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

A Daily Dose of History (23 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum's treasury. A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios. Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France. Scanian War: Denmark-Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden. Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France. Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony. While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks...

A Daily Dose of History (22 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Massacre at Béziers: The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade. Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk: King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk. St. Mary Magdalene's flood is the worst such event on record for central Europe. B...

A Daily Dose of History (21 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope. Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler. The 365 Crete earthquake affected the Greek island of Crete with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing a destructive tsunami that affects the coasts of Libya and Egypt, especially Alexandria. Many thousands were killed. King Berengar I of Italy and a hired Hungarian army defeats the Frankish forces at Verona. King Louis III is captured and blinded for breaking his oath (see 902). Battle of Taillebourg: Louis IX of France puts...

A Daily Dose of History (20 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. Rollo lays siege to Chartres. Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. The Battle...

A Daily Dose of History (19 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city. Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is recognized in Antioch and makes it his capital. Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Battle of Guadalete: Umayyad forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by King Roderic. Battle of Simancas: King Ramiro II of León defeats the Moorish army under Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III near the city of Simancas. Arab-Byzantine wars: Battle of Apamea: F...

A Daily Dose of History (18 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Roman-Persian Wars: Emperor Julian arrives at Antioch with a Roman expeditionary force (60,000 men) and stays there for nine months to launch a campaign against the Persian Empire. Sack of Aquileia: After an earlier defeat on the Catalaunian Plains, Attila lays siege to the metropolis of Aquileia and eventually destroys it. Chinese forces under general Li Shiji besiege the strategic fortress city of Anshi (Liaoning) during the Goguryeo-Tang War. Battle of Alarcos: Almohad forces defeat the Castilian army of Alfonso VIII and force its retreat to Toledo. King...

A Daily Dose of History (17 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world. Damasus II is elected pope, and dies 23 days later. The Fourth Crusade assaults Constantinople. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile. Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming dynasty of China. Hundred Years' War: Charles VII of France is crowned the King...

A Daily Dose of History (16 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece. Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing an Papal bull (of doubtful validity) of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the start of the East-West Schism. Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: After Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade...

A Daily Dose of History (15 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: First Jewish-Roman War: Titus and his armies breach the walls of Jerusalem. (17th of Tammuz in the Hebrew calendar). An Lushan Rebellion: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang is ordered by his Imperial Guards to execute chancellor Yang Guozhong by forcing him to commit suicide or face a mutiny. General An Lushan has other members of the emperor's family killed. First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege. The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is...

A Daily Dose of History (14 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: King Otto II and his Frankish army were defeated by the Muslim army of al-Qasim at Cape Colonna, Southern Italy. Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II. Battle of Vítkov Hill, decisive victory of Czech Hussite forces commanded by Jan Žižka against Crusade army led by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor. Anglo-Spanish War: English and Dutch troops sack the Spanish city of Cádiz before leaving the next day. An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá leaves its base in Ca...

A Daily Dose of History (13 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-74, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England. Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots. The Livonian Order suffers its greatest defeat in the 13th century in the Battle of Durbe against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes at Gravelines. Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Haarlem ends after...

A Daily Dose of History (12 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: The armies of Titus attack the walls of Jerusalem after a six-month siege. Three days later they breach the walls, which enables the army to destroy the Second Temple. King Constantine II of Scotland, King Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred of Bamburgh and King Owain of the Cumbrians accepted the overlordship of King Æthelstan of England, leading to seven years of peace in the north. Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrenders to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre. The Ottomans capture Euboea. Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, on...

A Daily Dose of History (11 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: After being besieged in Rome by his own generals, Western Roman Emperor Anthemius is captured in St. Peter's Basilica and put to death. Byzantine emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, abdicates in favor of his general Leo the Armenian, and becomes a monk (under the name Athanasius). Signing of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and Rollo of Normandy. Baldwin IV, 13, becomes King of Jerusalem, with Raymond III, Count of Tripoli as regent and William of Tyre as chancellor. Battle of the Golden Spurs...

A Daily Dose of History (10 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Emperor Hadrian dies of heart failure at his residence on the bay of Naples, Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina. Isshi Incident: Prince Naka-no-Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari assassinate Soga no Iruka during a coup d'état at the imperial palace. The Norse King Glúniairn recognises Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, High King of Ireland, and agrees to pay taxes and accept Brehon Law; the event is considered to be the founding of the city...

A Daily Dose of History (09 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Hadrian, who became emperor a year ago on Trajan's death, makes his entry into Rome. The end of the First Council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. Odoacer makes a night assault with his Heruli guardsmen, engaging Theoderic the Great in Ad Pinetam. Both sides suffer heavy losses, but in the end Theodoric forces Odoacer back into Ravenna. A major earthquake strikes Beirut, triggering a devastating tsunami that affected the coastal towns of Byzantine Phoenicia, causing thousands of deaths. Korean forces...

A Daily Dose of History (08 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch. Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta. Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India. Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan. Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to...

A Daily Dose of History (07 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks. Spanish conquistadores defeat a larger Aztec army at the Battle of Otumba. Jacques Cartier makes his first contact with aboriginal peoples in what is now Canada. The Raid of the Redeswire is the last major battle between England and Scotland. The Treaty of Nemours abolishes tolerance to Protestants in France. An English fleet completes the destruction of a French merchant fleet off Fort St Pierre, Martinique during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The...

A Daily Dose of History (06 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under 'Amr ibn al-'As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania. Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death. Ming China's Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming-Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor. Jan Hus is condemned by the assembly of the council in the Konstanz Cathedral as a heretic and sentenced...

A Daily Dose of History (05 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: The official opening of Constantine's Bridge built over the Danube between Sucidava (Corabia, Romania) and Oescus (Gigen, Bulgaria) by the Roman architect Theophilus Patricius. The Burgundian and Majorcan claimants of the Principality of Achaea meet in the Battle of Manolada. Portuguese forces under the command of Pedro Lopes de Sousa begin an unsuccessful invasion of the Kingdom of Kandy during the Campaign of Danture in Sri Lanka. John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colonists for Newfoundland. Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The Battle o...

A Daily Dose of History (04 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed. Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint. Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew's death. The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem. Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz. Ottoman-Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Expl...