slug: jamaica

label: Jamaica

description: island state in the Caribbean Sea

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Jamaica is settled by the Ostinoid people, ancestors of the Taíno. They were farmers, potters, and villagers with socially complex societies. These people lived near the coast and extensively hunted turtles and fish.

title: 650

section: Events › By place › Americas

date: May 5

text: May 5 – Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica.

title: 1494

section: Events › April–June

date: June 25

text: June 25 – After his ships are damaged in a storm, Christopher Columbus and his 230 men are forced to beach at the island of Jamaica (at modern-day Saint Ann Parish) and remain stranded there for the next six months.

title: 1503

section: Science & Discovery

date: February 29

text: February 29 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse this night, to convince the indigenous Jamaican people to provide him with supplies (in Europe, the eclipse is in the early morning of March 1).

title: 1504

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Anglo-Spanish War: English Admiral Christopher Newport leads an unsuccessful attempt to take the Spanish-controlled Caribbean island of Jamaica, where he was attempting to pillage the area to obtain supplies. The Spanish defenders repel the fleet, and Newport leads the attackers to the coast of Central America.

title: 1603

date: May 10

text: May 10–27 – Anglo-Spanish War: Invasion of Jamaica – Forces of the English Protectorate led by William Penn and Robert Venables capture the island of Jamaica from Spain.

title: 1655

text: June 25–27 – In the Battle of Rio Nuevo, part of the Anglo-Spanish War, a Spanish invasion force fails to recapture Jamaica from the English.

title: 1658

date: July 18

text: July 18 (July 8, O.S.) – The Treaty of Madrid, also known as the Godolphin Treaty, is signed between England and Spain to formally end hostilities left over from the Anglo-Spanish War, in the Caribbean, that ended ten years earlier. For the first time, Spain acknowledges that it is not entitled to all territory in the Americas west of Brazil, as provided by the 1493 line of demarcation decreed by Pope Alexander VI, and by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal. Spain acknowledges that Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are English possessions.

title: 1670

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Jamaica's Governor Thomas Lynch offers a general pardon to pirates who are willing to come under Jamaican jurisdiction.

title: 1671

section: Climate & Environment

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Jamaica earthquake: An earthquake and related tsunami destroy Port Royal, capital of Jamaica, and submerge a major part of it; an estimated 2,000 are immediately killed, 2,300 injured, and a probable additional 2,000 die from the diseases which ravage the island in the following months.

title: 1692

date: January 9

text: January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade in the Western Hemisphere and at this time the largest city in the Caribbean, is destroyed by a fire. British ships in the harbor are able to rescue much of the merchandise that has been unloaded on the docks, but the inventory in market-places in town is destroyed.

title: 1703

section: Crime & Justice

date: November 16

text: November 16 – Pirate John Rackham (captured on October 22) is brought to trial at Spanish Town in Jamaica; he is hanged at Port Royal two days later. Most of his crew is also hanged but female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny are spared.

title: 1720

section: Events › October–December

date: August 7

text: August 7 – English-born pirate Nicholas Brown is captured near Xtabi, Jamaica.

title: 1726

date: October 23

text: October 23 – Jamaica's Governor John Ayscough declares martial law to fight the slave rebellion that began in 1733, then drafts 600 men into the colonial army to march into the Blue Mountains. (→ First Maroon War)

title: 1734

date: February 22

text: February 22 – The ruling white colonial government on the island of Jamaica foils a conspiracy by about 900 black slaves, who had been plotting to seize control and to massacre the white residents.

title: 1745

date: December 29

text: December 29 – Two physicians in Jamaica, Dr. John Williams and Dr. Parker Bennet, fight a duel "with swords and pistols" after having had an argument the day before about the treatment of bilious fever. Both are mortally wounded during the fight.

title: 1750

date: December 18

text: December 18 – In the wake of Tacky's War by African-born rebels, the Assembly of the British colony of Jamaica outlaws the African religious practice of obeah, with penalties ranging from banishment from the colony to execution. The legislation specifically bans use of contraband associated with obeah, including "animal blood, feathers, parrots' beaks, dogs' teeth, alligators' teeth, broken bottles, grave dirt, rum, and eggshells".

title: 1760

date: December 27

text: December 27 – The Baptist War (Christmas Rebellion) begins in Jamaica, with the setting afire of the Kensington House in St James Parish, inspiring thousands of black slaves to revolt against their British masters. At its peak, more than 20,000 people will be involved, and more than 500 killed.

title: 1831

date: January 13

text: January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white planters organize militias and the British Army sends companies of the 84th regiment to enforce martial law. More than 300 of the slave rebels will be publicly hanged for their part in the destruction.

title: 1832

section: Culture & Society

date: September 13

text: September 13 – The Gleaner newspaper is first published in Jamaica.

title: 1834

date: April 16

text: April 16 or 17 – A group of 24 West Indian Moravians from Jamaica and Antigua, recruited by the Danish minister and Basel missionary, Andreas Riis, arrive in Christiansborg (Osu), Gold Coast, now Ghana, to set up schools and Presbyterian churches in the country.

title: 1843

text: From this year until 1880, 144,000 East Indian laborers go to Trinidad and 39,000 to Jamaica.

title: 1850

section: Events › Date unknown

date: October 11

text: October 11 – Morant Bay rebellion: Paul Bogle leads hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the British governor Edward John Eyre with 400 executed.

title: 1865

section: Deaths

date: October 24

text: October 24 – Paul Bogle, Jamaican activist, Baptist deacon and leader of the Morant Bay rebellion. (executed) (b. 1820)

title: 1865

section: Deaths › July–December

date: August 1

text: August 1 – Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica.

title: 1914

date: April 21

text: April 21 – Haile Selassie visits Jamaica for the first time, meeting with Rasta leaders.

title: 1966

text: February 22 – Donald Sangster becomes the new prime minister of Jamaica, succeeding Alexander Bustamante.

title: 1967

section: Events › February

date: September 12

text: September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.

title: 1988

date: November 8

text: November 8 – Hurricane Gordon hits Central America, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti and the Southeastern United States, causing $594 million in damages and 1,152 fatalities.

title: 1994

date: October 28

text: October 28 – Hurricane Melissa makes a catastrophic landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane, with sustained wind speeds up to , becoming the strongest hurricane to strike the country in recorded history.

title: 2025


slug: james-cook

label: James Cook

description: British explorer, cartographer and naval officer (1728–1779)

text: February 22 – A fleet of 158 British Royal Navy warships, under the command of Admiral Edward Boscawen, departs from Plymouth toward North America in an effort to conquer the French Canadian territories of New France. Many of the sailors die of nutritional deficiencies along the way, including the scurvy that kills 26 of the crew of HMS Pembroke, captained by future world explorer James Cook on his first long voyage.

title: 1758

section: Events › January–March

date: August 26

text: August 26 – James Cook departs from Plymouth aboard on his first voyage of discovery.

title: 1768

section: Events › July–September

date: April 13

text: April 13 – James Cook arrives in Tahiti, on the ship HM Bark Endeavour, preparing for the 1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti on June 3. After the voyage, the data is found to be inaccurate in determining the distance between the Sun and Earth.

title: 1769

date: October 1

text: October 1 – James Cook names White Island, off the coast of New Zealand.

title: 1769

date: April 18

text: April 18 (April 19 by Cook's log) 18:00 – First voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to encounter the eastern coastline of the Australian continent. Land is sighted at Point Hicks, and named after Lieutenant Hicks who first observes landform at 6am.

title: 1770

date: March 26

text: March 26 – First voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain James Cook and his crew aboard complete the circumnavigation of New Zealand.

title: 1770

section: Events › January– March

date: August 11

text: August 11 – Second voyage of James Cook in the Tuamotus: Captain Cook discovers Tekokota, which he names Doubtful Island.

title: 1773

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in HMS Resolution (1771) becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.

title: 1773

date: June 16

text: June 16–17 – English explorer James Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Palmerston Island in the South Pacific Ocean.

title: 1774

date: September 4

text: September 4 – English explorer James Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) the island of New Caledonia in Melanesia.

title: 1774

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: January 17 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook takes possession of South Georgia for the Kingdom of Great Britain.

title: 1775

section: Events › January–June

date: July 30

text: July 30 – Second voyage of James Cook: anchors off the south coast of England, Captain Cook having completed the first eastbound global circumnavigation.

title: 1775

section: Events › July–December

date: July 12

text: July 12 – Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth, England, in HMS Resolution on his third voyage, to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic, which will be fatal to him.

title: 1776

section: Events › July–August

date: December 24

text: December 24 – Third voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain Cook locates Kiritimati (Christmas Island).

title: 1777

date: March 29

text: March 29–30 – Third voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain Cook discovers Mangaia and Atiu in the Cook Islands.

title: 1777

date: January 18

text: January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, first views Oʻahu then Kauaʻi in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, which he names the Sandwich Islands.

title: 1778

date: March 6

text: March 6–October 24 – Captain Cook explores and maps the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, from Cape Foulweather (Oregon) to the Bering Strait.

title: 1778

date: November 26

text: November 26 – In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to land on Maui.

title: 1778

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: February 14

text: February 14 – Captain James Cook is killed on the Sandwich Islands, on his third voyage.

