slug: louis-the-pious

label: Louis the Pious

description: King of the Franks

text: Adrian, Count of Orléans, brother in law of Charlemagne and uncle of Louis the Pious (d. c. 821)

title: 758

text: Louis the Pious, king of the Franks (d. 840)

title: 778

text: King Charlemagne has his son Carloman (renamed Pepin) anointed "King of Italy", and he is crowned by Pope Adrian I with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. His younger brother Charles I is anointed king of Aquitaine, and Louis the Pious (only 3-years old) is appointed sub-king of Italy and Aquitaine, following the conversion of Aquitaine from a Duchy to a sub-kingdom.

title: 781

text: Alcuin, Anglo-Saxon missionary, returns (after an 8-year absence) to England. During his stay at the Carolingian court of King Charlemagne in Aachen, he has educated his sons Charles, Pepin and Louis. Alcuin revises the church liturgy and the Bible, and is responsible for an intellectual movement within the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 790

section: Culture & Society

text: King Louis I (son of Charlemagne), age 16, marries Ermengarde of Hesbaye. She is a Frankish noblewoman and the daughter of Ingerman, count of Hesbaye (modern Belgium).

title: 794

date: April 3

text: April 3 – King Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, captures Barcelona after a siege of several months. Bera is appointed first count of Barcelona.

title: 801

text: Aznar Galíndez I succeeds Aureolus, as count of Aragon (modern Spain). He is installed by King Louis the Pious (a son of emperor Charlemagne), and remains a Frankish vassal.

title: 809

date: September 11

text: September 11 — Louis the Pious, king of Aquitaine (and only surviving legitimate son), is crowned co-emperor of the Franks, with his father Charlemagne.

title: 813

date: January 28

text: January 28 – Charlemagne dies of pleurisy in Aachen, after an almost 14-year reign (since 800) as the first Roman Emperor of Frankish origin (the precursor of the Holy Roman Emperor). He is embalmed and buried in Aachen Cathedral. Charlemagne is succeeded by his son Louis the Pious, as king of the Frankish Empire.

title: 814

date: October 5

text: October 5 – King Louis the Pious (son of Charlemagne) is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, by Pope Stephen IV at Reims. He also crowns the emperor's wife Ermengarde as Holy Roman Empress. The ceremony in Reims re-establishes the principle of papal supremacy, by recognising the importance of the pope in imperial coronations. Louis gives the pope many gifts, including the estate tax Vendeuvre, near Troyes (Northern France).

title: 816

text: Summer – Emperor Louis I issues an Ordinatio Imperii, an imperial decree that lays out plans for an orderly succession. He divides the Frankish Empire among his three sons: Lothair, the eldest, is proclaimed co-emperor in Aachen, and becomes the overlord of his brothers. He receives the dominion of Burgundy (including German and Gallic parts). Pepin, the second son, is proclaimed king of Aquitaine, and receives Gascony (including the marche around Toulouse and parts of Septimania); Louis (the youngest son) is proclaimed king of Bavaria, and receives the dominions of East Francia.

title: 817

date: April 17

text: April 17 – King Bernard of Italy, illegitimate son of Pepin of Italy, is tried and condemned to death by Emperor Louis I. The Kingdom of Italy is reabsorbed into the Frankish Empire.

title: 818

text: Spring – Emperor Louis I marries Judith of Bavaria in Aachen. She becomes his second wife and Empress of the Franks. Like many of the royal marriages of the time, Judith is selected through a bridal show.

title: 819

text: Gisela, Frankish princess, daughter of Louis the Pious

title: 821

text: Emperor Louis I performs public penance for causing his nephew Bernard's death 4 years earlier, at his palace of Attigny (Ardennes), before Pope Paschal I, and the Frankish nobles (this to restore harmony and re-establish his authority).

title: 822

date: April 5

text: April 5 – Lothair I, eldest son of Emperor Louis I, is crowned co-emperor again by Pope Paschal I at Rome (initiating the papal practice of handing the imperial sword over, as a symbol of temporal power in the Holy Roman Empire).

title: 823

date: November 11

text: November 11 – The Constitutio Romana, drawn up between King Lothair I of Italy, Louis the Pious, since 817, and Pope Eugene II, establishes the authority of the Holy Roman Emperors over the papacy of Rome.

title: 824

section: Events › By date

text: Emperor Louis the Pious begins a military campaign against the Wends and Sorbs. Duke Tunglo surrenders his son as hostage, and submits to Frankish rule (approximate date).

title: 825

text: King Harald Klak of Denmark receives the Frisian county of Rüstringen, as a gift from Emperor Louis the Pious.

title: 826

text: Emperor Louis the Pious appoints his 6-year-old son Charles (by his second wife Judith) as ruler of the Frankish subkingdom Alamannia, enraging his eldest son and co-emperor Lothair I, who begins an insurrection.

title: 829

text: Emperor Louis the Pious returns from a campaign in Brittany, and is captured by his son Pepin I, king of Aquitaine. He is put under house arrest at Compiegne, and his wife Judith is incarcerated at Poitiers.

title: 830

text: Emperor Louis the Pious is reinstated as sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. He promises his sons Pepin I and Louis the German a greater share of the inheritance. His eldest son Lothair I is pardoned, but disgraced and banished to Italy.

title: 831

text: King Pepin I of Aquitaine, and his brother Louis the German, revolt against their father, Emperor Louis the Pious. They gather an army of Slav allies and conquer Swabia.

title: 832

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

date: March 1

text: March 1 – Emperor Louis the Pious is restored as sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. After his re-accession to the throne, his eldest son Lothair I flees to Burgundy.

title: 834

date: December 13

text: December 13 – King Pepin I of Aquitaine dies after a 21-year reign. Emperor Louis the Pious appoints his youngest son Charles the Bald as his successor. The Aquitainian nobility, however, elects Pepin's son Pepin II as the new Frankish ruler.

title: 838

text: Third Civil War: King Louis the German, grandson of Charlemagne, invades Swabia. His nephew, Pepin II of Aquitaine, and his Gascon subjects, conquer territory all the way to the Loire.

title: 839

text: May 20 — Thirteen months before his death, Louis the Pious, successor to his father Charlemagne, consents to the division of Charlemagne's empire among his sons in a declaration at Worms. Upon Louis I's death in 840, Lothair (age 45) is devised Middle Francia that includes Switzerland and northern Italy; Louis the German (Louis II), age 36, receives Eastern Francia that includes much of Germany; and Charles the Bald (17) gets West Francia that incorporates most of France.

title: 839

text: June 20 – Louis the Pious, Emperor of the Romans and King of the Franks, falls ill and dies at his hunting lodge, on an island in the Rhine, near the Ingelheim Imperial Palace in Francia, while suppressing a revolt. He proclaims his eldest son Lothair I as his successor as Emperor. Lothair tries to seize all the territories of his late grandfather Charlemagne. Louis' son by his second wife, Charles, 17, becomes King of the Franks, and joins with his half-brother Louis the German in resisting Lothair.

title: 840

text: June 20 – Louis the Pious, ruler of the Carolingian Empire (b. 778)

title: 840

text: Arnulf of Sens, illegitimate son of Louis the Pious

title: 841

text: June 25 – Battle of Fontenay: Frankish forces of Emperor Lothair I, and his nephew Pepin II of Aquitaine, are defeated by allied forces of King Louis the German, and his half-brother Charles the Bald, at Fontenoy (Eastern France), in a civil war among the three surviving sons of the former emperor Louis the Pious. A total of 40,000 men are killed, including the Frankish nobles Gerard of Auvergne and Ricwin of Nantes, fighting on the side of Charles.

title: 841

date: January 25

text: January 25 – Pope Gregory IV dies after a 16-year reign, in which he has supported the Frankish policy of late emperor Louis the Pious, and established the observance of All Saints' Day. He is succeeded by Sergius II, as the 102nd pope of Rome. Sergius imprisons the antipope John VIII, and is elected by popular acclamation.

title: 844

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: September 29

text: September 29 – Emperor Lothair I dies after a 15-year reign (co-ruling with his father Louis the Pious until 840). He divides the Middle Frankish Kingdom between his three sons in an agreement called the Treaty of Prüm—the eldest, Louis II, receives the northern half of Italy and the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The second, Lothair II, receives Lotharingia (the Low Countries and Upper Burgundy). The youngest, Charles, receives Lower Burgundy and Provence.

title: 855

title: 858

date: December 26

text: December 26 – In an assembly at Pavia (Northern Italy), the lords of Lombardia elect Berengar I, a grandson of former emperor Louis the Pious (through his daughter Gisela), as king of Italy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. After the deposition of Charles the Fat, the nobility chooses Ranulf II as duke (or 'king') of Aquitaine.

title: 887


slug: louis-vi-of-france

label: Louis VI of France

description: king of the Franks from 1108 to 1137

section: Births

text: Louis VI ("the Fat"), king of France (approximate date)

title: 1081

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: December 25

text: December 25 – Philip I of France elevates his son Louis VI as co-ruler to the government of the realm.

title: 1100

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Deaths

date: July 29

text: July 29 – King Philip I dies at Melun, after a 48-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Louis VI, who, at the start of his rule, faces insurrections from feudal brigands and rebellious robber barons.

title: 1108

section: Conflict & Security

text: Montlhéry Castle is dismantled by Louis VI of France.

title: 1118

section: Events › By place › France

date: August 20

text: August 20 – Battle of Brémule: King Henry I of England defeats King Louis VI ("the Fat") of France and his 400 knights in Normandy. A skirmish that begins with the French launching a fierce but disordered attack, and ends with the French turning tail. Louis agrees to make peace and formally recognizes William Adelin as duke of Normandy.

title: 1119

section: Events › Europe

date: May 23

text: May 23 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, dies of cancer in Utrecht after leading an expedition against King Louis VI ("the Fat") of France and then against the citizens of Worms. Having no legitimate children, Henry leaves his possessions to his nephew, Frederick II ("the One-Eyed"), duke of Swabia. At the Hoftag diet in Regensburg, Lothair, duke of Saxony, is elected King of Germany and crowned at Aachen on September 13.

title: 1125

section: Crime & Justice

date: March 2

text: March 2 – Charles the Good, count of Flanders, is murdered by a band of knights while praying in church; he leaves no children. King Louis VI of France appoints William Clito (son of Robert Curthose) as new ruler. But the Flemish towns of Bruges, Ghent, Saint-Omer and Ypres recognize (with English financial support) Thierry of Alsace as rival count.

