A letterpress machine from 1811 at the Deutsches Museum in Münich, Germany, not much different from the Gutenberg Press of 1454. Photo credit Andrew Plumb

In the year 1454, the Thirteen Years' War begins as the citizens of Toruń rebel against the Teutonic Knights (Feb 2), Richard Plantagenet becomes Protector for King Henry VI of England who is in a catatonic state (Mar 27), King Henry regains his sanity (Dec), Isaac Zarfati, a French living in Ottoman Empire, sends a circular letter to several places in the Holy Roman Empire, urging the abused Jews there to come and live in the Ottoman Empire instead, the press of Johannes Gutenberg produces the first printed documents bearing a date - and all these fine people were born:

1454-xxxx Pinturicchio* (b Bernardino di Betto) Italian painter - Perugia (1513/c.58)

1454-0309 Amerigo Vespucci* explorer/navigator/cartographer from whose name the term “America” is derived - Florence, Republic of Florence (1512/57)

1454-0603 Bogislaw X* Duke of Pomerania/strengthened Pomerania’s position towards Brandenburg - Rügenwalde, Pomerania (1523/69)

1454-0924 Gerold Edlibach* chronicler - Zürich, Switzerland (1530/75)

1454-1125 Catherine Cornaro* Queen of Cyprus/the last monarch of the Kingdom of Cyprus - Venice, Republic of Venice (1510/55)

Updated 31.7.2021
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