Category: What Happened on this DAY?

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 the 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 […]

33 – According to one historian’s account, Jesus Christ‘s Last Supper is held.[1][2] 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. 1545 – Potosí, Bolivia, is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area. 1572 – In the Eighty Years’ War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic. 1625 – A […]

  307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.[1] 1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.[2] 1492 – Queen Isabella of Castile issues the Alhambra Decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish and Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore […]

598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro–Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. 1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.[1] 1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.[2] 1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.[3] 1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian unification. 1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a […]

845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of Venice. 1461 – Battle of Towton: Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England, bringing a temporary stop to the Wars of the Roses.[1] 1500 – Cesare Borgia is given the title of Captain General and Gonfalonier by his father Rodrigo Borgia after returning from his […]

AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate. 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Didius Julianus.[1] 364 – Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor. 1566 – The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta‘s capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. 1737 – The Marathas under Baji Rao I attack […]

  1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. 1329 – Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical. 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida. 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland […]

590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.[1] 1027 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. 1169 – Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt. 1344 – The Siege of Algeciras, one of the first European military engagements where gunpowder was used, comes to an end. 1351 – Combat of the Thirty: Thirty Breton knights call out and defeat thirty English knights. 1484 – William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop’s Fables. 1552 – Guru Amar […]

708 – Pope Constantine succeeds Pope Sisinnius as the 88th pope. 717 – Theodosius III resigns the throne to the Byzantine Empire to enter the clergy. 919 – Romanos Lekapenos seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople and becomes regent of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. 1000 – Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah assassinates the eunuch chief minister Barjawan and assumes control of the government. 1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (Scotland). 1409 – The Council of Pisa opens. 1555 – The city of Valencia is founded in present-day Venezuela. 1576 – […]

  1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France,[1] leading to his death on April 6. 1387 – English victory over a Franco–Castilian–Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate.[2] 1401 – Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. 1603 – James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.[3] 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, […]