May 31 in History 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. 1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus’ and Cumans. 1293 – Mongol invasion of Java was a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to…
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 20 in History 325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery. 685 – The Battle of Dun Nechtain is…
May 13 in History 1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book Revelations of Divine Love. 1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, are officially…
May 9 in History 1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy. 1271 – Ninth Crusade, Edward I of England disembarks at Acre. 1386 – 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…
May 6 in History 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish. 1536 – King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed…
This day marks the approximate midpoint of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the March equinox). May 5 in History 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 – Rebel barons renounce…
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 20 in History 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople. 1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage…
April 14 in History 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar’s assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Aulus Hirtius. AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of…