Category: What Happened on this DAY?

38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.[1] 1362 – Saint Marcellus’ flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.[2] 1377 – Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.[3] 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific […]

27 BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.[1] 378 – General Siyaj K’ak’ conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.[2] 550 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.[3] 929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba. 1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws […]

  69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome,[1] beginning a reign of only three months. 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the “Holy Catholic faith”.[2] 1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.[3] 1582 – Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia cedes Livonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[4] 1759 – The British Museum opens […]

1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.[1] 1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.[2] 1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last bishop of Prague and, subsequently, the first Archbishop of Prague. 1539 – Spain annexes Cuba. 1639 – The “Fundamental Orders“, the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut.[3] 1761 – The Third Battle of Panipat is fought in India between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and […]

532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I.[1][2] 1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV. 1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered […]

475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.[1] 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned since his election in June 1523.[2] 1554 – Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma. 1616 – The city of Belém, Brazil […]

532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.[1] 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, Quraysh surrender.[2] 947 – Emperor Tai Zong of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty invades the Later Jin, resulting in the destruction of the Later Jin. 1055 – Theodora is crowned empress of the Byzantine Empire.[3] 1158 – Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia becomes King of Bohemia. 1569 – First […]

49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.[1] AD 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin dynasty.[2] AD 69 – Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba as deputy Roman Emperor.[3] 236 – Pope Fabian succeeds Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome.[4] 1072 – Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo in Sicily for […]

475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.[1] 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.[2] 1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending […]

307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying.[1] 871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.[2] 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco.[3] 1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive […]