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

A Daily Dose of History (27 Mar 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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. Romanos Lekapenos seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople and becomes regent of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah assassinates the eunuch chief minister Barjawan...

A Daily Dose of History (24 Mar 2024) 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. English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate. Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.[full citation needed] James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of...

A Daily Dose of History (23 Mar 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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. Battle of Vincy between Ch...

A Daily Dose of History (20 Mar 2024) 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...

A Daily Dose of History (19 Mar 2024) 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 2024) Today's historical events: Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor. An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula leaves up to 20,000 dead. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade. First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mon...

A Daily Dose of History (16 Mar 2024) 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. The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament. Th...

A Daily Dose of History (14 Mar 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) Today's historical events: Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage. 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 fourt...

A Daily Dose of History (09 Mar 2024) 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 2024) 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. Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The...

A Daily Dose of History (07 Mar 2024) Today's historical events: 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 philosophical and theological theses. A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman-Venet...

A Daily Dose of History (06 Mar 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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 2024) 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 (29 Feb 2024) Today's historical events: In Queen Anne's War, French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive. Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation. The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the...