Events of 1497

• February 7 - Followers of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of "immoral" objects at the Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence on Shrove Tuesday.
• May 10 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
• May 13 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
• May 20 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol on his ship the Mathew, looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
• June 17 - Battle of Deptford Bridge: Forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
• June 24 - John Cabot lands in North America (near present day Bonavista, Newfoundland).
• July 8 - Vasco da Gama's fleet departs from Lisbon, beginning his expedition to India.
• December 5 - King Manuel I of Portugal proclaims an edict in which he demands that Jews convert to Christianity or leave the country.
• Ivan the Great issues his law code, the Sudebnik.
• The Ottomans give Russian merchants freedom of trade within the empire.

Births

• January 26 - Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
• February 16 - Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (d. 1560)
• March - Giovanni Paolo I Sforza, Italian condottiero (d. 1535)
• April 2 - Georg Giese, German merchant (d. 1562)
• August 18 - Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (died 1543)
• October 29 - Benedetto Accolti the younger, Italian cardinal (d. 1549)
• date unknown
• Jean Fernel, French physician (d. 1558)
• Mori Motonari, Japanese daimyo (d. 1571)
• Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, English noblewoman (d. 1587)
• Gonzalo de Sandoval, Spanish conquistador (d. 1528)
• Johann Wild, German preacher (d. 1554)
• probable
• Francesco Berni, Italian poet (d. 1536)
• John Heywood, English playwright (d. 1580)

Deaths

• January 2 - Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan (b. 1475)
• January 30 - Lê Thánh Tông, King of Vietnam (b. 1442)
• February 6 - Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer (b. c. 1410)
• June 14 - Giovanni Borgia, Duke of Gandia (assassinated) (b.1474)
• June 24 - Leaders of the Cornish Rebellion (executed)
• Michael An Gof, blacksmith
• Thomas Flamank, lawyer
• June 28 - James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley (b. c. 1463)
• July - Estêvão da Gama, explorer
• November 7 - Philip II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1443)
• date unknown
• Al-Mutawakkil II, Caliph of Cairo
• Al-Sakhawi, Egyptian scholar (b. 1428)
• Albert Brudzewski, Polish astronomer (b. 1445)
• probable
• Elia del Medigo, Italian philosopher (b. 1460)