1473

January–December

• February 12 – The first complete Inside edition of Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (Latin translation) is published in Milan.
• August 11 – Battle of Otlukbeli: Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II defeats the White Sheep Turkmens, led by Uzun Hasan.

Date unknown

• Stephen the Great of Moldavia refuses to pay tribute to the Ottomans. This will attract an Ottoman invasion in 1475, resulting in the greatest defeat of the Ottomans so far.
• Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, invades the territory of the neighboring Aztec city of Tlatelolco. The ruler of Tlatelolco is killed and replaced by a military governor; Tlatelolco loses its independence.
• Possible discovery of the island of "Bacalao" (possibly Newfoundland off North America) by Didrik Pining and João Vaz Corte-Real.
• The city walls and defensive moat are built in Celje, Slovenia.
• Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474, an astronomical wall calendar, is published in Kraków, the oldest known printing in Poland.
• Florentine physician Marsilio Ficino becomes a Catholic priest.
• Possible date – Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is the first book to be printed in English, by William Caxton, in Bruges.

 

• February 19 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1543)
• February 25 – Al-Mutawakkil Yahya Sharaf ad-Din, Imam of the Zaidi state in Yemen (d. 1555)
• March 3 – Asakura Sadakage, 9th head of the Asakura clan (d. 1512)
• March 14 – Reinhard IV, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (1500–1512) (d. 1512)
• March 16 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (1539–1541) (d. 1541)
• March 17 – King James IV of Scotland, King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death (d. 1513)
• April 2 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)
• July 4 – Matilda of Hesse, German noblewoman (d. 1505)
• July 6 – James III of Cyprus, son of James II of Cyprus and Catherine Cornaro, king of Cyprus (d. 1474)
• July – Maddalena de' Medici, Italian noble (d. 1528)
• August 14 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (d. 1541)
• August 17 – Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (d. 1483)
• August 25 – Margaret of Münsterberg, Duchess consort and regent of Anhalt (d. 1530)
• September 2 – Ercole Strozzi, Italian poet (d. 1508)
• September 23 – Thomas Lovett III, High Sheriff of Northamptonshire (d. 1542)
• September 24 – Georg von Frundsberg, German knight and landowner (d. 1528)
• October 26 – Friedrich of Saxony, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1510)
• date unknown – Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, English Tudor politician (d. 1555)
• probable
  • Jean Lemaire de Belges, Walloon poet and historian (d. 1525)
  • Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, only son of Richard III of England (d. 1484)
  • Cecilia Gallerani, principal mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1536)

• January 24 – Conrad Paumann, German composer (b. c. 1410)
• February 23 – Arnold, Duke of Guelders (b. 1410)
• April 3 – Alessandro Sforza, Italian condottiero (b. 1409)
• April 15 – Yamana Sōzen, Japanese daimyō and monk (b. 1404)
• May 8 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
• June 6 – Hosokawa Katsumoto, Japanese nobleman (b. 1430)
• June 28 – John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, English nobleman (b. 1448)
• July 10 – James II of Cyprus (b. c. 1440)
• November 26 – Diego Fernández de la Cueva, 1st Viscount of Huelma
• October – Contessina de' Bardi, politically active Florentine woman (b. 1390)
• December 24 – John Cantius, Polish scholar and theologian (b. 1390)
• date unknown
  • Ewuare I, Oba of Benin
  • Jean Jouffroy, French prelate and diplomat (b. c. 1412)
  • Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1448)
  • Sigismondo Polcastro, Paduan physician and natural philosopher (b. 1384)
• probable – Marina Nani, Venetian dogaressa (b. c. 1400)
• probable – Patriarch Gennadios II of Constantinople (b. c. 1400)