slug: pope-martin-v

label: Pope Martin V

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1417 to 1431

date: January

text: January/February – Pope Martin V (d. 1431)

title: 1369

section: Religion & Belief

date: November 21

text: November 21 – The coronation of Oddone Colonna as Pope Martin V takes place in Constance as he becomes the 206th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. His installation ends a period of two years and five months without a Pope at Rome, as he succeeds Pope Gregory XII, who had abdicated on July 4, 1415.

title: 1417

section: Events › October–December

date: March 14

text: March 14 – Braccio da Montone is awarded Governorship of Bologna by Pope Martin V in recognition of his ouster of Antongaleazzo Bentivoglio.

title: 1419

section: Events › January–March

date: March 1

text: March 1 – Pope Martin V issues the papal bull Omnium plasmatoris domini, calling upon Roman Catholics to unite in a crusade against what he considers heretic Christian sects, including the adherents of John Wycliffe (Lollards) and the followers of Jan Hus (Hussites).

title: 1420

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: July 10

text: July 10 – Pope Martin V gives his approval of the Treaty of Melno.

title: 1423

section: Events › July–September

date: June 10

text: June 10 – Gil Sánchez Muñoz y Carbón, a Spanish Roman Catholic bishop, is elected by bishops in Avignon as the third "antipope", succeeding the late Antipope Benedict XIII, who had died on May 23 after a reign of more than 20 years. Sánchez Muñoz takes the name of Antipope Clement VIII as the Avignon clergy disagree with Pope Martin V of Rome.

title: 1423

section: Events › April–June

date: December 30

text: December 30 – A peace treaty is signed in Venice between the Republic of Venice (led by the Doge Francesco Foscari) and the Duchy of Milan (ruled by the Duke Filippo Maria Visconti), through the mediation the papal envoy, Cardinal Niccolò Albergati. Milan is required to relinquish control of Brescia and Vercelli to Venice, but regains control of its former lands in Liguria.

title: 1426

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Pope Martin V orders the Roman Catholic bishops of Portro and Alba to work on driving the Fraticelli faction of the Franciscan Order from Italy.

title: 1427

date: August 23

text: August 23 – Pope Martin V, writing in the papal brief Ad statum, grants recognition to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, allowing them the right to hold property.

title: 1430

text: February 20 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)

title: 1431

date: July 25

text: July 25 – An ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, originally called by Pope Martin V before his death in February, convenes at Basel in Switzerland.

title: 1431

date: March 11

text: March 11 – Cardinal Gabriele Condulmer is elected as the successor to Pope Martin V and takes the name of Pope Eugene IV as the 207th leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1431


slug: pope-nicholas-v

label: Pope Nicholas V

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1447 to 1455

section: Births

date: November 15

text: November 15 – Pope Nicholas V (d. 1455)

title: 1397

section: Deaths

date: July 24

text: July 24 – At Basel in Switzerland, Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy is crowned as "Pope Felix V" by Roman Catholic cardinals of the Council of Basel who had voted to depose Pope Eugene IV as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. As Felix V, he is designated in Vatican history as the last "antipope". He remains in Basel and never travels to Rome to assume the papacy; in 1449, after the death of Eugene IV, Amadeus assumes an oath of loyalty to Eugene's successor, Pope Nicholas V.

title: 1440

date: March 19

text: March 19 – The coronation of Tommaso Parentucelli as Pope Nicholas V takes place in Rome. The crown is placed upon his head by Cardinal Prospero Colonna, who had come within two votes of being selected as the Pope on March 5.

title: 1447

date: March 6

text: March 6 – On the fourth vote of the papal conclave, Prospero Colonna is still unable to gain more than 10 votes, and Cardinal Capranica addresses the group, warning that Rome would be under attack from the King of Aragon. At the intervention of Cardinal Giovanni Berardi, the cardinals begin voting for a compromise candidate, Tommaso Parentucelli, who wins 12 votes. Parentucelli then takes the regnal name of Pope Nicholas V, the 208th Bishop of Rome and Pope.

title: 1447

text: The Vatican Library is founded by Pope Nicholas V.

title: 1448

section: Events › Date unknown

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Pope Nicholas V is elected by the Council of Basel.

title: 1449

date: January 7

text: January 7 – Pope Nicholas V issues a Papal Bull to establish The University of Glasgow; classes are initially held in Glasgow Cathedral.

title: 1451

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Pope Nicholas V issues the bull Dum Diversas, legitimising the colonial slave trade.

title: 1452

date: April 4

text: April 4 – The papal conclave to replace the late Pope Nicholas V begins. For the first time, the conclave is held at the Apostolic Palace in Rome. In the first rounds of ballots, the two front-running candidates are Cardinal Latino Orsini and Cardinal Prospero Colonna, and Colonna receives a plurality of votes, but not the required two-thirds majority.

title: 1455

date: January 8

text: January 8 – Pope Nicholas V publishes Romanus Pontifex, an encyclical addressed to King Afonso V of Portugal, which sanctions the conquest of non-Christian lands, and the reduction of native non-Christian populations to 'perpetual slavery'. (Later there will be a dramatic reversal when, in 1537, the bull Sublimis Deus of Pope Paul III forbids the enslavement of non-Christians.)

title: 1455

date: March 24

text: March 24 – Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)

title: 1455


slug: pope-paul-iii

label: Pope Paul III

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1534 to 1549 (1468–1549)

title: 1455

date: February 29

text: February 29 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)

title: 1468

date: October 13

text: October 13 – Cardinal Alessandro Farnese is elected as the 220th pope of the Roman Catholic Church after a two-day conclave to find a successor for Pope Clement VII, who had died on September 25. Farnese, the Bishop of Ostia, takes the name Pope Paul III and is crowned on November 3.

title: 1534

date: August 17

text: August 17 – Pope Paul III issues a papal bull, Sublimis Deus, to appoint a commission of five cardinals and three bishops to carry out a reform of the city of Rome and the Roman Curia, with unlimited powers to uproot and punish all spiritual and secular transgressions, abuses, and errors.

title: 1535

date: June 2

text: June 2 – Pope Paul III announces that he will send three legates to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; to King Ferdinand of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia; and King François of France to prevent an outbreak of war in Europe.

title: 1536

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Cardinal Agostino Trivulzio, the envoy of Pope Paul III, files his report of his peace mission to negotiate an agreement between the Holy Roman Empire and France.

title: 1536

text: June 2 – Pope Paul III publishes the encyclical Sublimis Deus, which declares the natives of the New World to be rational beings with souls, who must not be enslaved or robbed.

title: 1537

date: December 17

text: December 17 – Pope Paul III confirms the excommunication of Henry VIII of England from the Roman Catholic church.

title: 1538

date: February 8

text: February 8 – The Holy League, an alliance of Christian nations (the Papal States and the Republic of Venice, the Knights Hospitaller of Malta, Spain and the Spanish-ruled Viceroyalty of Naples and Sicily), is agreed upon under the direction of Pope Paul III and Venetian Senator Alvise Badoer.

title: 1538

date: January 12

text: January 12 – Treaty of Toledo: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (aka Charles I of Spain) and Francis I of France agree to make no further alliances with England. The treaty comes after Henry VIII of England's split with Rome and Pope Paul III.

title: 1539

date: September 27

text: September 27 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is approved by Pope Paul III, in his bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae.

title: 1540

date: July 21

text: July 21 – Pope Paul III establishes the Holy Office with the bull Licet ab initio, with jurisdiction over the Roman Inquisition.

title: 1542

date: November 9

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

title: 1542

text: March 24 – At a diet in Worms, Germany, summoned by Pope Paul III, the German Protestant princes demand a national religious settlement for Germany. Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V refuses.

title: 1545

date: September 16

text: September 16 – The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza is created in Italy by order of Pope Paul III, formerly Alessandro Farnese, to be ruled by his son, Pier Luigi Farnese.

title: 1545

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Hermann of Wied, the German Archbishop of Cologne, is excommunicated by Pope Paul III after his conversion to Protestantism.

title: 1546

date: September 23

text: September 23 –Pier Luigi Farnese, already the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, is given control of the Italian cities of Camerino and Nepi by after a donation to the Papal States, ruled by Pope Paul III.

title: 1546

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Giovanni Angelo Medici is appointed as a Roman Catholic cardinal by Pope Paul III, effective May 10. In 1559, Medici is elected as Pope Pius IV.

title: 1549

date: December 3

text: December 3 – The papal conclave to decide on a successor to Pope Paul III, goes into session in the Apostolic Palace in Rome with 51 cardinal electors.Participants at the papal conclave agree to elect the next Pope by secret ballot.

title: 1549

date: February 7

text: February 7 – After a 10-week conclave in Rome to elect a new Pope, Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, Bishop of Palestrina, is selected on the 61st ballot after Reginald Pole of England falls two votes short of winning. Ciocchi del Monte takes the name Pope Julius III and is crowned the next day, succeeding the late Pope Paul III.

title: 1550


slug: pope-paul-vi

label: Pope Paul VI

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978 (1897–1978)

date: August 21

text: August 21 – The Vatican announces that bones uncovered in its catacombs could be those of the apostle Peter; 19 years later, Pope Paul VI announces confirmation that the bones belong to this first pope.

title: 1949

section: Events › August

date: June 21

text: June 21 – Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) succeeds Pope John XXIII as the 262nd pope.

title: 1963

section: Events › June

date: January 5

text: January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople meet in Jerusalem.

title: 1964

section: Events › January

date: October 28

text: October 28 – Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, a "Declaration on the Relation of the (Roman Catholic) Church with Non-Christian Religions" by the Second Vatican Council which includes a statement that Jews are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus (Jewish deicide).

title: 1965

section: Events › September–October

date: October 4

text: October 4 – Pope Paul VI makes the first papal visit to the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.

title: 1965

date: April 27

text: April 27 – Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican (the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union).

title: 1966

section: Events › April

date: March 24

text: March 24 – Pope Paul VI meets Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in Rome, and gives him an episcopal ring.

title: 1966

section: Events › March

date: June 26

text: June 26 – Pope Paul VI ordains 27 new cardinals (one of whom is the future Pope John Paul II).

