slug: julian-calendar

label: Julian calendar

description: calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC

year_label: 46 BCE

section: Religion & Belief

text: Caesar reforms the Roman calendar to create the Julian calendar. The transitional year is extended to 445 days to synchronize the new calendar and the seasonal cycle. The Julian Calendar would remain the standard in the western world for over 1600 years, until superseded by the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.

title: 46 BC

year_label: 45 BCE

date: January 1

text: January 1 – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing a solar calendar that is based on the Egyptian calendar of the day.

title: 45 BC

year_label: 8 BCE

text: Sextilis, the eighth month of the early Julian calendar, is renamed Augustus (August) by a decree of the Roman Senate in honor of Augustus.

title: 0s BC

section: Events › 8 BC › Germania

date: October 4

text: October 4 (Julian) (October 14 Gregorian) – The Julian calendar is discarded at the end of the day in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain as Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In the nations where the calendar is accepted, Thursday, October 4 is followed the next day by Friday, October 15.

title: 1582

section: Events › October–December

text: January 1 – The Duchy of Savoy adopts the Gregorian Calendar, replacing the Julian Calendar.

title: 1583

section: Events › January–March

date: March 14

text: March 14 – Ultimate Pi Day: the largest correspondence between calendar dates and significant digits of pi since the introduction of the Julian calendar according to the American method of writing the number of the month prior to the day.

title: 1592

text: December 24 (Julian calendar, used by the English; January 3, 1602, according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Irish and Spanish forces in the battle) – The Battle of Kinsale ends the siege of Kinsale, Ireland (begun in autumn 1601).

title: 1601

date: January 3

text: January 3 – Battle of Kinsale: The English defeat Irish rebels and their Spanish allies. (The battle happens on this date according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Irish and Spanish but on Thursday, 24 December, 1601 according to the old Julian calendar used by the English.)

title: 1602

section: Climate & Environment

date: August 2

text: August 2 (July 23 Julian calendar) – A hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea near Guadeloupe five days after Barbados colonial Governor Francis Willoughby led a force of two Royal Navy frigates, 12 commandeered vessels and over 1,000 men in a battle against French colonies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Willoughby and most of his crew die in the sinking of his flagship, HMS Hope

title: 1666

section: Events › July–September

date: August 4

text: August 4 (July 25 Julian calendar) – In the St. James's Day Battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the English Royal Navy, under the command of Prince Rupert of the Rhine and George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, defeats the Dutch Republic navy off the North Foreland of England. The victory comes 6 weeks after the British fleet had sustained a heavy loss in the Four Days' Battle. The Dutch ships Sneek and Tholen are sunk, with the loss of 800 men, while 300 Englishmen die in the sinking of HMS Resolution.

title: 1666

date: March 11

text: March 11 (February 30 Swedish Style, February 29 on the Julian calendar) – Sweden temporarily adopts the rare February 30, as a day to adjust the Swedish Calendar back to the Julian calendar.

title: 1712

text: March 1 – Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar, by skipping the 11 days difference between it and the Julian calendar, and letting February 17 be followed directly by March 1.

title: 1753

date: April 10

text: April 10 (O.S.)/April 22 (N.S.) – Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is blamed by the Ottoman government for being unable to suppress Greek independence, and is hanged outside the main gate of the Patriarchal Cathedral immediately after the celebration of Pascha.

title: 1821

section: Events › April–June

date: August 7

text: August 7 (O.S.)/August 19 (N.S.) – Navarino massacre: Greek rebels massacre 3,000 inhabitants of the city of Navarino.

title: 1821

date: June 7

text: June 7 (O.S.)/June 19 (N.S.) – Battle of Drăgășani, Wallachia: The Filiki Eteria are decisively defeated by the Ottomans.

title: 1821

date: March 25

text: March 25 (O.S.)/April 6 (N.S.) – Metropolitan bishop Germanos of Patras raises the revolutionary flag of Greece at the Monastery of Agia Lavra (according to oral tradition), symbolically marking the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire; later celebrated as Greece's traditional Independence Day.

title: 1821

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: October 8

text: October 8 (O.S.)/October 20 (N.S.) – Tsar Alexander I of Russia issues an imperial ukase guaranteeing freedom of commerce in Russia by merchants from Persia.

title: 1821

date: September 23

text: September 23 (O.S.)/October 5 (N.S.) – The Siege of Tripolitsa ends when Greek rebels capture the city of Tripoli, Greece; the massacre of 8,000 civilians follows. (Greek forces under the command of General Theodoros Kolokotronis have besieged the city for several months during the Greek War of Independence from Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.)

title: 1821

date: September 4

text: September 4 (O.S.)/September 16 (N.S.) – Ukase of 1821: Russia proclaims territorial sovereignty over Northwestern North America, modern-day Alaska.

title: 1821

date: December 1

text: December 1 (O.S.)/November 19 (N.S.) – Nicholas I of Russia succeeds his older brother Alexander I.

title: 1825

date: December 26

text: December 26 (O.S.)/December 14 (N.S.) – Some Imperial Russian Army officers stage the Decembrist revolt against Nicholas's accession in Saint Petersburg, but it is thoroughly suppressed by the government.

title: 1825

date: April 1

text: April 1 (N.S.)/March 20 (O.S.) – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1943)

title: 1873

section: Births › March–April

date: February 14

text: February 14 – Russia switches from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar; the date skips from January 31 to February 14.

title: 1918

section: Events › February


slug: julius-caesar

label: Julius Caesar

description: Roman general and dictator

year_label: 120 BCE

section: Births

date: May 21

text: May 21 – Aurelia Cotta, mother of Julius Caesar (d. 54 BC)

title: 120 BC

year_label: 104 BCE

text: Servilia, mistress of Julius Caesar

title: 104 BC

year_label: 100 BCE

text: Julius Caesar, Roman general and politician (d. 44 BC)

title: 100 BC

year_label: 85 BCE

text: Marcus Junius Brutus, conspirator and assassin in the murder of Julius Caesar (approximate date)

title: 85 BC

year_label: 84 BCE

section: Culture & Society

text: Julius Caesar marries Cornelia

title: 84 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 83 BCE

text: Julia, daughter of Julius Caesar and Cornelia

title: 83 BC

year_label: 78 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: Julius Caesar returns to Rome after about two years of service in the army

title: 78 BC

year_label: 75 BCE

text: Julius Caesar travels to Rhodes and is taken captive by pirates

title: 75 BC

section: Crime & Justice

text: Julius Caesar travels to Rhodes to study under Apollonius Molon. On his way across the Aegean Sea, he is kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa. The young Caesar is held for a ransom of twenty talents, but he insists they ask for fifty. After his release Caesar raises a fleet at Miletus, pursues and crucifies the pirates in Pergamon.

title: 75 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

text: Calpurnia, Roman noblewoman and wife of Julius Caesar

title: 75 BC

year_label: 73 BCE

text: Marcus Porcius Cato, assassin of Julius Caesar (d. 42 BC)

title: 73 BC

year_label: 69 BCE

text: Gaius Julius Caesar is a quaestor in Spain.

title: 69 BC

year_label: 68 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Cornelia, wife of Julius Caesar (b. 94 BC)

title: 68 BC

year_label: 67 BCE

text: Julius Caesar reconciles with Pompey and Crassus

title: 67 BC

year_label: 66 BCE

text: Octavia (the Younger), grandniece of Julius Caesar (d. 11 BC)

title: 66 BC

year_label: 63 BCE

text: Julius Caesar is elected Pontifex Maximus and praetor for 62 BC.

title: 63 BC

year_label: 62 BCE

text: Julius Caesar divorces Pompeia, following the sacrilege of Publius Clodius Pulcher.

title: 62 BC

year_label: 61 BCE

text: Julius Caesar becomes governor in Hispania and creates Legio X Gemina (3,500 men). He puts down the Callaici and Lusitani rebellions.

title: 61 BC

year_label: 60 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Creation of the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance between Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (or 59 BC).

title: 60 BC

text: Gaius Julius Caesar suppresses an uprising and conquers all of Lusitania for Rome.

title: 60 BC

year_label: 59 BCE

text: Consuls: Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (known in jest as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar" due to Bibulus' Social withdrawal from public view to "consult the heavens" in an effort to invalidate Caesar's intended legislation).

title: 59 BC

year_label: 58 BCE

text: First year of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars:

title: 58 BC

year_label: 57 BCE

text: Second year of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars:

title: 57 BC

year_label: 56 BCE

text: Third year of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars:

title: 56 BC

text: The three Roman politician-generals of the First Triumvirate — Caesar, Pompey and Crassus — meet at the Luca Conference at the town of Luca (modern Lucca, in Tuscany), near Pisa, where they renewed their fraying political alliance, and further cemented the three men's increasing consolidation of power in the Roman Republic.

title: 56 BC

year_label: 55 BCE

text: Fourth year of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars:

title: 55 BC

year_label: 54 BCE

text: Fifth year of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars:

title: 54 BC

date: July 31

text: July 31 – Aurelia Cotta, mother of Julius Caesar (b. 120 BC)

title: 54 BC

year_label: 53 BCE

text: Julius Caesar suppresses a revolt led by Ambiorix near Sabis (Northern Gaul).

title: 53 BC

year_label: 51 BCE

text: Pompey demands that Julius Caesar lay down his command before he can stand for consul.

title: 51 BC

text: Julia Minor, sister of Julius Caesar (b. 100 BC)

title: 51 BC

year_label: 50 BCE

text: The Senate recalls Julius Caesar and rescinds his authority. Caesar breaks alliance with Pompey.

title: 50 BC

text: January 1 – The Roman Senate receives a proposal from Julius Caesar that he and Pompey should lay down their commands simultaneously. The Senate responds that Caesar must immediately surrender his command.

title: 49 BC

section: Events › By place and Date › Roman Republic

text: Consuls: Gaius Julius Caesar and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. Caesar is named consul for a period of five years.

title: 48 BC

text: Julius Caesar returns to Rome and is dictator for a year.

title: 47 BC

text: Consuls: Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

title: 46 BC

text: Julius Caesar establishes Julia Paterna Arelate as a colony in Gaul for veterans of the Sixth Legion, at the present day site of Arles.

title: 46 BC

text: January 4 – Titus Labienus fights Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.

title: 46 BC

text: Fourth consulship of Gaius Julius Caesar (without colleague).

title: 45 BC

text: The veterans of Julius Caesar's Legions Legio XIII Gemina and Legio X Equestris demobilize. The veterans of the 10th legion are settled in Narbo, while those of the 13th are given somewhat better lands in Italia itself.

