Category: What Happened on this DAY?

428 – Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople. 837 – Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles). 1407 – Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama visits the Ming dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the title “Great Treasure Prince of Dharma”. 1500 – Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French. 1606 – The Virginia Company of London is […]

190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position. 537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate. 1241 – Battle of […]

217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated. He is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. 632 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde), along with his infant son Chilperic. 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-‘Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. 1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin. 1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated. 1149 – Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum. 1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, […]

451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul. 529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I. 611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico. 1141 – Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title ‘Lady of the English’. 1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague. 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives […]

46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.[1] 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.[2] 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur. 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon. 1385 – John, […]

823 – Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I. 919 – The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa’im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army.[1] 1081 – Alexios I Komnenos is crowned Byzantine emperor at Constantinople, bringing the Komnenian dynasty to full power. 1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights. 1536 – Royal Entry of Charles V into […]

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes.[1] 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.[2] 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the […]

686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ assumes the crown of Calakmul. 801 – King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months. 1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England. 1077 – The first Parliament of Friuli is created. 1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis treaty is signed, ending the Italian Wars. 1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins. 1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate […]

1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida. 1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India. 1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint. 1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna. 1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the […]

33 – According to one historian’s account, Jesus Christ‘s Last Supper is held.[1][2] 286 – Emperor Diocletian elevates his general Maximian to co-emperor with the rank of Augustus and gives him control over the Western regions of the Roman Empire. 325 – Crown Prince Jin Chengdi, age four, succeeds his father Jin Mingdi as emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty. 457 – Majorian is acclaimed emperor by the Roman army after defeating 900 Alemanni near Lake Maggiore […]