title: 1967

date: March 28

text: March 28 – Pope Paul VI issues the encyclical Populorum progressio.

title: 1967

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical Humanae vitae, reaffirming the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial birth control.

title: 1968

section: Events › July–August

date: February 14

text: February 14 – Pope Paul VI issues Mysterii Paschalis, a motu proprio, deleting many names from the Roman calendar of saints (including Valentine, who was celebrated on this day).

title: 1969

section: Events › February

date: July 31

text: July 31 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Entebbe, Uganda for the first visit by a reigning Pope to Africa.

title: 1969

section: Events › July

text: March 28 – Pope Paul VI increases the number of Roman Catholic cardinals by one-third, from 101 to 134.

title: 1969

date: October 3

text: October 3 – Pope Paul VI names Saint Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) as the second female Doctor of the Church.

title: 1970

section: Events › October

text: September 27 – Pope Paul VI names Saint Teresa of Ávila (d. 1582) as the first female Doctor of the Church.

title: 1970

section: Events › September

date: August 6

text: August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies at Castel Gandolfo.

title: 1978

date: October 19

text: October 19 – The Roman Catholic Church beatifies Pope Paul VI.

title: 2014


slug: pope-pius-ii

label: Pope Pius II

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1458 to 1464 (1405–1464)

date: October 18

text: October 18 – Pope Pius II (d. 1464)

title: 1405

section: Religion & Belief

text: Enea Piccolomini, the future Pope Pius II, is sent by Cardinal Albergati on a secret mission to Scotland and Northern England.

title: 1435

date: September 3

text: September 3 – The coronation of Pope Pius II by Cardinal Prospero Colonna takes place on the front steps of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

title: 1458

date: January 18

text: January 18 – The Order of Our Lady of Bethlehem is founded by Pope Pius II, to defend the island of Lemnos.

title: 1459

section: Events › January–March

date: May 27

text: May 27 – Pope Pius II arrives in Mantua in the Italian region of Lombardy as the guest of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, in order to convene the Council of Mantua in hopes of organizing a crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Meetings begin on June 1 the Council continues for six months.

title: 1459

date: January 14

text: January 14 – After gaining a consensus at the Council of Mantua, Pope Pius II formally declares a Christian crusade against the Muslim Ottoman Empire to recapture Constantinople, which had been captured by the Ottomans in 1453.

title: 1460

date: January 16

text: January 16 – The conflict in Poland over who should be the bishop of Krakow — Pope Pius II's appointee Jakub of Sienno or King Casimir IV's pick, Jan Gruszczynski — Pope Pius sends his legate, the Archbishop of Crete Hieronymus Landus, to negotiate a compromise that ultimately ends with Jakub being recognized by King Casimir as Bishop.<

title: 1462

date: October 7

text: October 7 – Pope Pius II issues the declaration Apud Raynaldum, condemning the enslavement of Christians, although the prohibition is limited only to people recently baptized.

title: 1462

section: Events › October–December

date: April 28

text: April 28 – Pope Pius issues the papal bull In Minoribus Agnetes, retracting his earlier complaint against the late Pope Eugene IV and endorsing the previous work at the Council of Basel.

title: 1463

date: October 22

text: October 22 – Pope Pius II issues the papal bull Ezechielis prophetae, offering an indulgence to any Christians who take part in a crusade against the Ottoman Empire for at least six months or who donate funds to support it.

title: 1463

date: September 12

text: September 12 – Pope Pius II calls for all Christians to participate in a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1463

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Pope Pius II himself shoulders the cross of the Crusades, and departs for Ancona to participate in person. He names Skanderbeg general captain of the Holy See, under the title Athleta Christi. This plan forces Skanderbeg to break his ten-year peace treaty with the Ottomans signed in 1463, by attacking their forces near Ohrid.

title: 1464

date: March 23

text: March 23 – Pope Pius II excommunicates the entire town of Prudnik (now part of Poland and its Roman Catholic inhabitants for its failure to pay its share of the debts owed to the Duke of Oels, Konrad IV the Elder.Tadeusz Kwaśniewski, (16 August 2002).

title: 1464


slug: pope-pius-xi

label: Pope Pius XI

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1922 to 1939

date: February 6

text: February 6 – Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) succeeds Pope Benedict XV, to become the 259th pope.

title: 1922

date: December 11

text: December 11 – Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quas primas, on the Feast of Christ the King, is promulgated.

title: 1925

section: Events › December

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Pope Pius XI emerges from the Apostolic Palace, and enters St. Peter's Square in a huge procession witnessed by about 250,000 persons, thus ending nearly 60 years of self-imposed status by the papacy as Prisoner in the Vatican.

title: 1929

date: December 31

text: December 31 – The Papal encyclical Casti connubii, issued by Pope Pius XI, stresses the sanctity of marriage, prohibits Roman Catholics from using any form of artificial birth control, and reaffirms the Catholic prohibition on abortion.

title: 1930

date: May 15

text: May 15 – Pope Pius XI issues the encyclical Quadragesimo anno, on the "reconstruction of the social order".

title: 1931

section: Events › May

date: February 11

text: February 11 – Pope Pius XI meets Benito Mussolini in Vatican City.

title: 1932

date: March 10

text: March 10 (dated March 14 (Passion Sunday)) – The encyclical Mit brennender Sorge ("With burning concern") of Pope Pius XI is published in Germany in the German language. Largely the work of Cardinals von Faulhaber and Pacelli, it condemns breaches of the 1933 Reichskonkordat agreement signed between the Nazi government and the Catholic Church, and criticises Nazism's views on race and other matters incompatible with Catholicism.

title: 1937

date: March 19

text: March 19 – The encyclical Divini Redemptoris of Pope Pius XI, critical of communism, is published.

title: 1937

date: March 2

text: March 2 – Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI to become the 260th pope, holding office until 1958.

title: 1939


slug: pope-sixtus-iv

label: Pope Sixtus IV

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1471 to 1484 (1414-1484)

section: Births

date: July 21

text: July 21 – Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484)

title: 1414

date: August 9

text: August 9 – Cardinal Francesco della Rovere, who received no votes in the initial round of balloting in the papal conclave, receives 13 votes and is elected as the new Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He takes the regnal name of Pope Sixtus IV to become the 212th pope.

title: 1471

section: Events › July–September

date: January 9

text: January 9 – Pope Sixtus IV lifts the order of interdict that had been placed by Pope Paul II on the late Bohemian King George of Poděbrady and his sons, granting absolution, after the sons convert to the Roman Catholic faith.

title: 1473

date: May 7

text: May 7 – Pope Sixtus IV appoints eight clerics to the College of Cardinals, the most in his career, the most since December 18, 1439 when 17 were appointed by Pope Eugene IV.

title: 1473

section: Events › April–June

section: Conflict & Security

date: June 27

text: June 27 – After an 11-month siege, Charles the Bold abandons the Siege of Neuss when an imperial relief army from the Holy Roman Empire approaches; a papal legate of Pope Sixtus IV threatens excommunication of both Charles and Emperor Frederick III should the fighting continue, allowing both rulers to withdraw without loss of honor.

title: 1475

date: May 12

text: May 12 – Pope Sixtus IV grants a special dispensation for Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the three-year-old son of King Edward IV, is betrothed to 4-year-old Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, in a waiver of canon law that sets a minimum age for marriage as 14 for boys and 12 for girls. The children's wedding will take place on January 15, 1478.

title: 1477

date: November 1

text: November 1 – The Spanish Inquisition begins as Pope Sixtus IV promulgates the papal bull Exigit sinceras devotionis affectus, permitting the Crown of Castile, at the request of Queen Isabella, to create the office of Inquisitor General, with the Dominican bishop Tomás de Torquemada to prosecute accused heretics.

title: 1478

date: July 28

text: July 28 – An Ottoman army lands near Otranto in southern Italy. Pope Sixtus IV calls for a crusade to drive the Ottomans away. Otranto falls on August 12 after a 15-day siege.

title: 1480

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Pope Sixtus IV issues the papal bull Cogimur jubente altissimo, calling for Roman Catholics to participate in a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, starting with the Turkish-occupied southern Italian area in and around Otranto, with the liberation of Valona (now in Albania) to follow.

title: 1481

date: March 22

text: March 22 – Pope Sixtus IV, in a special bull, grants self-government rights to the Italian town of Ascoli Piceno.

title: 1482

section: Deaths

date: August 12

text: August 12 – Pope Sixtus IV (b. 1414)

title: 1484

date: August 29

text: August 29 – Giovanni Battista Cybo, Bishop of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, is elected to succeed the late Pope Sixtus IV (who died on August 12) as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and takes the regnal name of Pope Innocent VIII as, the 213th pope.

title: 1484


slug: pope-urban-ii

label: Pope Urban II

description: 11th century pope and initiator of the Crusades

text: Urban II, pope of the Catholic Church (approximate date)

title: 1035

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Pope Urban II (Urbanus) succeeds Victor III as the 159th pope of the Catholic Church in Rome.

title: 1088

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: The Synod of Melfi, led by Pope Urban II (his first papal council), issues decrees against simony and clerical marriage.

title: 1089

date: April 21

text: April 21 – The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the dignity of a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II.

title: 1092

date: March

text: March – Emperor Alexios I Komnenos send envoys to Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza and appeals to the Christian states of Western Europe for military aid against the Seljuk Turks. Urban responds favourably, hoping to heal the Great Schism of 40 years earlier, and to reunite the Catholic Church under papal primacy by helping the Eastern churches.

title: 1095

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: August

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

title: 1096

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

date: October

text: October – The Council of Bari presided by Pope Urban II discusses relations between the Western and the Eastern Church.

title: 1098

date: July 29

text: July 29 – Pope Urban II (Urbanus) dies after a 9-year pontificate at Rome. He is succeeded by Paschal II as the 160th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 1099

text: July 29 – Urban II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1035)

title: 1099

date: September 8

text: September 8 – Antipope Clement III dies at Civita Castellana after a 20-year reign in opposition to the legitimate popes Gregory VII, Victor III and Urban II. Supporters of Emperor Henry IV in Rome choose Theodoric as his successor.

title: 1100


slug: pope-urban-v

label: Pope Urban V

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1362 to 1370

text: Urban V, French pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1370)

title: 1310

date: September 28

text: September 28 – Pope Urban V succeeds Pope Innocent VI, as the 200th pope.

title: 1362

section: Events › January–December

date: July 26

text: July 26 – At Avignon, Pope Urban V learns of a possible invasion of France by John of Gaunt and his intention to capture Provence, and writes to England's King Edward III to take steps to prevent it.

title: 1367

date: October 16

text: October 16 – Pope Urban V makes the first attempt to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon. This move is reversed in 1370, when he is forced to return to Avignon, and shortly afterwards dies.

title: 1367

date: October 11

text: October 11 – Pope Urban V issues a papal bull appointing William Whittlesey as Archbishop of Canterbury, and "primate of all England".

title: 1368

date: October 17

text: October 17 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Urban V meet at Viterbo in Italy and make plans to enter Rome together after the Pope's travel from Avignon.

title: 1368

date: April 15

text: April 15 – Saint Elzéar of Sabran (1285-1323) is canonized by Pope Urban V as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1369

date: December 19

text: December 19 – Pope Urban V (b. 1310)

title: 1370

date: December 20

text: December 20 – The 200th Roman Catholic pontiff, Pope Urban V, dies in Avignon after eight years, the first five of which were in Rome.

title: 1370

date: January 2

text: January 2 – In France, the war over the autonomous state of Provence, launched by King Charles V's brother, the Duke of Anjou, against the ruling countess, Queen Joanna I of Naples, is halted by a truce forced by the invention of Pope Urban V and King Charles.

title: 1370

date: June 26

text: June 26 – Heidelberg University is opened by Ruprecht I, Count Palatine of the Rhine seven months after he received permission from Pope Urban V to create a school studium generale. Formal establishment will take place on October 19.

title: 1386

date: May 3

text: May 3 – Pope Boniface IX of Rome excommunicates Onorato Caetani, Great Constable of the Kingdom of Naples, who had previously been excommunicated in 1367 by Pope Urban V of Rome, and then was forgiven in 1378 by Pope Clement VII of Avignon. Boniface's action follows Caetani's continued support of the Avignon papacy, after which a crusade against Caetani's properties at Fondi.

title: 1399


slug: pope-urban-vi

label: Pope Urban VI

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1389 (1318–1389)

date: March 27

text: March 27 – Antonio Ballester of Catalonia is appointed as the Latin Archbishop of Athens by Pope Urban VI.

title: 1370

date: April 18

text: April 18 – The coronation of Pope Urban VI takes place in Rome on Easter Sunday.

title: 1378

date: December 16

text: December 16 – The antipope Clement VII declares nine clerics to be added as cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, joining those already allied with him as part of the Avignon Obedience against the cardinals of Pope Urban VI. Among the new "pseudo-cardinals", assigned to secure allegiance to the Antipope Clement from other European nations are Niccolò Brancaccio, Nicolas de Saint-Saturnin, Pierre Raimundi de Barrière Mirepoix, and Giacomo d'Itri.

title: 1378

text: The imposter Paul Palaiologos Tagaris, having been appointed Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Urban VI, takes up residence in his see at Chalcis.

title: 1380

section: Events › Date unknown

date: April 17

text: April 17 – The impostor Tagaris follows his donation of relics to Ancona with what he claims is one of the nails from the True Cross upon which Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified in the first century, as well as a foot from the skeleton of Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus. His claims are believed by the leaders of Ancona and he is appointed as the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Urban VI .

title: 1380

date: August 25

text: August 25 – Queen Joanna I of Naples surrenders the kingdom to Carlo di Durazzo, Duke of Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia, who had been able to start an invasion of Naples after the excommunication and order of deposition of Joanna by order of Pope Urban VI]. The Duke then takes the throne as King Carlo III.

title: 1381

date: June 2

text: June 2 – Due to the support by Queen Joanna I of Naples for the antipope Clement VII, Pope Urban VI declares her cousin, Carlo di Durazzo to be the new ruler of the Kingdom of Naples. Afterward, with the help of the Hungarians, Charles advances on Naples and captures Joanna. James of Baux, the ruler of Taranto and the Latin Empire, claims the Principality of Achaea after Joanna's imprisonment.

title: 1381

text: Shortly before his death on the last day of the year, John Wycliffe sends out tracts against Pope Urban VI, who has not turned out to be the reformist Wycliffe had hoped.

title: 1384

section: Events › Unknown Date

date: January 11

text: January 11 – After learning that several of his cardinals had been debating whether to depose him on grounds that he is insane, Pope Urban VI orders the arrest of all of the cardinals within his reach. Giovanni da Amelia, Gentile di Sangro, Adam Eston, Ludovico Donato, Bartolomeo da Cogorno, and Marino del Giudice are all arrested and imprisoned and tortured at the castle of Nocera. Except for Eston, the cardinals arrested are put to death in Genoa by the end of 1386.

title: 1385

date: October 18

text: October 18 – Heidelberg University (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), the oldest in Germany, is founded at the behest of Rupert I, Elector Palatine, by charter of Pope Urban VI.

title: 1386

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Pope Urban VI issues a papal bull permitting the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to establish a cathedral, acknowledging that pagan objects have been discarded and that Christianity has come to the Baltic nation.

title: 1388

date: May 21

text: May 21 – Permission to create the University of Cologne is granted to the city of Köln by Pope Urban VI. By the 21st century it will be the largest university in Germany.

title: 1388

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Lithuania, the last state in Europe to be Christianized, is given full recognition by Pope Urban VI as a Roman Catholic state.

title: 1389

date: November 2

text: November 2 – Pietro Tomacelli Cybo of Naples is elected as the successor of the late Pope Urban VI, and takes the name Pope Boniface IX.

title: 1389

section: Events › October –December

date: October 15

text: October 15 – Pope Urban VI (b. 1318)

title: 1389

date: July 24

text: July 24 – General Paolo Savelli of the Republic of Venice and Giovanni Colonna, Lord of Palestrina, attempt a coup d'etat to overthrow the government of Rome and the rule of Pope Urban VI by attacking Capitoline Hill, but fail to get support.

title: 1394

text: September 28 – Cardinal Pedro Martínez de Luna of the Kingdom of Aragon, opposed to the rule of the Roman Pope Urban VI, is elected at Avignon as the antipope Benedict XIII to succeed the antipope Clement VII.

title: 1394


slug: pope-zachary

label: Pope Zachary

description: pope

text: Zachary, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 752)

title: AD 679

date: November 28

text: November 28 – Pope Gregory III dies at Rome, after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by Zachary, as the 91st pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 741

section: Religion & Belief

text: King Liutprand of the Lombards meets Pope Zachary at Terni (Central Italy), who appeals to the king's religious faith. Liutprand is a pious Catholic and signs a 20-year peace treaty, restoring the cities of the Duchy of Rome which he has captured. The independent Lombard duchies of Spoleto and Benevento absorb into the Lombard Kingdom.

title: 742

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: June

text: June – Pope Zachary gives his approval by sending Abel, Grimo and Hartbert their palliums for the metropolitan sees of Reims, Rouen and Sens.

title: 744

date: October

text: October – Hildeprand is deposed by the council of nobles, for his incompetence as ruler. He is succeeded by Ratchis (formerly duke of Friuli) as king of the Lombards, who makes peace with Pope Zachary.

title: 744

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, renounces his position as majordomo, and withdraws from public life. He retires to a monastery near Rome, being tonsured by Pope Zachary, and leaves his brother Pepin the Short as sole ruler (de facto) of the Frankish Kingdom.

title: AD 747

text: In Rome, Pope Zachary closes down a slave market, where Venetian merchants had been selling Christian captives to the Muslims in North Africa.

title: 748

text: King Ratchis of the Lombards besieges Perugia, but is convinced to lift the siege by Pope Zachary. His decision to lift the siege of Perugia undermines his authority among the Lombard nobility, and ultimately results in the nobility deposing him at a council in Milan. King Ratchis is forced to retire with his family to the monastery at Monte Cassino.

title: 749

text: King Aistulf of the Lombards captures Ravenna and the Romagna, ending the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. The last exarch Eutychius is killed by the Lombards. Aistulf threatens Rome, claiming a capitation tax. Pope Zachary, alarmed, appeals for aid from the Byzantine Empire, but his request is declined.

title: 751

date: November

text: November – Pepin the Short, youngest son of Charles Martel, forces the last Merovingian king Childeric III to retire to the monastery of Saint-Bertin. He proclaims himself as king of the Franks with the support of Pope Zachary, and is crowned at Soissons by Boniface, bishop of Mainz, becoming, as Pepin III, the first Carolingian monarch of the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 751

date: March 15

text: March 15 – Zachary, pope of the Catholic Church

title: 752

date: March 22

text: March 22 – Pope Zachary dies at Rome after an 11-year reign. He is succeeded by Stephen, but he dies four days after, and is not considered legitimate because he was not consecrated.

title: 752


slug: pope

label: Pope

description: bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic church

text: Antipope Felix II dies after a 9-year reign, ending the double occupancy of the papacy.

title: AD 365

text: Pope Gelasius I, Pope in Catholic church (d. 496)

title: 410

text: A synod at Constantinople attempts to impinge on the Pope's rights in Illyria. Proclus tries to implement the synod's decisions, and Pope Sixtus III reminds the Illyrian bishops of their obligations to his vicar at Thessaloniki.

title: 437

text: Pope Gelasius I gains support from Italian bishops, in his assertion that the spiritual power of the papacy is superior to the emperor's temporal authority. Like his predecessors, the pope opposes the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I's efforts to establish Miaphysite doctrine.

title: 495

text: Pope Benedict I, Pope of Catholic church (d. 579)

title: 525

text: Wilfrid returns to Northumbria, with papal support, but is imprisoned by King Ecgfrith, and again exiled. He travels to the Kingdom of Sussex and begins to evangelise the people.

