July 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

July 17 in history 180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world. 1048 – Damasus II is elected pope. 1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III…

June 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

June 30 in History 296 – Pope Marcellinus begins his papacy. 763 – The Byzantine army of emperor Constantine V defeats the Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Anchialus. 1422 – Battle of Arbedo between the duke of Milan and the Swiss cantons. 1521 – Spanish forces defeat a combined French and Navarrese army at the Battle of Noáin during the Spanish conquest of Iberian…

June 26 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

June 26 in History 4 AD – Augustus adopts Tiberius. 221 – Roman emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and receives the title of Caesar. 363 – Roman emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sasanian Empire. 684 – Pope Benedict II is chosen. 699 – En no Ozuno, a Japanese mystic and apothecary…

June 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

June 3 in History 350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators. 713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the…

June 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

June 1 in History 1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu. 1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed king of Castile and León. 1298 – Residents of Riga and Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Turaida.…

May 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

May 12 in History 254 – Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church. 907 – Zhu Wen forces Emperor Ai into abdicating, ending the Tang dynasty after nearly three hundred years of rule. 1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort of England the same day. 1328 – Antipope…

April 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

April 30 in history 311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends. 313 – Battle of Tzirallum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire. 642 – Chindasuinth is proclaimed king by the Visigothic nobility and bishops. 1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois. 1492 – Spain…

April 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

April 16 in History AD 73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War. 1346 – Stefan Dušan, “the Mighty”, is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans. 1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain…