1503

Years: 1500 1501 1502 - 1503 - 1504 1505 1506

Decades: 1470s 1480s 1490s - 1500s - 1510s 1520s 1530s

Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century

Events

• January 20 - Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive right to trade with the New World.
• April 21 - Battle of Cerignola. Aragonese 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 and he names them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there.
• May 13 - Capture of Naples by the Spanish.
• August 8 - King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
• September 22 - Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini becomes Pope Pius III succeeding Pope Alexander VI, but dies on October 18.
• December 29 - Battle of the Garigliano - Spanish forces under Cordoba defeat a French-Italian mercenary army under the Marquis of Saluzzo. The French forces withdraw to Gaeta.
• Giuliano della Rovere becomes Pope Julius II succeeding Pope Pius III.
• Leonardo da Vinci starts work on the Mona Lisa.
• Perpendicular style chapel added to Westminster Abbey.
• Battle of Ruvo - French-Spanish Wars in Italy.
• Vasco da Gama established India's first Portuguese fortress at Cochin.
• Mariotto Albertinelli paints his masterpiece, the "Visitation of the Virgin".

Births

• March 10 - Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Habsburg emperor of Austria (died 1564)
• March 22 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Humanist poet (died 1583)
• June 1 - Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (died 1567)
• June 28 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet (died 1556)
• June 30 - John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, Japanese nobleman (died 1554)
• August 12 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (died 1559)
• December 14 - Nostradamus, German adventurer (died 1566)
• Nicholas Bourbon, Humanist poet
• Lucas David, Prussian historian (died 1583)
• Robert Estienne, French printer (died 1559)
• Charles Etienne, French anatomist (died 1564)
• John Frith, English Protestant priest and martyr (died 1533)
• Henry II of Navarre (died 1555)
• Shimazu Katsuhisa, Japanese nobleman
• Parmigianino, Italian painter (died 1540)
• Katherine Tudor, youngest daughter and last child of King Henry VII of England
• Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish poet (died 1536)

Deaths

• February 11 - Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII of England (born 1466)
• June 30 - Pierre d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes (born 1423)
• August 18 - Pope Alexander VI (born 1431)
• October 18 - Pope Pius III, pope from September 22 to October 18 (born 1439)
• November 23 - Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV of England (born 1446)
• December 28 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (born 1471)
• Richard Amerike, patron of John Cabot (born 1445)
• Peter II, Duke of Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne from 1488 (born 1438)
• Reginald Bray, British courtier (born 1440)
• Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, patron of Botticelli (born 1463)
• Sophia Paleologue, wife of Ivan III of Russia
• Edward Story, Bishop of Carlisle and Chichester
• Katherine Tudor, youngest daughter and last child of King Henry VII of England