1487
Aztec Templo Mayor Rededicated
Emperor Ahuitzotl inaugurated the rebuilt Great Temple of Tenochtitlan with a mass sacrifice that chroniclers estimate at tens of thousands of captives, carried out over four days while lines of prisoners stretched beyond the city. The event was theater, terror, and state religion fused into an act meant to define imperial power.
Battle of Stoke Field
Henry VII defeated a Yorkist rising that marched behind Lambert Simnel, a baker's son impersonating the Earl of Warwick. The last battle of the Wars of the Roses ended in a mass killing of Irish kerns and German mercenaries. Simnel, pardoned, spent the rest of his life as a royal kitchen servant.
Portuguese Reach Benin
Portuguese envoys made contact with the West African kingdom of Benin, establishing one of the earliest diplomatic relationships between a European power and a sub-Saharan African state. Benin's Oba would send ambassadors to Lisbon; Portuguese goods and Christian priests would enter his court; the kingdom's famous bronze heads would later depict Portuguese visitors.
Star Chamber Legislation
Henry VII's parliament authorized a special court meeting in a chamber painted with stars to deal with powerful offenders beyond ordinary courts' reach. It was efficient and terrifying. For a century and a half it helped Tudor monarchs discipline their nobility; two centuries later it became shorthand for arbitrary tyranny.