title: 680

text: King Liutprand of the Lombards occupies all of the Exarchate of Ravenna. He advances towards Rome along the Via Cassia, and is met at the city of Sutri by Pope Gregory II, near the borders of the Duchy of Rome. Liutprand signs the Donation of Sutri, by which parts of Latium are given to the papacy (the first extension of papal territory in Italy). This marks the historical foundation of the Papal States.

title: 728

text: Emperor Leo III confiscates the papal territories in Sicily and Calabria (Southern Italy), from which Pope Gregory III derives most of his income tax. He transfers ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the former Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum to Anastasius, patriarch of Constantinople. Gregory begins his support of a revolt in Italy against iconoclasm. By now the break between the papacy and the Byzantine Empire is almost complete.

title: 733

text: Duke Thrasimund II recovers the duchy of Spoleto and kills Hilderic with Papal-Beneventian aid. He does not return the confiscated papal cities, and his alliance with Pope Gregory III ruptures.

title: 740

text: Kings Offa of Mercia and Beorhtric of Wessex call the Synod of Chelsea in Kent, which is attended by the Papal legates. There, Offa persuades the Papacy to grant Archepiscopal status to the Mercian See of Lichfield. In order to secure the royal succession, he has Hygeberht crown his son Ecgfrith king of Mercia at Brixworth.

title: AD 787

section: Events › By place › Britain

date: October 12

text: October 12 – The Synod of Clofesho (possibly Brixworth) is held, at which the Archbishopric of Lichfield is demoted to an ordinary bishopric, with papal permission obtained by King Coenwulf of Mercia.

title: 803

date: April 5

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

title: 823

text: Spring – Emperor Louis II (the Younger) marches with a Frankish army against Rome. While en route to the papal city, he becomes ill, and decides to make peace with Pope Nicholas I.

title: 864

text: The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol of the Faith is used for the first time during the Roman Mass, after Henry II, the newly crowned Holy Roman Emperor, asks the Pope to add it – together with the filioque clause. Prior to this date, the Creed has not been used at all during the liturgy.

title: 1014

date: March

text: March – Treaty of Venice: Frederick I Barbarossa acknowledges Alexander III as Pope, after a diplomatic mediation by Venetian doge Sebastiano Ziani.

title: 1177

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

title: 1192

section: Events

date: May 7

text: May 7 – Pope Clement VI succeeds Pope Benedict XII, as the 198th Pope.

title: 1342

date: July 7

text: July 7 – Charles VII of France issues the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, giving the French church control over the appointment of bishops, and depriving the Pope of French ecclesiastical revenues.

title: 1438

date: May 23

text: May 23 – Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.

title: 1498

date: October 10

text: October 10 – The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church west of the Dnieper becomes known as the Ukrainian Rite of Catholicism, whereas the East officially renounces the authority of the Pope.

title: 1596

section: Events › October–December

date: February 14

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

title: 1604

section: Events › January–March

date: September 21

text: September 21 – Pope Innocent XI succeeds Pope Clement X, as the 240th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1676

date: November 17

text: November 17 – The Green Ribbon Club, a predecessor of the British Whigs, organizes a procession to burn an effigy of the Pope in London for the second year running.

title: 1680

text: Pope Leo XIII is filmed, making him the first ever Pope to be filmed and the earliest-born person to be captured on film. (Note: to view the event in the video above, go to timestamp 3:07)

title: 1896

date: July 31

text: July 31 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Entebbe, Uganda for the first visit by a reigning Pope to Africa.

title: 1969

section: Events › July

date: June 30

text: June 30 – Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland, for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.

title: 1988

section: Events › June


slug: porto

label: Porto

description: municipality in Portugal

text: Constantius II recalls Pope Liberius to Rome, where he receives a joyous welcome from the Christians. Antipope Felix II prudently retires to his estate near Porto (Portugal).

title: 358

date: December

text: December - Rechiar, first Germanic king to convert to Nicene Christianity, is captured at Oporto and executed.

title: 456

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: King Alfonso III conquers Porto from the Emirate of Cordoba. This is the end of the direct Muslim domination of the Douro region.

title: 864

text: The County of Portugal is established around the town of Portus Cale (present-day Porto) by Vímara Peres, an Asturian nobleman, after the reconquest from the Moors of the region north of the Douro River.

title: 868

section: Culture & Society

text: King Alfonso VI ("the Brave") of Castile arranges to marry his daughter Theresa to Henry of Burgundy (House of Burgundy). Theresa's dowry includes the County of Portugal, given to Henry with Porto as the capital.

title: 1096

section: Conflict & Security

date: February 23

text: February 23 – A revolt against the government of King Joseph I of Portugal takes place in the city of Porto. After the riot's suppression, the King's minister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, orders harsh punishments against the perpetrators, carried out in October.

title: 1757

section: Crime & Justice

date: October 14

text: October 14 – Of the 478 people arrested, and 442 (including 50 women and young boys) convicted, for their roles in the Porto riot in February, 13 men and one woman are hanged; afterwards, their bodies are then quartered, and the severed limbs are publicly displayed on spikes. Another 49 men and 10 women are exiled to Portuguese colonies in Africa and India, and the other convicts are either flogged, imprisoned, or pressed into service rowing galley ships.

title: 1757

date: May 12

text: May 12 – Peninsular War – Second Battle of Porto: The Anglo-Portuguese Army, commanded by Wellesley, drives the French army, commanded by Marshal Soult, out of Porto, and forces them to retreat from the country.

title: 1809

section: Events › April–June

date: August 24

text: August 24 – A Constitutionalist insurrection breaks out at Oporto, Portugal.

title: 1820

section: Events › July–September

date: January 31

text: January 31 – The Portuguese republican revolution breaks out, in the northern city of Porto.

title: 1891

section: Events › January


slug: portsmouth

label: Portsmouth

description: city in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

text: Battle of Llongborth (possibly Langport or Portsmouth): King Budic II of Brittany seeks refuge at the court of Aergol Lawhir, in Dyfed (Wales) after the battle.

title: 510

section: Events › By place › Britannia

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Robert Curthose lands at Portsmouth with an army in an effort to take the English throne from his younger brother, Henry I.

title: 1101

section: Events › By place › England

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: The town of Portsmouth is founded by the Norman merchant Jean de Gisors, who establishes it as a strategic port to facilitate trade between England and France (approximate date).

title: 1180

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: May 2

text: May 2 – Richard I grants Portsmouth market-town status with a royal charter. He orders the construction of docks on The Solent – having seen that the harbour is a perfect base for trade and the English fleet.

title: 1194

section: Events › By topic › Commerce

date: October 13

text: October 13 – King Henry III calls for an army to be assembled at Portsmouth to be transported to Normandy to regain lost territories from the French. A large army of knights turns up ready to go but not enough ships have been provided. Henry blames Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent for the fiasco and in his rage will have killed him if Ranulf of Chester has not intervened. This marks the beginning of the rift between Henry and Hubert de Burgh. Meanwhile, the expedition is postponed until mid-1230.

title: 1229

date: April 30

text: April 30 – English invasion of France: King Henry III embarks from Portsmouth with a large expeditionary force. On May 2, he arrives on the island of Guernsey, and the next day the English army lands at Saint-Malo, where Peter I (de Dreux), duke of Brittany, meets Henry to pay him homage. The English forces march through the County of Anjou, taking the castle of Mirebeau in late July.

title: 1230

text: Summer – The Lord Edward travels from Portsmouth with his mother, Queen Eleanor of Provence, and Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury, to marry the 13-year-old Eleanor of Castile, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile. Henry III has demanded the marriage in exchange for ending the war with Alfonso. In August, the party arrives in Burgos, capital of Castile, where the marriage is due to take place.

title: 1254

section: Climate & Environment

date: September 11

text: September 11 – 1275 British earthquake: An earthquake strikes the south of Great Britain. The epicentre is unknown, although it may have been in the Portsmouth-Chichester area on the south coast of England or in Glamorgan, Wales.

title: 1275

section: Events › By place › British Isles

text: Philip VI of France besieges Guienne in Southwest France, and his navy attacks Portsmouth, England.

title: 1338

section: Events › Date unknown

date: July 3

text: July 3 – The English fleet attempts to sail from Portsmouth to Normandy, but is forced back by contrary winds.

title: 1346

date: May

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

title: 1346

date: September

text: September – Hundred Years' War: The French burn Portsmouth, England; the English raid Picardy and Normandy.

title: 1369

date: July 29

text: July 29 – Henry VIII of England's flagship, the Mary Rose, is launched from Portsmouth.

title: 1511

date: July 1

text: July 1 – The English Armada, commanded by Sir Francis Drake, returns to Portsmouth after almost three months of pillaging the Spanish kingdoms.

title: 1589

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: February 17

text: February 17 – "The greatest fleet that had ever put out for America" departs from Portsmouth with 250 ships

title: 1759

date: December 31

text: December 31 – Affair of Fielding and Bylandt: Following a brief naval engagement between the British and Dutch off the Isle of Wight, the Dutch merchantmen and naval vessels are captured and taken to Portsmouth, England.

title: 1779

date: May 13

text: May 13 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with the 11 ships of the First Fleet, carrying around 700 convicts and at least 300 crew and guards to establish a penal colony in Australia.

title: 1787

text: September – Macartney Embassy: George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, sails from Portsmouth in HMS Lion as the first official envoy from Great Britain to China.

title: 1792

section: Science & Discovery

date: February

text: February – The Rosetta Stone is brought to England by Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who arrives at Portsmouth on the captured French frigate L'Egyptiane.

title: 1802

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: October 12

text: October 12 – End of penal transportation from Britain as the last convict ship, the Hougoumont, departs from Portsmouth on an 89-day passage to Western Australia. 62 Fenians are among the transportees.

title: 1867

section: Events › October

date: December 21

text: December 21 – Challenger expedition: sails from Portsmouth, England, on the 4-year scientific expedition that lays the foundation for the science of oceanography.

title: 1872

section: Events › December

text: October 13 – , a pre-dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, is launched at Portsmouth, England; she will be deployed widely in World War I.

