1490s

The 1490s decade ran from January 1, 1490, to December 31, 1499.

January 2, 1492 – Muhammad XII, last Moorish Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of Ferdinand and Isabella.

October 12, 1492 – Columbus discovers the Americas for Spain.

Events

1490

January–December

• January 4 – Anne of Brittany announces that all those who ally themselves with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of Lèse-majesté.
• March 13 – Charles II becomes Duke of Savoy at age 1; his mother Blanche of Montferrato is regent.
• March or April – 1490 Qingyang event, a presumed meteor shower or air burst over Qingyang in Ming dynasty China, said to have caused casualties.
• July 4 – Battle of Bonefield: John Corvinus is defeated by the Kingdom of Hungary.
• July 13 – John of Kastav finishes a cycle of frescoes in the Holy Trinity Church, Hrastovlje (modern-day southwestern Slovenia).
• July 22 – Ashikaga Yoshitane becomes 10th Muromachi shōgun of Japan.
• November 20 – The first edition of the chivalric romance Tirant lo Blanch, by Joanot Martorell, is printed in Valencia.
• December 19 – Anne of Brittany is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.

Date unknown

• Perkin Warbeck claims to be the son of King Henry VII of England, at the court of Burgundy.
• Traditional date of the Battle of Glendale (Skye) between the Scottish clans MacDonald and MacLeod.
• Catholic missionaries arrive in the African Kingdom of Kongo.
• Pêro da Covilhã arrives in Ethiopia.
• Regular postal service connects the Habsburg residences of Mechelen and Innsbruck, the first in Germany.
• Leonardo da Vinci observes capillary action, in small-bore tubes.
• Leonardo da Vinci develops an oil lamp: the flame is enclosed in a glass tube, placed inside a water-filled glass globe.
• All Saints' Church, the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, is begun.
• Tirant lo Blanch, by Joanot Martorell and Martí Joan de Galba, is published.
• Aldus Manutius moves to Venice.
• John Colet receives his M.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford.
• Johann Reuchlin meets Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.
• Merchants carry coffee from Yemen to Mecca (approximate date).
• Battle of Chocontá: The northern (zaque) tribes of the pre-Columbian Muisca Confederation (central Colombia) are beaten by the southern (zipa) tribes.

1491

January–December

• January 2 – Alain I of Albret signs the Treaty of Moulins with Charles VIII of France.
• March – The French–Breton War resumes.
• March 19−20 – Alain I of Albret captures the Château des ducs de Bretagne for the French.
• April 23
  • Granada is besieged by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.
  • Santa Fe, Granada is founded.
• May – The Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491) between the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptian Mamluks ends.
• May 3 – The ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, Nkuwu Nzinga, is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
• May 8 – A solar eclipse takes place over Metz.
• June 27 – Louis of Orléans is released by Charles VIII of France after three years of imprisonment.
• September – Battle of Vrpile Gulch in southern Croatia: Forces of the Ottoman Empire are defeated by those of the Kingdom of Croatia.
• November – The pretender Perkin Warbeck begins a campaign to take the English throne, with a landing in Ireland.
• November 7 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary sign the Peace of Pressburg, formally ending the Austrian–Hungarian War (1477–88).
• November 16 – An auto-da-fé held in Brasero de la Dehesa (outside Ávila) concludes the case of the Holy Child of La Guardia, with the execution of several Jewish and converso suspects.
• November 25 – Reconquista: The Granada War is effectively brought to an end (and the Siege of Granada extended for two months) with the signing of the Treaty of Granada between the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Moorish Emirate of Granada.
• December 6 – King Charles VIII of France marries Anne of Brittany, forcing her to break her marriage contract with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, thus incorporating Brittany into the kingdom of France.
• December 21 – The Truce of Coldstream secures a five-year peace between Scotland and England.

Date unknown

• In the Ayutthaya Kingdom the reign of Ramathibodi II begins.
• The population of China reaches 56.238 million.
• The Bread and Cheese Revolt breaks out in West Frisia, North Holland, caused by a famine among the peasants due to bad weather conditions.
• A major fire breaks out in Dresden.
• In the Russian territory of Komi (the modern-day Komi Republic), annexed by Russia in 1478, copper and silver ores are discovered, and the territory gains importance as a mining and metallurgical center.
• Nicolaus Copernicus enters the University of Kraków

1492

Known dates

• January 2 – Fall of Granada: Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile) after a lengthy siege, ending the ten-year Granada War and the centuries-long Reconquista, and bringing an end to 780 years of Muslim control in Al-Andalus.
• January 6 – Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada.
• January 15 – Christopher Columbus meets Ferdinand and Isabella at the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos in Córdoba, Andalusia, and persuades them to support his Atlantic voyage intended to find a new route to the East Indies.
• January 16 – Antonio de Nebrija publishes Gramática de la lengua castellana, the first grammar text for the Castilian Spanish language, in Salamanca, which he introduces to the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, newly restored to power in Andalusia, as "a tool of empire".
• January 23 – The Pentateuch is first printed.
• March 31 – Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Alhambra Decree, expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism.
• April 17 – The Capitulations of Santa Fe are signed between Christopher Columbus and the Crown of Castile, agreeing on arrangements for his forthcoming voyage.
• June 7 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, of the Jagiellon Royal House, dies, ending his reign over Poland and Lithuania.
• June 8 – Elizabeth Woodville, the last living Yorkist queen consort, dies in England.
• August 2
  • The Jews are expelled from Spain; 40,000–200,000 leave. Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire, learning of this, dispatches the Ottoman Navy to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of Thessaloniki (in modern-day Greece) and İzmir (in modern-day Turkey).
  • The Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus sails with three ships from Palos de la Frontera, in the service of the Crown of Castile, on his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, intending to reach Asia.
• August 11 – Pope Alexander VI succeeds Pope Innocent VIII as the 214th pope, after the 1492 papal conclave, the first held in the Sistine Chapel.
• September 6 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.
• October 3 – English army besieges Boulogne.
• October 12 – Christopher Columbus' expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean and lands on Guanahani, which he calls San Salvador, believing he has reached the East Indies.
• October 28 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba.
• November 3 – The Peace of Étaples is signed between England and France, ending French support for Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne. All English-held territory in France (with the exception of Calais) is returned to France.
• November 7 – The Ensisheim meteorite, a 127 kg (280 lb) meteorite, lands in a wheat field near the village of Ensisheim in Alsace.
• December 5 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola.
• December 25 – Columbus' ship Santa María runs aground off Cap-Haïtien, and is lost.

