slug: old-saxony

label: Old Saxony

description: larger region of which Lower Saxony is a part

text: Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne holds a major assembly at Quierzy (Northern France). He leads a Frankish army into Saxony to retake the castrum of Syburg (near Dortmund), then rebuilds and garrisons fortified Eresburg. He reaches the Weser at a place called Braunsberg, where the Saxons stand for battle, but are defeated when Frankish troops cross the river.

title: 775

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne spends Easter in Nijmegen, and leads a large Frankish army to Paderborn, where a general assembly of Carolingian and Saxon leaders had been summoned. Saxon lands are integrated into the Frankish Kingdom, and divided into missionary parishes. Duke Widukind and his followers flee to King Sigfred of Denmark, seeking refuge and support.

title: AD 777

text: Saxon Wars: Widukind and his close followers return to Saxony from Denmark. He probably makes alliances with the Danes and the northwestern Slav tribes. Saxon rebels destroy the fortress of Karlsburg and sack Deutz (near Cologne), but are unable to cross the Rhine. They are driven back by the garrison of Koblenz, but then ambush and defeat the Frankish pursuers. Counter-attacking Frankish forces pursue the Saxons up the Lahn Valley, and defeat them near Leisa.

title: 778

section: Religion & Belief

text: Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne decrees the death penalty for any subdued Saxon refusing Christian baptism. Meanwhile Widukind builds up rebel strength in northern Saxony.

title: 780

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Autumn – Charlemagne returns from his campaign in Italy, and musters a Frankish army of available troops in Bavaria. He then marches to Saxony, probably to Eresburg. Charlemagne marches north, down the Weser to the Aller River, making camp near Verden.

title: 782

text: Winter – Saxon Wars: Charlemagne defeats the Saxon rebels in a three-day battle next to the Hase River, and perhaps overruns fortifications on the Wittekindsberg, before ravaging southern Saxony. A Frisian uprising against Carolingian rule is supported by Duke Widukind.

title: 783

text: Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne begins a campaign in northern Saxony. He ravages Eastphalian territory as far as the Elbe River, while his son, Charles the Younger, defeats a Saxon force in the Lippe Valley. Bad weather hinders Charlemagne's winter campaign in southern Saxony.

title: 784

text: Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne summons a major assembly of Saxon and Frankish lords at Paderborn, then leads his army across Saxony as far as the Lower Elbe, without significant resistance. Duke Widukind retreats with his 'rebel' forces beyond the Elbe, but then negotiates and exchanges hostages. Charlemagne returns to his palace at Attigny (Ardennes), followed by Widukind; here the Saxon leaders are baptized as Christians on Christmas Day. Widukind and the Saxon nobility swear fealty to Charlemagne.

title: 785

text: Summer – Emperor Charlemagne finishes the conquest of Saxony. The Carolingian administration in the north is restored and the diocese of Bremen is re-established. Venice, torn by infighting, switches allegiance from Constantinople to King Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne.

title: 804

text: Emperor Charlemagne divides the Frankish Empire under his three sons, called Divisio Regnorum. For Charles the Younger he designates the imperial title, Austrasia and Neustria, Saxony, Burgundy, and Thuringia. To Pepin he gives Italy, Bavaria, and Swabia. His youngest son Louis the Pious receives Aquitaine, the Spanish March, and Provence.

title: 806

section: Deaths

text: Widukind, duke of Saxony (approximate date)

title: 807


slug: old-st-paul-s-cathedral

label: Old St Paul's Cathedral

description: medieval cathedral of the City of London

text: Earconwald, bishop of London, dies and is succeeded by Waldhere. He is buried at St. Paul's Cathedral, and later revered as a saint.

title: 693

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: A fire in London destroys much of the city, including St. Paul's Cathedral. Bishop Maurice starts the rebuilding of a new, much larger cathedral.

title: 1087

section: Events › By place › England

section: Conflict & Security

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

section: Events › By continent › Europe

text: Completion of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London.

title: 1314

text: A serious fire occurs at Old St Paul's Cathedral in London.

title: 1444

section: Events › Date unknown

text: St Paul's School, London is founded by John Colet, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral.

title: 1509

date: April 14

text: April 14 – On Easter Tuesday, Dr. Bell, a preacher standing at St Paul's Cross in front of London's Old St Paul's Cathedral, delivers an inflammatory sermon at the instigation of a local broker, John Lincoln and accuses foreign immigrants of stealing jobs from English workers and taking away bread from "poor fatherless children."

title: 1517

section: Events › April–June

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: June 4

text: June 4 – The spire of Old St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London catches fire and crashes through the nave roof, probably as the result of a lightning strike. The spire is not rebuilt.

title: 1561

date: January 11

text: January 11 — The first recorded lottery in England begins and continues, nonstop, at the west door of St Paul's Cathedral in London until May 6, when the winner is drawn. Each share costs ten shillings, and proceeds are used to repair harbours, and for other public works.

title: 1569

section: Events › January–March

date: September 2

text: September 2 – The Great Fire of London begins as a blaze in a bakery owned by Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane, near London Bridge. Over a period of four days, the fire destroys more than 13,000 buildings (including Old St Paul's Cathedral), but only six people are known to have died, while at least 80,000 are left destitute and homeless. The events are recorded by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The resurveying of property is credited with advancing both cartography and the practices of surveying, as well as resulting in the modern definition by John Ogilby of the statute mile, as 1,760 yards.

title: 1666

section: Events › July–September

date: December 25

text: December 25 – The rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral in London to a design by Sir Christopher Wren is declared complete by Parliament; Old St Paul's had been destroyed by the 1666 Great Fire of London.

title: 1711

section: Events › October–December


slug: old-st-peter-s-basilica

label: Old St. Peter's Basilica

description: church in Rome, Papal States

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Construction begins on the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome (approximate date).

title: 320

section: Events › By topic › Art

text: Helena tells Constantine that he must atone for executing his son and wife by building churches, and at about this date construction begins on Old St. Peter's Basilica, the first church on the traditional site of Saint Peter's tomb in Rome, and on the basilica of Golgotha on Calvary outside Jerusalem. He also commissions construction of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (dedicated 339).

title: 326

text: The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, in the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, is made (approximate date).

title: 359

date: July 11

text: July 11 – Anthemius, besieged in the part of Rome he controls until his troops are defeated, is caught while fleeing the city disguised as a supplicant in the Old St. Peter's Basilica (or at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere), and later beheaded by Gundobad or Ricimer. Ricimer proclaims Olybrius emperor. Ricimer's nephew, the Burgundian general Gundobad, assumes command of the Western army and holds de facto power in the Empire.

title: 472

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

section: Crime & Justice

text: A Saracen Arab expeditionary force from Africa, consisting of 11,000 men and 500 horses, raid the outskirts of Rome, sacking the basilicas of Old St. Peter's and St. Paul's Outside the Walls.

title: 846

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

date: February

text: February – King Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy at the head of an East Frankish expeditionary army. He storms Rome (the Leonine City), and has himself crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Formosus at St. Peter's. Arnulf sets out to establish his authority in Spoleto, but suffers a stroke; he is forced to call off the campaign, and returns to Bavaria.

title: 896

date: January

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

title: 897

date: February 2

text: February 2 – King Otto I (the Great) is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII at the Old St. Peter's Basilica, ending Rome's feudal anarchy. Otto's wife Adelaide is anointed as empress; the East Frankish Kingdom and the Kingdom of Italy are unified into a common realm, called the Roman Empire.

title: 962

date: February 14

text: February 14 – King Henry II arrives at Rome and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor together with his wife Cunigunde by Pope Benedict VIII in St. Peter's Basilica. Henry establishes the Diocese of Bobbio (Northern Italy) and returns to Germany.

title: 1014

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II ("the Elder") and his wife Gisela of Swabia as Holy Roman Emperor and Empress, respectively, in Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Cnut the Great, King of Denmark and England, attends the coronation, proving his position as sole ruler of the Danish North Sea Empire.

title: 1027

section: Events › By Place › Europe

date: October 21

text: October 21 – Innocent III crowns Otto IV as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in St. Peter's Basilica at Rome.

title: 1209

section: Culture & Society

date: June 29

text: June 29 – Henry VII is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lateran Palace, since St Peter's Basilica is occupied by Romans hostile to him.

title: 1312

section: Events › April – June

text: Old St. Peter's Basilica is demolished under the orders of Pope Julius II. Construction of the new basilica begins the following year.

title: 1505

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of the new (current) St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica.

title: 1506


slug: old-style-and-new-style-dates

label: Old Style and New Style dates

description: changes in calendar conventions from Julian to Gregorian dates

section: Deaths

date: March 28

text: March 28 (O.S. March 18) – Ivan the Terrible, ruler of Russia since 1533, dies; he is succeeded as Tsar by his son, Feodor.

title: 1584

date: August 19

text: August 19 (August 9 Old Style) – Speech to the Troops at Tilbury by Queen Elizabeth I.

title: 1588

date: August 8

text: August 8 (July 29 Old Style) – Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English naval force off the coast of Gravelines, in the Spanish Netherlands (modern France).

title: 1588

date: April 8

text: April 8 (March 29 O.S.) – Combined Taungoo–Lan Na armies break the rebel Thado Dhamma Yaza's siege of Taungoo, in modern-day Myanmar.

title: 1595

date: November 5

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

title: 1605

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: August 1

text: August 1 (July 22 OS) – The ship Speedwell departs Delfshaven with English separatist Puritans from Leiden bound to rendezvous with the Mayflower; on August 5 (July 26 OS) she anchors in Southampton Water.

title: 1620

date: August 15

text: August 15 (probable date; August 5 OS) – Mayflower and Speedwell depart together from Southampton, but are forced to put back into Dartmouth, Devon, for repairs to a leak in the latter ship on August 22 or 23 (August 12 or 13 OS).

title: 1620

date: July 25

text: July 25 (July 15 OS) – The armed merchant ship Mayflower embarks about 65 emigrants for New England at or near her home port of Rotherhithe on the Thames east of London; about July 29 (July 19 OS) she anchors in Southampton Water.

