Category: What Happened on this DAY?

537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius. 630 – Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem. 717 – Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid. 1152 – Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. 1188 – Emperor Antoku accedes to […]

235 – Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed emperor. 673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka. 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. 1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598–1599).[1] 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established. 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of […]

1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China. 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.[1] 1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots. 1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it “useless and dangerous to the people of England”. […]

1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, leaves up to 20,000 dead. 1229 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade. 1241 – First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city. 1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake. 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg becomes Holy Roman […]

45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius.[1] 455 – Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him.[2] 1001 – […]

934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang. 1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford’s Tower, York.[1] 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burned to death after the Fall of Montségur.[2] 1322 – The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the Despenser Wars. 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the island of Homonhon in the Philippines. 1621 – Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, “Welcome, […]

474 BC – Roman consul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years’ truce.[1] 44 BC – Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger and his fellow conspirators, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and several other Roman senators, march to the Capitol following the assassination of Julius Caesar, but there is no response to their appeals to the population, who have left the streets […]

44 BC – Casca and Cassius decide, on the night before the Assassination of Julius Caesar, that Mark Antony should live. 313 – Emperor Jin Huaidi is executed by Liu Cong, ruler of the Xiongnu state (Han Zhao). 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion.[1] 1647 – Thirty Years’ War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.[2] 1663 – According […]

874 – The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople.[1] 1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years’ War.[2] 1591 – At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.[3] 1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.[4] […]

538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.[1] 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.[2] 1689 – James II of England landed at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.[3] 1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing […]