1496 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

• January 3 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
• March 5 - England King Henry VII issued letters patern to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to discover unknown lands.
• March 10 - Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere.
• July - Spanish forces under Gonzalo Hernandez de Cordoba capture Atella after a siege. Among the prisoners is the French viceroy of Naples, the Comte de Montpensier. Ferrante II is restored to the throne of Naples.
• Jesus College (University of Cambridge) founded.

Births

• March 28 - Mary Tudor, queen of Louis XII of France (d. 1533)
• May 12 - Gustav Vasa, King of Sweden (died 1560)
• October 20 - Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (died 1550)
• François Bonivard, Swiss patriot and historian (died 1570)
• Edward Fox, English churchman
• Richard Maitland, Scottish poet (died 1586)
• Clément Marot, French poet (died 1544)
• Anthony St Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland
• Menno Simons, Dutch Anabaptist leader (died 1561)
• Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester (died 1549)

Deaths

• March 4 - Archduke Sigismund of Austria (born 1427)
• September 7 - King Ferdinand II of Naples (born 1469)
• September 25 - Piero Capponi, Italian soldier and statesman (born 1447)
• Piero del Pollaiuolo, Italian painter (born 1443)

1496

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