title: 45 BC

text: March 17 – Civil War: In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the younger in the Battle of Munda. Labienus dies in battle, Pompey the younger is executed, but Sextus Pompey escapes to take command of the remnants of the Pompeian fleet.

title: 45 BC

text: Consuls: Gaius Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

title: 44 BC

text: April – Octavian returns from Apollonia in Dalmatia to Rome to take up Caesar's inheritance, against advice from Atia (his mother and Caesar's niece) and consul Antony.

title: 44 BC

text: February – Rome celebrates the festival of the Lupercal. Mark Antony twice presents Caesar with a royal diadem, urging him to take it and declare himself king. He refuses this offer and orders the crown to be placed in the Temple of Jupiter.

title: 44 BC

text: March 15 – Julius Caesar, Roman politician and general (assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey) (b. 100 BC)

title: 44 BC

text: Atia, niece of Julius Caesar and mother of Augustus (b. 85 BC)

title: 43 BC

text: April 14 – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar's assassin Decimus Brutus Albinus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Hirtius. Both consuls are killed (Hirtius does not die until after the Battle of Mutina).

title: 43 BC

text: October 3 – Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar) (suicide)

title: 42 BC

text: Tigellius, Sardinian lyric poet (close friend of Julius Caesar)

title: 40 BC

text: Octavian appoints Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa governor of Transalpine Gaul, where he puts down an uprising of the Aquitanians. He also fights successfully against the Germanic tribes, and becomes the next Roman general to cross the Rhine after Julius Caesar.

title: 38 BC

text: c. August 29 – Ptolemy Caesar, son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra of Egypt, co-ruler of Egypt (likely assassinated) (b. 47 BC)

title: 30 BC

text: AD 6 – The Princeps Augustus sets up a treasury, the aerarium militare (170 million sestertii), with the specific purpose of paying bonuses to retiring legion veterans. This is financed by a 5% tax on inheritances, a system said to have been suggested in Julius Caesar's memoirs.

title: 0s

text: Lucan writes a history of the conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey.

title: AD 62


slug: july

label: July

description: seventh month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

date: July

text: July – Elagabalus is forced to divorce Aquilia Severa, and marries his third wife Annia Faustina. After five months he returns to Severa, and claims that the original divorce is invalid. The marriage is symbolic, because Elagabalus appears to be homosexual or bisexual. According to the historian Cassius Dio, he has a stable relationship with his chariot driver, the slave Hierocles.

title: 221

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: July – Maximian flees to Marseille where he is besieged and surrenders. Constantine encourages his suicide and Maximian, age 60, hangs himself. Emperor Maxentius condemns the killing of his father.

title: 310

text: July – Battle of the Hellespont: Flavius Julius Crispus, the designated heir of his father Constantine, destroys the naval fleet of Licinius in the Dardanelles, allowing Constantine to cross over the Bosphorus into Asian provinces. Byzantium is besieged and Licinius assembles a second military force, under his newly elevated co-emperor Martinian at Lampsacus (modern-day Lapseki).

title: 324

section: Events › Roman Empire

section: Religion & Belief

text: July – Emperor Constantius II convenes the Council of Rimini, to resolve the crisis over Arianism in the Church. Some 400 bishops of the Western portion of the Roman Empire attend, while the Eastern bishops simultaneously hold a meeting at Seleucia. Given Saint Jerome's comment that, "The whole world groaned in astonishment to find itself Arian", it appears to have failed. Pope Liberius rejects the new creed at Rimini.

title: 359

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: July – Frigeridus, Roman general, fortifies the Succi (Ihtiman) Pass to prevent the "barbarians" from breaking out to the north-west (Pannonia).

title: 378

text: July – Empress Pulcheria dies of natural causes at Constantinople. She has commissioned many new churches in the city during her reign. Her death leaves Flavius Aspar (magister militum) as the dominant influence on her husband, Marcian.

title: 453

section: Events › By place › Byzantium

text: July – Pulcheria, Byzantine Empress

title: 453

text: July – Byzantine general Vitalian becomes consul, and is shortly later murdered, probably on the orders of Justinian, the nephew and heir-apparent of Emperor Justin I.

title: 520

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: July – Gundoald, Merovingian usurper king, and his followers are defeated during the siege of Saint-Bertrand. He is executed and Guntram stages a triumphal entry into Orléans.

title: 585

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: July – Siege of Anbar: A Muslim Arab army under Khalid besieges the fortress city of Anbar. The Persian governor surrenders and is allowed to retire.

title: 633

section: Events › By place › Arabia

text: 25 – 27 July: Climax of the Siege of Thessalonica: Slavic forces launch a large-scale assault on the city walls, but are repelled.

title: 677

text: July – Pope Gregory II condemns iconoclasm at Rome, causing Italy to break with the Byzantine Empire. He becomes the virtual temporal ruler of most Byzantine possessions.

title: AD 727

text: July – Stephen II anoints Pepin's sons, Charles (later known as Charlemagne) and Carloman, consecrating them as patricians. At Quierzy he proclaims the Carolingian dynasty holy, and appeals for help against the Lombards. Finally, the Frankish nobles give their consent to a campaign in Lombardy.

title: 754

text: July – Pope Benedict IV dies after a 3-year reign. He is succeeded by Leo V as the 118th pope of the Catholic Church. Leo is imprisoned and tortured by Antipope Christopher after a reign of just 1 month. Christopher makes himself the new pope of Rome.

title: 903

text: July – The Magyars (Hungarians), led by Zoltán, only son of the late Grand Prince Árpád, attack Swabia, Franconia and Saxony. Small units penetrate as far as Bremen, burning the city.

title: 915

text: July – King Otto I besieges the fortress of Eresburg. He defeats his half-brother Thankmar and kills him as he tries to find sanctuary. Eberhard III, duke of Franconia, is banished and replaced by his uncle Berthold.

title: 938

text: July: Melias moves against Amida (modern Turkey). He defeats the Arabs outside the walls, and begins to lay siege to the city. After a few days, a violent wind and a thick dust spreads over the Byzantine camp. Covered by the dust, the Arabs attack and rout the Byzantines. Many of them are slaughtered and some, including Melias, are taken prisoner. Previous Byzantine gains in the area are lost. The wounded Melias dies later in captivity.

title: 973

text: July – Emperor Otto II (the Red) occupies Regensburg, forcing his rebellious cousin Henry II (the Wrangler) (who claims rulership over the Holy Roman Empire) to flee to Bohemia. Henry is deposed and Bavaria is handed over to Otto I of Swabia (a grandson of the late Emperor Otto I). He sets up the new "Grand Duchy of Carinthia" covering modern-day Austria.

title: 976

text: July – Sergius II becomes Patriarch of Constantinople.

title: 1001

text: July – Emperor Conrad II (the Elder) leads an invasion into Hungary. He plunders the lands west of the River Rába but suffers from the consequences of the scorched earth tactics used by the Hungarians. Conrad, threatened by starvation, is forced to retreat to Germany. King Stephen I (St. Stephen) pursued his forces, which were defeated and captured by the Hungarians at Vienna.

title: 1030

text: July – The Abbadid dynasty ruling in Al-Andalus (modern Spain) falls when Almoravid forces storm Seville. Confronted with this threat, Emir Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Aftas of Badajoz obtains the support of King Alfonso VI ("the Brave") of Castile, in exchange for the Moorish positions on the river Tagus (Sintra, Santarém and Lisbon).

title: 1091

date: May

text: May – July – A German expeditionary force (some 20,000 men) under King Conrad III leaves Regensburg and passes into Hungary. The German nobility is headed by Conrad's nephew and heir, Frederick I, duke of Swabia. On July 20, Conrad crosses into the Byzantine Empire, and reaches Sofia – where Michael Palaiologos (a nephew of Emperor Manuel I) gives Conrad an official welcome and provides the Crusaders with food.

title: 1147

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade

text: July – King Henry II decides to lead a military expedition to Ireland and summons Richard de Clare (Strongbow) to join forces. In September, Richard travels to England and promises his loyalty to Henry. He is granted Leinster as a fiefdom and is honored with the post of "royal constable in Ireland". The army is assembled at Pembroke – several siege towers are shipped over, should Henry need to assault the Norman-held towns (or others such as Cork and Limerick).

title: 1171

section: Events › By place › Britain

text: July – August – Battle of Belvoir Castle: Saladin crosses into Palestine round the south of the Sea of Galilee. King Baldwin IV (the Leper) of Jerusalem marches with his army back from Oultrejordain and attacks Saladin's forces near Belvoir Castle (modern Israel). In a fierce battle, the Crusaders successfully repel Saladin's invasion. At the end of the day, each side retires, claiming the victory.

title: 1182

section: Events › By place › Levant

text: July – Saladin marches through the Buqaia, and occupies Jabala and Lattakieh. From Lattakieh he turns inland and, after a few days of fierce fighting, takes Sahyun Castle (called Castle of Saladin) on July 29.

title: 1188

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: July – The Crusaders, led by the Knights Hospitaller, raid Burlus, located in the Nile Delta in Egypt. The town is pillaged, but the knights are ambushed on their return, and several Hospitallers, including Grand Master Guérin de Montaigu, are captured. Meanwhile, Sultan Al-Kamil sends an Egyptian squadron down the Rosetta branch of the Nile. It sails to Cyprus, where it finds a Crusader fleet lying off Limassol. During the attack, they sink and capture all the ships, taking many thousands of prisoners.

title: 1220

section: Events › By place › Fifth Crusade

date: August

text: August – After the death of John I of Sweden on March 10, 6-year-old Erik Eriksson is elected new King of Sweden (sometime between this time and July 1223).

title: 1222

text: July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1236

text: July – The settlement of Stockholm in Sweden is founded, by Birger Jarl.

title: 1252

text: July – Michael sends his general Alexios Strategopoulos with a small advance force of 800 soldiers, most of them Cumans, to keep watch on the Bulgarians and scout the defending positions of the Latin forces in the surroundings of Constantinople. When they reach the village of Selymbria, Strategopoulos is informed by local farmers that the entire Latin garrison and the Venetian fleet, are absent conducting a raid against the Nicaean island of Daphnousia. He decides not to lose such a golden opportunity and makes plans (without the consent of Michael) to retake the capital.

title: 1261

text: July – Mamluk forces under Baibars capture the last remaining stronghold of the Order of Assassins (Hashashin) sect, Al-Kahf Castle.