title: 1620

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: November 21

text: November 21 (November 11 OS) – The Mayflower arrives inside the tip of Cape Cod (named from the Concord voyage of 1602), at what becomes known as Provincetown Harbor, with the Pilgrims and Planters; 41 Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the colony, on board the ship.

title: 1620

date: September 16

text: September 16 (September 6 OS) – Mayflower departs from Plymouth in England on her third attempt to cross the Atlantic. The Pilgrims on board comprise 41 "saints" (English separatists largely from Holland), 40 "strangers" (largely secular planters from London), 23 servants and hired workers, together with c. 30 crew.

title: 1620

text: September 2 (August 23 OS) – Mayflower and Speedwell depart together from Dartmouth; they are well out into the Atlantic when the Speedwell is again found to be leaking.

title: 1620

date: December 8

text: December 8 (December 18 New Style) – As Christina comes of age, she is made ruling queen of Sweden.

title: 1644

date: November 23

text: November 23 – Battle of Jüterbog (December 3 New Style): Sweden's forces defeat those of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1644

date: March 8

text: March 8 (February 26 OS) – The peace between Sweden and Denmark-Norway is concluded in Roskilde by the Treaty of Roskilde, under which Denmark is forced to cede significant territory. This leads to Sweden reaching its territorial height during its time as a great power.

title: 1658

date: June 13

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

title: 1665

date: November 11

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

title: 1688

date: November 15

text: November 15 (November 5 OS) – The Glorious Revolution begins: William of Orange lands at Torbay, England with a multinational force of 20,000 soldiers. He makes no claim to the British Crown, saying only that he has come to save Protestantism and to maintain English liberty, and begins a march on London.

title: 1688

date: November 19

text: November 19 (November 9 OS) – William of Orange captures Exeter, after the magistrates flee the city.

title: 1688

date: November 20

text: November 20 (November 10 OS) – The Wincanton Skirmish between forces loyal to James II led by Patrick Sarsfield and a party of Dutch troops is one of the few armed clashes in England during the Glorious Revolution.

title: 1688

date: February 23

text: February 23 (February 13, 1688 O.S.) – William III and Mary II are proclaimed co-rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland.

title: 1689

date: January 22

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

title: 1689

section: Births

date: May 18

text: May 18 – (O.S) Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752)

title: 1692

section: Births › April–June

date: May 1

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

title: 1699

date: August 18

text: August 18 (August 7 O.S.) – The Peace of Travendal is concluded between the Swedish Empire, Denmark–Norway and Holstein-Gottorp in Traventhal. On the same day, Augustus II, King of Poland, and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, enter the war against Sweden.

title: 1700

date: November 30

text: November 30 (November 19 O.S.; November 20 Swedish calendar) – Battle of Narva in Estonia: Having led his army of 8,000 on a forced march from Denmark to Estonia, Charles XII of Sweden routs the huge Russian army.

title: 1700

date: March 22

text: March 22 (March 11 Old Style) – The first regular English-language national newspaper, The Daily Courant, begins publication on Fleet Street in the City of London, initially by Elizabeth Mallet; it covers only foreign news.

title: 1702

section: Climate & Environment

date: December 7

text: December 7–10 (November 26–29 O.S.) – The Great Storm of 1703, an extratropical cyclone, ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing at least 8,000, mostly at sea. The Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth is destroyed in the storm together with its designer Henry Winstanley and many buildings on land are damaged.

title: 1703

date: May 27

text: May 27 (May 16 OS) – The city of Saint Petersburg, Russia is founded, following Peter the Great's reconquest of Ingria from Sweden during the Great Northern War.

title: 1703

date: September 28

text: September 28 (O.S.); September 29 (Swedish calendar); October 9 (N.S.) – Great Northern War: Battle of Lesnaya – Peter the Great of Russia defeats the forces of the Swedish Empire.

title: 1708

section: Events › July–December

date: June 27

text: June 27 (June 16 O.S.) – War of the Austrian Succession – Battle of Dettingen in Bavaria: British forces, in alliance with those of Hanover and Hesse, defeat a French army under the duc de Noailles; King George II of Great Britain (and Elector of Brunswick) leads his own troops, the last British king to do so.

title: 1743

text: March 28 (March 17 O.S.) – Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova, Russian princess, courtier and patron of the arts and sciences (d. 1810)

title: 1743

date: March 25

text: March 25 – For the last time, New Year's Day is legally on March 25, in England and Wales and "in all his Majesty's Dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America" due to the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750. The months of January 1751, February 1751 and most of March 1751 did not exist in British territories: those months were recorded as the last three of 1750 according to the Old Style dating system; the equivalent months a year later were recorded as the first three of 1752 under the New Style system.

title: 1751

text: May 27 (May 13 Old Style) – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar: Royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire. It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.

title: 1751

text: August 1 (July 21 O.S.) – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) – Battle of Kagul: Russian commander Pyotr Rumyantsev routs 150,000 Turks.

title: 1770

text: June 20 (June 9 O.S.) – Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): Battle of Kozludzha – The Imperial Russian Army, led by Alexander Suvorov, routs numerically superior Ottoman Empire forces.

title: 1774

text: March 11 – The First League of Armed Neutrality is formed by Russia with Denmark and Sweden to try to prevent the British Royal Navy from searching neutral vessels for contraband (February 28 O.S.).

title: 1780

text: July 5 (June 23 O.S.) – Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (d. 1855)

title: 1802

text: January 27 (NS, January 15 OS) – An Imperial Russian Navy expedition, led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in Vostok with Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, sights the Antarctic ice sheet.

title: 1820

text: November 30 (November 18 O.S.) – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop – The Russian fleet destroys the Turkish fleet.

title: 1853

text: July 12 (June 30 O.S.) – Pavel Nakhimov, Russian admiral (b. 1802)

title: 1855

text: September 9 (August 28 O.S.) – Crimean War: Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) – Sevastopol falls to French and British troops.

title: 1855

text: September 22 (September 10 O.S.) – Russian ship of the line Lefort sinks in the Gulf of Finland during a sudden squall with the loss of 826 lives; 30 other ships are wrecked in the same storm.

title: 1857

text: January 24 (O. S.) – Under the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia are united under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire. It would be a principal step in forming the modern state of Romania.

title: 1859

text: March 3 (February 19 O.S.) – Treaty of San Stefano signed between the Russian and Ottoman Empires following Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) provides for establishment of an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria (although not as large as originally envisaged). Russia however regards the treaty as a preliminary one only, refusing on March 25 a British proposal to lay it before a European congress, and matters are finally settled in July's Treaty of Berlin.

title: 1878

text: October 28 (October 16 O.S.) – In Saint Petersburg (Russia), Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance of his Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathétique, nine days before his death.

title: 1893

text: November 7 – (October 26 Old Style) – Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya receives its Russian metropolitan première at the Moscow Art Theatre.

title: 1899

text: January 22 (January 9 O.S.) – The Bloody Sunday massacre of peaceful Russian demonstrators at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg takes place, leading to an unsuccessful uprising.

title: 1905

text: October 29 (October 16 O.S.) – In the Russian Empire:

title: 1905

text: June 30 (June 17 OS) – The Tunguska event near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russian Empire, is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment, at an altitude of 5 – 10 above the Earth's surface.

title: 1908

text: January 18 (Old Style January 5) – Prague Conference: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party break away from the rest of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.

title: 1912

text: May 26 (May 13 O.S.) – Igor Sikorsky becomes the first person to pilot a 4-engine fixed-wing aircraft.

title: 1913

text: August 17 (August 4 O.S.) – WWI: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed secretly between Romania and the Entente Powers, stipulating the conditions under which Romania agrees to join the war on their side, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary.

title: 1916

text: December 30 – (December 17 Old Style) – The mystic Grigori Rasputin is murdered in Saint Petersburg.

title: 1916


slug: old-style

label: Old Style

section: Religion & Belief

date: March 7

text: March 7 (February 25 Old Style) – The Uppsala Synod discontinues; the Liturgical Struggle between the Swedish Reformation and Counter-Reformation ends in Sweden.

title: 1593

section: Events › January–March

date: November 6

text: November 6 (O.S.) – The ship Arms of Amsterdam arrives in Europe from New Netherland (left September 23) with the news: "They have purchased the Island Manhattes [Manhattan] from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders."

title: 1626

date: September 17

text: September 17 (September 7 Old Style) – The settlement of Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony is founded.

title: 1630

section: Events › July–September

date: August 25

text: August 25 (August 15 Old Style) – The covenant of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts Bay Colony is first signed.

title: 1636

date: December 23

text: December 23 (December 13 Old Style) – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

title: 1636

date: March 13

text: March 13 (March 3 Old Style) – A "great charter" to the University of Oxford establishes the Oxford University Press, as the second of the privileged presses in England.

title: 1636

date: March 5

text: March 5 (February 24 Old Style) – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway gives an order, that all beggars that are able to work must be sent to Brinholmen, to build ships or to work as galley rowers.

title: 1636

section: Conflict & Security

date: October 4

text: October 4 (September 24 Old Style) – Thirty Years' War – Battle of Wittstock: A Swedish-allied army defeats a combined Imperial-Saxon army.

title: 1636

date: September 18

text: September 18 (September 8 Old Style) – A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes New College (Harvard University), as the first college founded in the United States.

title: 1636

date: August 23

text: August 23 (August 13 Old Style) – The Treaty of Brömsebro is signed between Sweden and Denmark–Norway, ending the Torstenson War and ceding Jemtland, Herjedalen, Gotland and Ösel (Saaremaa) to Sweden, which also holds the province of Halland for a period of 30 years, as a guarantee.

title: 1645

date: June 16

text: June 16 (June 6 Old Style) – Charles X Gustav succeeds his cousin Christina on the Swedish throne. After her abdication on the same day, Christina, now the former reigning queen of a Protestant nation, secretly converts to Catholicism.

title: 1654

section: Events › April–June

date: August 20

text: August 20 (August 10 Old Style) – The settlement of Karlskrona in Sweden is founded, as the Royal Swedish Navy relocates there.

title: 1680

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: May 17

text: May 17 (May 7 Old Style) – The 13th century royal Tre Kronor ("Three Crowns") castle in Stockholm burns to the ground, and a large portion of the royal library is destroyed.