title: 1897

date: April 19

text: April 19 – British diver Lionel (Buster) Crabb (working for MI6) dives into Portsmouth Harbour, to investigate a visiting Soviet cruiser, and vanishes.

title: 1956

section: Events › April

date: July 4

text: July 4 – English yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero's welcome as he sails into Portsmouth, after his 354-day solo round-the-world trip.

title: 1968

section: Events › July–August


slug: portugal

label: Portugal

description: country in Southwestern Europe

section: Religion & Belief

text: Constantius II recalls Pope Liberius to Rome, where he receives a joyous welcome from the Christians. Antipope Felix II prudently retires to his estate near Porto (Portugal).

title: 358

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Paternus becomes bishop of the Episcopal see of Braga (Portugal).

title: 388

section: Births

text: Hydatius, bishop of Aquae Flaviae (modern Chaves, Portugal) (approximate date)

title: 400

text: Hydatius becomes bishop of Aquae Flaviae in Gallaecia (modern Chaves) in Portugal.

title: 428

section: Conflict & Security

text: Majorian invades Hispania; his generals Nepotianus and Sunieric lead a Visigoth army into Gallaecia. The Suebi are defeated and Lusitania (modern Portugal) is conquered.

title: 460

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

date: April 27

text: April 27 – Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Muslim troops (7,000 men) led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar, and begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (now Spain and Portugal). Tariq begins his Islamic conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, which during the decade he occupies and brings under Umayyad sovereignty.

title: AD 711

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Arab forces under Abd al-Malik ibn Katan al-Fihri, governor (wali) of Al-Andalus, suppress the Berber rebellion in the region of Mértola (modern Portugal).

title: 742

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Al-Ala ibn Mugith, supporter of the Abbasid cause, is defeated by the Umayyad emir of al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman I, at Beja (modern-day Portugal).

title: 762

text: King Alfonso II of Asturias campaigns against the Arab Muslims in Al-Andalus. With Frankish military support, he raids into Andalusia and sacks Lisbon (modern Portugal).

title: 798

section: Events › By place › Iberia

text: In Gharb al-Andalus (modern Portugal), Hazim ibn Wahb leads a rebellion against the Emirate of Córdoba.

title: AD 808

text: A rebellion in Gharb al-Andalus (modern Portugal) is crushed by the Emirate of Córdoba.

title: 809

text: Reconquista: King Alfonso III of Asturias conquers the city of Coimbra (modern Portugal), which is under the Umayyad Caliphate.

title: 878

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: In Portugal, the count of Coimbra, Hermenegildo Gutiérrez, reconquers Coimbra, which was temporarily lost after the first conquest of 878.

title: 889

text: Summer: Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus, continues his effort in the north of the Iberian Peninsula and plunders the city of Coimbra (modern Portugal).

title: 986

text: Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus, occupies the city of Coimbra (modern Portugal).

title: 987

text: Al-Mansur, Chancellor and effective ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers the Castle of Montemor-o-Velho (modern Portugal), expanding the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba.

title: 990

text: Al-Mansur, the de facto ruler of Al-Andalus, assaults and partially destroys the city of Santiago de Compostela. He is accompanied in his raid by Christian Portuguese lords, who all receive a share of the booty. On their way, they sack the cities of Zamora and León.

title: 997

text: King Ferdinand I of León ("the Great") begins his campaign against al-Andalus. He conquers Seia from the Christian allies of the Muslim taifas. In a drive to consolidate his southern border in Portugal he re-populates the city of Zamora with some of his Cantabrian (montañeses) subjects.

title: 1055

text: King Ferdinand I of León ("the Great") takes the cities of Lamego and Viseu (modern Portugal) from Christian lords allied to the Muslim Taifa of Silves.

title: 1057

text: Summer – King Ferdinand I (the Great) conquers more territory in modern-day Portugal and captures Coimbra. He appoints Sisnando Davides to reorganise the economy and administer the lands encircling the city.

title: 1064

text: The Almoravids briefly reconquer Coimbra (modern Portugal).

title: 1117

date: September 17

text: September 17 – A large offensive, by the Almohad army led by Yusuf I in southern Portugal, aims at the reconquest of the Alentejo. Further north, an Almohad fleet sails to attack Lisbon, but is repelled by the Portuguese, near the Cape Espichel. The Portuguese fleet later manages to enter in the harbour of Ceuta, and destroy a number of Muslim ships. It is the beginning of a four-year naval conflict between the Almohads and Portuguese.

title: 1179

section: Events › By place › Africa

date: August 10

text: August 10 – Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur is proclaimed the new caliph of the Almohad Caliphate, after his father Abu Yaqub Yusuf is killed in Portugal.

title: 1184

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese preacher and saint (d. 1231)

title: 1195

section: Culture & Society

date: January 23

text: January 23 – King Ferdinand IV of the Spanish Kingdom of Castile, having recently reached the age of majority at age 16, marries 12-year-old Princess Constance, the only daughter of King Dinis of Portugal, in a ceremony at Valladolid.

title: 1302

section: Events › January–March

text: July 3 – Portugal joins forces with the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in their attack on Gibraltar.

title: 1309

section: Events › July – September

text: August 10 – The Treaty of Elvas is signed between King Fernando of Portugal and King Juan of Castile to end the Third Fernandine War. Under the agreement, Portugal ends its alliance with England and joins Castile and France in the Hundred Years' War, and recognizes the jurisdiction of the antipope Clement VII over the Portuguese church. Castile returns all Portuguese prisoners of war and ships, and gives Almeida and Miranda back to Portugal. Finally, King Fernando's daughter Beatriz marries King Juan's son Ferdinand.

title: 1382

section: Crime & Justice

date: September 12

text: September 12 – Shortly before his death, King Fernando I of Portugal creates the kingdom's first police force, the Quadrilheiros, initially consisting of 20 of the strongest men in Lisbon, and gives them the authority to arrest criminals. The concept of a city police force is expanded to other communities and becomes the basis for the Polícia de Segurança Pública.

title: 1383

date: August 21

text: August 21 – Conquest of Ceuta: Portugal conquers the city of Ceuta from the Moors, initiating the Portuguese Empire, and European expansion and colonialism.

title: 1415

date: August 17

text: August 17 – Siege of Ceuta: After four days of battle, the Portuguese defenders of the city of Ceuta are able to force a retreat of invaders from Morocco.

title: 1419

text: July 1 – Portuguese explorers João Gonçalves Zarco, Tristão Vaz Teixeira and Bartolomeu Perestrello, at the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, discover Madeira Island, a year after Zarco and Tristão had discovered Porto Santo Island.

title: 1419

text: Portuguese navigator Álvaro Fernandes reaches the mouth of the Casamance River in Senegal.

title: 1446

text: Portugal begins to settle the Cape Verde Islands, with slaves from the coast of Guinea.

title: 1462

text: An extensive slave trade begins in modern Cameroon as the Portuguese sail up the Wouri River and Fernão do Po claims the central-African islands Bioko and Annobón for Portugal.

title: 1472

section: Events › Undated

date: April 3

text: April 3 – While in Valladolid, capital of the Kingdom of Castile and León, to celebrate a tournament in their honor, the joint rulers of Castile, Queen Isabella and King Fernando II are interrupted by a messenger sent by King Afonso V of Portugal. King Afonso announces a declaration of war against the crown of Castile and León.

title: 1475

section: Events › April–June

date: June 21

text: June 21 – The papal bull Aeterni Regis grants Portugal first option to all newly conquered African and Asian lands south of the Canary Islands to Portugal.

title: 1481

date: August 4

text: August 4 – Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão and his crew arrive at Loango Bay in West Africa on Saint Dominic's Day, and Cão names the body of water Praia Formosa de São Domingos; from there he and the crew become the first Europeans to enter the Congo River.

title: 1482

text: Isaac Abravanel flees Portugal, after being implicated in a plot against the king.

title: 1483

date: October 10

text: October 10 – King João II of Portugal appoints Bartolomeu Dias to lead an expedition to sail around what will be called the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, in the hope of finding a trade route to India.

title: 1486

section: Events › October–December

date: July 13

text: July 13 – Prince Alfonso, the only legitimate son of King João II of Portugal, and heir apparent to the throne, is killed in an accident when the horse he is riding falls and crushes him.

title: 1491

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the New World between themselves.

title: 1494

text: October 25 – Manuel, Duke of Beja and Visieu takes the throne of Portugal as King Manuel I, following the death of his cousin, King João II.

title: 1495

text: April 19 – The Lisbon Massacre begins in Portugal with three days of violence, in which thousands of Jews are tortured and killed by Catholics.

title: 1506

text: May 20 – "Ulysses", the first known rhinoceros in Europe, arrives at Lisbon in Portugal after being brought by ship from India.

title: 1515

text: June 17 – A fleet of eight ships of the navy of Portugal, commanded by Fernão Pires de Andrade and dispatched from Goa by Portuguese India's Governor Lopo Soares de Albergaria on orders of King Manuel I, arrives in China at Canton (now Guangzhou) and brings the Ambassador Tomé Pires and his diplomatic corps to start trade and foreign relations.

title: 1517

text: January 26 – 1531 Lisbon earthquake: More than 30,000 people are killed in Portugal in an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

title: 1531

text: January 22 – São Vicente is established as the first permanent Portuguese settlement in Brazil.

title: 1532

text: November 5 – The siege of the Indian city of Diu ends as the Gujarat and Ottoman forces withdraw from the Portuguese held city.

title: 1538

text: December 17 – King João III of Portugal, creates a colonial government of Brazil, with a capital at Bahia, in order to maintain unity among various Portuguese captaincies (São Vicente, Nova Lusitania, Ilhéus and Porto Seguro) scattered along the coast. The document contains 48 articles governing the installation of the government, the organization of trade, measures for defense, treatment of the indigenous tribes, and policies toward foreigners. The King provides for a Governor-General, and appoints Tomé de Sousa as the first officeholder.

title: 1548

text: In the Persian Gulf, the Ottoman Empire Red Sea Fleet attacks the Portuguese stronghold of Hormuz, but fails to capture it.

