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…

April 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

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…

March 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

March 25 in History 708 – Pope Constantine succeeds Pope Sisinnius as the 88th pope. 717 – Theodosius III resigns the throne to the Byzantine Empire to enter the clergy. 919 – Romanos Lekapenos seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople and becomes regent of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. 1000 – Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah assassinates the eunuch chief minister Barjawan and assumes control of the government.…

March 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

March 18 in History 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, leaves up to 20,000 dead. 1229 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade. 1241 – First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city. 1314 – Jacques de Molay,…

March 15- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

In the Roman calendar, March 15 was known as the Ides of March. March 15 in History 474 BC – Roman consul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years’ truce. 44 BC – Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger and his fellow conspirators, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus…

March 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

March 11 in History 222 – Alexander Severus becomes emperor of Rome, replacing his cousin, 18-year-old Elagabalus. The bodies of the assassinated emperor and his mother, Julia Soaemias, are dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber. 1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: English condottiero Sir John Hawkwood leads Padova to victory…

March 4- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

March 4 in History AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth). 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources. 938 –…

March 2- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

March 2 in History 537 – 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. 986 – Louis V becomes King of the Franks. 1444 – Skanderbeg organizes a group of Albanian nobles to form the League…