Pope Eugenius IV grants the privileges of the University of Leuven in Belgium.
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What Happened in January?
Tragic deaths, ravaged cities, and great acts of heroism. Discover what happened this month in history and the defining moments that shaped the world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Council of Ferrara - Florence is convened in Italy and opens on January 8, 1438. It was the continuation of the Council of Basel, which Pope Eugenius IV transferred to Ferrara, then Florence. It was aimed at reunifying the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church after the separation which began with the Great Schism of 1054.
A papal bull, Laetentur Caeli, was issued on July 6, 1439 declaring the union of the two churches, however it was short lived and eventually rejected by most of the Orthodox bishops and clergy back in the East, and the reunification ultimately failed due to significant opposition.
Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, dies suddenly on January 6. 1448 at Helsingborg, Sweden, at the age of 31, leading to the end of his reign and his burial in Roskilde Cathedral, with his widow Queen Dorothea marrying his successor, Christian I.
Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire abdicates the throne in favor of his son, Mehmed II.
The Yorkists led by 18-year old Edward, Earl of March, defeat the Lancastrians, at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross on February 2, 1461, during the English Wars of the Roses. The Lancastrian leader, Owen Tudor. was captured and executed. The victory helped Edward claim the throne as King Edward IV.
Edward IV, was proclaimed King of England on March 4, 1461, following his father's death, and formally crowned on June 28, 1461, at Westminster Abbey.
Completion of the Trondheim Cathedral in Norway after several decades of construction.
Charles the Bold of Burgundy marries Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV of England, solidifying an alliance.
The Second Peace of Thorn is signed, ending the Thirteen Years' War between the Teutonic Order and Poland.
The Battle of Nancy takes place, resulting in the death of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at the hands of the Swiss.
Battle of Vaslui between the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great and the Ottoman Empire concludes with a decisive victory for Stephen the Great against a larger Ottoman army led by Hadım Suleiman Pasha.
The Battle of Nancy takes place on January 5, 1477. It was the decisive final battle of the Burgundian Wars, where Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was defeated and killed by René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Swiss forces, marking the end of Burgundian power and leading to significant shifts in European borders.
King Richard III convenes the only Parliament of his reign from January 23 to February 20, 1484. The session, held at Westminster, was dominated by two main issues: legally affirming Richard's claim to the throne and punishing rebels from the recent uprising.
The Parliament also enacted some measures to combat corruption and protect the common people. After Richard's death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the Titulus Regius was repealed by the first Parliament of Henry VII, which restored the legitimacy of Edward IV's children.
Granada, the last stronghold of Moorish ruler, Sultan Boabdil (Muhammad XII) in Spain surrenders to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II and Isabella I; ending the nearly 800-year Moorish rule in Spain.
Vasco da Gama departs from Lisbon on his first voyage to India.
Portuguese explorer Gaspar de Lemos reaches the Bay of Guanabara in Brazil on January 1, 1502 and mistaking the bay's entrance for a river, named it "Rio de Janeiro" (River of January). The name was given to honor the month of their arrival.
The name stuck for the bay and eventually that eventually developed there. Lemos was part of a larger Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci that explored the coast.
Louis XII of France is forced to cede Naples to Spain and signs the Treaty of Lyon on January 31, 1504 as he faced a coalition gathered by Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II of Aragon and military defeats.
Louis had conquered the Duchy of Milan in 1500 and pushed forward to the Kingdom of Naples, which fell to him in 1501.
The Swiss Confederation defeats the Holy League at the Battle of Ravenna in Italy.
François I of France is crowned king in Reims.
The Habsburg Charles I of Spain (also known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) becomes the ruler of the Spanish Empire on January 23, 1516, after the death of his grandfather, Ferdinand II of Aragon. He was proclaimed King of Castile and Aragon on March 14, 1516, jointly with his mother, Joanna.
The Ottoman Sultan Selim I occupies Egypt, marking the end of the Mamluk Sultanate following the decisive Battle of Ridaniya on January 22, 1517.