1496 - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 3 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
• March 10 - Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere.
• July - Spanish forces under Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordoba capture Atella after a siege. Among the prisoners is the French viceroy of Naples, the Comte de Montpensier. Ferrante II is restored to the throne of Naples.
• Jesus College (University of Cambridge) founded.

Births

• May 12 - Gustav Vasa, later King Gustav I of Sweden
• Johann Walter, notable pre-Reformation German composer of hymns

Deaths

• March 4 - Sigismund of Austria - Regent of Tyrol and Further Austria