Category: What Happened on this DAY?

1099 – Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch. 1283 – Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta. 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India. 1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox […]

1124 – The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks. 1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death. 1520 – Spanish conquistadores defeat a larger Aztec army at the Battle of Otumba. 1534 – Jacques Cartier makes his first contact with aboriginal peoples in what is now Canada. 1575 – The Raid of the Redeswire is the last major battle between England and Scotland. 1585 – The Treaty of Nemours abolishes […]

371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra shatters Sparta’s reputation of military invincibility.[1] 640 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under ‘Amr ibn al-‘As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). 1253 – Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania. 1348 – Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death. 1411 – Ming China‘s Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor. 1415 – Jan Hus is […]

328 – The official opening of Constantine’s Bridge built over the Danube between Sucidava (Corabia, Romania) and Oescus (Gigen, Bulgaria) by the Roman architect Theophilus Patricius. 1316 – The Burgundian and Majorcan claimants of the Principality of Achaea meet in the Battle of Manolada. 1594 – Portuguese forces under the command of Pedro Lopes de Sousa begin an unsuccessful invasion of the Kingdom of Kandy during the Campaign of Danture in Sri Lanka. 1610 – John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colonists for Newfoundland. 1687 – Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. 1770 – The Battle […]

362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire. 836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed. 993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint. 1054 – A supernova, called SN […]

324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792. 1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy, reigns until 1087. 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain. 1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces. 1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary […]

437 – Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome.[1] 626 – Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.[2] 706 – In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang’an. 866 – Battle […]

AD 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.[1] 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the Ostrogoth king, Totila, is mortally wounded.[2] 1097 – Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders led by prince Bohemond of Taranto defeat a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I.[3] 1431 – The Battle of La Higueruela takes place in Granada, leading to a modest advance of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.[4] 1520 – Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés fight their […]

296 – Pope Marcellinus begins his papacy.[1] 763 – The Byzantine army of emperor Constantine V defeats the Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Anchialus.[2] 1422 – Battle of Arbedo between the duke of Milan and the Swiss cantons.[3] 1521 – Spanish forces defeat a combined French and Navarrese army at the Battle of Noáin during the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. 1559 – King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel, comte de Montgomery. 1651 – The Deluge: Khmelnytsky Uprising: The Battle of Berestechko ends […]

226 – Cao Pi dies after an illness; his son Cao Rui succeeds him as emperor of the Kingdom of Wei. 1149 – Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din Zangi. 1194 – Sverre is crowned King of Norway. 1444 – Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll. 1534 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to reach Prince Edward Island. 1613 – The Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground. 1644 – Charles […]