A Daily Dose of History: Events on this Day in History

A Daily Dose of History (25 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto. Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to visit Constantinople until 1967. Romanos Lekapenos seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople and becomes regent of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah assassinates the eunuch chief minister Barjawan and assumes control of the government. Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (Scotland). The Council of Pisa convenes, in...

A Daily Dose of History (24 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6. English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate. Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.[full citation needed] James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I. Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan. The Province of...

A Daily Dose of History (23 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official. Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Peace of Longjumeau is signed, ending the second phase of the French Wars of Religion. American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty, or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia. Tsar Paul I of Russia...

A Daily Dose of History (22 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton. Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Minamoto clan. Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar. Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire. The P...

A Daily Dose of History (21 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius. Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem. Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid. Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. On the day of his execution in Oxford, former archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer deviates...

A Daily Dose of History (20 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed Roman emperor. Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka. The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598-1599). The Dutch East India Company is established. Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment. After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of ar...

A Daily Dose of History (19 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: The Byzantine-Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China. The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England. Frederick III of Habsburg is the last Holy Roman Emperor crowned by medieval tradition in Rome by Pope Nicholas V The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots...

A Daily Dose of History (18 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor. An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula leaves up to 20,000 dead. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade. First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city. Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake. Albert II of Habsburg b...

A Daily Dose of History (17 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius. Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him. Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England. Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox...

A Daily Dose of History (16 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang. Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York. Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burnt to death after the Fall of Montségur. Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset." The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament. The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United S...

A Daily Dose of History (15 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is slain by Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together. Michael III, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, overthrows the regency of his mother, empress Theodora (wife of Theophilos) with support of the Byzantine nobility. Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya enters Sa'dah and founds the Zaydi Imamate of Yemen. After a ten-year truce, German King Henry the Fowler defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near...

A Daily Dose of History (14 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland. Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion. Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm. According to his own account, Otto von Guericke completes his book Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica de Vacuo Spatio, detailing his experiments on va...

A Daily Dose of History (13 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh. At the Battle of Tondibi in Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty, led by Judar Pasha, defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one. Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard. Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, falls to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (part of the War of Jenkins' Ear) begins. W...

A Daily Dose of History (12 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius. Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church. He is best known for initiating the Crusades. German city Munich (München) is first mentioned as forum apud Munichen in the Augsburg arbitration by Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I. Start of the Siege of Maastricht, part of the Eighty Years' War. Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society o...

A Daily Dose of History (11 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire. Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona. Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina. The Frondeurs and the French sign the Peace of Rueil. The...

A Daily Dose of History (10 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage. The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor. After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command. Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia. Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule. French "Sun...

A Daily Dose of History (09 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. Khwarazmian sultan Jalal ad-Din conquers the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle of Klokotnitsa. The fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for the Indies. The fleet will discover Brazil which lies within boundaries granted to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Safavid troops retreat from Basra, ending a three-year occupation. After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate J...

A Daily Dose of History (08 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh. Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León. Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg. The city of Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) was founded by Duke John on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655-1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Swe...

A Daily Dose of History (07 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius. Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Coblenz in the presence of the papal legate Theodwin. The University of Paris issues the last in a series of condemnations of various philosophical and theological theses. A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman-Venetian War and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands. Napoleon Bonaparte captures...

A Daily Dose of History (06 Mar 2026) Today's historical events: The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The 42 Martyrs of Amorium are killed after refusing to convert to Islam. Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete. The Siege of Château Gaillard ends in a French victory over King John of England, who loses control of Normandy to King Philip II Augustus. Treaty of Paris of 1323 is signed. Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to King Casimir IV of Poland who agrees to c...