title: 1552

text: June 24 – The Portuguese ship São João is wrecked off of the coast of South Africa. While 480 people survive initially, all but 25 of them die during the next 165 days while trying to reach the mouth of the Maputo River in what is now Mozambique.

title: 1552

text: February 7 (11th waning of Tabodwe 925 ME) – Burmese–Siamese War: Invaders from Burma overcome the seaside defenses of the Siamese capital at Ayutthava, capturing the batteries of cannons and a set of ships sent by Portugal to help defend the kingdom.

title: 1564

text: July 26 – Battle of Ponta Delgada (War of the Portuguese Succession): Spanish admiral Santa Cruz decisively defeats a larger mercenary fleet from France, England, supporters of the Portuguese claimant António, Prior of Crato, and the Dutch Republic, under Filippo di Piero Strozzi (who is killed) off the Azores, the first engagement between large fleets of galleons, operating at any great distance from the mainland.

title: 1582

text: July 15 – The Battle of the Berlengas takes place off of the coast of Portugal as the Earl of Cumberland's five English privateers are surprised by five Spanish galleys commanded by General Francisco Coloma, commander of the Armada de Guarda Costa. Cumberland's ship, the Golden Noble, is captured.

title: 1591

text: August 14 – First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: A Dutch expedition commanded by Cornelis de Houtman returns to Amsterdam, after having successfully reached Java. This achievement opens the Spice trade, which had until then been monopolised by the Portuguese, to the Dutch, who in the next years launch several more expeditions to the Indies.

title: 1597

text: May 27 – The Kingdom of Kotte, on most of the western side of the island of Sri Lanka, upon the death of King Dharmapala. With no heirs, Dharmapala had made a will bequeathing the entire kingdom to the European nation of Portugal, creating the territory of Portuguese Ceylon (Puruthugisi Lankawa or Porthueka Ilankai).

title: 1597

text: June 3 – Anglo-Spanish War (1585) – Battle of Sesimbra Bay off of the coast of Portugal: Five galleons of the English Royal Navy defeat a larger force of Spanish Navy ships.

title: 1602

text: January 29 – Explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós of Portugal, accompanied by a party of 160 men on the ships San Pedro, San Pablo and Los Tres Reyes, leads the first Europeans to discover the Pitcairn Islands.

title: 1606

text: February 24 – King Anaukpetlun of Burma blockades the Portuguese port at Syriam with 80 warships and 3,000 men, then sets about to tunnel into the city.

title: 1613

text: February 19 – King Filipe III of Portugal issues a decree prohibiting the enslavement of Chinese people in Portugal or in its colonies.

title: 1624

text: January 17 – Action of 12–17 January 1640: A naval battle, part of the Dutch invasions of Brazil, between ships of the Dutch Republic and those of the Kingdom of Portugal, ends after five days of fighting with the Dutch driving the Portuguese away from the port of Recife.

title: 1640

text: June 1 – In Paris, representatives of Portugal and France sign a treaty of alliance.

title: 1641

text: November 8 – The Battle of Arronches takes place near the town of Arronches on the Portuguese side of the border between Portugal and Spain, with the Portuguese Army outflanking and defeating a larger Spanish force.

title: 1653

text: January 26 – Portugal recaptures the South American city of Recife from the Netherlands after a siege of more than two years during the Dutch-Portuguese War, bringing an end to Dutch rule of what is now Brazil. The Dutch West India Company has held the city (which they call Mauritsstad) for more than 23 years.

title: 1654

text: January 14 – In the Battle of the Lines of Elvas, fought near the small city of Elvas in Portugal during the Portuguese Restoration War, the Spanish Army under the command of Luis Méndez de Haro suffers heavy casualties, with over 11,000 of its nearly 16,000 soldiers killed, wounded or taken prisoner; the smaller Portuguese force of 10,500 troops, commanded by André de Albuquerque Ribafria (who is killed in the battle) suffers less than 900 casualties.

title: 1659

text: May 27 – William Morice takes office as the first Secretary of State for the Northern Department in Great Britain, with responsibility for conducting foreign relations with the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Poland, Russia, and the Holy Roman Empire. Relations with France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, the Italian states, and the Ottoman Empire are assigned to the Secretary of State for the Southern Department. The position will eventually evolve into the office of the Foreign Secretary.

title: 1660

text: August 6 – Portugal and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of The Hague, whereby the Dutch Republic's South American colony of Nieuw-Holland is sold to Portugal for the equivalent of roughly 63000 kg of gold, and incorporated into Brazil. The territory includes much of what will later become the Brazilian states of Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. Among the major Dutch settlements lost are Mauritsstad (Recife), Fort Schoonenborch (Fortaleza), Nieuw-Amsterdam (Natal), and Frederikstadt (João Pessoa).

title: 1661

text: May 21 – (May 31 N.S.); Princess Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King João IV of Portugal, marries Charles II of England. As part of the dowry, Portugal cedes Bombay in India, and Tangier in Morocco, to England.

title: 1662

text: November 18 – In southwest Africa, troops of the Army of Portugal, under the command of Luís Lopes de Sequeira, win the Battle of Pungo Andongo, capturing the fortress capital of the Kingdom of Ndongo after nine months and deposing King Ngola Hari. The kingdom is annexed into the Portuguese colony of Angola.

title: 1671

text: The first Portuguese governor is appointed to Macau.

title: 1680

text: December 24 – The Inquisition in Portugal carries out the sentence of burning at the stake against several Marrano Jews in Évora.

title: 1696

text: December 14 – Spanish General Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay leads the successful capture of Alcántara from Portugal

title: 1706

text: April 12 – Italian Jesuit missionary Niccolò Gianpriamo is dispatched from Portugal on an evangelical trip to Asia starting with the Portuguese Indian colony of Goa, where he arrives after five months.

title: 1714

text: April 26 – Pirates John Taylor and Olivier Levasseur capture the 700-ton Portuguese galleon Nossa Senhora do Cabo at Réunion. The total value of treasure on board (from Goa) is estimated as between £100,000 and £875,000, one of the largest pirate hauls ever.

title: 1721

text: March 30 – After King Haffon of the West African Kingdom of Whydah (in modern-day Benin) allows Portuguese traders to build the Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá in the capital at Savi, mercenaries of the Dutch West India Company make a failed attempt to destroy the fort by "throwing two flaming spears over the walls". By 1726, traders from Britain, France, the Netherlands and Portugal are all competing to establish trade with Whydah, which supplies other West Africans to be used as slaves.

title: 1726

text: March 16 – In Paris, representatives of Spain and Portugal sign an armistice bringing an end to the Spanish–Portuguese War over the area now occupied by the nation of Uruguay and the area now occupied by the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The news does not reach the fighting parties until five months later.

title: 1737

text: January 13 – The Treaty of Madrid between Spain and Portugal authorizes a larger Brazil than had the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which originally established the boundaries of the Portuguese and Spanish territories in South America.

title: 1750

text: January 9 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portugal's King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process.

title: 1822

text: September 7 – Brazil declares its independence from Portugal.

title: 1822

text: February 28 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

title: 1969

text: September 27 – Luís Cabral declares the independence of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau from the Estado Novo regime in Portugal. It is later granted in September 1974.

title: 1973

text: November 25 – A failed military coup d'état by far-left activists occurs in Portugal.

title: 1975

text: January 1 – Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which becomes the European Union in 1993.

title: 1986

text: May 27 – At the Prater Stadium of Vienna, Porto of Portugal defeats Bayern München of West Germany 2–1 and wins its first European Cup.

title: 1987

text: May 3 – British three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, described by The Daily Telegraph as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history".

title: 2007

text: April 28 – A widespread power outage affects Spain and Portugal for hours. Andorra is affected for a few seconds while southern France is lightly affected.

title: 2025

text: September 3 – At least 16 people are killed and over 21 are injured after the Glória funicular derailment in the centre of Lisbon, Portugal.

title: 2025


slug: portuguese-empire

label: Portuguese Empire

description: global empire centered in Portugal (1415–1999)

text: August 21 – Conquest of Ceuta: Portugal conquers the city of Ceuta from the Moors, initiating the Portuguese Empire, and European expansion and colonialism.

title: 1415

section: Events › July–September

section: Religion & Belief

date: May 3

text: May 3 – The ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, Nkuwu Nzinga, is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.

title: 1491

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: April 14

text: April 14 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reaches Malindi, in modern-day Kenya.

title: 1498

date: March 1

text: March 1 – Battle of Salt River: Indigenous ǃUriǁʼaekua decisively defeat sailors of the Portuguese Empire in South Africa.

title: 1510

date: May

text: May – Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares and his crew land on Lintin Island, in the Pearl River estuary, near Guangzhou, becoming the first Europeans to arrive in China by sea.

title: 1513

text: Chinese Ming dynasty War Ministry official He Ru is the first to acquire the Portuguese breech-loading culverin, while copies of them are made by two Westernized Chinese at Beijing, Yang San (Pedro Yang) and Dai Ming.

title: 1522

section: Events › Date unknown

text: The Ming dynasty Chinese navy captures two Western ships with Portuguese breech–loading culverins aboard, which the Chinese call a fo–lang–ji (Frankish culverin). According to the Ming Shi, these cannons are soon presented to the Jiajing Emperor by Wang Hong, and their design is copied in 1529.

title: 1523

date: April 22

text: April 22 – The Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between the Spanish and Portuguese empires, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.

title: 1529

date: March 10

text: March 10 – The Portuguese crown divides Colonial Brazil into fifteen donatory captaincies, hereditary titles similar to duchies. Rodrigo Ricupero, A Formação da Elite Colonial no Brasil (de 1530 a 1630) (Almedina Brasil, 2020),

title: 1534

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Recife is founded by the Portuguese, in Brazil.

title: 1537

date: April 7

text: April 7 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon, on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

title: 1541

text: The first contact of Japan with the West occurs when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, lands Antonio Pexoto, Francisco Zeimoto and António Mota in Japan, according to António Galvão. According to the Japanese books Tanegashima Kafu and Teppoki, it is stated they landed in 1543.

