1485
Year 1485 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–March
- January 6 - Saint Leopold of Babenburg, who died almost 350 years earlier in 1136, is canonized as a Roman Catholic saint by Pope Innocent VIII. Saint Leopold will be celebrated as the patron saint of Austria in the centuries that follow.
- January 29 - The siege of Vienna, capital of the Holy Roman Empire, is started by the Black Army of the Kingdom of Hungary in the ninth year of the ongoing Austrian-Hungarian War. Vienna is defended by a force of only 3,000 soldiers and cavalry, against 28,000 soldiers and cavalry of the Black Army, and the city falls to Hungary within four months.
- February 3 - Three days after returning to Germany following his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, John V, Count of Nassau-Siegen founds the Franciscan monastery at his capital in Siegen.
- February 9 - The Adana campaign begins when the Mamluk Sultanate, based in the Middle East, begins a siege to recover the city of Adana, recently captured by the Ottoman Empire. General Uzbek min Tutuh, Governor of Damascus, leads the Mamluk troops
- March 16 - A solar eclipse crosses northern South America and Central Europe. Although King Richard III's wife, the Queen Consort, dies on March 16, 1485 as well, the Julian calendar date is eight days sooner than the Gregorian calendar date of March 24.
April–June
- April 16 - Vuk Grgurevic Brancovic, the Despot of Serbia under Hungarian rule, dies after a reign of 14 years, bringing the Brankovic dynasty to an end, leaving the office vacant and prompting Hungary's King Matthias Corvinus to find a suitable heir.
- April 27 - King Charles VIII of France convenes a lit de justice, a special session of the Parlement de Paris at Rouen, confirms the Charter to the Normans, the French acknowledgment of the autonomy of the Duchy of Normandy within the Kingdom of France.
- May 22 - In Spain, the Christian Crown of Castile seizes the city of Ronda from the Islamic Emirate of Granada.
- May 26 - King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the England Act
- June 1 - King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary secures the surrender of Vienna, the Holy Roman Empire's capital, after a siege of four months. Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, had departed the city before the siege began.
- June 22 - King Richard III of England, alerted to news that Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, is planning to invade England, orders his lords to be fully alert.
July–September
- August 1- Accompanied by his own troops and French mercenaries, Henry Tudor sets sail from Honfleur in France with 30 ships to begin his second attempt to invade the Kingdom of England.
- August 5- The first outbreak of sweating sickness in England begins.
- August 7- After departing France and sailing around the south coast of the island of Britain, Henry Tudor and his troops enter Mill Bay and land near Dale, Pembrokeshire Wales without opposition, and begin marching toward London to attack King Richard, camping at Haverfordwest. From there, the Tudor supporters march north to Cardigan; Llwyn Dafydd; Llanilar, Aberystwyth; Machynlleth, then turn eastward at Mathafarn on August 14.
- August 11- News of Henry's landing at Wales reaches Richard, who issues a mobilization order that his lords received on August 14.
- August 15- Henry Tudor's army begins crossing the border from Wales into England at Mathafarn, then marches towards London.
- August 22 - At the Battle of Bosworth Field, King Richard III of England is killed in battle by the soldiers of Rhys ap Thomas and Sir William Stanley, in the service of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. With the death of King Richard, the Yorkist troops retreat. King Richard's remains will lie undiscovered for 517 years until 2012 when they are found during the excavation of a parking lot in Leicester.
- September 8 - The army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow forces, led by Ivan III, invades the city of Tver, ruled by Mikhail III and capital of the Duchy of Tver. Within 10 days, Ivan is able to claim the Duchy.
- September 15 -
- *Peter Arbues is assaulted while praying in the cathedral at Zaragoza in the Kingdom of Aragon, now part of Spain; he dies on September 17. He had been appointed Inquisitor of Aragon by the Inquisitor General, Tomás de Torquemada, in the campaign against heresy and Spanish Judaism.
- *Less than four weeks after the Battle of Bosworth and the defeat of Richard III, King Henry VII summons the English Parliament, directing the members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons to assemble at Westminster for the November 7 opening of the English Parliament.
October–December
- October 12 - Thomas Lovell is appointed for life as England's Chancellor of the Exchequer by King Henry. He will serve for 39 years before his death in 1524.
- October 30 - The coronation of King Henry VII as King of England is held.
- November 2 - The Peace of Bourges temporarily stops the civil war in France, dubbed "the Mad War".
- November 7 - The first session of the English Parliament under King Henry VII is opened, with Lovell elected as the Speaker of the House of Commons.
- December 10 - Members of the House of Commons ask King Henry VII to marry Elizabeth of York.
Date unknown
- Leon Battista Alberti's De Re Aedificatoria becomes the first printed work on architecture.
- From about this date, Leonardo da Vinci produces a number of designs for flying machines, including the aerial screw or helicopter.