1476

1476 was a year in the late Middle Ages marked by the Burgundian Wars between the Duchy of Burgundy and the Swiss Confederation. The year featured two major Swiss victories that weakened Burgundian power and reshaped the balance of forces in the region, contributing to the eventual decline of Burgundian ambitions.

On June 22, the Battle of Morat (Murten) took place, in which Swiss forces defeated the Burgundian army. Later, on September 2, the Battle of Grandson occurred, another Swiss victory that disrupted Burgundian baggage trains and morale. These defeats undermined Charles the Bold’s strategic position and drained Burgundian resources, accelerating the trajectory toward the eventual collapse of Burgundian influence in the region.

The outcomes of these battles foreshadowed the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 at Nancy, which effectively ended Burgundian attempts to maintain a single, powerful state independent of France. In a related note for scholars, the year 1476 saw the death of Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller von Königsberg), a German mathematician and astronomer, who died in Rome while traveling to the papal library.

Births recorded for 1476 are not well documented in widely recognized sources, and no single widely cited list of notable births for that year is commonly referenced.