title: 1542

date: April 4

text: April 4 – The Battle of Jarte begins in Ethiopia as the Army of the Portuguese Empire, commanded by Cristóvão da Gama encounters the army of the Ethiopian ruler, the Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, achieving a victory on April 16.

title: 1542

date: August 28

text: August 28 – Battle of Wofla in Ethiopia: Reinforced with at least 2900 arquebusiers and cavalry, the Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi attacks the Portuguese camp. The Portuguese are scattered; Cristóvão da Gama is captured and executed.

title: 1542

date: February 2

text: February 2 – Battle of Baçente: The Portuguese under Cristóvão da Gama capture a Muslim-occupied hillfort in northern Ethiopia.

title: 1542

text: Portuguese explorers encounter the island of Taiwan, and call it Ilha Formosa ("Beautiful Island").

title: 1544

text: Although trade existed between the two beforehand, in this year the Portuguese begin to send regular seasonal maritime trade missions to Ming dynasty China, at Sao João Island (also known as Shangchuan Island) near Macau.

title: 1549

text: Portugal founds a sugar colony at Bahia.

title: 1551

text: With the permission of the Ming dynasty government of China, and for the benefit of both Western and Eastern merchants, the Portuguese settle in Macau (retroceded in 1999). Direct Sino-Portuguese trade has existed since 1513, but this is the first official legal treaty port on traditional Chinese soil, that will form a long-term Western settlement.

title: 1557

text: The first Spanish galleon, laden with silver for the porcelain and silk trade with the Ming Dynasty of China, lands at Manila in the Philippines. This occasion marks the beginning of the Spanish silver trade to China, that will trump that of the Portuguese, the latter of whom acted as an intermediary between the silver mines of Japan, and the luxury items in China to be purchased with that silver. Most of the silver entering China comes from what is now Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru in the New World.

title: 1573

text: The Portuguese assist Lord Ōmura Sumitada, the first Christian Japanese daimyo, in repulsing an assault on Nagasaki by the Ryūzōji clan.

title: 1578

date: March 25

text: March 25 – Iberian Union: King Philip II of Spain becomes King of Portugal under the name Philip I, following the death without heirs of King Henry of Portugal, in a personal union of the crowns, thus maintaining Portuguese independence (in Europe and throughout the Portuguese Empire). The Philippine Dynasty rule lasts until 1640.

title: 1580

date: October 9

text: October 9 – Sinhalese–Portuguese War – Campaign of Danture: Forces of the Kingdom of Kandy gain a decisive victory over the Portuguese Empire, reversing near-total control of Sri Lanka by Portugal. Pedro Lopes de Sousa, the Governor of Portuguese Ceylon, is killed in the battle, and replaced on December 24 by Jerónimo de Azevedo.

title: 1594

text: Dutch troops attack the Portuguese in Malacca.

title: 1601

text: The Portuguese are expelled from Bahrain.

title: 1602

date: June 5

text: June 5 – James Lancaster's East India Company fleet arrives at Achin (modern-day Aceh), Sumatra to deal with the local ruler. Having defeated Portugal's ally, the ruler is happy to do business, and Lancaster seizes a large Portuguese galleon and loots it.

title: 1602

date: February 25

text: February 25 – Dutch–Portuguese War: the Portuguese ship Santa Catarina is seized by Dutch East India Company ships off Singapore.

title: 1603

date: August 16

text: August 16 – Battle of Cape Rachado: A Dutch fleet is defeated by the Portuguese.

title: 1606

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Battle of Swally: Forces of the British East India Company and Portugal engage off the coast of India, resulting in an English victory.

title: 1612

date: January

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

title: 1623

date: May 8

text: May 8 – Capture of Bahia: A Dutch West India Company fleet captures the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia from the Portuguese Empire (at this time in the Iberian Union).

title: 1624

date: June 27

text: June 27 – The first English venture to China is attempted by Captain John Weddell, who sails into port in Macau and Canton during the late Ming dynasty with six ships. The voyages are for trade, which is dominated here by the Portuguese (at this time combined with the power of Spain). He brings 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses, perhaps the first recorded European-made eyeglasses to enter China.

title: 1637

date: May 2

text: May 2 – After a 40-day siege, the Dutch East India Company Army captures the Trincomalee Fort on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from the Portuguese Empire.

title: 1639

text: A Spanish officer is murdered in St. Dominic's Church, Macau during mass by colonists loyal to Portugal during the Portuguese Restoration War.

title: 1644

date: July 31

text: July 31 – José I takes over the throne of Portugal from his deceased father, João V. King José Manuel appoints the Marquis of Pombal as his Chief Minister, who then strips the Inquisition of its power.

title: 1750

section: Climate & Environment

date: November 1

text: November 1 – More than 40,000 people are killed by the 8.5 magnitude earthquake in Lisbon, Portuguese Empire. The tremor begins at 9:40 in the morning local time off of the Atlantic coast of Portugal and sends a tsunami that strikes the coasts of Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

title: 1755

date: March 7

text: March 7 – Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil: The Portuguese royal court arrives in Rio de Janeiro, making it the centre of the Portuguese Empire.

title: 1808


slug: portuguese-india

label: Portuguese India

description: Portuguese colonies in South Asia (1505–1961)

date: August 15

text: August 15 – The Portuguese State of India is founded in what is now the state of Kerala, after the Kingdom of Portugal takes over territory of the Bijapur sultanate at Calicut.

title: 1505

section: Conflict & Security

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Afonso de Albuquerque becomes the Viceroy of Portuguese India, replacing Francisco de Almeida, who departs five days later from Diu. Almeida never makes it home, getting killed along with his 64 men in a battle on March 1 with the local Khoekhoe people at South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

title: 1509

date: November 25

text: November 25 – Afonso de Albuquerque succeeds in conquering Goa and establishes the colony of Portuguese India.

title: 1510

date: September 10

text: September 10 – Portuguese Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque departs from the Indian city of Cochin with 14 ships and 1,700 troops to retake the fortress of Goa, capital of Portuguese India, from Bijapur's General Rasul Khan. A day before a planned Portuguese attack on Bihar's army, Rasul Khan and his occupying forces depart from Goa.

title: 1512

date: March 26

text: March 26 – On Easter Sunday, Afonso de Albuquerque, Governor of Portuguese India, makes an unsuccessful attempt to capture the port city of Aden, on the Arabian Peninsula, from the Mamluk Sultanate, using 20 ships and 2,500 soldiers. The 1,700 Portuguese, along with 800 mercenaries from Malabar, lose at least 100 killed during the attack and retreat.

title: 1513

date: May 9

text: May 9 – A fleet of four Portuguese ships, commanded by João da Silveira from Portuguese India, arrived in Chittagong (now part of Bangladesh, but at the time part of the Sultanate of Bengal), reputed to be the wealthiest region in the Indian subcontinent.

title: 1518

date: February 18

text: February 18 – Because of the large population of Jews included converts to Christianity ("New Christians") in the colony of Portuguese India at Goa, King Manuel I of Portugal announces that there will be no further appointment of New Christians to government offices, but affirms that those already in office are not to be dismissed

title: 1519

section: Deaths

date: February 21

text: February 21 – Lopo Vaz de Sampaio becomes the new Governor of Portuguese India following the February 2 death of the 30-year-old Governor Henrique de Meneses from gangrene resulting from a battle injury to his leg.

title: 1526

date: April 3

text: April 3– Estêvão da Gama becomes the new Governor of Portuguese India.

title: 1540

date: December 31

text: December 31 – Estêvão da Gama, Governor of Portuguese India, departs from Goa with a plan to sail into the Red Sea, and destroy the Ottoman Empire's access to the Indian Ocean by plundering Suez. The planned attack fails.

title: 1540

section: Health & Medicine

date: March 8

text: March 8 – King John III of Portugal issues an order for Portuguese India (at Goa) to forbid Hinduism, destroy Hindu temples, prohibit the public celebration of Hindu feasts, expel Hindu priests and severely punish those who created any Hindu images in Portuguese possessions in India.

title: 1546

date: May 16

text: May 16 – Writing from Portuguese India, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier asks King João III of Portugal, proposing what will become the Goa Inquisition of 1561.

title: 1546

date: November 10

text: November 10 – The European colonists defending the city of Diu in Portuguese India defeat the six-month siege that had been started by the Gujarat Sultanate on April 20. The Portuguese victory comes three days after the arrival of 3,000 troops and 38 ships.

title: 1546

section: Events › October—December

date: December 29

text: December 29 – Bhuvanaikabahu VII, King of Kotte on most of the island of Sri Lanka, is assassinated by a gunman hired by the government of Portuguese India.

title: 1550

date: December 4

text: December 4 – Antão de Noronha, Viceroy of Portuguese India (the modern-day Indian state of Goa) issues decrees prohibiting the public performance of Hindu rituals for marriages, cremations, and sacred thread wearing. Other rules require all natives 15 or older to attend Christian religious services, upon penalty of punishment.

title: 1567

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Cuncolim Revolt: The first documented battle of India's independence against a European colonial ruler is fought by the Desais of Cuncolim in Goa, against the Portuguese.

title: 1583

text: February 25 – The Goa state archives are established at the city of Panaji in Portuguese India (now India's Goa state) by historian Diogo do Couto.

title: 1595

date: February 11

text: February 11 – Dutch–Portuguese War: The Battle of Hormuz, one of the largest naval battles ever fought in the Persian Gulf takes place in the Straits of Hormuz as fleets of the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company defend Persia against an attack by ships from the colony of Portuguese India.

title: 1625

text: June 27 – Francisco de Távora, the Viceroy of Portuguese India, a small colony located in southwestern India at Goa, issues an order prohibiting indigenous residents from speaking their native language, Konkani, and directs them to learn Portuguese within the next three years.

title: 1684

date: December 18

text: December 18 – 1961 Indian annexation of Goa: India opens hostilities in its annexation of Portuguese India, the colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu.

