Category: What Happened on this DAY?

218 – Battle of Antioch: With the support of the Syrian legions, Elagabalus defeats the forces of emperor Macrinus. He flees, but is captured near Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia. 793 – Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of Norse activity in the British Isles. 1042 – Edward the Confessor becomes King of England – the country’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king. 1191 – Richard I arrives in Acre, […]

421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).[1] 879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state.[2] 1002 – Henry II, a cousin of Emperor Otto III, is elected and crowned King of Germany. 1099 – First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins. 1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli. 1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two […]

913 – The 8-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire, under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed by Constantine’s uncle Alexander III on his deathbed.[1] 1513 – Italian Wars: Battle of Novara. Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis II de la Trémoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan.[2] Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored. 1523 – Gustav Vasa, the Swedish […]

1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights.[1] 1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles of Salerno.[2] 1288 – The Battle of Worringen ends the War of the Limburg Succession, with John I, Duke of Brabant, being one of the more important victors.[3] 1610 – The masque Tethys’ Festival is performed at Whitehall Palace to […]

1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries.[1] 1561 – The steeple of St Paul’s, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and is never rebuilt. 1615 – Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan. 1745 – Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great’s Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian […]

350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.[1] 713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army.[2] 1140 – The French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy. 1326 – The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia […]

455 – Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.[1] 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.[2] 1615 – The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France. 1676 – Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in […]

1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu. 1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed king of Castile and León. 1298 – Residents of Riga and Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Turaida. 1495 – A monk, John Cor, records the first known batch of Scotch whisky. 1533 – Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.[1] 1535 – Combined forces loyal to Charles […]

455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. 1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus’ and Cumans. 1293 – Mongol invasion of Java was a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of its ministers. However, it ended with failure for the Mongols. Regarded as establish City […]

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres. 1381 – Beginning of the Peasants’ Revolt in England. 1416 – The Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy. 1431 – Hundred Years’ War: […]