Events

• The São Tomé settlement is founded.
• April 9 - Edward V becomes King of England.
• April - King Edward V of England and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York reside in the Tower of London. Later this year rumors of their murders start circulating. By December the rumors have reached France. This is the beginning of the mystery concerning the fates of the two Princes in the Tower.
• June 13 - Execution of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, the first recorded execution at the Tower of London.
• June 25 - Before his coronation King Edward V of England is deposed by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who becomes King as Richard III of England.
• July 6 - Richard III crowned king of England.
• August 9 - Opening of the Sistine Chapel
• October - A rebellion by the Duke of Buckingham is crushed by Richard III
• Isaac Abravanel flees Portugal after being implicated in a plot against the king.

Births

• February 14 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul dynasty (+ 1530)
• April 6 - Rafael, Italian painter and architect (+ 1520)
• October 16 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (+ 1542)
• November 10 - Martin Luther, German Christian theologian and Augustinian monk, later Protestant founder of Lutheran Reformation.
• December 3 - Nicolaus Von Amsdorf, German Protestant reformer.
• Thomas Parr, according to his claims to be 152 years old in 1635 (uncorfirmed).
• Jacquet of Mantua, influential French composer; favorite of the Medici
• Hans Buchner , German organist, organ builder and composer
• Francesco Guicciardini

Deaths

• April 9 - King Edward IV of England.
• August 30 - King Louis XI of France (b. 1423)
• Deposed King Edward V of England, One of the two Princes in the Tower (unconfirmed).
• Richard, Duke of York, one of the two Princes in the Tower (unconfirmed).