Year 1508 (MDVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events <onlyinclude> January–June February – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, attacks the Republic of Venice. March 22 – Ferdinand II of Aragon appoints Florentine merchant Amerigo Vespucci to the post of Chief Navigator of Spain. July–December August – Lebna Dengel succeeds his father Na'od, as Emperor of Ethiopia. Because of his youth, his grandmother Eleni acts as regent. August 12 — Puerto Rico is established by Juan Ponce de León as San Juan Bautista upon arriving to Caparra (present-day Guaynabo). December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10). 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. December 29 – Battle of Dabul: Portuguese forces, under the command of Francisco de Almeida, attack Khambhat. Births February 17 – Bernardo Salviati, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1568) April 3 – Jean Daurat, French writer and scholar (d. 1588) April 5 – Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Italian noble (d. 1559) April 23 – Georg Sabinus, German writer (d. 1560) May 8 – Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (d. 1562) June 8 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer who lays the foundations for the Slovenian written language (d. 1586) June 10 – Hedwig of Münsterberg-Oels, German noble (d. 1531) June 13 – Alessandro Piccolomini, Italian humanist and philosopher from Siena (d. 1579) June 29 – Balthasar of Hanau-Münzenberg, German nobleman (d. 1534) September 19 – Maria Paleologa, Italian noblewoman (d. 1530) September 23 – Simon Sulzer, Swiss theologian (d. 1585) September 25 – Francisco Mendoza de Bobadilla, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1566) November 23 – Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, youngest son of Henry the Middle (d. 1549) November 25 – Cristofano Gherardi, Italian painter (d. 1556) November 30 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (d. 1580) December 9 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555) December 21 – Thomas Naogeorgus, German playwright (d. 1563) December 24 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567) date unknown Livio Agresti, Italian painter (d. 1580) Matsunaga Hisahide, Japanese daimyo (d. 1577) Marin Držić, Croatian playwright (d. 1567) possible Isabel de Josa,