title: 1779


slug: james-francis-edward-stuart

label: James Francis Edward Stuart

description: pretender to the English, Scottish and Irish throne (1688-1766)

date: June 10

text: June 10 – The birth of James Francis Edward Stuart (later known as the Old Pretender), son and heir to James II of England and his Catholic wife Mary of Modena, at St James's Palace in London, increases public disquiet about a Catholic dynasty, particularly when the baby is baptised into the Catholic faith. Rumours about his true maternity swiftly begin to circulate.

title: 1688

section: Events › April–June

date: September 16

text: September 16 – Deposed King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) dies in exile, at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France. His supporters, the Jacobites, turn to his son James Francis Edward Stuart (later called "The Old Pretender"), whom they recognise as James VIII and III. Louis XIV of France, the Papal States, and Spain also recognise him as the rightful heir.

title: 1701

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: March 23

text: March 23 – James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite pretender to the throne of Great Britain, unsuccessfully tries to land from a French fleet in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

title: 1708

section: Conflict & Security

date: December 22

text: December 22 – James Edward Stuart rejoins Jacobite rebels in Scotland, but fails to rouse his army.

title: 1715

section: Religion & Belief

date: March 14

text: March 14 – James Stuart, the "Old Pretender" attempting to restore the House of Stuart to control of Great Britain as King James III of England and James VIII of Scotland, meets with Pope Clement XI for the assistance of the Roman Catholic Church in the Jacobite rising.

title: 1715

date: March 27

text: March 27 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, flees from Great Britain to France. His part in secret negotiations with France, leading to the Treaty of Utrecht, has cast suspicion on him in the eyes of the Whig government of Britain. He becomes secretary of state to the Pretender, James Edward Stuart.

title: 1715

date: October 2

text: October 2 – During the rebellion in Great Britain by supporters of the Pretender to the Throne, James Stuart, the Jacobites raid the Scottish parish of Burntisland, capture an arsenal of weapons, and begin an occupation of the area on October 9 in the name of Stuart as King James VIII of Scotland.

title: 1715

date: September 6

text: September 6 – The first major Jacobite rising in Scotland against the rule of King George I of Great Britain breaks out. The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart, and marches on Edinburgh. James, the son of the deposed King James VII, arrives from France.

title: 1715

date: February 10

text: February 10 – James Edward Stuart flees from Scotland to France with a handful of supporters, following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1715.

title: 1716

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Count Carl Gyllenborg, the Swedish ambassador to Great Britain, was arrested in London for a plot to assist the Pretender to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart.

title: 1717

date: August 24

text: August 24 – Francis Atterbury, Anglican Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, is arrested in his deanery and confined in the Tower of London for treason, accused of leading the Jacobite "Atterbury Plot" in support of the pretender James Francis Edward Stuart with the aim of overthrowing the House of Hanover and King George I of Great Britain and restoring the House of Stuart by installing Prince James as "King James III".

title: 1722

date: December 10

text: December 10 – King Louis XV of France informs King Philip V of Spain of his intent to try to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the United Kingdom. James Francis Edward Stuart was briefly the Crown Prince of England and Scotland until his father, King James II, was deposed in 1688 and, as Pretender to the Throne, would become King James III if the attack, planned for January 1, 1744 succeeds.

title: 1743

date: August 19

text: August 19 – The Jacobite rising of 1745 begins at Glenfinnan in Scotland, where Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raises his standard in a campaign to enforce his father James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender")'s claim to be King James III of England.

title: 1745


slug: james-i-of-aragon

label: James I of Aragon

description: King of Aragon (1208–1276)

section: Births

date: February 2

text: February 2 – James I ("the Conqueror"), king of Aragon (d. 1276)

title: 1208

date: August 10

text: August 10 – The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, whose followers are called the Mercedarians, is legally constituted in Barcelona by King James I of Aragon. It will receive papal approval 12 years later.

title: 1223

text: King James I (the Conqueror) launches a major offensive against the Almohads in Majorca. At the same moment, Emir Ibn Hud al-Yamadi (confronted by increasing Christian pressure) denounces Almohad rule in Murcia (modern Spain) and acknowledges the Abbasid Caliphate as legitimate overlord, in effect declaring independence. Other notable Christian success: King Alfonso IX of León conquers Mérida.

title: 1228

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: September 5

text: September 5 – A Catalan-Aragonese expeditionary army under King James I (the Conqueror) embarks with 155 ships, 1,500 knights and 15,000 men from Tarragona, Salou, and Cambrils, in southern Catalonia. He sets sail to conquer Majorca. On December 31, James finally conquers the island from the Almohad ruler, Abu Yahya.

title: 1229

date: September 28

text: September 28 – King James I of Aragon captures the city of Valencia from the Moors, who retreat to Granada. During the campaign, James' cousin, Bernat Guillem de Montpeller, dies from wounds received in action.

title: 1238

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Treaty of Almizra: King James I (the Conqueror) and King Ferdinand III (the Saint) agree on the distribution of Muslim lands yet to be conquered. All lands south of a line, from the cities of Biar to Villajoyosa through Busot, are reserved for the Crown of Castile. This ends further Aragonese expansion on the Iberian Peninsula.

title: 1244

date: December 1

text: December 1 – A rebellion arises among the Muslim subjects in the region of Valencia. As a punishment, King James I of Aragon ("the Conqueror"), issues an order of expulsion of the Muslims from his realm, leading numerous people into exile in Andalusia and North Africa.

title: 1247

date: May 11

text: May 11 – Treaty of Corbeil: King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") signs a peace treaty with King James I of Aragon ("the Conqueror"). Louis, heir of Charlemagne, formally renounces his feudal overlordship over Catalonia (independent de facto since 988), while James renounces his claims over Occitania.

title: 1258

text: Reconquista – King James I of Aragon ("the Conqueror") captures Crevillent from the Moors and it becomes a part of the Kingdom of Valencia.

title: 1263

date: September

text: September – An Aragonese contingent under King James I ("the Conqueror") sails from Barcelona to the Holy Land but is caught in a storm and badly damaged. One squadron reaches Acre, but later returns to Catalonia.

title: 1269

date: July 27

text: July 27 – James I ("the Conqueror"), king of Aragon (b. 1208)

title: 1276


slug: james-i-of-england

label: James I of England

section: Culture & Society

date: December 26

text: December 26 – On the evening of Saint Stephen's Day), the first recorded performance of Shakespeare's "problem play" Measure for Measure takes place, before King James I of England in the banquet hall of the Palace of Whitehall.

title: 1604

section: Events › October–December

date: January 14

text: January 14 – The Hampton Court Conference is held between James I of England, the Anglican bishops and representatives of the Puritans. Work begins on the Authorized King James Version of the Bible and revision of the Book of Common Prayer.

title: 1604

date: November 5

text: November 5 (O.S.) – The Gunpowder Plot, a scheme to bomb England's Palace of Westminster during the opening of Parliament, is foiled after Sir Thomas Knyvet is tipped off, and finds Catholic plotter Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the Parliament building. Knyvet orders a search of the area and 36 barrels of gunpowder are found. Fawkes is arrested for trying to assassinate King James I and the members who had been scheduled to sit together in Parliament the next day.

title: 1605

section: Crime & Justice

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins in London. They are hanged, drawn and quartered on January 30–31.

title: 1606

date: February 14

text: February 14 – Elizabeth, daughter of King James I of England, marries Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate.

title: 1613

date: January 20

text: January 20 – King James I of England successfully mediates the Treaty of Knäred between Denmark and Sweden.

title: 1613

text: February 14 (February 4 O.S.) – King James I of England issues his proclamation Against Private Challenges and Combats in an effort to end duels.

title: 1614

text: Moralist writer John Deacon publishes a quarto entitled Tobacco Tortured in the Filthy Fumes of Tobacco Refined (supporting the views of James I of England). Deacon writes the same year that syphilis is a "Turkished", "Spanished", or "Frenchized" disease that the English contract by "trafficking with the contagious courruptions."

title: 1616

section: Events › Date unknown

date: December 25

text: December 25 – Captain Nathaniel Courthope reaches the nutmeg-rich island of Run in the Moluccas, to defend it against the Dutch East India Company. A contract with the inhabitants, accepting James I of England as their sovereign, makes it part of the English colonial empire.

title: 1616

section: Events › November-December

text: December 25 – "Father Christmas" is a main character of Christmas, His Masque, written by Ben Jonson and presented at the court of King James I of England. Father Christmas is considered a papist symbol by Puritans, and later banished from England until the English Restoration. The traditional, comical costume for this jolly figure, as well as regional names, indicate that he is descended from the presenter of the medieval Feast of Fools.

title: 1616

date: February 1

text: February 1 – James I of England grants Ben Jonson an annual pension of 100 marks, making him de facto poet laureate.

title: 1616

section: Events › January–February

date: January 3

text: January 3 – In the court of James I of England, the king's favorite George Villiers becomes Master of the Horse (encouraging development of the thoroughbred horse); on April 24 he receives the Order of the Garter; and on August 27 he is created Viscount Villiers and Baron Waddon, receiving a grant of land valued at £80,000. In 1617, he will be made Earl of Buckingham. After the Earl of Pembroke, he is the second richest nobleman in England.

title: 1616

date: November 16

text: November 16 – Marco Antonio de Dominis, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the See of Spalato and Primate of Dalmatia, having run afoul of Pope Paul V over secular matters relating to Venice, submits to King James I of England and later becomes Dean of Windsor.

title: 1616

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Prince Charles (15-year-old surviving son of James I of England and Anne of Denmark) is invested as Prince of Wales at Whitehall in London, the last such formal investiture until 1911.

