1478

Year 1478 (MCDLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

• January 6 – At Tabriz, Khalil Mirza is proclaimed the Sultan of Aq Qoyunlu (now in Iran) after the death of his father, Uzun Hasan. Khalil is overthrown by his brother Ya'qub in July.^[1]
• January 14 – Novgorod surrenders to Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow.
• January 15 – Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York is married to Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk in England.
• February 18 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.
• April 26 – On Easter Sunday, the Pazzi family attacks Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of the Republic of Florence, and kills his brother Giuliano, during High Mass in Florence Cathedral. A total of 80 accused conspirators are executed.^[2]
• May 14 – The Siege of Shkodra in Albania begins. Federico Gonzaga becomes the new ruler of the independent Duchy of Mantua in Italy, three days after the death of his father, Ludovico III.^[3]
• June 15 – In the battle of Khoy, Yaqub Aq Qoyunlu defeats his older brother, the Sultan Khalil of Aq Qoyunlu, and becomes the new Sultan.The Cambridge History of Iran. W. B. Fisher. Cambridge University Press. 1968–1991. ISBN 0-521-06935-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Khalil is executed after his capture.
• June 26 – The Battle of Kokovo takes place when 600 peasants and miners in the Duchy of Carinthia, led by King Matjaž, attempt to defend their territory against a force of 20,000 Ottoman Turkish invaders.^[4]
• August 24 – In the Swiss canton of Lucerne, the Amstaldenhandel, a conspiracy by innkeeper Peter Amstalden of Schüpfheim to overthrow the canton government is foiled when Amstalden is arrested. After being interrogated and tortured, Amstalden is beheaded in November.
• October 4 – The University of Copenhagen is established by decree of King Chrisitian I, who sets down the rules and laws to govern the institution.^[5]
• November 1 – The Spanish Inquisition begins as Pope Sixtus IV promulgates the papal bull Exigit sinceras devotionis affectus, permitting the Crown of Castile, at the request of Queen Isabella, to create the office of Inquisitor General, with the Dominican bishop Tomás de Torquemada to prosecute accused heretics.^[6]
• November – Eskender succeeds his father Baeda Maryam as Emperor of Ethiopia, at the age of six.
• December 28 – Battle of Giornico: Swiss troops defeat the Milanese.

• Grand Duchy of Moscow devolved from the Golden Horde.
• Lorenzo de' Medici becomes sole ruler of Florence.
• The Demak Sultanate gains independence from Majapahit, after a civil war.
• The Fourth Siege of Krujë, Albania by the Ottoman Empire, concludes and results in the town's capture, after the failure of three prior sieges.
• Vladislav II of Bohemia makes peace with Hungary.
• Possibly the first reference to cricket, in "criquet", as discovered in France by Rowland Bowen in the 20th century. It has been dismissed by some (most notably John Major) and presaged with Edward II's "Creag" (1300) by others.
• Mondino de Liuzzi's Anathomia corporis humani, the first complete published anatomical text, is first printed (in Padua).

• February 3 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)
• February 7 – Thomas More, English statesman and humanist (d. 1535)^[7]
• May 26 – Pope Clement VII (d. 1534)^[8]
• June 30 – John, Prince of Asturias, Son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (d. 1497)
• July 2 – Louis V, Elector Palatine (1508–1544) (d. 1544)
• July 8 – Gian Giorgio Trissino (d. 1550)
• July 13 – Giulio d'Este, illegitimate son of Italian noble (d. 1561)
• July 15 – Barbara Jagiellon, Duchess consort of Saxony and Margravine consort of Meissen (1500–1534) (d. 1534)
• July 22 – King Philip I of Castile (d. 1506)
• August – Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Spanish historian (d. 1557)
• December 6 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian courtier and writer (d. 1529)
• date unknown
  • Jacques Dubois, French anatomist (d. 1555)
  • Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi, Italian regent (d. 1510)
  • Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (d. 1553)
  • Visconte Maggiolo, Italian navigator and cartographer (d. 1530)
  • Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess (d. 1547)
• probable
  • Thomas Ashwell, English composer
  • Madeleine Lartessuti, French shipper and banker (d. 1543)

• February 1 – Cristoforo della Rovere, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1434)
• February 18 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1449)^[9]
• April 26 – Giuliano de' Medici, son of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (assassinated) (b. 1453)
• June 12 – Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (b. 1412)^[10]
• August 23 – Yolande of Valois, Duchess consort of Savoy (b. 1434)
• August 28 – Donato Acciaioli, Italian scholar (b. 1428)
• November 8 – Emperor Baeda Maryam I of Ethiopia (b. 1448)
• date unknown – Aliodea Morosini, Venetian dogaressa