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 3 in History 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne. 1294 – John II becomes Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg. 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties. 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu…
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 29 in history 1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. 1386 – Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and becomes its vassal. 1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans. 1483 – Gran Canaria,…
April 25 in History 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion. 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major…
April 24 in History 1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty). 1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by…
April 19 in History AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso’s plot to kill Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested. 531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria). 797 – Empress Irene organizes a conspiracy against her son, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI.…
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 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…
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…