1508

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Year 1508 (MDVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.

Events

January–March

January 24 – Maximilian, King of the Romans, requests permission to march to Rome through Venetian territory, but is denied and begins his Italienzug.
February 2 – During the Glinski rebellion, Lithuanian noble Mykolas Glinskis attacks Grodno (now in Belarus) and decapitates Jan Zabrzeziński, the top ally of Grand Duke Alexander.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 4 – Maximilian, King of the Romans, proclaims himself Holy Roman Emperor at the Italian city of Trento, after having been blocked by Venice from traveling to Rome to be crowned by Pope Julius II.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 20 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, attacks the Republic of Venice and sack Ampezzo the next day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
February 28 – Louis V becomes the new prince elector of the Palatinate upon the death of his father, Philip.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 2 – The Republic of Venice defeats Maximilian I in the Battle of Cadore.
March 5 – La Cassaria by Ludovico Ariosto, the first Italian language comedy, is premiered at Ferrara.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 13 – The oldest annual foot race in Europe, the "Red Hose Race", is run for the first time, taking place in Scotland at Carnwath, Lanarkshire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
March 18 – Wilhelm IV becomes the new Duke of Bavaria upon the death of his father, Albrecht IV.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 22
- Working from the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli at Florence, Leonardo da Vinci begins writing his "collection without order" of his scientific discoveries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Ferdinand II of Aragon appoints Florentine merchant Amerigo Vespucci to the post of Chief Navigator of Spain.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

April–June

April 23 – Prince Mihnea cel Rău, son of Vlad the Impaler, becomes the Voivode of Wallachia, with a palace at Târgoviște (now in Romania), upon the death of his cousin Radu IV the Great.
May 8 – Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni of Florence signs a contract with the Vatican to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in return for a promised fee of 3,000 gold ducats (equivalent in 2023 to more than U.S. $600,000).<ref>Yvonne Paris, Michelangelo: 1475–1564 (Parragon, 2009)</ref>
June 4 – The coronation of Prince Lajos as the designated successor to his father, King Vladislaus II of Hungary, takes place in Székesfehérvár.
June 6 – Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I signs a humiliating armistice with the Republic of Venice, which for the moment stops any of his further plans for Italy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

July–September

July 23 – Upon the death of his father, King Oxlahuh-Tz'i, Hun-Iqʼ becomes one of the two kings of Guatemala's Kaqchikel Maya civilization. Hun-Iqʼ reigns jointly with King Kablahuh-Tihax until the latter's death on February 4.<ref>Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Maya Temples and Tombs (Simon & Schuster, 1999) p.297</ref>
July 27 – The process of removing the former layers of paint on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is completed, and Michelangelo begins the next phase of marking the surface for painting.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
July 31 – The Emperor of Ethiopia, Na'od, dies in battle.<ref name="NA" /> His son Lebna Dengel takes on the regnal name of Dawit II, and becomes the new emperor starting on August 11.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
August 12 – The Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico begins when Juan Ponce de León lands on the island.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Upon his arrival, Ponce is welcomed by Agüeybaná I, the island's leader a Cacique of the Taíno people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Spanish explorer soon settles and founds the city of Caparra, near what is now the town of Guaynabo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
September 11 – England is left without a Roman Catholic Cardinal protector when Cardinal Galeotto Franciotti della Rovere dies suddenly.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> England's King Henry VII dies seven months later before the monarchy and the Pope can agree on a new cardinal protector. The King's successor, Henry VIII, later abolishes the office entirely after Lorenzo Campeggio dies in the course of the English Reformation and the creation of the Church of England.

October–December

October 8 – An inconclusive peace treaty is signed to end the third of the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars.<ref>Rimvydas Petrauskas and Jūratė Kiaupienė, Lietuvos istorija. Nauji horizontai: dinastija, visoumenė, valstybė (The History of Lithuania, New Horizons: Dynasty, Unification, State) (Baltos Lankos, 2009), p. 466</ref>
October 24 – King Louis XII convenes court at the Parlement de Normandie building in Rouen.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
November 1 – At the age of 16, Prince Wolfgang of the House of Ascania becomes the new ruler of the German principality of Anhalt-Köthen, succeeding his father Waldemar VI. In 1521, he will meet Martin Luther<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and, in 1525, will introduce the Reformation to his principality, making Anhalt-Köthen only the second nation (after the Electorate of Saxony) to officially adopt Protestantism.
November 29 – Astronomer Mikołaj Kopernik of Poland is granted benefits by Pope Julius II in order to perform his work.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
December 10 – The League of Cambrai is formed as an alliance against the Republic of Venice, between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
December 29 – Battle of Dabul: Portuguese forces, under the command of Francisco de Almeida, attack Khambhat.
December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>