title: 1273

section: Events › By place › Middle East

text: July – Thibaud Gaudin arrives with the surviving knights, with the treasure of the Order, in Sidon. There, he is elected as Grand Master of the Knights Templar, to succeed Guillaume de Beaujeu (who was mortally wounded during the siege of Acre). Shortly after, Mamluk forces attack Sidon and Gaudin (who has not had enough knights to defend) evacuates the city and moves to the Sidon Sea Castle on July 14.

title: 1291

text: July – Muhammad Khan, Persian monarch

title: 1338

text: April–July – Trapezuntine Civil War: An abortive uprising occurs against Irene Palaiologina of Trebizond, the first of a number of coups, revolts, and succession disputes.

title: 1340

text: July – Edward III orders the closing of English ports to stop information from reaching France.

title: 1346

text: July – Owain Lawgoch, titular Prince of Wales and mercenary – assassinated (b. c. 1330)

title: 1378

text: July – Empress Xu (Ming dynasty), Chinese Empress (b. 1362)

title: 1407

text: July – The Hunger War takes place between the allied Kingdom of Poland, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, against the Teutonic Knights, who are severely weakened after the Battle of Grunwald four years prior. The war earned its name from destructive scorched earth tactics followed by both sides.

title: 1414

text: July – Hundred Years' War: The French invade Normandy.

title: 1449

text: July – Mingyi Nyo, founder of the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) (d. 1530)

title: 1459

text: July – The last remnant of the Byzantine Empire is lost to the Ottomans as General Graitzas Palaiologos honourably surrenders Salmeniko Castle, the last garrison of the Despotate of the Morea, to invading forces after a year-long siege.

title: 1461

text: July – Maddalena de' Medici, Italian noble (d. 1528)

title: 1473

text: July – In India, at Srinagar, Muhammad Shah Mir resumes his rule as the Sultan of Kashmir, replacing Fateh Shah Miri, who had ruled since 1486.

title: 1493

text: July – The Holy League, formed to defend the Italian States, attacks French-occupied Genoa. The 1510 influenza pandemic reaches Sicily, where it is nicknamed coccolucio, before spreading to the Italian states and the rest of Europe.

title: 1510

text: May 31–July – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, opens a legatine court at Blackfriars, London, to rule on the legality of King Henry VIII of England's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The court lasts until July 16.

title: 1529

text: July – Arauco War: The hated encomendero Pedro de Avendaño and two other Spaniards are killed, triggering the Second Great Rebellion of the Mapuche.

title: 1561

text: July – Philosopher Tommaso Campanella moves from Naples to Calabria, where he will be involved in a revolt against the rule of the Spanish viceroy the following year.

title: 1598

text: July – Kwon Yul, Korean military commander (b. 1537)

title: 1599

text: July – George Fox, English founder of the Quakers (d. 1691)

title: 1624

text: July – Alonso Fajardo de Entenza, governor of the Philippines

title: 1624

text: July – The Barbary pirates first attack south-western England. In August they enslave about 60 people from Mount's Bay in Cornwall.

title: 1625

text: July – The Italian plague of 1629–31 reaches Venice.

title: 1630

text: July – Elijah Loans, rabbi and kabbalist (b. 1555)

title: 1636

text: July – Šarhūda's Manchu fleet annihilates Onufriy Stepanov's Russian flotilla, on the Amur River.

title: 1658

text: July – Richard Cromwell, the last Lord Protector of England during its years as a republic, leaves the British Isles quietly and goes into exile in France, taking on an alias as "John Clarke".

title: 1660

text: July – The Hanseatic League, after 400 years of operation, holds its last official meeting, taking place at the city of Lübeck. At its height, the economic alliance of German cities had 180 members; only nine (Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Danzig, Braunschweig, Cologne, Hildesheim, Osnabrück and Rostock) are represented for the final gathering. The final series of meetings had started on May 29.

title: 1669

text: July – Daniel Defoe documents the Great Storm of 1703 in England, with eyewitness testimonies, in The Storm.

title: 1704

text: July – Juan Bautista de Anza, Governor of the Spanish Province of New Mexico (d. 1788)

title: 1736

text: July – Mihai Racoviță, Prince of Moldavia and Prince of Wallachia (b. c. 1660)

title: 1744

text: July – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, receives a visit from Pope Pius VI.

title: 1782

text: July – Louis XVI accepts a constitutional monarchy in France.

title: 1790

text: July – Ludwig van Beethoven puts the finishing touches on the String Quartet No. 14 in C♯ minor, Op. 131, the jewel in the crown of his late string quartets.

title: 1826

text: May 11 – Greece is recognized as a sovereign nation; the Treaty of Constantinople ends the Greek War of Independence in July.

title: 1832

text: July – The Bertelsmann company is founded by Carl Bertelsmann as a religious printer and publisher in Prussia.

title: 1835

text: July – Charles W. King sets sail on the American merchant ship Morrison. In the Morrison incident, he is turned away from Japanese ports with cannon fire.

title: 1837

text: July full date unknown – Bass Reeves, one of the first black Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River (d. 1910)

title: 1838

text: July – Mary Rogers ("Beautiful Cigar Girl"), American murder victim (b. c. 1820)

title: 1841

text: July – Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women" appears in The Dial magazine in the United States.

title: 1843

text: July – The Public Health Act establishes Boards of Health across England and Wales, the nation's first public health law, giving cities broad authority to build modern sanitary systems.

title: 1848

text: July – Taiping Rebellion: Hong Xiuquan orders the general mobilisation of rebel forces in China.

title: 1850

text: Mid-May to mid-July – Great Flood of 1851: Extensive flooding sweeps across the Midwestern United States. The town of Des Moines is virtually washed away, and many rainfall records hold for 160 years.

title: 1851

text: July – The Reverend Thomas Baker, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary (born in Playden, East Sussex, England) is cooked and eaten by Navatusila tribespeople at Nabutautau, Fiji, together with eight of his local followers, the only missionary in that country to suffer cannibalism.

title: 1867

text: July – The end of the war between the United Kingdom and Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who is involved in the trading of slaves, leads to the establishment of the Gold Coast Colony.

title: 1873

text: July – The serial publication of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is concluded, in The Russian Messenger.

title: 1877

text: July – Japan Brewery, predecessor of Kirin Holdings, is founded in Yokohama, Japan.

title: 1885

text: July – James Blyth operates the first working wind turbine at Marykirk, Scotland.

title: 1887

text: July – Pavlos Melas enters Macedonia with a small unit of men during the Macedonian Struggle.

title: 1904

text: July – Hyperinflation in Germany means that 563 marks are now needed to buy a single American dollar – more than double the 263 needed eight months before, dwarfing the mere 12 needed in April 1919, and even the 47 needed in December of that year.

title: 1922

text: July – Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic (Germany) sees the number of marks needed to purchase a single American dollar reach 353,000 – more than 200 times the amount needed at the start of the year.

title: 1923

text: June–July – The Dáil Éireann debates and passes the new draft Constitution of Ireland, which is then submitted for public approval by plebiscite.

title: 1937

text: July – The Mauthausen concentration camp is built in Austria.

title: 1938

text: July – The British Army's Special Air Service is formed.

title: 1941

text: July – The 1997 Central European flood occurs across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

title: 1997


slug: june

label: June

description: sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

year_label: 89 CE

section: Conflict & Security

date: June

text: June – Battle of Ikh Bayan: The Han Chinese army under Dou Xian, allied with the southern Xiongnu, is victorious over the Northern Xiongnu.

title: AD 89

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: May – June – Aelius Aristides, Greek orator, delivers a public speech in Smyrna, lamenting the damage recently inflicted to the sacred site of Eleusis.

title: AD 171

text: June: Liang Long is captured and beheaded, and his rebellion is suppressed by general Zhu Juan.

title: AD 181

text: June – Ling of Han places his brother-in-law, He Jin, in command of the imperial army and sends them to attack the Yellow Turban rebels.

title: AD 184

section: Events › By place › China

text: June –October – Battle of Shiting: The Eastern Wu Kingdom defeats the Cao Wei Kingdom.

title: 228

text: June – The earliest known use of the Greek word monachós to refer to a monk is made in a petition filed in Egypt by a man named Aurelius Isidorus, a man from the town of Karanis in Egypt.

title: 324

text: June – Battle of Verona: The Visigoths, under command of King Alaric I, invade Italy again, and advance through the Brenner Pass. Stilicho, with an army of 30,000 men, defeats the Goths north of Verona. Alaric makes a truce, and withdraws eastward to Illyricum.

title: 403

text: June – Attila approaches Aurelianum (modern Orléans) and the city's inhabitants close the gates, forcing him to lay siege. After learning of the Hun invasion, Flavius Aetius (magister militum) moves quickly from Italy into Gaul, and joins forces with Visigoth king Theodoric I.

title: 451

section: Climate & Environment

text: June – In Rome, famine brings the city to despair; Belisarius sends his secretary Procopius to Naples for more reinforcements and supplies. Vitiges arranges a three-month armistice for Gothic envoys to travel to Constantinople.

title: 537

text: June – Pope Gregory I the Great sends a group of Benedictine monks under Augustine of Canterbury on a mission to Britain, to Christianize King Æthelberht, and convert the Kingdom of Kent from native Anglo-Saxon paganism. He carries letters of commendation to bishops, and is accompanied by Frankish interpreters.

title: 595

text: June – (Dhu al-Hijjah AH 2) The Invasion of Sawiq is carried out against the Muslims by the Quraysh leader, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb.

title: 624

section: Events › By date › January–June

text: June – Abu Bakr (born Abdallah ibn Uthman ibn Amir, better known by his Islamic laqab Al-Siddiq) becomes the Caliph.

title: 632

text: June – The first caliph, Abu Bakr, sends an expedition to Balqa, Byzantine Empire, led by Usama ibn Zayd. This expedition is sent based on Muhammad's decision before his death.

title: 632

text: June – Emperor Justinian II sends a punitive expedition to Italy under the patrikios Theodore, to intervene in the dispute between Pope Constantine I and Archbishop Felix of Ravenna, who claims to be independent of the pope's authority. Theodore captures Ravenna, and arrests Felix and other Italian leaders. He deports them to Constantinople, from whence they are exiled to Cherson (Crimea).

title: 709

section: Culture & Society

text: June – Aistulf succeeds his brother, Ratchis, as king of the Lombards and marries Gisaltruda, sister of Anselm, Duke of Friuli.

title: 749

section: Deaths

text: June – Leo IV, son of Emperor Constantine V, is crowned co-emperor at Constantinople. Only a year or so after his mother Irene died, Constantine's second wife Maria dies, at approximately the same time as Leo's coronation.