Unknown dates

• Martin Behaim constructs the first surviving globe of Earth, the Erdapfel. As Columbus would only return from his voyage in 1493, this globe does not show the New World yet.
• The first arboretum to be designed and planted is the Arboretum Trsteno, near Dubrovnik in current-day Croatia.
• Russians build the Ivangorod Fortress, on the eastern banks of the Narva River.
• In Ming dynasty China, the commercial transportation of grain to the northern border, in exchange for salt certificates, is monetized.
• Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, North Yorkshire, is founded.
• Marsilio Ficino publishes his translation and commentary of Plotinus.
• Stiegl brewery first recorded in Salzburg.

1493

January–December

• January 19 – Treaty of Barcelona: Charles VIII of France returns Cerdagne and Roussillon to Ferdinand of Aragon.
• March 1 – Martín Alonso Pinzón returns to the city of Bayona in Spain from the voyage of discovery, sending the first notice about the discovery to the Catholic Monarchs (Christopher Columbus is delayed by a storm in the Azores).
• March 4 – Christopher Columbus anchors in Lisbon and completes his February 15 letter on the first voyage, conveying the news of his discoveries.
• March 15 – Christopher Columbus and Martín Alonso Pinzón return to Palos de la Frontera, the original port in Spain from where they started the first voyage of discovery.
• April 12 – Battle of Anfao: Askia Mohammad I defeats Sonni Baru, and usurps the throne of the Songhai Empire.
• May 4 – In the papal bull Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI decrees that all lands discovered 100 leagues (or further west) of the Azores are Spanish.
• August 19 – Maximilian I succeeds his father, Frederick III, as Holy Roman Emperor.
• September 9 – Battle of Krbava Field in southern Croatia: Forces of the Ottoman Empire defeat those of the Kingdom of Croatia.
• September 24 – Christopher Columbus leaves Cádiz on his second voyage of exploration.
• September 26 – Pope Alexander VI issues the bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of newly discovered lands he made them in Inter caetera.
• November 19 – Christopher Columbus lands on the coast of the island of Borinquen, which he renames San Juan (modern-day Puerto Rico).

Date unknown

• England imposes sanctions on Burgundy for supporting Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne.
• James IV of Scotland seizes lands of John MacDonald II, putting an end to the Lord of the Isles.
• Huayna Capac becomes emperor of the Inca Empire.
• Leonardo da Vinci creates the first known design for a helicopter.

1494

January–December

• January 4 – The Cetinje Octoechos (Цетињски октоих, an Eastern Orthodox octoechos (liturgy), first tone), the first incunabulum written in the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic, and the first book printed in Cyrillic in Southeast Europe, is completed in Cetinje.
• January 25 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
• May – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, recognises the pretender Perkin Warbeck as rightful King of England.
• May 5 – Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica.
• May 7 – The infant Amda Seyon II succeeds his father Eskender as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• May 31 – First Battle of Acentejo: Natives of the island of Tenerife, known as Guanches, defeat the invading Spanish forces.
• June 7 – Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the New World between themselves.
• June 25 – The first hurricane ever observed by Europeans strikes the Spanish settlement of La Isabela, on Hispaniola.
• October 22 – Ludovico Sforza becomes Duke of Milan, and invites Charles VIII of France to invade Italy in support of his claim, beginning the Italian War of 1494–98.
• October 26 – Amda Seyon II is deposed and killed, and his uncle Na'od succeeds him as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• November 9 – The Medici Bank is insolvent and the House of Medici is expelled from Florence.
• November 10 – Fra Luca Pacioli's Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità is published in Venice, containing the first printed account of algebra in the vernacular, and the first published description of the double-entry accounting system.
• November 17 – Italian War of 1494–98: The armies of Charles VIII of France enter Florence.
• December 25 – Second Battle of Acentejo: The Spanish crush the native forces of the island of Tenerife, leading to the subjugation of this last bastion of resistance in the Canary Islands.

Date unknown

• Aztec forces conquer and sack Mitla.
• Johann Reuchlin publishes De verbo mirifico.
• Charles VIII of France purchases the right to the Byzantine Empire from exiled pretender, Andreas Palaiologos.

1495

January–December

• February – King's College, Aberdeen, predecessor of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, is founded on the petition of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen. It is the first English-speaking university to teach medicine.
• February 22 – Italian War of 1494–98: King Charles VIII of France enters Naples, to claim the city's throne. A few months later, he decides to return to France, and leaves Naples with most of his army, leaving a force under his cousin Gilbert, Count of Montpensier as viceroy. Syphilis is first definitely recorded in Europe during this invasion. (perhaps from French forces who may have contacted Croats fleeing an Ottoman army in the east).
• May 26 – A Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba lands in Calabria, with the purpose of ousting the French and restoring Ferdinand II of Naples to the throne.
• June 1 – Brother John Cor of Lindores Abbey pays duty on 8 bolls of malt to the Exchequer in Scotland to make aqua vitae for King James IV; the record in the Exchequer Rolls is the first written reference to Scotch whisky.
• June 28 – Battle of Seminara: Córdoba and Ferdinand are defeated by a French army under Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny.
• July 3 – Battle of Deal: Perkin Warbeck's troops land in Kent, in support of his claim to the English crown, backed by Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy. They are routed before Warbeck himself can disembark, and he retreats to Ireland and then to Scotland.
• July 6 – Battle of Fornovo: The French army under King Charles secures its retreat from Italy, by defeating a combined Milanese-Venetian force under Giovanni Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.
• Summer – John, King of Denmark, sets sail for Kalmar, Sweden, to negotiate with Sten Sture the Elder to restore the power of the Kalmar Union. However, his flagship, Gribshunden, catches fire and sinks off the coast of Ronneby with loss of life, and he is forced to abandon the mission.
• October 25 – King Manuel I of Portugal begins his reign.
• November 30 – An explosion at Vyborg Castle deters the Russian forces, who have invaded Sweden through Karelia.