title: 1127

date: July 28

text: July 28 – William Clito dies as a result of a wound received at the siege of Aalst a fortnight earlier, leaving Thierry as sole claimant to the County of Flanders. He sets up his seat of government at Bruges and King Louis VI ("the Fat") of France agrees to his accession.

title: 1128

section: Religion & Belief

date: April 14

text: April 14 – Following the Capetian tradition, King Louis VI (the Fat) has his eldest son Philip crowned as co-ruler of France at Rheims Cathedral. Louis himself becomes the national protector of all France.

title: 1129

date: October 13

text: October 13 – The 15-year-old Philip, eldest son of King Louis VI (the Fat) of France, dies when his horse trips over a black pig that darts out of a dung heap unexpectedly at a market in Paris.

title: 1131

date: April 9

text: April 9 – William X (the Saint), duke of Aquitaine, dies while on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (modern Spain). On his deathbed, he expresses his wish to see King Louis VI (the Fat) of France as protector of his 15-year-old daughter Eleanor, and to find her a suitable husband.

title: 1137


slug: louis-vii-of-france

label: Louis VII of France

description: King of France from 1137 to 1180 (1120–1180)

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Louis VI sends his 16-year-old son Louis Capet with an escort of 500 knights to Bordeaux, along with Abbot Suger in charge of the wedding arrangements. Louis and Eleanor are married in the Cathedral of Saint-André. France unites Aquitaine and its territories to the Pyrenees.

title: 1137

text: King Louis VII the Younger of France becomes involved in a civil war with Theobald II ("the Great"), count of Champagne, by permitting his cousin Ralph I of Vermandois (seneschal of France) to repudiate his wife, Theobald's sister Eleanor of Champagne, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, who was the sister of King Louis VII’s wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

title: 1142

text: Summer – Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou ("the Fair", husband of Empress Matilda) completes his conquest of Normandy, which comes under Angevin control. In exchange for being recognised as Duke of Normandy by King Louis VII of France, Geoffrey surrenders half of the county of Vexin – a region vital to Norman security – to Louis.

title: 1144

date: December 1

text: December 1 – Eugene III issues the bull Quantum praedecessores, calling for the Second Crusade. At Christmas, King Louis VII announces his intention of making a pilgrimage which becomes part of the Crusade.

title: 1145

date: March 31

text: March 31 – Bernard of Clairvaux, commissioned by Pope Eugene III, preaches the Second Crusade at Vézelay, in Burgundy. King Louis VII of France and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, take up the cross. In a repeat of the events of 1096, Crusaders attack and massacre Jewish communities along the Rhine. Encouraged by his success, Bernard undertakes a tour in Burgundy, Lorraine and Flanders – preaching the Crusade as he goes.

title: 1146

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: 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

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade

date: January 1

text: January 1 – The French crusaders under King Louis VII defeat a Turkish ambush next to the Meander River. Three days later they arrive at Laodicea – passing the spot where the German contingent led by Otto of Freising had been so disastrously ambushed (see 1147). The Crusaders are badly mauled as they cross Mount Cadmus (around January 8) before reaching Adalia on January 20.

title: 1148

date: April

text: April – King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine sail homeward in separate Sicilian ships. While the fleet rounds the Peloponnese (southern Greece) it is attacked by ships of the Byzantine navy. Louis gives orders to raise the French flag and is allowed to sail on. But the ships containing many of his followers and his possessions are captured and taken as a war-prize to Constantinople.

title: 1149

section: Events › By place › Levant

date: March 21

text: March 21 – King Louis VII repudiates his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine and has it annulled on grounds of misconduct and consanguinity – returning her lands and titles. Within 6 weeks, Eleanor re-marries Henry of Anjou, who had claimed the counties of Anjou and Maine, and the province of Touraine upon the death of his father Geoffrey Plantagenet (the Fair), the previous year. With the addition of Eleanor's lands, he now controls territory stretching unbroken, from Cherbourg to Bayonne.

title: 1152

text: Summer – King Henry II of England travels to France to meet King Louis VII and propose a marriage between his three-year-old son Henry and Louis' daughter Margaret (less than a year old). She is shipped to England, as the future wife and queen. The Vexin region is promised to Margaret as dowry and is put under the care of the Knights Templar, until her future husband is old enough to take control of it.

title: 1158

text: Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary, daughter of Louis VII of France (d. 1197)

title: 1158

date: November 13

text: November 13 – Within weeks of the death of his second wife, Queen Constance of Castile, King Louis VII of France marries Adela of Champagne, daughter of Count Theobald II ("the Great").

title: 1160

date: November 2

text: November 2 – Betrothal of 5-year-old Henry the Young King of England and 2-year-old Marguerite, daughter of Louis VII of France; she brings Norman Vexin to the English crown as a dowry.

title: 1160

date: October 4

text: October 4 – Alys of France, daughter of Louis VII (d. 1220)

title: 1160

date: March

text: March / April (traditional date) – The first stone of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is set by Pope Alexander III during the reign of Louis VII of France.

title: 1163

section: Events

text: King Henry II of England and Louis VII of France sign a peace treaty which includes the betrothal of their respective heirs, the 11-year-old Richard of England and the 8-year-old Alys of France (or Alice).

title: 1169

text: Summer – French forces under King Louis VII, supported by Henry the Young King and Philip of Alsace, encircle Rouen. The city holds out against the war engines long enough for Henry II to arrive in the middle of August to stage a rescue. The besiegers are fearful that Henry will invade France and the siege is lifted.

title: 1174

date: November 1

text: November 1 – The 14-year-old Philip II is crowned at Rheims by Archbishop William of the White Hands. He becomes joint ruler of France, together with his father King Louis VII.

title: 1179

date: September 18

text: September 18 – Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary, consort, daughter of Louis VII

title: 1197


slug: louis-viii-of-france

label: Louis VIII of France

description: King of France 1223-1226 (1187–1226)

date: September 5

text: September 5 – Louis VIII (the Lion), French king (d. 1226)

title: 1187

date: May 5

text: May 5 – Robert Fitzwalter is elected by the Barons as their general, with the title of "Marshal of the Army of God and Holy Church". He solemnly renounces his homage to John of England and begins to siege Northampton Castle. While this fails, Robert consolidates his forces. He turns to Prince Louis of France, son and heir apparent of King Philip II for support.

title: 1215

section: Events › By continent › Europe

date: May 21

text: May 21 – Prince Louis of France, son of King Philip II ("Augustus"), invades England in support of the barons, landing in Thanet. He enters London without opposition, and is proclaimed, but not crowned, King of England at Old St Paul's Cathedral. In June, Louis captures Rochester Castle and Winchester, and soon controls over half of the English kingdom.

title: 1216

text: Spring – First Barons' War: English forces of King Henry III besiege the French-controlled Mountsorrel Castle in Leicestershire. Prince Louis sends reinforcements (some 20,000 men) to assist the Barons in the castle. The English army lifts the siege and withdraws to Nottingham. Louis makes the mistake of moving the French forces to Lincoln Castle – where the English garrison holds out against previous attacks. Meanwhile, Henry's forces return to Mountsorrel Castle. This time Louis fails to arrive in time to prevent the razing to the ground of the castle.

title: 1217

section: Events › Other events by place › Europe

date: July 14

text: July 14 – Philip II, King of France dies of a fever while traveling to Paris. He is succeeded by his son Louis "the Lion", who takes the name King Louis VIII.

title: 1223

section: Events › July–September

text: May 5 – King Louis VIII (the Lion) declares war on King Henry III of England. He allies himself with Hugh X of Lusignan and invades first Poitou and then Northern Gascony. The English forces in Poitou are under-strength and lack support from the Poitevin nobles; as a result, the province quickly falls into French hands by the end of June.

title: 1224

section: Events › April – June

date: November 24

text: November 24 – Representatives of King Louis VIII of France and Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, sign a treaty at Catania, providing that neither of the monarchs would harbor rebels from the other.

title: 1224

section: Events › October – December

date: June 7

text: June 7 – King Louis VIII of France begins the Crusade against the Cathars (Albigensians) in southern France and against Raymond VII, count of Count of Toulouse. Over the next three months, the Crusaders capture the cities of Béziers, Carcassonne, Beaucaire and Marseille and by Avignon's surrender on September 9, Louis forces the region of Languedoc into submission, and reasserts his authority upon the autonomous municipalities of his estates. Most cities have to accept the authority of Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Provence, but Marseille and Nice rebel.

title: 1226

date: November 27

text: November 27 – Blanche of Castile, queen of Louis VIII of France and regent of France (b. 1188)

title: 1252

date: August 29

text: August 29 – Urban IV offers the crown of Sicily to Charles of Anjou, youngest son of King Louis VIII of France, hoping to strengthen his position.

title: 1261

date: August 21

text: August 21 – The counties of Poitou and Toulouse are absorbed into the French domains following the death of Alphonse, Count of Poitiers, son of the late King Louis VIII of France.

title: 1271


slug: louis-xi

label: Louis XI

description: king of France from 1461 to 1483 (1423–1483)

section: Births

date: July 3

text: July 3 – Louis XI, monarch of the House of Valois, King of France from 1461 to 1483 (d. 1483)

title: 1423

section: Culture & Society

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Scottish princess Margaret Stewart marries the future French king Louis XI in Tours.

title: 1436

section: Events › April–July

date: November 12

text: November 12 – King Charles VII of France and his son Prince Louis ride into Paris for the first time in 17 years after the royal family had fled from the invasion by the Duke of Burgundy in 1420.

title: 1437

section: Events › October–December

date: August 26

text: August 26 – Old Zürich War – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs: Charles VII of France, seeking to send away troublesome troops made idle by the truce with England, sends his son (the Dauphin Louis) with a large army into Switzerland, to support the claims of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. The massively outnumbered Swiss force is destroyed in this battle, but inflict such casualties on the French that they withdraw.

title: 1444

date: February 14

text: February 14 – Louis XI marries Charlotte of Savoy.

title: 1451

section: Events › January–March

date: July 26

text: July 26 – The University of Valence is founded in France by the Dauphin Louis, son of King Charles VII. The university lasts for 330 years until being closed during the French Revolution.

title: 1452

date: August 15

text: August 15 – The coronation of Louis XI as King of France takes place at Reims.

title: 1461

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: July 22

text: July 22 – Louis XI succeeds Charles VII of France as king (reigns until 1483).

title: 1461

date: September 29

text: September 29 – King Edward IV of England surprises his advisors and the nation by introducing Elizabeth Woodville as his wife at Reading Abbey, and revealing that he had been married for almost five months, the ceremony having taken place on May 1. The marriage outrages King Edward's mentor, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, who had been arranging a marriage between the King and Bona of Savoy, sister-in-law of France's King Louis XI.

