Directory

1452 CE

Švitrigaila and Michał Bolesław Zygmuntowicz (Michael Žygimantaitis) died on February 10, 1452

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • July 21 – The League of God's House signs a peace treaty with the counts of Ortenstein in the Swiss Canton of Graubünden to fund the rebuilding of Ortenstein Castle, as long as they promise never to use the castle against the League.source
  • November 23 – The Canton of Appenzell becomes an associate member of the Swiss Confederacy. Full membership will be granted more than 50 years later in 1513.source
  • Edinburgh officially becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Scotland.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 19 – In Mongolia, Taisun Khan, the reigning khagan of the Northern Yuan dynasty, is killed while fleeing after a defeat at Turfan in a war with Esen Taishi. Taisun's younger brother, Agbarjin, becomes the new khagan.source
  • March 17 – Reconquista – Battle of Los Alporchones (around the city of Lorca in Murcia): The combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile, and its subsidiary kingdom of Murcia, defeat the Emirate of Granada.source
  • March 31 – In an attempt to end the rebellion in Ghent, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, declares war against the Ghentenaar rebels.source
  • May 18 – The Battle of Brechin is fought in Scotland between the royalist supporters of Clan Gordon (led by Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly) and the rebels of Clan Lindsay, led by Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford. Clan Gordon wins and the Lindsays submit to the authority of King James II.source
  • September 14 – Serbian General Thomas Kantakouzenos leads troops in an invasion of the Principality of Zeta but is driven back by the Prince of Zeta, Stefan Crnojević.source
  • October 17 – English troops under John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, land in Guyenne, in France, in order to recapture and retake most of the Guyenne province.source
  • October 23 – The Earl of Shrewsbury and his army capture Bordeaux, capital of Gascony, after having taken back most of the province without resistance.source
  • October – Byzantine–Ottoman Wars: The Ottoman governor of Thessaly, Turakhan Beg, breaks through the Hexamilion wall for the fourth time, and ravages the Peloponnese Peninsula to prevent the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea from assisting Constantinople, during the final Ottoman siege of the imperial capital.source
  • Battle of Bealach nam Broig, a Scottish clan battle.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Portuguese navigator Diogo de Teive discovers the islands of Corvo and Flores, in the Azores.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 19 – Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, becomes the last to be crowned in Rome.source
  • May 20 – China's Emperor Daizhong, brother of the former emperor Yingzong, designates his son as the new heir to the throne, demoting Daizhong's son Zhu Jianshen and placing his own son, Zhu Janji, as next in line for the throne.source
  • June 18 – Pope Nicholas V issues the bull Dum Diversas, legitimising the colonial slave trade.source
  • December 12 – Isidore of Kiev, the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, proclaims the union of the Greek and Latin churches at the Hagia Sophia in hopes of an alliance with Western Christians to prevent the loss of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 22 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas is killed by James II of Scotland, at Stirling Castle.source
  • May 2 – Jean Bréhal, chief of the French inquisition, reopens the case of Joan of Arc, who had been executed more than 20 years earlier for heresy and begins taking testimony from witnesses.source

Climate & Environment

  • A major volcanic eruption, 1452/1453 mystery eruption, has a subsequent global cooling effect (the eruption releases more sulfate than any other event in the previous 700 years).source

Culture & Society

  • February – Alexăndrel retakes the throne of Moldavia, in his long struggle with Petru Aron.source
  • April 27 – George of Poděbrady is elected as regent of Bohemia until King Ladislaus of Hungary reaches the age of majority.source
  • July 26 – The University of Valence is founded in France by the Dauphin Louis, son of King Charles VII. The university lasts for 330 years until being closed during the French Revolution.source

Births

  • February 6 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d. 1490)source
  • February 14 – Pandolfo Petrucci, tyrant of Siena (d. 1512)source
  • February 14 – Davide Ghirlandaio, Italian painter and mosaicist (d. 1525)source
  • April 19 – King Frederick of Naples (d. 1504)source
  • May 18 – Henry the Younger of Poděbrady, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1492)source
  • July 27 – Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Sforza (d. 1534) (approximate date)source
  • July 27 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1508)source
  • August 12 – Abraham Zacuto, Spanish Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian (d. 1515)source
  • September 21 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer (d. 1498)source
  • October 2 – King Richard III of England (d. 1485)source
  • December 6 – Antonio Mancinelli, Italian humanist pedagogue and grammarian (d. 1505)source
  • December 10 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician (d. 1531)source
  • Diogo Cão, Portuguese explorer (d. 1486)source
  • Hugh Oldham, English bishop and patron of education (d. 1519)source

Deaths

  • February 10 – Švitrigaila, Grand Prince of Lithuaniasource
  • February 10 – Michał Bolesław Zygmuntowicz (Michael Žygimantaitis), Prince of Black Rutheniasource
  • February 14 – Konrad VII the White, Duke of Oleśnicasource
  • February 22 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)source
  • April 20 – Reinhard III, Count of Hanau (1451–1452) (b. 1412)source
  • May 4 – Pope John XI of Alexandria, leader of the Coptic Christian church since 1427, dies, leaving a vacancy in the Coptic papacy.source
  • May – John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterburysource
  • September 23 – Pope Matthew II of Alexandria is elected as the new Patriarch of the Coptic Christian Church, succeeding Pope John XI, who died on May 4.source
  • October – Nicholas Close, English bishopsource
  • probable – Gemistus Pletho, Greek philosophersource