Date unknown

Reisszug, as it appeared in 2011

• The oldest extant cable railway is probably the Reisszug, a private line providing goods access to Hohensalzburg Fortress at Salzburg in Austria. This line is generally described as the oldest funicular.
• Poynings' Law comes into effect, placing the Parliament of Ireland under the authority of the Parliament of England.
• The Reichskammergericht of the Holy Roman Empire is founded in Frankfurt.
• Henry VII of England commissions the world's first dry dock, at Portsmouth.
• Piero Pacini da Pescia publishes Epistles, Gospels, and Popular Readings in the Tuscan Language

1496

January–December

• February – Pietro Bembo's Petri Bembi de Aetna Angelum Chalabrilem liber, a description of a journey to Mount Etna, is published in Venice by Aldus Manutius, the first book printed in the old-style serif or humanist typeface cut by Francesco Griffo (known from the 20th century as Bembo) and with early adoption of the semicolon (dated 1495 according to the more veneto).
• February 24 – King Henry VII of England signs the commercial treaty Intercursus Magnus with Venice, Florence, and the cities of the Hanseatic League and the Netherlands.
• March 5 – Henry VII of England issues letters patent to Italian-born adventurer John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to discover unknown lands.
• March 10 – Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere. During his time here he has forcibly subjugated the island, enslaved the Taíno, and laid the basis for a system of land grants tied to the Taíno's enslavement.
• June 12 – Jesus College, Cambridge, is founded.
• July – Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba capture Atella after a siege. Among the prisoners is the French viceroy of Naples, the Comte de Montpensier. Ferdinand II of Naples is restored to his throne.
• August 5 – Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, formally founds the city of Santo Domingo (first settled in March) on Hispaniola (in the modern-day Dominican Republic), making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the New World.
• September 21–25 – James IV of Scotland invades Northumberland, in support of the pretender to the English throne, Perkin Warbeck.
• October 20 – Joanna of Castile, second daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, heiress to Castile, marries the archduke Philip, heir through his mother to the Burgundian Netherlands, and through his father to the Holy Roman Empire.
• December 5 – King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree ordering the expulsion of "heretics" from the country.
• Date unknown – Jan de Groote, a Dutchman, obtains a grant for the north ferry from the mainland of Scotland to Orkney, from King James IV of Scotland.

1497

January–December

• February 7 (Shrove Tuesday) – Followers of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of "immoral" objects, at the Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence.
• March – The Russo-Swedish War (1495–1497) ends with a six year truce. Due to gathering unrest at home, the Swedish leader Sten Sture the Elder is forced to offer a peace to Ivan III of Moscow.
• May – The Cornish Rebellion breaks out in England, incited by war taxes.
• May 10 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz, for his first voyage to the New World.
• May 12 – Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
• May 20 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, on the ship Matthew (principally owned by Richard Amerike), looking for new lands to the west (some sources give a May 2 date).
• June 13 – The Catholic Monarchs issue the ordinance of Medina del Campo, creating a money system based on the copper maravedí, creating the peso of 34 maravedis. In the next three centuries, this system will dominate international payments. It will be used in almost all parts of the Americas and large parts of Asia. It is the basis for a number of modern currencies, including the U.S. dollar.
• June 17 – Battle of Deptford Bridge near London: Cornish rebels under Michael An Gof are soundly defeated by Henry VII.
• June 24 – John Cabot lands in North America (near present day Bonavista, Newfoundland).
• July 8 – Vasco da Gama's fleet departs from Lisbon, beginning his expedition to India.
• September 7 – Second Cornish Uprising in England: Perkin Warbeck lands near Land's End; on September 10 he is proclaimed as King in Bodmin.
• September 28 – Battle of Rotebro: John, King of Denmark, defeats Sten Sture the Elder.
• September 30 – The Treaty of Ayton establishes a seven-year peace between England and Scotland.
• October 4 – Leaders of the Second Cornish Uprising surrender to the King at Taunton; the following day, Warbeck, having deserted his army, is captured at Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire.
• October 6 – Sten Sture the Elder is forced to resign and end his 27-year term as Regent of Sweden. King John of Denmark and Norway is acknowledged by the estates as King of Sweden and formally elected on October 18, restoring the power of the Kalmar Union.
• December 5 – King Manuel I of Portugal proclaims an edict in which he demands that Jews convert to Christianity or leave the country.
• December 23 – Sheen Palace is destroyed by fire. Henry VII of England rebuilds it as Richmond Palace.

Date unknown

• Ivan the Great issues his law code, the Sudebnik.
• The Ottomans give Russian merchants freedom of trade within the empire.
• Iamblichus De mysteriis Aegyptorum edited by Marsilio Ficino is published.
• The Annals of the Four Masters refer to a famine in Ireland which "prevailed through all Ireland".

1498

January–December

• March 2 – Vasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Mozambique, in southeastern Africa.
• April 14 – Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama reaches Malindi, in modern-day Kenya.
• May
  • John Cabot leaves Bristol on an expedition, never to be seen again.
  • The English Merchant Adventurers are granted a trade monopoly with the Netherlands.
• May 20 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (modern-day Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa, thus discovering the maritime route to India. He finds a local Arab merchant who is able to interpret for him.
• May 23 – Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.
• May 30 – Christopher Columbus sets out on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere from Sanlúcar, Spain.
• June – Niccolò Machiavelli is elected by the Great Council as the second chancellor of the Republic of Florence.
• Summer – The final Welsh revolt of the medieval era breaks out in Meirionnydd, North Wales; Harlech Castle is captured by the rebels before the revolt is suppressed.
• July 31 – Columbus becomes the first European to visit the island of Trinidad.
• August 1 – Columbus discovers the mouth of the Orinoco.
• August 4–12 – Columbus explores the Gulf of Paria. On August 5 he lands on the Paria Peninsula, the first definitely recorded landing of Europeans on the mainland Americas.
• September 20 – 1498 Nankai earthquake off the coast of Japan.

