled Almagro partisans who trick him into playing a game of quoits on the plaza then stab him to death for the price on his head; his 9-y.-o. son Titu Cusi is wounded but escapes; Sayri Tupac (-1561) becomes Inca (chief) of what's left of the exiled Incan civilization. Andreas Vesalius becomes physician to HRE Charles V. After 11 years of marriage Catherine de' Medici produces the first of 10 children for King Henri II; all but two of them predecease her; she has four sons, three of whom become kings of France. Pope Paul III calls for a gen. council in Trent in 1545. Diego Garcia, a strategic atoll 1K mi. S of India halfway between Sri Lanka and Mauritius is discovered by Portuguese explorer Diego Garcia de Moguer (1484-1544). Bartolome de las Casas becomes Roman Catholic bishop of Chiapas in S Mexico (until 1547), later returning to Spain, where he writes about his experiences and preaches the Indians' case. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-94) becomes organist and choirmaster at the main church in Palestrina, SE of Rome (until 1551), where he becomes a favorite of Giovanni del Monte, who becomes Pope Julius III in 1550, and gets him a better gig in Rome. A silver shilling is issued by England which is so debased with copper (two-thirds) that it causes Henry VIII to be given the nickname "Old Coppernose". The U. of Konigsberg is founded by Duke Albrecht I of Prussia, with Copernicus-pushing Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander as its first prof. in 1549. Architecture: St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London is refounded. Padova, Venice-born architect Andrea Palladio (Andrea di Pietro della Gondola) (1508-80) begins the Palazzo Thiene in Vicenza (finished 1550), introducing the Palladian Architectural Style, which adheres to classical Roman principles that he rediscovered. Science: Georg Hartmann of Germany discovers the Magnetic Dip (Inclination) of the compass. Bolognese physician-botanist Luca Ghini (1490-1556) creates the first known Herbarium (Hortus Siccus) in Pisa, gluing dried plants to cardboard. The cultivation and consumption of the tomato (golden apple) is first described in European lit. in a herbal by Siena, Italy-born physician-botanist Pietro Andrea Gregorio Mattioli (Matthiolus) (1501-77). Nonfiction: Sebastian Munster (1489-1552), Cosmographia Generalis. Michael Stifel (1487-1567), Aritmetica Integra. Matteo Bandello (1485-1562), Il Canzoniere (lyric poetry). Births: French Valois king #11 (1559-60) (hemophiliac?) Francis (Francois) II (d. 1560) on Jan. 19 in Fontainebleau; son of Henri II (1519-59) and Catherine de' Medici (1519-89); husband (1558-60) of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1542-87). Italian "Jerusalem Delivered" poet Torquato Tasso (d. 1595) on Mar. 11 in Sorrento. English electromagnetism scientist (court physician to Elizabeth I and James I) William Gilbert (d. 1603) on May 24 in Colchester; educated at St. John's College, Cambridge U.; first proponent of the Copernican theory in England. German duchess and Dutch princess of Orange (1561-) Anna of Saxony (d. 1577); eldest child of elector Moritz of Saxony and Agnes of Hesse; wife (1561-) of William I the Silent of Orange (1533-84); starts out ugly and hunchbacked, lucks out by inheriting the duchy and marrying a prince, then messes it up by going mad. French Pont Neuf architect Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau (b. 1590); son of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (1515-84); brother of Jacques II Androuet du Cerceau (-1614). French "Creation du monde" Huguenot divine poet-courtier (Gason Huguenot) Guillaume de Salluste, Sieur Du Bartas (d. 1590) in Monfort. English archbishop of Canterbury (1604-10) Richard Bancroft (d. 1610) in Farnsworth, Lancashire; educated at Christ's College and Jesus College, Cambridge U. Italian "The Reason of State" political philosopher-diplomat-priest Giovanni Botero (d. 1617) in Bene Vagienna. Deaths: Portuguese explorer Diego Garcia de Moguer (b. 1484). French duke of Lorraine (1508-44) Antoine the Good (b. 1489) on June 14. Italian poet Teofilo Folengo (b. 1491) on Dec. 9 in Santa Croce de Campesio (near Bassano). German composer and Protestant cleric Benedictus Ducis (b. 1492). French poet Clement Marot (b. 1496) on Sept. 12 in Turin (exile). Spanish conquistador Hernan Perez de Quesada (b. 1500) in the Caribbean Sea. German physician-botanist Valerius Cordus (b. 1515) on Sept. 25 in Rome, Italy. French prince of Orange (1530-44) Rene of Chalon (b. 1519) on July 15 in Saint-Dizier.
1545 An epidemic begins in Mexico (ends 1550), wiping out 80% of the 15M pop. in five years; salmonella enterica bacterium of the Paratyphi C variety? Francis I vows to invade England to force it to give up its lands in France, and authorizes the first official persecution of the Protestant Huguenots, ordering the Provence Parliament's Arret de Merindol of Nov. 18, 1541 executed in the Massacre of Merindol (Massacre of Mérindol) in Apr. to punish the pesky Waldensians for their religion, with Provencal and Papal soldiers killing hundreds (thousands?). On July 19 Henry VIII travels to Portsmouth and watches from shore as his fleet fights a French fleet of 230 ships; too bad, Henry's favorite ship, the carrack-style Mary Rose (launched July 1511) is sunk in the Solent Straits N of the Isle of Wright, along with vice-adm. Sir George Carew (b. 1504); it is rediscovered in 1971 in the Solent Channel near Portsmouth, and salvaged on Oct. 11, 1982 using airbags, then put in a museum; it sunk because the numerous gun ports were too low and took on water when it tried to turn; the lessons learned cause English ships to be equipped with massive cannonpower, giving them the advantage against the 1588 battle against the Spanish Armada? In Aug. the Treaty (Peace) of Adrianople is agreed to by HRE Charles V, Ferdinand I of Austria, and Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, recognizing total Ottoman control of Hungary, plus a yearly tribute of 30K gold florins for their Hapsburg possessions in N and W Hungary; signed in 1547. On Dec. 13 the Council of Trent (19th Ecumenical Council), called by Pope Pius III convenes in Trent in N Italy (until Dec. 4, 1563) to discuss the pesky Reformation started by almost-gone Martin Luther (d. 1546), launching the bloody Counter-Reformation (ends 1648), with Monktown Munich as one of the main bases; three papal legates are sent by Pope Paul III to preside, incl. Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500-58) of England, who is considered next in line for the papacy although he is a secret member of the Spirituali; one good thing, it authorizes Pope Paul III to take up the 1475 work of Pope Sixtus IV and reform the pokey Julian Calendar, and it only takes 37 more years to figure out and implement (1582) - these changes in attitude, changes in attitude, nothing remains the same? On Dec. 24 Henry VIII, who had been seeking to return the English church to a doctrinally Roman Catholic position gives his last speech to Parliament, in which he says that Papist, Anabaptist, and Lutheran are names devised by the Devil to sunder one man's heart from another; meanwhile outspoken Protestant Anne Askew (1521-46) becomes the target of govt. persecution. The Ottomans return, conquer Massawa and occupy the rest of Ethiopia. Moroccan Wattassid sultan (1526-49) Ahmad el Outassi (Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad) (-1549) is taken POW by the Sharifian Saadians, and Ali Abu Hassun, regent for Ahmad's young son Nasir al-Qasiri pleges allegiance to the Ottomans to obtain their support. Pope Paul III detaches Parma and Piacenza in N Italy (Emilia-Romagna) from the papal states and gives them as a duchy to his illegitimate son (pederast?) Pier-Luigi Farnese (1503-47), whose family rules until 1731, although the duchy lasts until 1860 - and to toss it off, opera conductor Arturo Toscanini is born there in 1867? Pissed-off Mogul emperor Humayun conquers Kabul in Afghanistan. Portuguese naval cmdr. Joao de Castro (1500-48) overthrows Mahmud Shah III, king of Gujarat (Gujerat) in WC India (SW side of the upper lobe, below Punjab and Sind), then relieves the town of Diu and defeats the army of Adil Khan. Nostradamus begins practicing medicine in Marseille. Pope Paul III (who can stop him?), wanting nepotism ("nephew-ism") to get more fame creates 15-y.-o. Ranuccio Farnese (1530-65), son of his illegitimate son Pier-Luigi Farnese as cardinal, causing him to get the nickname cardinalino ("small cardinal)"; not that he turns out that bad, since he backs Italian humanist Federico Commandino (1509-75) in his translation of ancient Greek mathematical works. Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent appoints Sunni Hanafi legal scholar Mehmed Ebussuud Efendi (1490-1574) as grand mufti (until 1574), who goes on to reorganize the Ottoman legal system to put it more under Sharia, but with the sultan's orders given higher standing; he issues several fatwas, incl. ones permitting consumption of coffee and allowing the performance of Karagoz (Karagöz) (Turk. "black eye") AKA Hacivat (Turk. "Haci Ivaz" = Ivaz the Pilgrim) (shadow) plays, featuring educated refined Turk Hacivat and vulgar illiterate Greek peasant Karagoz, who always gets the better of him with his "native wit". 