1508

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December: Sistine Chapel.

Year 1508 (MDVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–June

• February – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor attacks the Republic of Venice.
• March 22 – Ferdinand II of Aragon appoints Amerigo Vespucci to the post of Chief Navigator of Spain.
• June 6 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a 3-year truce and cede several territories to the Republic.

July–December

• August – Lebna Dengel succeeds his father Na'od as Emperor of Ethiopia. Due to his young age, his grandmother Eleni acts as regent.
• December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).
• December 10 – The League of Cambrai is formed as an alliance against the Republic of Venice between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

Births

• February 17 – Bernardo Salviati, Catholic cardinal (d. 1568)
• April 3 – Jean Daurat, French writer and scholar (d. 1588)
• April 5 – Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Italian noble (d. 1559)
• April 23 – Georg Sabinus, German writer (d. 1560)
• May 8 – Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (d. 1562)
• June 8 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer who lays the foundations for the Slovenian written language (d. 1586)
• June 10 – Hedwig of Münsterberg-Oels, German noble (d. 1531)
• June 13 – Alessandro Piccolomini, Italian humanist and philosopher from Siena (d. 1579)
• June 29 – Balthasar of Hanau-Münzenberg, German nobleman (d. 1534)
• September 19 – Maria Paleologa, Italian noblewoman (d. 1530)
• September 23 – Simon Sulzer, Swiss theologian (d. 1585)
• September 25 – Francisco Mendoza de Bobadilla, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1566)
• November 23 – Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, youngest son of Henry the Middle (d. 1549)
• November 25 – Cristofano Gherardi, Italian painter (d. 1556)
• November 30 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (d. 1580)
• December 9 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555)
• December 21 – Thomas Naogeorgus, German playwright (d. 1563)
• December 24 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)
• date unknown
  • Livio Agresti, Italian painter (d. 1580)
  • Marin Držić, Croatian playwright (d. 1567)
• possible
  • Jane Seymour, third Queen of Henry VIII of England

Deaths

Ludovico Sforza died on May 27, 1508

• February – Robert Lauder of the Bass, governor of Berwick-on-Tweed (b. c. 1440)
• February 4 – Conrad Celtes, German humanist (b. 1459)
• February 15 – Giovanni II Bentivoglio, tyrant of Bologna (b. 1443)
• February 27 – James, Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne of Scotland (b. 1507)
• February 28 – Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1448)
• March – Lourenço de Almeida, Portuguese explorer
• April 10 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero (b. 1472)
• May 27 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)
• June 15 – Bernard Stewart, 4th Lord of Aubigny (b. c. 1452)
• July 28 – Robert Blackadder, Bishop of Glasgow
• July 31 – Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (in battle)
• October 13 – Edmund de Ros, 10th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1446)
• October 18 – Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell, Lord High Admiral of Scotland
• December 10 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
• date unknown
  • Isaac Abravanel, Portuguese statesman, philosopher and theologian (b. 1437)
  • Mahmud Khan (Moghul Khan), Khan of Tashkent
  • Micheletto Corella, Valencian Condottieri
  • Damkhat Reachea, emperor of Cambodia
  • Ahmad al-Wansharisi, North African Islamic jurist and theologian

References