Year 1501 (MDI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June January 17 – Cesar Borgia returns triumphantly to Rome, from Romagna. March 25 – Portuguese navigator João da Nova probably discovers Ascension Island. It is definitely sighted and named on May 20, 1503 (Feast of the Ascension) by Afonso de Albuquerque. April – The Rebellion of the Alpujarras ends with the surrender of the last Muslim insurgents in the Alpujarra Mountains, who are given the choice of expulsion or conversion to Christianity. May 15 – Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, the first printed collection of polyphonic music, is published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice. July–December July – Ismail I is enthroned as Shah of Azerbaijan, choosing Tabriz as his capital, founding the Safavid Dynasty in northern Iran. He declares Shi'ism the official and compulsory religion, under penalty of death. July 21 – Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral returns to Lisbon from his expedition to Calicut (Nicolau Coelho having arrived on June 23). July 27 – Copernicus is formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral. August John, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden is deposed from the Swedish throne, starting the Dano-Swedish War (1501–1512). Florentine political theorist, statesman, and writer Niccolò Machiavelli marries Marietta Corsini, who will bear him six children. August 27 – Battle of the Siritsa River: The Livonian Order, supporting the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Second Muscovite–Lithuanian War, and commanded by Wolter von Plettenberg, defeats an army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Pskov Republic. October 2 – Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon arrives in Plymouth, England. October 13 Treaty of Trente: Maximilian of Austria and Louis XII of France sign the treaty, with Austria recognizing all French conquests in the northern territories of Italy. Leonardo Loredan is elected 75th doge of the Venetian Republic. October 30 – The Banquet of Chestnuts is purportedly held by Cesare Borgia, in the Papal Palace of Rome (this account is not historical fact, and could be attributed to enemies of Alexander VI). November 1 (All Saints) – Amerigo Vespucci discovers and names Baía de Todos os Santos, in Brazil. November 4 Battle of Mstislavl (Second Muscovite–Lithuanian War): Grand Prince Ivan's Southern Muscovite army defeats the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Philip and Joanna of Castile leave for Spain. November 12 – Sten Sture the Elder is elected