title: 1697

date: August 3

text: August 3 (July 23 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession – Gibraltar is captured from Spain, by English and Dutch forces under Sir George Rooke.

title: 1704

date: April 25

text: April 25 (April 14 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Almansa: The Bourbon army of Spain and France (with Irish mercenaries) under the French-born Englishman James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, soundly defeats the allied forces of Portugal, England, and the Dutch Republic led by the French-born Huguenot (in English service) Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway. Following this, Philip V of Spain promulgates the first Nueva Planta decrees, bringing the Kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon under the laws of the Crown of Castile.

title: 1707

date: May 12

text: May 12 (May 1 Old Style) – The new sovereign state of Great Britain comes into being, as a result of the Acts of Union, which combine the Kingdoms of Scotland and England into a single united Kingdom of Great Britain, and merge the Parliaments of England and Scotland, to form the Parliament of Great Britain.

title: 1707

date: July 8

text: July 8 (June 27 Old Style; June 28 in the Swedish calendar) – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava in the Cossack Hetmanate (Ukraine) – Peter the Great leads forces of the Tsardom of Russia to a decisive victory over Swedish forces under Charles XII, ending the Swedish invasion of Russia and effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.

title: 1709

date: September 11

text: September 11 (August 31 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Malplaquet – Troops of the Dutch Republic, Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia, led by the Duke of Marlborough, drive the French from the field, but suffer twice as many casualties.

title: 1709

date: January 4

text: January 4 (December 24, 1716 Old Style) – The kingdoms of Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic sign the Triple Alliance, in an attempt to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with France on November 28 (November 17) 1716.

title: 1717

date: December 11

text: December 11 (November 30 Old Style) – King Charles XII of Sweden is killed at the Siege of Fredriksten in the Great Northern War, the last European monarch to die on a battlefield. His death ends the first era of absolute monarchy in Sweden. Five days later, when the news reaches Stockholm, his sister Princess Ulrika Eleonora proclaims herself Queen regnant of Sweden.

title: 1718

section: Events › October –December

date: February 3

text: February 3 (January 23 Old Style) – The Riksdag of the Estates (the parliament of Sweden) recognizes Ulrika Eleonora's claim to the Swedish throne, after she has agreed to sign a new Swedish constitution. Thus, she is recognized as queen regnant of Sweden.

title: 1719

date: March 11

text: March 11 (February 29 Old Style) – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden resigns, to let her husband Frederick I take over as king of Sweden. She had desired a joint rule, in a similar manner to William III and Mary II in Britain, but as the Riksdag of the Estates (Sweden's parliament) refuses this, she abdicates in her husband's favour instead.

title: 1720

date: November 2

text: November 2 (October 22 Old Style) – The Romanov and architect of the Great Northern War Peter I, is proclaimed the first Emperor of All the Russias. This replaces the 174-year-long Tsardom of Russia with the Russian Empire, which will collapse almost 200 years later in 1917.

title: 1721

date: September 10

text: September 10 (August 23 Old Style) – The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War.

title: 1721

section: Events › July –September

date: January 23

text: January 23 (January 12 Old Style) – The Conventicle Act (Konventikelplakatet) is adopted in Sweden, outlawing all non-Lutheran religious meetings outside of church services.

title: 1726

date: November 8

text: November 8 (October 28 Old Style) – Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels is first published (anonymously) in London; it sells out within a week.

title: 1726

date: June 13

text: June 13 – (June 2 Old Style); The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is founded in Stockholm, Sweden.

title: 1739

text: August 18 (August 7 Old Style) – Russia and Sweden sign the Treaty of Åbo.

title: 1743

section: Science & Discovery

date: August 6

text: August 6 (July 26 Old Style) – The first recorded women's cricket match takes place in Surrey, England.

title: 1745

text: May 27 (May 13 Old Style) – Adoption of the Gregorian calendar: Royal assent is given to An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use (the "Calendar Act") passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, introducing the Gregorian Calendar, correcting the eleven-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates and making 1 January legally New Year's Day from 1752 in the British Empire. It is largely promoted by George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.

title: 1751

date: July 13

text: July 13 (July 1 Old Style) – The first Constitution of Romania is issued.

title: 1866

section: Events › July

date: May 21

text: May 21 (May 9 O.S.) – By a speech in the Parliament of Romania by Mihail Kogălniceanu, the country declares itself independent from the Ottoman Empire (recognized in 1878 after the end of the Romanian independence war).

title: 1877

section: Events › May

date: February 24

text: February 24 (February 12 Old Style) – Qing dynasty China signs the Treaty of Saint Petersburg with the Russian Empire providing for the return to China of the eastern part of the Ili Basin.

title: 1881

text: March 13 (March 1 Old Style) – Assassination of Alexander II of Russia: Emperor Alexander II of Russia ("the Liberator") is killed near his palace in Saint Petersburg when bombs are thrown at him, an act committed by the revolutionary socialist group Narodnaya Volya coordinated by Sophia Perovskaya but falsely blamed upon Russian Jews. He is succeeded by his son, Alexander III. The assassin Ignacy Hryniewiecki is also killed by his own bomb.

title: 1881

text: March 26 (March 14 Old Style) – The Principality of Romania is proclaimed the Kingdom of Romania.

title: 1881

text: May 22 (May 10 Old Style) – Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is crowned King of Romania.

title: 1881

text: March 6 (February 22 Old Style) – The Principality of Serbia becomes the Kingdom of Serbia following a proclamation.

title: 1882

text: July 30–August 23 (July 17–August 10, O.S.) – The Second Congress of the All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party is held in exile in Brussels, transferring to London.

title: 1903

text: September 14 (September 1 Old Style) – Russia is declared a republic by the Provisional Government.

title: 1917


slug: old-swiss-confederacy

label: Old Swiss Confederacy

description: confederation of cantons (1291-1798)

section: Crime & Justice

date: November 18

text: November 18 – William Tell, Swiss mountain climber and marksman, shoots (according to legend) an apple off his son's head with a crossbow at Altdorf, Switzerland.

title: 1307

section: Events › October – December

date: November 7

text: November 7 – Lucerne joins the Swiss Confederation with Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden.

title: 1332

section: Events

date: May 1

text: May 1 – Zürich joins the Old Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1351

section: Events › January–December

date: June 4

text: June 4 – Glarus joins the Old Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1352

date: March 3

text: March 3 – Bern signs an alliance with the Old Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1353

date: October 18

text: October 18 (St Luke's Day) – The Basel earthquake affects northern Switzerland, with a maximum MSK intensity of IX–X (Destructive–Devastating), leaving around 1,000 dead. It is the most damaging intraplate earthquake known to have occurred in central Europe.

title: 1356

date: January 29

text: January 29 – At Chur in what is now the Swiss Canton of Raetia, the League of God's House is founded in the Old Swiss Confederacy as an agreement between nine communities to come to each other's aid in the event of a crisis.

title: 1367

date: January 6

text: January 6 – Officials from the Swiss Canton of Lucerne, arrive in the village of Sempach, at the time under control of Austria and the Habsburg family, and offer Swiss citizenship and rights. Lucerne's representatives enter into similar pacts with other Austrian-controlled towns, including Meienberg, and bring with them soldiers from the Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1386

date: July 9

text: July 9 – Battle of Sempach: Soldiers from cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy defeat the Austrian Habsburg Army in a battle that leads to the unification of the cantons into the nation of Switzerland.

title: 1386

date: April 9

text: April 9 – At the Battle of Näfels, the Canton of Glarus, in alliance with the Old Swiss Confederacy, decisively defeats the Duchy of Austria and the Habsburgs, despite being outnumbered 16 to one.

title: 1388

date: April 1

text: April 1 – Following the Battle of Sempach, a seven-year peace agreement is concluded between the Duchy of Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1389

date: July 16

text: July 16 – The agreement between the Swiss Confederacy (the cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwaldeden) and the Duchy of Austria, originally signed on April 1, 1389, following the 1386 Battle of Sempach, is extended by amendment.

title: 1394

date: November 24

text: November 24 – The Swiss canton of Appenzell enters into an alliance with most of the cantons of the Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1411

section: Events › October–December

text: The Swiss Confederation takes the territory of Aargau from the house of Habsburg.

title: 1415

section: Events › Date unknown

text: The first witch hunts begin, in Switzerland.

title: 1427

text: November 2 – The Old Zurich War begins as the Canton of Zurich, led by the burgomaster Rudolf Stüssi, is expelled from the Swiss Confederation (Corpus helveticum) by the leaders of the other cantons (Bern, Glarus, Lucerne, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Uri and Zug). Stüssi makes an alliance with Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and a war which will last more than five years begins.

title: 1440

date: July 22

text: July 22 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl (Old Zurich War): The forces of the city of Zurich are defeated, but the Swiss Confederacy have insufficient strength to besiege and take the city.

title: 1443

date: November 23

text: November 23 – The Canton of Appenzell becomes an associate member of the Swiss Confederacy. Full membership will be granted more than 50 years later in 1513.

title: 1452

section: Culture & Society

date: April 4

text: April 4 – The University of Basel is founded in Switzerland.

title: 1460

date: June 17

text: June 17 – Mülhausen, a free city within the Holy Roman Empire, joins the Swiss Confederacy in an alliance against the Habsburg dynasty including the Emperor Frederick III.

title: 1466

text: Sigismund of Austria sells Upper Alsace to Charles the Bold, in exchange for aid in a war against the Swiss.

title: 1469

text: Between this year and 1700, 8,888 witches are tried in the Swiss Confederation; 5,417 of them are executed.

title: 1470

date: November 13

text: November 13 – Burgundian Wars – In the Battle on the Planta, near Sion in the Swiss Canton of Valais, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious against those of the Duchy of Savoy.

title: 1475

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: March 2

text: March 2 – In retaliation for the massacre of the Swiss defenders of the Grandson Castle, troops from the Canton of Bern and the Old Swiss Confederacy defeat the Burgundian troops of Charles the Bold and force him to flee.

title: 1476

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, concludes a treaty with the Swiss Confederacy hindering the recruitment of Swiss mercenaries by the Emperor.

title: 1479

date: April 11

text: April 11 – The Battle of Schwaderloh is won by the Swiss Confederacy over the Swabian League with more than 1,400 of the Swabian troops killed.

