1497

January–December

• February 7 - Followers of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of "immoral" objects, at the Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence.
• May - The Cornish Rebellion breaks out in England, incited by war taxes.
• May 10 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz, for his first voyage to the New World.
• May 12 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
• May 20 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, on the ship Matthew, looking for new lands to the west.
• June 13 - The Catholic Monarchs issue the ordinance of Medina del Campo, creating a money system based on the copper maravedí, creating the peso of 34 maravedis. In the next three centuries, this system will dominate international payments. It will be used in almost all parts of the Americas and large parts of Asia. It is the basis for a number of modern currencies, including the U.S. dollar.
• June 17 - Battle of Deptford Bridge near London: Cornish rebels under Michael An Gof are soundly defeated by Henry VII.
• June 24 - John Cabot lands in North America.
• July 8 - Vasco da Gama's fleet departs from Lisbon, beginning his expedition to India.
• September 7 - Second Cornish Uprising in England: Perkin Warbeck lands near Land's End; on September 10 he is proclaimed as King in Bodmin.
• September 28 - John, King of Denmark, defeats Sten Sture the Elder at the Battle of Rotebro.
• September 30 - Treaty of Ayton establishes a seven-year peace between England and Scotland.
• October 4 - Leaders of the Second Cornish Uprising surrender to the King at Taunton; the following day, Warbeck, having deserted his army, is captured at Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire.
• October 6 - Sten Sture the Elder is forced to resign and end his 27-year term as Regent of Sweden. King John of Denmark and Norway is acknowledged by the estates as King of Sweden and formally elected on October 18, restoring the power of the Kalmar Union.
• December 5 - King Manuel I of Portugal proclaims an edict in which he demands that Jews convert to Christianity or leave the country.
• December 23 - Sheen Palace is destroyed by fire. Henry VII of England rebuilds it as Richmond Palace.

Date unknown

• Ivan the Great issues his law code, the Sudebnik.
• The Ottomans give Russian merchants freedom of trade within the empire.
• Iamblichus De mysteriis Aegyptorum edited by Marsilio Ficino is published.