Rene of Lorraine and his Swiss mercenaries overwhelm Charles the Bold at Nancy; he is slain.

Burgundy is seized by Louis XI.  See “DEATH OF CHARLES THE BOLD,” viii, 155.

Grant of the Great Privilege of Holland and Zealand, by Mary, Duchess of Burgundy.  The Groot Privilegie was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights.  Although afterward violated, and indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic.

1478.  Condemnation and death of the Duke of Clarence.  He is said to have chosen to die by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey, a wine of which he had been inordinately fond.

Conspiracy of the Pazzi, a powerful family of Florence, against the Medici; most of the conspirators massacred by the people; the others judicially punished.

Sultan Mahomet II, of the Ottoman Empire, completes the subjugation of Albania.

Novgorod taken by Ivan III, of Russia, who puts an end to its republic.

1479.  Battle of Guinegate; Maximilian defeats the French.  Ferdinand the Catholic succeeds to the throne in Aragon; union of Castile and Aragon.

1480.  Founding of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Spain, by Cardinal Mendozas.  See “INQUISITION ESTABLISHED IN SPAIN,” viii, 166.

1481.  Maine and Provence united to France.

Battle of Bielawesch; the Nogay Tartars crush the Golden Horde and secure the independence of Russia.

1482.  Death of Mary of Burgundy; her infant son, Philip, succeeds to the sovereignty of the Netherlands.

Ferdinand and Isabella begin a war for the conquest of Granada.

1483.  Usurpation of Richard III; murder of the princes.  See “MURDER OF THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER,” viii, 192.

Death of Louis XI; Charles VII, his son, succeeds to the French throne.

Renewal of the Union of Kalmar; Sweden and Norway acknowledge John I, but Sweden retains Sten Stur as Protector.

Birth of Rabelais and Luther.

1485.  Landing of the Earl of Richmond in England; Battle of Bosworth; Richard III is slain; end of the Wars of the Roses and of the Plantagenet dynasty; Henry VII (Richmond) inaugurates the Tudor dynasty.  See “WARS OF THE ROSES,” viii, 72.

Matthias of Hungary captures Vienna; Emperor Frederick III expelled from his hereditary dominions.

1486.  Excited to revolt by the severities of the Inquisition, the Aragonese put to death the chief inquisitor, Pedro Arbues.

Unconscious doubling of the southern extremity of Africa by Bartholomew Diaz; he gives it the name of Cabo Tormentoso (Cape Stormy), afterward called the Cape of Good Hope.  See “THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA,” viii, 299.

1488.  Battle of Sauchie Burn; James III of Scotland defeated and slain by his rebellious nobles.

Citizens of Bruges capture and imprison, for four months, Maximilian, King of the Romans.

1489.  Bartholomew, brother of Christopher Columbus, tries to arouse maritime enterprise in England.