Events of 1461

• February 2 – Battle of Mortimer's Cross: Yorkist troops led by Edward, Duke of York defeat Lancastrians under Owen Tudor and his son Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke in Wales.
• February 17 – Second Battle of St Albans: The Earl of Warwick's army is defeated by a Lancastrian force under Queen Margaret, who recovers control of her husband.
• March 4 – The Duke of York seizes London and proclaims himself King Edward IV of England.
• March 29 – Battle of Towton: Edward IV defeats Queen Margaret to make good his claim to the English throne (thought to be the bloodiest battle ever fought in England).
• Edward, Richard of York's son, is crowned as Edward IV, King of England (reigns until 1483).
• August 7 – The Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor; after setting fire to the eastern and western gates of the Imperial City (which were doused by pouring rains during the day-long uprising), Cao Qin finds himself hemmed in on all sides by imperial forces, loses three of his own brothers in the fight, and instead of facing execution he flees to his house and commits suicide by jumping down a well located within the walled compound of his urban Beijing home.
• August 15 – The Empire of Trebizond, the last major Romano-Greek outpost, falls to the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II, after a siege of 21 days.
• Cirencester Grammar School is founded in south-west England by the Bishop of Durham.
• Louis XI of France succeeds Charles VII of France as king (reigns until 1483).
• Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli become students of Verrocchio.
• Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is founded by the Ottomans.
• François Villon writes Le Grand Testament.
• Donatello paints Judith and Holofernes.

Births

• February 6 – Džore Držić, poet and dramatist (d. 1501)
• April – Anne of France, princess and regent of France (d. 1522)
• May 25 – Zanobi Acciaioli, librarian of the Vatican (d. 1519)
• August 5 – Alexander Jagiellon, King of Poland (d. 1506)
• date unknown
  • Alessandro Alessandri, Mexican jurist (d. 1523)
  • Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1510)
  • Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (d. 1533)

Deaths

• February 2 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (executed)
• March 28 – John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford (in battle)
• March 29
  • Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (in battle) (b. 1421)
  • Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles
• April 8 – Georg Purbach, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1423)
• July 22 – King Charles VII of France (b. 1403)
• August 7
  • Cao Qin, Chinese general and rebel of the Ming Dynasty
  • Wu Jin, Mongol officer in the Ming Dynasty Chinese military
  • Kou Shen, head official of the Chinese Censorate (b. 1391)
  • Lu Gao, head of the Imperial Guard for the Ming Dynasty of China
• September 23 – Charles of Viana, King of Navarre (b. 1421)
• October 7 – Jean Poton de Xaintrailles, follower of Joan of Arc (b. c. 1390)
• date unknown
  • John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (b. 1415)
• probable
  • Jonah Metropolitan of Moscow
  • Domenico Veneziano, Italian painter