Year 1461 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events of 1461
- February 2 - Battle of Mortimer's Cross: Yorkist troops led by Edward, Duke of York defeat Lancastrians under Owen Tudor and his son Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke in Wales.
- February 17 - Second Battle of St Albans: The Earl of Warwick's army is defeated by a Lancastrian force under Queen Margaret, who recovers control of her husband.
- March 4 - The Duke of York seizes London and proclaims himself King Edward IV of England.
- March 29 - Battle of Towton: Edward IV defeats Queen Margaret to make good his claim to the English throne (thought to be the bloodiest battle ever fought in England).
- Edward, Richard of York's son, is crowned as Edward IV, King of England (reigns until 1483).
- August 7 - The Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor; after setting fire to the eastern and western gates of the Imperial City (which were doused by pouring rains during the day-long uprising), Cao Qin finds himself hemmed in on all sides by imperial forces, loses three of his own brothers in the fight, and instead of facing execution he flees to his house and commits suicide by jumping down a well located within the walled compound of his urban Beijing home.
- August 15 - The Empire of Trebizond, the last major Romano-Greek outpost, falls to the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II, after a siege of 21 days.
- Cirencester Grammar School is founded in south-west England by the Bishop of Durham.
- Louis XI of France succeeds Charles VII of France as king (reigns until 1483).
- Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli become students of Verrocchio.
- Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is founded by the Ottomans.
- François Villon writes Le Grand Testament.
- Donatello paints Judith and Holofernes.
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