title: 1464

date: July 16

text: July 16 – At the Battle of Montlhéry, troops of King Louis XI fight inconclusively against an army of great nobles, organized as the League of the Public Weal.

title: 1465

date: April 1

text: April 1 – King Louis XI summons a meeting of France's parliament, the Estates-General, and obtains approval of all concessions he had previously made to the Kingdom of England, including those with reference to Normandy.

title: 1468

section: Events › April–June

date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Treaty of Péronne is signed by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and Louis XI of France.

title: 1468

date: April 23

text: April 23 – Cardinal Jean Balue, a close adviser of King Louis XI, is arrested for conspiring with Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and is charged with treason. Since there is a dispute over whether a Roman Catholic cleric can be tried by the royal court rather than an eccleastical court, Balue is spared the death penalty but spends the next 11 years in prison.

title: 1469

date: August 1

text: August 1 – The Order of Saint Michael ( Ordre de Saint-Michel) is founded by King Louis XI of France as a response to the 's Order of the Golden Fleece.

title: 1469

date: November 9

text: November 9 – King Louis XI, having taken back the Duchy of Normandy from the control of his inept younger brother, Charles of Valois, Duke of Berry, pledges at Rouen that the Duchy will never be ceded again. In a ceremony before the Exchequer of Normandy, the Duchy's administrative court, King Louis places the ducal ring (symbolic of the office as a ring worn by the Duke) upon an anvil and the ring is smashed.

title: 1469

date: April 14

text: April 14 –The Treaty of Fribourg is signed by representatives of the Swiss Confederation and the Duchy of Savoy after France's King Louis XI intervenes to stop the war in Switzerland over former Savoyard territories in the Canton of Vaud.

title: 1476

date: July 21

text: July 21 – The 1475 Treaty of Picquigny between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France, is extended by agreement between England's King Edward IV and France's King Louis XI, with a provision that the cessation of hostilities will continue for one year after the death of one of the two monarchs.Louis.

title: 1477

date: January 3

text: January 3 – King Louis XI buys the succession rights to the Duchy of Brittany from the Countess Nicole de Châtillon for 50,000 livres

title: 1480

date: December 10

text: December 10 – With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou reverts to the French crown under Louis XI, as does the Provence, which until then was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1481

date: December 23

text: December 23 – The Treaty of Arras divides the Burgundian Netherlands between King Louis XI of France and Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg.

title: 1482


slug: louis-xii

label: Louis XII

description: King of France from 1498 to 1515

date: June 27

text: June 27 – Louis XII, King of France (1498–1515), King of Naples (1501–1504) (d. 1515)

title: 1462

date: November 23

text: November 23 – Louis, Duke of Orleans a contender for the French throne, signs a treaty with François II, Duke of Brittany, with an agreement for the marriage of the Duke's 7-year-old daughter, Anne of Brittany to Louis, with a goal of Louis having control of Brittany and of France. The proposed marriage, however, is contingent upon the annulment of Louis' existing marriage to Joan of France, Duchess of Berry.

title: 1484

section: Conflict & Security

date: April 24

text: April 24 – A judgment of confiscation is declared by a French court against the goods of Prince Louis of Orleans, who had sought to overthrow his cousin, King Charles VIII

title: 1488

date: January 20

text: January 20 – In the Kingdom of France, Louis II, Duke of Orleans and François II, Duke of Brittany, are both declared rebels by the Parlement of Paris.

title: 1488

date: July 28

text: July 28 – Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier: Troops loyal to King Charles VIII of France defeat rebel forces, led by the Dukes of Orleans and Brittany, bringing the "Mad War" (la Guerre folle) to an end.

title: 1488

section: Crime & Justice

text: June 27 – Louis of Orléans is released by Charles VIII of France after three years of imprisonment.

title: 1491

date: June 11

text: June 11 – Louis, Duke of Orleans, at the time a French general, opens a new front in the Italian War as he and his troops are allowed to occupy the city of Novara in the Duchy of Milan.

title: 1495

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Mary Tudor, Queen of Louis XII of France, daughter of Henry VII of England (d. 1533)

title: 1496

section: Deaths

date: April 7

text: April 7 – Louis XII becomes the new King of France upon the death of his wife's brother, King Charles VIII. King Charles had struck his head on the top of a door frame while on his way to watch a tennis match at Amboise.

title: 1498

date: December 17

text: December 17 – Eight months after ascending the throne, King Louis XII of France annuls his marriage to Jeanne de Valois after 22 years so that he can marry Anne, Duchess of Brittany. The King grants his former queen the title of the Duchess of Berry.

title: 1498

date: January 8

text: January 8 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany, in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.

title: 1499

date: October 13

text: October 13 – Claude of France, queen consort of France, daughter of Louis XII (d. 1524)

title: 1499

date: October 26

text: October 26 – King Louis XII of France and his troops seize Milan, driving out Duke Ludovico Sforza, and Leonardo da Vinci flees to Venice.

title: 1499

date: November 11

text: November 11 – Treaty of Granada: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them.

title: 1500

date: August 2

text: August 2 – King Federico of Naples abdicates upon the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples by France, and France's King Louis XII becomes the nominal monarch as Luigi II, re di Napoli. King Louis appoints Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours as France's Viceroy of Naples.

title: 1501

text: October 13 – Maximilian of Austria and Louis XII of France sign the Treaty of Trente with Austria recognizing all French conquests in the northern territories of Italy.

title: 1501

date: January 1

text: January 1 – French troops of King Louis XII surrender Gaeta to the Spanish, under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.

title: 1504

date: May 14

text: May 14 – In Italy, King Louis XII of France departs from Genoa and makes a triumphant entry into Milan on May 24.

title: 1507

section: Religion & Belief

text: December 10 – The League of Cambrai is formed as an alliance against the Republic of Venice, between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

title: 1508

date: October 24

text: October 24 – King Louis XII convenes court at the Parlement de Normandie building in Rouen.

title: 1508

date: April 17

text: April 17 – In Venice, the envoy of the French king Louis XII delivers the declaration of war to the Venetian doge Leonardo Loredan, thus marking the official beginning of the War of the League of Cambrai.

title: 1509

date: January 30

text: January 30 – French ambassador Janus Lascaris leaves Venice, after being recalled by king Louis XII in the eve of the War of the League of Cambrai.

title: 1509

date: March 13

text: March 13 – At Bourges, the French king Louis XII ratifies treaties that were concluded 10 December 1508, regarding the creation of the League of Cambrai.

title: 1509

date: May 25

text: May 25 – Cardinal Georges d'Ambroise, aka Monseigneur le Ledat. Adviser to King Louis XII (b. 1460)

title: 1510

date: June 16

text: June 16 – Massimiliano Sforza is installed as the new Duke of Milan by the Holy League, to force out King Louis XII of France.

title: 1512

text: December 17 – Louis XII makes peace with the Papal States by issuing a decree disavowing the Council of Pisa and promising his future adherence to the Lateran Council.

title: 1513

date: March 23

text: March 23 – At Blois, king Louis XII concludes a new alliance with the Republic of Venice, while the doge Leonardo Loredan ratifies the same Franco-Venetian treaty on April 12.

title: 1513

date: August 13

text: August 13 – Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, is married by proxy to France's King Louis XII in accordance with the August 7 peace treaty.

title: 1514

date: January 9

text: January 9 – Anne of Brittany, queen-consort of France to both Charles VIII and Louis XII (b. 1477)

title: 1514

text: March 13 – Louis XII of France makes peace with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

title: 1514

date: October 9

text: October 9 – King Louis XII marries Mary Tudor (sister of King Henry VIII) at Abbeville, as part of the Kingdom of England's peace with France.

title: 1514

text: January 1 - King Louis XII of France dies of severe gout after a reign of 17 years, and his son-in-law, François, inherits the throne.

title: 1515

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Mary Tudor, queen of Louis XII of France (b. 1496)

title: 1533


slug: louis-xiii

label: Louis XIII

description: King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643 (1601–1643)

date: March 3

text: March 3 – As the envoy of Pope Honorius III, Romanus, Cardinal-deacon of San Angelo, leaves Rome to travel to France to the court of King Louis XIII.

title: 1225

section: Events › January – March

date: September 22

text: September 22 – Anne of Austria, queen of Louis XIII and regent of France (d. 1666)

title: 1601

section: Births › July–September

text: May 14 – King Henry IV of France is assassinated in Paris by François Ravaillac, a French Catholic activist who resents the Protestant monarch's decision to launch a war against the Catholic Spanish Netherlands. Ravaillac rushes up to a horse-drawn carriage and stabs King Henry in the chest. Henry's 8-year-old son becomes King Louis XIII, with Henry's widow, Marie de' Medici, governing France as queen regent.

title: 1610

date: October 17

text: October 17 – The coronation of Louis XIII of France takes place.

title: 1610

date: October 2

text: October 2 – After Louis XIII reaches the age of 13, he is given full power as King of France and the regency of his mother is ended. Queen Regent Marie retains her position as leader of the Conseil du Roi, however, and continues to control the French government.

title: 1614

date: November 24

text: November 24 – King Louis XIII of France marries Princess Ana María Mauricia, the 14-year-old daughter of King Philip III of Spain. The two had been legally united in a marriage by proxy on October 18.

title: 1615

text: The Swiss Guard is appointed part of the household guard of King Louis XIII of France.

title: 1616

section: Events › Date unknown

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Cardinal Richelieu, Armand-Jean du Plessis, is named French Secretary of State by young king Louis XIII. Richelieu will change France into a unified centralised state, able to resist both England and the Habsburg Empire.

title: 1616

section: Events › November-December

date: April 24

text: April 24 – Encouraged by Charles d'Albert, fifteen-year-old Louis XIII, king of France, forces his mother Marie de Medici, who has held de facto power, into retirement and has her favourite, Concino Concini, assassinated.

title: 1617

date: April 30

text: April 30 – The Treaty of Angoulême ends the French civil war between Louis XIII and his mother, Marie de' Medici.

title: 1619

date: August 7

text: August 7 – In a battle at Les Ponts-de-Cé in France, King Louis XIII defeats troops led by his mother, Marie de' Medici.

title: 1620

date: August 22

text: August 22 – Huguenot rebellions: Louis XIII besieges the city of Montauban, but is forced to abandon the battle by November 9.

title: 1621

date: April 29

text: April 29 – Louis XIII of France appoints Cardinal Richelieu to the Conseil du Roi (Royal Council).

title: 1624

text: August 13 – Cardinal Richelieu is appointed by Louis XIII of France to be his chief minister, having intrigued against Charles de La Vieuville, Superintendent of Finances, arrested for corruption the previous day.