Date unknown

• João Fernandes Lavrador and Pedro de Barcelos journey to Greenland; during their voyage, they discover the land which they name Labrador.
• The Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, a forerunner of the Vienna Boys' Choir, is founded by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• Gun barrel rifling is invented in Augsburg, Bavaria.
• Probable date at which Leonardo da Vinci completes the painting The Last Supper, on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan).

1499

January–December

• January 8 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany, in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
• May 19 – 18-year-old Catherine of Aragon, the future first wife of Henry VIII of England, is married by proxy to his brother, 12-year-old Arthur, Prince of Wales.
• July 22 – Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeat the army of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• July 28 – First Battle of Lepanto: The Turkish navy wins a decisive victory over the Venetians.
• August – Polydore Vergil completes De inventoribus rerum, the first modern history of inventions.
• August 24 – Lake Maracaibo is discovered, by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci.
• September 18 – Vasco da Gama arrives at Lisbon, returning from India, and is received by King Manuel of Portugal.
• September 22 – Treaty of Basel: Maximilian is forced to grant the Swiss de facto independence.
• October 25 – The Pont Notre-Dame in Paris, constructed under Charles VI of France, collapses into the Seine.
• November 5 – The Catholicon is published in Tréguier (Brittany). This Breton–greek–Latin dictionary had been written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc. It is the first dictionary of either French or Breton.
• November 23 – Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the throne of England, is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London.
• November 28 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, last male member of the House of York, is executed for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London.
• December 18 – The Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) begins in the Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile) against the forced conversions of Muslims in Spain.

Date unknown

• The French under Louis XII seize Milan, driving out Duke Ludovico Sforza; Leonardo da Vinci flees to Venice.
• Montenegro, the last free monarchy in the Balkans, is annexed by the Ottoman Empire, as part of the sanjak of Shkodër, and Stefan II Crnojević is removed from office.
• Johannes Trithemius inadvertently reveals interests in magic by writing a letter to a Carmelite friar about a treatise he is writing on steganography.
• Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa matriculates at Cologne University.
• Giggleswick School is founded by Reverend James Carr in England.

Births

1490

• February 14 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educator of the Reformation (d. 1556)
• February 17 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, French military leader (d. 1527)
• March 6 – Fridolin Sicher, Swiss composer (d. 1546)
• March 22 – Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Italian noble (d. 1538)
• March 24 – Giovanni Salviati, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1553)
• April – Vittoria Colonna, Italian poet (d. 1547)
• April 4 – Vojtěch I of Pernstein, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1534)
• May 17 – Albert, Duke of Prussia, last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1568)
• June 28 – Albert of Mainz, German elector and archbishop (d. 1545)
• July 25 – Amalie of the Palatinate, Duchess consort of Pomerania (d. 1524)
• August 5 – Andrey of Staritsa, son of Ivan III "the Great" of Russia (d. 1537)
• September 23 – Johann Heß, German theologian (d. 1547)
• October – Olaus Magnus, Swedish ecclesiastic and writer (d. 1557)
• October 12 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (d. 1548)
• November 10 – John III, Duke of Cleves (d. 1539)
• December 25 – Francesco Marinoni, Italian Roman Catholic priest (d. 1562)
• December 26 – Friedrich Myconius, German Lutheran theologian (d. 1546)
• December 30 – Ebussuud Efendi, Ottoman Grand Mufti (d. 1574)
• approx. date – Properzia de' Rossi, Italian Renaissance sculptor (d. 1530)
• date unknown
  • Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, Scottish noble (d. 1556)
  • Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1566)
  • Bars Bolud Jinong, Mongol Khagan (d. 1531)
  • Argula von Grumbach, German Protestant reformer (d. 1564)
  • Jean Salmon Macrin, French poet (d. 1557)
  • Caspar Schwenckfeld, German theologian (d. 1561)
  • Anna Bielke, Swedish noble and commander (d. 1525)
  • David Reubeni, Jewish political activist and mystic (d. 1541)
• probable
  • Wijerd Jelckama, Frisian rebel and warlord (d. 1523)
  • Adriaen Isenbrandt, Flemish painter (d. 1551)
  • Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1567)
  • María de Toledo, Vicereine and regent of the Spanish Colony of Santo Domingo (d. 1549)
  • John Taverner, English composer and organist (d. 1545)
  • María de Salinas, Lady Willoughby, Spanish lady-in-waiting and friend to Catherine of Aragon
  • Quilago, queen regnant of the Cochasquí in Ecuador (d. 1515)

1491

• January 30 – Francesco Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1512)
• March 25 – Marie d'Albret, Countess of Rethel, French nobility (d. 1549)
• May 10 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
• June 28 – Henry VIII of England (d. 1547)
• August 3 – Maria of Jülich-Berg, spouse of John III, Duke of Cleves (d. 1543)
• August 10 – Queen Janggyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1515)
• August 25 – Innocenzo Cybo, Catholic cardinal (d. 1550)
• October 6 – Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, French noble (d. 1545)
• c. October 23 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order (d. 1556)
• October 26 – Zhengde Emperor of China (d. 1521)
• November 8 – Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet (d. 1544)
• November 11 – Martin Bucer, German Protestant reformer (d. 1551)
• December 13 – Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (d. 1586)
• December 31 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
• date unknown
  • Lapulapu, Filipino king (d. 1542)
  • Azai Sukemasa, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1546)
  • Isabella Losa, Spanish scholar (d. 1564)
• probable
  • George Blaurock, Swiss founder of Anabaptism (d. 1529)
  • Antonio Pigafetta, Italian explorer (d. 1534)