title: 1961

section: Events › December


slug: portuguese-people

label: Portuguese people

description: citizens or residents of Portugal

text: Encounter of Sintra: Twenty Portuguese knights rout four hundred Castilian infantrymen of the country.

title: 1372

text: Portuguese sailors sent by Prince Henry the Navigator cross Cape Non, going as far as Cape Bojador.

title: 1421

text: Portuguese sailors first arrive at the Senegal River.

title: 1442

text: Portuguese explorer Nuno Tristão penetrates the Arguin Gulf, off the west coast of Africa.

title: 1443

text: Portuguese explorer Dinis Dias discovers the Cap-Vert, on the western coast of Africa.

title: 1445

date: August 29

text: August 29 – The Portuguese occupy Tangier, after its population flees the city.

title: 1471

text: The Portuguese are the first Europeans to land in Timor island, as the first settlers arrive to the north coast of Madeira Island, there establishing Saint George.

title: 1515

date: October 21

text: October 21 (Feast of St. Ursula) – The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon are discovered by Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes, off Newfoundland. He names them Islands of the 11,000 Virgins, in honour of Saint Ursula.

title: 1520

date: August 25

text: August 25 – (24th day of 7th month of Tenbun 12) The first Europeans arrive in Japan and introduce firearms to the Asian monarchy, as the Chinese pirate Wang Zhi escorts Portuguese traders to in Tanegashima island in southern Kyushu. The first European visitors include António Mota, António Peixoto, Francisco Zeimoto, and Fernão Mendes Pinto.

title: 1543

date: November 28

text: November 28 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, (Portuguese) Archbishop of Goa (b. 1837)

title: 1880

section: Deaths › July–December

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: April 18

text: April 18 – , a 5,557-ton Portuguese passenger liner en route from Mozambique to Lisbon, strikes Bellows Rock just off Cape Point and sinks.

title: 1911

section: Events › April


slug: poznan

label: Poznań

description: capital of the Greater Poland Voivodeship in west-central Poland

text: The tribe of the Polans begins the construction of the following fortified settlements (Giecz, Bnin, Ląd, Gniezno, Poznań, Grzybowo and Ostrów Lednicki) in Greater Poland. The Piast Dynasty under Duke Siemomysł gains control over other groups of Polans along the Upper Vistula, and establishes their rule around Giecz (approximate date).

title: 940

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Mieszko I, duke and prince of Poland, constructs Poznań Cathedral within the fortified stronghold (gord) of Poznań. The settlement becomes a bishopric, Mieszko appoints Jordan as the first bishop.

title: 968

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: May 25

text: May 25 – Mieszko I, prince (duke) of the Polans, dies after a reign of more than 30 years at Poznań. He is succeeded by his son Bolesław I the Brave who becomes ruler of Poland. Having inherited the principality (located between the Oder and the Warta rivers), Bolesław forms an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 992

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Unger, bishop of Poznań

title: 1012

text: Duke Bretislav I of Bohemia invades Poland. He captures and destroys the cities of Gniezno and Poznań.

title: 1038

text: Bolesław II the Generous, eldest son of Casimir I the Restorer, succeeds his father after his death in Poznań and becomes duke of Poland.

title: 1058

text: The Jews of Poznań are granted the privilege of forbidding Christians to enter into their city quarter.

title: 1633

date: December 27

text: December 27 – Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19): Poles in Greater Poland (the former Grand Duchy of Posen) rise up against the Germans, ignited by a patriotic speech made in Poznań by pianist and politician Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

title: 1918

date: June 28

text: June 28 – Poznań 1956 protests: Labour riots in Poznań, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life. Soviet troops fire at a crowd protesting high prices, killing 53 people.

title: 1956

section: Events › June


slug: praetorian-guard

label: Praetorian Guard

description: Imperial Roman unit who guarded the emperors

year_label: 46 BCE

section: Births

text: Lucius Seius Strabo, Roman prefect of the Praetorian Guard (d. 16 AD)

title: 46 BC

year_label: 40 BCE

text: Sextus' fleet raids the ports of Puteoli and Ostia. The populace hold the Triumvirs responsible for prolonging the war, provoking a riot on the Forum. Octavian, with the Praetorian Guard, goes to intercept the riot, and only escapes with his life because Antony summons troops to rescue his junior colleague.

title: 40 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 37 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Caesar Augustus (Octavian) engineers the "Second Pact of Tarentum" which renews the Triumvirate for an additional five years. Mark Antony exchanges 120 ships, for service against Sextus Pompeius. Octavian Caesar donates 1,000 troops from the Praetorian Guard and 20,000 legionaries for the Parthian campaign in Syria.

title: 37 BC

year_label: 27 BCE

text: Caesar Augustus starts a new military reform. He reduces the number of legions to 26 and creates the Praetorian Guard (1,000 men).

title: 27 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic/Empire

year_label: 10 CE

text: Tigellinus, Roman Praetorian prefect (d. AD 69)

title: 10s

section: Births › 10 AD

year_label: 21 CE

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Barracks are constructed for the Praetorian Guard, on the Quirinal (located on the Seven Hills of Rome).

title: 20s

section: Events › 21 AD › Roman Empire

year_label: 26 CE

text: Emperor Tiberius retires to Capri, leaving the Praetorian Guard under Lucius Aelius Sejanus in charge of the Roman Empire and the city of Rome.

title: 20s

section: Events › 26 AD › Roman Empire

year_label: 30 CE

section: Crime & Justice

text: Agrippina the Elder (the wife of Germanicus) and two of her sons, Nero Julius Caesar and Drusus Caesar, are arrested and exiled on orders of Lucius Aelius Sejanus (the prefect of the Praetorian Guard), and later starved to death in suspicious circumstances. In Sejanus's purge of Agrippina the Elder and her family, her son Caligula, and her three daughters, Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla are the only survivors.

title: 30s

section: Events › 30 AD › Roman Empire

year_label: 31 CE

text: Naevius Sutorius Macro becomes the leader of the Praetorian Guard after Sejanus is executed.

title: 30s

section: Events › 31 AD › Roman Empire

year_label: 41 CE

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards.

title: 40s

section: Timeline › AD 41

year_label: 68 CE

text: June 9 – Emperor Nero commits suicide four miles outside Rome. He is deserted by the Praetorian Guard, and then stabs himself in the throat.

title: AD 68

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

year_label: 69 CE

date: January 15

text: January 15 – Galba and his adopted son Piso are murdered by the Praetorian Guard on the Roman Forum.

title: AD 69

year_label: 71 CE

text: Titus is made praetorian prefect of the Praetorian Guard and receives pro-consular command and also tribunician power, all of which indicates that Vespasian will follow the hereditary tradition of succession.

title: AD 71

year_label: 96 CE

date: September 18

text: September 18 – Emperor Domitian is stabbed to death by a freedman at the age 44 after a 15-year reign, in a palace conspiracy involving officers of the Praetorian Guard. The Flavian Dynasty ends.

title: AD 96

year_label: 97 CE

date: October 28

text: October 28 – Emperor Nerva recalls his general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, age 44, from the German frontier and is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt him as his successor.

title: AD 97

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard.

title: AD 193

date: December 19

text: December 19 – Geta is lured to come without his bodyguards to meet Caracalla, to discuss a possible reconciliation. When he arrives the Praetorian Guard murders him, and he dies in the arms of his mother Julia Domna.

title: 211

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Caracalla is assassinated by his soldiers near Edessa. Marcus Opellius Macrinus, head of the Praetorian Guard, declares himself Roman emperor.

title: 217

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard during a revolt. Their mutilated bodies are dragged through the streets of Rome before being thrown into the Tiber.

title: 222

text: Domitius Ulpianus, a Roman jurist and prefect, is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, in the presence of Emperor Severus Alexander. His curtailment of the privileges of the palace guard becomes Ulpianus' downfall, who in the course of a riot at Rome is murdered, between the soldiers and the mob.

title: 228

text: c. August – The Praetorian Guard storms the palace and captures Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged naked through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed the new emperor. Timesitheus becomes his tutor and advisor.

title: 238

text: Gallienus is killed by his senior officers at Mediolanum (Milan) while besieging his rival Aureolus. Aureolus is murdered in turn by the Praetorian guard.

title: 268

text: Building on the efforts of Diocletian, Galerius introduces the poll tax to central and southern Italy and truncates the size of the Praetorian Guard, with plans to disband the Guard altogether.

title: 306

text: October 28 – Maxentius, son of former Western Emperor Maximian, leads a revolt by the Praetorian Guard and members of the Senate in Rome, and is proclaimed Emperor. Southern Italy supports Maxentius, as do Africa, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. Maxentius recalls Maximian from retirement, who joins his son in Rome.

title: 306

text: Constantine forges an alliance with co-emperor Licinius, and offers him his half-sister, Constantia, in marriage. The Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard (equites singulares Augusti) are disbanded.

title: 312


slug: praetorian-prefect

label: Praetorian prefect

description: important position in ancient Rome

year_label: 21 BCE

text: Naevius Sutorius Macro, Roman prefect and politician (d. AD 38)

title: 21 BC

year_label: 17 CE

text: Lucius Aelius Sejanus becomes Praetorian prefect.

title: 10s

section: Events › 17 AD › Roman Empire

section: Deaths

date: October 18

text: October 18 – Lucius Aelius Sejanus, Roman prefect and advisor (b. 20 BC)

title: 30s

section: Deaths › 31 AD

year_label: 35 CE

text: Gaius Nymphidius Sabinus, Roman prefect (approximate date)

title: 30s

section: Births › 35 AD

year_label: 40 CE

text: Titus Petronius Secundus, Roman prefect (d. AD 97)

title: 40s

section: Births › AD 40

text: Titus Petronius Secundus, Roman prefect (b. AD 40)

title: AD 97

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Quadi are chased westwards, deeper into Germania. The Praetorian prefect, Tarutenius Paternus, achieves a decisive victory against the Germanic tribes.

title: AD 180

title: 228

text: Gaius Ceionius Rufius Volusianus, the Praetorian Prefect of Emperor Maxentius, defeats the usurper Domitius Alexander and purges Africa of his supporters.

title: 309