title: 1624

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Led by the Duke of Soubise, the Huguenots launch a second rebellion against King Louis XIII, with a surprise naval assault on a French fleet being prepared in Blavet.

title: 1625

date: June 28

text: June 28 – Huguenot rebellions: Louis XIII of France signs in his camp at Lédignan the Peace of Alès, ending the Huguenot rebellions. The Huguenots are allowed religious freedom, but lose their political, territorial and military rights.

title: 1629

text: May 14–28 – Huguenot rebellions: After a 15-day siege, Louis XIII of France captures Privas.

title: 1629

date: October 30

text: October 30 – Henri II de Montmorency, is executed for his participation in the rebellion of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, against French king Louis XIII.

title: 1632

date: September 1

text: September 1 – Battle of Castelnaudary: A rebellion against French king Louis XIII is crushed. The leader of the rebellion, Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the brother of Louis XIII, surrenders.

title: 1632

date: September 25

text: September 25 – King Louis XIII enters into Nancy, marking the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by France.

title: 1633

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: April

text: April – Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, apostolic nuncio to Paris and adviser to Cardinal Richelieu, is naturalized French by letters patent; in December, he leaves the service of Rome to enter that of King Louis XIII of France.

title: 1639

date: September 14

text: September 14 – The Treaty of Péronne is signed between Honoré II, Prince of Monaco and France's King Louis XIII, guaranteeing the Grimaldi family the right to rule Monaco in return for the principality becoming a French protectorate.

title: 1641

text: May 14 – Louis XIV succeeds his father Louis XIII as King of France at age 4. His rule will last until his death at age 76 in 1715, a total of 72 years, which will be the longest reign of any European monarch in recorded history.

title: 1643

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Anne of Austria, queen of Louis XIII and regent of France (b. 1601)

title: 1666


slug: louis-xiv

label: Louis XIV

description: King of France and Navarre from 1643 to 1715 (1638-1715)

text: K'inich Janaab' Pakal ("Pacal the Great"), ruler (ajaw) of the Maya state of Palenque (Mexico), dies after a 68-year reign. He is buried in the Temple of the Inscriptions. He is the longest-reigning monarch in the world until Louis XIV breaks that record in 1711, almost 1028 years later and remains the longest-reigning monarch in the Americas until Elizabeth II breaks that record in 2020, almost 1337 years later

title: 683

section: Events › By place › Mesoamerica

date: November

text: November – Simon Arnauld, Marquis de Pomponne, French diplomat and minister of Louis XIV (d. 1699)

title: 1618

section: Births › October–December

date: November 27

text: November 27 – Madame de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (d. 1719)

title: 1635

date: September 10

text: September 10 – Maria Theresa of Spain, queen consort of Louis XIV of France (d. 1683)

title: 1638

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, mistress of Louis XIV (d. 1707)

title: 1641

date: May 14

title: 1643

date: August 6

text: August 6 – Louise de La Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV (d. 1710)

title: 1644

date: December 4

text: December 4 – Alain Emmanuel de Coëtlogon, Marshal of France in the reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV (d. 1730)

title: 1646

text: September 10 – Nicolas Desmarets, Controller-General of Finances under Louis XIV of France (d. 1721)

title: 1648

date: July 2

text: July 2 – The Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine is fought east of Paris between French Parliamentarians (led by Louis, Grand Condé) against the army of King Louis XIV, commanded by the Viscount of Turenne, with neither side prevailing.

title: 1652

section: Events › July–September

date: June 3

text: June 3 – Louis XIV of France is crowned at Reims.

title: 1654

date: November 7

text: November 7 – The Treaty of the Pyrenees is signed by representatives of Kings Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain. Spain agrees to French acquisition of the counties of Roussillon and Upper Cerdanya (Principality of Catalonia) and most of Artois, formally ending the 24-year-long Franco-Spanish War.

title: 1659

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: Blaise Pascal's Lettres provinciales, a defense of the Jansenist Antoine Arnauld, is ordered to be shredded and burned by King Louis XIV of France.

title: 1660

section: Economy & Finance

date: April 14

text: April 14 – All grants to the Compagnie des Isles de l'Amerique for development of French-claimed islands in the Caribbean Sea are revoked by King Louis XIV, including the rights to the islands of Martinique and Saint Lucia that had been sold to Marie Bonnard du Parquet prior to her death in 1659.

title: 1664

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: February 26

text: February 26 – Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, appointed by King Louis XIV of France as Lieutenant Général of the Americas, departs from the port of La Rochelle with 1,200 men and seven ships to expand France's property in the Caribbean Sea and in South America.

title: 1664

date: July 11

text: July 11 – Pierre de Beausse, an envoy of France's King Louis XIV, formally claims possession of the African island of Madagascar on behalf of the French East India Company after landing on the coast in the 32-gun frigate Saint-Paul.

title: 1665

date: October 21

text: October 21 – Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert found the Manufacture royale des glaces of Saint Gobain, which is the oldest French company of the CAC 40, with 350 years in 2015.

title: 1665

date: September 22

text: September 22 – Molière's L'Amour médecin is first presented, before Louis XIV, at the Palace of Versailles, with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully.

title: 1665

date: December 22

text: December 22 – The French Academy of Sciences, founded by Louis XIV, first meets.

title: 1666

date: June 26

text: June 26 – Louis XIV of France conquers Tournai.

title: 1667

date: March

text: March – Louis XIV of France abolishes the livre parisis (Paris pound), in favor of the much more widely used livre tournois (Tours pound). He also designates Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie as the first chief of "police" of Paris.

title: 1667

date: May 24

text: May 24 – After King Philip IV of Spain reneges on payment of a large dowry to King Louis XIV of France, promised to Louis as a gift for Louis' marriage to Philip's daughter Princess Maria Theresa, the War of Devolution begins between France and Spain. The French Army invades the Spanish Netherlands (modern-day Belgium), entering Flanders and Franche-Comté. By the time the war ends on May 2, 1668, parts of the Spanish Netherlands are ceded to France.

title: 1667

date: February 13

text: February 13 – The first performance of the Ballet de Flore, a joint collaboration of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Isaac de Benserade is given, premiering at the Palais du Louvre in Paris. King Louis XIV finances the performance and even appears in a minor role in the production as a dancer.

title: 1669

date: June 22

text: June 22 – Roux de Marsilly, accused of plotting the assassination of King Louis XIV, is publicly tortured in Paris, France.

title: 1669

text: January 17 – Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France, is burned at the stake after being accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a child who had disappeared from the village of Glatigny. The prosecutor applies to King Louis XIV for an order expelling all 95 Jewish families from Metz, but the king refuses.

title: 1670

section: Health & Medicine

text: November 24 – Louis XIV inaugurates the construction of Les Invalides, a veterans' hospital in Paris.

title: 1670

date: October 14

text: October 14 – Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, a five-act comedy and ballet authored by Molière, is given its first performance, presented before King Louis XIV at the Château de Chambord. Public performances begin on November 23 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.

title: 1670

date: December 30

text: December 30 – The Académie royale d'architecture is founded by Louis XIV of France in Paris as the world's first school of architecture.

title: 1671

text: January 17 – The ballet Psyché, with music composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, premieres before the royal court of King Louis XIV at the Théâtre des Tuileries in Paris.

title: 1671

date: June 12

text: June 12 – Battle of Tolhuis: French forces under King Louis XIV cross the Rhine into the Netherlands; the city of Utrecht is occupied by the French Army.

title: 1672

date: December 19

text: December 19 – King Louis XIV of France issues a decree recognizing the legitimacy of (and giving royal titles to) the three children whom he had sired through his mistress, Madame de Montespan: Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine; Louis César, Count of Vexin; and Louise Françoise, Princess of Condé.

title: 1673

date: July 17

text: July 17 – In France, Madame de Brinvilliers is executed for poisoning her father and brothers. The case also scares King Louis XIV into starting a series of investigations about possible poisonings and witchcraft (later called the Affair of the Poisons).

title: 1676

date: May 4

text: May 4 – Françoise Marie de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Louis XIV (d. 1749)

title: 1677

text: August 24 – Comédie-Française is founded by decree of Louis XIV as La maison de Molière in Paris.

title: 1680

text: May 6 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.

title: 1682

text: July 30 – Maria Theresa of Spain, French queen, married to Louis XIV of France (b. 1638)

title: 1683

text: October 9 (possible date) – Louis XIV of France makes a morganatic marriage with Madame de Maintenon in a secret ceremony following the death on July 30 of his queen consort, Maria Theresa of Spain.

title: 1683

text: March – Louis XIV passes the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies.

title: 1685

text: October 22 – Louis XIV of France issues the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and declares Protestantism illegal, thereby depriving Huguenots of civil rights. Their Temple de Charenton-le-Pont is immediately demolished and many flee to England, Prussia and elsewhere.

title: 1685

text: January 17 – King Louis XIV of France reports the success of the Edict of Fontainebleau, issued on October 22 against the Protestant Huguenots, and reports that after less than three months, the vast majority of the Huguenot population had left the country.

title: 1686

text: July 9 – The Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg) is founded, in response to claims made by Louis XIV of France on the Electorate of the Palatinate in western Germany. It comprises the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, the electors of Bavaria, Saxony and the Electorate of the Palatinate.

title: 1686

text: November 26 – Hearing that William of Orange has landed in England, Louis XIV declares war on the Netherlands.

title: 1688

text: September 24 – Louis XIV publishes his manifesto Memoire de raisons, which lists his grievances and demands. He cites three major things as grievances: Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg, who had been earlier elected to be the coadjutor-archbishop of Cologne with support of Louis being vetoed by the pope, the continued aggressions and forming of alliances against France and providing an alternative to Fürstenberg in the Cologne election by the Holy Roman Empire, and Philip William becoming Elector Palatine and seizing the territory, which he believed belonged to Elizabeth Charlotte.

title: 1688

text: September 27 – The Nine Years' War begins in Europe and America after Louis XIV attacks Philippsburg in the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1688

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

title: 1689

text: July 1 – The siege of the Belgian city of Namur in the Spanish Netherlands ends as Dutch General Menno van Coehoorn capitulates to King Louis XIV of France after five weeks. The siege, a battle in the ongoing Nine Years War, had begun on May 24.

title: 1692

text: May 18 – Forces of Louis XIV of France attack Heidelberg, capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate.

title: 1693

text: September 14 – King Louis XIV of France sends a letter to Pope Innocent XII announcing the rescission of the Declaration of the Clergy of France issued in 1682.