1492

Queen Marguerite de Navarre

Duchess Sabina of Bavaria

• January 22 – Beatrix of Baden, Margravine of Baden, Countess Palatine consort of Simmern (d. 1535)
• March 4 – Francesco de Layolle, Italian composer (d. c. 1540)
• March 21 – John II, Count Palatine of Simmern, Count Palatine of Simmern (1509-1557) (d. 1557)
• March 27 – Adam Ries, German mathematician (d. 1559)
• April 4 – Ambrosius Blarer, influential reformer in southern Germany and north-eastern Switzerland (d. 1564)
• April 6 – Maud Green, English noble (d. 1531)
• April 11 – Marguerite de Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (d. 1549)
• April 20 – Pietro Aretino, Italian author (d. 1556)
• April 24 – Duchess Sabina of Bavaria (d. 1564)
• May 8 – Andrea Alciato, Italian jurist and writer (d. 1550)
• June 4 – Hirate Masahide, Japanese retainer and tutor of Oda Nobunaga (d. 1553)
• August 1 – Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince (d. 1566)
• August 8 – Matteo Tafuri, Italian alchemist (d. 1582)
• September 12 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (d. 1519)
• September 29 – Chamaraja Wodeyar III, King of Mysore (d. 1553)
• October 1 – Georg Rörer, German theologian (d. 1557)
• October 11 – Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France, French noble (d. 1495)
• October 30 – Anne d'Alençon, French noblewoman (d. 1562)
• November 12 – Johan Rantzau, German general (d. 1565)
• November 27 – Donato Giannotti, Italian writer (d. 1573)
• date unknown
  • Argula von Grumbach, German Protestant reformer (d. 1554)
  • Berchtold Haller, Swiss reformer (d. 1536)
  • Amago Kunihisa, Japanese nobleman (d. 1554)
  • Giacomo Aconcio, Italian pioneer of religious tolerance (d. 1566)
  • Edward Wotton, English physician and zoologist (d. 1555)
• probable
  • Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland (d. 1543)
  • Fernán Pérez de Oliva, Spanish man of letters (d. 1531)
  • Polidoro da Caravaggio, Italian painter (d. 1543)
  • Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Spanish historian (d. 1584)

1493

• January 2 – Louis de Bourbon de Vendôme, French cardinal (d. 1557)
• January 6 – Olaus Petri, Swedish clergyman (d. 1552)
• January 9 – Johann of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Viceroy of Valencia, German noble (d. 1525)
• January 25 – Maximilian Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1530)
• January 26
  • Min Bin, king of Arakan (d. 1554)
  • Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat (d. 1556)
  • Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1501)
• February 9 – Helen of the Palatinate, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1524)
• March 15 – Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France (d. 1567)
• April 11 – George I, Duke of Pomerania from the House of Griffins (d. 1531)
• April 25 – Giovanni Gaddi, Italian priest (d. 1542)
• May 5 – Alessandro Pasqualini, Italian architect (d. 1559)
• May 6 – Girolamo Seripando, Catholic cardinal (d. 1563)
• June 5 – Justus Jonas, German Protestant reformer (d. 1555)
• June 10 – Anton Fugger, German merchant (d. 1560)
• September 28 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and litterateur (d. 1543)
• September 29 – Yi Gwang-sik, Korean politician and general (d. 1563)
• October 14 – Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (d. 1568)
• October 17 – Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Renaissance Italian sculptor (d. 1560)
• November 11 – Bernardo Tasso, Italian courtier and poet (d. 1569)
• November 11 or December 17 – Paracelsus, born Philippus von Hohenheim, Swiss physician and scientist (d. 1541)
• November 17 – John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, English politician (d. 1543)
• November 25 – Osanna of Cattaro, Dominican visionary and anchoress (d. 1565)
• December 9 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado (d. 1566)
• December 25 – Antoinette de Bourbon, French noblewoman (d. 1583)
• December 27 – Johann Pfeffinger, German theologian (d. 1573)
• December 31 – Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, Italian politically active duchess (d. 1570)
• date unknown
  • Jobst II, Count of Hoya (d. 1545)
  • Simon Grynaeus, German scholar and theologian (d. 1541)
  • Matsudaira Shigeyoshi, Japanese general (d. 1580)
• probable
  • Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1560)
  • Robert Maxwell, 5th Lord Maxwell, Scottish statesman (d. 1546)

1494

Suleiman the Magnificent

Francis I of France

• February 2 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
• February 11 – Takeda Nobutora, Japanese warlord (d. 1574)
• February 20 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (d. 1570)
• March 24 – Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (d. 1555)
• March 25 – Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, Margravine (d. 1518)
• April 4 – Ambrosius Moibanus, German theologian (d. 1554)
• April 20 – Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566)
• April 25 – Juan Téllez-Girón, 4th Count of Ureña, Spanish count (d. 1558)
• May 24 – Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
• August 18 – Johannes Scheubel, German mathematician (d. 1570)
• September 8 – Sri Chand, Indian founder of the ascetic sect of Udasi (d. 1629)
• September 11 – Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Guelders (1518–1538) (d. 1572)
• September 12 – King Francis I of France (d. 1547)
• October 31 – Wolfgang of the Palatinate, Count Palatine of Neumarkt (1524–1558), governor of the Upper Palatinate (d. 1558)
• November 5 – Hans Sachs, German meistersinger ("mastersinger") (d. 1576)
• November 6 – Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1566)
• November 12 – Margaret of Anhalt-Köthen, Princess of Anhalt by birth, Duchess consort of Saxony (d. 1521)
• November (probable) – François Rabelais, French Renaissance writer (d. 1553)
• date unknown
  • Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, Spanish explorer and cartographer (d. 1519)
  • Christina Gyllenstierna, Swedish national heroine (d. 1559)
  • Ambrosius Holbein, German painter (d. 1519)
  • Qiu Ying, Chinese painter (d. 1552)
  • Saitō Dōsan, Japanese warlord (d. 1556)
  • John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley (d. 1554)
  • Hans Tausen, Danish religious reformer (d. 1561)

