Directory

1508 CE

The oldest annual foot race in Europe, the "Red Hose Race", is run for the first time, taking place in Scotland at Carnwath, Lanarkshire. Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni of Florence signs a contract with the Vatican to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in return for a promised fee of 3,000 gold ducats (equivalent in 2023 to more than U.S. $600,000). Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • October 8 – An inconclusive peace treaty is signed to end the third of the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars.source
  • October 24 – King Louis XII convenes court at the Parlement de Normandie building in Rouen.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 24 – Maximilian, King of the Romans, requests permission to march to Rome through Venetian territory, but is denied and begins his Italienzug.source
  • February 2 – During the Glinski rebellion, Lithuanian noble Mykolas Glinskis attacks Grodno (now in Belarus) and decapitates Jan Zabrzeziński, the top ally of Grand Duke Alexander.source
  • February 20 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, attacks the Republic of Venice and sack Ampezzo the next day.source
  • March 2 – The Republic of Venice defeats Maximilian I in the Battle of Cadore.source
  • June 6 – Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I signs a humiliating armistice with the Republic of Venice, which for the moment stops any of his further plans for Italy.source
  • July 31 – The Emperor of Ethiopia, Na'od, dies in battle. His son Lebna Dengel takes on the regnal name of Dawit II, and becomes the new emperor starting on August 11.source
  • December 29 – Battle of Dabul: Portuguese forces, under the command of Francisco de Almeida, attack Khambhat.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 22 – Ferdinand II of Aragon appoints Florentine merchant Amerigo Vespucci to the post of Chief Navigator of Spain.source
  • August 12 – The Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico begins when Juan Ponce de León lands on the island. Upon his arrival, Ponce is welcomed by Agüeybaná I, the island's leader a Cacique of the Taíno people. The Spanish explorer soon settles and founds the city of Caparra, near what is now the town of Guaynabo.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 4 – Maximilian, King of the Romans, proclaims himself Holy Roman Emperor at the Italian city of Trento, after having been blocked by Venice from traveling to Rome to be crowned by Pope Julius II.source
  • May 8 – Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni of Florence signs a contract with the Vatican to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in return for a promised fee of 3,000 gold ducats (equivalent in 2023 to more than U.S. $600,000).source
  • December 10 – The League of Cambrai is formed as an alliance against the Republic of Venice, between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.source
  • December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).source

Science & Discovery

  • March 22 – Working from the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli at Florence, Leonardo da Vinci begins writing his "collection without order" of his scientific discoveries.source
  • November 29 – Astronomer Mikołaj Kopernik of Poland is granted benefits by Pope Julius II in order to perform his work.source

Culture & Society

  • March 5 – La Cassaria by Ludovico Ariosto, the first Italian language comedy, is premiered at Ferrara.source
  • March 13 – The oldest annual foot race in Europe, the "Red Hose Race", is run for the first time, taking place in Scotland at Carnwath, Lanarkshire.source
  • June 4 – The coronation of Prince Lajos as the designated successor to his father, King Vladislaus II of Hungary, takes place in Székesfehérvár.source
  • July 27 – The process of removing the former layers of paint on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is completed, and Michelangelo begins the next phase of marking the surface for painting.source
  • November 1 – At the age of 16, Prince Wolfgang of the House of Ascania becomes the new ruler of the German principality of Anhalt-Köthen, succeeding his father Waldemar VI. In 1521, he will meet Martin Luther and, in 1525, will introduce the Reformation to his principality, making Anhalt-Köthen only the second nation (after the Electorate of Saxony) to officially adopt Protestantism.source

Births

  • April 3 – Jean Daurat, French writer and scholar (d. 1588)source
  • April 5 – Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Italian noble (d. 1559)source
  • May 8 – Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (d. 1562)source
  • June 8 or June 9 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer who lays the foundations for the Slovenian written language (d. 1586)source
  • June 13 – Alessandro Piccolomini, Italian humanist and philosopher from Siena (d. 1579)source
  • June 29 – Balthasar of Hanau-Münzenberg, German nobleman (d. 1534)source
  • September 19 – Maria Paleologa, Italian noblewoman (d. 1530)source
  • September 23 – Simon Sulzer, Swiss theologian (d. 1585)source
  • September 25 – Francisco Mendoza de Bobadilla, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1566)source
  • November 23 – Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, youngest son of Henry the Middle (d. 1549)source
  • November 30 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (d. 1580)source
  • December 8 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555)source
  • December 24 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)source
  • Jane Seymour, third queen of Henry VIII (d. 1537)source

Deaths

  • February 4 – Conrad Celtes, German humanist (b. 1459)source
  • February 16 – Giovanni II Bentivoglio, tyrant of Bologna (b. 1443)source
  • February 27 – James, Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne of Scotland (b. 1507)source
  • February 28 – Louis V becomes the new prince elector of the Palatinate upon the death of his father, Philip.source
  • February – Robert Lauder of the Bass, governor of Berwick-on-Tweed (b. c. 1440)source
  • March 18 – Wilhelm IV becomes the new Duke of Bavaria upon the death of his father, Albrecht IV.source
  • April 23 – Prince Mihnea cel Rău, son of Vlad the Impaler, becomes the Voivode of Wallachia, with a palace at Târgoviște (now in Romania), upon the death of his cousin Radu IV the Great.source
  • May 21 – Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney (b. 1451)source
  • July 23 – Upon the death of his father, King Oxlahuh-Tz'i, Hun-Iqʼ becomes one of the two kings of Guatemala's Kaqchikel Maya civilization. Hun-Iqʼ reigns jointly with King Kablahuh-Tihax until the latter's death on February 4.source
  • July 31 – Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (in battle)source
  • September 11 – England is left without a Roman Catholic Cardinal protector when Cardinal Galeotto Franciotti della Rovere dies suddenly. England's King Henry VII dies seven months later before the monarchy and the Pope can agree on a new cardinal protector. The King's successor, Henry VIII, later abolishes the office entirely after Lorenzo Campeggio dies in the course of the English Reformation and the creation of the Church of England.source
  • October 18 – Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell, Lord High Admiral of Scotlandsource
  • October 23 – Edmund de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1446)source
  • November 25 – Ursula of Brandenburg, Duchess of Münsterberg-Oels and Countess of Glatz (b. 1450)source