title: 1693

text: August 24 – The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, the first official dictionary of the French language, is presented by Jacques de Tourreil and Academy members on behalf of the Académie française to King Louis XIV.

title: 1694

text: July 27 – The Bank of England is founded through Royal charter by the Whig-dominated Parliament of England, following a proposal by Scottish merchant William Paterson to raise capital, by offering safe and steady returns of interest guaranteed by future taxes. A total of £1.2 million is raised for the war effort against Louis XIV of France by the end of the year, to establish the first-ever government debt.

title: 1694

text: August 29 – King Louis XIV of France and Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, sign the Treaty of Turin, ending Savoy's involvement in the Nine Years' War.

title: 1696

text: September 20 – The Treaty of Ryswick is signed by France and the Grand Alliance, to end both the Nine Years' War and King William's War. Louis XIV of France recognises William III as King of England & Scotland, and both sides return territories they have taken in battle. In North America, the treaty returns Port-Royal (Acadia) to France.

title: 1697

text: November 15 – Louis XIV of France accepts the Spanish crown on behalf of his grandson Philip of Anjou of the House of Bourbon, who becomes Philip V of Spain (reigning for 44 years – with a short break – to 1746), thus triggering the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).

title: 1700

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

title: 1701

text: August 18 – King Louis XIV of France makes his last visit to Paris, and gets an update on the construction of the veterans' hospital at the Dome des Invalides, which he had commissioned more than 35 years earlier.

title: 1706

text: May 27 – Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan, mistress of King Louis XIV of France (b. 1641)

title: 1707

text: January 20 – François de la Chaise, French confessor of King Louis XIV (b. 1624)

title: 1709

text: April 14 – Louis, Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV (b. 1661)

title: 1711

text: June 18 – King Louis XIV becomes the longest-reigning monarch in the world, surpassing the previous record of 68 years set by Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal in 683. As of 2022, Louis XIV still holds this record.

title: 1711

text: June 6 – Alain Emmanuel de Coëtlogon, Marshal of France in the reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV (b. 1646)

title: 1730

text: June 16 – Louise Françoise, Princess of Condé, eldest daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan (b. 1673)

title: 1743

text: February 1 – Françoise Marie de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Louis XIV (b. 1677)

title: 1749


slug: louis-xv

label: Louis XV

description: King of France and Navarre 1715 to 1774 (1710–1774)

section: Births

date: January 9

text: January 9 – Robert-François Damiens, French domestic servant, executed for the attempted assassination of Louis XV (d. 1757)

title: 1715

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle duchess de Châteauroux, French mistress of King Louis XV (d. 1744)

title: 1717

date: August 10

text: August 10 – Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who had served as the Regent of France to rule for King Louis XV from 1715 until the latter's attainment of majority on February 15, is appointed by the King to serve as his Prime Minister, but dies in office less than four months later.

title: 1723

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: February 15

text: February 15 – King Louis XV of France attains his majority on his 13th birthday, bringing an end to the regency of his cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.

title: 1723

section: Events › January–March

section: Culture & Society

date: August 15

text: August 15 – The civil marriage of King Louis XV of France and Princess Maria Leszczyńska of Poland is held at Strasbourg. The King is not present, and his cousin, the Duke of Orléans, serves as his proxy.

title: 1725

date: November 22

text: November 22 – Chief Chicagou of the Mitchigamea tribe, and chiefs of five other tribes of the Illini Confederation, are received as guests of King Louis XV in Paris. Chicagou pledges the Illini's support of the French presence in North America.

title: 1725

section: Events › October–December

date: September 5

text: September 5 – The day after they meet for the first time, the wedding ceremony of King Louis and Marie takes place in Fontainebleau, making her the Queen Consort of France. Their marriage lasts for almost 43 years until her death in 1768.

title: 1725

date: June 11

text: June 11 – André-Hercule de Fleury, recalled from exile by King Louis XV of France (his former pupil), forces banishment of Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, the Prime Minister, and the Duke's mistress Madame de Prie from court. Financier Jean Pâris de Monmartel is also removed from his position as Guard of the Royal Treasury.

title: 1726

section: Events › April–June

date: March 31

text: March 31 – France's first ambassador to Russia, Jacques de Campredon, leaves after four years of trying to negotiate a Franco-Russian alliance with Catherine I and a failed attempt to arrange a marriage between King Louis XV and Catherine's daughter Elizabeth.

title: 1726

date: September 11

text: September 11 – French bishop André-Hercule de Fleury, later Prime Minister for King Louis XV of France, is made a Roman Catholic Cardinal by Pope Benedict XIII.

title: 1726

date: August 14

text: August 14 – Henriette of France, daughter of King Louis XV (d. 1752)

title: 1727

text: August 14 – Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France, daughter of King Louis XV (d. 1759)

title: 1727

date: December 5

text: December 5 – 139 members of the Parlement of Paris, exiled by order of King Louis XV, secure their recall.

title: 1732

date: October 7

text: October 7 – French Army Lieutenant General Florent-Jean de Vallière is tasked by King Louis XV to improve France's method of forging cannons.

title: 1732

date: September 26

text: September 26 – The Treaty of Turin is signed in Turin as a secret agreement between King Louis XV of France and King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia.

title: 1733

date: February 20

text: February 20 – France's Foreign Minister, Germain Louis Chauvelin, is dismissed by King Louis XV's Chief Minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury

title: 1737

text: Rémy Martin is granted exclusive permission by King Louis XV to plant new vineyards, for impressing him with the quality of his cognac.

title: 1738

date: April 2

text: April 2 – The Verendrye brothers bury a tablet claiming the Great Plains of North America for King Louis XV of France. A schoolgirl in Pierre, South Dakota, unearths the tablet 170 years later on February 16, 1913.

title: 1743

date: December 10

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

title: 1743

date: January 16

text: January 16 – Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury turns his effects over to King Louis XV, 13 days before his death on January 29.

title: 1743

date: January 29

text: January 29 – Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus, chief minister of France under Louis XV (b. 1653)

title: 1743

date: September 28

text: September 28 – Princess Thérèse of France, daughter of Louis XV (b. 1736)

title: 1744

date: February 23

text: February 23 – The royal wedding of the crown prince of France takes place at Versailles: the Dauphin Louis Ferdiand, eldest son of King Louis XV, is united in marriage to Princess Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain, daughter of King Philip V. The Dauphin never takes the throne, dying in 1765, eight years before the death of his father.

title: 1745

date: September 14

text: September 14 – Madame de Pompadour is officially presented at the court of Louis XV.

title: 1745

text: Louis XV breaks his promise to eliminate the income tax, after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the war. The Parlement of Paris protests, so he reduces the tax to 5%.

title: 1748

date: August 3

text: August 3 – French explorer Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville, commissioned by New France to explore the Ohio Territory claimed by both France and Britain, buries the first of six engraved lead markers claiming the land for King Louis XV. The first plate is buried on the banks of the Allegheny River, near a rock with petroglyphs, in what is now Venango County, Pennsylvania.

title: 1749

date: November 12

text: November 12 – In response to the increasing number of starving people moving into Paris from rural parts of France, King Louis XV issues an ordinance that "all the beggars and vagabonds who shall be found either in the streets of Paris, or in churches or church doorways, or in the countryside around Paris, of whatever age or sex, shall be arrested and conducted into prisons, to stay there as long as shall be necessary."

title: 1749

date: February 10

text: February 10 – Henriette of France, daughter of King Louis XV (b. 1727)

title: 1752

date: January 5

text: January 5 – Robert-François Damiens makes an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Louis XV of France, who is slightly wounded by the knife attack. Damiens is executed on March 28.

title: 1757

date: March 28

text: March 28 – Robert-François Damiens, French domestic servant, executed for the attempted assassination of Louis XV (b. 1715)

title: 1757

date: December 6

text: December 6 – Princess Louise-Élisabeth of France, daughter of King Louis XV (b. 1727)

title: 1759

text: August 15 – The Third Family Compact is executed by King Charles III of Spain and King Louis XV of France, as well as representatives of members of the House of Bourbon, King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Philip, Duke of Parma.

title: 1761

text: Louis XV orders the construction of the Petit Trianon, in the park of the Palace of Versailles, for his mistress Madame de Pompadour.

title: 1762

date: November 13

text: November 13 – In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Louis XV secretly cedes Louisiana (New France) to Charles III of Spain to compensate his ally for territorial losses to Britain.

title: 1762

text: July 13 – Qianlong, the Emperor of China issues a decree that copper engravings be made to depict all of his victories in battle. In the interest of amity with the Chinese, King George III of Great Britain gives priority to the sale of British copper, and King Louis XV of France assents to the use of French artisans.

title: 1765

text: October 24 – In France, several anti-Jewish regulations in place since October 12, 1661, are repealed by the King's Council that advises Louis XV. While Jewish merchants are still prohibited from owning their own retail stores, they are allowed to sell merchandise on credit to gentile merchants at legal interest rates, to legally enforce debts, and to sell jewelry.

title: 1767

text: The Petit Trianon, originally designed for Madame de Pompadour, is completed in the park of the Palace of Versailles, and inaugurated by Louis XV.

title: 1768

text: March 1 – King Louis XV decrees that all cities and towns in France will be required to post house numbering on all residential buildings, primarily to facilitate the forced quartering of troops in citizens' homes.

title: 1768

text: September 16 – Louis XV appoints René de Maupeou as Grand Chancellor of France (an office he will hold until 1790), and orders him to crush the judicial opposition.

title: 1768

text: December 24 – France's Secretary of the Navy, César Gabriel de Choiseul, is dismissed from his position by the king.

title: 1770

text: December 7 – King Louis XV of France issues the "Edict of December", dismissing the rebellious magistrates of the Parlements of Paris and the other 13 provinces.

title: 1770

text: October 13 – France mints new Louis d'or coins, with the image of King Louis XVI on the obverse, and one-sixth less gold than the coins with King Louis XV's image.

title: 1785


slug: louis-xvi

label: Louis XVI

description: King of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1791, then King of the French from 1791 to 1792 (1754-1793)

section: Deaths

date: September 2

text: September 2 – Princess Marie Zéphyrine of France, sister of Louis XVI (b. 1750)

title: 1755

date: May 16

text: May 16 – 14-year-old Marie Antoinette of Austria marries Louis-Auguste (who in 1774 becomes King Louis XVI) at the Palace of Versailles.

title: 1770

section: Religion & Belief

date: December 23

text: December 23 – King Louis XVI of France issues a declaration that, for the first time, protects "the free commerce of meat during Lent" to support the needs of "the poor whose infirmity requires them to eat meat."

title: 1774

section: Conflict & Security

date: July 10

text: July 10 – Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.

