June 5 in History 1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights. 1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles of Salerno. 1288 – The Battle of Worringen ends the War of the Limburg Succession,…
June 4 in History 1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries. 1561 – The steeple of St Paul’s, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and…
May 28 in History 585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated. 621 – Battle…
May 27 in History 1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens.At least 600 Jews are killed. 1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death. 1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland. 1199 – John is crowned King of England. 1257 – Richard of Cornwall,…
May 25 in History 567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. 240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet. 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo,…
May 24 in History 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom. 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral. 1487 – The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, with the name of…
May 18 in History 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in…
May 1 in History 475 BC – Roman consul Publius Valerius Poplicola celebrates a Roman triumph for his victory over Veii and the Sabines. 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. 524 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an eight-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar. 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting…
April 18 in History 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days. 1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid. 1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.…
April 15 in History 769 – The Lateran Council condemned the Council of Hieria and anathematized its iconoclastic rulings. 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard. 1395 – Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur…