Vasily II the Blind
1415 – 1462 · 47 years · Moscow · Eastern Europe & Russia
Reign: 1425 – 1462 (Rus and Russia)
He spent a quarter of a century fighting for the throne against his uncle Yury and his sons; in 1446 he was blinded by Dmitry Shemyaka but regained power. Under him the Russian Church became autocephalous in 1448.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Portrait: collective · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Johannes Gutenberg — inventor of the printing press, 15 years older
- Joan of Arc — heroine of the Hundred Years' War, 3 years older
- Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 37 years younger
- Charles VII — king under whom the Hundred Years’ War ended, 12 years older
- Louis XI — the "universal spider" who pieced France together, 8 years younger
- Sigismund — emperor of the Council of Constance that ended the Schism and burned Hus, 47 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Ivan III — Grand Prince of Moscow, 25 years younger
- Andrei Rublev — icon painter, 55 years older
- Vasily I — grand prince who annexed Nizhny Novgorod, 44 years older
Middle East
- Mehmed II — Ottoman sultan, 17 years younger
- Murad II — sultan who crushed the crusaders at Varna, 11 years older
- Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 32 years younger
Africa
- Askia Muhammad I — Emperor of Songhai, 28 years younger
Asia
- Sejong the Great — King of Joseon Korea, 18 years older
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa — shogun of the Ōnin War and the Silver Pavilion, 21 years younger
- Zheng He — admiral and explorer, 44 years older
- Ulugh Beg — ruler and astronomer, 21 years older
- Ashikaga Yoshinori — shogun chosen by lot and murdered by his own vassal, 21 years older
- Ashikaga Yoshimochi — shogun who broke off tributary trade with Ming China, 29 years older
Americas
- Christopher Columbus — navigator, 36 years younger
- Pachacuti — Sapa Inca, 3 years younger
- Nezahualcoyotl — ruler of Texcoco, poet, 13 years older
The world in their lifetime
- 1429 Joan of Arc relieves Orléans — aged 14, Europe
- c. 1438 Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire — aged 23, Americas
- c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — aged 30, Oceania
- 1446 King Sejong promulgates Hangul — aged 31, Asia
- c. 1450 Gutenberg's printing press — aged 35, Europe
- c. 1450 Building of Machu Picchu — aged 35, Americas
- c. 1450 Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy — aged 35, Americas
- 1453 Fall of Constantinople — aged 38, Middle East