1461

March 29: The Battle of Towton, the bloodiest to be fought on English soil, kills over 9,000 soldiers and completes Edward IV's triumph over Henry VI.(engraving by John Quartley, 1878)

1461 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1461 MCDLXI
Ab urbe condita	2214
Armenian calendar	910 ԹՎ ՋԺ
Assyrian calendar	6211
Balinese saka calendar	1382–1383
Bengali calendar	867–868
Berber calendar	2411
English Regnal year	39 Hen. 6 – 1 Edw. 4
Buddhist calendar	2005
Burmese calendar	823
Byzantine calendar	6969–6970
Chinese calendar	庚辰年 (Metal Dragon) 4158 or 3951     — to — 辛巳年 (Metal Snake) 4159 or 3952
Coptic calendar	1177–1178
Discordian calendar	2627
Ethiopian calendar	1453–1454
Hebrew calendar	5221–5222
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1517–1518
- Shaka Samvat	1382–1383
- Kali Yuga	4561–4562
Holocene calendar	11461
Igbo calendar	461–462
Iranian calendar	839–840
Islamic calendar	865–866
Japanese calendar	Kanshō 2 (寛正２年)
Javanese calendar	1377–1378
Julian calendar	1461 MCDLXI
Korean calendar	3794
Minguo calendar	451 before ROC 民前451年
Nanakshahi calendar	−7
Thai solar calendar	2003–2004
Tibetan calendar	ལྕགས་ཕོ་འབྲུག་ལོ་ (male Iron-Dragon) 1587 or 1206 or 434     — to — ལྕགས་མོ་སྦྲུལ་ལོ་ (female Iron-Snake) 1588 or 1207 or 435

Year 1461 (MCDLXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–March

• January 12 – John Neville, a Yorkist who betrayed Richard of York at the Battle of Wakefield and joined the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses, leads troops on raids in northern England, pillaging Beverley
• January 22 – In Japan, where the Kansho famine has led to thousands of people starving to death, the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa orders relief efforts to be coordinated by Ganami, a Buddhist monk who leads the Kōfuku-ji temple.
• February 2 – After the "sun dog" (parhelion) weather phenomenon in England gives the illusion of three suns rising at dawn, Edward, Earl of March, leads the Yorkists to victory over the Lancastrians in battle at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross. Edward convinces his frightened troops that the three sunrises represents the Holy Trinity and divine support for the Yorkist cause. The Lancastrians, led by Owen Tudor and his son Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, are defeated, and Owen Tudor is taken prisoner and executed.
• February 17 – Second Battle of St Albans, England: The Earl of Warwick's army is defeated by a Lancastrian force under Queen Margaret, who recovers control for her husband.
• March 4 – Edward, Duke of York, son of the late Richard of York and heir to the English throne, seizes London, and proclaims himself King Edward IV.
• March 5 – Wars of the Roses: King Henry VI of England is deposed by Edward, Duke of York.
• March 29 – At the Battle of Towton in Yorkshire, the newly proclaimed Yorkist King Edward IV defeats the Lancastrians, led by the Duke of Somerset, to make good his claim to the English throne. The battle, which claims the lives of at least 6,000 supporters of King Henry VI and at least 3,000 of King Edward's men, remains one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on English soil.

April–June

• April 17 – Skanderbeg, ruler of Albania, reaches a three-year peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire.
• May 3 – Theodosius Byvaltsev is installed as the new leader of the Russian Orthodox Church as Metropolitan of Moscow and all the Russias by order of Vasily II Vasilyevich, Grand Prince of Moscow.
• May 15 – In Ireland, Fedlim Geancach Ó Conchobair becomes the last King of Connacht, now the Republic of Ireland's Province of Connaught and comprising what are now the Counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo. Upon Fedlim's death in 1475,
• May 23 – King Edward IV summons the English Parliament for the first time, directing the members of the House of Lords and House of Commons to assemble at Westminster on November 4.
• May 28 – In Italy, King Ferdinand of Naples is forced to abandon the city of Venosa, the Albanian general Skanderbeg leads his cavalry in an attack on Venosa after an attack by the former king, Rene of Anjou and by General Jacopo Piccinino. Fleeing to Apulia, Ferdinand learns that the Albanian General Skanderbeg will soon arrive to fight the House of Anjou.
• June 28 – Edward, Richard of York's son, is crowned as Edward IV, King of England. He reigns until 1483.

July–September

• July 10 – Stephen Tomašević becomes the last King of Bosnia, on the death of his father Stephen Thomas.
• July 18 – In the Republic of Genoa in Italy, Spinetta Fregoso is elected by the republic's council as the new chief executive, the Doge. He remains in office for only six days before being forced to surrender to Lodovico di Campofregoso.
• July 22 – Louis XI succeeds Charles VII of France as king (reigns until 1483).
• July – The last remnant of the Byzantine Empire is lost to the Ottomans as General Graitzas Palaiologos honourably surrenders Salmeniko Castle, the last garrison of the Despotate of the Morea, to invading forces after a year-long siege.
• 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, Beijing (which are 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 home in the city, and commits suicide by jumping down a well located within his walled compound.
• August 15 –
  • The Empire of Trebizond, the last major Romano-Greek outpost, falls to the Ottoman Empire under