Year 1472 (MCDLXXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
February 20 – Orkney and Shetland are returned by Norway to Scotland, due to a defaulted dowry payment.
December 31 – The city council of Amsterdam prohibits snowball fights: "Neymant en moet met sneecluyten werpen nocht maecht noch wijf noch manspersoon." ("No one shall throw with snowballs, neither men nor (unmarried) women.")
Foundation of the Kingdom of Fez.
Possible discovery of Bacalao (possibly Newfoundland, North America) by João Vaz Corte-Real.
An extensive slave trade begins in modern Cameroon, as the Portuguese sail up the Wouri River.
Fernão do Po claims the central-African islands Bioko and Annobón for Portugal.
Banca Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena, the world's oldest surviving bank, is founded.
Leonardo da Vinci is listed as a master in Florence's "Company of Artists".
Publication of Johannes de Sacrobosco's De sphaera mundi (written c. 1230) in Ferrara, the first printed astronomical book.
Publication of Pietro d'Abano's Conciliator differentiarum quae inter philosophos et medicos versantur and De venenis eorumque remediis.
Volterra, a town in Italy, is sacked by Florentine soldiers.
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster was declared complete and consecrated.
January 17 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero and Duke of Urbino (d. 1508)
March 28 – Fra Bartolomeo, Italian artist (d. 1517)
April 5 – Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
April 10 – Margaret of York, English princess (d. 1472)
May 31 – Érard de La Marck (d. 1538)
August 11 – Nikolaus von Schönberg, Catholic cardinal (d. 1537)
October 19 – John Louis, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1472–1545) (d. 1545)
October 31 – Wang Yangming, Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar (d. 1529)
November 24 – Pietro Torrigiano, Italian sculptor of the Florentine school (d. 1528)
December 10 – Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (d. 1481)
date unknown
Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter (d. 1553)
Alfonsina Orsini, Regent of Florence (d. 1520)
Barbro Stigsdotter, Swedish noblewoman and heroine (d. 1528)
March 30 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)
April 25 – Leone Battista Alberti, Italian artist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
May 30 – Jacquetta of Luxembourg, daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg (b. 1416)
June 4 – Nezahualcoyotl, Aztec poet (b. 1402)
July 25 – Charles of Artois, Count of Eu, French military leader (b. 1394)
November 18 – Basilius Bessarion, titular patriarch of Constantinople (b. c. 1403)
date unknown – Afanasy Nikitin, Russian traveller
probable
Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran
Hayne van Ghizeghem, Flemish composer (b. c. 1445)
Michelozzo, Italian architect and sculptor (b. c. 1396)
1472 Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA