slug: danube

label: Danube

description: second-longest river in Europe

year_label: 340 BCE

text: Philip II fails in his siege of Byzantium and is forced to respond to attacks by the Scythians near the mouth of the Danube. His son, Alexander is regent while his father fights against Byzantium and the Scythians.

title: 340 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 339 BCE

text: Philip II of Macedon decides to attack the Scythians, using as an excuse their reluctance to allow Philip to dedicate a statue of Heracles at the Danube estuary. The two armies clash on the plains of modern-day Dobruja. The ninety-year-old King of the Scythians, Ateas, is killed during the battle and his army is routed.

title: 339 BC

year_label: 335 BCE

text: Returning to Macedonia by way of Delphi (where the Pythian priestess acclaims him "invincible"), King Alexander III of Macedonia advances into Thrace in order to secure the Danube as the northern boundary of the Macedonian kingdom. After forcing the Shipka Pass and crushing the Triballi, he crosses the Danube to disperse the Getae. Turning west, he then defeats and shatters a coalition of Illyrians who are invading Macedonia.

title: 335 BC

year_label: 120 BCE

text: The Teutons and the Cimbri migrate south and west to the Danube valley where they encounter the expanding Roman Republic (approximate date).

title: 120 BC

section: Events › By place › Europe

year_label: 11 CE

text: Emperor Augustus abandons his plan to create a defensive border at the Elbe, in order to reinforce the Roman defenses along the Rhine and the Danube.

title: 10s

section: Events › 11 AD › Roman Empire

year_label: 60 CE

text: The Roxolani are defeated on the Danube by the Romans.

title: AD 60

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

year_label: 73 CE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Emperor Vespasian begins conquest of territory east of the upper Rhine and south of the Main. In addition, he reorganizes the defenses of the upper and lower Danube.

title: AD 73

year_label: 84 CE

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: The construction of the limes, a line of Roman fortifications from the Rhine to the Danube, has begun.

title: AD 84

section: Climate & Environment

text: Conflict erupts on the Danube frontier between Rome and the Germanic tribe of the Marcomanni.

title: AD 166

text: The Roman army crosses the Alps into Pannonia, and subdues the Marcomanni at Carnuntum, north of the Danube.

title: AD 168

text: The Suebian tribes of the Marcomanni cross the Danube and invade Northern Italy. The Roman army (20,000 men) is destroyed near Carnuntum in Pannonia.

title: AD 170

section: Health & Medicine

text: Emperor Marcus Aurelius crosses the Danube with an expeditionary force. He subdues the Marcomanni and their allies and then, in a pact signed with the Germanic tribes, he imports them into the Roman Empire to occupy areas that have been depopulated by the plague.

title: AD 172

text: Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus arrive at Carnuntum in Pannonia, and travel to the Danube to fight against the Marcomanni.

title: AD 178

text: The Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the Regen river") is built at Regensburg, on the right bank of the Danube in Germany.

title: AD 179

section: Events › By place › Roman empire

text: Rome creates a 4-mile wide buffer zone by the Danube.

title: AD 180

text: Emperor Maximinus Thrax campaigns on the rivers Danube and Rhine in Germania, defeating the Alemanni, and never visits Rome. He is accepted by the Roman Senate, but taxes the rich aristocracy heavily, and engenders such hostility among them, that they plot against him. He had a road rebuilt in what is now the Golan Heights, between 236 and 237.

title: 237

text: Emperor Maximinus Thrax campaigns against the Carpians on the Danube in Moesia (Balkans). In spite of the payment of a tribute, the Romans fail to persuade the Goths and the Germanic tribes.

title: 238

text: Emperor Philip the Arab entrusts Trajan Decius with an important command on the Danube.

title: 245

text: Emperor Philip the Arab fights the Germans along the Danube River.

title: 246

text: The Goths appear on the lower Danube frontier; they invade Ukraine and Romania.

title: 247

text: The Goths under King Cniva invade Moesia. They cross the Danube and lay siege to Novae and Marcianopolis.

title: 250

text: The legions who have campaigned against the Goths on the Danube elect Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus as new emperor. He advances on Rome along the Flaminian Way, to meet his opponent emperor Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusianus. For the most part, generals in the border regions are proclaimed emperor by their armies to halt the invasion of Germanic tribes.

title: 253

text: Emperor Gallienus brings some order to the Danube area.

title: 257

text: Gallienus becomes the sole emperor of Rome; during his reign the Pannonian governor Ingenuus revolts on the Danube.

title: 260

text: Second Gothic invasion: The Goths and other German tribes attack Bosphorean towns on the coast of the Black Sea. Some 2,000 ships and 320,000 men from the Danube enter Roman territory. Emperor Claudius II defeats the invaders and receives the title Gothicus for his triumph. Many of the prisoners will serve in the Roman legions and settle in vacant lands in the Danubian provinces.

title: 269

text: After an indecisive battle, Emperor Aurelian defeats the Vandals, and forces them from Pannonia, and across the Danube.

title: 271

text: Emperor Probus travels with his army west across the Sea of Marmara (Turkey), and through the provinces of Thrace, Moesia, and Pannonia to defeat the Goths along the lower Danube. He acquires from the troops the title of Gothicus.