title: 1616

text: November 5 – Bishop Lancelot Andrewes preaches the annual Gunpowder Treason sermon before King James I of England at Whitehall, both having been intended victims of the plot.

title: 1616

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: November 6

text: November 6 – Captain William Murray is granted a royal patent, giving him the sole privilege of importing tobacco to Scotland for a period of 21 years. Continuing from the reign of Elizabeth I, the creation of grants and patents reaches a new highwater mark from 1614 to 1621, during the reign of James I of England.

title: 1616

date: October 29

text: October 29 – English adventurer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded at the Palace of Westminster, for allegedly conspiring treasonably against James I of England in 1603, following pressure from the Spanish government, over his attack on their settlement on the Orinoco, on his last (1617–18) voyage.

title: 1618

date: January 12

text: January 12 – James I of England's Banqueting House, Whitehall in London is destroyed by fire. Inigo Jones is commissioned to design a replacement.

title: 1619

date: February 8

text: February 8 – King James I of England dissolves the English Parliament.

title: 1622

section: Events › January–May

date: February 19

text: February 19 – The last parliament of King James I of England begins its session.

title: 1624


slug: james-i-of-scotland

label: James I of Scotland

description: King of Scots from 1406 to 1437

date: May 31

text: May 31 – King Robert III of Scotland names his son Prince James of Stewart as the Earl of Atholl, a title traditionally given to the heir of the Scottish throne.

title: 1367

date: July 25

text: July 25 – James I of Scotland (d. 1437)

title: 1394

section: Deaths

date: April 4

text: April 4 – James I becomes King of Scotland on the death of his father. He has been detained by Henry IV of England since March 30 and will remain at the English court for 18 years. With James absent, Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany administers the kingdom as "Governor of Scotland".

title: 1406

date: March 22

text: March 22 – On "Monday before the Annunciation", Prince James, the 10-year-old son of King Robert III of Scotland, is captured while being taken across the English Channel from Scotland to France when the ship he is on, Maryenknyght, by privateers Hugh atte Fen, William Oxeney, John Hacon and Nicholas Steyward of Cley. The crown prince is delivered to London where he is held hostage by King Henry IV of England for the next 18 years.

title: 1406

section: Events › January–March

date: September 3

text: September 3 – Murdoch Stewart becomes the new Duke of Albany and Regent of Scotland for King James I, upon the death of his father Robert Stewart. During his time governing Scotland, Murdoch makes no effort to secure King James's release from captivity in England until forced to do so by political pressure.

title: 1420

section: Events › July–September

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: March 28

text: March 28 – King James I of Scotland is released after having been held captive in England for 18 years. James is freed after putting his royal seal on a ransom treaty of £40,000, secured by Scottish hostages taking his place, as agreed at Durham, England.

title: 1424

date: May 21

text: May 21 – The coronation of James I as King of Scotland takes place at Scone Abbey in the Scottish town of Scone. After the ceremony King James performs his first knighthood ceremony, honoring 18 prominent nobles.

title: 1424

date: March 12

text: March 12 – King James I of Scotland opens a brief session of the Scottish Parliament, which opens at Perth and ends after only five days.

title: 1425

section: Events › January – March

date: July 12

text: July 12 – King James I of Scotland gives royal assent to the Oath by Queen Act 1428 (De juramento prestando Domine Regine) passed by the Parliament of Scotland at Perth.

title: 1428

date: October 1

text: October 1 – King James I of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts recently passed by the Scottish parliament, including the Place of Trial Act ("That the kingis Justice hald the law quhair the trespes wes done."), the Englishmen Act ("of assoverance and proteccion be Inglismen"), the Selling Salmon to English Men Act and the Import of Bullion Act.

title: 1436

date: February 21

text: February 21– King James I of Scotland is assassinated in an attempted coup d'état led by his uncle and former ally, Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. The night before, the King and his wife, Catherine Douglas had stopped at Blackfriars monastery in Perth. Queen Catherine is injured while barring the door with her arm in order to allow the King to escape, and King James is found in the early hours of the morning and stabbed to death while trying to escape.

title: 1437

text: February 21 – King James I of Scotland (b. 1394) (murdered)

title: 1437

date: August 16

text: August 16 – Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France, daughter of the late King James I of Scotland and wife of the Dauphin Louis, son of King Charles VII of France, dies from an illness contracted a week earlier. On her deathbed, she accuses a court official, Jamet de Tillay, of having slandered her reputation and causing her death.

title: 1445


slug: james-ii-of-aragon

label: James II of Aragon

description: King of Aragon and Valencia, Count of Barcelona and King of Sicily (1267-1327)

date: August 10

text: August 10 – King James II of Aragon (d. 1327)

title: 1267

date: November 2

text: November 2 – Peter III (the Great) dies after a 9-year reign at Vilafranca del Penedès. He is succeeded by his 20-year-old son Alfonso III (the Liberal), who becomes king of Aragon. Peter's other son James II (the Just), is crowned ruler of Sicily. His third son, the 13-year-old Frederick, becomes co-ruler and regent of Sicily.

title: 1285

date: June

text: June – Genoa concludes a new commercial treaty with the Mamluks; five galleys sent by King James II of Aragon ("the Just") join the Venetian Crusader fleet (some 20 ships) on its way to Acre. On board the fleet are Italian urban militias and mercenary forces under Seneschal Jean I de Grailly, who have fought for the Papal States in the so-called Italian Crusades.

title: 1290

section: Events › By place › Levant

date: November

text: November–December – The kings Sancho IV of Castile ("the Brave") and James II of Aragon ("the Just") agree to join the war against the Marinids and conclude a treaty of friendship. Muhammad II, Nasrid ruler of Granada, gives his support to Sancho to take Tarifa from the Marinids. In the agreement, Castile and Aragon will respect their own boundaries.

title: 1291

text: Boniface VIII attempts to end the rivalry between Genoa and Pisa over the Tyrrhenian islands of Sardinia and Corsica, naming King James II of Aragon ("the Just") as regent of the islands.

title: 1297

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: September 16

text: September 16 – In Spain, the Emirate of Granada, ruled by Muhammad al-Faqih, and the Crown of Aragon, ruled by Jaime II the Just sign a military agreement to fight against the Kingdom of Castile and to capture the port of Tarifa. "Finalment, el tractat fou signat per Jaume II ale 16 de setembre de 1301, amb contingut practicament igual que la proposta que ja hem comentat del rei de Granada." ("Finally, the treaty was signed by James II on September 16, 1301, with practically the same content as the proposal we have already commented on from the King of Granada.")

title: 1301

section: Events › July– September

date: April 8

text: April 8 (8 Shaban 701 AH) – Sultan Muhammad II dies after a 29-year reign and is succeeded by his son Muhammad III as ruler of Granada. Within two weeks of his accession, he sends a Nasrid army under Hammu ibn Abd al-Haqq to seize Bedmar and other neighboring strongholds from Castile. Nasrid forces also attack Jódar, northeast of Bedmar, and recapture Quesada. Meanwhile, Muhammad contains friendly relations with King James II ("James the Just").

title: 1302

section: Events › April–June

date: August 8

text: August 8 – Treaty of Torrellas: The 18-year-old King Ferdinand IV of Castile signs a peace with King James II of Aragon ("James the Just"). In the terms, James agrees to restore the Kingdom of Murcia to Castile, except for Alicante, Elche, Orihuela, and lands north of the Segura River. In return for extensive patrimony, Prince Alfonso de la Cerda renounces his claim to the Castilian throne, ending a conflict that has disturbed the tranquility of the realm for nearly 30 years.

title: 1304

section: Events › July – September

date: February 26

text: February 26 – In Spain, King James II of Aragon and King Ferdinand IV of Castile have a summit at the Monastery of Santa María de Huerta in Castile. Attending also from Castile are Ferdinand's uncle, Prince John; Juan Núñez II de Lara of the House of Lara; Ferdinand's cousin Juan Manuel; and Prince Afonso of Portugal.

title: 1305

date: May 19

text: May 19 – In Spain, the Treaty of Elche is signed between King James II of Aragon and King Ferdinand IV of Castile to revise the borders set out nine months earlier in the Treaty of Torrellas.

title: 1305

section: Events › April – June

date: December 19

text: December 19 – Treaty of Alcalá de Henares: King Ferdinand IV of Castile and King James II of Aragon sign an alliance in the Monastery of Santa María de Huerta. Ferdinand agrees to join James in making war by sea and by land against Granada. He also promises to give up one-sixth of Granada to Aragon, and grants him the Province of Almería.

title: 1308

section: Events › October – December

date: April 24

text: April 24 – Spanish kings James II of Aragon and Ferdinand IV of Castile persuade Pope Clement V to grant the papal bull Indesinentis cure, authorizing them approval and church financial support for a crusade to rid the Iberian peninsula of Islam, as well as to conquer Corsica and Sardinia. The two monarchs fail to mention their collaboration with the Muslim Marinid Empire, and use the papal bull to plan a blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar with their combined fleet of 40 warships on their mission to expel the Saracen forces from Spain.

title: 1309

section: Conflict & Security

date: February 24

text: February 24 – In Spain, King Ferdinand IV of Castile agrees to assist the neighboring Crown of Aragon

title: 1309

date: October 14

text: October 14 – Blanche of Anjou, consort of King James II of Aragon

title: 1310

date: June 15

text: June 15 – King James II of Aragon is married by proxy to Marie of Lusignan, daughter of King Hugh III of Cyprus, at a ceremony attended by James's representative at Nicosia.