40-y.-o. U. of Glasgow grad John Knox (1505-72) comes under the influence of religious reformer George Wishart, who is preaching the Lutheran Reformation in Scotland, and becomes a Protestant minister preaching in the castle and parish church of St. Andrews. Pope Paul III invites superstar Titian to visit Rome and gives him a royal welcome, and he begins changing to a free impressionistic style, giving up the red and green predominance in favor of deep yellow and blue. Architecture: Ulm Minster (begun 1377) in Germany is finished, with the highest steeple in the world (161.53m), and a 141m-high viewing platform with 768 steps. Inventions: Claude Garamond (1480-1561) of Paris designs an antique typography. Nonfiction: Roger Ascham (1515-68), Toxophilus or the Schole or Partitions of Shooting; a scholarly defense of archery dedicated to Henry VIII, who grants him a £10 pension. Girolamo Cardano (1501-76), Artis Magnae (The Great Art); treatise on mathematics, containing the solution to the cubic and quintic equations, explaining negative numbers; he had been told the solution to the cubic equation by Niccola Tartaglia in 1535, and had promised not to tell, causing a lifelong war - the origin of "publish or perish" in academia? Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71), Autobiography. Charles Estienne, Anatomy; the first illustrations of venous, arterial, nervous and other physiological systems; describes the valves in the veins, but doesn't explain their function. Jean Fernel (1497-1558), De Vacuandi Ratione. Thomas Geminus (Lambrit) (1510-62), Compendiosa Totius Anatomie Delineatio, Aere Exarata (A Complete Delineation of the Entire Anatomy, Engraved on Copper); shows how cheaper is better, replacing hand-painted illuminations and woodcuts, hastening the spread of know know knowledge. Konrad von Gesner, Biblioteca Universalis (1545-9). Ambroise Pare (1510-90), On Surgery; suggests that wounds be treated with soothing ointments rather than boiling oil. Art: Il Bronzino (1503-72), Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time; given by Cosimo de' Medici to Francis I of France - a conspiracy theorist favorite? Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71), Perseus and Medusa (sculpture) (1545-54) - his magnum opus? Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Apollo Sleeping. Lambert Sustris (1515-84), Perseus and Andromeda. Titian (1477-1576), Portrait of Daughter Lavinia; Portrait of Pietro Aretino; Portrait of Doge Andrea Gritti. Daniele da Voltera (1509-66), Descent from the Cross. Fiction: John Heywood, The Four P's. Births: Italian philosopher-astronomer-mathematician Guidobaldo del Monte, Marquis del Monte (d. 1607) on Jan. 11 in Pesaro; student of Federico Commandino (1509-75); friend of Torquato Tasso and Galileo Galilei: educated at the U. of Padua. English diplomat-scholar Sir Thomas Bodley (d. 1613) on Mar. 2 in Exeter; founder of the Bodleian Library at Oxford U. (1602). Korean #1 adm. Ri Sun Shin (Yi Sun-sin) (d. 1598) on Apr. 28 in Hanyang; friend of Yu Seong-ryong (1542-1607); wins all 22 of his naval battles. English Roman Catholic Jesuit leader Father Robert Persons (Parsons) (d. 1610) on June 24 in Nether Stowey, Somerset; educated at St. Mary's Hall, Oxford U. Spanish prince Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias (d. 1568) on July 8 in Valladolid; eldest son of Philip II and Maria Manuela of Porgugal (daughter of John III); his mental instability causes his father to imprison him in 1568, becoming part of the Black Legend. Scottish theologian-reformer Andrew Melville (d. 1622) on Aug. 1 in Baldovy (near Montrose), Angus; educated at the U. of St. Andrews. Italian duke of Parma and Piacenza #3 (1586-92) Alessandro Farnese (d. 1592) on Aug. 27; gov. of Spanish Netherlands (1578-92); son of Ottavio Farnese (1521-86) and Margaret (illegitimate daughter of HRE Charles V); nephew of Philip II of Spain and Don John of Austria. English king dad Henry Stuart (Stewart), Duke of Albany, Lord Darnley (d. 1567) on Dec. 7 in Temple Newsam, Leeds, Yorkshire; son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (1516-71) and Margaret Douglas; 1st cousin and 2nd husband of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, by whom he fathers Scottish/English king James VI/I (1566-1625); brother of Charles Stewart, 6th earl of Lennox (-1576). French "Les Juives" playwright Robert Ganier (d. 1590). English herbalist John Gerard (d. 1612) in Nantwich; namesake of the genus Gerardia of figwort plants with showy pink or yellow flowers. French mercantilist economist Barthelemy (Barthélemy) de Laffemas (d. 1612) in Beausemblant (Drome). Spanish novelist-poet Gines Perez de Hita (d. 1619) in Mula (Murcia). Deaths: Spanish historian Antonio de Guevara (b. 1481) on Apr. 3. English soldier Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (b. 1484) on Aug. 22 in Guildford. German painter Hans Baldung Grien (b. 1484) in Strasbourg. German Protestant leader George Spalatin (b. 1484) on Jan. 16 in Altenburg. Italian composer Constanzo Festa (b. 1485) on Apr. 10 in Rome; his Te Deum Indian Suri emperor #1 (1538-45) Sher Shah Suri (b. 1486) on May 22 in Kalinjar. is pub. in 1596 and sung in the Vatican on the election of a new pope - te deum or tedium? English composer-organist John Taverner (b. 1490) on Oct. 18 in Boston. German Bavarian duke Louis X (b. 1495) on Apr. 22 in Landshut. English adm. Sir George Carew (b. 1504) on July 19; sunk in the Mary Rose off the Isle of Wight. French noble Charles d'Angouleme, duke of Orleans (b. 1522) on Sept. 9.
1546 On Jan. 18 the Battle of Anaquito (Añaquito) near Quito sees 700 Spanish conquistador rebels in Peru led by Gonzalo Pizarro defeat 200-300 soldiers loyal to Spanish viceroy of Peru #1 (since May 15, 1544) Blasco Nunez de Vela (b. 1490) at Anaquito, kill him, then parade his head around on a pike, and declare their man Gonzalo Pizarro as gov., causing the Spanish govt., fearing loss of the colony to back down and water down their New Laws protecting indios and restore the encomiendas. On Feb. 18 Martin Luther (b. 1483) dies in his birthplace of Eisleben; Pomeranian Protestant leader Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558), whom Luther calls "Doktor Pomeranus" takes care of his widow and children. On Mar. 1 Scottish Calvinist George Wishart (b. 1513) is burned at the stake for heresy in front of St. Andrews; on May 29 St. Andrews is attacked by Wishart's supporters, and Cardinal David Beaton (b. 1494) is killed in revenge. On May 1 after Provence suffers a bad flood which whips up the plague, the city of Aix sends for Nostradamus in Marseille to doctor them, and he achieves spectacular success. Break out those Spanish-English lexicons? On July 16 Protestant martyr Anne Askew (b. 1521), after becoming the first woman tortured (racked) in the Tower is burned at the stake in the last days of Henry VIII at Smithfield. On Sept. 8 Juan de Tolosa discovers silver in El Cerro de la Bufa, founding the town of Zacatecas in La Gran Chichimeca in C Mexico (#2 Spanish silver mine in the New World after Potosi in Bolivia), causing Spanish settlers to flock in from the S and set up mines, with the Spanish crown claiming the quinto (one-fifth of all production); too bad, the proud Chichimecas don't take a shine to them moving in, and aren't pushovers like the Aztecs, beginning the Chichimeca War (ends 1590), the first Spanish frontier war, which proves that Indians can be tough, and takes to the end of the cent. to end - if I were English I'd become a pirate? The Schmalkaldic War (civil war) (ends 1547) begins in Germany between HRE Charles V and the Schmalkaldic League, headed by elector Frederick III the Pious, Johann Frederick the Magnanimous, and Philip of Hesse over the territories of Ernestine Saxony, and Albertine Saxony, which although Lutheran sides with Charles V, who rewards them by forcing the Ernestines to sign their rights to the electorship to them. The Turks occupy Moldavia. After reverses at Saint-Etienne, Henry Howard, earl of Surrey is recalled to England, and in the absence of his old friend the duke of Richmond, along with the loss of influence at court by his daddy Thomas Howard, 3rd duke of Norfolk after the behading of Catherine Howard, his enemies at court frame them both on treasonable ambition charges and get them arrested. Joao de Castro subjugates Malacca for the Portuguese, then next year is made viceroy of the Portuguese Indies. Injong II dies, and Myonjong (d. 1567) becomes Yi king of Korea. The Songhai people destroy the Mali empire in W Africa. The English Navy Board is founded. Roger Ascham becomes language tutor to princess (later queen) Elizabeth (until 1548). Gabriel de Luetz, Baron et Seigneur d'Aramon et de Vallabregues (-1553) is sent by French king Francis I to Constantinople as French ambassador, and is later re-sent by Henry II accompanied by a vast array of scientists incl. Jean de Monluc, Pierre Belon, Pierre Gilles d'Albi, Andrew Thevet, Guillaume Postel, and Nicolas de Nicolay, who later return to France with valuable Ottoman