title: 1778

text: January 29 – After a second petition for partition from its residents, the North Carolina General Assembly abolishes Bute County, North Carolina (established 1764) by dividing it and naming the northern portion Warren County (for Revolutionary War hero Joseph Warren), the southern portion Franklin County (for Benjamin Franklin). The General Assembly also establishes Warrenton (also named for Joseph Warren) to be the seat of Warren County, and Louisburg (named for Louis XVI of France) to be the seat of Franklin County.

title: 1779

section: Crime & Justice

date: August 24

text: August 24 – King Louis XVI abolishes the use of torture in extracting confessions in French law courts.

title: 1780

text: Louis XVI signs a law that a handkerchief must be square.

title: 1785

date: October 13

title: 1785

date: August 8

text: August 8 – King Louis XVI agrees to convene the Estates-General meeting in May 1789, the first time since 1614.

title: 1788

date: July 11

text: July 11 – Louis XVI of France dismisses popular Chief Minister Jacques Necker.

title: 1789

date: June 23

text: June 23 – Louis XVI of France makes a conciliatory speech urging reforms to a joint session, and orders the three estates to meet together.

title: 1789

date: June 4

text: June 4 – Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XVI (tuberculosis) (b. 1781)

title: 1789

date: December 26

text: December 26 – Louis XVI gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.

title: 1790

date: February 4

text: February 4 – King Louis XVI declares to the French National Assembly that he will maintain the constitutional laws.

title: 1790

date: July

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

title: 1790

date: September 13

text: September 13 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI accepts the final version of the completed constitution.

title: 1791

date: August 10

text: August 10 – French Revolution: Insurrection of 10 August 1792 – The Tuileries Palace is stormed and Louis XVI is arrested and taken into custody.

title: 1792

date: January 21

text: January 21 – French Revolution: After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Citizen Capet, formerly King Louis XVI, is guillotined in Paris.

title: 1793

section: Events › January–June

text: January 21 – King Louis XVI of France (executed) (b. 1754)

title: 1793

date: October 16

text: October 16 – French Revolution: Marie Antoinette, the widowed queen consort of Louis XVI, is guillotined in the Place de la Révolution in Paris at the conclusion of a 2-day trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal.

title: 1793

section: Events › July–December

date: November 2

text: November 2 – Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Prime Minister of King Louis XVI of France (b. 1730)

title: 1807

section: Deaths › July–December


slug: louisiana-new-france

label: Louisiana (New France)

description: district of New France

date: April 9

text: April 9 – At the mouth of the Mississippi River, near modern Venice, Louisiana, Robert de La Salle buries an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory as La Louisiane for France.

title: 1682

date: February

text: February – In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated with the Masque de la Mobile in the capital of Louisiana (New France), Mobile, Alabama.

title: 1704

text: February – In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated one more time with Masque de la Mobile in the capital of French Louisiana, Mobile, Alabama, before Mobile is moved 27 miles (43 km) down the Mobile River to Mobile Bay in 1711.

title: 1709

date: April 19

text: April 19 – In Louisiana (New France), Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville's brother Serigny arrives on a French man-of-war, bringing news that war had been declared between France and Spain (since December 1718).

title: 1719

date: May 14

text: May 14 – In Louisiana (New France), Bienville, from Mobile, captures Pensacola, but Pensacola is later recaptured by the Spanish, and again re-taken by Bienville.

title: 1719

text: February 4 – Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie, Director-general of the Colony of Louisiana (d. 1765)

title: 1726

date: July 23

text: July 23 – Seventeen Ursuline Sisters from France land in New Orleans, in the Louisiana territory of New France, after a journey that began on February 22. They later create the orphanage which is the predecessor of Catholic Charities and the Ursuline Academy, the oldest Catholic school in the United States.

title: 1727

section: Events › July–September

date: September 14

text: September 14 – The Kingdom of France approves the issue of "card money" in the total amount of 200,000 livres to serve as currency in its Louisiana territory in America.

title: 1735

date: February 18

text: February 18 – As the Governor of French Louisiana, Pierre de Rigaud, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, issues the first police regulations for New Orleans in an attempt to combat crime in that city.

title: 1751

date: November 13

text: November 13 – In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Louis XV secretly cedes Louisiana (New France) to Charles III of Spain to compensate his ally for territorial losses to Britain.

title: 1762

text: February 4 – Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie, Director-general of the Colony of Louisiana (b. 1726)

title: 1765


slug: louisiana

label: Louisiana

description: state of the United States of America

date: October 29

text: October 29 – French colonists in Louisiana refuse to accept the colony's acquisition by Spain and begin an uprising that forces Spanish Governor Antonio de Ulloa to flee.

title: 1768

date: September 1

text: September 1 – Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of treason. He had been accused of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Mexico, to become part of an independent republic.

title: 1807

date: January 8

text: January 8 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes, in St. Charles and St. James Parishes, Louisiana.

title: 1811

date: April 30

text: April 30 – Louisiana is admitted as the 18th U.S. state.

title: 1812

date: June 4

text: June 4 – Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the territory previously known by that name is renamed the Missouri Territory.

title: 1812

date: November 7

text: November 7 – 1848 United States presidential election: Whig Zachary Taylor of Louisiana defeats Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan, in the first U.S. presidential election held in every state on the same day.

title: 1848

date: August 3

text: August 3 – The filibustering Lopez Expedition sails from New Orleans, Louisiana heading to seize Spanish-ruled Cuba.

title: 1851

date: May 4

text: May 4 – American Civil War: Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, commanding all Confederate forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana, surrenders his forces to Union General Edward Canby at Citronelle, Alabama, effectively ending all Confederate resistance east of the Mississippi River.

title: 1865

section: Events › May

date: December 9

text: December 9 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American to govern a U.S. state.

title: 1872

section: Events › December

date: June 5

text: June 5 – Ladislas Lazaro, U.S. Representatives from Louisiana (d. 1927)

title: 1872

section: Births › April–June

date: August 30

text: August 30 – Huey Long, Louisiana governor and senator (assassinated 1935)

title: 1893

section: Births › July–September

date: December 4

text: December 4 – The French Opera House in New Orleans, Louisiana is destroyed by fire.

title: 1919

section: Climate & Environment

date: September 17

text: September 17–21 – The 1947 Fort Lauderdale hurricane in southeastern Florida, and also in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana causes widespread damage, and kills 50 people.

title: 1947

section: Events › September

date: February 21

text: February 21 – Between February 21 and 22, an outbreak of nineteen tornadoes rages across the Mississippi Delta in Mississippi and Louisiana, killing 123 people.

title: 1971

section: Events › February

date: August 24

text: August 24–28 – Hurricane Andrew hits south Florida and Louisiana and dissipates over the Tennessee valley when it merges with a storm system; 23 are killed.

title: 1992

section: Events › August

text: September 14–27 – Hurricane Isidore crosses Cuba, the Yucatán Peninsula, and Louisiana.

title: 2002

date: August 27

text: August 27 – Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Lake Charles, Louisiana with winds of 150 mph, making it the strongest hurricane to ever strike the state in terms of windspeed, tied with the 1856 Last Island Hurricane.

title: 2020


slug: low-countries

label: Low Countries

description: historical coastal landscape in north western Europe

text: The prosperity of Roman Britain declines during this period, as the Germanic tribes of the Franks and Saxons, whose homelands are in Friesland and the Low Countries, make raids around the southeast coast.

title: 251

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

date: September 29

text: September 29 – Emperor Lothair I dies after a 15-year reign (co-ruling with his father Louis the Pious until 840). He divides the Middle Frankish Kingdom between his three sons in an agreement called the Treaty of Prüm—the eldest, Louis II, receives the northern half of Italy and the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The second, Lothair II, receives Lotharingia (the Low Countries and Upper Burgundy). The youngest, Charles, receives Lower Burgundy and Provence.

title: 855

section: Events › By place › Central Europe

text: Huy becomes the first town in the Low Countries to be granted city rights, by Theodwin of Liège.

title: 1066

section: Events › Europe

date: March 2

text: March 2 – Petronilla of Lorraine becomes regent of Holland (Low Countries) after her husband, Floris II ("the Fat") dies. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old son Dirk VI (Theodoric).

title: 1121

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Births

text: William I, count of Holland (Low Countries) (d. 1222)

title: 1167

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: King Philip II of France ("Augustus") grants a "conduit" to merchants, going to the Champagne fairs (a trade fair organized in different towns of the County of Champagne), guaranteeing the safety of their travel – as any attempt made against them – is now to be considered a crime of lèse-majesté (an offense against the king). The decision increases again the appeal of the fairs to merchants from Italy and the Low Countries.

title: 1209

section: Events › By topic › Markets

section: Health & Medicine

text: The city of Rheims emits the first recorded public life annuity in Medieval Europe. This type of instrument had been mostly issued by religious institutions. The emission by Rheims is the first evidence of a consolidation of public debt that is to become common in the Langue d'Oïl, the Low Countries and Germany.

title: 1218

section: Economy & Finance

text: In Ghent, the first instance is recorded of emission of life annuities by a town in the Low Countries; this event confirms a trend of consolidation of local public debt in northwestern Europe, initiated in 1218 by Reims.

title: 1275

text: First evidence of the existence of consolidated public debt in Bruges, confirming the expansion of use of annuities, to fund government expenditure to the Low Countries.

title: 1282

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Hundred Years' War: Battle of Sluys – The English fleet, under the command of Edward III of England, battles the French fleet, under that of Admiral Hugues Quiéret and treasurer Nicolas Béhuchet, assisted by Genoese mercenary galleys under Egidio Bocanegra, on the Low Countries coast. The French fleet is virtually destroyed, and both of its commanders are killed.

title: 1340

section: Events

text: The Den Hoorn brewery is founded at Leuven in the Low Countries. In 1717 this will be renamed the Brouwerij Artois, and later releases a beer in 1926 named Stella Artois.

title: 1366

section: Events › Date unknown

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: February 11

text: February 11 – Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold and the new Duches, is forced by her disgruntled subjects to sign the Great Privilege, by which the Flemish cities recover all the local and communal rights which have been abolished by the decrees of the dukes of Burgundy, in their efforts to create a centralized state in the Low Countries.

title: 1477

section: Events › January–March

date: July 30

text: July 30 – John V, Count of Nassau-Siegen dies in Siegen, now in Germany, leaving his realm to be divided by his two sons. The transition is smooth because of a 1509 agreement between Henry III of Nassau-Breda and William I of Nassau-Dillenburg. William receives all of John V's possessions in Germany, while Henry inherits those in the Low Countries.

