1503

Year 1503 (MDIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events of 1503

January - June

* January 20 - Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive right to trade with the New World.
* February 13 - Disfida di Barletta: Thirteen Italian knights defeat 13 French knights near Barletta.
* February 23 - French-Spanish Wars in Italy - Battle of Ruvo: The Spanish defeat the French.
* April 21 - Battle of Cerignola: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat the French under the Duc de Nemours, who is killed (considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms).
* May 10 - Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands, which he names "Las Tortugas" after the numerous sea turtles there.
* May 13 - Naples is captured by the Spanish.
* May 28
**James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married by Pope Alexander VI according to Papal Bull.
** The Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England is signed; it actually lasts 10 years.

July - December

* July 23 - Orbital calculations suggest that on this day, Pluto moves outside Neptune's orbit, remaining there for 233 years.
* August 8 - King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
* September 22 - Pope Pius III (Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini) succeeds Pope Alexander VI as the 215th pope, but dies on October 18.
* October 30 - Queen Isabella of Spain bans violence against native tribes.
* October 31 - Pope Julius II succeeds Pope Pius III as the 216th pope, though some sources list November 1 as the actual date of election.
* December 14 - Michel de Nostredame aka Nostradamus is born in France. World famous for his visions, he will write the book "Les Propheties", which will first appear in the year 1555.
* December 29 - Battle of (the) Garigliano, near Gaeta, Italy: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French-Italian mercenary army under Ludovico II, the Marquis of Saluzzo. The French forces withdraw to Gaeta.

Undated

* Leonardo da Vinci starts work on the "Mona Lisa".
* The book "Imitation of Christ" by Thomas à Kempis is re-published in an English translation.
* Canterbury Cathedral is finally finished, after 433 years of construction.
* Henry VII’s chapel, the final stage of English gothic art, is begun in Westminster Abbey.
* The pocket handkerchief comes into general use in polite European society.
* A perpendicular style chapel is added to Westminster Abbey.
* Vasco da Gama establishes India's first Portuguese fortress at Cochin.
* Mariotto Albertinelli paints his masterpiece, the "Visitation of the Virgin".
* The Bermuda Islands are discovered by Juan de Bermudez.
* The last ruler of the Great Horde is executed as a political maneuver. When Moscow and Lithuania make peace, the Lithuanian king orders the execution in order to seal the pact with Moscow, of whom the Mongol leader is an enemy.
* Ferdinand II of Aragon becomes Roman Emperor.

Births

* January 11 - Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola), Italian artist (d. 1540)
* March 10 - Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1564)
* March 22 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (d. 1583)
* April - Henry II of Navarre (d. 1555)
* June 1 - Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (d. 1567)
* June 28 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (d. 1556)
* June 30 - John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (d. 1554)
* August 12 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)
* November 17 - Agnolo di Cosimo, Italian artist and poet (d. 1572)
* December 14 - Nostradamus, French physician and prophet (d. 1566)
*"date unknown"
**Lucas David, Prussian historian (d. 1583)
**Robert Estienne, French printer (d. 1559)
**John Frith, English Protestant priest and martyr (d. 1533)
**Shimazu Katsuhisa, Japanese nobleman (d. 1573)
**Tomé de Sousa, Portuguese nobleman, first general-governor of Brazil (d.1573 or 1579)
*"probable" - Nicholas Bourbon, French poet

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Deaths

* February 11 - Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII of England (b. 1466)
* May 20 - Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Italian patron of the arts (b. 1463)
* June 30 - Pierre d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes (b. 1423)
* August 18 - Pope Alexander VI (b. 1431)
* October 8 - Peter II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1438)
* October 18 - Pope Pius III (b. 1439)
* November 23 - Margaret of York, wife of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1446)
* December 28 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)
*"date unknown"
**Richard Amerike, English merchant and patron of John Cabot (b. 1445)
**Reginald Bray, British courtier (b. 1440)
**Edward Story, Bishop of Carlisle and Chichester

Ongoing Events

*1503-1650 - Sixteen million kilograms of silver and 185,000 kilograms of gold enter Seville's port.

: "See also ."