Martin Schongauer and the Evolution of Gothic…

The shogun Yoshimasa, who has reigned since 1440, simply turns his back on the troubles in Japan.

In 1473, he retires to his estate on the outskirts of Kyoto, where he builds the Silver Pavilion (“Ginkaku”) and becomes the patron of a remarkable artistic flowering.

Matthias had supported the Austrian noblemen who rebelled against Emperor Frederick in 1472.

The following year, Matthias, Casimir IV and Vladislaus enter into negotiations on the terms of a peace treaty, but the discussions lastsfor months.

Matthias tries to unify the government of Silesia, which consistsof dozens of smaller duchies, through appointing a captain-general.

However, the Estates refuse to elect his candidate, Duke Frederick I of Liegnitz.

Printed works appear in Hungary in 1473.

The invasion of the Ottoman Empire from the east by Uzun Hasan of Ak Koyunlu had caused a great crisis in the empire, and although he is defeated the following year, this unexpected event encourages Venice and Hungary to renew their war on the Ottomans, and Moldavia to free herself from any Ottoman influence.

In 1473, Stephen stops paying the annual tribute to the Porte and as a reaction to this, an Italian letter, dated from 1473 to Bartolomeo Scala, secretary of the Republic of Florence, reveals that Mehmed had left Constantinople on April 13 and is planning to invade Moldavia from land and sea.

Stephen still hopes to make peace with Radu and asks the Polish king to work as mediator.

The peace attempts fail and the conflict intensifies with three leaders challenging each other for the Wallachian throne: Radu, who is supported by Mehmed; the seemingly loyal Basarab Laiotă, who at first is supported by Stephen; and Basarab Ţepeluş cel Tânăr—who will gain the support of Stephen after Laiotă's betrayal.

A series of clashes follow, starting with another confrontation between Stephen and Radu on November 18–20, at Râmnicu Sărat, where the latter suffers his second defeat at the hands of the Moldavian warrior prince.

A few days later, on November 28, the Ottomans intervene with an army consisting of twelve thousand Ottomans and six thousand Wallachians, but are defeated and retreat across the Danube.

Stephen puts Laiotă on the throne after capturing the castle of Bucharest, but a new Ottoman army of seventeen thousand sets camp around the river Bârlad on December 31, laying waste to the countryside, and intimidating the new prince into abandoning his Wallachian throne and fleeing to Moldavia.

Mehmed II, after turning his attentions eastward to clean up the remnants of imperial Greek rule in 1461, had been faced with the growing power of the Ak Koyunlu, whose leader, Uzun Hasan, had continued the tradition of close relations between the imperial throne and his own kingdom.

As a consequence, he had supported the Empire of Trebizond and sent them military aid, but his support wasn't enough to save Trebizond from the Ottoman forces.

After Mehmed II conquered all of the Eastern Black Sea region, Uzun Hasan, fearing that the Ottomans would return to take his own principality, had decided to seek help from Christian powers, and had signed a treaty with the Republic of Venice, who are menaced in the Aegean Sea by the expanding Turkish presence.

Another reason for tensions between the Ak Koyunlu and the Ottomans is the political standing of the Karamanids, the most powerful Turkish beylik in Anatolia.

İbrahim Bey, the ruler of Karamanids, had supported the growing power of Uzun Hasan.

When İbrahim Bey died in 1464, his son Pir Ahmet had tried to ascend the throne, but his half brother İshak Bey, who was the legal heir, had become the bey with the support of Uzun Hasan.

Nevertheless, Pir Ahmet had not given up and had requested the support of Mehmet I, offering a part of his beylik in return With Ottoman support he had defeated his brother in the battle of Dağpazarı.

İshak escaped to Silifke, the southern frontier of the beylik, and Pir Ahmet assumed the title bey.

Keeping his promise to the sultan, he had ceded a part of the beylik to the Ottomans, but was uneasy about the loss of these lands, so during the Ottoman campaign to the west, he had retaken his former territory.

However, Mehmet had responded by capturing both Karaman (Larende) and Konya, two major cities of the beylik, in 1466.

Pir Ahmet, together with his brother Kasım, had made a narrow escape to Uzun Hasan's territory.

A few years later, Ottoman vizier Gedik Ahmet Pasha had captured the coastal region of the beylik.

This had given Uzun Hasan a chance to interfere.

In 1472, the Ak Koyunlu army had invaded and raided much of Anatolia.

With Akkoyunlu help, Pir Ahmet had captured Karaman, but almost immediately afterward, Mehmed II returns with his army in 1473 to defeat Uzun Hasan.

The Turkemens have a traditional army with considerable numbers of light cavalry, whereas the Ottoman army, equipped with the latest technology, arrives with matchlock arms and cannons.

The Ottomans gain a decisive victory over the Turkmens, whose army is nearly destroyed in eight hours of fighting.

Uzun Hasan, after receiving the decapitated head of one of his sons, flees the battlefield.

The forced withdrawal of the decimated Ak Koyunlu army leaves Mehmed in control of all Anatolia, and Venice without a powerful ally.

It also brings the Ottomans into conflict with the Mamluk empire of Syria and Egypt, which seeks to expand into southeastern Anatolia.

Pir Ahmet attempts to continue his struggle, but when he learns that his family members have been transferred to Constantinople by Gedik Ahmet Pasha, he finally gives up the fight.

Demoralized, he escapes to Akkoyunlu territory, where he is given a tımar (fief) in Bayburt.

Giosafat Barbaro, who had been selected in 1473 as another Venetian ambassador to Azerbaijan, due to his experience in the Crimean, Muscovy, and Tartary, gets on well with Uzun Hassan but he is unable to persuade the ruler to attack the Ottomans again.

Shortly afterwards, ...

…Hasan's son Ughurlu Muhammad rises in rebellion, seizing the city of Shiraz.

Printed works appear in Spain in 1473.

The first two Hebrew presses are established in 1473 in Calabria and Pieva da Saca; .

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