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

A Daily Dose of History (19 May 2024) Today's historical events: Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen assaulted Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace. Henry I of France marries the Rus' princess, Anne of Kiev. John II of Castile defeats the Infantes of Aragon at the First Battle of Olmedo. French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and C...

A Daily Dose of History (18 May 2024) Today's historical events: Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I. First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacr...

A Daily Dose of History (17 May 2024) Today's historical events: Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men - by 1536 only 4 survive. George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's...

A Daily Dose of History (16 May 2024) Today's historical events: Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. Having been elected on May 9, Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Gov. Thado of Mohnyin becomes king of Ava. The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-...

A Daily Dose of History (15 May 2024) Today's historical events: Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne. King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility. Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Arab dy...

A Daily Dose of History (14 May 2024) Today's historical events: Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England. Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the...

A Daily Dose of History (12 May 2024) Today's historical events: Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church, and immediately takes a stand against Novatianism. Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty after nearly three hundred years of rule. Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consor...

A Daily Dose of History (11 May 2024) Today's historical events: Constantinople is consecrated. A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book. War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army. Robert Gray commands the first expedition to sail into the Columbia River. Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated...

A Daily Dose of History (10 May 2024) Today's historical events: Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king. Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there. Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland. King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetrach...

A Daily Dose of History (09 May 2024) Today's historical events: Athanasius is elected Patriarch of Alexandria. England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force. Hernando de Alarcón sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California. The figure who later became Mr. Punch ma...

A Daily Dose of History (08 May 2024) Today's historical events: Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths. Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church. Treaty of Brétigny drafted between King E...

A Daily Dose of History (07 May 2024) Today's historical events: The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt. In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens to regulate the election of the Pope. The Siege of M...

A Daily Dose of History (06 May 2024) Today's historical events: Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish. King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose. Fr...

A Daily Dose of History (05 May 2024) Today's historical events: The Second Council of Constantinople begins. Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown....

A Daily Dose of History (04 May 2024) Today's historical events: The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae. Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance. Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson Wars of t...

A Daily Dose of History (03 May 2024) Today's historical events: Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico, assumes the throne. The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I. Angered by the brutal onslaught of...

A Daily Dose of History (02 May 2024) Today's historical events: King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformati...

A Daily Dose of History (01 May 2024) Today's historical events: The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland. Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an...

A Daily Dose of History (30 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. He is named admiral of the ocean sea, viceroy and governor of any territory he discovers. Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed...

A Daily Dose of History (29 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.[citation needed] Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and becomes its vassal. Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans. Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands...

A Daily Dose of History (28 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius. Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the thron...

A Daily Dose of History (27 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome with a celebration of the ludi seaculares. Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity. Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar t...

A Daily Dose of History (26 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: Czech king Karel IV founds the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him and was the first university in Central Europe. Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral. Playwright William Shakespear...

A Daily Dose of History (25 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over the South Caucasus is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire. After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens o...

A Daily Dose of History (24 Apr 2024) Today's historical events: Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League. Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris. The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published. French revolutiona...