Year 1459 (MCDLIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Events
<onlyinclude>
January–March
April–June
- April 8 – Stefan BrankoviÃÂ, despot of Serbia, is overthrown by King Stefan TomaÃ
¡ of Bosnia, who installs his son, Stephen TomaÃ
¡eviàas the new despot
- April 24 – The Fra Mauro map of the world is completed by the Italian cartographers Fra Mauro and Andrea Bianco, who had been hired by the late King Afonso V of Portugal to produce an up-to-date geography for the use by explorers.
- April 25 – The Treaty of Eger is signed by representatives of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Electorate of Saxony, setting a border that remains more than 500 years later as the border between the Czech Republic and Germany as running along the main ridge of the Ore Mountains from Eger to the River Elbe.
- May 3, Pope Pius II issues a papal bull to approve building the University of Valence in France. The university will exist for almost 240 years before being closed during the French Revolution.
- May 12 – In India, Rao Jodha, ruler of the Kingdom of Marwar (now in the state of Rajasthan) selects the site of a new capital city, which will be named Jodhpur in his honor.
- May 27 – Pope Pius II arrives in Mantua in the Italian region of Lombardy as the guest of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, in order to convene the Council of Mantua in hopes of organizing a crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Meetings being on June 1 the Council continues for six months.
- June 20 – The Despotate of Serbia comes to an end as the despot Stefan TomaÃ
¡eviàsurrenders the last Serbian city, Smederevo, without a fight.
July–September
October–December
- October 12 – Wars of the Roses: With a royal force advancing on his fortress at Ludlow, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, flees to Ireland, while his ally Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (Warwick the Kingmaker, eldest son of the Earl of Salisbury) goes to Calais.
- November 12 – Pope Pius II issues the papal bull Inter Ceteras, founding the University of Basel in Switzerland, though the university does not begin operations until April 4 the following year.
- November 20 – In England, the "Parliament of Devils" (so called because it consists of Lancastrian supporters and Yorkist nobles are not invited) opens its session at Coventry in St Mary's Priory and Cathedral.
- December 18 – At the consistory of 1439, Pope Eugene IV appoints an unprecedented 17 Roman Catholic cardinals.
- December 20 – England's "Parliament of Devils" is dissolved after accomplishhing its purpose of passing bills of attainder for high treason, indictments of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York and other Yorkist supporters in the War of the Roses. Other prominent Yorkists charges are Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV), Edmund, Earl of Rutland, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and his son, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.
Date unknown
Religion
Births
- January 25 – Paul Hofhaimer, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1537)
- March 2 – Pope Adrian VI, Dutch-born churchman (d. 1523)
- March 6 – Jakob Fugger, German banker (d. 1525)
- March 22 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1519)
- May 15 – John I, Count Palatine of Simmern (1480âÂÂ1509) (d. 1509)
- July – Mingyi Nyo, founder of the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) (d. 1530)
- July 11 – Kaspar, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, German nobleman (d. 1527)
- October 6 – Martin Behaim, German explorer and cartographer (d. 1507)
- December 22 – Sultan Cem, pretender to the Ottoman throne (d. 1495)
- December 27 – King John I Albert of Poland (d. 1501)
- date unknown
- Christina Brask, Swedish writer and translator (d. 1520)
- Edward Poynings, Lord Deputy to King Henry VII of England (d. 1521)
- probable – Lorenzo di Credi, Florentine painter and sculptor (d. 1537)
- approximate
- Jheronimus de Clibano, Dutch composer (d. 1503)
- Jean Mouton, French composer (d. 1522)
Deaths
- February 14 – Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken (b. 1385)
- March 3 – AusiÃÂ s March, Catalan poet from Valencia (b. 1397)
- May 2 – Antoninus of Florence, Italian archbishop (b. 1389)
- August 27 – James of Portugal, Portuguese cardinal (b. 1433)
- September 6 – Katharina of Nassau-Beilstein, German regent
- September 17 – Isabella of Urgell, Duchess of Coimbra, Portuguese Duchess (b. 1409)
- September 23 (killed at the Battle of Blore Heath):
- James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley (b. 1400)
- Thomas Dutton, English knight (b. 1421)
- September 24 – Eric of Pomerania, King of Norway, Denmark and Sweden (b. 1382)
- October 30 – Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist (b. 1380)
- November 5 – John Fastolf, English soldier
- December 4 – Adolf VIII, Duke of Southern Jutland (b. 1401)
References