A Daily Dose of History: Events on this Day in History

A Daily Dose of History (13 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island. Samuel Argall, having captured Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her fat...

A Daily Dose of History (12 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York. Duke Oldřich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír, who flees to Poland. The Crusaders of the Four...

A Daily Dose of History (11 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrarese forces led by Gaston de Foix and Alfonso I d'Este win the Battle of Ravenna against the Papal-Spanish forces. Italian War of 1542-46: A French army def...

A Daily Dose of History (10 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople. Three years later, he would be deposed due to alleged heresy. 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). Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama visits the Ming dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the...

A Daily Dose of History (09 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: The distinguished soldier Septimus Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position. Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cav...

A Daily Dose of History (08 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized In...

A Daily Dose of History (07 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning most of the town. Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England, adopting the title 'Lady of the English'. Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV charters Prague University. Felix V abdicates his claim to the papacy, ending the reign of the final A...

A Daily Dose of History (06 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople. The city falls on May 29, and is renamed Istanbul. One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place. At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Rie...

A Daily Dose of History (05 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I. 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. During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knigh...

A Daily Dose of History (04 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico. A five-year Byzantine-Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the...

A Daily Dose of History (03 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul. Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England. The Patriarchate of Friûl, the first Friulian state, is created. The second of two the treaties making up the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis is signed, ending the Italian Wars. Robert Walpole becomes, in effect, the first Prim...

A Daily Dose of History (02 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India. The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint. Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna. French Revolutionary Wars: In the Battle of Copenhagen a British Royal Navy squadron defe...

A Daily Dose of History (01 Apr 2025) Today's historical events: According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held. Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. 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....

A Daily Dose of History (31 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Queen Isabella of Castile issues the Alhambra Decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish and Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. Ferdinand Magellan and fifty of his men came ashore to present-day Limasawa to participate in the first Catholic mass in the Philippines. The Long Parliament presents the Humble Petition...

A Daily Dose of History (30 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: 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. The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers. Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tw...

A Daily Dose of History (29 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of Venice. Battle of Towton: Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England, bringing a temporary stop to the Wars o...

A Daily Dose of History (28 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate. After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Didius Julianus. Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor. The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta's capital city...

A Daily Dose of History (27 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: 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. Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical. Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the nort...

A Daily Dose of History (26 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is announced, along with the succession of his son, al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah. On the same day, al-Hakim's designated heir, Abd al-Rahim i...

A Daily Dose of History (25 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto. Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to visit Constantinople until 1967. Theodosius III resigns the throne to the Byzantine Empire to enter the clergy. Romanos Lekapenos seizes the...

A Daily Dose of History (24 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6. Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.[full citation needed] James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I. Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from...

A Daily Dose of History (23 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official. Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Peace of Longjumeau is signed, ending the second phase of the Fr...

A Daily Dose of History (22 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton. Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Min...

A Daily Dose of History (21 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: 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. Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem. Annulment of the marriage...

A Daily Dose of History (20 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed Roman emperor. Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka. 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). The Dutch East I...