January 14–Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Cum tam divino, decreeing a reform in the Roman Catholic Church to prohibit simony, the buying and selling of church offices ranging from bishops to the pope himself.[1]
January 23–Lunkaran begins his reign as the Rao of the Indian kingdom of Bikaner in what is now the Rajasthan state of India.[2]
January 24– Under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, Pope Julius II sets the line of demarcation in the New World between Spain's and Portugal's territory as a line of longitude 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands.[3] The ambiguous definition of the measure of a league places the line between 42°30' W to 49°45' W.[4]
March 31– King Alexander Jagiellon of Poland agrees to support the Act of Nihil novi, prohibiting the king to issue laws without consent of the nobles represented by their parliament, the Sejm.[7] The official title is "Nihil novi nisi commune consensu", Latin for "Nothing new without common consent."
April–June
April 3– Italian explorer Sebastiano Caboto is granted a lifetime annuity of £10 per year by England's King Henry VII for services "in and aboute the fyndynge of the new founde landes" in North America.[8]
The Kalmar Bloodbath, a mass execution of participants in the Swedish Uprising against King Hans of Denmark (who also rules Norway and Sweden) takes place in the Swedish city of Kalmar after a judgment of treason is pronounced against the mayor, city officials and other leaders. [15][16]
Martin Luther, aged 22, vows to become a monk in a moment of terror, as a result of a close lightning strike during a thunderstorm, near the village of Stotternheim.[17]
July 24– Travelling to India, a group of Portuguese explorers led by Francisco de Almeida, with 22 ships and 1,500 men, sack the city-state of Kilwa in East Africa, killing the Emir Abraham for failing to pay tribute. Almeida installs Mohammed Ankoni as the new ruler. [19]
Francisco de Almeida arrives in the Anjediva Islands to begin construction on the first of four fortresses he needed to construct for his appointment as viceroy.[20]
November 15– Portuguese explorer Lourenço de Almeida and his fleet encounter a storm and are driven to the island of Sri Lanka and travels to Colombo. The King of Kotte, Dharma Parakramabahu IX, allows Almeida to build a trade station and a Roman Catholic chapel. [26]
The Pomander Watch of 1505, the earliest known pocket watch, is made by Peter Henlein in Germany at Nuremberg. After an absence of 480 years, the watch will be rediscovered at a flea market in London; an inscription on the watch, "MDVPHN", will be interpreted in 2014 as meaning a rendition of the year (MDV, 1505 in Roman numerals); the inventor (PH for Peter Henlein) and the place of manufacture (N for Nuremberg). [29][30]
Portuguese merchants establish factories and fortresses on the east coast of Africa in Kilwa, Sofala, and Malindi.[31]
The St Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai is captured and sacked by Bedouins. Though the Mamluk sultan attempts to punish the raiders, he is unable to subdue them and preserve order.[36]
C. F. Wegener, Årsberetninger fra Det Kongelige Geheimearchiv indeholdende Bidrag til Dansk Historie af utrykte Kilder [Annual Reports from the Royal Archive Containing Contributions to Danish History from Published Sources] (Rigsarkivet, 1870) p.323 (quoting Arild Hvitfeldt, Codex af Aelnoth, pp. 1053-1056)
"Colombo (Sri Lanka)", in International Dictionary of Historic Places, Volume 5: Asia and Oceania, ed. by Paul E. Schellinger and Robert M. Salkin (Taylor & Francis, 2012) p. 199
Liliencron, Rochus Freiherr von; Wegele, Franz X. von; Bettelheim, Anton (1893). Allgemeine deutsche Biographie (in German). Duncker & Humblot. p.339. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
Herbermann, Charles George; Pace, Edward Aloysius; Pallen, Condé Bénoist; Shahan, Thomas Joseph; Wynne, John Joseph; MacErlean, Andrew Alphonsus (1909). The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.6. Robert Appleton Company. p.635. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
Воробьев, Александр (May 15, 2022). Великий князь Иван III Васильевич. ИД «Комсомольская правда». ISBN978-5-04-049358-6. Retrieved June 29, 2023. On October 27, 1505, Ivan Vasilievich passed away, having been on the throne for a little over 43 years. At the time of his death, he was 65 years old - an extremely respectable age for an era when the average life expectancy was almost half that.