1503

Events

January–June

• January 20 - Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive rights to trade with the New World.
• January 24 - Construction of the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey begins in the perpendicular style, the final stage of English Gothic art.
• February 11 - Queen Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII of England, dies on her 37th birthday, more than a week after giving birth to her daughter Katherine Tudor, who died the previous day.
• February 13 - Challenge of Barletta: Thirteen Italian knights defeat thirteen French knights, near Barletta.
• February 23 - French–Spanish Wars in Italy - Battle of Ruvo: The Spanish defeat the French.
• April 21 - Battle of Seminara: Spanish forces under Fernando de Andrade de las Mariñas defeat the French under Bernard Stewart, 4th Lord of Aubigny.
• April 21 - Battle of Cerignola: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat the French under Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, who is killed.
• May 10 - Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands, which he names Las Tortugas, after the numerous sea turtles there.
• May 13 - Naples is captured by the Spanish.
• May 20 - Ascension Island is first definitively sighted, by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque.
• May 28 James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married as per the Treaty of Perpetual Peace by Pope Alexander VI, according to Papal bull.

  July–December

• July 23 - Orbital calculations suggest that on this day, Pluto moves outside Neptune's orbit, remaining there for 233 years.
• July 30 - Saint Helena is first definitively sighted, by ships of Portuguese navigator Estêvão da Gama returning from the East.
• August 8 - King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
• August 20 - Stephen III of Moldavia concludes a treaty with Sultan Bayezid II, preserving Moldavia's self-rule at the cost of an annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire.
• September 22 - Pope Pius III succeeds Alexander VI as the 215th pope, but dies on October 18.
• October 30 - Queen Isabella I of Spain prohibits violence against indigenous peoples in the New World.
• October 31 - Pope Julius II succeeds Pius III, as the 216th pope.
• December 29 - Battle of Garigliano, near Gaeta, Italy: Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo; the French forces withdraw to Gaeta.

  Date unknown

• Vasco da Gama establishes India's first Portuguese fortress, at Cochin.
• Mariotto Albertinelli paints :File:Albertinelli Visitation.jpg|The Visitation.
• Hieronymus Bosch works on the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.
• Leonardo da Vinci probably starts work on painting the Mona Lisa in Florence.
• The book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is re-published in an English translation.
• The pocket handkerchief comes into general use in polite European society.
• From this year until 1650, sixteen million kilograms of silver and 185,000 kilograms of gold will enter the port of Seville.

  Births

• January 3 - Al-Mutahhar, Imam of the Zaidi state of Yemen
• January 11 - Parmigianino, Italian artist
• January 18 - Joachim of Münsterberg-Oels, Duke of Münsterberg, Duke of Oels, Count of Kladsko, Bishop of Brandenburg
• February 24 - Johann Gropper, German Catholic cardinal
• March 4 - Elisabeth of Hesse, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken, later Countess Palatine of Simmern
• March 10 - Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
• March 11 - George Harper, English politician
• March 22 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer
• April 6 - Jacob Micyllus, German humanist
• April 18 - Henry II of Navarre, King of Navarre
• May 1 - Celio Secondo Curione, Italian humanist
• June 1 - Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer
• June 28 - Giovanni della Casa, Italian poet
• June 30 - John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony
• July 23 - Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Queen consort of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary
• August 12 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway
• October 4 - Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Spain
• November 12 - Philip, Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg, German duke
• November 13 - Ippolita Gonzaga, Italian nun
• November 17 - Agnolo di Cosimo, Italian artist and poet
• November 19 - Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma
• December 14 - Michel de Nostredame, called Nostradamus, French physician and writer of Les Propheties
• December 20 - Cosimo Bartoli, Italian diplomat and writer
• date unknown
• *Lucas David, Prussian historian
• * Robert Estienne, French printer
• * John Frith, English Protestant priest and martyr
• * Susannah Hornebolt, English artist
• *Lakandula, Lakan of Tondo
• *Shimazu Katsuhisa, Japanese nobleman
• *Tomé de Sousa, Portuguese nobleman, first general-governor of Brazil
• probable - Nicholas Bourbon, French poet

  Deaths

• January 20 - Ludmila of Poděbrady, Regent of the duchies of Brzeg and Oława
• February 11 - Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII of England
• March 16 - Edward Story, Bishop of Carlisle and Chichester
• March 14 - Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland
• April 4 - Annamacharya, Indian mystic saint composer
• April 7 - Sophia Palaiologina, Byzantine princess and Grand Princess of Moscow
• May 20 - Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Italian patron of the arts
• June 2 - Clara Gonzaga, Italian noble
• June 24 - Reginald Bray, British courtier
• July 3 - Pierre d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes
• July 12 - Sophie of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Saxony
• July 24 - Louise of Savoy, Nun
• August 12 - Anna Jagiellon, Duchess of Pomerania, Polish princess
• August 18 - Pope Alexander VI
• September 5 - Margaret of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noblewoman
• October 10 - Peter II, Duke of Bourbon
• October 18 - Pope Pius III
• November 23
• * Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Savoy
• * Margaret of York, Duchess consort of Burgundy, spouse of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy
• December 1 - George, Duke of Bavaria
• December 14 - Sten Sture the Elder, regent of Sweden
• December 28 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, exiled ruler of Florence
• date unknown
• * Richard Amerike, English merchant and patron of John Cabot
• * Anacaona, Taino queen and poet