1493 - Political Events

Political Events

Aragon obtains Roussillon and Cerdagne from France under terms of the Treaty of Narbonne signed January 19. Charles VIII has agreed to the treaty in hopes of obtaining Ferdinand II's support for an invasion of Italy, but Ferdinand has joined with the new pope Alexander VI, the German king Maximilian I, Milan, and Venice to block the French plan.

Beatrice d'Este gives birth at Milan January 25 to a son who is given the name Ercole. Her husband, Ludovico Sforza, sends Beatrice 4 months later on a diplomatic mission to Venice, accompanied by a retinue of 1,200 that includes her mother, the duchess of Ferrara. Still under 18, Beatrice sails down the Po and into the Adriatic, is entertained at Venice with a regatta, boat races, banquets, balls, and a torchlight procession; achieves few tangible results; but impresses the old Venetian councillors with her quickness, wisdom, and eloquence. She and her mother leave Venice June 2 and return to Ferrara, where she is reunited with her infant son. Her mother, Leonora, dies of a gastric infection October 11.

Maximilian I takes Artois and Franche-Comte from France under terms of the Peace of Senlis in May.

Poland's Jan Olbracht (John Albert) convenes the privy council to help him out of his financial troubles. The council will hereafter be called the senate, and the king establishes a new chamber of deputies to represent the gentry (szlachta) in the first national parliament (Sejm). He grants extensive legislative powers to the parliament and agrees to preserve traditional privileges of the nobility and gentry, who agree in return to subsidize the crown.

The German king Friedrich III dies at Linz August 19 at age 77; his successor, Maximilian I, now 34, is married by proxy November 30 to Bianca Maria Sforza, 21, in the Duomo at Milan (his first wife, Mary of Burgundy, died in 1482). The bride soon leaves to cross the Alps with Maximilian's ambassadors, accompanied as far as Como by an entourage that includes Ludovico and Beatrice (d'Este) Sforza, who rename their son Ercole Maximilian in honor of his godfather.

Isabella d'Este at Mantua gives birth December 30 to her first child, a girl who is named Leonora.

The Ethiopian ruler of Bengal Muzaffar Shah is deposed after a 2-year reign and is succeeded by his chief minister Husayn Ala ad-din, who has led a rebellion against the shah, is proclaimed king, moves his capital from Gaur to Ikdala, systematically eliminates all possible rivals, has some 12,000 troops executed, disbands the elite Hindu palace guard, and exiles all Ethiopians, replacing them with Muslim and Hindu notables. He will reign until his death in 1519 as Husayn Shah Ala ad-din (see 1498).

Nobles of the Songhai Empire in West Africa elect the son of the late Sonni Ali as his successor by acclamation January 21 (see 1492), but the new king refuses to declare himself a Muslim; Mohammed Askia, 50, defeats the son's superior forces at the Battle of Anfao April 12 and takes over the empire that was built up by Sonni Ali, beginning a 35-year reign in which he will dominate the Mandingo Empire and extend Songhai territory beyond the Niger (see 1512).

A papal bull issued May 4 by Alexander VI (Borgia) establishes a line of demarcation between Spanish discoveries and Portuguese. The Spanish are to have dominion over any lands they discover west of the line, the Portuguese over lands east of the line (see Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494).