30 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.[1] 1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.[2] 1607 – An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.[3] 1648 – Eighty Years’ War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict […]

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28 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.[1] 1069 – Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated and killed by rebels.[2] This incident leads to the Harrying of the North. 1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, […]

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27 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

AD 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor;[1] under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent. 1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily. 1302 – Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence. 1343 – Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Nearly 200 years later, Martin Luther would protest this. […]

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26 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII,[1] who becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil. 1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Mw Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman […]

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25 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

AD 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.[1] 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to overthrow of the dynasty.[2] 1348 – A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.[3] 1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.[4] 1515 – Coronation of Francis I of France takes place […]

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24 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

AD 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.[1] 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.[2] 1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV.[3] 1458 – Matthias Corvinus is elected King of Hungary.[4] 1536 – King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later […]

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22 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

  613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (Caesar) by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.[1] 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing. [2] 1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.[3] 1517 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Egypt at the Battle of Ridaniya.[4] 1555 – The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now Myanmar. 1689 – The Convention Parliament convenes […]

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21 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

  763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.[1] 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.[2] 1535 – […]

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20 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

  250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.[1] 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom. 1156 – Freeholder Lalli slays the English missionary-bishop Henry with an axe, on the ice of Lake Köyliö in Finland (according to legend).[2][3][4] 1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting […]

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19 JANUARY: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

  379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.[1] 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She’er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.[2] 1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.[3] 1511 – The Italian Duchy of Mirandola surrenders […]

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