title: 1315

date: November 17

text: November 17 – The marriage of King James II of Aragon to Marie of Lusignan is performed in person after Marie has traveled to Spain, with the ceremony taking place at Girona.

title: 1315

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Treaty of Baena: Sultan Ismail I of Granada signs an 8-year truce with Castile at Baena. King James II of Aragon, who receives papal authorization and funds for a crusade against the Emirate of Granada refuses to accept the treaty. Both parties promise to aid one another against their respective enemies. Meanwhile, Ismail consolidates the territories formally under his control with the emirate.

title: 1320

date: December 25

text: December 25 – King James II of Aragon marries for the fourth time during his reign, taking as his bride Elisenda de Montcada, in a ceremony in the Spanish city of Tarragona.

title: 1322

section: Health & Medicine

date: April 11

text: April 11 – Hugh II, the self-styled King of Arborea

title: 1323

date: November 5

text: November 5 – In Barcelona, Prince Alfonso "the Kind" becomes the new King of Aragon upon the death of his father, King Jaime II, and is enthroned as King Alfonso IV.

title: 1327


slug: james-ii-of-england

label: James II of England

description: King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1685 to 1688 (1633–1701)

section: Births

date: February 23

text: February 23 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)

title: 1648

section: Births › January–March

section: Economy & Finance

date: December 18

text: December 18 – The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa, planned by Prince James, brother of King Charles II to capture persons along the coast of West Africa for resale as slaves, receives its charter. Prince James, later King James II, had started asking for investors (at 250 pounds sterling per share) starting on October 3, 1660.

title: 1660

section: Events › October–December

section: Culture & Society

date: October 28

text: October 28 – The "Duke of York and Albany's maritime regiment of foot" is formed in London and serves as a precursor to the Royal Marines of the United Kingdom.

title: 1664

date: October 4

text: October 4 – New Netherland is captured by England. The English promptly rename the fledgling city New York, after the Duke of York (later King James II).

title: 1664

date: June 13

text: June 13 (June 3 O.S.) – Second Anglo-Dutch War – Battle of Lowestoft: The English Navy, under James Stuart, Duke of York, is victorious against the Dutch.

title: 1665

date: March 31

text: March 31 – Anne Hyde, wife of the future James II of England (b. 1637)

title: 1671

date: November 23

text: November 23 – James, Duke of York, marries Mary of Modena; they meet for the first time immediately before the ceremony in Dover.

title: 1673

date: July 12

text: July 12 – In England, the "Habeas Corpus Parliament" (or "First Exclusion Parliament") is dissolved, while in recess, by King Charles II. The King exercises his royal prerogative of dissolution to prevent the parliament from passing a bill that would exclude non-Anglicans from the succession to the English throne, specifically the king's Roman Catholic brother, James, Duke of York, as part of the Exclusion Crisis.

title: 1679

section: Religion & Belief

date: April 23

text: April 23 – The coronation of King James II of England (and his Queen Consort, Mary of Modena) takes place at Westminster Abbey.

title: 1685

date: February 6

text: February 6 – Catholic James Stuart, Duke of York, becomes King James II of England and Ireland, and King James VII of Scotland, in succession to his brother Charles II (1660–1685), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland since 1660. James II and VII reigns until deposed, in 1688.

title: 1685

date: July 6

text: July 6 – Monmouth Rebellion: In the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last pitched battle fought on English soil, the armies of King James II of England defeat rebel forces under James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, and capture the Duke himself shortly after the battle.

title: 1685

date: June 11

text: June 11 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland, lands at Lyme Regis with an invasion force brought from the Netherlands, to challenge his uncle, James II, for the Crown of England.

title: 1685

date: May 11

text: May 11 – The Killing Time: Five Covenanters in Wigtown, Scotland, notably Margaret Wilson, are executed for refusing to swear an oath declaring King James of England, Scotland and Ireland as head of the church, becoming the Wigtown martyrs.

title: 1685

date: August 16

text: August 16 – King James VII of Scotland dismisses the Parliament of Scotland after the members refuse to remove restrictions on Roman Catholics and on Protestants outside of the Church of Scotland and the Church of England. The Parliament does not meet again for more than two and a half years.

title: 1686

date: July 17

text: July 17 – King James II of England appoints four Roman Catholics to the Privy Council of England, in defiance of the Test Acts, which bar Catholics from public office. Suspicions about James's intentions lead to a group of conspirators meeting at Charborough House in Dorset, to plan his overthrow and replacement with the Protestant Dutch Stadtholder, William III of Orange-Nassau (James's son-in-law).

title: 1686

date: April 4

text: April 4 – King James II of England issues the Declaration of Indulgence (or Declaration for the Liberty of Conscience), suspending laws against Roman Catholics and nonconformists.

title: 1687

date: February 12

text: February 12 – The Declaration of Indulgence is issued in Scotland by King James VII as one of the first steps in establishing freedom of religion in the British Isles, eliminating enforcement of criminal penalties against persons who failed to conform with Anglicanism. As King James II of England, he issues a similar declaration on April 4.

title: 1687

date: July 2

text: July 2 – King James II of England disbands the English parliament

title: 1687

date: December 11

text: December 11 – Having led his army to Salisbury and been deserted by his troops, James VII and II attempts to flee to France.

title: 1688

date: January 30

text: January 30 (January 20, 1687 old style) – King James II of England and Scotland issues a proclamation offering amnesty to pirates in the West Indies who surrender to Sir Robert Holmes.

title: 1688

date: June 30

text: June 30 – A high-powered conspiracy of notables (the Immortal Seven) invite Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange and Princess Mary to "defend the liberties of England", and depose King James VII and II.

title: 1688

date: May 4

text: May 4 – King James II of England orders his Declaration of Indulgence, suspending penal laws against Catholics, to be read from every Anglican pulpit in England. The Church of England and its staunchest supporters, the peers and gentry, are outraged; on June 8 the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, is imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to proclaim it.

title: 1688

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: November 11

text: November 11 (November 1 OS) – Glorious Revolution: William III of Orange sets sail a second time from Hellevoetsluis, the Netherlands, to take over England, Scotland and Ireland from King James II of England.

title: 1688

date: October 26

text: October 26 – King James II of England dismisses his minister Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland.

title: 1688

text: The overthrow of Catholic king James of England, Ireland, and Scotland in the Glorious Revolution.

title: 1689

section: Events

text: April 11 (O.S.) – William III and Mary II are crowned in London as King and Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Ireland does not recognise them yet, while the Estates of Scotland declare King James VII deposed.

title: 1689

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Boston revolt: Unpopular New England Governor Sir Edmund Andros and other officials are overthrown by a "mob" of Bostonians. Andros, an appointee of James II of England, is disliked for his support of the Church of England and revocation of various colonial charters.

title: 1689

date: January 22

text: January 22 (January 12, 1688 O.S.) – Glorious Revolution in England: The Convention Parliament is convened to determine if King James II of England, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, vacated the throne when he fled to France, at the end of 1688. The settlement of this is agreed on 8 February.

title: 1689

date: March 22

text: March 22 (March 12 O.S.) – Start of the Williamite War in Ireland: The deposed James II of England lands with 6,000 French soldiers in Ireland, where there is a Catholic majority, hoping to use it as the base for a counter-coup. However, many Irish Catholics see him as an agent of Louis XIV, and refuse to support him.

title: 1689

date: December 10

text: December 10 –Playwright Henry Nevil Payne is tortured for his role in the Montgomery Plot to restore James II to the throne — the last time a political prisoner is legally subjected to torture in Britain.

title: 1690

date: July 11

text: July 11 (July 1 O.S.) – Battle of the Boyne in Ireland: King William III of England (William of Orange) defeats the deposed James II, who returns to exile in France. The rebellion in Ireland continues for a further year until the Orange army gains full control.

title: 1690

date: May 20

text: May 20 – England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of the deposed James II.

title: 1690

date: January 7

text: January 7 (December 28, 1694 O.S.) – The United Kingdom's last joint monarchy, the reign of husband-and-wife King William III and Queen Mary II comes to an end with the death of Queen Mary, at the age of 32. Princess Mary had been installed as the monarch along with her husband and cousin, Willem Hendrik von Oranje, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, in 1689 after King James II was deposed by Willem during the "Glorious Revolution".

title: 1695

text: February 15 – A plot to ambush and assassinate King William III of England in order to restore King James and the House of Stuart to the throne is foiled when the king cancels his usual plan to return from a hunting trip by way of the road between Turnham Green and Brentford. The king's guard is alerted by the Earl of Portland, William Bentinck, who had been approached on February 13 by Sir Thomas Prendergast.

title: 1696

text: February 23 – A royal proclamation is issued to arrest suspected Jacobite conspirators who had plotted the assassination of King William III, including gunman Robert Charnock and organizers George Barclay, and Sir John Fenwick. Barclay eludes capture, but Charnock and Fenwick are executed.

title: 1696

text: September 16 – Deposed King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) dies in exile, at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France. His supporters, the Jacobites, turn to his son James Francis Edward Stuart (later called "The Old Pretender"), whom they recognise as James VIII and III. Louis XIV of France, the Papal States, and Spain also recognise him as the rightful heir.

title: 1701

text: September 6 – The first major Jacobite rising in Scotland against the rule of King George I of Great Britain breaks out. The Earl of Mar raises the standard of James Edward Stuart, and marches on Edinburgh. James, the son of the deposed King James VII, arrives from France.

title: 1715

text: October 26 – Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1657)

title: 1717

text: May 30 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1648)

title: 1730

text: June 12 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II of England and French military commander (b. 1670)

title: 1734

text: December 10 – King Louis XV of France informs King Philip V of Spain of his intent to try to restore the House of Stuart to the throne of the United Kingdom. James Francis Edward Stuart was briefly the Crown Prince of England and Scotland until his father, King James II, was deposed in 1688 and, as Pretender to the Throne, would become King James III if the attack, planned for January 1, 1744 succeeds.

title: 1743


slug: james-ii-of-scotland

label: James II of Scotland

description: King of Scotland from 1437 to 1460

date: October 16

text: October 16 – King James II of Scotland (d. 1460) and his twin Alexander Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (d. 1430)

title: 1430

date: March 25

text: March 25 – In a ceremony in Holyrood Abbey, six-year old Prince James is crowned as James II of Scotland by Pope Eugene IV. For the security of the crown, the capital of Scotland is moved from Dunfermline to Edinburgh.

title: 1437

section: Events › January–March

date: November 27

text: November 27 – Following approval by the General Council of Scotland, regents for King James II of Scotland give royal assent to the Inquisitions in Last Reign Act, providing for the continuation of any inquisition by the Roman Catholic Church for heresy that had been started prior to the assassination of King James I.

title: 1438

date: July 3

text: July 3 – King James II of Scotland marries Mary of Guelders at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh.

title: 1449

section: Events › July–September

date: January 19

text: January 19 – King James II of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament in 1449, including the Leases Act 1449 ("Of takis of landis for termes and takis of wedset (mortgaged) landis eftir the oute quyting of the lande"), the Coinage Act, the Parties Summoned to King's Council Act and the Statute Law Revision Act ("Persons chosyn of the thre estatis til examyn the actis of parliamentis and general counsallis").

title: 1450

section: Crime & Justice

date: February 22

text: February 22 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas is killed by James II of Scotland, at Stirling Castle.

title: 1452

date: May 1

text: May 1 – Battle of Arkinholm: Forces loyal to King James II of Scotland defeat the supporters of the Earl of Douglas.

title: 1455

section: Deaths

date: August 3

text: August 3 – King James II of Scotland (b. 1430)

title: 1460


slug: james-iii-of-scotland

label: James III of Scotland

description: King of Scotland from 1460 to 1488 (1451–1488)

date: July 10

text: July 10 – James III of Scotland (d. 1488)

title: 1451

date: June 23

text: June 23 – Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, consort of James III of Scotland (d. 1486)

title: 1456

date: December 1

text: December 1 – Mary of Guelders, Queen regent of Scotland for her 12-year-old son, King James III, dies at the age of 30, prompting the new regent, Bishop James Kennedy, to contact the former King Henry VI of England to mediate a peace between England and Scotland.

title: 1463

date: July 9

text: July 9 – King James III of Scotland is taken hostage while he is hunting near his palace at Linlithgow, in a coup d'etat led by Lord Robert Boyd.

title: 1466

date: September 8

text: September 8 – The Orkney Islands are pledged to Scotland by King Christian I of Kingdom of Norway in consideration of an agreement for the marriage of 16-year-old King James III of Scotland to Princess Margrete, King Christian's daughter, with the islands pledged as security against the payment of the dowry. As the money is never paid, the connection with the crown of Scotland becomes perpetual.

title: 1468

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: November 27 – King James III gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Parliament of Scotland.

title: 1469

date: March 17

text: March 17 – An heir to the throne of Scotland is born to Queen Margaret and King James III. Prince James of the House of Stewart will become King James IV at the age of 15 in 1488.

title: 1473

text: October 26 – In a peace treaty between King Edward IV of England and King James III of Scotland, an agreement is reached for the betrothal and eventual marriage of King Edward's daughter Cecily to King James' eldest son and future King of Scotland, James, Duke of Rothsay.

title: 1474

date: April 2

text: April 2 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to the six Defence of the Realm Acts and to the Benefices Act 1481, passed by his parliament in anticipation of a war with England.

title: 1481

section: Events › April–June

date: June 11

text: June 11 – The Treaty of Fotheringhay is signed between King Edward IV of England, and Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the younger brother of King James III of Scotland, with Alexander being promised the Scottish throne in return for swearing loyalty to England and participating in an English invasion of Scotland.

title: 1482

date: May 10

text: May 10 – King Edward IV of England summons fighting men to participate in an invasion of Scotland with the goal of deposing King James III and installing a puppet monarch who will bring Scotland under English control.

title: 1482

date: January 8

text: January 8 – Following the appointment of the Duke of Albany as Lieutenant-General of the Realm, King James III of Scotland is restored to the throne after having been captured in battle on July 22, 1482.

title: 1483

date: February 24

text: February 24 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Defence of the Realm Act 1483 (summoning the members of the nobility to come defend Scotland); the Duke of Albany Act, an arrest warrant for all person who made treasonable assistance to the King's rebellious brother, Alexander, Duke of Albany; and the two Barratry Acts, prohibiting "the having of mone furth of the Realme" (the exportation of money out of the realm) to the Court of Rome.

title: 1484

date: July 22

text: July 22 – Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, is defeated by forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas is captured.

title: 1484

date: May 26

text: May 26 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the England Act (regarding the peace between "betuix our soverane lord and Richard king of Ingland", and "the marriage and alliance appointed to be made and performed.")

title: 1485

date: March 1

text: March 1 – King James III of Scotland gives royal assent to acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Tallow Act, the Hides Act and the Currency Act.

title: 1486

date: February 2

text: February 2 – Prince James, Duke of Rothesay, the 15-year-old son of King James III of Scotland and heir to the throne, leaves his residence at Stirling Castle and joins a rebellion against his father. Prince James sides with the Earl of Angus and the Earl of Argyll in the rebellion, which ultimately leads to the King's death.

title: 1488

text: June 11 – King James III of Scotland (at the Battle of Sauchieburn; b. c. 1451)

title: 1488


slug: james-iv

label: James IV

description: King of Scotland from 1488 to 1513 (1473-1513)

title: 1473

date: October 26

title: 1474

title: 1488

text: June 11 – King James III of Scotland is killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn, in a rebellion in which his son, James, Duke of Rothesay, is on the other side. Rothesay becomes King James IV and spends the rest of his life regretting his role in his father's death.

title: 1488

date: October 17

text: October 17 – King James IV of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous laws approved by the Scottish Parliament during its 1488 session, including the France Act ("to renew the confideracioun betuix the realmez of France and Scotland") and the Rebel Officers of Law Act (disbarring and suspending any wardens, justices or other officials "who were in battle at Stirling against our sovereign Lord").

title: 1488

date: July 4

text: July 4 – King James IV of Scotland gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the Scottish Parliament, including the Siege of Castles held by Rebels Act 1489, and the renewal of alliances with France and Denmark.

title: 1489

date: June 29

text: June 29 – King James IV grants Andrew, Lord Gray, the lands and Barony of Lundie in Scotland.

title: 1489

date: November 28

text: November 28 – Margaret Tudor, Scottish regent, Queen of James IV of Scotland, daughter of Henry VII of England (d. 1541)

title: 1489

text: James IV of Scotland seizes lands of John of Islay, Earl of Ross, putting an end to the Lord of the Isles.

title: 1493

section: Events › Date unknown

date: June 1

text: June 1 – Brother John Cor of Lindores Abbey pays duty on 8 bolls of malt to the Exchequer in Scotland to make aqua vitae for King James IV; the record in the Exchequer Rolls is the first written reference to Scotch whisky.

title: 1495

date: September 21

text: September 21– King James IV of Scotland and his army invade Northumberland in the Kingdom of England, in support of the pretender to the English throne, Perkin Warbeck. The invaders leave on September 25 and travel back to Scotland.

title: 1496

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Commissioners from Scotland and England meet at Richmond Palace in London to finalize an agreement on the marriage between Scotland's King James IV to the daughter of England's King Henry VII, the princess Margaret Tudor, with a dowry of 35,000 Scottish Punnds and an agreement for a "treaty of perpetual peace". The marriage will be completed by proxy on January 25, 1503.

title: 1502

date: August 8

text: August 8 – King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.

title: 1503

date: May 28

text: May 28 – James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor of England are married as per the Treaty of Perpetual Peace by Pope Alexander VI, according to Papal bull.

title: 1503

date: March 11

text: March 11 – King James IV opens the Scottish Parliament for the first time since 1496.

title: 1504

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: September 15

text: September 15 – King James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland, to Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar "to furnis and bring hame ane prent, with all stuff belangand tharto, and expert men to use the samyne, for imprenting within our Realme of the bukis of our Lawis, actis of parliament, croniclis, mess bukis, and portuus efter the use of our Realme, with addicions and legendis of Scottis sanctis, now gaderit to be ekit tharto, and al utheris bukis that salbe sene necessar, and to sel the sammyn for competent pricis."

title: 1507

section: Events › July—September

section: Science & Discovery

date: October 12

text: October 12 – James IV of Scotland's great ship, the Michael, is launched at Newhaven, Edinburgh; she is the largest ship afloat at this date.

title: 1511

date: September 9

text: September 9 – Battle of Flodden: King James IV of Scotland is defeated and killed by an English army under Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. James's infant son, the Duke of Rothesay, becomes James V, King of Scots. At least 5,000 Scots and 1,500 English troops are killed.

