istoryworld
All Events
Giovanni Arnolfini, a merchant from Lucca trading in Bruges, commissions from van Eyck a portrait of himself and his wife
The rulers of Tenochtitlan join with two other neighbouring kingdoms to form the Aztec Triple Alliance
Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, of Burgundy, commissions an altarpiece from Jan van Eyck
Rogier van der Weyden, the third in the extraordinary trio of Flemish artists of the 1430s, is appointed painter to the city of Brussels
Perspective fascinates Italian Renaissance painters after the publication of Alberti's treatise on the subject, De Pictura
Charles VII enters Paris, marking conclusively the end of the French civil war
On the death of his father, James I, James II becomes king of Scotland
The Byzantine emperor John Palaeologus and the Patriarch of Constantinope, Joasaph, arrive in Ferrara to attend a council of the Roman Catholic church
The office of Holy Roman emperor becomes a hereditary title within the Habsburg dynasty
The French clergy pass a resolution at Bourges, limiting the power of the papacy within France, which is adopted by the king as a 'pragmatic sanction'
After a decisive victory over the Chanca people, a young Inca prince seizes the throne in Peru and takes the name Pachacuti
Florence acquires first-hand experience of Greek culture when Greek Orthodox priests join in a debate on theology, in particular the question of Filioque
The Seventeenth Ecumenical Council moves from Ferrara, because of the danger of plague, and sets up in Florence
Portuguese settlers are sent to the unoccupied islands of the Azores
The earliest recorded date of a ferry crossing at Shene, soon to be called Richmond, close to a royal palace
Cuzco, city of the Incas, grows rapidly in power after Pachacuti ('transformer of the earth') becomes emperor
Naples is captured by Alfonso V, breaking the link with France and uniting Sicily and Naples as an Aragonese kingdom
Skanderbeg, Albania's national hero, begins his long campaign of successes against the Turks
The Dominican convent of San Marco, in Florence, is provided with a serenely beautiful series of frescoes by Fra Angelico and his assistants
The Hungarian general Janos Hunyadi takes Sofia from the Turks and in the next few months liberates most of Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania
A Turkish army routs the Hungarians at Varna on the Black Sea, beginning a process which brings the Turks to the gates of Belgrade by 1456
A Muslim ruler is established in Malacca, forming the first of many Muslim dynasties in the Malay archipelago
Portugal claims ownership of the region of Guinea, subsequently the centre of their slave trade on the west African coast
Piero della Francesca paints masterpieces in his small home town of San Sepolcro
The matchlock, ignited from a smouldering length of rope, becomes the standard form of musket
