Category: What Happened on this DAY?

  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 […]

  222 – Alexander Severus becomes emperor of Rome, replacing his cousin, 18-year-old Elagabalus. The bodies of the assassinated emperor and his mother, Julia Soaemias, are dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber.[1] 1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague.[2] 1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese […]

  241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.[1] 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.[2] 947 – The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor.[3] 1535 – Spaniard Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama, discovers the Galápagos Islands by chance on his […]

141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China.[1] 1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.[2] 1226 – Khwarazmian sultan Jalal ad-Din conquers the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.[3] 1230 – Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle of Klokotnitsa.[4] 1500 – The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal […]

1010 – Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh.[1] 1126 – Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León.[2] 1262 – Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg.[3] 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden.[4] 1702 – Queen […]

12 BCE – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.[1] 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada’) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. 845 – The 42 Martyrs of Amorium are killed after refusing to convert to Islam.[2] 961 – Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete. 1204 – The Siege of Château Gaillard ends in a French victory over King John of […]

363 – Roman Emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.[1] 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. 1279 – The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his […]

AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth). 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources. 938 – Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs. 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany. 1238 – The Battle of […]

473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.[1] 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. 1575 – Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani‘s army at the Battle of Tukaroi. 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.[2] 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau. 1779 – American Revolutionary […]

  537 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoth army under king Vitiges begins the siege of the capital. Belisarius conducts a delaying action outside the Flaminian Gate; he and a detachment of his bucellarii are almost cut off. 986 – Louis V becomes the last of the Carolingian dynasty to reign in France. 1444 – Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League of Lezhë. 1458 – George of Poděbrady is chosen as the king of Bohemia. 1476 – Burgundian […]