scientific knowledge. Roman bishops at the Council of Trent decide that the Church "venerates equally" the Bible and written and unwritten traditions, thus beginning the Tridentine Church, the modern Roman Catholic Church; the Apocrypha are decreed to be of "equal veneration" with the other books of the Bible, and an anathema is pronounced against all who do not receive them as sacred and canonical; failing to agree whether vernacular translations of the Bible are "the mother and origin of all heresies" or that prohibition would give Protestants ammunition in claiming that the Church is attempting to hide "fraud and deceit", the Latin Vulgate trans. is sanctioned as the standard text for the Church, stifling vernacular translations by default - if it makes you happy then why the hell are you so sad? Spain's "New Laws" (1542) barring enslavement of Indians are repealed at the insistence of New World colonists; meanwhile the brutality of the German Welsers in Venezuela, combined with protests in Spain against granting land to "foreigners" causes the crown to revoke their concession and send Spanish troops to conquer Venezuela (finished 1556), which an Indian confederation resists for 10 years until smallpox softens them up for the kill. Pedro de Valdivia penetrates into S Chile, fighting the hostile Mapuches. After Mayan slaves, led by native priests revolt against their encomiendas in E Yucatan, the Spanish and their Catholic traitor Mayan allies finish conquering Yucatan, founding Valladolid (in modern-day Morelia) and Salamanca de Bacalar, and enslaving Mayans and distributing them to encomiendas, where they are treated like, er, shit, while Yucatan's first Roman Catholic bishop, Franciscan monk Diego de Landa Calderon (Calderón) (1524-79) burns all of the Mayan books he can find, uttering the soundbyte: "They contain nothing but the lies of the Devil", finally being recalled to Spain for overzealousness; only the area of Peten (Petén) in modern-day N Guatemala and Campeche, SE Mexico remains unconquered (until 1700). Pedro de Alvarado arrives with 500 men to seize land from Sebastian de Belalcazar, claiming that it had not been part of the grant made to Pizarro, but Pizarro's men cause him to abandon his claims and turn back in exchange for a large indemnity; too bad, Belalcazar orders the execution of neighboring province gov. Jorge Robledo, and gets convicted and condemned to death in absentia in Spain for murder in 1550, then dies in 1551 on his voyage to Spain to appeal the verdict. The fortune of the Fuggers of Augsburg is valued at 4M guldens (golden florins) (guilders). Henry VIII founds Trinity College at Cambridge U., which goes onto become the largest Oxbridge college; grads later incl. Isaac Newton, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Adam Sedgwick, Lord Byron, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Bertand Russell, James Clerk Maxwell, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, and Ludwig Wittgenstein; in 1599-1608 a fountain is built in the Great Court. Cardinal College at Oxford U. (founded 1525) is refounded as Christ Church, becoming one of the two most aristocratic colleges in Oxbridge along with Trinity College, Cambridge U.; its college chapel is Christ Church Cathedral; it goes on to produce a record 13 British PMs. Corpus Christi College is founded at Oxford U. Michelangelo is appointed by Pope Paul III as unsalaried supervising architect of St. Peter's Basilica,, which was left unfinished by Pope Julius II; he designs the dome and undertakes to complete the whole thing, producing his first model in 1547. French architect Pierre Lescot (1510-78) begins the construction of the SW wing of the Louvre Palace on the right bank of the Seine River in Paris on the site of a 13th cent. (Philip II) castle, introducing the 4-sided gambrel-style Mansard (French) (Curb) Roof, which is later popularized by French architect François Mansart (1598-1666); it eventually forms a square of 576 ft. by 538 ft. between the Tuileries Gardens and the Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois; in 1793 part of is turned into a public museum. Science: Flemish cartographer Gerardus (Gerhardus) Mercator (1512-94) (Lat. "merchant") states that the Earth has a magnetic pole. Nonfiction: Anon., Yny Lhyvyr Mwnn; the first Welsh book. The original polymath with feet in two worlds? Leo Africanus (Al-Hasan al-Wazzan) (Yuhanna al-Asa), AKA John/Johannes/Giovanni and/or Leo/Leone the Lion (1488-1554), History and Description (Cosmography and Geography) of Africa; Granada-born Fez-raised traveler-diplomat meets Sultan Selim, is seized by Christian pirates in the Mediterranean, held as a prisoner in Rome with access to the papal library, meets with Pope Leo X, is baptized a Christian to get freed, and is given the surname "de Medici" by the pope, becoming a big dude in Rome, writing five books and meeting with Francois Rabelais before returning to Tunis and reverting to Islam; he describes Timbuktu as a city of gold where the emperor eats off half-ton golden platters, causing Euro explorers to become obsessed with finding it, although it had been lost after the Niger River was swallowed up by the Sahara Desert? Georgius Agricola (1494-1555), De Natura Fossilium; first attempt to categorize rocks, minerals, and sediments since Pliny's "Natural History; in their 1912 English tr., Herbert and Lou Hoover wrongly claim that he coined and first used the term "petroleum" (Lat. "rock oil") here. Etienne de la Boetie, Le Discours de la Servitude Volontaire. Valerius Cordus, Pharmacopoeia; first ever by a Euro? Girolamo Fracastoro (1478-1553), On Contagion (De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis et Eorum Curatione) (3 vols.); the first discussion of contagious infections, suggesting that diseases like syphilis, rabies, and phthisis are like seeds, which he calls (Fomes (Lat. "tinder") that can be transferred from person to person as they "propagate their like" through air, water, etc. via direct contact, indirect contact, or at a distance; "By fomes I mean clothes, wooden objects, and things of that sort, which though not themselves corrupted can, nevertheless, preserve the original germs of the contagion and infect by means of these"; he becomes the first to recognize the disease typhus. John Heywood (1497-1580), The Proverbs of John Heywood; incl. the line "The Moon is made of a greene cheese". Art: Il Bronzino (1503-72), Eleanor of Toledo; wears the cursed Medici pearls; her tomb is opened in 1982, and she is found to be buried in the same dress, sans the pearls? Giulio Clovio 1498-1578, The Farnese Hours; illuminated ms. containing 28 miniatures of Old and New Testament scenes, created for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese; his masterpiece; incl. The Corpus Christi Procession in Rome, Adam and Eve. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Portrait of Martin Luther. Michelangelo (1475-1564), The Crucifixion of St. Peter (1546-60); fresco in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican. Titian (1477-1576), Pope Paul III and His Nephews; shows him as sharp and hawk-eyed. Novels: Francois Rabelais (1494-1553), Pantagruel, Pt. 3. Plays: Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), Orazia. Hans Sachs (1494-1576), Lisabetha. Poetry: Luigi Alamanni (1495-1556), La Coltivazione; long Vergil-style Georgics clone. Births: Ottoman sultan #12 (1574-95) Murad (Murat) III (d. 1595) on July 4 in Manisa; eldest son of Selim II the Sot (1566-74) and Nur-Banu (Cecilia Venier Baffo) (1525-83); father of Mehmed III (1566-1603). Danish astronomer Tyge Ottesen "Tycho" Brahe (d. 1601) (pr. TOO-koh BRA-huh) on Dec. 14 in Knudstrup Castle, Skane, S Sweden; collaborator of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). English astronomer Thomas Digges (d. 1595) in Wotton, Kent; son of Leonard Digges (1520-59). Dutch Mannerist sculptor Adriaen de Vries (d. 1626) in The Hague. Deaths: Italian painter Gaudenzio Ferrari (b. 1471) on Jan. 11. Turkish #1 adm. Barbarossa II Hayreddin Pasha (b. 1478) on July 4 in Istanbul; his mausoleum in Barbarossa Park features the immortal lines by poet Yahyah Kemal Beyatli: "Whence on the sea's horizon comes that roar?/ Can it be Barbarossa now returning/ From Tunis or Algiers or from the Isles?/ Two hundred vessels ride upon the waves,/ Coming from lands the rising Crescent lights;/ O blessed ships, from what seas are ye come?"; Turkish seamen begin saluting his mausoleum with a cannon shot before leaving for naval ops. German Protestant Reformation firestarter Martin Luther (b. 1483) on Feb. 18 in Eisleben, Saxony: "Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!" Italian architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (b. 1484) on Aug. 3. German Lutheran theologian Friedrich Myconius (b. 1490) on Apr. 7. Spanish viceroy of Peru #1 (1544-6) Blasco Nunez de Vela (b. 1490) on Jan. 18 in Anaquito (KIA). Italian painter-architect Giulio Romano (b. 1492). Scottish cardinal David Beaton (b. 1494) on May 29 in St. Andrews Castle, (murdered). English writer Sir Thomas Elyot (b. 1499). English Protestant martyr Anne Askew (b. 1521) on July 16 in London (burned at the stake).