title: 1499

text: July 22 – Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeat the army of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

title: 1499

text: The Swiss cantons of Basel and Schaffhausen join the Old Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1501

date: December 17

text: December 17 – The Canton of Appenzell becomes a member of the Swiss Confederacy.

title: 1513

date: November 29

text: November 29 – The "Treaty of Perpetual Peace" is signed in the city of Fribourg in Switzerland, between representatives of the Thirteen Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, and King Francis of the Kingdom of France, confirming the French victory in the 1515 Battle of Marignano. The Swiss Confederacy renounces all claims to the French protectorate of Milan in Italy, in for 700,000 gold crowns in compensation.

title: 1516

date: October 11

text: October 11 – Battle of Kappel: The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons. Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss religious reformer, is killed.

title: 1531

text: Excerpta antiqua is published by Hervagius at Basel, Switzerland.

title: 1549

date: January 5

text: January 5 – The First War of Villmergen, a civil war in the Confederation of Switzerland pitting its Protestant and Roman Catholic cantons against each other, breaks out but is resolved by March 7. The Lutheran cantons of the larger cities of Zurich, Bern and Schaffhausen battle against seven Catholic cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Uri, Zug, Baden Unterwalden (now Obwalden and Nidwalden) and St. Gallen.

title: 1656

date: May 3

text: May 3 – Baden, one of the member states of the Confederation of Switzerland, declares a policy of remaining neutral in future conflicts, a model that is soon followed by other members of the Confederation and which eventually becomes the basis for Swiss neutrality from 1815 onward.

title: 1764

text: September 6 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau's house in Switzerland is stoned by a mob.

title: 1765

text: April 12 – The Helvetic Republic, a French client republic, is proclaimed following the collapse of the Old Swiss Confederacy after the French invasion; Aarau becomes the republic's temporary capital.

title: 1798


slug: old-testament

label: Old Testament

description: first division of the Christian biblical canon

year_label: 571 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Ezekiel, prophet in the Old Testament after whom the Book of Ezekiel is named.

title: 571 BC

year_label: 430 BCE

section: Religion & Belief

text: Traditional date where scholars believe the Hebrew prophet known as Malachi writes the 39th and last book, and last of the prophetic books, of the Old Testament of the Biblical canon, the Book of Malachi. Biblical books written between now and the millennium will not be included in the Hebrew Bible and in some Christian traditions considered Biblical apocrypha.

title: 430 BC

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Marcion proclaims that the Old Testament is incompatible with Christianity.

title: AD 142

text: Origen publishes the Old Testament in five languages (approximate date).

title: 239

text: Jerome, having finished the Latin translation of the New Testament, begins translating the Old Testament.

title: 390

date: October 4

text: October 4 – As the Michaelmas fair opens in Wittenberg, Martin Luther's translation of the complete Christian Bible into German is offered for sale for the first time. The work, printed on 1,824 pages in two volumes by Hans Lufft adds the Old Testament including the deuterocanonical books to Luther's 1522 translation of the New Testament, and includes woodcut illustrations.

title: 1534

date: December 4

text: December 4 – The Council of Trent (which had opened on December 13, 1545) officially closes. It reaffirms all major Roman Catholic doctrines, and declares the Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament to be canonical, along with the rest of the Bible. Chapter 1, Session 24, promulgates the decree Tametsi, stipulating that for a marriage to be valid, consent (the essence of marriage) as expressed in the vows has to be given publicly before witnesses, one of whom has to be the parish priest.

title: 1563

text: The Douay–Rheims Bible Old Testament translation from the Vulgate into English vol. 1 is published in Reims.

title: 1609

date: May 13

text: May 13 – French theologian Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy is imprisoned in the Bastille after his conviction for heresy in connection with the Jansenist movement. Sacy uses his two and one-half years of incarceration (which lasts until November 14, 1668), to create the Bible du Port-Royal, a first French language rendition of the Bible, finishing a translation of the Old Testament from the Vulgate, written in Latin, that had been started by his brother Antoine, and then beginning work on the New Testament.

title: 1666

text: Martin Noth's groundbreaking work of Old Testament scholarship, Überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien: Die sammelnden und bearbeitenden Geschichtswerke im Alten Testament, is published.

title: 1943

text: Knox's Translation of the Vulgate Old Testament (commissioned by the Catholic Church) is published.

title: 1950


slug: oliver-cromwell

label: Oliver Cromwell

description: English military and political leader (1599–1658)

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: March 17

text: March 17 – Oliver Cromwell makes his first appearance in the English Parliament, as Member for Huntingdon.

title: 1628

section: Events › January–March

section: Conflict & Security

date: June 10

text: June 10 – English Civil War: Oliver Cromwell is confirmed as the Lieutenant-General of the Cavalry.

title: 1645

section: Events › April–June

date: October 8

text: October 8–14 – English Civil War: The Third siege of Basing House by Oliver Cromwell results in its destruction.

title: 1645

date: December 6

text: December 6 – "Pride's Purge" in England: Elements of the New Model Army, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell invade London and expel a majority of the Long Parliament, resulting in the creation of the Rump Parliament.

title: 1648

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Oliver Cromwell lands in Dublin, unopposed and with thousands of English troops, to begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

title: 1649

section: Events › July–September

date: February 7

text: February 7 – The English Parliament rejects a proposal to continue the English monarchy after Oliver Cromwell makes clear that he does not wish to be crowned as King of England.

title: 1649

date: February 13

text: February 13 – Oliver Cromwell's troops sweep through Ireland and bombard the Kiltinan Castle in County Tipperary.

title: 1650

date: July 22

text: July 22 – Having completed his invasion of Ireland, England's General Oliver Cromwell begins the war against the Kingdom of Scotland, crossing from Northumberland at Berwick-upon-Tweed into Berwickshire, and leads troops toward Edinburgh.

title: 1650

date: September 3

text: September 3 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Dunbar (1650) – Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell defeat a Scottish army, commanded by David Leslie.

title: 1650

date: February 12

text: February 12 – Oliver Cromwell, England's Lord Protector, announces that his Council of Scotland will regulate church affairs as part of the Terms of Incorporation of Scotland into England, and eliminates Presbyterianism as Scotland's state religion.

title: 1652

date: April 20

text: April 20 – Oliver Cromwell expels the Rump Parliament in England.

title: 1653

date: December 16

text: December 16 – The Instrument of Government in England becomes Britain's first written constitution, under which Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, being advised by a remodelled English Council of State. This is the start of The First Protectorate, bringing an end to the first period of republican government in the country, the Commonwealth of England.

title: 1653

date: April 12

text: April 12 – Oliver Cromwell creates a union between England and Scotland, with Scottish representation in the Parliament of England.

title: 1654

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: August 18

text: August 18 – Oliver Cromwell launches the Western Design with the appointment of Admiral William Penn to prepare for a fleet to leave on Christmas Day for an English expedition to the Caribbean to counter Spanish commercial interests, effectively beginning the Anglo-Spanish War (which will last until after the English Restoration in 1660). The fleet leaves Portsmouth in late December.

title: 1654

date: December 25

text: December 25 – An English Navy fleet of 17 warships and 20 transports, carrying 325 cannons, 1,145 seamen, and 1,830 troops, under the command of Admiral William Penn departs from Portsmouth to begin Oliver Cromwell's planned surprise attack on Spain's colonies in the New World.

title: 1654

date: February 10

text: February 10 – The Battle of Tullich takes place in Aberdeenshire in Scotland during Glencairn's rising, a revolt by Scottish royalists against the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland led by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The battle is indecisive.

title: 1654

date: July 10

text: July 10 – Peter Vowell and John Gerard are executed in London for plotting to assassinate Oliver Cromwell.

title: 1654

date: August 9

text: August 9 – Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts, under major-generals.

title: 1655

date: November 24

text: November 24 – English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell announces measures against the Laudian party, which are enforced starting on January 1.

title: 1655

date: February 23

text: February 23 – London's Lord Mayor Christopher Packe suggests to Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector and chief executive of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, that the monarchy should be restored with Cromwell as its King. Cromwell declines to become King Oliver, but his right to name his successor becomes effective on May 25, 1657 with the commencement of the Humble Petition and Advice.

title: 1656

text: February 23 – In England, the Humble Petition and Advice offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown.

title: 1657

date: February 4

text: February 4 – Resettlement of the Jews in England: Oliver Cromwell gives Antonio Fernandez Carvajal the assurance of the right of Jews to remain in England.

title: 1657

date: January 8

text: January 8 – Miles Sindercombe and his group of disaffected Levellers are betrayed in their attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell by blowing up the Palace of Whitehall in London and are arrested.

title: 1657

date: July 13

text: July 13 – Following his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to Oliver Cromwell, English army leader John Lambert is ordered to resign his commissions.

title: 1657

date: May 8

text: May 8 – Lord Protector Cromwell confirms his refusal of the crown of England, preferring the title "Lord Protector".

title: 1657

date: January 13

text: January 13 – Edward Sexby, who had plotted against Oliver Cromwell, dies in the Tower of London.

title: 1658

date: May 15

text: May 15 – John Thurloe is arrested for high treason, for his support of Oliver Cromwell's regime.

title: 1660

date: January 30

text: January 30 – The body of Oliver Cromwell is exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution in London, along with those of John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton.

title: 1661

date: May 27

text: May 27 – The Marquess of Argyll, one of the first of the Scottish-born people sentenced to death as a regicide for his role in the conviction and execution of King Charles I of England and Scotland in 1649, is beheaded at the Tolbooth Prison in Edinburgh using the "Scottish Maiden," almost immediately after his conviction of collaboration with the government of Oliver Cromwell. His head is then placed on a spike outside the prison.

title: 1661


slug: olomouc

label: Olomouc

description: city in Czechia

text: The bishopric of Olomouc (located on the River Morava) is founded (modern Czech Republic).

title: 1063

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Otto I ("the Fair"), prince of Olomouc (b. 1045)

title: 1087

section: Births

text: Oldřich (or Oldericus), duke of Olomouc (d. 1177)

title: 1134

date: August 4

text: August 4 – King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia is assassinated at the age of 16 after a reign of only 14 months, being stabbed to death at Olomouc (now in the Czech Republic), bringing an end to the Přemyslid dynasty. His sister Anne of Bohemia administers the nation until her husband Henry of Carinthia is elected as the new King of Bohemia by the Bohemian nobles.