1495

• January 26 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
• February 4
  • Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1535)
  • Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (d. 1568)
• February 13 – Giacomo Puteo, Spanish cardinal (d. 1563)
• March 6 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and statesman (d. 1556)
• March 8 – John of God, Portuguese friar and saint (d. 1550)
• March 26 – Michele Antonio, Marquess of Saluzzo (d. 1528)
• March 29 – Leonhard Päminger, Austrian composer (d. 1567)
• April 16 – Petrus Apianus, German humanist (d. 1552)
• August 1 – Jan van Scorel, Dutch painter (d. 1562)
• August 24 – Otto I, Duke of Brunswick-Harburg, Prince of Lüneburg and Baron of Harburg (d. 1549)
• September 18 – Louis X, Duke of Bavaria, German noble (d. 1545)
• September 20 – Gian Matteo Giberti, Catholic bishop (d. 1543)
• September 23 – Bagrat III of Imereti, King of Imereti (d. 1565)
• September 24 – Barbara of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, Landgravine of Leuchtenberg (d. 1552)
• November 1 – Erhard Schnepf, German theologian (d. 1558)
• November 21 – John Bale, English churchman (d. 1563)
• December 5 – Nicolas Cleynaerts, Flemish grammarian (d. 1542)
• date unknown
  • Robert Barnes, English reformer and martyr (d. 1540)
  • Cuauhtémoc, 11th Tlatoani (emperor) of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City), 1520-1521 (d. 1525)
  • Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (d. 1568)
• probable
  • Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador (d. 1541)
  • Marie Dentière, Genevan Protestant reformer and theologian (d. 1561)
  • Costanzo Festa, Italian composer (d. 1545)
  • Nicolas Gombert, Flemish composer (d. 1560)

1496

• March 18 – Mary Tudor, Queen of Louis XII of France, daughter of Henry VII of England (d. 1533)
• May 12 – King Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)
• July 10 – Johann Forster, German theologian (d. 1558)
• August 28 – Konrad Heresbach, German Calvinist (d. 1576)
• September 27 – Hieronymus Łaski, Polish diplomat (d. 1542)
• October 20 – Claude, Duke of Guise, French aristocrat and general (d. 1550)
• November 23 – Clément Marot, French poet of the Renaissance period (d. 1544)
• December 20 – Joseph ha-Kohen, Spanish-born French Jewish historian and physician (d. 1575)
• December 21 – Elisabeth Corvinus, Hungarian princess (d. 1508)
• date unknown
  • Lazare de Baïf, French diplomat and author (d. 1547)
  • João de Barros, Portuguese historian (d. 1570)
  • Cuauhtémoc, 11th Tlatoani (emperor) of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City), 1520–1521, (d. 1521)
  • Dirck Jacobsz., Dutch painter (d. 1567)
  • Richard Maitland, Scottish poet (d. 1586)
  • Louise de Montmorency, French noblewoman (d. 1547)
  • Martín Ocelotl, Mexican priest (d. c. 1537)
  • William Roper, son-in-law and biographer of Thomas More (d. 1578)
  • Giovanni Battista da Sangallo, Italian architect (d. 1548)
  • Menno Simons, Dutch Anabaptist leader (d. 1561)
  • Agostino Steuco, Italian humanist scholar (d. 1548)
  • Johann Walter, Lutheran composer and poet (d. 1570)
• probable – Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester (d. 1549)
  • María Pacheco, Spanish heroine and defender of Toledo (d. 1531)

1497

• February 16 – Philip Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (d. 1560)
• February 19 – Matthäus Schwarz, German fashion writer (d. 1574)
• March – Giovanni Paolo I Sforza, Italian condottiero (d. 1535)
• April 2 – Georg Giese, German merchant (d. 1562)
• April 16 – Mōri Motonari, Japanese daimyō (d. 1571)
• April 17 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador (d. 1553)
• May 3 – Wilhelm IV of Eberstein, President of the Reichskammergericht (d. 1562)
• May 21 – Al-Hattab, Tripolitanian Muslim jurist (d. 1547)
• June 27 – Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1546)
• July 15 – Francis of Denmark, Danish prince (d. 1511)
• August 18 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (d. 1543)
• September 10 – Wolfgang Musculus, German theologian (d. 1563)
• October 29 – Benedetto Accolti the Younger, Italian cardinal (d. 1549)
• date unknown
  • Jean Fernel, French physician (d. 1558)
  • Gonzalo de Sandoval, Spanish conquistador (d. 1528)
  • Margareta Eriksdotter Vasa, Swedish noblewoman (d. 1536)
  • Johann Wild, German preacher (d. 1554)
• probable
  • Francesco Berni, Italian poet (d. 1536)
  • John Heywood, English playwright (d. 1580)

1498

Maarten van Heemskerck born 1 June

• January 31 – Tiberio Crispo, Italian clergyman (d. 1566)
• February 4 – George I of Württemberg-Mömpelgard (d. 1558)
• February 21 – Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English earl (d. 1549)
• February 25 – Francesco of Saluzzo, Marquess of Saluzzo (d. 1537)
• April 5 – Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Italian condottiero (d. 1526)
• April 9 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
• June 1 – Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch painter (d. 1574)
• June 30 – Wilhelm von Brandenburg, Archbishop of Riga (d. 1563)
• July 25 – Hernando de Aragón, Spanish Catholic archbishop (d. 1575)
• August 23 – Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal (d. 1500)
• August 24 – John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony, German prince (d. 1537)
• November 1 – Giovanni Ricci, Italian cardinal (d. 1574)
• November 15 – Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (d. 1558)
• December 1 – Giovanni Michele Saraceni, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1568)
• December 19 – Andreas Osiander, German Protestant theologian (d. 1552)
• date unknown
  • Giulio Clovio, (Juraj Julije Klovic) Dalmatian miniaturist and illustrator (d. 1578)
  • Anna of Masovia, Polish princess (d. 1557)
  • Meera, Rajput princess (d. 1547)
  • Sagara Taketō, Japanese retainer (d. 1551)
  • Pier Paolo Vergerio, Italian religious reformer (d. 1565)
  • Felix Manz, leader of the Swiss Anabaptists (d. 1527)