title: 751

text: June – Stephen II recognizes the Carolingian dynasty as legitimate rulers of the Frankish Kingdom. He travels to Paris and appeals for Frankish support against the Lombards.

title: 752

text: June – Abbasid Arabs and Uyghur Turks arrive simultaneously at the Tang capital of Chang'an, in order to offer tribute to the imperial court. The Arabs and Turks bicker and fight over diplomatic prominence at the gate, to present tribute before the other. A settlement is reached when both are allowed to enter at the same time, but through different gates to the palace.

title: 758

text: June – Battle of Anchialus: Emperor Constantine V sends a Byzantine expeditionary force (800 ships and 9,600 cavalry) to Thrace, to defend the fortress city of Anchialus on the Black Sea Coast. Meanwhile, Telets, ruler (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire, blocks the mountain passes and takes positions on the heights near Anchialus. During a desperate cavalry charge, the Bulgars are defeated and many are captured; Telets manages to escape. Constantine enters Constantinople in triumph, and kills all the prisoners.

title: 763

text: June – King Desiderius surrenders the independence of the Lombards to the Franks, and is exiled to Corbie Abbey (Picardy). Charlemagne annexes northern Italy as a sub-kingdom, and takes the title of Rex Langobardorum. Some Lombards flee south to Benevento, which remains independent; Duke Arechis II retitles himself "Prince of Benevento".

title: 774

text: June – Lothair I, eldest son of Emperor Louis the Pious, joins the rebellion of his brothers Pepin I and Louis the German, with the assistance of Archbishop Ebbo. Louis is forced to abdicate, on the plains of Rothfield (near Colmar).

title: 833

text: June – The Great Heathen Army, led by Guthrum, moves on Cambridge. He later returns to Wessex, to establish a winter quarter. King Alfred the Great fights the Danes in a naval engagement.

title: 875

text: June – Ibrahim II lands with an Aghlabid expeditionary force in Trapani, and proceeds to Palermo. He crushes the reinforced Byzantine army at Giardini.

title: 902

text: June – Fruela II, King of Asturias in what is now Portugal, becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of León and the Kingdom of Galicia in Spain upon the death of his younger brother, King Ordoño II, who dies after a 14-year reign. The ascent of Fruela reunites Asturias, Galicia and Leon. Fruela, who is not popular with the nobles, orders the assassination of the sons of Olmundo.

title: 924

section: Events › April—June

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: June – Emir Abu'l-Qasim launches a raiding expedition into Byzantine Italy from Sicily. He imposes a tribute on the cities of Cosenza and Cellere. Meanwhile, a Fatimid fleet assaults the Apulian coast and raids the surrounding countryside. Abu'l-Qasim sends an army to Otranto and besieges Gravina, before returning to Sicily – bringing home hundreds of captives and slaves.

title: 976

text: June – The Pax Ecclesiae, an edict by the Catholic Church, is promulgated. Held at three synods in different parts of southern and central France (at Charroux, Narbonne and Puy), it attempts to outlaw acts of war against non-combatants and the clergy.

title: 990

text: June – Bedouins led by Abd Alla Ibn Idris al-Ja'fari attack the towns of Ayla and al-'Arish in southern Palestine after the Fatimids of Egypt refuse to restore al-Ja'fari as the Governor of the Wadi al-Qura.

title: 1024

section: Events › April–June

text: June – Denmark signs a treaty with England; Sweyn II and his forces leave the country.

title: 1070

section: Events

text: May–June – Duncan, son of the late King Malcolm III of Scotland, gathers a substantial army, chiefly Anglo-Normans from England, and challenges his uncle Donald III ("the Fair") for the Kingdom of Scotland. Duncan is crowned king at Scone.

title: 1094

text: May or June – Count Raymond IV of Toulouse (Saint-Gilles) sails to Constantinople to obtain the support of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in his attempt to seize Tripoli.

title: 1100

text: June – King David IV of Georgia, nicknamed "Davit IV Aghmashenebeli" ("David the Builder") by his subjects, defeats Sultan Mahmud II of the Seljuk Empire (encompassing much of what is now Iraq and Iran).

title: 1123

section: Events › By date › April–June

text: June – A French expeditionary force (some 18,000 men) led by King Louis VII departs from Metz and travels through Bavaria. Louis is accompanied by the French nobility and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, heiress of France. At Regensburg, where the force arrives on June 29, the Crusaders journey peaceably for fifteen days through Hungary and reach the Byzantine frontier at the end of August.

title: 1147

text: June – William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, father of Baldwin V of Jerusalem (b. early 1140s)

title: 1177

text: Constance, Holy Roman Empress is released by Tancred, King of Sicily under the pressure of Pope Celestine III in May, and returns to Germany in June.

title: 1192

text: May – June – The Crusader fleet rounds Greece and stops at Negroponte (modern-day Halkis), where the local authorities submit to Alexios Angelos. Encouraged by this, the Crusader leaders send him and several ships to extend his authority over the neighboring island of Andros. Mid-June, the Crusader fleet sails from Greece to Abydos, where it enters the Dardanelles.

title: 1203

text: June – Treaty of Sapienza: The Republic of Venice recognizes the possession of the Peloponnese by Geoffrey I of Villehardouin and keeps only the fortresses of Modon and Coron. Venice also acquires an exemption of her merchants from all tariffs, and the right to establish "a church, a market and a court" in every city of Achaea.

title: 1209

text: June – Otto IV arrives in Flanders with a small army; four German nobles have joined him, but he is soon reinforced by troops of Renaud I, duke of Boulogne, Ferdinand, (jure uxoris) count of Flanders and the mercenaries under William Longespée. On July 26, Philip II arrives at the Flemish town of Tournai with his army (some 7,000 men), while the allied forces encamp 12 kilometers south at the Castle of Mortagne (France).

title: 1214

text: June – The rebel English barons besiege Windsor Castle and Dover Castle; the latter is strategically important as the 'gateway to England', controlling the shortest route to France. Meanwhile, King John uses Corfe Castle in the southwest as his base of operations while he plans his campaign against the barons and the French invading army under Louis.

title: 1216

text: June – Mstislav Mstislavich escapes back to the Dnieper River with the remnants of his Galician army. Mstislav Romanovich (the Old) surrenders and is executed. According to sources, he and other Russian nobles are slowly suffocated to death during a Mongol 'drunken feast', they are tied up and laid flat on the ground beneath what is described as a wooden 'bridge' (or platform), on which Subutai, Jebe and their officers feast. This is revenge for killing the Mongol ambassadors.

title: 1223

section: Events › Other events, by place › Mongol Empire

text: June – The 16-year-old Alexander Nevsky is elected by the Novgorodians as prince (knyaz) of Novgorod, beseeching the young noble to take charge of the city's military affairs.

title: 1236

text: June – Khwarazmian forces (some 10,000 men) invade Syrian territory, ravaging the land and burning the villages. As Damascus is too strong for a siege, they attack Galilee, past the town of Tiberias – which they capture. The Khwarazmians attack further southward through Nablus towards Jerusalem.

title: 1244

text: May – Marie of Brabant, Holy Roman Empress, wife of Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor (alternative date is June)

title: 1260

text: June – The Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266 ends. The rebels make their formal submission to Alfonso X. They recognize the error that the Moors of Murcia have committed against their overlord Alfonso. Representatives of the aljama, or municipal council, renew their allegiance and humbly beg for pardon, mercy and favour. With this, the Mudéjar uprising in the Kingdom of Murcia is formally ended.

title: 1266

text: June – Marinid forces land in Spain and ravage the countryside. They kill and capture many and plunder livestock. They also attack the castle of Vejer de la Frontera in Andalusia. On hearing the news, King Alfonso X of Castile ("the Wise") abandons his meeting with Sultan Muhammad I of Granada and orders an all-out war against Granada.

title: 1272

text: June – Rabban Bar Sauma, Chinese Nestorian monk and diplomat, travels from Constantinople to Italy. There he arrives in Naples and witnesses a sea battle in the harbour between the Aragonese and the Angevin fleets. Bar Sauma goes to Rome, but arrives too late to meet Pope Honorius IV, who recently died. He instead is engaged in negotiations with the cardinals, who are in a conclave to elect a successor, and visits the St. Peter's Basilica. Bar Sauma goes to Genoa, where he receives a warm welcome.

title: 1287

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

text: June – Al-Ashraf Khalil enters Damascus in triumph with Crusaders chained at their feet and the captured Crusader standards, which are carried upside-down as a sign of their defeat. Following the capture of Acre, Khalil and his Mamluk generals proceed to wrest control of the remaining Crusader-held fortresses along the Syrian coast. Within weeks, the Mamluks conquer Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Haifa and Tartus.

title: 1291

text: June – Battle of Laupen: The Canton of Bern defeats the forces of Fribourg.

title: 1339

text: June – Al-Nasir Muhammad, Sultan of Egypt (b. 1295)

title: 1341

text: May–June – An English invasion fleet assembles at Portsmouth.

title: 1346

text: June – John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, English nobleman (b. 1286)

title: 1347

text: June – John Clyn, Irish Franciscan friar and chronicler

title: 1349

text: June – Valdemar IV Atterdag attacks Skåne and conquers Lindholmen Castle.

title: 1360

text: June – Under the terms of the will of Sir John de Wingfield (died 1361), the church of St. Andrew and a college of priests are founded in Wingfield, Suffolk, England.

title: 1362

text: June – The English Pale in Ireland is reduced to Dublin, County Kildare, County Louth, and County Meath.

title: 1401

text: June – Murad II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1451)

title: 1404

text: June – Sarwe Iyasus becomes the new Emperor of Ethiopia upon the death of his father Takla Maryam.

title: 1433

text: June – The "Miracle of the Moose" takes place, according to Russian hagiographers.

title: 1439

text: February–June – The Praguerie, an uprising by the French nobility against King Charles VII.

title: 1440

text: June – Abdullah Mirza, Timurid Empire ruler

title: 1451

text: June – Francesco II Acciaioli, last Duke of Athens, surrenders the city to the Ottoman Empire and Sultan Mehmed II enters peacefully in August. Ottoman authorities issue a decree to protect the Acropolis.

title: 1458

text: June – Leonardo da Vinci is admitted as a master in his own right to the artists' Guild of Saint Luke in Florence. An entry is made in the register of the Compagnia di San Luca reading "Anno Domini 1472— Leonardo, son of Ser Piero da Vinci, painter, to pay the sum of 6 sol, for the whole month of June 1472, for the remittance of his debt to the Company until July 1472... and to pay for the whole of November 1472, 5 sol due on 18 October 1472."