title: 1516

text: John Dee visits the Low Countries, to study navigation with Gemma Frisius.

title: 1547

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Eighty Years' War – Sack of Antwerp: In the Low Countries, mutinous Spanish soldiers sack Antwerp; after three days the city is nearly destroyed.

title: 1576

section: Events › October–December

date: September 8

text: September 8 – An earthquake in Brabant of scale 5.8 is felt across the Low Countries, Germany and England.

title: 1692

date: June 21

text: June 21 – The secret Eight Articles of London are signed between the Great Powers, uniting the Low Countries under William I of the Netherlands.

title: 1814

section: Events › April–June


slug: lower-burgundy

label: Lower Burgundy

description: former country

section: Deaths

date: January 25

text: January 25 – Emperor Louis II claims Provence, after the death of his brother Charles. King Lothair II receives Lower Burgundy and a part of the Jura Mountains.

title: 863

date: August 8

text: August 8 – Treaty of Meerssen: King Louis the German forces his half-brother Charles the Bald to accept a peace treaty, which partitions the Middle Frankish Kingdom into two larger east and west divisions. Louis receives most of Austrasia (which evolves into the Kingdom of Germany), and Charles receives territory in Lower Burgundy (which evolves into the Kingdom of France). However, large parts of the Frisian coast are under Viking control.

title: 870

text: Hugh of Arles, king of Italy and Lower Burgundy (or 881)

title: 880

text: Hugh of Arles, king of Italy and Lower Burgundy (or 880)

title: 881

text: Arnulf of Carinthia has his illegitimate son Zwentibold recognized, as heir of the East Frankish Kingdom. He supports the claim of Louis the Blind as king of Provence, after receiving a personal appeal from Louis's mother, Ermengard, who comes to see Arnulf at Forchheim (Northern Bavaria). Arnulf grants the town of Osnabrück trade and coinage privileges.

title: 889

section: Crime & Justice

text: The Frankish nobles, who have ruled Provence in anarchy (since 887), declare Louis the Blind (a son of the late usurper King Boso) ruler of Lower Burgundy, at an assembly at Valence.

title: 890

section: Conflict & Security

text: Louis III returns to Provence. Unable to govern properly, he relinquishes the government of Lower Burgundy to his cousin Hugh, Count of Arles.

title: 905

section: Religion & Belief

text: Spring – The Italian nobles turn against King Rudolph II of Burgundy and request that Hugh of Provence, the effective ruler of Lower Burgundy, be elected as king of Italy. Rudolph's father-in-law Duke Burchard II of Swabia is ambushed and killed near Novara, by the henchmen of Archbishop Lambert of Milan. Rudolph, disillusioned by the news, returns to Burgundy to protect himself. Hugh has himself crowned King of Italy. and appoints Giselbert I as count palatine of Bergamo (Northern Italy).

title: 926

text: June 5 – Louis III (the Blind), former king of Provence (Lower Burgundy), dies at Arles after a 27-year reign (of which 23 are sightless). He is succeeded by his brother-in-law Hugh I who is King of Italy. With the approval of his kinsman Rudolph I, Hugh strips Louis's son and heir, Charles Constantine, of his inheritance and proclaims himself as ruler of Provence.

title: 928

text: Spring – Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, cedes Lower Burgundy to Rudolph II, in return for Rudolf's renunciation of all claims to the Italian crown. He receives the imperial crown, and induces the Italian nobility to recognize his son Lothair II as the co-ruler of Lombardia (Regnum Italiae).

title: 931


slug: lower-lorraine

label: Lower Lorraine

text: Bruno I, archbishop and duke (archduke) of Lotharingia resigns. His brother, King Otto I divides the duchy in two parts – Upper Lorraine and Lower Lorraine. He appoints Frederick I and Godfrey I as margraves (vice-duke).

title: 959

text: Godfrey I, count and vice-duke of Lower Lorraine

title: 964

text: Godfrey II, count and duke of Lower Lorraine (d. 1023)

title: 965

text: Otto II, duke of Lower Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 970

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: The city of Brussels is founded by Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine. He constructs fortifications (a castrum on an island) on the Senne River (modern Belgium).

title: 979

text: Peace is concluded between Emperor Otto II (the Red) and King Lothair III (or Lothair IV) at Margut, ending the Franco-German war of 978–980. Lothair renounces his claim on Lower Lorraine, while Otto promises to recognize Lothair's son Louis V as the rightful heir of the West Frankish Kingdom.

title: 980

text: Summer – Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, captures the city of Reims by treachery of its new archbishop, Arnulf (the illegitimate son of the late King Lothair III). King Hugh I (Capet) demands that Pope John XV discipline Arnulf. But John XV, not wishing to defy Empress Theophanu, refuses.

title: 989

text: Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine (b. 953)

title: 993

text: Charles, duke of Lower Lorraine, dies in prison in Orléans (see 991). He is succeeded by his son Otto II, who inherits the full dukedom and pledges his allegiance to Otto III.

title: 993

text: Godfrey III, duke of Lower Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 997

text: Frederick, duke of Lower Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 1003

text: Gothelo II (or Gozelo), duke of Lower Lorraine (d. 1046)

title: 1008

text: Godfrey II, count and duke of Lower Lorraine (b. 965)

title: 1023

date: May 28

text: May 28 – Herman of Ename, count of Verdun (Lower Lorraine)

title: 1029

text: Gerard (the Great), duke of Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 1030

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Gothelo I (or Gozelo), duke of Lorraine

title: 1044

text: Gothelo II, duke of Lower Lorraine (b. 1008)

title: 1046

date: May 18

text: May 18 – Frederick, duke of Lower Lorraine

title: 1065

text: Gertrude of Flanders, duchess of Lorraine (d. 1117)

title: 1070

date: February 26

text: February 26 or 27 – Godfrey the Hunchback, duke of Lower Lorraine

title: 1076

text: Waleran II, duke of Lower Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 1085

date: August

text: August – Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lower Lorraine, accompanied by his younger brother Baldwin, sets off to join the First Crusade (called by Pope Urban II) at the head of an army of some 40,000 men. He pledges his allegiance to Emperor Henry IV who issues an order not to harm Jewish communities.

title: 1096

section: Events › By place › First Crusade


slug: lower-saxony

label: Lower Saxony

description: state in North-West of Germany

text: The Wessex-born missionary Boniface sets out for Frisia a second time. He travels to Rome, where Pope Gregory II sends him on a mission to convert the Saxons in Lower Saxony (modern-day Germany).

title: 718

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: King Ongendus of the Danes reinforces the Danevirke fortifications in Schleswig-Holstein. He orders a palisade rampart built on the frontier of Saxony.

title: AD 737

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Culture & Society

date: October

text: October – Charlemagne marries Fastrada, the 18-year-old daughter of a Frankish count named Rudolph, and makes her his queen at Worms. The probable reason behind the marriage is to solidify a Frankish alliance east of the Rhine, against the Saxons in Lower Saxony (modern Germany).

title: 783

text: Gandersheim Abbey in Lower Saxony (modern Germany) is founded by Duke Liudolf of Saxony.

title: 852

text: Winter – Gero succeeds his brother Siegfried after his death. King Otto I appoints him as count and margrave of a vast border region around Merseburg that abuts the Wends on the River Saale (Lower Saxony).

title: 937

date: June 23

text: June 23 – Viking Age: Danish Viking raiders, (probably) under King Sweyn Forkbeard, plunder the city of Stade (Lower Saxony). Count Lothair Udo I is captured and killed, during the battle with the pirates.

title: 994

text: The city of Rinteln is founded on the northern bank of the Weser River in Lower Saxony (modern Germany).

title: 1150

text: The events giving rise to the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin take place in Lower Saxony.

title: 1284

text: Siegfried II, bishop of Hildesheim, provides Dassel in Lower Saxony, Germany with city rights.

title: 1315

section: By topic › Cities and towns

date: September 22

text: September 22 – Otto the Mild, becomes ruler over the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Lower Saxony, after the death of his father Albert the Fat

title: 1318

section: Events › July – September

date: February 1

text: February 1 – War of the Lüneburg Succession: In what is now the state of Lower Saxony in north Germany, after the Duke of Brunswick, Magnus Torquatus, attempts to claim his inheritance to rule of the Principality of Lüneburg, residents of the town of Lüneburg destroy the ducal castle that had been owned by the late Prince Wilhelm, and Brunswick relocates his residence to the town of Celle.

title: 1371

date: May 22

text: May 22 – In Germany, troops under the command of Johann von Paderborn, Bishop of Hildesheim, use cannons to destroy the walls of Gebhardshagen Castle in Salzgitter in what is now Lower Saxony.

title: 1406

text: Physician Samuel Stockhausen of the metal mining town of Goslar, Lower Saxony publishes his Libellus de lithargyrii fumo noxio morbifico, ejusque metallico frequentiori morbo vulgò dicto die Hütten Katze oder Hütten Rauch ("Treatise on the Noxious Fumes of Litharge, Diseases caused by them and Miners' Asthma"), a pioneering study of occupational disease.

title: 1656

section: Events › Undated


slug: lu-buwei

label: Lü Buwei

description: Chinese merchant and politician of the Qin state (291–235 BC)

year_label: 291 BCE

section: Births

text: Lü Buwei, Chinese politician and chancellor of the Qin State (d. 235 BC)

title: 291 BC

year_label: 258 BCE

text: The merchant Lu Buwei rescues the Qin prince Ying Yiren, a hostage at the Zhao court, from Handan. Ying Yiren will eventually become King Zhuangxiang of Qin.

title: 258 BC

section: Events › By place › China

year_label: 250 BCE

text: Zichu becomes the king of Qin, with Lü Buwei his Prime Minister.

title: 250 BC

year_label: 249 BCE

text: The last remnants of the Zhou dynasty, having rebelled against the State of Qin, are defeated by Prime Minister Lü Buwei.

title: 249 BC

year_label: 247 BCE

text: The 13-year-old Ying Zheng, later called Qin Shi Huang, succeeds his father Zhuangxiang of Qin (Zichu) on the throne. Prime Minister Lü Buwei becomes the regent of the king.

title: 247 BC

year_label: 239 BCE

section: Science & Discovery

text: Qin Prime Minister Lü Buwei publishes the "Spring and Autumn Annals of Lü Buwei" (Lüshi Chunqiu).

title: 239 BC

year_label: 238 BCE

text: Ying Zheng and Prime Minister Lü Buwei crush the rebellion of Lao Ai. Lao Ai is executed.

title: 238 BC

year_label: 237 BCE

text: Lü Buwei is deposed as the Prime Minister of Qin.