1499

• January 15 – Samuel Maciejowski, Polish bishop (d. 1550)
• January 20 – Sebastian Franck, German humanist (d. 1543)
• January 29 – Katharina von Bora, German nun, wife of Martin Luther (d. 1552)
• February 10 – Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist scholar and writer (d. 1582)
• March 22 – Johann Carion, German astrologer and chronicler (d. 1537)
• March 31 – Pope Pius IV (d. 1565)
• May 14 – Agostino Gallo, Italian agronomist (d. 1570)
• June 24 – Johannes Brenz, German theologian and Protestant Reformer of the Duchy of Württemberg (d. 1570)
• July 17 – Maria Salviati, Italian noble and mother of Cosimo I de Medici (d. 1543)
• August 14 – John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, English noble (d. 1526)
• September 3 – Diane de Poitiers, French duchess, mistress of Henry II of France (d. 1566)
• October 13 – Claude of France, queen consort of France, daughter of Louis XII of France (d. 1524)
• October 14 – Catherine of the Palatinate, Abbess of Neuburg am Neckar (d. 1526)
• October 31 – Günther XL, Count of Schwarzburg (1526–1552) (d. 1552)
• November 1 – Rodrigo of Aragon, Italian noble (d. 1512)
• December 8 – Sebald Heyden, German musicologist and theologian (d. 1561)
• December 13 – Justus Menius, German Lutheran pastor (d. 1558)
• date unknown
  • Hans Asper, Swiss painter (d. 1571)
  • Michael Coxcie, Flemish painter (d. 1592)
  • Cesare Hercolani, Italian military leader (d. 1534)
  • Jan Łaski, Polish Protestant reformer (d. 1560)
  • Laurentius Petri, Archbishop of Uppsala (d. 1573)
  • Giulio Romano, Italian painter (d. 1546)
  • Bernardino de Sahagún, Franciscan missionary (d. 1590)
  • Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician (d. 1557)
  • Ming, Icelandic clam (d. 2006)
• probable – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (d. 1543)

Deaths

1490

King Matthias Corvinus

Blessed Joanna

• January 27 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1435)
• March 6 – Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (b. 1458)
• April 6 – King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (b. 1443)
• May 12 – Joanna, Portuguese Roman Catholic blessed and regent (b. 1452)
• May 22 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent (b. 1416)
• August 11 – Frans van Brederode, Dutch rebel leader (b. 1465)
• date unknown
  • Martí Joan de Galba, Catalan novelist
  • Aonghas Óg, last independent Lord of the Isles

1491

• January 19 – Dorothea of Brandenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg (b. 1420)
• February 15 – Ashikaga Yoshimi, brother of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (b. 1439)
• February 19 – Enno I, Count of East Frisia (1466–1491) (b. 1460)
• March 6 – Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers
• March 31 – Bonaventura Tornielli, Italian Roman Catholic priest (b. 1411)
• May 14 – Filippo Strozzi the Elder, Italian banker (b. 1428)
• July 13 – Afonso, Prince of Portugal (b. 1475)
• July 16 – William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English earl (b. 1451)
• October 5 – Jean Balue, French cardinal and statesman (b. c. 1421)
• October 12 – Fritz Herlen, German artist (b. 1449)
• November 16 – Holy Child of La Guardia, Spanish folk saint (b. n/a)
• December 28 – Bertoldo di Giovanni, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1435)
• date unknown – Anne of Orléans, Abbess of Fontevraud (b. 1464)
• date unknown – Musa ibn Abi al-Ghassan, knight of Granada
• probable
  • February 9 (according to the Libro dei Morti) – Antonia di Paolo di Dono, Italian artist and daughter of Paolo di Dono

1492

Lorenzo de' Medici

King Casimir IV Jagiellon

Pope Innocent VIII

Saint Beatrice of Silva

• January 25 – Ygo Gales Galama, Frisian warlord and freedom-fighting rebel (murdered) (b. 1443)
• April 8 – Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1449)
• March 19 – Philip II, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (1429–1492) (b. 1418)
• c. May 21 – John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (b. 1442)
• June 7 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland (b. 1427)
• June 8 – Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of Edward IV of England (b. 1437)
• July 1 – Henry the Younger of Poděbrady, Bohemian nobleman (b. 1452)
• July 25 – Pope Innocent VIII (b. 1432)
• August 9 – Beatrice of Silva, Spanish Dominican and Roman Catholic nun and a saint
• September 20 – Anne Neville, Countess of Warwick (b. 1426)
• September 23 – Peter Courtenay, English bishop and politician
• October 12 – Piero della Francesca, Italian artist (b. c. 1412)
• October 25 – Thaddeus McCarthy, Irish bishop (b. c. 1455)
• November 6 – Antoine Busnois, French composer and poet (b. c. 1430)
• November 9 – Jami, Persian poet (b. 1414)
• November 24 – Loys of Gruuthuse, Earl of Winchester (b. c. 1427)
• Ali al-Jabarti, Somali scholar and politician
• Baccio Pontelli, Italian architect (b. c. 1450)
• Dhammazedi, Burmese king of Hanthawaddy (b. 1409)
• Eric Clauesson, Swedish Norse pagan
• Satal Rathore, Rao of Marwar
• Sonni Ali, Songhai ruler

1493

• May – Pietro Antonio Solari, Italian architect (b. 1450)
• May 10 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. c. 1433)
• May 14 – Nannina de' Medici, member of de' Medici family (b. 1448)
• June 14 – Ermolao Barbaro, Italian scholar (b. 1454)
• August 19 – Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1415)
• September 9 – Mirko Derenčin, Croatian leader
• October 11 – Eleanor of Naples, Duchess of Ferrara (b. 1450)
• October 22 – James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton
• November 6 – Andrey Bolshoy, Russian prince (b. 1446)
• date unknown
  • Ahmad Zarruq, Moroccan scholar and Sufi sheikh (b. 1442)
  • James Blount, English soldier
  • Isabel Bras Williamson, Scottish merchant (b. 1430)
  • Kim Si-sŭp, Korean scholar and author (b. 1435)
  • Martín Alonso Pinzón, Spanish navigator and explorer (b. c. 1441)
  • Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Inca ruler of Tahuantinsuyu