title: 1472

text: June – Gribshunden, the flagship of King Hans Oldenburg of Denmark sinks off the coast of Ronneby in Sweden while King Hans is ashore to negotiate with Sten Sture the Elder to restore the power of the Kalmar Union. According to some accounts, the sinking (and the death of more than 150 crew) happened after an explosion and fire, though explorations of the shipwreck centuries later show no indication of burning.

title: 1495

text: June – Bernardino Luini, Italian painter (b. 1482)

title: 1532

text: June – Andreas Vesalius publishes De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), revolutionising the science of human anatomy.

title: 1543

text: By June – The 1557 influenza pandemic, probably originating in China, spreads to Europe.

title: 1557

text: June – Joan Pau Pujol, Catalan composer and organist (d. 1626)

title: 1573

text: June – Babullah of Ternate, Sultan of Ternate (b. 1528)

title: 1583

text: June – Toyotomi Hideyoshi begins the invasion of the Japanese island of Shikoku with an army of 113,000 men on 703 ships. The troops are divided into three groups, with 60,000 commanded by Hashiba Hidenaga and Hashiba Hidetsugu toward the provinces of Awa and Tosa; 23,000 under Ukita Hideie at the province of Sanuki; and 30,000 under Kobayakawa Takakage and Kikkawa Motoharu for the province of Iyo.

title: 1585

text: June – Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18): Shāh Abbas I of Persia's Safavid army captures the city of Yerevan from the Ottoman Empire after a siege. At this time the Shāh begins the expulsion of Armenians from Jolfa to New Julfa in his capital of Isfahan; more than 25,000 die during the exodus.

title: 1604

text: June or October – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: An improvised Spanish fleet under Luis Fajardo defeats the Dutch fleet under Willem Haultain.

title: 1606

text: June – Richard Fanshawe, English diplomat (d. 1666)

title: 1608

text: June – Eighty Years' War: Leading a Dutch army, Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange captures in short succession the cities of Venlo, Roermond and Sittard, before besieging the city of Maastricht.

title: 1632

text: June – Bacon's Rebellion begins in the Virginia Colony. On July 30, Nathaniel Bacon and his followers issue the Declaration of the People of Virginia.

title: 1676

text: June – The first performance takes place of the semi-opera King Arthur with a libretto by John Dryden and music by Henry Purcell.

title: 1691

text: June – The completed 1703 Icelandic census is presented in the Althing, the first complete census of any country.

title: 1703

text: June – Protestant Swiss and German Palatines, under the leadership of Christoph von Graffenried, travel to Bath County in the Province of Carolina. The settlers displace the native town of Chattoka and found New Bern, named for von Graffenried's hometown of Bern in Switzerland.

title: 1710

text: June – Magdelaine Chapelain, French fortune teller and poisoner (b. 1651)

title: 1724

text: June – The Anglo-French War (1778–83) begins.

title: 1778

text: June – The Inconfidência Mineira is the first attempt at Brazilian independence from Portugal.

title: 1789

text: June – The Macartney Embassy, a British diplomatic mission to China led by George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, reaches Canton, but will be rebuffed by the Qianlong Emperor.

title: 1793

text: June – Betsy Gray, Irish rebel heroine

title: 1798

text: June – James Nasmyth patents the steam hammer in the United Kingdom.

title: 1842

text: June – E. H. Booth & Co. Ltd, which becomes the northern England supermarket chain Booths, is founded when tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth, 19, opens a shop called "The China House" in Blackpool.

title: 1847

text: June – The Serbians from Vojvodina start a rebellion against the Hungarian government.

title: 1848

text: June – The Grand Excursion takes prominent Eastern United States inhabitants from Chicago to Rock Island, Illinois, by railroad, then up the Mississippi River to Saint Paul, Minnesota, by steamboat.

title: 1854

text: June – The United States Sanitary Commission's Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia takes place.

title: 1864

text: June–August – English polymath Francis Galton first describes eugenics.

title: 1865

text: June – Tītokowaru's War breaks out in the South Taranaki District of New Zealand's North Island between the Ngāti Ruanui Māori tribe and the New Zealand Government.

title: 1868

text: June – The SS Columbia sets off on her maiden voyage around Cape Horn to Portland, Oregon, carrying 13 locomotives and 200 railcars.

title: 1880

text: June – The first ascent is made of Castle Mountain in the Canadian Rockies, by geologist Arthur Philemon Coleman.

title: 1884

text: June – Vincent van Gogh paints The Starry Night at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

title: 1889

text: June – The clipper ship Cromdale is completed. She is the last fully rigged ship built for the Australian wool trade.

title: 1891

text: June–August – The "Spanish flu" becomes pandemic. Over 30 million people die in the following 6 months.

title: 1918

text: June – Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, along with his father John W. Bascom at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, designs and makes rodeo's first reverse-opening side-delivery bucking chute, which becomes the world standard.

title: 1919

text: June – The volcanic island of Anak Krakatau begins to form in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia.

title: 1927

title: 1937

text: June – Picasso completes his painting Guernica.

title: 1937

text: June (late) – The Holocaust: The last trainload of Jewish prisoners is moved from Bełżec extermination camp in occupied Poland (for gassing at Sobibór), and for the remainder of the year the Nazis make efforts to obliterate the site.

title: 1943

text: June – The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is introduced.

title: 1947

text: April 6 – The Intelsat I ("Early Bird") communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.

title: 1965

text: June – Construction of the Oosterscheldekering, the world's largest openable storm surge flood barrier, is completed in the Netherlands.

title: 1986


slug: jupiter

label: Jupiter

description: fifth planet in the Solar System and largest among all; gaseous giant mainly composed of hydrogen and helium

year_label: 7 BCE

section: Science & Discovery

text: Appearance of a very bright triple conjunction of the royal star Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Pisces (land in the west) in May until December of that year since 854years, with a retrogradation and stationing on November 12. Robert A. Powell (1996) proposes that this is the birth date of Jesus.

title: 0s BC

section: Events › 7 BC › Astronomy

date: April 20

text: April 20 – The planet Venus occults the planet Jupiter.

title: 363

section: Events › By topic › Astronomy

date: October 26

text: October 26 – The planet Venus occults the planet Jupiter.

title: 428

date: January 7

text: January 7 – Venus occults Jupiter.

title: 1192

date: September 24

text: September 24 – Venus occults Jupiter (the last such occurrence until 1570).

title: 1210

date: March 4

text: March 4 – Just before dawn, a great conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter is observed from Earth. The conjunction is more significant than other occurrences because the separation of the two planets as visible in the sky of Earth (2.1 arcminutes or 1/30th of one degree of arc) will not be closer again until March 8, 4523 CE, and the close conjunction is the most easily visible from Earth until the conjunction of December 21, 2020.

title: 1226

section: Events › January – March

date: February 5

text: February 5 – Venus occults Jupiter; this will next happen in 1818.

title: 1570

section: Events › January–March

text: January 7 – Galileo Galilei first observes the four Galilean moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io, but is unable to distinguish the latter two until the following day.

title: 1610

date: December 28

text: December 28 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when in conjunction with Jupiter. He mistakenly catalogues it as a fixed star, because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic. Neptune will not be truly recognized as a planet until 1846, about 234 years later, when Johann Gottfried Galle first sights it in the Berlin Observatory.

title: 1612

section: Events › October–December

text: Johannes Kepler publishes Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo, in response to Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons.

title: 1615

section: Events › Date unknown

date: July 16

text: July 16 – A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, with the planets only 5 arc minutes apart, the closest between 1226 and 2874. This conjunction likely goes unobserved, as it occurs near the Sun and the telescope has been invented only recently.

title: 1623

section: Events › July–September

date: May 17

text: May 17 – Italian astronomers Niccolò Zucchi and Daniello Bartoli become the first scientists to observe the belts on the planet Jupiter.

title: 1630

date: May 9

text: May 9 – Robert Hooke discovers Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

title: 1664

text: Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiter's atmosphere.

title: 1690

date: September 19

text: September 19 – Jupiter occults Neptune.

title: 1702

date: July 20

text: July 20 – The planet Mercury transits Jupiter, as seen by astronomers from Earth. The event happens again on October 4, 1708, but will not be seen again from Earth until October 27, 2088

title: 1705

date: January 3

text: January 3 (21:52 UTC) – Venus occults Jupiter. It is the last occultation of one planet by another before November 22, 2065.

title: 1818

date: September 9

text: September 9 – Amalthea, the fifth moon of Jupiter, is discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard.

title: 1892

section: Events › September

date: December 2

text: December 2 – During the new moon, a near-grand conjunction of the classical planets and several binocular Solar System bodies occur. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars and Saturn are all within 15° of each other, with Venus 5° ahead of this conjunction and Jupiter 15° behind.

title: 1899

section: Events › December

date: December 3

text: December 3 – Charles Dillon Perrine discovers Jupiter's largest irregular satellite, later called Himalia, at California's Lick Observatory.

title: 1904

text: December 3 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.

title: 1973

date: March 5

text: March 5 – Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 277000 km mi.

title: 1979

section: Events › March

date: October 18

text: October 18 – NASA launches the uncrewed Galileo orbiter on a mission to study the planet Jupiter, via Atlantis mission STS-34.

title: 1989

section: Events › October

text: July 16–22 – Fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impact the planet Jupiter.

title: 1994

section: Events › July

date: December 7

text: December 7 – NASA's Galileo probe enters Jupiter's atmosphere.

title: 1995

date: August 13

text: August 13 – Data sent back by the Galileo space probe indicates there may be water on one of Jupiter's moons.

title: 1996

section: Events › August

date: October 15

text: October 15 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 181 km of Jupiter's moon Io.

title: 2001

date: July 19

text: July 19 – Amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley is the first to report that a new dark spot has developed on the planet Jupiter. This event would come to be known as the 2009 Jupiter impact event.

title: 2009

date: August 5

text: August 5 – Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

title: 2011

date: July 5

text: July 5 – NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet.

title: 2016

date: December 21

text: December 21 – A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees. This is the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623.

title: 2020

text: June 7 – The Juno spacecraft performs its only flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the first flyby of the moon by any spacecraft in over 20 years.

title: 2021

section: Events › June

date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Europa Clipper spacecraft is launched to investigate Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.

title: 2024


slug: jurchen-people

label: Jurchen people

description: East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples who lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manchuria

section: Conflict & Security

text: Toi invasion: Jurchen pirates, from the Khitan Liao Dynasty in modern-day Manchuria, sail with about 50 ships to invade Kyūshū in Japan. They assault the islands Tsushima and Iki. In April the pirates raid Matsuura but are defeated by the Japanese army.

