15th century

The 15th century is a one-hundred year period of time that spans the years 1400 to 1499.

Notable years

 * 1431
 * Vlad III, also known as Vlad Ţepeș and Vlad the Impaler is born. He is the inspiration for the fictional vampire character Dracula.


 * 1462
 * In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Vlad Dracul goes to war against the Turks and is victorious. The survivors send false word of Dracula's death back to his beloved Elisabeta who, heartbroken, takes her own life by jumping into the Danube. When Dracul discovers this, he renounces God and swears to use all of the powers of darkness to avenge her death, thus becoming the vampire Dracula.


 * 1476
 * Historical record: Vlad the Impaler is killed while fighting the Turks, though movie fiction would have you believe that he became a vampire around this time. Bram Stoker's Dracula puts the year of this event in 1462.


 * 1483
 * Richard III becomes King of England. The events of the 1939 film Tower of London, which depicts Richard's scheming rise to power takes place in this year.


 * 1485
 * King Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He is succeeded by King Henry VII.


 * 1492
 * Explorer Christopher Columbus makes the first of four epic voyages, during which he discovers San Salvador and the Bahamas.