title: 1513

date: October 18

text: October 18 – Margaret Tudor, queen of James IV of Scotland (b. 1489)

title: 1541


slug: james-madison

label: James Madison

description: President of the United States from 1809 to 1817 (1751–1836)

section: Births

date: March 16

text: March 16 – James Madison, fourth President of the United States (d. 1836)

title: 1751

date: August 29

text: August 29 – Richard Rush, United States Attorney General under James Madison, United States Secretary of the Treasury under President John Quincy Adams (d. 1859)

title: 1780

date: June 20

text: June 20 – Compromise of 1790: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton come to an agreement: Madison agrees to not be "strenuous" in opposition for the assumption of state debts by the federal government; Hamilton agrees to support the capital site being above the Potomac.

title: 1790

date: November 8

text: November 8 – 1808 United States presidential election: James Madison defeats Charles C. Pinckney, winning 122 electoral votes to Pinckney's 47. Ten of the 17 states choose their electors by popular vote; the rest choose through state legislatures. George Clinton, who is separately elected as vice president, gets six electoral votes for president.

title: 1808

date: April 4

text: April 4 – U.S. President James Madison enacts a 90-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.

title: 1812

date: November 5

text: November 5 – 1812 United States presidential election: James Madison defeats DeWitt Clinton.

title: 1812

date: March 1

text: March 1 – Georgetown University's congressional charter is signed into law, by President James Madison.

title: 1815

section: Events › March

date: March 3

text: March 3 – On his last day in office, U.S. President James Madison vetoes John C. Calhoun's Bonus Bill as unconstitutional after it has passed both houses of the U.S. Congress. Stephen Minicucci, Internal Improvements and the Union, 1790–1860, Studies in American Political Development (2004), 18: p.160-185, (2004), Cambridge University Press

title: 1817

date: July 30

text: July 30 – Richard Rush, United States Attorney General under James Madison, United States Secretary of the Treasury under President John Quincy Adams (b. 1780)

title: 1859

section: Deaths › July–December


slug: james-v

label: James V

description: King of Scotland from 1513 to 1542

section: Conflict & Security

title: 1513

date: November 22

text: November 22 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V and regent of Scotland (d. 1560)

title: 1515

date: July 4

text: July 4 – King James V of Scotland opens the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh.

title: 1516

date: August 10

text: August 10 – Madeleine of Valois, queen of James V of Scotland (d. 1537)

title: 1520

section: Culture & Society

date: August 3

text: August 3 – Lord Erskine is appointed by Margaret Tudor, regent of Scotland, to be the "keeper" of Margaret's 10-year-old son, King James V, who is to remain within the confines of Erskine's home at Stirling Castle.

title: 1522

date: May 9

text: May 9 – King James V of Scotland, 16, held captive for more than two years under the guardianship of the Earl of Angus, is able to escape from Edinburgh to Stirling after several failed rescue attempts.

title: 1528

date: September 1

text: September 1 – King James V becomes the first Scottish monarch since 1346 to voluntarily leave his kingdom, leaving six vice-regents— the Lord Chancellor Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow; James Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews; the earls of Huntly, Montrose, and Eglinton, and Lord Maxwell— to govern the nation during his absence. King James sails from Kirkcaldy on the Royal Scots Navy flagship Mary Willoughby, along with 500 men and five other ships, to travel to France to meet his future bride, Princess Madeleine of Valois. The Scottish entourage docks in France at Dieppe one week later.

title: 1536

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Princess Madeleine of Valois, the 16-year-old daughter of François I, King of France, is married to King James V of Scotland in a ceremony at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Already in ill health at the time of the marriage, Madaleine lives only six more months before dying at the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on July 7.

title: 1537

date: July 7

text: July 7 – Madeleine of Valois, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1520)

title: 1537

text: May 9 – Mary of Guise is wed by proxy to King James V of Scotland, while she is at the Château de Châteaudun and he is in London, with neither of the two seeing each other.

title: 1538

date: December 14

text: December 14 – Mary, Queen of Scots, aged six days, becomes queen regnant on the death of her father, James V of Scotland.

title: 1542

section: Events › October–December

date: November 9

text: November 9 – King James V of Scotland writes a letter to Pope Paul III and notes that he defied Henry VIII's attempts to convert him to the Protestant faith.

title: 1542

date: January 8

text: January 8 – The burial of King James V of Scotland is carried out at Holyrood Abbey.

title: 1543

date: July 25

text: July 25 – The Articles of Leith are signed in Edinburgh between the Protestant Lords of the Congregation and the Roman Catholic representatives of the Scottish regent, Mary of Guise, the widow of King James V, who is ruling on behalf of her daughter, the 17-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots. The Lords, who have occupied Edinburgh since June, withdraw their troops in return for the Scottish crown's agreement to not interfere with the practice of Protestantism in Scotland.

title: 1559

date: June 11

text: June 11 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland and regent (b. 1515)

title: 1560


slug: james-vi-and-i

label: James VI and I

description: King of Scotland from 1566 to 1625, King of England and Ireland from 1603 to 1625

date: July 24

text: July 24 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate, and replaced by her one-year-old son James VI.

title: 1567

date: April 2

text: April 2 – Dumbarton Castle is recaptured from Lord Fleming by the forces of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, the Regent for King James VI of Scotland.

title: 1571

date: September 5

text: September 5 – John Erskine, Earl of Mar is selected by the Scottish royal family to be the new Regent of Scotland to rule on behalf of the 5-year-old King James VI. The Earl of Mar replaces Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, the King's grandfather, who was assassinated the day before by supporters of his daughter-in-law the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots.

title: 1571

date: October 19

text: October 19 – King James VI of Scotland makes his ceremonial entry into Edinburgh to assume the throne at the age of 13, after being declared to have reached the age of majority. Scotland had been ruled by regents since 1567, when James was declared king.

title: 1579

date: April 14

text: April 14 – King James VI of Scotland signs a charter creating the Tounis College, which becomes the University of Edinburgh.

title: 1582

date: August 23

text: August 23 – Raid of Ruthven in Scotland: Presbyterian nobles led by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie kidnap King James VI of Scotland, the kingdom's 16-year-old ruler, while he is hunting in Perthshire. The Earl of Gowrie imprisons the King at Ruthven Castle as part of a coup d'etat to reform the Scottish government.

title: 1582

date: June 27

text: June 27 – Ten months after being taken hostage on August 23, 1582 in the Raid of Ruthven, the 17-year-old King James VI of Scotland is able to escape Falkland Prison and flees to safety in St. Andrews.

title: 1583

section: Religion & Belief

date: August 20

text: August 20 – King James VI of Scotland, the future James I of England, contracts a proxy marriage with the 14-year-old Anne of Denmark at Kronborg. The formal ceremony takes place on November 23 at the Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo.

title: 1589

date: December 27

text: December 27 – Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell leads the attack on the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Having been alerted by a premature attack on the palace's prison, King James VI of Scotland and Queen Anne are able to take refuge within the castle, and the raid fails. Seven of Bothwell's men are subsequently captured and hanged.

title: 1591

date: October 3

text: October 3 – The Battle of Glenlivet in Scotland: The Protestant forces loyal to King James VI, assisted by the armies of 8 clans and led by the Earl of Argyll, oppose Roman Catholic rebels supported by Clan Gordon (led by the Earl of Huntley), Clan Hay (led by the Earl of Errol), Clan Comyn and Clan Cameron. Despite being outnumbered 5 to 1, the Catholic clans win the battle, killing 500 of the Protestant forces.

title: 1594

date: August 5

text: August 5 – The brothers Alexander Ruthven and John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, are killed during a failed attempt to kidnap or murder King James VI of Scotland at their home.

title: 1600

date: March 24

text: March 24 – Queen Elizabeth I of England dies at Richmond Palace (having ruled since 1558). She is succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, King James VI of Scotland (where he has ruled since 1567), uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.

title: 1603

date: November 17

text: November 17 – Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason, in the converted Great Hall of Winchester Castle. He is found guilty, but his life is spared by King James I at this time, and he is returned to imprisonment in the Tower of London.

title: 1603

date: February 14

text: February 14 – King James of England denounces the Roman Catholic Church after learning from one of his spies, Sir Anthony Standen, that Queen Anne has been sent a rosary from the Pope.

title: 1604

section: Health & Medicine

date: March 15

text: March 15 – More than seven months after their July 25, 1603 coronation, King James I and Anne, Queen consort make the traditional Royal Entry to London. The ceremonies have been postponed from 1603 because of the ongoing plague.

title: 1604

date: January 7

text: January 7 – Shakespeare's play Henry V, copyrighted 1600, is given its earliest recorded performance, presented by the Lord Chamberlain's Men for King James I of England.

title: 1605

section: Economy & Finance

date: April 10

text: April 10 – Charter of 1606: The First Charter of Virginia is adopted, by which King James I of England grants rights to the Virginia Company (comprising the London Company and Plymouth Company) to settle parts of the east coast of North America.

title: 1606

text: July 24 – King Christian IV of Denmark, as the guest of his brother-in-law, King James of England, Scotland and Ireland, is welcomed at London, and the two monarchs are driven by coaches to a banquet at Theobalds House at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. They are entertained by playwright Ben Jonson's play, The Entertainment of the Kings of Great Britain and Denmark.

title: 1606

date: April 20

text: April 20 – Old Bushmills Distillery is first licensed to distil whiskey at Bushmills, County Antrim, Ireland by King James I.

title: 1608

text: January 1 – King James I of England attends the masque The Golden Age Restored, a satire by Ben Jonson on fallen court favorite the Earl of Somerset. The king asks for a repeat performance on January 6.