title: 1306

section: Events › July – September

date: May 3

text: May 3 – At Olomouc, Hungarian King Matyáš Korvín is elected by the Czech Catholic estates to be the King of Bohemia and his rule is accepted by the occupied regions of Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia, though the other Bohemian estates remain loyal to the Bohemian King Jiří z Poděbrad.

title: 1469

date: July 21

text: July 21 – The Peace of Olomouc is ratified by King Matthias and King Vladislaus during festivities in Olomouc.

title: 1479

date: March 4

text: March 4 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria promulgates at Olomouc the March Constitution of Austria, which abolishes the April Laws promulgated by the Hungarian Batthyány-govern, and degrades Hungary to a simple Austrian province.

title: 1849

date: November 29

text: November 29 – The treaty known as the Punctation of Olmütz is signed in Olomouc. It means diplomatic capitulation of Prussia to the Austrian Empire, which takes over the leadership of the German Confederation.

title: 1850


slug: olympia-greece

label: Olympia, Greece

description: town on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, site of the ancient Olympic Games

year_label: 470 BCE

text: The construction of the Temple of Zeus, begins at Olympia, Greece. This includes the relief sculpture (of which fragments now remain at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia) of Apollo with battling Lapiths and centaurs (approximate date).

title: 470 BC

section: Events › By topic › Architecture

year_label: 460 BCE

text: The sculpture Apollo with battling Lapiths and centaurs is built on the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (approximate date). Only fragments remain and are today preserved at the Archaeological museum in Olympia.

title: 460 BC

section: Events › By topic › Arts

year_label: 457 BCE

text: The Zeus Temple at Olympia is completed. The forty-foot statue of Zeus inside it becomes one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

title: 457 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 456 BCE

text: The temple of Zeus in Olympia is finished.

title: 456 BC

year_label: 435 BCE

text: A gold and ivory statue of Zeus, king of the gods, is completed at Elis by the Athenian sculptor Phidias for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The statue becomes one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Olympian Zeus is about seven times life size (or 13 metres) and occupies the full height of the temple.

title: 435 BC

section: Events › By topic › Art

year_label: 408 BCE

text: At the Panhellenic gathering at Olympia, the philosopher Gorgias speaks out against the Spartan alliance with Persia.

title: 408 BC

year_label: 312 BCE

text: Telesphorus enters Elis, fortifies its citadel, and enslaves the city. He then marches on Olympia and plunders its sacred precinct collecting 500 talents; with his booty Telesphorus stars hiring mercenaries.

title: 312 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece/Macedon/Thrace

text: Battle of Prinitza: Constantine Palaiologos marches the Byzantine army up the rivers Eurotas and Alfeios towards the Achaean capital, Andravida. At a narrow pass at Prinitza (near Ancient Olympia) in Elis, the Byzantines are attacked by Achaean forces (some 300 horsemen) under John of Katavas, who inflict a resounding defeat upon them; many Byzantine soldiers are killed. Constantine himself barely escapes with his life, and flees with the remainder of his army to the safety of Mystras.

title: 1263

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire


slug: olympias

label: Olympias

description: mother of Alexander the Great

year_label: 376 BCE

text: Olympias, wife of king Philip II of Macedon and mother of Alexander the Great (d. 316 BC)

title: 376 BC

year_label: 357 BCE

section: Culture & Society

text: Philip II of Macedon marries Olympias, the Molossian princess of Epirus thus helping to stabilize Macedonia's western frontier.

title: 357 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonia

year_label: 337 BCE

text: Olympias is put aside by her husband Philip II, following Philip's marriage to a girl named Cleopatra (who is renamed Eurydice). Their son, Alexander, is effectively disowned by Philip's actions. Philip II has Ptolemy, along with other companions of his son, exiled.

title: 337 BC

year_label: 336 BCE

text: Following Philip II of Macedon's marriage to Eurydice, Alexander and his mother, Olympias, flee to Epirus, with Alexander later moving to Illyria. However, shortly afterward, father and son are reconciled and Alexander returns; but his position as heir is tenuous.

title: 336 BC

year_label: 319 BCE

text: Alexander the Great's widow, Roxana, joins Alexander's mother, Olympias, in Epirus.

title: 319 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonian Empire

year_label: 317 BCE

text: Polyperchon flees to Epirus, where he joins Alexander the Great's mother Olympias, Alexander's widow Roxana, and Alexander's infant son Alexander IV. He forms an alliance with Olympias, who is acting as regent for Alexander IV, and King Aeacides of Epirus.

title: 317 BC

section: Crime & Justice

text: While Cassander is occupied in the Peloponnesus, Olympias leads an army into Macedonia. She is initially successful, defeating the army of King Philip III Arrhidaeus and capturing King Philip and his wife, Eurydice, as well as Cassander's brother, Nicanor. She then has them murdered.

title: 317 BC

year_label: 316 BCE

text: Cassander returns from the Peloponnesus and defeats Macedonia's regent Polyperchon in battle. Cassander blockades Olympias, mother of the late Alexander the Great, in Pydna, where she surrenders. Cassander takes Roxana and her son Alexander IV of Macedon into his custody.

title: 316 BC

text: Olympias is condemned to death by Cassander, but his soldiers refuse to carry out the sentence. She is eventually killed by relatives of those she has previously had executed.

title: 316 BC

section: Deaths

text: Olympias, Epirote princess, wife of Macedonian king Philip II and the mother of Alexander the Great (b. c. 376 BC)

title: 316 BC

year_label: 308 BCE

text: Cleopatra of Macedon, sister of Alexander the Great and daughter of King Philip II of Macedon and Olympias (b. c. 356 BC)

title: 308 BC


slug: ontario

label: Ontario

description: province of Canada

date: May 2

text: May 2 – The Hudson's Bay Company is granted a royal charter in England with the jurisdiction to control administration and commerce in "Rupert's Land", governed for the crown by Rupert, Duke of Cumberland, the cousin of King Charles II. The land is a 1.5 million square mile area of what is now Canada around Hudson Bay. The area controlled covers all of the modern province of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, and significant portions of Alberta and Nunavut, as well as parts of what are now Ontario and Quebec, and parts of the U.S. states of Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana.

title: 1670

section: Conflict & Security

date: June 26

text: June 26 – The Battle of Fort Albany, an attack by 100 French colonial volunteers and Cree natives on the British Hudson's Bay Company outpost at Fort Albany on Hudson Bay. John Fullartine, commander of the post, leads a successful defense of the fort and 18 of the attackers are killed and then retreat. The site becomes part of a Cree First Nation reserve in the Canadian province of Ontario.

title: 1709

date: October 13

text: October 13 – War of 1812 – Battle of Queenston Heights: As part of the Niagara campaign in Ontario, Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops, led by Sir Isaac Brock (who dies during the battle).

title: 1812

section: Events › October–December

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: July 8

text: July 8 – The Chippewa people cede a huge tract of land in Ontario to British control.

title: 1822

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: November 30

text: November 30 – The first sod is turned in Ontario for the first of four Welland Canals. The canal opens for a trial run five years later to the day, on November 30, 1829.

title: 1824

date: May 30

text: May 30 – The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario (Canada) is opened.

title: 1832

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Ottawa, Ontario, is incorporated as a city.'

title: 1855

section: Events › January–March

date: March 29

text: March 29 – The British North America Act receives royal assent, forming the Dominion of Canada, in an event known as the Confederation. This unites the Province of Canada (Quebec and Ontario), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia on July 1. Ottawa will become the capital.

title: 1867

section: Events › March

section: Climate & Environment

date: October 7

text: October 7 – Baudette fire of 1910, a wildfire that burns ca. 350,000 square miles in Minnesota and Ontario, including several towns.

title: 1910

section: Events › October

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: July 29

text: July 29 – Matheson Fire: In Ontario, Canada, a lightning strike ignites a forest fire that destroys the towns of Cochrane and Matheson, killing 233.

title: 1916

section: Events › July

date: December 20

text: December 20 – A chartered Curtiss C-46 Commando crash-lands in Cobourg, Ontario Canada; all on board survive.

title: 1951

section: Events › December

section: Health & Medicine

date: May 20

text: May 20–21 – A tornado outbreak tears through Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, leaving eight people dead and 123 people injured.

title: 1953

section: Events › May

date: July 5

text: July 5 – Air Canada Flight 621 crashes near Toronto International Airport, Toronto, Ontario through pilot error; all 109 passengers and crew are killed.

title: 1970

date: May 31

text: May 31 – Forty-four tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, including a rare and powerful F5. In total, the event kills 90 people.

title: 1985


slug: oran

label: Oran

description: coastal city in Oran Province, Algeria

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Moorish Andalusian merchants set up a trade settlement (so-called emporium) in Oran (modern Algeria).

title: 902

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: The Kharijite Banu Ya'la tribe revolts against the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya and destroys the city of Oran (modern Algeria). They construct a new capital, Ifgan, near Mascara.

title: 955

section: Events › By place › Africa

text: Spring – Almohad forces under Abd al-Mu'min defeat a Muslim Almoravid army at Tlemcen. Almoravid ruler Tashfin ibn Ali dies while escaping his enemies near Oran. He is succeeded by his son Ibrahim ibn Tashfin.

title: 1145

date: February 1

text: February 1 – A small Crusader fleet of Genoese and English ships sets sail from Lisbon for the Holy Land. The Anglo-Flemish Crusader fleet takes Oran.

title: 1148

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Spain completes the conquest of the Algerian cities of Oran and Mers El Kébir in the Oran Province, after a 17-day siege.

title: 1732

section: Events › July–September

date: October 10

text: October 10 – At least 3,000 people die in Algeria when an earthquake and tsunami strikes the city of Oran. The city is destroyed and Spanish forces eventually flee in 1792.

title: 1790

date: July 3

text: July 3 – WWII: Attack on Mers-el-Kébir: British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Mers-el-Kebir and Oran, to prevent them from falling into German hands. The following day, Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.

