1508

Events

• February – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor attacks Venice
• June 6 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three year truce and cede several territories to Venice
• December 10 – League of Cambrai formed as an alliance against Venice between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.
• December – Michelangelo Buonarroti begins work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
• Lebna Dengel succeeds his father Na'od as Emperor of Ethiopia. Due to his young age, his grandmother Eleni acts as regent.

Births

• June 9 – Primoz Trubar, Slovenian author (died 1586)
• November 30 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (died 1580)
• December 9 – Gemma Frisius, mathematician (died 1555)
• December 24 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (died 1567)
• Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands (died 1583)
• Jean Daurat, French poet (died 1588)
• Marin Drzic, Croatian playwright (died 1567)

Deaths

• May 27 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (born 1452)
• October 13 – Edmund de Ros, 11th Baron de Ros, follower of the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses (born 1446)
• December 10 – René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Duke of Bar (born 1451)
• Isaac Abravanel, Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, and theologian (born 1437)
• Conrad Celtes, German Humanist scholar
• Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (killed in battle)