1505 - Political Events

Political Events

Ferrara's Ercole d'Este dies at age 74 (approximate) after a long reign in which Ferrara has supported humanist scholars and the arts but lost the Polesine of Rovigo. Ercole is succeeded by his son, who will reign until 1534 as Alfonso I, regaining the Polesine of Rovigo. The new signore has established a youthful reputation for rude behavior but will prove a wise ruler; Alfonso soon foils a plot against him and sentences his stepbrother Giulio and another brother, Ferrante, to life imprisonment.

The 15-year-old French nobleman Charles, comte de Montpensier, becomes duke of Bourbon and duke of Auvergne by marrying Suzanne de Beaujeu and making himself the richest man in Europe. In the next 10 years he will squander his fortune on fast horses, fancy clothes, tennis games, and jousting tournaments (see 1515).

Poland's Constitution of Radom makes the national diet the supreme legislative body: the Diet of Piotrkow 12 years ago was the first sejm to legislate for all Poland. Voting in provincial assemblies, the nobility elects the new diet, and the statute Nihil Novi forbids the king to enact laws without the diet's consent, giving the sejm and the senate a voice equal to that of the crown in executive matters.

The grand prince of Muscovy Ivan the Great dies at his native Moscow October 27 at age 65. He is succeeded by his 26-year-old son, who will reign as Basil (Vasily) III Ivanovich until 1533 and incorporate the last remaining independent Russian principalities with Muscovy (see 1510). The war with Lithuania has continued since 1501, but Basil is faced also with hostile Tatars in the Crimea and is obliged to tread softly lest his two enemies unite.

China's ninth Ming emperor Hongzhi (Hung-chi) dies after an 18-year reign and is succeeded by his 14-year-old son, who is more interested in acrobatics, magicians, music, and wrestling than in affairs of state and will reign ineffectually until 1521 as Zhengde (Cheng-te) (see 1510).

Portugal's Manuel I sends soldier Francisco d'Almeida, 54, to the Indies as his first viceroy (see Albuquerque, 1503). Embarking from Lisbon in March with a fleet of 21 ships, he rounds the Cape of Good Hope, takes Quiloa (Kilwa) on Africa's east coast and builds a fort there en route to his post; he destroys Mombasa and establishes fortified posts at Calicut, Cannanore, and Cochin on the Malabar coast. When the Arabs who have monopolized the spice trade try to stop him, he will burn and pillage their ports (see 1509).