1480

January–December

• March 6 - Treaty of Toledo: Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain recognize the African conquests of Afonso V of Portugal, and he cedes the Canary Islands to Spain.
• July 28
• * Mehmed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes.
• * An Ottoman army lands near Otranto, Italy. Pope Sixtus IV calls for a crusade to drive it away.
• August 12 - Ottoman invasion of Otranto: Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam. The Martyrs of Otranto are canonized in 2013.
• September 27 - Consorts and co-rulers Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile initiate the Spanish Inquisition.
• October - Great Stand on the Ugra River: Muscovy becomes independent from the Golden Horde. The Theotokos of Vladimir icon is credited with saving Moscow.

  Date unknown

• The Lighthouse of Alexandria's final remains disappear when Qaitbay, Sultan of Egypt, builds the Citadel of Qaitbay on its site.
• Magdalen College School, Oxford, is established by William Waynflete.

  Births

• January 10 - Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands
• February 12 - Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica from 1488
• February 13 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal
• April 10 - Philibert II, Duke of Savoy
• April 18 - Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara
• June 1 - Tiedemann Giese, Catholic bishop from Danzig in Poland
• July 5 - Philip of the Palatinate, Bishop of Freising and Naumburg
• October 1 - Saint Cajetan, Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer
• November 10 - Bridget of York, English nun
• October - Saint Cajetan, founder of the Theatines
• date unknown
• * Fernão de Magalhães, Portuguese navigator
• * Vannoccio Biringuccio, Italian metallurgist
• * Claude Garamond, French publisher
• * Giovanni Guidiccioni, Italian poet
• * Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer
• * Jerzy Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman
• * Gazi Husrev-beg, Ottoman statesmen
• * Palma il Vecchio, Italian painter
• probable
• * Arasibo, Taino Cacique
• * Hans Baldung, German painter
• * Matteo Bandello, Italian novelist
• * Johann Georg Faust, German alchemist
• * Anna Taskomakare, Swedish merchant craftswoman and estate owner
• * Jumacao, Taino Cacique
• * Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone
• * Marcantonio Raimondi, Italian engraver
• * Alix Tammy Sutherland, Scottish Pirate

  Deaths

• January 5 - Jakobus, nobleman from Lichtenberg in the northern part of Alsace
• April 14 - Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate
• May 10 - Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg
• May 19 - Jan Długosz, Polish historian
• May 25 - William III, Count of Henneberg-Schleusingen
• June 6 - Vecchietta, Italian painter, sculptor and architect
• July 6 - Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer
• July 10 - René of Anjou, king of Naples
• July 15 - John III, Count of Nassau-Weilburg, German nobleman
• July 26 - Ruprecht of the Palatinate, Archbishop and Prince Elector of Cologne
• September 1 - Ulrich V, Count of Württemberg
• October 4 - Jakub of Sienno, medieval Bishop Kraków in the years 1461–1463
• October 18 - Uhwudong, Korean dancer
• November 20 - Eleanor of Scotland, Scottish princess
• November 29 - Frederick I, Count Palatine of Simmern
• December 14 - Niccolò Perotti, Italian humanist scholar
• date unknown
• * Nicolas Jenson, French engraver
• * Tristão Vaz Teixeira, Portuguese explorer
• * Antonio Vivarini, Italian painter
• * Joana de Castre, Catalan noble