title: 1940

date: February 6

text: February 6 – WWII: Royal Canadian Navy corvette HMCS Louisburg is bombed and sunk off Oran, Algeria by Italian aircraft.

title: 1943

section: Events › February

date: March 24

text: March 24 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is arrested in Oran.

title: 1962


slug: order-of-saint-benedict

label: Order of Saint Benedict

section: Religion & Belief

text: At about this date, Ligugé Abbey in France is founded for the monastic Order of Saint Benedict by Martin of Tours, under dispensation from Bishop Hilary of Poitiers.

title: AD 360

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: The Benedictine Order is established at Monte Cassino near Naples by Benedict of Nursia, who founds a monastery and formulates for his monks strict rules in the "Regula Benedicti".

title: 529

section: Births

text: Basolus, French Benedictine and hermit (approximate date)

title: 555

text: The Lombards under Zotto, Duke of Benevento, sack the abbey of Monte Cassino near Naples. The Benedictine monks who survive flee to Rome, but they return to the site, and rebuild the monastery.

title: 581

date: June

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

title: 595

text: Gregorian Mission: Augustine of Canterbury lands with a group of missionaries on the Isle of Thanet (South East England). He is welcomed by King Æthelberht of Kent, who accepts baptism (along with the rest of his court) at the behest of his Christian Frankish wife, Bertha. Æthelbert assigns Augustine and his 40 monks a residence at Canterbury, where they found a Benedictine monastery that will make the town a centre of Christianity (or 596).

title: 597

text: Weltenburg Abbey in Bavaria (Germany) is founded by Benedictine monks.

title: 620

section: Deaths

text: Amatus, Benedictine abbot and hermit

title: 627

text: Eanswith, daughter of King Eadbald of Kent, founds the Benedictine Folkestone Priory, the first nunnery in England.

title: 630

section: Events › By place › Britain

text: Earconwald, Anglo-Saxon abbot, establishes the Benedictine abbeys, Chertsey Abbey (Surrey) for men and Barking Abbey (now in east London) for women.

title: AD 666

section: Events › By place › Religion

text: King Merewalh of Magonsæte founds the monastery of Wenlock Priory in Shropshire, England, appointing his daughter Milburga as Benedictine abbess.

title: 680

text: Aldegund, Frankish Benedictine abbess

title: 684

text: Plague kills almost all of the Benedictine monks in the monastery of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey (Northumbria), aside from the abbot Ceolfrith and one small boy – future scholar Bede.

title: 686

text: Willibrord, Anglo-Saxon missionary, travels from York with 12 Benedictine monks to Westkapelle, (modern Netherlands) to Christianize the pagan Frisians.

title: 690

section: Culture & Society

text: Willibrord establishes a Benedictine training centre for priests and young noblemen. This seminary later becomes Utrecht University.

title: 695

text: Civil War within the Pepinid clan: A revolt erupts between the Neustrian Franks and Frisians. King Radbod forces bishop Willibrord and his Benedictine monks to flee, and advances as far as Cologne (Germany). Frisia (modern-day Netherlands) once again becomes independent.

title: 714

text: Autpert Ambrose, Frankish Benedictine monk (d. 784)

title: 730

text: Schäftlarn Abbey (Bavaria) is founded by Waltrich, a Benedictine monk of noble family, south of modern-day Munich, Germany.

title: 762

text: Paul the Deacon, a Benedictine monk at Monte Cassino, completes the History of the Lombards (approximate date).

title: 795

text: Rabanus Maurus, Frankish Benedictine monk, takes his vows in the monastery of Fulda and receives ordination as a deacon.

title: 801

text: Bertharius, Benedictine abbot and poet (approximate date)

title: 810

text: Candidus of Fulda, Benedictine scholar

title: 812

text: Wandelbert, Benedictine monk (approximate date)

title: 813

text: Grimbald, Frankish Benedictine monk (d. 901)

title: 820

text: Rabanus Maurus, a Frankish Benedictine monk, becomes abbot of Fulda, after the death of Eigil.

title: 822

text: Berengaudus, Benedictine monk (d. 892)

title: 840

text: Summer – Vikings sail up the River Seine and devastate the city of Rouen in Normandy. They burn the Benedictine monastery of Jumièges Abbey; 68 captives are taken, and returned on payment of a ransom, by the monks of St. Denis.

title: 841

date: April 21

text: April 21 – Rabanus Maurus, a Frankish Benedictine monk, becomes archbishop of Mainz after the death of Odgar.

title: 847

text: Wilfred the Hairy, count of Barcelona, founds the Benedictine monastery at Ripoll, in Catalonia (Spain).

title: 879

text: Bertharius, Benedictine abbot and poet

title: 883

text: Berengaudus, Frankish Benedictine monk (b. 840)

title: 892

date: July 8

text: July 8 – Grimbald, Frankish Benedictine monk (b. 820)

title: 901

text: William I (the Pious) of Aquitaine, donates land in Burgundy for the building of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to the saints Peter and Paul. Hence the Abbey of Cluny, becomes the largest in the West. In the foundation charter, William renounces all rights to the monastery and nominates Berno as the first abbot of Cluny (Eastern France). He places the monastery directly under the control of the Papal See.

title: 910

text: Einsiedeln Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, is founded (modern Switzerland).

title: 934

text: Dunstan becomes abbot of Glastonbury Abbey in England. He re-creates monastic life by establishing Benedictine monasticism in the monastery.

title: 945

text: Notker III, German Benedictine monk (d. 1022)

title: 950

text: Seborga (modern-day Liguria) comes under the jurisdiction of the Benedictine monks of Santo Onorato of Lérins.

title: 954

text: Dunstan receives the pallium as archbishop of Canterbury from Pope John XII. He reforms monasteries and enforces the rule of Saint Benedict: poverty, chastity and obedience for monks.

title: 960

section: Events › By place › England

text: Re-foundation of Peterborough (also called Medeshamstede) Abbey in England as a Benedictine monastery by Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester (approximate date).

title: 966

text: Pietro I Orseolo, doge of Venice, escapes from Venice and travels to the Benedictine abbey of Michel-de-Cuxa (Southern France). He is succeeded by Vitale Candiano (not the bishop of Grado) as doge of Venice.

title: 978

text: Notker (or Notger), Frankish Benedictine monk and bishop, founds the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (modern Belgium) which will remain an independent state inside the Holy Roman Empire for more than 800 years.

title: 980

text: Adamo Abate, Italian Benedictine abbot (approximate date)

title: 990

text: Bishop Wulfsige III establishes a Benedictine abbey at Sherborne (Dorsetshire).

title: 998

text: Count Oliba (Taillefer) Ripoll. Oliba takes up the Benedictine habit at the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll.

title: 1003

text: Simeon of Mantua, Armenian Benedictine monk

title: 1016

text: Buckfast Abbey (located near Buckfastleigh) is founded as a Benedictine monastery in England.

title: 1018

date: March 30

text: March 30 – Atenulf, Italian nobleman and Benedictine abbot

title: 1022

text: Alpert of Metz, French Benedictine chronicler

title: 1024

text: Lidanus, Lombard Benedictine abbot (d. 1118)

title: 1026

text: Ernulf, French Benedictine monk and bishop (d. 1124)

title: 1040

text: Egbert of Fulda, German Benedictine abbot

title: 1058

text: Anselm enters the Benedictine Bec Abbey in Normandy, as a novice (approximate date).

title: 1060

text: The church of St Helen's Bishopsgate in the City of London is founded, as a priory of Benedictine nuns.

title: 1210

text: Ambrose Barlow, recently graduated from the College of Saint Gregory, Douai, France, and the Royal College of Saint Alban in Valladolid, Spain, enters the Order of Saint Benedict. In 1641 he will be martyred in England.

title: 1616

text: March – English Benedictine monks expelled from Douai are permitted to proceed to England.

title: 1795


slug: oregon

label: Oregon

description: state of the United States of America

date: March 6

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

title: 1778

section: Events › January–March

date: October 29

text: October 29 – Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after British Admiral Lord Hood by Lt. William Broughton of the Vancouver Expedition, who spots the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.

title: 1792

section: Events › October–December

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: February 14

text: February 14 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.

title: 1859

section: Conflict & Security

date: May 25

text: May 25 – The Hells Canyon massacre begins: 34 Chinese gold miners are ambushed and murdered in Hells Canyon, Oregon, United States.

title: 1887

section: Crime & Justice

text: February 1 – U.S. Senator John H. Mitchell of Oregon is indicted by a federal grand jury on charges arising from a scandal involving land grants in the state and illegally using his influence for private clients.

title: 1905

section: Economy & Finance

date: February 25

text: February 25 – Oregon places a one cent per US gallon (0.26¢/liter) tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.

title: 1919

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: October

text: Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Project in Oregon, is completed.

title: 1921

section: Events › October

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: August 14

text: August 14 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acre km2.

title: 1933

section: Events › August

date: June 15

text: June 15–July 1 – In New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, thousands of acres of forests are destroyed in fires.

title: 1951

section: Events › June

date: July 22

text: July 22 – Wayne Morse, American lawyer, politician, and United States Senator from Oregon (1945–1969) (b. 1900)

title: 1974

section: Deaths › July


slug: origen

label: Origen

description: Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian (c. 185 – c. 253)

section: Births

text: Origen, Christian scholar and theologian (approximate date)

title: AD 184

title: AD 185

section: Religion & Belief

text: Origen replaces Clement as the head of the Christian school in Alexandria.

title: 203

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Origen, disciple of Ammonius Saccas, founder of Neoplatonism, is exiled in Caesarea.

title: 231

text: Origen founds a school of Christian theology in Palestine.

title: 232

text: Origen publishes the Old Testament in five languages (approximate date).

title: 239

text: Origen writes an eight-volume work, criticizing the pagan writer Celsus.

title: 248

section: Deaths

text: Origen, a Christian scholar from Alexandria (b. c. 184)

title: 253

text: Epiphanius of Salamis attacks Origen's followers and urges John II, Bishop of Jerusalem, to condemn his writings.

title: 394

text: Anastasius I succeeds Siricius as the 39th pope. He seeks to reconcile the churches of Rome and Antioch. Anastasius also condemns the doctrine of Origen.

