Directory

1506 CE

The classical statue of Laocoön and His Sons is unearthed in Rome. On the recommendation of Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo, Pope Julius II purchases it, and places it on public display in the Vatican a month later. Henry, Prince of Wales is made a Knight of the Golden Fleece by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Lisbon Massacre begins in Portugal with three days of violence, in which thousands of Jews are tortured and killed by Catholics.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 15 – Iye Roy Mackay, Chief of Scotland's Clan Mackay, records his 1504 grant of six lands in what is now the County Sutherland, and starts a feud with Euphemia II, Countess of Ross.source
  • March 30 – King Vladislaus II of Hungary and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor sign a treaty to arrange the marriage of Vladislaus's daughter and Maximilian's son.source
  • April 30 – Malus Intercursus, a treaty between King Henry VII of England and Duke Philip the Handsome of Burgundy, is signed.source
  • June 27 – The Treaty of Villafáfila is signed between Austria and Spain.source
  • August 19 – Sigismund I the Old succeeds his brother as king of Poland.source
  • October 15 – Charles II, the six-year-old son of King Philip of Castile, inherits his father's title of Duke of Burgundy and is proclaimed "Lord of the Netherlands".source

Conflict & Security

  • March 16 – Battle of Cannanore: Portugal's fleet (commanded by Lourenço de Almeida) defeats the fleet of the Zamorin of Calicut, with hundreds of vessels involved; 3,000 Muslim troops are killed.source
  • April 19 – The Lisbon Massacre begins in Portugal with three days of violence, in which thousands of Jews are tortured and killed by Catholics.source
  • May 28 – Emperor Moctezuma II of Mexico's Aztec Empire subdues a rebellion in Zozollan, east of Achiutia, then kills the prisoners of war as a sacrifice to the gods.source
  • August 6 – Battle of Kletsk: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate.source
  • September 2 – In Korea, Emperor Yonsangun, known for being a tyrant, is deposed in the Jungjong coup by his younger brother, who becomes King Jungjong.source
  • October 6 – In Córdoba, in the Spanish kingdom of Andalusia, members of the nobility and the general public revolt against the Spanish inquisitor Diego Rodriguez de Lucero and General Inquisitor Diego de Deza. The mob liberates the people incarcerated at the Córdoba prison.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • The Portuguese mariner Tristão da Cunha sights the islands of Tristan da Cunha, naming them after himself.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 14 – The classical statue of Laocoön and His Sons is unearthed in Rome. On the recommendation of Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo, Pope Julius II purchases it, and places it on public display in the Vatican a month later.source
  • January 22 – The Swiss Guard arrives at the Vatican, to serve as permanent ceremonial and palace guards under Pope Julius II.source
  • February 9 – Henry, Prince of Wales is made a Knight of the Golden Fleece by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • April 18 – Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of the new (current) St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica.source
  • October 7 – Pope Julius II issues a bull excommunicating Giovanni II Bentivoglio from the Roman Catholic Church, who had dominated the Italian city state of Bologna.source
  • November 6 – Pope Julius II personally leads his troops into Bologna, retaking the city from the excommunicated tyrant Giovanni II Bentivoglio.source
  • December 8 – Sigismund I the Old (Zygmunt Jagiellon), younger brother of the late Alexander Jagiellon, becomes the King of Poland and (as Zygimantas II) the Grand Duke of Lithuania. He will reign for more than 40 years, dying in 1548 at the age of 81.source
  • Johannes Trithemius becomes abbot of the monastery of St. Jacob, at Würzburg.source

Economy & Finance

  • In Ming dynasty China, the costs of the courier system are met by a tax in silver on land, instead of corvée labor service.source

Science & Discovery

  • Duarte Barbosa returns to Lisbon.source

Health & Medicine

  • July 12 – Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, becomes the ruler of the Spanish Kingdom of Castile with his insane wife Joanna, but reigns for only two months before dying of typhoid.source

Culture & Society

  • Leonardo da Vinci completes most of his work on the Mona Lisa.source

Births

  • February 2 – René de Birague, French cardinal and chancellor (d. 1583)source
  • February 15 – Juliana of Stolberg, German countess (d. 1580)source
  • February – George Buchanan, Scottish humanist scholar (d. 1582)source
  • March 3 – Luís of Portugal, Duke of Beja (d. 1555)source
  • April 7 – Francis Xavier, Spanish Jesuit saint (d. 1552)source
  • April 13 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (d. 1546)source
  • July 1 – Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (d. 1526)source
  • August 12 – Franciscus Sonnius, Dutch counter-Reformation theologian (d. 1576)source
  • October – Louis de Blois, Flemish mystical writer (d. 1566)source
  • December 4 – Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Chiche, English courtier (d. 1558)source
  • December 8 – Veit Dietrich, German theologian, writer and reformer (d. 1549)source
  • Elizabeth Barton, English nun (d. 1534)source
  • William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, English statesman (d. 1563)source
  • Margaret Lee, confidante of Queen Anne Boleyn (d. 1543)source

Deaths

  • January 21 – Johann IV Roth, German Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1426)source
  • May 4 – Badi' al-Zaman Mirza becomes the new Emir of the Timurid Empire (now part of Afghanistan) after the death of his father, Sultan Husayn Bayqara, who died after a reign of 37 years.source
  • May 4 – Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (b. 1438)source
  • May 20 – Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (b. c.1451)source
  • June 15 – Mahmud Shah II begins a 41-year reign as the Sultan of Kedah, a Muslim kingdom on the Malay Peninsula, on the death of his father, Adilin I.source
  • August 15 – Alexander Agricola, Flemish composer (b. c. 1445)source
  • August 19 – King Alexander Jagiellon of Poland (b. 1461)source
  • September 13 – Andrea Mantegna, Italian painter and engraver (b. 1432)source
  • September 25 – Philip I, the first Spanish Habsburg King of Castile, dies suddenly from typhoid.source
  • September 25 – King Philip the Handsome of Castile (b. 1478)source
  • September 30 – Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, Portuguese infante (b. 1430)source
  • November 8 – Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings, English noble (b. 1466)source
  • November 20 – Yeonsangun of Joseon, king of Korean Joseon Dynasty (b. 1476)source
  • November 21 – Engelbert, Count of Nevers, younger son of John I (b. 1462)source