Year 1446 was a common year beginning on Saturday in the Julian calendar. That designation reflects how the year is recorded in the Anno Domini system used across medieval and modern European chronology. At the time, the Julian leap-year rules governed civil calendars in Europe, while other regions followed local chronologies.

Calendar and chronology

Calling 1446 a "common year" means it contained 365 days rather than the 366 of a leap year. The modern Gregorian calendar had not yet been introduced, so dates of this period are normally given in the Julian system unless otherwise noted. Regional record keeping—monastic annals, royal registers and dynastic chronicles—provides most of our surviving dated material for the year.

Notable events and developments

  • Korean alphabet: One of the most significant cultural events traditionally associated with 1446 is the promulgation of the Korean script now called Hangul by King Sejong of Joseon. The new alphabet aimed to increase literacy by offering a phonetic alternative to Classical Chinese writing.
  • Early print and learning: Movable-type printing and manuscript production continued to spread across Europe and East Asia. Printers and scholars were increasingly active in producing religious, legal and educational texts.
  • Atlantic exploration: Portuguese-sponsored voyages of exploration along the West African coast were ongoing, contributing to geographic knowledge that would feed into the later Age of Discovery.
  • Political context: Across Eurasia, the mid-15th century was a time of military and diplomatic maneuvering—regional dynasties, city-states and emerging powers adjusted alliances and borders in ways that shaped later decades.

Importance and legacy

Although not every year produces a single defining event, 1446 sits within a pivotal century that saw the maturation of printing, increasing global maritime contact, and, in Korea, a lasting linguistic reform. The changes of this period—technological, intellectual and political—laid groundwork for profound transformations in the later 15th and 16th centuries.

Further reading and reference points

For calendrical specifics and lists of events recorded in extant chronicles, see compilations of medieval annals and modern historical surveys. General introductions to the period treat 1446 in the wider context of late medieval Europe, East Asian dynastic history and early modern exploration. See also entries on the Julian calendar and on the weekday system symbolized by Saturday.