Category: What Happened on this DAY?

714 – Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille (modern Belgium). He is succeeded by his infant grandson Theudoald while his wife Plectrude holds actual power in the Frankish Kingdom. 755 – An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Yanjing, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Tang dynasty of China. 1431 – Hundred Years’ War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.[1] 1497 – Vasco da Gama passes the Great Fish River, where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned […]

533 – Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum. 687 – Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theodore.[1] 1025 – Constantine VIII becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 63 years after being crowned co-emperor. 1161 – Jin–Song wars: Military officers conspire against the emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin dynasty after a military defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinate the emperor at his […]

557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake. 835 – Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled. 1287 – St. Lucia’s flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people. 1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen of Scots at the age of one week on the death of her father, James V of Scotland. […]

1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit. 1545 – The Council of Trent begins.[1] 1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage. 1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the National Guard of the United States. 1642 – Abel […]

627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II‘s Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.[1] 884 – King Carloman II dies after a hunting accident.[2] 1388 – Maria of Enghien sells the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice.[3] 1862 – American Civil War: USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River.[4] 1866 – Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 361 miners and rescuers.[5] 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman.[6] 1901 – Guglielmo […]

220 – Emperor Xian of Han is forced to abdicate the throne by Cao Cao‘s son Cao Pi, ending the Han dynasty. 361 – Julian enters Constantinople as sole Emperor of the Roman Empire. 861 – Assassination of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil by the Turkish guard, who raise al-Muntasir to the throne. Start of the “Anarchy at Samarra“. 969 – Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas is assassinated by his wife Theophano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes. […]

1041 – The adoptive son of Empress Zoë of Byzantium succeeds to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V. 1317 – The “Nyköping Banquet” – King Birger of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers Valdemar, Duke of Finland and Eric, Duke of Södermanland, who were subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle. 1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII […]

  480 – Odoacer, first King of Italy, occupies Dalmatia. He later establishes his political power with the co-operation of the Roman Senate. 536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed; the Gothic garrison flee the capital. 730 – Battle of Marj Ardabil: The Khazars annihilate an Umayyad army and kill its commander, Al-Jarrah Ibn Abdallah Al-Hakami. 1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe first appears to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City. 1688 – Glorious Revolution: Williamite forces […]

395 – Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope. 757 – Du Fu returns to Chang’an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong‘s court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion. 877 – Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald) is crowned king of the West Frankish Kingdom at Compiègne. 1432 – The first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis is fought near the town […]

43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated in Formia. 574 – Byzantine Emperor Justin II, suffering recurring seizures of insanity, adopts his general Tiberius and proclaims him as Caesar.[1] 1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die. 1724 – Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest is […]