15th century

Christopher Columbus arrives in America by Gergio Deluci (1893).
Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries:
Decades: 1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s
1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s
Categories: Births – Deaths
Establishments – Disestablishments

The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian years 1401 to 1500.

In Europe, the 15th century is seen as the bridge between the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period. Many technological, social and cultural developments of the 15th century can in retrospect be seen as heralding the "European miracle" of the following centuries. In religious history, the Roman Papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades (the so-called Western Schism), until the Council of Constance. The division of the Catholic Church and the unrest associated with the Hussite movement would become factors in the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the following century.

Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, falls to the emerging Ottoman Turks, marking the end of the tremendously influential Byzantine Empire and, for some historians, the end of the Middle Ages.[1] The event forced Western Europeans to find a new trade route, adding further momentum to what was the beginning of the Age of Discovery, which would lead to the global mapping of the world. Explorations by the Spanish and Portuguese led to European sightings of the Americas (the New World) and the sea passage along Cape of Good Hope to India, in the last decade of the century. These expeditions ushered in the era of the Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires.

The fall of Constantinople led to the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy, while Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the mechanical movable type began the Printing Press. These two events played key roles in the development of the Renaissance.[2][3]

The Spanish Reconquista leads to the final fall of the Emirate of Granada by the end of the century.

The Hundred Years' War end with a decisive French victory over the English in the Battle of Castillon. Financial troubles in England following the conflict results in the Wars of the Roses, a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. The conflicts ends with the defeat of Richard III by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth Field, establishing the Tudor dynasty in the later part of the century.

In Asia, under the rule of the Yongle Emperor, who built the Forbidden City and commanded Zheng He to explore the world overseas, the Ming Dynasty's territory reached its pinnacle. Tamerlane established a major empire in the Middle East and Central Asia, in order to revive the Mongol Empire.

In Africa, the spread of Islam leads to the destruction of the Christian kingdoms of Nubia, by the end of the century leaving only Alodia (which was to collapse in 1504). The formerly vast Mali Empire teeters on the brink of collapse, under pressure from the rising Songhai Empire.

In the Americas, both the Inca Empire and the Aztec Empire reach the peak of their influence.

Portrait of the founder of accounting, Luca Pacioli, by Jacopo de' Barbari (Museo di Capodimonte).

Events

Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl, directly influenced the result of the Hundred Years' War.
Filippo Brunelleschi, one of the greatest engineers and architects of all time.

1400s

1410s

1420s

The renaissance king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. His mercenary standing army (the Black Army) had the strongest military potential of its era.

1430s

1440s

1450s

Modern painting of Mehmed II marching on Constantinople in 1453
Detail of The Emperor's Approach showing the Xuande Emperor's royal carriage. Ming Dynasty of China.
Richard III of England
King Henry VII, (1457–1509), the founder of the royal house of Tudor

1460s

The seventeen Kuchkabals of Yucatán after The League of Mayapan in 1461.
The Siege of Rhodes (1480). Ships of the Hospitaliers in the forefront, and Turkish camp in the background.

1470s

Charles the Bold

1480s

Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow.

1490s-1500

Significant people

Lorenzo de' Medici
Cesare Borgia
Maximilian I
Isabella I of Castile

Visual artists, architects, sculptors, printmakers, illustrators

Jan van Eyck

See links above for Italian Renaissance painting and Renaissance sculpture.

Literature

Leon Battista Alberti
Pico della Mirandola

Musicians and Composers

Johannes Ockeghem

Exploration

Vasco da Gama
Christopher Columbus

Science, invention and philosophy

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

List of 15th century inventions

Important personages

References

  1. ↑ Crowley, Roger (2006). Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453. Faber. ISBN 0-571-22185-8. (reviewed by Foster, Charles (22 September 2006). "The Conquestof Constantinople and the end of empire". Contemporary Review. Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. It is the end of the Middle Ages
  2. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.
  3. ↑ McLuhan 1962; Eisenstein 1980; Febvre & Martin 1997; Man 2002
  4. ↑ Modern interpretation of the place names recorded by Chinese chronicles can be found e.g. in Some Southeast Asian Polities Mentioned in the MSL by Geoffrey Wade
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ricklefs (1991), page 18.
  6. ↑ Noorduyn, J. (2006). Three Old Sundanese poems. KITLV Press. p. 437.
  7. ↑ Mueller, Peter O. (1993) Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Durers, Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-012815-2.
  8. ↑ also sometimes in contemporary documents Barthélemy de Cler, der Clers, Deick d'Ecle, d'Eilz – Harthan, John, The Book of Hours, p.93, 1977, Thomas Y Crowell Company, New York, ISBN 0-690-01654-9
  9. ↑ Unterkircher, Franz (1980). King René's Book of Love (Le Cueur d'Amours Espris). New York: G. Braziller. ISBN 0-8076-0989-7.
  10. ↑ Tolley
  11. ↑ Brigstocke, 2001, p. 338
  12. ↑ "Hans Holbein". Catholic Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-18.

Tolley, Thomas (2001). "Eyck, Barthélemy d'". In Hugh Brigstocke. The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866203-3. 

Decades and years

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