title: 1019

section: Events › By place › Asia

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Jin dynasty (1115–1234) (or Great Jin) is created by the Jurchen tribal chieftain Taizu (or Aguda). He establishes a dual-administration system: a Chinese-style bureaucracy to rule over northern and northeast China.

title: 1115

section: Religion & Belief

date: August

text: August–September (the eighth month of the Chinese calendar) – Wanyan Xiyin, a Jurchen nobleman and minister, completes the design of the first version of the Jurchen script.

title: 1120

date: November

text: November – Jin–Song War: Emperor Taizong of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty declares war on the Chinese Song dynasty – and orders his armies to invade Song territory. He sends the Western army to the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province and the Eastern army to Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng), the Song capital. The Song forces are not expecting an invasion and are caught off guard.

title: 1125

text: Jin–Song Wars: Emperor Gaozong of the Song dynasty establishes a new capital at Yangzhou, while the government retreats south, after Jurchen forces capture the previous capital of Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident.

title: 1128

text: Jin–Song War: Emperor Gao Zong of the Song dynasty moves the capital from Yangzhou to Hangzhou, after the Jurchen Jin dynasty captures Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident.

title: 1129

text: Jin–Song War – Song forces under Yue Fei begin a counteroffensive against the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty in northern China. He defeats Jin forces, by entangling his paddle-wheel ships at the Huai River.

title: 1135

date: July 24

text: July 24 – Emperor Gaozong of Song becomes embroiled in war again as hostilities resume with the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (or "Great Jin") after 21 years of peace. Another peace treaty is signed, Gao abdicates the throne in favor of his adopted son Xiaozong. The smaller Southern Song empire becomes richer than the Song dynasty.

title: 1162

section: Events › By place › China

text: Genghis Khan (or Temüjin), with help from the Keraites, defeats the Jurchens of the Jin dynasty. The Jin bestow Genghis' blood brother Toghrul with the honorable title of Ong Khan, and Genghis receives the lesser title of j'aut quri. During the winter, Toghrul returns and re-establishes himself as leader of the Keraites.

title: 1197

text: Spring – Emperor Xuan Zong of the Jurchen-led Chinese Jin dynasty surrenders to the Mongols under Genghis khan – who have besieged the capital of Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing) for a year. He is forced to pay tribute (including some 3,000 horses, 10,000 'bolts' of silk and his daughter), along with subjugation to the Mongol Khan. Xuan Zong abandons northern China and moves his court to Kaifeng.

title: 1214

section: Deaths

date: January 14

text: January 14 – Emperor Xuan Zong of the Chinese Jurchen-led Jin dynasty dies after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old son, Ai Zong, who conquers more Song territory during the Jin–Song Wars.

title: 1224

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongol army led by Ögedei Khan and his brother Tolui begins the Siege of Kaifeng (1232), capital of the Chinese Jin dynasty. During the summer, the Jurchens try to end the siege by negotiating a peace treaty, but the assassination of a Mongol embassy makes further talks impossible. While the negotiations are going on, a plague is devastating the population of the city. In the meantime, supplies stored at Kaifeng are running out, and several residents of the city are executed on the suspicion that they are traitors.

title: 1232

section: Events › By place › Mongol Empire

date: September 11

text: September 11 – Sejo, Emperor of Korea (in the Joseon dynasty) receives the imperial edict from China's Xianzong of Ming, directing the Koreans to join Chinese forces in subjugating the Jurchen state in Manchuria. Sejo orders the mobilization of 10,000 Korean troops but instructs the Joseon commander to keep the Korean troops independent from the Chinese force, to wait until the Chinese attack before assisting with Korean troops, and to avoid confrontation with the Jurchen cavalry unless it appears that the Chinese army is winning.

title: 1467


slug: justin-i

label: Justin I

description: Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 518 to 527 (450-527)

section: Births

date: February 2

text: February 2 – Justin I, Byzantine Emperor (d. 527)

title: 450

text: Battle of Cotyaeum: The Isaurian rebels are defeated by the Eastern Roman army, under John the Scythian and John the Hunchback (subordinate commanders include the future Justin I). They retreat to their mountain fortresses, and continue guerrilla warfare against the Roman forces until 497.

title: 492

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: July 9

text: July 9 – Emperor Anastasius I dies childless at Constantinople, age 88, after a 27-year reign in which he has abolished the sale of offices, reformed taxation, and perfected the empire's monetary system, but antagonized some with his heretical Monophysite religious policies. He is succeeded by Justin I (Flavius Justinus), his comes excubitorum, commander of the palace guard. After his death, he leaves the imperial treasury richer by 23,000,000 solidi or 320,000 pounds of gold.

title: 518

section: Crime & Justice

date: July

text: July – Byzantine general Vitalian becomes consul, and is shortly later murdered, probably on the orders of Justinian, the nephew and heir-apparent of Emperor Justin I.

title: 520

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Venantius Opilio is appointed by Byzantium's Emperor Justin to administer the Western Roman Empire as the Roman consul, replacing Anicius Maximus. The Emperor Justin appoints himself as consul for the West, an office vacant since 522, but has Theodorus Filoxenus administering the west.

title: 524

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Emperor Justin I rebuilds the city of Anazarbus (modern Turkey) and renames it "Justinopolis".

title: 525

text: Pope John I returns to Ravenna from Constantinople. Theodoric the Great finds that he has been only partly successful in persuading the Byzantine emperor Justin I to withdraw his edict against Arian Christianity, and throws the pope into prison.

title: 526

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Health & Medicine

date: April 1

text: April 1 – Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler, as an incurable wound saps his strength.

title: 527

date: August 1

text: August 1 – Justin I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 450)

title: 527

section: Culture & Society

date: February 7

text: February 7 – The opera Giustino by Giovanni Legrenzi and about the life of the Byzantine Emperor Justin, premieres in Venice.

title: 1683

section: Events › January–March


slug: justin-ii

label: Justin II

description: Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 565 to 574 (520-578)

text: Justin II, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (d. 578)

title: 520

date: November 15

text: November 15 – Justin II succeeds his uncle Justinian I as emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He begins his reign by refusing subsidies to the Avars, who conduct several large-scale raids through the Balkan Peninsula.

title: 565

text: Emperor Justin II, facing an empty treasury, breaks the treaty with the Gepids that has existed since 565. King Alboin of the Lombards makes an alliance with the Avars under Bayan I, at the expense of tough conditions. They demand a tenth of the Lombards' cattle and half of the war booty.

title: 566

text: Emperor Justin II and his wife Sophia send the Cross of Justin II ("Vatican Cross") to Rome, to improve the relations with the Byzantine Empire.

title: 568

text: Emperor Justin II and his wife Sophia send a relic of the "True Cross" to the Frankish princess Radegund, who has founded a monastery at Poitiers.

title: 569

text: Byzantine–Sassanid War of 572–591: Emperor Justin II refuses to pay the annual tribute to Khosrau I, putting an end to the 50-year peace treaty established ten years earlier. The Armenians are considered allies to the Byzantine Empire, and Justin sends a Byzantine army into Persian territory, besieging the fortress city of Nisibis (modern Turkey).

title: 572

date: December 7

text: December 7 – Emperor Justin II retires due to recurring seizures of insanity; he abdicates the throne in favour of his general Tiberius. Justin proclaims him Caesar and adopts him as his own son.

title: 574

text: Baduarius, son-in-law of the Byzantine emperor Justin II, is sent to Italy to resist the Lombard conquest. He leads an aborted counter-assault against the Lombards and dies soon after.

title: 576

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Emperor Justin II dies after several periods of insanity. On the advice of his wife Sophia, he has raised his general Tiberius to the rank of co-emperor (Caesar). From December 574 he has ruled jointly with Sophia, and now succeeds them as emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

title: 578

text: October 5 – Justin II, Byzantine emperor

title: 578


slug: justinian-i

label: Justinian I

description: Eastern Roman Emperor who ruled from 527 to 565 (482-565)

text: Justinian I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (d. 565)

title: 482

text: Justin I founds the Justinian dynasty and makes his nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius (later Justinian I) his trusted advisor. He becomes the emperor's close confidant and possibly acts as regent. Theocritus, candidate to the throne, is accused of a conspiracy and executed.

title: 518

text: July – Byzantine general Vitalian becomes consul, and is shortly later murdered, probably on the orders of Justinian, the nephew and heir-apparent of Emperor Justin I.

title: 520

text: Future Byzantine emperor Justinian, age 39, is appointed consul. He later becomes Commander-in-chief of the Army of the East.

title: 521

text: Justinian, later Byzantine emperor, marries in Constantinople his mistress Theodora, who is by profession a courtesan (approximate date).

title: 523

title: 527

date: February 13

text: February 13 – Emperor Justinian I appoints a commission (including the jurist Tribonian) to codify all laws of the Roman Empire that are still in force from Hadrian to the current date; this becomes the Corpus Juris Civilis.

title: 528

date: April 7

text: April 7 – Emperor Justinian I issues the Codex Justinianus (Code of Civil Laws), reformulating Roman law in an effort to control his unruly people (see 532).

title: 529

date: December 15

text: December 15 – Emperor Justinian I selects a second commission to excerpt and codify the writings of the jurists on Roman law. This becomes the Digest (Pandects).

title: 530

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army (20,000 men), commanded by Belisarius, is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria). Emperor Justinian I negotiates an end to the hostilities, and Belisarius is hailed as a hero.

title: 531

date: February 23

text: February 23 – Emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia. He chooses Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles as architects. The material for the construction is brought from all over the empire, such as large stones from quarries in Porphyry, Egypt. More than 10,000 people are employed.

title: 532

date: January 11

text: January 11 – Nika riots in Constantinople: Anger among the supporters of the most important chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—escalates into violence towards the emperor. For the next five days the capital is in chaos. The fires that start during the tumult result in the destruction of much of the city. The insurrection is put down a week later by Belisarius and Mundus; 30,000 people are killed in the Hippodrome.

title: 532

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Summer – Emperor Justinian I holds a war council in Constantinople. His advisers warn him against launching an expedition to North Africa, because of the supply-lines (1,000 miles into Vandal waters) and the huge drain on the imperial treasury. Justinian appoints Belisarius to command the Byzantine army.

title: 533

date: March 25

text: March 25 – In a letter, Emperor Justinian I declares the Bishop of Rome (currently John) to be "head of all Bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics."