title: 237 BC

year_label: 235 BCE

text: The exile Lü Buwei, facing the suspicion of Ying Zheng, commits suicide.

title: 235 BC

text: Lü Buwei, Chinese politician (b. 291 BC)

title: 235 BC


slug: lubeck

label: Lübeck

description: city in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Adolf II, count of Schauenburg and Holstein, founds Lübeck – which later becomes one of the leading Hanseatic cities. He divides the conquered Slavic lands, as part of the eastward expansion in Germany.

title: 1143

section: Health & Medicine

text: The Teutonic Order is founded at Acre by German knights of Lübeck and Bremen. The Order is formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals (approximate date).

title: 1190

section: Events › By place › Third Crusade

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The German cities of Lübeck, Wismar, and Rostock enter into a pact to defend against pirates of the Baltic Sea, laying the groundwork for the Hanseatic League.

title: 1259

text: The first record is made of an emission of life annuities, by the city of Lübeck. It is the first instance of issue of public debt in Germany, and it confirms a trend of consolidation of local public debt over north-western Europe (see 1228).

title: 1285

section: Events › By topic › Markets

date: June 16

text: June 16 – Petrus, bishop of Västerås, buys 1/8 of the Stora Kopparberg copper mine in Falun, Sweden. During the reign of King Magnus Ladulås, nobles and foreign merchants from Lübeck take interests in the mining area.

title: 1288

date: November 19

text: November 19 – In Germany, the Kölner Konföderation is founded by eight German members of the Hanseatic League (Lübeck, Rostock, Stralsund, Wismar, Kulm and Thorn, and five non-League Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Brielle, Harderwijk,Elbing and Kampen) to fight against the Kingdom of Denmark, whose ruler King Valdemar IV, has been seizing land to expand the territory owned by the Danish crown.

title: 1367

section: Events › October–December

date: April 4

text: April 4 – The siege of Copenhagen, capital of the Kingdom of Denmark, is started by the Hanseatic League as 37 ships and 2,000 soldiers arrive at the city after sailing from the German city of Lübeck under the leadership of the city's leader, Bruno von Warendorp. The invaders bring with them 400 horses and eight trebuchets (long range catapults) and four regular catapults. While the city falls in four weeks, the Absalon fortress on Slotsholmen island holds out for two months.

title: 1368

date: July 22

text: July 22 – The first ships to complete passage on the 60 mi long Stecknitz Canal in Germany arrive at Lübeck, with 30 barges carrying salt from Lüneburg. The canal, completed after seven years between the rivers Elbe and Trave, is one of the earliest navigable summit level canals in the world.

title: 1398

section: Events › July–September

date: July 17

text: July 17 – Peace of Vordingborg is signed, ending the war between the Hanseatic League of German cities (Hamburg, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Rostock, Stralsund and Wismar) and the Scandinavian Kalmar Union of Denmark and Sweden. King Eric VII of Denmark and Adolph VIII, Count of Holstein sign, along with Hein Hoyer, representing the League, at Vordingborg Castle. Denmark cedes the Duchy of Schleswig to Holstein and agrees to stop interfering with the League, to end ten years of war.

title: 1435

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Hanseatic warship Hanneke Vrome capsizes and sinks off of the coast of Finland, killing its estimated 180 passengers and crew, along with a valuable cargo including 10,000 Rheingulden coins, equivalent to at least 34000 kg lb of gold. The ship had been sailing between the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck (in Germany) and Reval (now Tallinn, capital of Estonia) when it ran into a gale.

title: 1468

text: July 30 – The only continental outbreak of English sweating sickness reaches Lübeck, spreading from there into Schleswig-Holstein in the next few months.

title: 1529

text: June 23 – Copenhagen opens its gates to Count Christopher of Oldenburg, leading the army of Lübeck (and the Hanseatic League), nominally in the interests of the deposed King Christian II of Denmark. The surrenders of Copenhagen and, a few days later, of Malmö represent the high point of the Count's War for the forces of the League. These victories presumably lead the Danish nobility to recognize Christian III as King on July 4.

title: 1534

date: March

text: March – The Hanseatic city of Lübeck launches the galleon Adler von Lübeck, probably the largest ship in the world at this time.

title: 1566

section: Events › January–March

date: July

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

date: March 4

text: March 4 – Jews are expelled from Lübeck, Germany.

title: 1699

date: November 24

text: November 24 – The last major Prussian field force, under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, surrenders to the French near Lübeck. Frederick William III has by this time fled to Memel in East Prussia.

title: 1806

date: May

text: The prison ships Cap Arcona (5,000 dead), Thielbek (2,750 dead) and Deutschland (all survive) are sunk by the British Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.

title: 1945

section: Events › May


slug: lublin

label: Lublin

description: capital of Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland

section: Conflict & Security

text: Winter – Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongol forces (some 30,000 men) under Talabuga Khan and Nogai Khan, attack Poland for the third time. The cities of Lublin, Sandomierz and Sieradz are devastated by the invaders. Nogai Khan besieges Kraków and launches an unsuccessful assault on the fortified city, suffering heavy casualties in the process.

title: 1287

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Casimir III of Poland builds a masonry castle in Lublin, and encircles the city with defensive walls.

title: 1341

section: Events › Date unknown

section: Culture & Society

text: February 1 – Meeting at Lublin, the nobles of Poland elect Grand Duke Jogaila as King of Poland.

title: 1386

section: Religion & Belief

text: The first session of the Jewish Vaad (Council of Four Lands) is held in Lublin, Poland; 70 delegates of Jewish local qahals meet to discuss taxation, and other issues important to Jewish communities.

title: 1580

section: Crime & Justice

date: October 15

text: October 15 – The Jews of Lublin are massacred.

title: 1655

section: Events › October –December

date: December 7

text: December 7 – The charter of Buchach Monastery in Ukraine, founded by Stefan Aleksander Potocki and his wife Joanna née Sieniawska, is signed in Lublin.

title: 1712

section: Climate & Environment

date: July 20

text: July 20 – A violent tornado strikes the city of Lublin, Poland.

title: 1931

section: Events › July

date: March 17

text: March 17 – The Holocaust: Operation Reinhard – The Nazi German Bełżec extermination camp opens in occupied Poland, about 1 km south of the railroad station at Bełżec in the Lublin district of the General Government. At least 434,508 people are killed here up to December 1942.

title: 1942

section: Events › March

date: July 8

text: July 8 – A wave of strikes begins in Lublin, Poland.

title: 1980


slug: lucanians

label: Lucanians

description: Italic tribe living in Lucania

year_label: 387 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: With the aid of the Lucanians, Dionysius I of Syracuse devastates the territories of Thurii, Crotone, and Locri in mainland Italy. When Rhegium falls, Dionysius becomes the chief power in Greek Southern Italy. He then turns his attention to the Adriatic and founds the colonies of Ancona (Ankon) and Adria (Adrìa).

title: 387 BC

section: Events › By place › Sicily and Adriatic

year_label: 343 BCE

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: The native Italian tribes, the Lucanians and Bruttians, press down upon the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia, including Tarentum. Responding to calls for help from these former Greek colonies, King Archidamus III of Sparta sets sail with a band of mercenaries for Italy.

title: 343 BC

section: Events › By place › Italy

year_label: 334 BCE

text: Alexander of Epirus, at the request of the colony of Taras (Tarentum) crosses over into Italy, to aid them against the Lucanians and Bruttii. He wins victories over the Italian Samnite tribes.

title: 334 BC

year_label: 332 BCE

text: After a victory over the Samnites and Lucanians near Paestum, Alexander of Epirus makes a treaty with the Romans.

title: 332 BC

year_label: 331 BCE

text: Alexander of Epirus takes Heraclea from the Lucanians, and Terina and Sipontum from the Bruttii.

title: 331 BC

year_label: 303 BCE

text: The citizens of Tarentum seek the help of the Spartan general, Cleonymus. He is able to pacify the Lucanians with the agreement of the Romans.

title: 303 BC

year_label: 280 BCE

text: Responding to an appeal from Tarentum, King Pyrrhus of Epirus uses his army of over 20,000 men against the Romans. In the Battle of Heraclea he defeats a Roman army led by consul Publius Valerius Laevinus. Pyrrhus's judicious use of his elephants plays a large part in his victory. Several tribes including the Lucani, Bruttii and the Messapians as well as the Greek cities of Crotone and Locri join Pyrrhus.

title: 280 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 277 BCE

text: Consul Publius Cornelius Rufinus campaigns against the Lucanians and the Bruttians and captures Crotone.

title: 277 BC

year_label: 274 BCE

text: The Romans under Manius Curius Dentatus conquer the Lucanians.

title: 274 BC

year_label: 270 BCE

text: Rome's subjugation of Italy is completed by the recapture of Rhegium (southern Italy) from the Mamertines and the defeat of the Brutians, the Lucanians, the Calabrians and the Samnites. The town of Rhegium is then restored by the Romans to its Greek inhabitants.

title: 270 BC

year_label: 82 BCE

date: November 1

text: November 1: Sulla defeats an army of Samnites and Lucanians alliance in the Battle of the Colline Gate.

title: 82 BC


slug: lucca

label: Lucca

description: city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy

year_label: 56 BCE

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

text: The Holy Face of Lucca is transferred to Lucca from Luni (approximate date).

title: 742

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Births

text: Bertha, duchess regent of Lucca and Tuscany (d. 925)

title: 863

section: Deaths

text: March – Bertha, duchess regent of Lucca and Tuscany (b. 863)

title: 925

section: Health & Medicine

text: Otto I proceeds on campaign in Italy, remaining in the environs of Lucca. In the fall he leaves plague-wracked Tuscany, and is forced to retreat to Liguria. His rearguard is attacked by Adalbert II.

title: 964

section: Events › Europe

date: June 11

text: June 11 – Battle of Campaldino: Pro-papal Guelph forces of Florence and their allies, Lucca, Pistoia, Prato and Siena under Viscount Aimery IV defeat the Ghibelline army (some 10,000 men) in Tuscany. Florence becomes the dominant power in Central Italy; powerful merchant guilds take on a more political role in the communal government against their rivals of Genoa, Pisa and Venice.

title: 1289

date: April 6

text: April 6 – The city of Lucca in Italy pays the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V for the right for self-government, and Cardinal Guy de Montfort is appointed the imperial vicar to secure the debt.

title: 1369

section: Events › April–June

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: June 29

text: June 29 – Viareggio train derailment occurred when a freight train carrying liquified petroleum gas derailed at Viareggio railway station in Lucca, Italy. The accident killed 32 people and injured 26 people.

title: 2009

section: Events › June