title: 399


slug: orkney

label: Orkney

description: archipelago, county and council area in northern Scotland

text: Bridei III, King of the Picts, campaigns violently against Orkney.

title: 682

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: King Harald Fairhair of Norway subdues the rovers on the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, and adds them to his kingdom (approximate date).

title: 875

text: Magnus Erlendsson, Norse earl of Orkney (d. 1115)

title: 1080

date: April 16

text: April 16 – Magnus Erlendsson, Norse earl of Orkney (b. 1080)

title: 1117

text: Cubbie Roo's Castle is built on Wyre (Orkney Islands) and is first mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga.

title: 1150

section: Events › By place › Britain

date: August 20

text: August 20 – Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, Earl of Orkney

title: 1158

date: October 2

text: October 2 – Battle of Largs: Scottish forces under Alexander Stewart rout a Viking invasion force led by Haakon IV at Largs in North Ayrshire. The battle is inconclusive. On the morning of October 3, the Norwegians return to collect their dead and burn their beached ships. By the end of October, the Viking fleet reaches Orkney, where Haakon becomes ill and dies at the Bishop's Palace, on December 16.

title: 1263

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Treaty of Perth: King Alexander III of Scotland agrees to a peace settlement with King Magnus VI of Norway ("the Law-mender") in which the Outer Hebrides and Isle of Man are ceded to Scotland in exchange for 4,000 marks. In return, Alexander confirms Norwegian sovereignty over the islands of Shetland and Orkney.

title: 1266

date: September

text: September – The 7-year-old Margaret, Maid of Norway, queen-designate and heir to the crown of Scotland, dies en route to the British Isles in Orkney, leading to thirteen competitors for the crown of Scotland, a succession crisis.

title: 1290

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden publishes the Treaty of Kalmar, proposing the personal union of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney) and Sweden (including Finland and Åland).

title: 1396

section: Events › April–June

section: Culture & Society

date: June 17

text: June 17 – Erik of Pomerania is crowned in Kalmar (Sweden) as ruler of the Kalmar Union, a personal union of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney) and Sweden (including Finland and Åland) engineered by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, his great-aunt and adoptive mother, who retains de facto power in the realm.

title: 1397

text: Orkney and Shetland were absorbed into Scotland.

title: 1471

section: Events › Date unknown

date: February 20

text: February 20 – Orkney and Shetland are returned by Norway to Scotland, as a result of a defaulted dowry payment.

title: 1472

text: Elizabeth Rutter is hanged as a witch in Middlesex, England, Agnes Berrye in Enfield, and nine women in Leicester on the testimony of a raving 13-year-old named John Smith, under the Witchcraft Act 1603. In Orkney, Elspeth Reoch is tried. In France Leger (first name unknown) is condemned for witchcraft on May 6, Sylvanie de la Plaine is burned at Pays de Labourde as a witch, and in Orléans eighteen witches are killed.

title: 1616

date: December 10

text: December 10 – More than 200 captives on the ship The Crown of London, all Scottish Covenanters arrested after the battle of Bothwell Bridge, are killed when the ship is wrecked on the Orkney Islands while transporting the group to exile in North America.

title: 1679

date: August 2

text: August 2 – Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning lands his aircraft on the ship in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He is killed 5 days later during another landing on the ship.

title: 1917

date: April 10

text: April 10 – WWII: First naval Battle of Narvik – The British Royal Navy attacks the German fleet in the Ofotfjord. At Bergen, German cruiser Königsberg is sunk by British Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers, flying from RNAS Hatston in Orkney.

title: 1940

section: Events › April

date: March 17

text: March 17 – The Longhope life-boat is lost after answering a mayday call during severe storms in the Pentland Firth between Orkney and the northern tip of Scotland; the entire crew of 8 die.

title: 1969

section: Events › March


slug: orleans

label: Orléans

description: large city and commune in Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire, France

year_label: 53 BCE

section: Crime & Justice

text: At Cenabum (modern Orléans) Roman merchants are massacred by the Carnutes.

title: 53 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

section: Conflict & Security

text: Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum), settles the Alans around Valence and Orléans, to contain unrest in Brittany.

title: 444

date: June

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

title: 451

text: In the Gothic war against Aegidius, Childeric I, king of the Salian Franks, allies with the Roman general Aegidius. This war is ended by the battle near Orléans, where the Visigoths under King Theodoric II are defeated by the Franks, while crossing the Loire River.

title: 463

text: King Sigismund of Burgundy is defeated by the invading Franks under Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I. He is captured and taken as prisoner to Aurelianum (modern Orléans).

title: 523

date: May 1

text: May 1 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign, and is succeeded by his brother Godomar. He rallies the Burgundian army and begins plundering Frankish territory.

title: 524

date: November 29

text: November 29 – King Chlothar I ("the Old") dies at Compiègne at age 64. The Merovingian dynasty is continued by his four sons (Charibert I, Guntram, Sigebert I and Chilperic I), who divide the Frankish Kingdom and rule from the capitals at Paris, Orléans, Reims and Soissons, respectively.

title: 561

date: July

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

title: 585

text: September – Charles Martel leads his Frankish army (30,000 men) to Orléans and crosses the Loire River, probably accompanied by Eudes of Aquitaine, with his remaining troops. He makes camp near Tours, probably at Ballan-Miré south-west of the fortress city, in order to protect the abbey of Saint Martin. Charles defeats or forces back Umayyad scouts or an advance guard, between the rivers Indre and Creuse. Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi pulls back to establish a position at the Vienne River.

title: 732

text: A Danish Viking fleet raids the cities of Dorestad, Paris and Orléans. Others sail up the Oise River, ravaging Beauvais and the abbey of Saint-Germer-de-Fly (approximate date).

title: 857

date: December

text: December – The 15-year-old Robert (the son of Hugh Capet) is crowned co-ruler of France around Christmas at Orléans.

title: 987

date: March 29

text: March 29: Bishop Adalberon imprisons the treasonous Duke Charles of Lorraine and his nephew Arnulf, the Archbishop of Reims. Adalberon delivers the two men to King Hugh Capet, who imprisons them and their family in Orléans. The cities of Reims and Laon are returned to Capet.

title: 991

section: Events

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

date: August 1

text: August 1 – Louis VI dies of dysentery at Paris after a 29-year reign. He is succeeded by Louis Capet (known as Louis VII) as King of France. During his accession the burgesses of Orléans and Poitiers revolt – who wish to organise communes (creating independent city-states).

title: 1137

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Christine de Pizan writes a letter to Queen Isabeau, urging her to intervene in the political struggle between the dukes of Burgundy and Orléans.

title: 1405

section: Events › October–December

date: April 29

text: April 29 – Siege of Orléans: Joan of Arc enters Orléans with a relief expedition.

title: 1429

date: February 12

text: February 12 – Battle of Rouvray (or "of the Herrings"): English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy, which is carrying rations (food) to the army of William de la Pole, 4th Earl of Suffolk at Orléans, from attack by the Comte de Clermont and John Stewart.

title: 1429

section: Events › January–March

date: May 7

text: May 7 – The Tourelles, the last English siege fortification at Orléans, falls. Joan of Arc becomes the hero of the battle by returning, wounded, to lead the final charge.

title: 1429

date: May 8

text: May 8 – The English, weakened by disease and lack of supplies, depart Orléans.

title: 1429

date: April 2

text: April 2 – Civil war breaks out in the Kingdom of France as Louis I, Prince of Condé, leader of the Protestant Huguenots, declares war against the French Catholic rulers, in retaliation for the March 1 massacre of Vassy. Condé and Gaspard de Coligny seize control of Orléans, and other uprisings follow throughout France.

title: 1562

date: February 18

text: February 18 – François, Duke of Guise, is assassinated while besieging Orléans by Jean de Poltrot.

title: 1563

title: 1616


slug: orontes-river

label: Orontes River

description: river in Western Asia

year_label: 300 BCE

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Seleucus founds the city of Antioch, some 20 miles up the Orontes River, naming it after his father.

title: 300 BC

section: Events › By place › Seleucid Empire

year_label: 241 BCE

text: Peace is finally reached between Ptolemy III and Seleucus II. Ptolemy manages to keep the Orontes River region in Syria and Antioch as well as Ephesus in Asia Minor and Thrace and Cilicia.

title: 241 BC

section: Events › By place › Egypt

text: Battle of the Iron Bridge: Rashidun forces under Khalid ibn al-Walid defeat the Byzantine army and Christian Arabs near Antioch, at the Orontes River. It marks the complete annexation of Syria into the Rashidun Caliphate.

title: 637

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: November 29 – Battle of Hama: Abbasid forces under Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib defeat the Qarmatians near Hama, on the banks of the Orontes River (modern Syria). The Qarmatian army is scattered and pursued by Abbasid troops; Al-Husayn ibn Zikrawayh and other Qarmatian leaders are captured.

title: 903

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Basil II launches a counter-campaign against the Fatimid Caliphate. He leads a Byzantine expeditionary army (13,000 men) to aid the Hamdanid emir Sa'id al-Dawla, and crosses Asia Minor in only sixteen days. Basil lifts the siege of Aleppo, and takes over the Orontes Valley. He incorporates Syria into the Byzantine Empire (including the larger city of Antioch) which is the seat of its eponymous Patriarch.

title: 995

section: Events › Asia › Byzantine Empire

date: January 16

text: January 16 – The Crusaders, under Raymond IV, count of Toulouse (Raymond of Saint-Gilles), leave Antioch, and head south towards Jerusalem. They are joined by forces of Tancred (a nephew of Bohemond I) and Robert II, duke of Normandy. Raymond is given free passage and supplies, and accepts guides from the Emir of Shaizar (modern Syria), who conducts the army (6,000 men) across the Orontes River (between Shaizar and Hama).

title: 1099

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

text: The Crusaders under Raymond IV invade the Beqaa Valley and capture Tortosa to isolate Tripoli. Raymond expands towards the Orontes River, and begins to build a castle on the Mons Peregrinus which helps in the Siege of Tripoli (see 1102). Emperor Alexios I supports the Crusaders by sending a Byzantine fleet (ten ships) to blockade the port of Tripoli.