title: 533

text: Summer – Belisarius arrives in Constantinople and is permitted by Emperor Justinian I to celebrate a triumph, the first non-imperial triumph for over 500 years. In the procession the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem and the Vandal treasure are paraded.

title: 534

text: The death of Amalasuintha gives Byzantine Emperor Justinian I a pretext to invade Italy and begin the Gothic War.

title: 535

text: Spring – Emperor Justinian I appoints his cousin Germanus as magister militum to deal with the crisis in Africa. He sends a mobile force of comitatenses (mostly cavalry) and an elite guard. Solomon, the previous magister militum, returns to Constantinople.

title: 536

section: Events › By place › Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire

text: John Cottistis starts a short-lived rebellion against Justinian I. He is declared emperor at Dara, but is killed four days later by conspiring soldiers.

title: 537

text: Emperor Justinian I becomes alarmed by renewed barbarian incursions across the Danube frontier from the Slavs, the Bulgars, the Gepids, and the Avars.

title: 539

text: Emperor Justinian I offers to make peace with Vitiges, but Belisarius refuses to transmit the message. The Ostrogoths then offer to support Belisarius as emperor of the West.

title: 540

text: Emperor Justinian I recalls Belisarius from Italy to handle the situation in Armenia. He arrives in Upper Mesopotamia and attacks the fortress city of Nisbis. After an unsuccessful siege he ravages the countryside.

title: 541

text: Plague of Justinian: Bubonic plague, spread from Egypt, kills at least 230,000 in Constantinople (modern Istanbul; before counting stops), and perhaps two million or more in the rest of the empire. Emperor Justinian I contracts the disease but recovers.

title: 542

text: Gothic War: Emperor Justinian I sends Belisarius back to the Ostrogothic Kingdom (Italy) with an inadequate Byzantine expeditionary force (4,000 men and 200 ships).

title: 544

section: Events › By place › The Mediterranean World, Europe, and the Middle East

text: Emperor Justinian I sends Narses, Byzantine general, to the rulers of the Heruli, to recruit troops for the campaigns in Italy and Syria.

title: 545

text: Winter – Pope Vigilius arrives in Constantinople, to meet with Emperor Justinian I. The future Pope Pelagius I is sent by Totila to negotiate with Justinian.

title: 546

text: The mosaic panels of Justinian I and Theodora I with attendants, in the Basilica of San Vitale (Ravenna), are made (approximate date).

title: 547

text: Emperor Justinian I relieves Belisarius from military service, in favour of 70-year-old Byzantine general Narses.

title: 548

text: Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under Totila besiege Rome for the third time, after Belisarius has returned to Constantinople. He offers a peace agreement, but this is rejected by Emperor Justinian I.

title: 549

text: Emperor Justinian I appoints Bessas commander (magister militum) of Armenia, and entrusts him with the war in Lazica (Georgia).

title: 550

text: After the death of his cousin Germanus, Justinian I appoints Narses new supreme commander, and returns to Italy. In Salona on the Adriatic coast, he assembles a Byzantine expeditionary force totaling 20,000 or possibly 30,000 men and a contingent of foreign allies, notably Lombards, Heruls and Bulgars.

title: 551

text: Emperor Justinian I dispatches a small Byzantine force (2,000 men) under Liberius to Hispania, according to the historian Jordanes. He conquers Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern coast.

title: 552

date: May 5

text: May 5 – The Fifth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople. In an edict, Emperor Justinian I condemns the Three Chapters, causing further schisms and heresies of monoenergism and monothelitism.

title: 553

date: August 13

text: August 13 – Byzantine Emperor Justinian I issues a pragmatic sanction reorganizing Italy, and rewards the praetorian prefect Liberius for over 60 years of distinguished service, granting him extensive estates in Italy.

title: 554

text: By this date, the Roman Empire under Justinian I has reached its height. Justinian I has reconquered many former territories of the Western Roman Empire, including Italy, Dalmatia, Africa and Southern Hispania.

title: 555

text: King Khosrau I opens negotiations with Justinian I, leading to the establishment of a 50 year peace agreement in 562.

title: 556

section: Events › By place › Persia

section: Climate & Environment

date: May 7

text: May 7 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses due to an earthquake. Emperor Justinian I orders the dome to be rebuilt.

title: 558

text: Emperor Justinian I signs a peace treaty with the Sasanid Empire. The status quo ante is restored, with Lazica (modern Georgia) in Byzantine hands.

title: 562

text: Emperor Justinian I pardons Belisarius; he orders his release from prison, and restores his properties and honours. He permits the general to live in obscurity, and gives him a veterans' pension.

title: 563

date: January 22

text: January 22 – Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople is deposed as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople by Justinian I after he refuses the Byzantine Emperor's order to adopt the tenets of the Aphthartodocetae, a sect of Monophysites. From April 12 he is replaced by John Scholasticus.

title: 565

date: November 14

text: November 14 – Justinian I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire

title: 565

title: 565


slug: justinian-ii

label: Justinian II

description: Byzantine Emperor from 685 to 695 and from 705 to 711

text: Justinian II, Eastern Roman Emperor (d. 711)

title: 668

text: Justinian II, Byzantine emperor (approximate date)

title: 669

date: July 10

text: July 10 – Emperor Constantine IV dies of dysentery at Constantinople after a 17-year reign, and is succeeded by his 16-year-old son Justinian II.

title: 685

section: Religion & Belief

text: Emperor Justinian II negotiates a peace treaty with the Umayyad Caliphate (resulting in caliph Abd al-Malik paying tribute). He removes 12,000 Christian Maronites, who continually resist the Arabs, from Lebanon. Justinian reinforces the Byzantine navy on Cyprus, and transfers cavalry troops from the Thracesian Theme in Anatolia to the Theme of Thrace in the Balkan Peninsula.

title: 687

section: Conflict & Security

text: Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Justinian II carries out a Balkan campaign and marches through Thrace, where he restores Byzantine rule. He establishes a theme administration, and migrates many Bulgars and Slavs to the Opsician Theme (Asia Minor).

title: 688

text: Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Justinian II defeats the Bulgars of Macedonia and recaptures Thessalonica, the second most important Byzantine city in Europe. He resettles the subdued Slavs in Anatolia (modern Turkey), where they are required to provide 30,000 men to the Byzantine army.

title: 689

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Muslims conquer Armenia, Iberia and Colchis, the last remaining Byzantine holdings east of the Taurus Mountains. Emperor Justinian II is forced to agree to joint Byzantine-Arab control of Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (approximate date).

title: 692

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The population of Byzantium revolts under Leontios, the strategos (military governor) of the Anatolic Theme, and proclaims him emperor. Justinian II is deposed and his nose is cut off (leading to his subsequent nickname of "the Slit-nosed"). He is exiled to Cherson (Crimea), and begins to plot an attempt to retake the throne.

title: 695

text: After spending nearly a decade with the Khazars (a Turkic tribe which controls a Steppe empire), the deposed emperor Justinian II flees from his exile at Cherson (Crimea). He escapes with help from Busir, ruler (khagan) of the Khazars, who marries him to his sister Theodora.

title: 704

text: Spring – An army of 15,000 Bulgar and Slav horsemen under Justinian II appear before the walls of Constantinople. After three days, his troops discover an unused water conduit under the walls of the city, and enter through the Valens Aqueduct. Hearing that Justinian has taken control of the Blachernae Palace, Emperor Tiberios III flees to Bithynia (modern Turkey), where he evades capture for several months.

title: 705

text: Tiberius, son of Justinian II (d. 711)

title: 705

date: February 15

text: February 15 – Emperor Justinian II presides over the public humiliation of his predecessors, Leontios and Tiberios III, and their chief associates in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, after which they are executed. Patriarch Kallinikos I is also deposed, blinded and exiled to Rome, and succeeded by Kyros.

title: 706

text: Battle of Anchialus: A Byzantine expeditionary force under Emperor Justinian II is defeated near the seaside city of Anchialus, on the Black Sea Coast. The Byzantines are overwhelmed by a surprise attack of Bulgarian cavalry, led by Tervel. Justinian manages to reach the fortress, and escapes to Constantinople on a ship.

title: 708

date: June

text: June – Emperor Justinian II sends a punitive expedition to Italy under the patrikios Theodore, to intervene in the dispute between Pope Constantine I and Archbishop Felix of Ravenna, who claims to be independent of the pope's authority. Theodore captures Ravenna, and arrests Felix and other Italian leaders. He deports them to Constantinople, from whence they are exiled to Cherson (Crimea).

title: 709

text: The Byzantine outpost of Cherson (Crimea) rebels (with Khazar assistance) against Emperor Justinian II. He sends a fleet under the patrikios Stephen, which retakes the city and restores Byzantine control. The fleet, however, is struck by a storm on its way back and loses many ships, while the Chersonites, again with the aid of the Khazars, rebel anew.

title: 710

text: Philippicus incites the inhabitants of Cherson to revolt, with the help of the Khazars. Emperor Justinian II sallies forth from Constantinople to oppose the rebels in the Crimea. Philippicus defeats the Byzantine forces in northern Anatolia, and seizes the capital. He is proclaimed emperor and Justinian is executed, ending the house of Heraclius, that has ruled since 610.

title: AD 711

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Justinian II, Byzantine emperor (b. 669)

title: AD 711


slug: kabul

label: Kabul

description: capital and the largest city of Afghanistan

year_label: 329 BCE

text: From Phrada, Alexander the Great presses on up the valley of the Helmand River, through Arachosia, and over the mountains past the site of modern Kabul into the country of the Paropamisade, where he founds Alexandria by the Caucasus.

title: 329 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonian Empire

year_label: 206 BCE

text: Antiochus III marches across the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley and renews his friendship with the Indian king Sophagasenus.

title: 206 BC

text: Muslim Conquest: Arab forces under Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra begin launching raids from Persia, striking at Multan in the southern Punjab (modern Pakistan). Muslims conquer the city of Kabul, invading from eastern Afghanistan.

title: 664

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: Winter – Sabuktigin, emir of the Ghaznavid Dynasty, invades India. He expands the emirate between the Kabul Valley and the Indus River after defeating King Jayapala.

title: 986

date: October

text: October – Babur besieges and captures Kabul.

title: 1504

section: Events › Date unknown

text: Kasur established as a city by the Kheshgi tribe of Pashtuns from Kabul who migrate to the region in 1525 from Afghanistan.

title: 1525

date: January 6

text: January 6–13 – First Anglo-Afghan War – Massacre of Elphinstone's army (Battle of Gandamak): British East India Company troops are destroyed by Afghan forces on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, by Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammad Khan.

