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

A Daily Dose of History (19 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: The Byzantine-Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China. The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England. Frederick III of Habsburg is the las...

A Daily Dose of History (18 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade. First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder th...

A Daily Dose of History (17 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius. 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. Edward, the Black Princ...

A Daily Dose of History (16 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang. Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York. Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burnt to death after the Fall of Montségur. Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen!...

A Daily Dose of History (15 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is slain by Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together. Michael III, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, overthrows the regency of his mother, empress Theodora (wife of Theophilos) with support of the Byzan...

A Daily Dose of History (14 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland. 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. Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Col...

A Daily Dose of History (13 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh. 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. Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard. Nojpetén, capital of the last inde...

A Daily Dose of History (12 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius. Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades. German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Au...

A Daily Dose of History (11 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire. Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giov...

A Daily Dose of History (10 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor. After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command. Spaniard Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama, discovers the Galápagos Islands by chance on his way to Peru. Susenyos I defeats the...

A Daily Dose of History (09 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. Khwarazmian sultan Jalal ad-Din conquers the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle of Klokotnitsa. The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil...

A Daily Dose of History (08 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh. Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León. Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg. The city of Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) was founded by Duke John on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. Tr...

A Daily Dose of History (07 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius. Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Coblenz in the presence of the papal legate Theodwin. The University of Paris issues the last in a series of condemnations of various philosoph...

A Daily Dose of History (06 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The 42 Martyrs of Amorium are killed after refusing to convert to Islam. Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete. The Siege of Château Gaillard ends in a French victory over King John of England, who loses control o...

A Daily Dose of History (05 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: 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. Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. The Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of...

A Daily Dose of History (04 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth). Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources. Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, P...

A Daily Dose of History (03 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani's army at the Battle of Tukaroi. The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is i...

A Daily Dose of History (02 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: 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. Louis V becomes the last Carolingian king of West Francia after the death of his father, Lothaire. Skanderbeg organizes a gro...

A Daily Dose of History (01 Mar 2025) Today's historical events: Vetranio proclaims himself Caesar after being encouraged to do so by Constantina, sister of Constantius II. Emperor Louis the Pious is restored as sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. Forces of the Catholic Monarchs engage the combined Portuguese-Castilian armies of Afonso V and Prince John at the Battle of Toro. Sixty-three Huguenots...

A Daily Dose of History (28 Feb 2025) Today's historical events: The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés. The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. Elias Lönnrot signed and dated the first version of the Kalevala, the so-called foreword to the Old Kalevala. The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over E...

A Daily Dose of History (27 Feb 2025) Today's historical events: Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity. The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia. The Treaty of Berwick is signed by England and the Lords of...

A Daily Dose of History (26 Feb 2025) Today's historical events: Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor. Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples. The Janszoon voyage of 1605-06 becomes the first Europea...

A Daily Dose of History (25 Feb 2025) Today's historical events: Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor. Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II. Four thousand defenders of Pilenai commit mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights. Samuel Colt is granted a United S...

A Daily Dose of History (24 Feb 2025) Today's historical events: King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica. The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence. King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda. A Spanish-Austrian army defeats a French army at the Battle of Pavia. Coronatio...

A Daily Dose of History (23 Feb 2025) Today's historical events: Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia. Khosrow II, last Sasanian shah of Iran, is overthrown. Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty. Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western b...