The Turks, besieging Belgrade, are dispersed by a peasant army inspired by the preaching of a Franciscan friar, St John of Capistrano

A copy of Europe's first book printed from movable type, the Gutenberg Bible, is completed in Mainz

Matthias Corvinus begins a long reign which brings Moravia, Silesia and much of Austria within the Hungarian kingdom

Oil paints, long familiar in the Netherlands, begin to be adopted in Italy in place of tempera

The Turks complete the occupation of Greece, which remains within the Ottoman empire until the nineteenth century

On the death of his father, James II, James III becomes king of Scotland

Andrea Mantegna combines an interest in classical detail and recently discovered perspective

Francois Villon, recently released from prison, writes his Ballad of the Ladies of Times Past

Albrecht Pfister publishes the first book with printed illustrations - Der Ackermann aus Böhmen ('The farmer of Bohemia')

The first success in the Wars of the Roses goes to the white rose, with the Yorkist prince crowned as Edward IV

Mehmed II, conqueror of Constantinople, begins to build Topkapi Sarayi as his palace

In keeping with his personal interest in Plato, Cosimo de' Medici founds a Platonic Academy in Florence

The assembly brought together in Bruges in 1463 is later seen as the first full gathering of the Netherlands States-General

After his death in 1464, Cosimo de' Medici acquires the posthumous title pater patriae – father of the fatherland

Mehmed II and the Ottoman Turks conquer Bosnia, where a large number of noble families convert to Islam

The Sicilian artist Antonello da Messina adopts the Flemish technique of painting in oils

In the treaty of Torun the Teutonic knights finally cede Prussia to Poland

Skanderbeg dies and Albania becomes fully absorbed into the Ottoman empire

Jerome van Aken works almost exclusively in his native s' Hertogenbosch, from which he derives the name Hieronymus Bosch

Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur

The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella unites the crowns of Aragon and Castile, creating virtually a unified Spain

The first Italian printing press is set up in Venice, which soon rivals Germany for the quality of its printing

Sandro Botticelli is established as one of the leading painters of Florence, working in particular for the Medici

The new pope, Sixtus IV, secures his name in history, establishing the Sistine chapel and the Sistine choir

Leonardo da Vinci joins the painters' guild in Florence, probably after training with Verrocchio