In the year AD 1485...
- The War of the Roses near their conclusion as the Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, lands an army in Wales and marches on London. Although Henry's army is smaller, he crushes the forces of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, thanks to the betrayal of Richard's ally Lord Stanley. Upon the death of Richard, Henry immediately has himself crowned King Henry VII on a nearby hill, establishing the Tudor Dynasty.
- In an incident that would later come to be known as the "Mad War," a group of French nobles led by Louis II of Orléans and Francis II of Brittany attempt to overthrow French regent Anne de Beaujeu. Through a combination of adroit diplomacy and timely shows of force, Anne succeeds in thwarting the revolt without an outright battle, and the dispute is temporarily ended by Peace of Bourges, although it would resume again the following year.
- The forces of Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan the Great conquer the principality of Tver.
- King of Hungary Matthias Corvinus conquers Vienna and makes it the new capital of his growing empire.
- The first instances of the mysterious and deadly "sweating sickness" are recorded in England in late summer, and the disease kills several thousand people by the onset of winter.
- Leonardo da Vinci becomes perhaps the first person to consider the possibility of a helicopter when he sketches his design for an "aerial screw."
- William Caxton publishes Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, the most famous an influential English-language version of the legend of King Arthur.
These people were born in 1485...
These people died in 1485...
1484 - 1485 - 1486
15th century
How they were made