title: 1103

section: Events › By place › Levant

date: April 20

text: April 20 – Battle of Artah: The Crusaders under Tancred, Norman prince and regent of Antioch, defeat a Seljuk army (some 7,000 men) at Artah (modern-day Reyhanlı). Tancred threatens Aleppo, capital of Sultan Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan, and expands his conquest by conquering more territory east of the Orontes River with minor opposition.

title: 1105

text: Spring – The Crusaders under Pons, count of Tripoli, attack the fortress of Rafaniya (once held by Pons' grandfather Raymond IV), which dominates the entry of the Buqaia from the Orontes Valley. They besiege the fortress for 18 days and capture it on March 31.

title: 1126

date: August 29

text: August 29 – John II appears before the walls of Antioch, and encamps with the Byzantine army on the north bank of the Orontes River. For several days he besieges the city, Raymond of Poitiers (prince of Antioch) is forced to surrender. He recognizes John as his suzerain and becomes with Joscelin II (count of Edessa) a vassal of the Byzantine Empire.

title: 1137

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Summer – Nur al-Din, Seljuk ruler (atabeg) of Aleppo, re-captures most of Crusader territory in the Orontes Valley – reducing the Principality of Antioch to little more than a narrow coastal strip along the Mediterranean. The County of Tripoli remains unchanged and Jerusalem remains a potential threat with ambitions to expand eastward, while also striving to dominate the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt.

title: 1152

date: September

text: September – Two Mongol armies (some 50,000 men) advance into Syria. One is commanded by Abaqa Khan, who attacks the Mamluk fortresses along the Euphrates frontier. The second, led by his brother Möngke Temür makes contact with Leo III, king of Cilician Armenia, and then marches down through Aintab and Aleppo into the Orontes valley, where he is joined by Knights Hospitallerr and some French mercenaries. Meanwhile, Sultan Qalawun assembles his Mamluk forces at Damascus.

title: 1281

section: Events › By place › Middle East


slug: osaka

label: Osaka

description: designated city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Kongō Gumi, the world's oldest construction company (578–2006), is founded in Osaka (Japan).

title: 578

section: Events › By place › Asia

section: Religion & Belief

text: The Shitennō-ji monastery is founded at Osaka (Japan) by Shōtoku.

title: 593

section: Events › By topic › Religion

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Kōtoku creates a new city at Naniwa, and moves the capital from Yamato Province. The capital has a sea port, establishing foreign trade and diplomatic relations.

title: 645

section: Events › By place › Japan

text: A Great Reform edict changes Japan's political order. It will lead to the establishment of a centralized government with Kōtoku ruling from his palace, Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace, in Osaka.

title: 646

text: Prince Tenji of Japan changes his residence to Asuka (Nara Prefecture), with other imperial family members and ministers. Only Emperor Kōtoku stays in the Naniwa Palace (approximate date).

title: 653

date: July 18

text: July 18 – (Tenbun 18, 24th day of the 7th month) In the Battle of Eguchi, fought in Japan's Settsu Province near Osaka, General Miyoshi Nagayoshi defies the Governor, Hosokawa Harumoto, to attack the Eguchi Castle of Nagayoshi's cousin, Miyoshi Masanaga. After a 12-day battle, Miyoshi Masanaga is killed along with several of Hosokawa's other generals. Governor Hosokawa, fearing a reprisal, flees and eventually loses his authority over Settsu Province.

title: 1549

section: Events › July–September

date: September 25

text: September 25 (26th day of 8th month of Genki 1) – The 10-year-long Ishiyama Hongan-ji War begins in Japan as Oda Nobunaga stages simultaneous attacks on two fortresses (Ishiyama Hongan-ji and Nagashima) of the Ikkō-ikki faction near Osaka.

title: 1570

date: April 28

text: April 28 – (Tenshō 12, 18th day of the 3rd month) In Japan, the Battle of Komaki begins as fight between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu when Ieyasu, commander of 100,000 men, begins the occupation of the Komakiyama Castle, prompting Hideyoshi to advance from Osaka with 30,000 troops.

title: 1584

section: Events › April–June

text: Konoike Shinroku opens an office in Osaka, and begins shipping tax-rice from western Japan to Osaka.

title: 1615

section: Events › Date unknown

section: Economy & Finance

text: Konoike Zen'amon (son of Konoike Shinroku) founds a baking and money-changing business in Osaka, Japan.

title: 1656

section: Events › Undated

text: Japanese poet Ihara Saikaku composes 23,500 verses in 24 hours at the Sumiyoshi-taisha (shrine) at Osaka; the scribes cannot keep pace with his dictation and just count the verses.

title: 1684

text: The Shogunate confiscates the property of a merchant in Osaka "for conduct unbecoming a member of the commercial class". The government seizes 50 pairs of gold screens, 360 carpets, several mansions, 48 granaries and warehouses scattered around the country, and hundreds of thousands of gold pieces.

title: 1705

date: June 12

text: June 12 – Ohmiya (近江屋), as predecessor for Takeda, a major worldwide pharmaceutical brand, is founded in Doshomachi (道修町), Osaka, Japan.

title: 1781

text: Sogo, a Japanese department store brand founded in Osaka, Japan, as predecessor part of Seven & I Retail Group.

title: 1830

text: Iwai Fumisuke Shoten (岩井文助商店), predecessor of Japanese conglomerate Sojitz, is founded in Osaka.

title: 1862

text: Japanese tractor and iron pipe brand, Kubota founded in Osaka, Japan.

title: 1890

date: February 1

text: February 1 – The Suntory whisky distiller and worldwide alcoholic and soft drink brand of Japan is established by Shinjiro Torii in Osaka as a store selling imported wines.

title: 1899

section: Events › February

section: Climate & Environment

date: October 2

text: October 2 – A typhoon in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, kills 1,660, injures 5,400, and destroys the rice harvest.

title: 1934

section: Events › September–October

date: September 21

text: September 21 – The Muroto typhoon in Honshū, Japan kills 3,036 people, and destroys the temple, schools, and other buildings in Osaka.

title: 1934

section: Culture & Society

date: December 10

text: December 10 – Hanshin Tigers, a well known professional baseball club of Japan, is founded in Osaka.

title: 1935

section: Events › December

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: March 1

text: March 1 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explosion on the outskirts of Osaka kills 94.

title: 1939

date: January 29

text: January 29 – Three gasoline-powered trains carrying factory workers crash and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station, Yumesaki Line (Nishinari Line), Osaka, Japan, killing at least 181 people and injuring at least 92.

title: 1940

section: Events › January

date: October 1

text: October 1 – The Shinkansen high-speed rail system, the world's first such system, is inaugurated in Japan, for the first sector between Tokyo and Osaka.

title: 1964

section: Events › October

date: April 8

text: April 8 – A huge gas explosion at a subway construction site in Osaka, Japan, kills 79 and injures over 400.

title: 1970

section: Events › April

date: May 13

text: May 13 – A fire in a nightclub atop the Sennichi department store in Osaka, Japan, kills 115.

title: 1972

section: Events › May

date: April 13

text: April 13 – October 13 – Expo 2025 is held in Osaka, Japan.

title: 2025


slug: oslo

label: Oslo

description: capital city of Norway

text: The city of Oslo is founded by King Harald Hardrada of Norway (approximate date).

title: 1048

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Bergen is founded by King Olaf III of Norway; it will function as the main city and capital of Norway, until it is replaced by Oslo in 1314.

title: 1070

section: Events

section: Conflict & Security

date: August 31

text: August 31 – King Haakon V of Norway moves his capital from Bergen to Oslo – where he builds Akershus Fortress, from which Norway is ruled for the next 500 years.

title: 1314

section: Events › July – September

date: July 2

text: July 2 – The coronation of King Christopher of Sweden and Denmark as King of Norway takes place in Oslo.

title: 1442

date: July 20

text: July 20 – King Christian II is crowned King of Norway in Oslo. This coronation will be the last in Norway for 304 years until the crowning of King Karl III Johan in 1818.

title: 1514

date: November 5

text: November 5 – Christian II`s invasion force arrives in Oslo.

title: 1531

section: Events › October–December

date: November 21

text: November 21 – At Oslo, Patrick Vans, Lord Barnbarroch ratifies the marriage contract between King James VI of Scotland, and Anne of Denmark.

title: 1589

date: May 24

text: May 24 – The city of Oslo, Norway, is destroyed by fire for the fourteenth time. King Christian IV of Denmark–Norway decrees its rebuilding on a new site, where it will be renamed Christiania.

title: 1624

text: The first professional book publisher to use printing press in Norway is established in Oslo.

title: 1643

text: A fire destroys parts of Christiania, Norway.

title: 1758

text: The amateur dramatic group Det Dramatiske Selskab is founded in Christiania, Norway.

title: 1780

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: January 30

text: January 30 – The first public theatre in Norway, the Christiania Offentlige Theater, is inaugurated in Christiania (modern-day Oslo).

title: 1827

section: Events › January–March

date: February 24

text: February 24 – The first stage production of the verse-play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen premieres, with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, in Christiania (modern-day Oslo), Norway.

title: 1876

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: June 3

text: June 3 – The Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, led by Roald Amundsen on the steamer Fram, departs from Christiania (modern-day Oslo). No announcement until later in the year of Amundsen's intention to reach the South Pole.

title: 1910

section: Events › June

date: December 4

text: December 4–18 – The 'Peace Ship' Oscar II chartered by industrialist Henry Ford sails from Hoboken, New Jersey to Oslo on an independent and eventually unsuccessful mission to broker a peace conference.

title: 1915

date: February 14

text: February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.

title: 1952

section: Events › January–February

date: January 12

text: January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo.

title: 1953

section: Science & Discovery

text: Long-term potentiation (LTP), the putative cellular mechanism of learning and memory, is first observed by Terje Lømo in Oslo, Norway.

title: 1966

section: Crime & Justice

date: February 12

text: February 12 – Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is stolen in Oslo (it is recovered on May 7).

title: 1994

date: August 22

text: August 22 – Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.

title: 2004

section: Events › August

date: May 25

text: May 25–29 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 takes place in Oslo, Norway, and is won by German entrant Lena with the song "Satellite".

title: 2010