1547 Moscow is destroyed by fire. On Jan. 2 the unsuccessful conspiracy of Gianluigi (Giovanni Luigi) Fiesco (Fieschi) (1522-47) against easy-to-hate 80-y.-o. (but still strong) imperial adm. Andrea Doria rocks Genoa. On Jan. 16 17-y.-o. Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible (1530-84) is crowned the first official "tsar (czar) [Caesar] of all the Russias" (until Mar. 28, 1584), going on to centralize, reform, and expand the Russian state until he goes off the deep end in 1560. The Seymours see more ups and downs than a roller coaster, but how 'bout them Howards? On Jan. 28 bloated bloody tyrant (since Apr. 22, 1509) Henry VIII (b. 1491) of England (who saw it all, Columbus, Copernicus, Luther, etc.) dies in London (of syphilis?), with archbishop Thomas Cranmer at his side, after 72K are executed during his reign, incl. by burning at the stake, boiling alive, hanging and decapitation, leaving some memorable poetry (although no legitimate grandchildren, not that he didn't try?), and is succeeded by his sickly 9-y.-o. son (by Jane Seymour) (was it aged spermatozoa?) Edward VI (1537-53) (Britain's 41st monarch) (until July 6, 1553), with his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1506-52) appointed lord protector of the realm (until 1549) by the royal council and created 1st duke of Somerset on Feb. 15; Henry's will names Thomas Cranmer as one of the regents; Catherine Parr survives him by less than two years, and Anne of Cleves by 10; "King Henry VII, to six wives he was wedded, one died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded" (CAJACC); Henry Howard, 1st earl of Surrey is executed for treason, and his father Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk signs a confession of complicity and is scheduled for execution in Norfolk, but his neck is saved by the death of the king, causing him to be imprisoned in the Tower of London; Sir Richard Rich (1496-1560) becomes executor of Henry VIII's will, and next Feb. 26 is created baron Rich of Leez, then in Mar. becomes lord chancellor; Greek geek Sir John Cheke (Cheek) (1514-57) becomes Edward's tutor, although after his daddy's personal example nobody can stop him from believing that the king has a divine right to rule and to control the nat. church, writing at age 12 (1549) that the pope is the "true son of the devil, a bad man, and the Antichrist", and seeking to establish Protestantism. In Feb. Strasbourg surrenders to the troops of HRE Charles V, after which Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck obtains favorable terms. It's no time for a moondance, my love? On Mar. 31 king (since 1515) Francis I (b. 1494) dies of syphilis, and his son the duke of Orleans is crowned Henri (Henry) II (1519-59), Roman Catholic Valois king #10 of France (until 1559); Catherine de' Medici (1519-89) becomes queen consort (until 1559), going on to have three weak sons that she dominates - yah, it's good to be in control? On Apr. 10 the Spanish govt. appoints bishop Pedro de la Gasca (1485-1567) as its 2nd viceroy of Peru (until Jan. 27, 1550), with unlimited powers to kick rebel conquistador butt, but when he arrives he first tries to win them over with a conciliatory policy. On Apr. 22 the Battle of Bungo in Japan sees the Mori clan eliminate the bungling Shimazu clan as a rival for the shogunate. On Apr. 24 after Protestant elector John Frederick I the Magnanimous (1503-54) of Saxony marches his army S to fight the pesky Roman Catholics, and is invaded by his Catholic cousin Duke Maurice I (1521-53) (Catholic father and Protestant mother), then returns quickly to repel him, HRE Charles V's armies, commanded by up-and-coming Spanish noble gen. Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva (Alba) (1508-82) rush N, surprise and brilliantly defeat him at the Battle of Muhlberg (Mühlberg), taking Magnum P.I. POW, becoming the final battle in Charles V's campaign to rid the HRE of pesky Lutheranism, ending the Schmalkaldic War (begun 1546); he then sieges Magnanimous' pretty and fecund wife Sybille of Cleves (1512-54) and her three sons in the town where it all started Wittenberg, forcing him to protect them (it?) (himself?) by signing the Capitulation of Wittenberg, resigning the town and his electorship as head of the Ernestine line of the house of Wettin to Maurice, head of the rival Albertine line (which lost it in 1485); after his death sentence is reduced to life in priz, Magnanimous earns his nickname by refusing to give up the Protestant faith or acknowledge the Augsburg Interim for a quick release, uttering the soundbyte that it would be "a sin against the Holy Ghost, because in many articles it was against the Word of God"; meanwhile the Albertine court in Dresden replaces Wittenberg as the capital of Saxony, causing it to decline; the big D causes many Lutheran princes and key reformers incl. Martin Bucer to flee to England, where they influence the English Reformation - the Saxons always did like to do things strong or not at all? In Apr. brand-new Protestant John Knox (1513-72) has his first public debate with papists in St. Andrews; on July 30 St. Andrews is retaken by a French fleet, and Knox spends 19 mo. in French galleys (until 1549). On Sept. 10 Pier-Luigi Farnese (b. 1503) is murdered in Piacenza by Parmesan nobles, causing imperial troops to be sent to occupy Piacenza, and his 2nd son Ottavio Farnese (1521-86) to not succeed as duke #2 of Parma and Piacenza until 1556 because his grandpa Pope Paul III claims them for himself, giving him boring old Camerino instead, which pisses him off, causing him to go to Ferrante Gonzaga for aid, hastening the pope's death in 1549. On Sept. 10 ("Black Saturday") Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1500-52) continues with the "rough wooing" by leading 17K English troops (incl. German and Spanish mercenaries) on 30 warships into Scotland and winning the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh near Musselburgh (double entendre?), becoming the first modern battle fought in the British Isles and the last to be fought between the Scottish and the English royal armies (also first time the English use naval artillery in a land battle in Britain), killing 5K of 23K-36K Scottish troops and taking 1.5K POWs, vs. only 500 English KIA; the day before stupid Scot leader the Earl of Home took his 1.5K horsemen into battle at Fawside (Fa'side) (Faside) Castle, losing most of his cavalry, after which it is burned down, killing all inside; Edward Seymour's men then lay waste to SE Scotland, causing crowds of fugitives to flee to Dalkeith, while being cut down by the stankin' English on the way, making Edward a bigger man than ever; Mary Stewart is secretly moved to remote Inchmahome Priory; a large timber-earthwork fort is built on the site of ruined Roxburgh Castle on the Scottish border; meanwhile Edward's brother lord high adm. Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (1508-49) wastes no time movin' on up, marrying dowager queen Catherine Parr; the French offer to help too late, causing grumbling, and then Francis, 2nd duke of Guise, Mary Stuart's uncle, who dominates the king makes him demand her marriage to the infant dauphin Francis as a condition; meanwhile Thomas Seymour romps in the garden with their guest (Catherine's stepdaughter) princess (future queen) Elizabeth, cutting her gown into 100 pieces in the garden while Parr holds her, and later visiting her bedroom. Edward VI repeals De Heretico Comburendo, the 1401 act of Parliament providing for the burning of heretics; too bad, his successor Bloody Mary I restores it. The crown of Bohemia is proclaimed hereditary in the house of Hapsburg. A poor rate is levied in London; Bedlam Hospital is acquired by the City of London, operating until 1948. New Spain viceroy Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza convenes an ecclesiastical conference attended by Bartolome de las Casas, and passes regulations requiring Indian slave laborers to be paid, fixing the max number of hours they can work, and protecting Indians lands from exploitation - Curb Cereal's new crunch is different? After Francis I dies, a reaction against free thought begins in France, causing Francois Rabelais to flee to Metz then Rome, but Cardinal de Lorraine works his return, and gets him the living of Meudon, where he spends the rest of his life; French supersedes Latin as the official language of French authorities; meanwhile PC-challenged Nostradamus moves to Salon, likes it and decides to live there for the rest of his life, but first he is called to Lyons to cure another pestilence (whooping cough?), returning by Nov., and marrying rich widow Anne Ponsart Gemelle, then settling down on the Place de la Poisonniere, where he goes into regular trances, and in 1554 begins writing his Centuries (1st ed. 1555), consisting of 100 prophetic quatrains in several languages (French, Provencal, Italian, Greek, Latin) in each of 10 vols. (vol. 7 is never completed, and vols. 11-12 are planned but left unfinished at his death); Beaune mayor Jean Aymes de Chavigny quits his job to study under Nostradamus (1503-66), later editing the first complete ed. of the Centuries. In 1547-9 after being hired to redesign the future Lescot wing of the Palais du Louvre, the French Renaissance (recycled Italian Modernism) Fontaine des Innocents (Nymphes) is built in Paris by architect Pierre Lescot (1515-78) and sculptor Jean Goujon (1510-68) to celebrate the royal entry of Henry II, becoming the earliest monumental fountain in Paris; they go on to collaborate on the Louvre and the Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois in Paris (until 1562). The first written mention of the Guinea pig in Santo Domingo, Hispaniola. A free-roaming sow and her six piglets are tried for eating a child, and the sow is executed, but her piglets are spared because of their youth and the bad example of their mother? Architecture: Palais Granvelle in Besancon, France (begun 1534) is finished. Nonfiction: Thomas Cranmer et al., Homilies. De Mysteriis Egyptorum (Lyons); later used by Nostradamus (1503-66), who quotes from it in his prophecies, which begin this year. William Baldwin (1515-63), A Treatise of Morall Phylosophie. Louis Bourgeois (1510-65), Psalter. Henricus Glareanus (1488-1563), Dodekachordon (Basel); on the 12 church modes; source of duos. Christopher Langton, A Very Brefe Treatise, Ordrely Declaring the Principal Partes of Phisick (London); contains a sonnet by William Baldwin, becoming the first pub. English sonnet? William Salesbury (1520-1600), Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe. Poetry: Giangiorgio Trissino, L'Italia Liberata dai Goti (epic poem). Births: Spanish gen. (hero of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto) Don John (Juan) of Austria (d. 1578) on Feb. 24 in Regensburg, Bavaria; illegitimate son of HRE Charles V by Barbara Blomberg (1527-97); half-brother of HRE Philip II of Spain; taken to Valladolid, Spain at age 3 and brought up under the name Geronimo - which came first, the Spic or the Apache? German scholastic philosopher (coiner of the term "psychology") Rudolph (Rudolf) Goclenius (Gockel) (Göckel) the Elder (d. 1628) on Mar. 1 in Korbach, Waldeck (Waldeck-Frankenburg, Hesse). German landgrave George I of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1596) on Sept. 10 in Cassel. Spanish "Don Quixote" novelist ("the Cripple of Lepanto") Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (d. 1616) on Sept. 29 in Alcala de Henares. German writer Johann Fischart (d. 1590). Dutch navigator-explorer Willem Barents (Barentsz) (d. 1597) in Terschelling, West Frisian Islands. Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Younger (d. 1597). Spanish novelist Mateo Aleman (d. 1615) in Seville. English Anglican bishop of Winchester (1597-) Thomas Bilson (d. 1616) in Winchester. American Pawmunkey (Chesapeake Bay area) Indian chief Powhatan (Wahunsonacock) (d. 1618); father of Pocahontas (1595-1617); brother of Opechancanough (-1644); "Such a grave and Majesticall countenance, as drave me into admiration to see such a state in a naked Salvage" (Capt. John Smith). English portraitist (miniaturist) Nicholas Hilliard (d. 1619). Polish gen. Stanislaw Zolkiewski (d. 1620) in Turynka (near Lwow). Deaths: Italian bembist poet-cardinal Pietro Bembo (b. 1470) on Jan. 18 in Rome. Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes (b. 1485); conquered 315K sq. mi. from the Aztecs in C and S Mexico, as well as Guatemala and Honduras. Italian painter Sebastiano del Piombo (b. 1485). Italian poet Vittoria Colonna (b. 1490) on Feb. 25. English king (1509-47) Henry VIII (b. 1491) on Jan. 28 in Whitehall Palace, London (diabetes?) (syphilis?); he suffered from McLeod Syndrome and/or Kell Antigens in his blood? French king (1515-47) Francis I (b. 1494) on Mar. 31 in Chateau de Rambouillet (syphilis). English historian Edward Halle (b. 1497). Italian duke #1 of Parma (1545-7) Pier Luigi Farnese (b. 1503) on Sept. 10 in Piacenza; stabbed to death by Count Francesco Anguissola et al. and hung from a window of his palace. English poet-soldier Henry Howard, earl of Surrey (b. 1517) (beheaded for high treason); his trans. of two books of Vergil's "Aeneid" gives the English language blank verse and the sonnet (three quatrains and a couplet).
1548 The number of Caribbean (from the word cannibal) aborigines has fallen from 1M in 1492 to less than 1K (about 500); African slaves are now brought in to work the mines and fields. On Apr. 1 Sigismund (Zygmunt) I Stary (b. 1467) dies, and his only son Sigismund II Augustus (1520-72) becomes king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania (until July 7, 1572), the last of the Jagiellonian Dynasty (founded 1386), facing the spread of the Protestant Reformation. On Apr. 9 after Pedro de Valdivia returns from Chile to Peru to support viceroy Pedro de la Gasca, Francisco Pizarro's son Gonzalo Pizarro is defeated at the Battle of Xaquixaguana (Jaquijahuana), then executed; even though La Gasca redistributes some encomiendas, some conquistadors remain discontented. Since I got in the loop I can see the future? On May 15 HRE Charles V decrees the Interim of Augsburg, an attempt to define a brand of Roman Catholicism acceptable to Lutherans without offending er, real Catholics too much, and the Augsburg Diet adopts it on June 30; Maurice of Saxony modifies it into the Interim of Leipzig. On Aug. 7 after Parliament accepts the terms of marriage between 5-y.-o. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and 1-mo.-younger dauphin Francis (Francois), she is sent to France by the west route for her safety with the "Four Marys" (Scottish noblewomen Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming, Mary Livingston, Mary Seton) (mother Mary of Guise remains in Scotland), and arrives in Roscoff, France on Aug. 13, living in France with the royal family for 13 years (until 1561), with governess Madame de Parois, and becoming friends with Francis' sister Princess Elisabeth; she soon forgets her native Scottish tongue and learns French, which she sticks with for life, is brought up as a good Catholic, and grows to 6 ft. tall; too bad, while Elisabeth is given a first class education incl. Machiavelli's "The Prince", Mary is regarded as just a dauphiness and not taught govt. admin. or politics, which messes her up later, although she becomes a good musician and poet - and never, never wears mens' clothes in public? On Sept. 5 Henry VIII's 6th and last wife Catherine Parr (b. 1512) dies six days after giving birth to her only child, Mary Seymour (1548-51) on Aug. 30; Thomas Seymour is beheaded next Mar. 20 for treason, after which Mary is disinherited and soon dies; in 1782 John Locust discovers Catherine's coffin in Sudeley Castle and opens it, finding the body in good condition and the flesh on an arm still white and moist?; when it is reopened in 1817 only a skeleton remains. On Oct. 20 the city of La Paz (La Ciudad de Nuestra Senora de La Paz) (The City of Our Lady of Peace) in W Bolivia (modern-day pop. 877K/2.3M) is founded by Spanish conquistadors on the site of an earlier settlement. The Turks occupy Tabriz, Persia. A revolt by the Zapotecs in the Oaxaca Valley in SE Mexico is suppressed, and Father Juan Lopen Zarate introduces sheep's wool to supplant their cotton weaving. A Spanish audiencia is established for El Nuevo Reino de Galicia (Nueva Galicia), with Guadalajara as the capital. The coastal town of Borburata in Venezuela is founded, becoming the scene of numerous pirate raids through the 17th cent. The town of Helsinki (Helsingfors) (originally Helsinge fors or Helsinge Rapids) in S Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland (modern-day pop. 642K/1.47M) is founded in Finland is founded in Forsby Village, and chartered by Gustav I of Sweden as a trading town to rival the Hanseatic city of Reval (Tallinn), which turns out to be a dud; in 1710 a plague almost wipes out the pop.; in 1809 after Russia annexes it as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland it begins a resurgence, becoming known as "the Daughter of the Baltic"; in 1812 Russian Tsar Alexander I moves the capital of Finland there to reduce Swedish influence and bring it closer to St. Petersburg. Rich merchant Thomas Gresham founds seven professorships in London; the U. of London is not founded until 1828. The U. of Messina is founded in Messina, Italy by St. Ignatius of Loyola, becoming the first Jesuit college. The U. of Jena is founded in Jena, Thuringia, Germany as an academy by the three sons of Elector John Frederick of Saxony, gainting a charter from HRE Ferdinand I on Feb. 2, 1558. Miles Coverdale returns to England, is appointed chaplain to Edward VI, then begins a career as a popular preacher. Dutch portraitist Sir Antonis Mor (1520-76) is discovered by Bishop Grenville, who presents him to HRE Charles V, after which he goes on to do portraits of all the Euro Catholics of the day, starting with Philip II next year. Titan is called to Augsburg to paint more portraits of HRE Charles V and other nobles. The guinea pepper plant is first grown in England. Architecture: The Hotel de Bourgogne in Paris is built by the Confrerie de la Passion to stage religious dramas, becoming the first roofed theater in Paris; too bad, in 1551 a royal edict forbids the performance of "mysteres" in Paris, but the Confrerie is granted a monopoly over the public performance of other types of drama, causing any troupe wishing to perform in the city to have to rent their hotel (until 1634). The Renaissance Chateau de Vallery in Yonne, Burgundy, designed by Pierre Lescot (1510-78) is built for Marechal Jacques d'Albon de Saint-Andre (Saint-André), court favorite of Henri II. Nonfiction: Anon., The Order of the Communion; first communion service in English. Michael Agricola (1510-57), Se Wsi Testamenti (Stockholm); the New Testament in Turku Finnish. John Bale (1495-1563), Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorum, hoc est, Angliae, Cambriae, ac Scotiae Summarium (Summary of the Famous Writers of Great Britain, that is, of England, Wales, and Scotland); 2nd ed. pub. in 1557-9; chronological catalog of British authors and their works. Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus Upon the New Testament (Jan.) (posth.); ed. by Nicholas Udall; pub. by Edward Whitchurch; Erasmus' trans. of the New Testament interleaved with an English trans.; vol. 2 pub. in 1549; a royal injunction orders copies to be kept in every parish church in England. Jean Fernel (1497-1558), De Abditis Rerum Causis. St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), Spiritual Exercises (written in 1522-4) (pub. after being papally sanctioned); becomes a Roman Catholic hit - takes several weeks but when you're through you're clear like Tom Cruise? Cavalier Cipriano Piccolpasso, Li Tre Dell' Arte Del Vasi (3 vols.); first Euro work on the art of pottery. Art: Tintoretto (1518-94), St. Mark Rescuing a Slave (Miracle of the Slave); his first masterpiece; uses foreshortening, and makes small wax models on a stage with spotlights, with the motto "The drawing of Michelangelo and the color of Titian". Titian (1477-1576), HRE Charles V on Horseback at the Battle of Muhlberg (Mühlberg). Poetry: Theodore Beza (1519-1605), Juvenialia; makes him a celeb.; incl. "De Sua in Candidam et Audebertum Benevolentia", saying that although he has kissed both Audebert and Candida, he loves Candida most, causing later allegations of pederasty by Catholics; after pub. the book he gets sick, converts to Protestantism and moves to Geneva on Oct. 23, 1548. Births: Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi (d. 1616) on Sept. 2 in Vicenza; teacher of Baldassarre Longhena (1598-1682). Italian superstar Neoplatonist philosopher Giordano Bruno (d. 1600) in Nola, Campania (kingdom of Naples); starts out as a priest in 1572, is caught defending Arianism and Erasmus in 1576, and takes a long hike. Spanish Roman school church composer Tomas Luis de Victoria (Tommaso Ludovica da Vittoria) (d. 1611) in Avila, Castile; lives in Madrid from 1589-1611. Spanish Jesuit anti-divine-right-of-kings scholastic philosopher Francisco Suarez (d. 1617); writes in Latin; argues that kings derive their authority from the people and not directly from God, and may thus be deposed - he wants to bite the hand that feeds him? Dutch mathematician-engineer Simon Stevin (Stevinus) (d. 1620) in Bruges? Spanish soldier Sebastian Vizcaino (Sebastián Vizcaíno) (d. 1624) in Extremadura, Castile. Italian painter Jacopo Negreti (Palma Giovane) (Palma the Younger) (d. 1628) (b. 1550?); grandnephew of Palma Vecchio (1480-1528); pupil of Titian (1477-1576), and heir to the Venetian School after he and Veronese die, presiding over its slide toward decadence. English soldier Sir William Stanley (d. 1630) in Hooton. English poet Isabella Whitney (d. ?); first English woman to pub. a book of poetry. Deaths: Polish king (1506-48) Sigismund I the Old (b. 1467) on Apr. 1 in Cracow. Spanish explorer Pascual de Andagoya (b. 1495) on July 18 in Cuzco. Italian scholar Agostino Steuco (b. 1497) in Venice; leaves De Perenni Philosophia, dedicated to Pope Paul III, coining the term "Perenni Philosophia" (Perennial Philosophy) for the single universal truth shared by all world religions. Portuguese naval officer Joao de Castro (b. 1500). German duke Philip the Contentious of Palatinate-Neuburg (b. 1503) on July 4 in Heidelberg. English queen Catherine Parr (b. 1512) on Sept. 5 in Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire. Mexican Roman Catholic saint Juan Diego on May 30.
1549 On Mar. 20 Jane Seymour's elder brother Thomas Seymour, 1st baron Seymour of Sudeley (b. 1508), lord high adm. of the British fleet is executed for treason for messing with princess Elizabeth then attempting a coup, breaking into Edward VI's apts. at Hampton Court Palace on the night of Jan. 16 armed with a sword, and being given away by a pet spaniel, which he kills; his brother Edward Seymour is imprisoned in the Tower, and replaced as lord protector by John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, Earl of Warwick, Duke of Northumberland (1502-53); the scandal almost takes Elizabeth down until they can't prove enough hanky-panky in court to execute a royal heir, giving her a quick education in power politics and helping her become a tough survivor who trusts nobody. In Mar. John Knox is released from the French galleys after 19 mo. at the intercession of Edward VI, and goes to England, where he is appointed to the reformed Church of England at Berwick; with his help, the first Book of Common Prayer is introduced by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) on the Day of Pentecost, along with the First Act of Uniformity (2nd 1552) (backed by Edward Seymour, passed by a close 10-8 vote of the bishops), banning all Latin-language Roman Catholic missals and liturgical books, and requiring the use of the Book of Common Prayer starting on May 20, emphasizing the peoples' participation in the Eucharist, and requiring the Bible to be read in English from cover to cover, sparking the Prayer Book Rebellion in Cornwall and Devon by 7K, causing 8.6K English troops incl. German and Italian mercenaries to be brought in by Edward VI, massacring 2K+; the Prayer Book prints special holy days in red ink, causing the term "red letter day" to become popular, although the Roman Catholic Church was already doing it (they call it rubrics) - you better not mess with Major Tom? In May a major night attack on English-held Boulogne by the French under Gaspard II de Coligny, Seigneur de Chatillon (1519-72) is repulsed, with 200 French KIA. On Aug. 15 after being barred from every port he visited since reaching Japan on July 27, Spanish Jesuit (St.) Francis Xavier (1506-52) lands on Kagoshima on Kyushu Island in W Japan to preach the Roman Catholic religion, where he is welcomed, founding the first Christian mission in Japan, causing other missionaries from Portugal and Spain to follow; at first he is successful because the feudal lords encourage conversion in hopes of attracting Portuguese trade, but by next year when the attached strings (Catholic intolerance) bump up against the Buddhist clergy, he ends up getting banned and makes little headway after conversion to Christianity is given the death penalty - trust me, I'm just an actor and I made this DVD? On Oct. 5 Edward Seymour, Protector Somerset issues a proclamation calling for a gen. callup of troops to gather at Hampton Court Palace for the defense of the realm incl. his nephew Edward VI; on Oct. 6 Seymour takes the king to Windsor Castle, pissing-off the Lords of the Council, who get him ordered from the king's presence on Oct. 10, and arrested on Oct. 11 for "ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine yough, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all hby his own authority, etc."; on Oct. 13 his protectorate is dissolve, and on Oct. 14 he is taken to the Tower of London, where he confesses to the charges against him; on Feb. 6, 1550 he is released from the Tower, and pardoned on Feb. 8, and restored as a gentleman of Edward VI's privy chamber. On Nov. 10 Pope (since 1534) Paul III (b. 1468) dies, having failed to burn all the heretics and heretical books like he wanted, with the bother caused by his nephew trying to take back Parma and Piacenza by force hastening his death? John Calvin and the Zwinglians reach the Consensus Tigurinus on Holy Communion in Zurich. After partially repudiating the doctrine of the spiritual and temporal supremacy of the English king when Edward VI comes to power, Bishop Edmund Bonner of London is imprisoned (until 1553). Askia David becomes king of Songhai (until 1582). The Kingdom of Cayor in NC Senegal splits off from the Jolof Empire, ruled by kings (damels) from the capital at Mboul; it is conquered by the French in 1868, regains its independence in 1871, and is defeated again in 1879, becoming kaput on Oct. 6, 1886. Concubines for the clergy are finally condemned by the Roman Catholic Church - a thousand-plus years of cocky clergy are suddenly wrong because of syphilis? The city of Bahia (modern-day Cidade do Sao Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos) (City of Holy Savior of All Saints Bay) (modern-day pop. 15M) in Brazil is founded by Thome de Souza (-1560); Brazil is made a royal colony by Portugal; a Roman Catholic see is founded