1327:

Petrarch sees Laura for the first time

The identity of Laura (and even the veracity of her existence) is uncertain, but from the moment he first spotted her in St. Claire Church in Avignon until long after she died in 1348, the poet was obsessed with her. Petrarch wrote more than 300 sonnets and other poems to Laura, inspiring a generation of authors, including Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare.

1453:

Seige of Constantinople begins

Over the centuries, the Byzantine Empire had shrunk from its former glory to little more than the city of Constantinople itself. Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire would be the military genius who would at last breach the walls after besieging the city for more than 50 days.

1483:

Raphael

Tradition has it that this magnificent artist was born and died on the same day.

1199:

King Richard I of England

1528:

Albrecht Durer