Year
1461 (
MCDLXI) was a
common year starting on
Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the
Julian calendar.
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
Deaths