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…
April 22 in History 238 – Year of the Six Emperors: The Roman Senate outlaws emperor Maximinus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne. 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil. 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. 1529 –…
April 13 in History 1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. 1612 – Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island. 1613 – Samuel Argall, having captured Native…
February 8 in History 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah. 1347 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V…
January 28 in History 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire. 1069 – Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated…
January 27 in History AD 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule, the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent. 1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of…