1494

• January 11 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)
• January 20 – Seongjong of Joseon, King of Joseon (b. 1457)
• January 25 – King Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
• May 7 – Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1471)
• August 1 – Giovanni Santi, Italian artist and father of Raphael (b. c. 1435)
• August 11 – Hans Memling, Flemish painter (b. c. 1430)
• September 24 – Poliziano, Italian humanist (b. 1454)
• October 21 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1469)
• October 26 – Amda Seyon II, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. c. 1487)
• November 8 – Melozzo da Forlì, Italian painter (b. c. 1438)
• November 15 – William Calthorpe, English knight (b. 1410)
• November 16 – Theda Ukena, countess regent of East Frisia (b. 1432)
• November 17 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian humanist (b. 1463)
• December 19 or December 20 – Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet (b. c. 1434-1441)

1495

• January 11 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (b. 1428)
• January 21 – Magdalena of France, French princess and regent of Navarre (b. 1443)
• February 25 – Sultan Cem, pretender to the Ottoman throne (b. 1459)
• May 31 – Cecily Neville, English duchess, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1415)
• September – Vlad Călugărul, Wallachian half-brother of Vlad III (The Impaler)
• September 14 – Elizabeth Tudor, English princess, daughter of Henry VII of England (b. 1492)
• October 25 – King John II of Portugal (b. 1455)
• October 30 – Francis, Count of Vendome (b. 1470)
• December 16 – Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France, French noble (b. 1492)
• December 18 – King Alphonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
• December 21 – Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford (b. c. 1431)

1496

• January 1 – Charles, Count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
• February 24 – Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1445)
• March 4 – Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (b. 1427)
• March 12 – Johann Heynlin, German humanist scholar (b. c. 1425)
• April 16 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1489)
• April 29 – Fernando de Almada, 2nd Count of Avranches (b. c. 1430)
• August 15 – Infanta Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile and León (b. 1428)
• August 28 – Kanutus Johannis, Swedish Franciscan friar, writer and book collector
• September 7 – King Ferdinand II of Naples (b. 1469)
• September 15 – Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of London (b. c. 1440)
• September 25 – Piero Capponi, Italian soldier and statesman (b. 1447)
• September 28 – Boček IV of Poděbrady, Bohemian nobleman, eldest son of King George of Podebrady (b. 1442)
• October 15 – Gilbert, Count of Montpensier (b. 1443)
• November 1 – Filippo Buonaccorsi (Filip Callimachus), Italian humanist writer (b. 1437)
• date unknown
  • Richard Bell, Bishop of Carlisle
  • Alexander Inglis, Scottish clergyman
  • Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1458)
  • Piero del Pollaiuolo, Italian painter (b. 1443)
  • Qaitbay, sultan of Egypt
  • Ercole de' Roberti, Italian artist (b. c. 1451)
• probable – Jan IV of Oświęcim, duke of Oświęcim

1497

• January 3 – Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan (b. 1475)
• January 30 – Lê Thánh Tông, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1442)
• February 6 – Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer (b. c. 1410)
• May 26 – Antonio Manetti, Italian mathematician and architect (b. 1423)
• June 14 – Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía (assassinated) (b.1474)
• June 27
  • Michael An Gof, Cornish rebel leader (executed)
  • Thomas Flamank, Cornish rebel leader (executed)
• June 28 – James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley (b. c. 1463)
• July – Estêvão da Gama, Portuguese explorer ( b. c. 1430)
• July 23 – Barbara Fugger, German banker (b. 1419)
• August 24 – Sophie of Pomerania, Duchess of Pomerania (b. 1435)
• October 4 – John, Prince of Asturias, only son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (b. 1478)
• November 7 – Philip II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1443)
• November 30 – Anna Sforza, Italian noble (b. 1476)
• date unknown
  • Al-Mutawakkil II, Caliph of Cairo
  • Al-Sakhawi, Egyptian scholar (b. 1428)
  • Albert Brudzewski, Polish astronomer (b. 1445)
  • Gentile de' Becchi, Bishop of Arezzo (b. 1420/1430)
• probable – Elia del Medigo, Italian philosopher (b. 1460)

1498

• February 4 – Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Italian painter (b. c. 1432)
• April 7 – King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
• May 23 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452; executed)
• June 7 – Anđeo Zvizdović, Bosnian Franciscan friar and evangelist (b. c. 1420)
• July 14 – Gentile Budrioli, Italian astrologer and herbalist
• August 17 – John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, English baron (b. 1437)
• August 23 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, eldest daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1470)
• September 14 – Giovanni il Popolano, Italian diplomat (b. 1467)
• September 16 – Tomás de Torquemada, Spanish Dominican friar and first Grand Inquisitor (b. 1420)
• December 7 – Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist (b. c. 1443)
• December 19 – Jeanne de Laval, French noble (b. 1433)
• date unknown
  • Tun Perak, Malay general and statesman
  • Domenico Rosselli, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1439)
• probable – Johannes Martini, Flemish composer (b. c. 1440)

1499

• January 9 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)
• March 24 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1470)
• April 7 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (b. 1442)
• August 29 – Alesso Baldovinetti, Florentine painter (b. 1427)
• October 1 – Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (b. 1433)
• November 23 – Perkin Warbeck, Flemish imposter (b. c. 1474) (executed)
• November 28 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, last male member of the English House of York (b. 1475)
• date unknown
  • Rennyo, leader of the Ikko sect of Buddhism (b. 1415)
  • Muhammad Rumfa, ruler of Kano
  • Laura Cereta, Italian humanist and feminist (b. 1469)