1481

• May 3
  • The 1481 Rhodes earthquake, the largest of a series, strikes the island of Rhodes, causing an estimated 30,000 casualties.
  • Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his son, Bayezid II.^[1]
• May 21 – Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway, dies and is succeeded by his son John (1481–1513).^[2]
• June 21 – The papal bull Aeterni Regis grants all land south of the Canary Islands to Portugal.^[3]
• July 24 – Fire destroys the roof and the spires of Reims Cathedral.
• August 29 – John II of Portugal starts to rule in his own right.
• Alphonso II of Naples recaptures the city of Otranto
  .
• Louis XI of France, as does the Provence
  , which until then was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
• December 26 – Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats the troops of Utrecht.^[4]

Date unknown

• The Constitució de l'Observança is approved by the Catalan Courts, establishing the submission of royal power to the laws of the Principality of Catalonia.
• Ludovico Sforza emerges as Regent of Milan (until 1499).
• Tízoc
  .
• The
  Aztec Calendar Stone or Sun Stone
  is carved.
• Fribourg and Solothurn become Cantons of Switzerland.

Births

• January 15 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shōgun (d. 1511)
• March 2 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (d. 1523)
• March 7 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1536)
• May 3 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)
• May 14 – Ruprecht of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1504)
• July 1 – King Christian II of Denmark, Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union (d. 1559)^[5]
• August 21 – Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (d. 1550)
• August 28 – Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet (d. 1558)^[6]
• November 11 – Christoph von Scheurl, German writer (d. 1542)
• December 18 – Sophie of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Saxony (d. 1503)
• Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Margrave of Bayreuth (d. 1527
  )
• date unknown
  • Yan Song, Chinese prime minister (d. 1568)
  • Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (d. 1545)
  • Imperia La Divina, Roman courtesan (d. 1512
    )

• Akhmat Khan
  , khan of the Great Horde
• April 30 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese court noble (b. 1402)
• Ottoman Sultan (b. 1432
  )
• May –
  Karamanlı Mehmet Pasha
  , Ottoman (Turkish) grand vizier
• May 21 – King Christian I of Denmark and Norway (b. 1426)^[5]
• August 23 – Thomas de Littleton, English judge and legal author (b. c. 1407)
• August 28 – King Afonso V of Portugal (b. 1432)^[7]
• September 3 – Amalie of Brandenburg, Countess Palatine and Duchess of Zweibruecken and Veldenz (b. 1461)
• September 5 – John I, Duke of Cleves (b. 1419)
• November 19 – Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (b. 1472)
• date unknown
  • Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan (b. c. 1449)^[8]
  • Charles IV, Duke of Anjou, titular King of Naples (b. 1436
    )
  • Jean Fouquet, French painter (b. 1420)
  • Ikkyu, Japanese Zen Buddhist priest and poet (b. 1394
    )
  • Mary Woodville, English noblewoman (b. c. 1454)
  • Erik Axelsson Tott, regent of Sweden (b. 1415
    )