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| 15th century | |
|---|---|
| Name | 15th century |
| Start year | 1401 |
| End year | 1500 |
| Major events | Hundred Years' War, Fall of Constantinople, Wars of the Roses, Age of Discovery, Reconquista |
| Notable people | Joan of Arc, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Moctezuma II, Mehmed II, Ivan III of Russia |
15th century The 15th century witnessed transformative shifts across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas as dynastic changes, imperial expansion, and cultural renaissances reshaped polities and societies. Key episodes such as the Fall of Constantinople, the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War, the rise of Iberian monarchies after the Reconquista, and the beginnings of the Age of Discovery linked distant regions and accelerated exchanges of people, goods, and ideas.
Monarchs and rulers including Henry V of England, Charles VII of France, Isabella I of Castile, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Mehmed II, and Ivan III of Russia consolidated territorial states through marriages like the union of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and treaties such as the Treaty of Picquigny. Urban centers like Florence, Venice, Genoa, Paris, and London grew under families and institutions including the Medici family, the House of Valois, and the House of Tudor, while courts hosted patronage networks around figures such as Lorenzo de' Medici and Isotta Nogarola. Social upheavals followed epidemics and famines; peasant revolts and guild disputes intersected with the legal reforms of rulers like Louis XI of France and the administrative changes of the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II.
Economic expansion occurred as maritime republics Venice and Genoa and trading centers like Antwerp and Lisbon directed commerce in spices, silk, and precious metals linked to merchants such as the Fugger family precursors and banking houses like the Medici bank. Technological diffusion included the spread of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg which transformed information circulation, and advances in metallurgy and shipbuilding influenced innovations by shipwrights in Portugal and Castile. Coinage reforms, mercantile charters, and mercenary companies including the Landsknechte affected fiscal policies of rulers such as Charles VII of France and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Exploration accelerated with navigators and patrons including Prince Henry the Navigator, Christopher Columbus, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, and Pedro Álvares Cabral. Portuguese voyages rounded Cape of Good Hope and linked Lisbon to Calicut and the Indian Ocean networks involving Mansa Musa’s earlier gold routes and contemporary African polities. Spanish voyages under Columbus reached islands claimed as parts of Castile and sparked contact with polities such as the Taíno and later empires like the Aztec Empire under rulers who would face figures like Hernán Cortés in subsequent decades. Navigation benefited from instruments like the astrolabe, portolan charts produced in Majorca and Portugal, and cartographers such as Martin Behaim and mapmakers contributing to the Cantino planisphere tradition.
Artistic production flourished in centers including Florence, Milan, Rome, Bruges, and the Ottoman Empire capital of Constantinople until 1453. Masters such as Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Jan van Eyck, and later Leonardo da Vinci worked on commissions by patrons like the Medici family and religious institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church. Architectural developments included early Renaissance architecture in Florence and Ottoman rebuilding of Constantinople by Mehmed II. Literary achievements in vernaculars featured authors like Geoffrey Chaucer’s afterlives, Ludovico Ariosto precursors, Dante Alighieri’s influence, and humanists such as Erasmus appearing at century’s end, while illuminated manuscripts, chivalric romances, and printed editions expanded readerships.
Humanist scholarship centered in universities and courts involved figures like Petrarch’s legacy, Niccolò Machiavelli’s precursors, Marsilio Ficino, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola who translated and commented on classical texts. Medical knowledge drew on translations of Avicenna and classical authorities and was practised in hospitals and colleges across Paris, Bologna, and Padua. Cartography and mathematical improvements aided navigation, with contributions from Regiomontanus and instrument makers associated with Prague and Nuremberg. The transfer of classical manuscripts from fallen Byzantium to Italian libraries after the Fall of Constantinople stimulated philological studies and curricula reform in humanist circles.
Major conflicts reshaped borders: the conclusion of the Hundred Years' War involved battles such as Battle of Agincourt earlier and diplomacy culminating in consolidation under House of Valois; the Wars of the Roses in England saw houses Lancaster and York struggle, producing figures like Edward IV of England and Richard III. Ottoman expansion under Mehmed II captured Constantinople and pressed into the Balkans against polities including the Kingdom of Hungary led by Matthias Corvinus. Iberian campaigns such as the Granada War ended Muslim rule in Iberia and led to treaties and expulsions affecting Sephardic Jews and conversos. Diplomatic practices evolved through marriage alliances, papal interventions by popes such as Pope Nicholas V, and treaties like the Treaty of Tordesillas at century’s close.
Religious life was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church with papal initiatives such as the establishment of the Vatican Library and responses to conciliar movements like the Council of Constance’s aftermath; monastic orders including the Franciscans and Dominicans remained influential. Heretical movements and reformist voices appeared in late-century calls echoed later by Martin Luther; figures like Jan Hus and the Hussite wars affected Bohemia. Islamicate governance under the Ottoman Empire and dynasties like the Timurid Empire shaped religious patronage in Anatolia and Persia, while syncretic practices and missionary encounters increased in the wake of Iberian expansion to the Americas.