there by Pope Julius III in 1551. The Audiencia of Nueva (New) Granada is created in N South Am., incl. Santa Marta, Cartagena, and Popayan, with capital at rhombus-shaped Santa Fe de Bogota in the Bogota Plateau, which becomes known as "the Athens of South America". Beecker Fair in Duisburg, Germany is first held. Joachim du Bellay (1525-60), leader of La Pleiade (Pléiade) (a group of seven French poets favoring the classical forms) states the program of French classicism: "Defense et illustration de la langue francaise" - the Frogs begin their program of eating their own vomit? Edward VI begins issuing the first English Half-Crown Coins (two shillings and sixpence, or, 2/6) (one-eighth of a pound); discontinued in 1967. The first of Henry VI's two prayer books, compiled by Thomas Cranmer is sanctioned (2nd in 1552). Architecture: Andrea Palladio (1508-80) designs the 2-story white Istrian stone arcade around the Vicenza Basilica (finished 1614), using ancient Roman architectural principles, and introduces the "Palladian motif", an opening with an arched top flanked by two flat-topped openings, which is widely imitated, making him the most influential architect in Western history? Science: German Protestant brain man Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) objects to the helicentric theories of Nicolaus Copernicus - the Bible tells me so? Nonfiction: William Baldwin (1515-63) (tr.), The Canticles or Ballads of Solomon. Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566), Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (Notes on Musovite Affairs); becomes the std. reference for Western Euros on Russia; introduces the spelling "czar" for tsar. Music: Adrian Willaert (1490-1562), Fantasie e Ricercari; combines Dutch and Italian musical styles. Plays: Friedrich Dedekind (1525-98), Grobianus (satire). Poetry: Pontus de Tyard (1521-1605), Erreurs amoureuses (debut); the first sonnets in the French language, introducing the Provencal sestina. Births: Italian duke of Urbino (last) (1574-1625) Francesco Maria II della Rovere (d. 1631) on Feb. 20 in Pesaro; son of Gidobaldo II della Rovere (1514-74) and Vittoria Farnese of Parma. French diplomat and Huguenot leader ("the Huguenot pope") Philippe de Mornay, Seigneur du Plessis-Mornay (Duplessis-Mornay) (d. 1623) on Nov. 5 in Buhy (modern-day Val-d'Oise), Normandy; educated at the College de Lisieux, U. of Heidelberg, and U. of Padua. English Roman Catholic priest-martyr Thomas Cottam (b. 1582); Protestant parents; educated at Brasenose College, Oxford U. English diplomat Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland, 14th Baron de Ros of Helmsley (d. 1587) on July 12; eldest son of Henry Manners, 2nd earl of Rutland and Margaret, 4th daughter of Ralph Neville, 4th earl of Westmoreland; educated at Oxford U., and St. John's College, Cambridge U. Morrocan sultan (1578-1603) (Sunni Muslim) Ahmad I al-Mansur the Victorious (El-Mansour Eddahbi) (d. 1603) in Fez; brother of Abd al-Malik (-1578). Italian grand duke of Tuscany (1587-1609) and cardinal (1562-) Ferdinando I de' Medici (d. 1609); 5th son of Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-74) and Eleanora di Toledo (1519-62); brother of Francesco I (1541-87); father of Cosimo II (1590-1621) and Cardinal Carlo de' Medici. Italian late Renaissance painter Giovanni Contarini (d. 1605) in Venice; known for exactly imitating Titian. English academic (pres. of Corpus Christi College. Cambridge U.) ("the Most Educated Man in England") (Puritan) John Rainolds (d. 1607) on Sept. 29 in Pinhoe (near Exeter); educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford U. English poet-diplomat Giles Fletcher the Elder (d. 1611); father of Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650) and Gles Fletcher the Younger (1586-1623); claims that the Tartars are the lost tribes of Israel. English Jesuit missionary-writer-linguist Thomas Stephens (d. 1619) in Bushton, Wiltshire; educated at Oxford U., then converts to Catholicism and becomes a Jesuit in 1575. Venetian sculptor-architect Girolamo Campagna (d. 1626) in Verona; student of Jacopo Sansovino and Danese Cattaneo. Deaths: Italian pope (1534-49) Paul III (b. 1468) on Nov. 10. Italian High Renaissance painter Sodoma (b. 1477) on Feb. 14 in Siena; dies in a pauper's hospital. French queen Margaret of Navarre (b. 1492) on Dec. 21 in Odos. English poet Thomas Sternhold (b. 1500) on Aug. 23. English adm. Thomas Seymour, 1st baron Seymour of Sudeley (b. 1508) in the Tower of London on Mar. 20 (executed).
| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| England | Edward VI (1537-53) | 1547 | July 6, 1553 | |
| Scotland | Mary Stuart (Stewart), Queen of Scots (1542-87) | 1542 | July 25, 1567 | |
| France | Henri II (1519-59) | 1547 | July 10, 1559 | |
| Germany | HRE Charles V of Hapsburg (1500-58) | 1519 | Mar. 1558 | |
| Russia | Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-84) | 1533 | Mar. 18, 1584 | |
| Papacy | Pope Julius III (1487-1555) | 1550 | Mar. 23, 1555 |  |
| Ottoman Empire | Suleiman I the Magnificent (1494-1566) | Sept. 30, 1520 | Sept. 7, 1566 | |
1550 In this decade after five decades of war the Muzo Indians of Columbia, who occupy the emerald-rich area of the E ridge of the Andes Mts. in Columbia are conquered by the Spanish, who force them into slave labor in the mines, causing Colombia to become the world's #1 producer of emeralds. In this half-cent. the European study of classical learning enters a golden age. On Feb. 6 (night) the Battle of Andalien near the Andalien River in Chile is a V for 200 Spanish soldiers under Pedro de Valdivia and 300 Mapochoes auxiliaries under former enemy Michimalonco ("michima" + "lonco" = foreigner + chief) over 20K Mapuche under their chief (toqui) Ainavillo (Aynabillo) (Aillavilu) ("aila" + "filu" = nine snake), who try a surprise night attack on their camp, after which Ainavillo gathers a new 6K-to-60K-man army to attack the new Spanish fort at the Battle of Penco on Mar. 12, losing 4K KIA and 200 taken POW. On Feb. 7 after Cardinal Reginald Pole comes within one vote until he is exposed by his archenemy Cardinal Giovanni Carafa (future Pope Paul IV) as a Spirituali, Gianmaria (Giovanni) Ciocchi del Monte is elected Pope (#221) Julius III (1487-1555) (until Mar. 23, 1555), who likes to sodomize young boys, appointing some of his favorite teenie bonks as cardinals, and going on to bonk his own illegitimate son Bertuccino, causing Cardinal Giovanni della Casa to dedicate his poem In Praise of Sodomy to him - sign me a copy with your brown holy finger? On Feb. 22 Francesco II Gonzaga (b. 1533) dies, and his 2nd son Guglielo (William) I Gonzaga (1538-87) succeeds as duke of Mantua and Montferrat (as Guglielmo X) (until 1587), going on to become a big patron of sacred vocal music, correspond with Palestrina, build the Santa Barbara Church in Mantua, and get the pope to let him create his own rite for Mantua, a first. On Mar. 7 Bavarian duke William IV (b. 1493) dies, and his son Albert (Albrecht) V (1528-79) becomes duke of Bavaria (until Oct. 24, 1579), going on to become a leader of the German Counter-Reformation. So much for the Renaissance, let's start this half-century with blood and fire? Talk about mentally unstable sadists? In Apr. HRE Charles V issues the Eternal Edict Against Heresy of 1550, to be "published forever, once in every six months, in every city and village of the Netherlands", forbidding all meetings in homes for the purpose of religious worship, all reading of the Bible, and all discussion of controversial religious matters; punishment is burning alive, unless one repents, in which case if they are male they are to be beheaded, and if female to be buried alive; death can be escaped only by feeding others to the flames by betraying them; officials showing leniency or mercy are to be removed from office and punished likewise; during Charles V's 40-year rule 50K-100K Netherlanders perish in his cheery little Inquisition. On May 16 after the Treaty of Boulogne (Mar. 24) causes the English to evacuate in Mar., ending the Rough Wooing, Henri II of France formally enters Boulogne, staying three days to admire the fortifications built by the English. On July 7 Chocolate is introduced to Europe? On Aug. 23 Luis de Velasco (1511-64) arrives in New Spain to become its 2nd viceroy, and takes office in Mexico City on Nov. 25 (until 1564). On Oct. 5 the seaport-river city of Concepcion (Concepción) Concepción de la Madre Santísima de la Luz (Conception of the Blessed Mother of Light) (modern-day pop. 292K/1.3M) is founded in the Bio-Bio region of SC Chile by Pedro de la Gasca and Pedro de Valdivia. On Nov. 7 bishop of Holar, Iceland (since 1522) Jon Arason (b. 1484) is killed by Lutherans, becoming the last Roman Catholic bishop of Iceland, uttering the immortal Icelandic soundbyte: "That I know, little Sveinn" before being beheaded after being told "There is a life after this one, sir"; Denmark forces Iceland to disown Roman Catholicism and adopt Lutheranism - welcome back to dancing with the stars? Edward Seymour is released from the Tower. Sir William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (Burleigh) (1520-98) becomes