1460 - Definition and Overview

Events

• The first Portuguese navigators reach the coast of modern Sierra Leone.
• March 5 - King Christian I of Denmark declares the unity of the two provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, who have been treated as one ever since (albeit under different national affiliations).
• March 6 - Treaty of Alcacovas - Portugal gives Castile the Canary Islands in exchange for claims in West Africa
• June - The Earl of Warwick and Edward, Earl of March, eldest son of the Duke of York, land in England with an army and seize London.
• July 18 - Battle of Northampton - Warwick and March defeat a Lancastrian army and seize King Henry. It is agreed that York will be Henry's heir, disinheriting the King's son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
• December 30 - Battle of Wakefield - A Lancastrian army under Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland defeats a Yorkist army under the Duke of York and his son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland. Both York and Rutland are killed, the latter murdered after the battle. York's son Edward becomes leader of the Yorkist faction.

Births

• Judah Abravanel, Jewish philosopher, physician and poet.
• Antoine Brumel, Franco-Flemish composer
• Pierre de La Rue, Franco-Flemish composer

Deaths

• November 13 - Henry the Navigator, Portuguese prince, patron of sea exploration
• December 30 - Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
• September 20 - Gilles Binchois, Burgundian composer