title: 1616

section: Events › January–February

date: August 8

text: August 8 – King James of England and Scotland returns to England after having spent three months in Scotland, arriving at Wharton, Cumbria.

title: 1617

date: January 5

text: January 5 – Pocahontas and Tomocomo of the Powhatan Algonquian tribe, in the Virginia colony of America, meet King James I of England as his guests, at the Banqueting House at Whitehall.

title: 1617

date: May 13

text: May 13 – King James I of England is escorted by the Earl of Home across the border to return to Scotland (where he reigns as King James VI) for the first time since the Union of the Crowns 14 years earlier in 1603. He is given lodging at Home's Dunglass Castle, East Lothian.

title: 1617

text: January 7 – Ben Jonson's play News from the New World Discovered in the Moon is given its first performance, a presentation to King James VI and I. In addition to dialogue about actual observations made by telescope of the Moon, the play includes a fanciful discussion of a lunar civilisation, featuring a dance by the "Volatees", the lunar race.

title: 1620

date: March

text: March – Archibald Armstrong, court jester to James VI and I and Charles I of England

title: 1672


slug: jamestown-virginia

label: Jamestown, Virginia

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: December 19

text: December 19 – The Susan Constant sets out from the River Thames in England leading the Virginia Company's fleet for the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia.

title: 1606

date: May 14

text: May 14 – Jamestown, Virginia, is established as the first permanent English settlement in North America, beginning the American frontier.

title: 1607

date: May 26

text: May 26 – At Jamestown, the president of the governing council, Edward Wingfield, directs the fort to be strengthened and armed against the many attacks of the natives: "Hereupon the President was contented the Fort should be pallisadoed, the ordinance mounted, his men armed and exercised, for many were the assaults and Ambuscadoes of the Savages ..." 200 armed Indians attack the Jamestown settlement, killing two people and wounding 10.

title: 1607

date: December

text: December – Jamestown supply missions: Christopher Newport returns to England from Jamestown carrying cargo with "tryals of Pitch, Tarre, Glasse, Frankincense, Sope Ashes ..."

title: 1608

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: January 7 – At Jamestown, Virginia, fire destroys "all the houses in the fort"; the fort is repaired in March.

title: 1608

section: Events › January–March

date: November 20

text: November 20 – Sir Thomas Gates, Governor of the London Company's colony at Jamestown, Virginia, is ordered by the Board of Directors to forcibly convert the native Indians in the area to Christianity as Anglicans.

title: 1608

date: October 1

text: October 1 – The second of the Jamestown supply missions, which set out in July from England, arrives at Jamestown, Virginia, with Christopher Newport commanding the Mary and Margaret carrying 70 settlers, bringing the population back up to 120; the passengers include two women and some skilled artisans, mostly from continental Europe, to develop industries.

title: 1608

date: August 11

text: August 11 – Four ships arrive at the colony of Jamestown, Virginia, with almost 300 men, women and children, to bring supplies for the starving English colonists. They are followed days later by the other three ships remaining from the London Company. Most of the supplies, however, are spoiled by rain and seawater, and many of the passengers are ill with the bubonic plague.

title: 1609

section: Events › July–September

date: July 23

text: July 23 – A three-day hurricane begins in the Caribbean Sea and separates the nine London Company's ships and their 600 passengers who are en route to relieve the Jamestown settlement. One ship sinks, and the flagship is wrecked. Less than 300 settlers make it to Virginia.

title: 1609

date: June 2

text: June 2 – With the Sea Venture as its flagship, a fleet of nine English ships and more than 500 passengers altogether, departs from England to bring supplies to the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. The fleet runs into a storm in July and the Sea Venture is wrecked in the Bermuda islands on July 24.

title: 1609

date: September 10

text: September 10 – Jamestown: Capt. George Percy replaces Captain John Smith as president of the Council, and Smith returns to England.

title: 1609

date: June 10

text: June 10 – Jamestown: The convoy of temporary Governor Gates, and the ships of Governor Lord De La Warr, land at Jamestown.

title: 1610

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Jamestown: Temporary Governor Gates decides to abandon Jamestown.

title: 1610

date: June 8

text: June 8 – Jamestown: Temporary Governor Gates' convoy meets the ships of Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (Delaware) at Mulberry Island.

title: 1610

date: May 23

text: May 23 – Jamestown, Virginia: Acting as temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, along with John Rolfe, Captain Ralph Hamor, Sir George Somers, and other survivors from the Sea Venture (wrecked at Bermuda) arrive at Jamestown; they find that 60 have survived the "starving time" (winter), the fort palisades and gates have been torn down, and empty houses have been used for firewood, in fear of attacks by natives outside the fort area.

title: 1610

date: May 24

text: May 24 – Jamestown, Virginia: The temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, issues The Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws.

title: 1610

text: At Jamestown, John Rolfe imports tobacco seeds from the island of Trinidad (Nicotiana tabacum); the native tobacco is Nicotiana rustica.

title: 1611

date: August 2

text: August 2 – Jamestown's Deputy Governor Sir Thomas Gates returns to Virginia with 280 people, provisions and cattle on six ships and assumes control, ruling that the fort must be strengthened.

title: 1611

text: Near Jamestown, Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale starts a settlement called Bermuda City, which later becomes part of Hopewell, Virginia.

title: 1613

date: June 28

text: June 28 (July 8 N.S.) – From Jamestown, John Rolfe makes the first shipment to England of tobacco grown in Virginia, dispatching it on the ship The Elizabeth. The tobacco arrives in England after a voyage of three weeks.

title: 1613

text: Pocahontas, the 17-year-old daughter of Mamanatowick Wahunsenacawh of the Powhatan Algonquian native tribe in the modern-day U.S. state of Virginia, is forced into child marriage with English colonist John Rolfe at Jamestown, a year after her capture in war. She is given the name of Rebecca Rolfe and departs with John Rolfe to England in 1616, dying before she can return.

title: 1614

date: July 30

text: July 30 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first English-speaking representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly (later named House of Burgesses), convenes for the first time.

title: 1619

date: March 22

text: March 22 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquian natives kill 347 English settlers outside Jamestown, Virginia (one third of the colony's population), and burn the Henricus settlement. This begins the American Indian Wars.

title: 1622

section: Events › January–May

date: March 20

text: March 20 – Richard Frethorne begins writing a letter to his parents from Jamestown, Virginia.

title: 1623

date: May 22

text: May 22 – After negotiations for the release of English women taken from Jamestown in the British North American colony of Virginia, conducted between Captain William Tucker of the English settlers and Chief Opchanacanough of the Powhatan Confederacy (Tsenacommacah), the English arrange a banquet with the Powhatan, and the drinking of wine. The wine is poisoned and many of the Powhatan Indians die, while 50 more are killed while ill. This follows the massacre of 347 English colonists of March 22, 1622, in the Powhatan uprising. Opchanacanough escapes, and the 20 women never return home.

title: 1623

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Opchanacanough leads the Powhatan Indians in an unsuccessful uprising against the English at Jamestown. Although 300 of the English colonists are slain, the settlers pursue Opchanacanough, who is imprisoned in Jamestown for the rest of his life. This is the last such Indian rebellion in the region.

title: 1644

date: September 19

text: September 19 – Bacon's Rebellion: Jamestown is burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon.

title: 1676

date: May 1

text: May 1 (O.S.) – A series of five student orations at the College of William & Mary precipitate the Colony of Virginia's capital moving from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, resulting in the establishment of Williamsburg.

title: 1699


slug: january

label: January

description: first month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

year_label: 49 BCE

date: January

text: January – Caesar leads his army across the Rubicon, which separates his jurisdiction in Cisalpine Gaul from that of the Senate in Rome, and thus initiates a civil war.

title: 49 BC

section: Events › By place and Date › Roman Republic

text: January – Warlord Cao Cao writes Ràng Xiàn Zì Míng Běn Zhì Lìng (讓縣自明本志令)

title: 211

section: Events › By place › China

text: January – Constans I flees towards Spain, where he is subsequently assassinated at Castrum Helenae. Magnentius rules the Western portion of the Roman Empire and is far more tolerant towards Christians and Pagans alike.

title: 350

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: January – Pope Innocent I condemns Pelagianism, and excommunicates the ascetic Pelagius.

title: 417

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: January - Battle of Ciiil Conaire, Ireland: Ailill Inbanda and his brother are defeated and killed.

title: 549

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Deaths

text: January –Cutzinas, Berber chieftain

title: 563

text: January – Battle of Hunayn: Muhammad defeats the Bedouin tribe of Hawazin (12,000 men) in a valley, on one of the roads leading to Ta'if (Western Arabia).

title: 630

section: Events › By place › Arabia

text: January – Battle of Fahl: The Rashidun army, (30,000 men) under Khalid ibn al-Walid (known as the "Drawn Sword of God"), defeats the Byzantine forces led by Theodore Trithyrius, at Pella in the Jordan Valley (Jordan).

title: 635

text: January – The Plague of Amwas breaks out.

title: 638

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: January – Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, confirms his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.

title: 649

text: January – Babak Khorramdin, an Iranian military leader, is brutally executed by order of al-Mu'tasim.

title: 838

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate

text: January – Michael III, Byzantine emperor (d. 867) (most probable date: 839 is also possible)

title: 840

text: January – The Cadaver Synod: Lambert II orders Stephen VI to exhume the nine-month-old cadaver of former pope Formosus, to redress him in papal robes, and have him put on trial while seated in a chair at St. Peter's. Formosus is 'convicted' of several crimes, his fingers of consecration are cut off, and the body is stripped of his vestments.

