Birth of a short-lived child to George, duke of Clarence, and his wife, Isabel Neville, on a ship off Calais.  Some sources say that it was a boy, others that it was a girl named Anne.  This was their first child.

Birth of Leonardo da Vinci in Vinci near Florence.  Famous as a painter and inventor, scientist and lots more.

He was a contemporary of Richard III, being just six months older.   He died on 2 May 1519.

Battle of Barnet, Hertfordshire, defeat of Warwick and his brother Montagu, who both fell in the battle.  Richard is said to have been in command of the vanguard.

Read more about a possible different location for the battle here.

Final deposition of Henry VI in favour of Edward IV

Edward IV dies at Westminster, buried at St Georges Chapel, Windsor.  It is assumed that he named his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Lord Protector of England during his son Edward’s minority.

Coronation of Henry V at Westminster

Richard I (the ‘Lionheart’) dies from an infected arrow wound to his shoulder.  He received this by accident while besieging the small, virtually unarmed castle of Chalus-Chabrol.

Richard was born on 8 September 1157, the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

He was crowned King of England on 3 September 1189.  Richard spend only 6 months of his reign in England, first going on the Third Crusade, on his return he was imprisoned in Austria.  His mother worked hard to raise the ransom of 150,000 marks (65,000 pounds of silver) equaling 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown at that time.

In the Alhambra Decree, Isabella of Castile and Fernando of Aragon order all Jews to leave their kingdoms by 31 July 1492.  This was in spite of them guaranteeing religious freedom in the Treaty of Granada, signed in 1491 between Emir Muhammad XII and Isabella of Castile.  However, the Fall of Granada on 2 January 1492 changed everything.

While under Moorish rule Jews and Christians had been free to practice their religion and learning and trade had flourished, this changed dramatically with the Alhambra Decree and a time of religious persecution and much suffering began.

(Photograph of the Alhambra in Granada by D Preis)

Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  She was first married to Louis VII of France, from 1137 until their divorce in spring 1352.  She married Henry II of England in May 1352.  At the time of her death she was 82.

She was buried at the abbey church in Fontevrault, next to her second husband.  Several of their children, including their son Richard I ‘the Lionheart’ are also buried there.

Source: ODNB ‘Eleanor , suo jure duchess of Aquitaine (c.1122–1204)’

Photograph of the tomb effigies of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II at Fontevrault Abbey taken by ElanorGamgee; obtained through Wikimedia Commons.