What Happened in November?

Pope Sixtus IV issues a papal bull (Exigit sincerae devotionis affectus) on November 1, 1478, authorizing the Spanish Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, to appoint inquisitors to root out heresy in Spain by enforcing religious orthodoxy among the Jews and Muslims converts. Expand +

King Richard III of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey, marking the beginning of his short reign.

The Treaty of Granada is signed, allowing Muslims in Spain to practice their religion freely under the Catholic Monarchs.

Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica during his second voyage to the Americas on November 3, 1493.  He named it "Dominica" because he sighted it on a Sunday (Latin for Sunday). He and his crew encountered the native Kalinago people, but their strong resistance and the island's rugged interior made early European settlement difficult.

Christopher Columbus arrives at the island of Puerto Rico during his second voyage to the Americas.

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope on November 22, 1497, during his first journey to India and continues his exploration at the Mozambique coast, a vital trading hub in the Indian Ocean on March 2, 1498. Seeking to establish trade he interacted with local Muslim merchants some of whom were hostile and he was forced to flee.

Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York (one of the "Princes in the Tower"), is hanged for his role in conspiracies against King Henry VII.

Giuliano della Rovere is elected Pope Julius II on November 1, 1503, following the death of Pope Pius III. Julius II was known as the "Warrior Pope" or Il Papa Terribile.  Expand +

Christopher Columbus returns to Spain from his fourth and final voyage to the Americas on November 7, 1504. His final trip which had started on May 12, 1502 was a disastrous, journey in which he was stranded in Jamaica for over a year.  Expand +

The Treaty of Blois is signed, solidifying the alliance between France and Spain against the Republic of Venice.

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, painted by Michelangelo, is unveiled for the first time to the public. More

Stockholm Bloodbath: Danish forces under King Christian II execute a large number of Swedish nobles in Stockholm. The executions were carried out on November 8 and 9, 1520, after King Christian II coronation.  Expand +

Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator sponsored by Spain becomes the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic by sailing through the dangerous straits which separate the South American mainland from the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.  Expand +

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII's powerful Lord Chancellor, was arrested for high treason on November 4, 1530, by the Earl of Northumberland, but died of dysentery at Leicester Abbey on November 29 while being transported to the Tower of London to face trial for his perceived failures, particularly his inability to secure the King's annulment from Catherine of Aragon.

The Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro and his men reach the Inca Empire in Peru and establish their first settlement in what is now San Miguel de Piura in Northern Peru. Invited by an envoy of Inca Atahualpa to join him at his camp, Pizarro proceeded to Cajamarca arriving there on November 15, 1532.

Francisco Pizarro and his conquistadors captured the Inca Atahualpa in Cajamarca, Peru. Pizarro had set a trap for Atahualpa inviting him to a feast in the emperor’s honor and then had his men open fire on the unarmed Incas. Expand +

The Spanish sealed the conquest of Peru by entering Cuzco on 15 November 15, 1533. They established a provisional capital in the town of Jauja, in the Mantaro river Valley, in April 1534. The capital but it was too distant from the sea to serve as the capital. Pizarro  later founded the city of Lima on Peru's central coast on January 18, 1535. 

The English Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy, formally making Henry VIII the head of the Church of England, severing ecclesiastical links with Rome leading to fundamental changes in the religious and political landscape of England, including the dissolution of monasteries.  Expand +

Queen Elizabeth I ascends to the English throne, marking the beginning of the Elizabethan era, a period, when England asserted itself vigorously as a major European power in politics, commerce, and the arts. Her coronation took place in January 15 1559. Expand +

William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.