Category: What Happened on this DAY?

618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China. 656 – Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. 860 – Byzantine–Rus’ War: A fleet of about 200 Rus’ vessels sails into the Bosphorus and starts pillaging the suburbs of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. 1053 – Battle of Civitate: Three thousand horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX. 1178 – Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly […]

653 – Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism.[1] 1242 – Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were burnt in Paris. 1397 – The Kalmar Union is formed under the rule of Margaret I of Denmark. 1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack at Târgovişte), forcing him to retreat from Wallachia. 1497 – Battle […]

363 – Emperor Julian marches back up the Tigris and burns his fleet of supply ships. During the withdrawal, Roman forces suffer several attacks from the Persians. 632 – Yazdegerd III ascends the throne as king (shah) of the Persian Empire. He becomes the last ruler of the Sasanian dynasty (modern Iran). 1407 – Ming–Hồ War: Retired King Hồ Quý Ly and his son King Hồ Hán Thương of Hồ dynasty are captured by the Ming armies. 1487 – Battle […]

763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.[1] 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II.[2] 923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.[3] 1184 – The naval Battle of Fimreite is won by the Birkebeiner pretender Sverre Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson takes the Norwegian throne and […]

1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar. 1216 – First Barons’ War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England. 1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for Emperor Duanzong. 1285 – Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led […]

313 – The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia.[1] 1381 – In England, the Peasants’ Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, comes to a head, as rebels set fire to the Savoy Palace.[2] 1514 – Henry Grace à Dieu, at over 1,000 tons the largest warship in the world at this time, built […]

910 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors. 1240 – At the instigation of Louis IX of France, an inter-faith debate, known as the Disputation of Paris, starts between a Christian monk and four rabbis. 1381 – Peasants’ Revolt: In England, rebels arrive at Blackheath. 1418 – Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Parisians slaughter Bernard VII, Count of […]

184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes. 173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”. 631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of […]

671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock (clepsydra) called Rokoku. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu. 1190 – Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the river Saleph while leading an army to Jerusalem. 1329 – The Battle of Pelekanon results in a Byzantine defeat by the Ottoman Empire. 1523 – Copenhagen is surrounded by the army of Frederick I of Denmark, as the city […]

411 BC – The Athenian coup succeeds, forming a short-lived oligarchy. AD 53 – The Roman emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia. AD 68 – Nero commits suicide, after quoting Homer‘s Iliad, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. 721 – Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse. 747 – Abbasid Revolution: Abu Muslim Khorasani begins an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which is carried out under the sign of […]