title: 1842

section: Deaths

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Dost Mohammad Khan, Emir of Kabul, King of Kandahar (b. 1793)

title: 1863

section: Deaths › January–June

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Kabul falls to Habibullāh Kalakāni's forces, beginning a 9-month period of Saqqawist rule in Afghanistan while the Afghan Civil War continues.

title: 1929

section: Events › January

date: February 14

text: February 14 – In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

title: 1979

section: Events › February

date: April 16

text: April 16 – President of Afghanistan Mohammad Najibullah is ousted and detained by Muslim rebels moving towards Kabul, setting the stage for the civil war in Afghanistan (1992–96).

title: 1992

section: Events › April

date: December 27

text: December 27 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Air Base, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.

title: 1996

section: Events › December

date: September 27

text: September 27 – In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city of Kabul, after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.

title: 1996

section: Events › September

date: May 12

text: May 12 – Gunmen storm a maternity hospital and kill 24 people, including two newborn babies, in Dashte Barchi, a majority-Shia neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan. In a separate incident in Kuz Kunar, 32 people are killed at a funeral by a suicide bomber.

title: 2020

section: Events › May

date: August 30

text: August 30 – The United States withdraws its last remaining troops from Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, ending 20 years of operations in Afghanistan.

title: 2021

section: Events › August


slug: kahramanmaras

label: Kahramanmaraş

description: city in Turkey

text: Arab-Byzantine War: The invading Rashidun army under Khalid ibn al-Walid moves into Anatolia, conquering (without strong Byzantine resistance) the cities of Kahramanmaraş, Caesarea Cappadociae, Sebastia, and Malatya (west of the Taurus Mountains). Arab forces march into Armenia, where they capture the cities Edessa and Amida up to the Ararat plain.

title: 638

text: Arab–Byzantine Wars: Taking advantage of discontent among the Muslim Arabs, Emperor Constantine V invades Syria, and captures Germanikeia (modern Turkey). He organises the resettlement of part of the local Christian population in Thrace.

title: 746

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Leo IV ("the Khazar") repulses an Abbasid invasion in Anatolia. A Byzantine expeditionary force under Michael Lachanodrakon, military governor (strategos) of the Thracesian Theme, defeats the Muslim-Arabs at the fortress city of Germanikeia in Cilicia (modern Turkey). He plunders the region and takes many captives, mostly Jacobites, who are resettled in Thrace.

title: 778

section: Events › By place › Arab Caliphate and Byzantine Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: The Byzantines under Andronikos Doukas, along with Eustathios Argyros, campaign against the Abbasids and defeat the Muslim garrisons of Mopsuestia and Tarsus, near Marash (modern Turkey).

title: 904

text: Arab-Byzantine War: Hamdanid forces under Sayf al-Dawla raid into the theme of Lykandos, but are defeated. The Byzantines counter-attack and seize Germanikeia, defeating an army from Tarsus, and raiding as far south as Antioch. General (strategos) Theophilos Kourkouas captures Theodosiopolis (modern-day Erzurum) after a 7-month siege.

title: 949

text: Battle of Marash: Emir Sayf al-Dawla marches north into the Byzantine Empire and ravages the countryside of Malatya (modern Turkey). On his way back, he crosses the Euphrates and intercepts a Byzantine army led by Bardas Phokas (the Elder), near Marash. The Byzantines are defeated; Bardas himself barely escapes through the intervention of his attendants. His son Constantine Phokas, governor of Seleucia, is captured and held prisoner in Aleppo, until his death from an illness some time later.

title: 953

date: November 29

text: November 29 – A large earthquake damages the areas of the Crusaders in the Middle East. From Antioch and Mamistra to Marash and Edessa are hit by the shocks.

title: 1114

section: Events › By topic › Earthquake

text: Autumn – Raynald of Châtillon, prince of Antioch, makes a plundering raid in the valley of the Euphrates at Marash to seize cattle, horses and camels from the local peasants. On his way back to Antioch, he and his retinue are attacked by Zangid warriors. Raynald is unhorsed, captured and sent to Aleppo where he is put in jail.

title: 1160

section: Events › By place › Levant


slug: kaifeng

label: Kaifeng

description: prefecture-level city in Henan, China, a former capital of China

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: New city of Bian (汴) is constructed on the site of Kaifeng during the Tang dynasty (China).

title: 781

section: Events › By place › Asia

section: Crime & Justice

date: July 18

text: July 18 – Emperor Taizu (Zhu Wen) is murdered in the imperial palace at Kaifeng by his eldest living son Zhu Yougui after a 5-year reign. He succeeds his father as the ruler of Later Liang.

title: 912

section: Events › By place › China

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: March 10

text: March 10 – The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan, the military governor (jiedushi) of Bingzhou. He declares himself emperor (formally called Gaozu) and establishes the capital in Bian, present-day Kaifeng.

title: 947

date: February 4

text: February 4 – The Song Dynasty is established at Kaifeng by the 33-year-old military leader Zhao Kuangyin. He begins to unify the empire by conquering other lands and becomes the first emperor, called as Taizu of Song. The Song Dynasty will rule northern China for over 300 years (until 1279).

title: 960

text: November 14 – Emperor Taizu (Zhao Kuangyin) dies at Kaifeng after a 16-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Tai Zong as ruler of the Song Dynasty. During his rule the Yuelu Academy (located in Hunan Province) is founded, which becomes one of the renowned academies (Shūyuàn).

title: 976

section: Conflict & Security

text: June 9 – King Qian Chu surrenders his territories and pledges allegiance to the Song Dynasty, saving his people from war and economic destruction. Qian Chu remains ruler and moves 3,000 members of his household to Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng). Wuyue is absorbed into the Song Dynasty, effectively ending the kingdom.

title: 978

date: May 8

text: May 8 – Emperor Tai Zong (Zhao Jiong) dies at Kaifeng after a 21-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Zhen Zong as the third ruler of the Song dynasty.

title: 997

text: Summer – Emperor Sheng Zong of Liao launches a major offensive against the Song dynasty. He invades Shanyang and threatens the Song capital of Kaifeng (approximate date).

title: 1004

text: Kaifeng, capital of China, becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Córdoba in Al-Andalus (modern Spain).

title: 1013

section: Health & Medicine

text: The Chinese capital city of Kaifeng has some half a million residents by this year. Including all those present in the nine designated suburbs, the population is over a million people.

title: 1021

text: The Iron Pagoda in Kaifeng is constructed, during the Chinese Song dynasty.

title: 1049

text: Fall – Shen Kuo is sent to supervise Wang Anshi's program of surveying the buildup of silt deposits in the Grand Canal, outside the capital city of Kaifeng. Using an original technique, Shen successfully dredges the canal and demonstrates the formidable value of the silt gathered as a fertilizer.

title: 1072

section: Science & Discovery

text: Su Song, Chinese polymath scientist and statesman, invents the pilot model for his astronomical clock tower constructed in Kaifeng. It features an escapement mechanism – and the world's oldest known power-transmitting chain drive to operate the armillary sphere, opening doors, and mechanical-driven mannequins, that would rotate in shifts to announce the time on plaques.

title: 1088

section: Events › By topic › Arts and Culture

text: Su Song, a Chinese statesman and scientist, publishes his Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, a treatise outlining the construction and operation of his complex astronomical clocktower, built in Kaifeng. It also includes a celestial atlas of five star maps.

title: 1092

date: February 23

text: February 23 – Emperor Zhezong dies after a 15-year reign. He is succeeded by his 17-year-old brother Huizong as ruler of the Song dynasty. At about this date, the Chinese population reaches around 100 million and in Kaifeng, his capital, the number of registered citizens within the walls is about 1,050,000 with the army stationed here boosting the overall populace to some 1.4 million people.

title: 1100

text: Fang La, Chinese rebel leader (executed in Kaifeng)

title: 1121

date: November

text: November – Jin–Song War: Emperor Taizong of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty declares war on the Chinese Song dynasty – and orders his armies to invade Song territory. He sends the Western army to the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province and the Eastern army to Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng), the Song capital. The Song forces are not expecting an invasion and are caught off guard.

title: 1125

text: Spring – In China, scholars and farmers demonstrate around the capital city of Kaifeng, for the restoration of a trusted military official, Li Gang (李綱). Small conflicts erupt between the protestors and the government.

title: 1126

date: January 9

text: January 9 – Jin–Song Wars: Jurchen forces sack the Chinese capital of Kaifeng of the Northern Song dynasty during the Jingkang incident. They capture Emperor Qinzong, along with his father, Huizong, and members of the House of Zhao.

title: 1127

text: Jin–Song Wars: Emperor Gaozong of the Song dynasty establishes a new capital at Yangzhou, while the government retreats south, after Jurchen forces capture the previous capital of Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident.

title: 1128

text: Jin–Song War: Emperor Gao Zong of the Song dynasty moves the capital from Yangzhou to Hangzhou, after the Jurchen Jin dynasty captures Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident.

title: 1129

text: Spring – Emperor Xuan Zong of the Jurchen-led Chinese Jin dynasty surrenders to the Mongols under Genghis khan – who have besieged the capital of Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing) for a year. He is forced to pay tribute (including some 3,000 horses, 10,000 'bolts' of silk and his daughter), along with subjugation to the Mongol Khan. Xuan Zong abandons northern China and moves his court to Kaifeng.

title: 1214

date: May 29

text: May 29 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongol army led by Ögedei Khan captures Kaifeng, capital of the Jin dynasty ('Great Jin'), after the 13-month Siege of Kaifeng (1232). The Mongols plunder the city, while Emperor Aizong of Jin flees for the town of Caizhou. Meanwhile, Ögedei departs and leaves the final conquest to his favoured general, Subutai.

title: 1233

section: Events › By place › Mongol Empire

date: August 15

text: August 15 – The Ming General Xu Da sets off from Kaifeng at the direction of the Chinese Emperor Hongwu, with plans to rid China of the former Yuan dyansty Emperor Huizong.

title: 1368

section: Events › July–September

text: January 6 – Basalawarmi, the Yuan dynasty Prince of Liang (now in the Henan province), commits suicide at his palace in Kaifeng after having been forced to retreat from the Ming dynasty armies.

title: 1382

section: Events › January–March

section: Climate & Environment

date: October 8

text: October 8 – 1642 Yellow River flood: Some 300,000 people die in the intentional breaking of the dams and dykes of the Yellow River, done by the Ming dynasty defenders of Kaifeng to break the siege by the large rebel force of Li Zicheng.

title: 1642

section: Events › October–December