Major Events
- Jan 6 Emperor Frederik III becomes archduke of Austria
- Apr 6 Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of the Byzantine Empire capitol of Constantinople (now İstanbul), which falls May 29
- Apr 21 Turkish fleet sinks ships Golden Receiver in Constantinople
- May 29 Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire falls to the Turks under Mehmed II; ends the Byzantine Empire
- May 29 French banker Jacques Coeur's possessions confiscated
- Jul 4 41 Jewish martyrs burned at stake at Breslau
- Jul 17 Battle of Castillon: French army beats English force under John Talbot, turning point of the Hundred Years' War
- Jul 23 Battle at Gavere: Philip the Good beats Gentse rebellion
- Oct 19 French retake Bordeaux following the Battle of Castillon
Born in 1453
- Sep 1 Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general (d. 1515)
- Oct 13 Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales and the only son of King Henry VI of England and Margaret of Anjou, born in London (d. 1471)
Who Died in 1453
- Feb 28 Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400)
- May 29 Constantine XI Palaeologus, last Byzantine Emperor (1449-53), dies in final defense of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks at 49
- Jul 17 John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English nobleman and military leader during the Hundred Years' War, killed in battle at 65 or 66 in the Battle of Castillon when his horse was fatally struck by an artillery shell and fell on top of him pinning him to the ground and allowing a French soldier to finish him off with a battleaxe
- Jul 20 Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French chronicler
- Dec 24 John Dunstable, English composer, dies at approximately 63
Gregory I
Gregory XIII
Julius II
Julius III
Leo X
Pius V