English secy. of state (until 1553, then 1558-72). Tsar Ivan IV convokes the Zemski Sobor (Russ. "estates general"), Russia's first Duma (nat. representative assembly), and begins a comprehensive modernization and revision of the Russian law code - what's that stamped on you Cossacks' foreheads, the word Dumas? The epic Valladolid Debate in Spain between pro-slavery Dominican Juan Gines (Ginés) de Sepulveda (Sepúlveda) (1494-1573) and anti-slavery Dominican Bartoleme (Bartolomé) de las Casas (1484-1566), bishop of Chiapas over the plight of the Am. aborigines begins, and after a 5-day speech backed up with armloads of his 40-year research, Casas persuades the king to forbid new expeditions against the Indians and to order that they be treated as humans, although nobody really heeds him and the ban on expeditions expires in 10 years?; meanwhile there is little interest in the New World in Europe, and only in this decade when Spain and England form closer ties does it begin to develop, and until now stupid readers are handed illustrations of Turkish life and don't know the difference, but the development of copper-plate engraving in this half-cent. finally allows accurate reproduction of original drawings, wising them up? The Formula of the Institute, the founding manifesto of the Jesuits changes "propagation of the faith" to "defense and propagation of the faith" as one of its goals, and the battle is on with those *!?*! Protestant heretics - too bad, the cat is out of the bag: only 440 years to the porno-saturated worldwide Internet? Spanish viceroy (since 1546) Father Pedro de la Gasca returns to Spain after pacifying the region and ameliorating the condition of slaves, which pisses-off the Spanish, and New Spain viceroy (since Apr. 17, 1535) Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza quits on Nov. 25, becoming Spanish viceroy #3 of Peru next Sept. 23 (until July 21, 1552), after a long overland trip from Mexico, followed by a boat trip from Panama, soon facing a Spanish revolt led by Francisco Giron (Girón) (-1554) (ends 1554); when Mendoza takes sick and dies on July 21, 1552, the audiencia exercises interim authority to fight the revolt. Don Francisco de Urdinola (Urdiñola) the Elder (1498-), who later strikes it rich with the Bonanza Mine founds San Luis Potosi (Potosí) in C Mexico (modern-day pop. 2.7M) (see 1583); in 1592 gold and silver are discovered, and the town is named in honor of silver-rich Potosi, Bolivia. The first Jesuits reach Brazil. Duke Albrecht of Hohenzollern commissions printer Jan Seklucjan (1510-78), who fled Leipzig for Konigsberg because of his Protestant pubs. to trans. the Bible into Polish, and he goes on to hire Stanislaw Murzynowkski (1528-53) and pub. a Polish Trans. of the New Testament from the Greek in 1553. The Great Vowel Shift in England (begun in 1350) results in Modern English. Scottish queen Mary de Guise visits her daughter Mary Stuart in France, and approves of how she's being brought up a lady. Many of the estates of St. Peter's in Westminster, England are appropriated to pay for repairs to St. Paul's Cathedral, giving an object lesson to the old expression, "Robbing Peter to pay Paul". During this half-cent. Red Bay, across the Strait of Belle Isle from Newfoundland in Canada becomes the largest whaling port in the world (right whales and bowhead whales); Basque whalers from France and Spain work it in 1530-1600. Church records of baptisms, circumcisions, marriages, and burials begin to be kept in the Netherlands. About this time La Pleiade (Pléiade) (named after the 3rd cent. B.C.E. Alexandrian Pleiad) (AKA the Brigade), a group of French Renaissance poets flourishes at the College de Coqueret, led by "Prince of Poets" Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85) (court poet of Charles IX), Joachim du (Du) Bellay (1522-60), and Jean-Antoine de Baif (Baïf) (1532-89), attempting to break with Clement Marot and the grands rhetoriquers and ennoble French by imitating the ancients to make it a worthy language for lit. expression; they are all students of Hellenist Latinist scholar-poet Jean Dorat (Daurat) (Joan Dinemandy) (1508-88). In this decade the Elizabethan Statue of Artificers exempts men over 60 and women over 40 from compulsory military service. In this decade Witches' marks begin to be carved on churches, barns, homes et al. to ward off witches (ends 1750). In this half-cent. court jesters (dwarfs, cripples, etc.) begin to appear in Europe; they often have noble rank? - survivors from all the religious torture looking for sanctuary in clown suits? In this half-cent. codpieces go out of fashion in Europe after flourishing for a cent. - too easy to get caught in all the fires? In this decade Wallpaper is brought from China to Europe. About this time the English call the French arquebus the "caliver" (caliber). In this decade Ivan IV the Terrible begins minting coins showing a knight with a spear (kopje), which become known as Kopeks. Just as it is ending, the word "Renaissance" (Rinascita) is coined in an Italian work by Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-74). In this half-cent. Spanish writers begin developing the picaresque novel, the Moorish novel (chivalric tales of fighting the Moors), and the pastoral novel (idealized shepherds, stolen from Italy and Portugal); the first Moorish novel is the anon. El Abencerraje. Japanese Ukiyoe (Jap. "pictures of the floating world") Painting begins in this decade. Tales of La Llorona (The Weeping Woman) begin to be told in Mexico City, about Maria, who drowns her children in the river after learning that her hubby left her for a younger woman, then drowns herself, and is refused entry to Heaven until she finds them, causing her to wander Earth forever. Sports: The first written reference to the game of Cricket (Creag) occurs in Edward VI's wardrobe accounts as played by pupils of Royal Grammar School in Guildford. Architecture: Andrea Palladio's Palazzo Thiene in Vicenza (begun 1545) is completed. The Suleymaniye Mosque, the most beautiful mosque in Constantinople is begun, designed by #1 Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan (1489-1588) (finished 1558). About this time a Great Wall is built on the Big Island of Hawaii to create a place of refuge for those breaking kapus, later becoming the site of Pu'uhonua o Honaunau Nat. Historic Park. Inventions: In this decade the Screwdriver and Wrench are invented by Euro gunsmiths and armorers? In this decade Sealing Wax is first used in Europe. Science: Girolamo Cardano (1501-76) of Italy describes the Biconvex Lens in use in a camera obscura. French surgeon Ambroise Pare (Paré) (1510-90) develops the first Ligature to stop bleeding during surgery, and traces phantom pains to the brain. Nonfiction: Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566), De Natura Fossilium. Robert Estienne (1503-59), Greek New Testament, 3rd Ed.; first to incl. notes documenting differences among the Greek mss. Rabbi Joseph Karo (1488-1575), Shulhan Arukh (1550-9); authoritative handbook on Jewish law. John Knox (1505-72), Doctrine That the Sacrifice of the Mass Is Idolatry; A Summary of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Pedro de Cieza de Leon (1520-54), Journal of Travels; first to give the avocado the Spanish name aguacate, from the Aztec word "ahuacatl" for testicle - no wonder the English prudes changed it to alligator pears? Andreas Osiander (1498-1552), De Lege et Evangelio; De Justificatione; splits with Luther and Calvin with the view that justification by faith is instilled in rather than ascribed to humanity by Christ's divinity, causing a big quarrel in Konigsberg with Philip Melanchton, which spreads to Osiander's backer Duke Albrecht I of Prussia, causing a strain on his reign until Osiander kicks off in 1552, after which the duke is forced to consent to a condemnation of Osiander's teaching. Rhaeticus (1514-74), Trigonometric Tables. Aegidius Tschudi (1505-72), Chronicon Helviticum; the early history of the Swiss Confederation; not pub. until 1734. Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times; 2nd ed. 1568; written after Cardinal Farnese asks him to assemble a "catalog of artists and their works listed in chronological order" in Rome in 1546; initiates the study of art history in the West, and coins the term "Renaissance" (Rinascita) - the masters are themselves the subject? Otto Wermueller, A Spiritual and Most Precious Pearl; trans. into English by Miles Coverdale. Art: Hans Eworth (1520-74), Sir John Luttrell. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), A Nobleman in His Study. Michelangelo (1475-1564), Deposition from the Cross; designed for his own tomb; The Crucifixion of St. Peter (Pauline Chapel, Vatican) (his last fresco). Frans Verbeeck (1510-70), Portrait of the Jester. Daniele da Volterra (1509-66), The Prophet Elias (1550-60); lounges on the ground with bread. Music: John Marbeck (1510-85), The Booke of Common Praier Noted; the first musical setting of the English liturgy? Plays: Olaus Petrie (1493-1552), Tobia Commedia; first Swedish stage play. Hans Sachs (1494-1576),