title: 897

text: January – Pope John IX is consecrated, and succeeds Theodore II, as the 116th pope of the Catholic Church. His rival Serguis III (a Spoletan ally of Lambert II) is excommunicated, and takes refuge at the court of Adalbert II.

title: 898

text: January – Arethas of Caesarea speaks on the occasion of the Epiphany. He becomes the official rhetor at the Byzantine court of Emperor Leo VI (the Wise) at Constantinople, and is nominated as Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.

title: 901

text: January – Hashim ibn Muhammad becomes the new ruler of the Banu Tujib, an Arab state in Spain, upon the death of his father, Muhammad al-Anqar al-Tujibi.

title: 925

section: Events › By date › January – June

text: January – Fujiwara no Kenshi (daughter of Michinaga) is married to the imperial heir Crown Prince Okisada.

title: 1010

section: Events › By place › Japan

text: January – Harold Godwinson marries Ealdgyth, daughter of Ælfgar (earl of Mercia), and widow of King Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

title: 1066

section: Events › Europe › England and Scotland

text: January – Battle of Golpejera: King Sancho II ("the Strong") defeats the Castilian forces of his brother Alfonso VI ("the Brave") near Carrión de los Condes. Alfonso is captured, but released into exile, where he seeks refuge in the Taifa of Toledo (under the protection of his vassal, Emir Al-Mamun).

title: 1072

text: January – The Seljuk ruler Muhammad Tapar is expelled from Baghdad by his brother Barkiyaruq, but Muhammad manages to retake the city during his spring offensive.

title: 1100

section: Events › By place › Levant

section: Crime & Justice

text: January – Eystein Meyla, leader of the Birkebeiner in Norway, is killed. Sverre Sigurdson (Later, King Sverre I, of Norway) becomes the new leader.

title: 1177

section: Events › January–December

text: January – Eystein Meyla, leader of the Birkebeiner in Norway. (b. 1157)

title: 1177

text: January – Isaac II Angelos, Byzantine emperor

title: 1204

text: January – Bohemund V of Antioch

title: 1251

text: January – Bohemond V of Antioch

title: 1252

text: January – Matilda II of Boulogne, ruler of Boulogne, queen consort of Portugal (b. 1202)

title: 1259

text: January – Ignatius bar Wahib becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin.

title: 1293

text: January – Gonville Hall, the forerunner of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, England, is founded.

title: 1348

text: January – Han Lin'er, Chinese rebel leader, emperor of Han Song (b. 1339)

title: 1367

text: January – Edward the Black Prince, gives up the administration of Aquitaine and returns to England, because of his poor health and heavy debts.

title: 1371

text: January – In what is now Myanmar Ma Sein of Toungoo, the Viceroy of Taungoo who had been appointed by the King of Binnya U of Hanthawaddy to replace the assassinated Viceroy Pyanchi, is murdered near Pyay while trying to forment a rebellion against the Kingdom of Ava.

title: 1376

text: January – On the 24th day of the first lunar month of the year Dinh Ty, Tran Due Tong, Emperor of Đại Việt (Vietnam), is killed in the Battle of Đồ Bàn.

title: 1377

text: January – The Dao Ganmeng rebellion in the Chinese vassal state of Möng Mao,started in December by Dao Genmeng, is brought to an end in what is now Myanmar two months after Dao Ganmeng's takeover. With the intervention of the Chinese Empire, led by the Ming dynasty Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the deposed ruler Si Lunfa is restored to leadership.

title: 1398

text: January – Radu II of Wallachia resumes the throne of Wallachia for the fourth time, but a seven-year struggle for it ends in March when he is defeated in battle, and probably killed, by Dan II, who resumes the throne for a fifth term.

title: 1427

text: January – In Vietnam, a rebellion of the barbarians in Phục Lễ province, supported by the Laotian army, against King Lê Thái Tông under the Lê dynasty, is defeated.

title: 1439

text: January – John Colet, English churchman and educational pioneer (d. 1519)

title: 1467

text: January – Portuguese navigators João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar reach the gold-trading centre of Elmina on the Gold Coast of west Africa, and explore Cape St. Catherine, two degrees south of the equator, so that they begin to be guided by the Southern Cross constellation. They also visit Sassandra on the Ivory Coast.

title: 1471

text: January – Radu cel Frumos, Voivoid of Wallachia (b. c. 1437)

title: 1475

text: January – Upon the petition the Grand Inquistitor of Castile (now part of Spain) Tomás de Torquemada, the Jews are expelled from the Castilian-controlled portions of Andalusia.

title: 1483

text: January – Adam Kraft, German sculptor and architect (b. circa 1460)

title: 1509

text: January – Hans Folz, German author (b. c. 1437)

title: 1513

text: January - In Vietnam, an uprising led by Phùng Chương broke out in Tam Đảo and was quickly quelled by general Trịnh Duy Sản under emperor Lê Tương Dực of the Lê dynasty.

title: 1515

text: January – At the battle of Ollantaytambo, the Inca Emperor Manco Inca Yupanqui defeats the Spanish led by Hernando Pizarro and the Spaniards' Indian allies

title: 1537

text: January – Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War – Battle of Naungyo, Burma: The Toungoos decisively defeat the Hanthawaddys.

title: 1539

text: January – Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49): King Tabinshwehti of Burma begins his invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which ends in retreat.

title: 1549

text: January– Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, and Tsar Ivan IV of Russia preside over the reforming Stoglavy Synod ("Hundred-Chapter") church council. A calendar of the saints and an ecclesiastical law code (Stoglav) are introduced.

title: 1551

text: January or February – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (d. 1617)

title: 1558

text: January – Christina Gyllenstierna, leading opponent of King Christian II of Denmark and Norway (b. 1494)

title: 1559

text: January – Edward Blount, English publisher (d. 1632)

title: 1562

text: January – Prince Ilie II Rareş of Moldavia (b. 1531)

title: 1562

text: January – Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire, English noblewoman (d. 1607)

title: 1563

text: January – A Spanish force under the command of Captain Juan Pardo establishes Fort San Juan, in the Native American settlement of Joara. The fort is the first European settlement in modern-day North Carolina.

title: 1567

text: January – Elizabeth Cecil, 16th Baroness de Ros (d. 1591)

title: 1575

text: January – Battle of Mbanda Kasi: Forces from the Kingdom of Kongo defeat the Portuguese.

title: 1623

text: January – Nef'i, Turkish poet and satirist (b. 1572)

title: 1635

text: c. January – The first printing press in British North America is started in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Stephen Daye.

title: 1639

text: January – Shackerley Marmion, English dramatist (b. 1603)

title: 1639

text: January – The Swiss Peasant War begins after magistrates meeting at Lucerne refuse to hear from a group of peasants who have been financially hurt by the devaluation of the currency issued from Bern.

title: 1653

text: January – Six months into King Philip's War, Metacomet (King Philip), leader of the Algonquian tribe known as the Wampanoag, travels westward to the Mohawk nation, seeking an alliance with the Mohawks against the English colonists of New England; his efforts in creating such an alliance are a failure.

title: 1676

text: January – Edmond Halley, Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke have a conversation in which Hooke later claimed not only to have derived the inverse-square law, but also all the laws of planetary motion attributed to Sir Isaac Newton. Hooke's claim is that in a letter to Newton on 6 January 1680, he first stated the inverse-square law.

title: 1684

text: January – Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed in London.

title: 1696

text: January – Cary's Rebellion: The Lords Proprietor appoint Edward Hyde to replace Thomas Cary, as the governor of the North Carolina portion of the Province of Carolina. Hyde's policies are deemed hostile to Quaker interests, leading former governor Cary and his Quaker allies to take up arms against the province.

title: 1711

text: January – Francis Daniel Pastorius, founder of Germantown, Pennsylvania (b. 1651)

title: 1720

text: January – Louise Élisabeth de Joybert, politically active Canadian governors' wife (b. 1673)

title: 1740

text: January – William Pitt the Younger, later Prime Minister of Great Britain, enters Parliament, aged 21.

title: 1781

text: January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? (Qu'est-ce que le tiers-état?), influential on the French Revolution.

title: 1789

text: January – Central England records its coldest ever month, in the CET records dating back to 1659.

title: 1795

text: January – Eli Whitney contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 muskets, which he produces with interchangeable parts.

title: 1798

text: January – In Laos, King Anouvong of Vientiane leads the Laotian Rebellion against Siam and successfully attacks Nakhon Ratchasima (the Siamese later invade Vientiane and nearly destroy the whole city).

title: 1827

text: January – The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.

title: 1839

text: January – Arthur Conan Doyle's anonymous story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" appears in the Cornhill Magazine (London). Based on the disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste in 1872, many of the fictional elements introduced by Doyle come to replace the real events in the popular imagination.

title: 1884

text: January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".

title: 1915

text: January – 1918 flu pandemic: The "Spanish flu" (influenza) is first observed in Haskell County, Kansas.

title: 1918

text: January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material.

title: 1928

text: January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Euthanasia Centre in Germany, in the first phase of mass killings under the Aktion T4 program here.

title: 1941

text: January–February — Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in the 20th century causes extensive disruption of travel. Given the low ratio of private vehicle ownership at the time, it is mainly remembered in terms of its effects on the railway network.

title: 1947