15th Century Timeline: 1451 to 1499

1452 In Europe, metal plates are being used in screw-type presses.

1453 Constantinople has been declining economically, in population and military strength. Using European artillery and experts, the Ottoman Turks break through Constantinople's walls. Disciplined Muslim forces capture the city. This ends Constantinople as the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the heart of the remains of the Roman Empire.        

1453 The French capture Bordeaux, the last place the English hold except for the port city of Calais, on the English channel. The Hundred Years' War ends without a formal treaty signed and no renouncing of rights to the French throne by an English king. Nationalism had increased, and common people in England are upset at what they see as England having lost the war. With the end of the Hundred Years' War, trade revives and economic depression ends.

1453 Forty-one Jews are burned at the stake in Breslau, Poland.

1455 In the German town of Mainz, Johann Gutenberg, using metal type in a screw-type printing press, prints the "Gutenberg" Bible.

1456 Judges and commissioners in the archbishop's palace in the city of Rouen declare that Joan of Arc was innocent of the charges that led to her execution – after nineteen years of appeal and almost one year of hearings. The Archbishop declares the case ended.

1456 The Ottoman Turks overrun Athens, begin a stay that will last 400 years, and they turn the Parthenon into a mosque

1459 The Ottoman Turks have taken control of all Serbia

1461 Two families, both descended from King Edward III (who reigned from 1327 to 1377 and was of the Plantagenet dynasty) have been at war for years. One family is the House of York the other the House of Lancaster. This is the War of the Roses. Edward, from the House of York, defeats the Lancastrians at Mortimor's Cross. He is proclaimed king and ascends the throne as Edward IV.

1461 King Loius XI of France creates a postal service.

1463 The Ottoman Turks expand into Bosnia. They execute Bosnia's king, Stefan Tomasevic – the last of the Kotromanic dynasty. Assassination, as a means of resistance to foreign rule, is viewed by the Serbs of Bosnia as a heroic act

1466 An Albanian, George Kastrioti, also known as Skanderbeg, has led another successful resistance against an Ottoman invasion, and he is a hero across Christendom.

1467 In Japan a dispute over succession of the Ashikaga shogunate begins the Onin War, which exacerbates the strife between regional warlords (daimyo).

1468 Skanderbeg has been ill and dies in bed, and the Ottomans absorb Albania.

1468 In Egypt, al-Ashraf Qaytbay becomes the Mamluk sultan. He buys 46,000 more slaves from the his area of origin -- the Caucusus. These slaves are normally from ages ten to 20, shipped through the Turkish straits. It is a trade in the hands of the Genoese.

1469 Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile.

1477 France's Louis XI gains control of Burgundy.

1478 A conspiracy, that includes the Archbishop of Pisa and has the support of Pope Sixtus IV, leads to an attack on the Medici while they are in church. The Archbishop and several others are hanged. Pope Sixtus puts Florence under the interdict and excommunicates the Medici leader of Florence, Lorenzo de Medici. The pope forms a military alliance with the King of Naples, and Lorenzo's diplomacy prevents an attack.

1479 After four years of war, Spain accepts monopoly trade for Portugal along Africa's Atlantic coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain's rights in the Canary Islands.

1479 The Ottoman Turks and Venice have been at war since 1463. Venice is defeated militarily and gives up that part of its empire, along the Adriatic Sea, that the Ottoman Turks occupy.

1480 Leonardo da Vinci of Florence, age 28, of invents the parachute.

1480 Moscow's Ivan III feels strong enough to refuse to pay tribute to the Mongols

1481 Louis XI of France gains the territories of Anjou, Bar Mine and Provence.

1480 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain employ the Spanish Inquisition to investigate whether converted Jews are secretly clinging to Judaism.

1481 Two Latvian monarchs are executed for murdering the Polish king, Kazimierz IV.

1482 Portuguese have founded new trading settlements on Africa's "Gold Coast." They are trading ironware, firearms, textiles and food for gold, ivory, food and slaves.

1482 The Ottoman Turks occupy Herzegovina and join it administratively with Bosnia. Its nobles and a large percentage of its peasants are to accept Islam.

1483 Edward IV of England has died. His son succeeds him as Edward V, and he is murdered. The Duke of Gloucester, the youngest brother of Edward IV, usurps the throne and is crowned Richard III.

1483 Pope Innocent VIII issues a statement deploring the spread of witchcraft and heresy in Germany. He orders that cats belonging to convicted witches be burned as well as the witches.

1485 Henry Tudor, a relative of the Lancaster family, defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. The Tudor family takes power and is crowned Henry VII.

1485 Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York, uniting the Lancaster and York families. The War of Roses is over.

1491 King Charles VIII of France invades Brittany and forces 14-year-old Ann of Brittany to marry him, adding Brittany to French territory.

1492 Spain's monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, do their part in a war against Islam – they annex Granada. Also they give Jews three months to convert to Christianity if they are to avoid banishment from the country. And the voyage that the monarchy is paying for, led by Christopher Columbus, sets sail for China by going westward.

1493 Christopher Columbus returns from the Caribbean, and later in the year he sails back to the Caribbean.

1494 Kings were doing what kings had been doing for ages: pursuing wealth, territorial expansion and control over people. This year Christopher Columbus – an agent for Ferdinand and Isabella – begins using people of the Caribbean as slaves.

1494 Piero de Medici has ruled since the death of his father, Lorenzo, in 1492. He makes peace with the French, who have invaded Tuscany (in which Florence is located). A political rising drives him into exile. Florence is in anarchy. A Dominican priest, Savonarola, is anti-Renaissance. He is opposed to popular music, art and other worldliness.

1496 Jews are expelled from Syria.

1496 Sultan Qaytbay dies at the age of 53 followed by grand amirs competing to succeed him.

1497 Boys working under Savonarola collect from homes things associated with moral laxity: mirrors, cosmetics, pictures, books, fine dresses, the works of immoral poets. Savonarola has these burned. Renaissance art work is lost. Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Savonarola.

1497 In Scotland, children are required by law to go to school

1498 Savonarola is hanged. An enraged crowd burns Savonarola at the same spot where he ordered his bonfire.

1498 Columbus sails from Spain with six ships on his third voyage to the Americas.

1498 Jews are expelled from Nuremberg and Bavaria.

1498 The Ottoman Turks invade Dalmatia and devastate land around Zara. Venice goes to war again against the Ottoman Turks.

Sources:
Compilations from various web sources including Wikipedia.