15th century

Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula. One bad mamajama.

The 15th century is a one-hundred year period of time that spans the years 1400 to 1499. In Europe, the 15th century is seen as the bridge between the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period. In religious history, the Roman Papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades until the Council of Constance. The division of the Catholic Church and the unrest associated with the Hussite movement would become factors in the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the following century.

Constantinople, in what is today Turkey, then the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, falls to the emerging Muslim Ottoman Turks, marking the end of the tremendously influential Byzantine Empire and, for some historians, the end of the Middle Ages.[1] The event forced Western Europeans to find a new trade route, adding further momentum to what was the beginning of the Age of Discovery, which would lead to the global mapping of the world. Explorations by the Spanish and Portuguese led to European sightings of the Americas (the New World) and the sea passage along Cape of Good Hope to India, in the last decade of the century. These expeditions ushered in the era of the Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires.

Notable years

• Indeterminate decade(s):

• The events of the Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris comic book series takes place four-hundred years prior to the events of the American Civil War, which is around the time that she first encountered future husband John Carter.

• Jack Harkness existed in this era, but was inactive. He had been buried alive by his brother Gray in the 1st century.

• Amy Pond had been trapped in the Pandorica in the 2nd century and remained there throughout the years, including the 15th century.

• The First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright visited the Aztec empire. Barbara, taken for the reincarnation of Yetaxa, tried in vain to stop the Aztec practice of human sacrifice.

• A Hungarian noblewoman named Zofia is born. As an adult, she marries Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula.

• 1431

• Vlad III, also known as Vlad Ţepeș and Vlad the Impaler is born. He is the inspiration for the fictional vampire character Dracula.

• Joan of Arc is arrested and placed on trial in France. She is burned at the stake on May 30th. This event has been chronicled in numerous films such as the 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Ar, the 1952 movie Joan of Arc, the 1996 and 1999 television movies, Joan of Arc and the 1999 film The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.

• 1450s

• Vlad Tepes and Zofia give birth to a daughter named Lilith.

• 1476

• Historical record: Vlad the Impaler is killed while fighting the Turks, though movie fiction would have you believe that he became a vampire around this time.

• 1480

• Armand is born in Kievan Rus'. In 1497, he will be turned into a vampire by Marius de Romanus.

• 1483

• Richard III becomes King of England. The events of the 1939 film Tower of London, which depicts Richard's scheming rise to power takes place in this year. The 1955 film Richard III, based on the play by William Shakespeare, also chronicles the rise of King Richard.

• 1485

• King Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He is succeeded by King Henry VII.

• 1489

• In Howling V: Rebirth, the Lord of a castle enters his dining hall to find all of the guests have been savagely murdered. His wife enters the room and they embrace. The Lord takes a large sword and impales both his wife and himself with a single thrust. Before expiring, he hears the cry of a baby, which terrifies him. His last words are, "We died in vain".

• 1492

• Explorer Christopher Columbus makes the first of four epic voyages, during which he discovers San Salvador and the Bahamas.

See also

• Appearances of the 15th century in media