title: 277

text: Carus defeats the Quadi and Sarmatians on the Danube; for his victories he is given the title Germanicus Maximus.

title: 282

text: Diocletian, while inspecting the Danube border, becomes seriously ill.

title: 304

text: Constantine the Great and co-emperor Licinius battle the Sarmates, the Goths and the Carpians along the Danube. Constantine leads a punitive expedition into Dacia and reestablishes the Roman fortifications of the frontier.

title: 315

text: Emperor Constantine I expels the Goths from the Danube frontier and repairs Trajan's Bridge. He leads an expedition into the old province Dacia (modern Romania) and makes peace with the barbarians.

title: 321

section: Events › By topic › Roman Empire

text: Emperor Constantine the Great defeats the invading Goths and Sarmatians north of the Danube in Dacia, and claims the title of Sarmaticus Maximus.

title: 323

text: German and Sarmatian campaigns of Constantine: Emperor Constantine I personally assures the security of the Danube frontier by defeating the Goths, the Vandals and the Sarmatians.

title: 325

date: July 5

text: July 5 – Constantine's Bridge, built over the Danube between Sucidava (Corabia, Romania) and Oescus (Gigen, Bulgaria), is officially opened by the Roman architect Theophilus Patricius.

title: 328

text: Emperor Constantine I and his son Constantine II, aged 16, defeat the Goths in Moesia. The Goths become Roman allies and protect the Danube frontier.

title: 332

text: The Goths protect the Danube frontier against an invasion by the Vandals.

title: 334

text: The Romans, allied with the Goths, arrive in the north of the Roman Empire to protect the Danube frontier.

title: 338

date: March 28

text: March 28 – Valens, brother of Valentinian I, is appointed co-emperor (Augustus) in the palace of Hebdomon (Turkey). He rules the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire, from the Danube to the Persian border, and begins the first anti-pagan persecutions.

title: 364

text: Valens builds a pontoon bridge across the Danube, and drives the Visigoths further north, where they will come under pressure from the advancing Huns.

title: 366

text: Spring – Emperor Valens crosses the Danube, and attacks the Gothic tribes (Greuthungi and Tervingi). Valens and Athanaric, the Gothic king, eventually sign a treaty.

title: 369

text: The fortified cities of the Danube, with Sirmium (Pannonia) at the forefront, contribute to stop an invasion of the Quadi.

title: 371

text: The Quadi cross the Danube and begin ravaging Pannonia. They avoid the fortified cities and plunder the unprotected countryside.

title: 374

date: November 17

text: November 17 – Emperor Valentinian I concludes an enduring peace with the Alamanni in Germany, then marches into Illyricum to repel an invasion of the Quadi and the Sarmatians on the Danube frontier. While negotiating with the Quadi, Valentinian, age 54, becomes so enraged that he dies in a fit of apoplexy at Brigetio (Hungary). Extreme cruelty has marked his 11-year reign, but he has also founded schools and provided physicians to serve the poor of Constantinople.

title: 375

text: Gothic War: Emperor Valens permits the Visigothic chieftain Fritigern and his people to cross the Danube from Thrace (later Romania), and settle on Roman soil in Lower Moesia, on the condition that they provide soldiers to the legions. The Visigoths embark by troops on boats and rafts, and canoes made from hollowed tree trunks. The river is swollen by frequent rains; a large number try to swim and are drowned in their struggle against the force of the stream.

title: 376

text: Gothic War: Famine in Lower Moesia (occupied by the Goths) takes a fearsome toll. Fritigern and his followers appeal for help, but the governors Lupicinus and Maximus regard them as second-class citizens. Little help is forthcoming, and thousands starve to death. The pressure on the Roman frontier is still severe, with the Taifali and other hostile bands of Goths on the Danube. In addition, groups of Huns and Alans have also moved up to the river.

title: 377

text: Gratian sets out from Lauriacum (Austria) with a body of light armed troops. His force is small enough to travel by boat down the Danube. He halts for four days at Sirmium (Serbia) suffering from fever.

title: 378

text: October 3 – Emperor Theodosius I commands his general Saturninus to conclude a peace treaty with the Visigoths, allowing them to settle south of the Danube. They are installed as foederati in Moesia and Thrace with the title of "Allies of the Roman People", in exchange for furnishing a contingent of auxiliary troops to defend the borders.

title: 382

text: The Greuthungi cross the Danube to raid the Roman garrisons on the northern frontier. They are met midstream by a well-armed fleet, and their rafts and dugouts sink. Those not drowned are slaughtered.

title: 386

text: Winter – The Huns cross the frozen Danube and destroy the villages built by the Goths. Theodosius I, six hundred miles away in Italy, sends no reinforcements to defend the northern frontier.

title: 394

text: Winter – Gainas leads the remaining Goths back to their homeland across the Danube. They meet the Huns and are defeated; the Hunnic chieftain Uldin sends the head of Gainas to Constantinople, where Arcadius receives it as a diplomatic gift.

title: 400

text: The Huns under Uldin cross the lower Danube and attack the Eastern Roman Empire, setting fire to frontier forts and taking control of the Castra Martis (modern Bulgaria). The Romans negotiate for peace, but Uldin demands an exorbitant gold tribute in return for his withdrawal. This demand is rejected and Anthemius forces the Huns back across the Danube.

title: 408

text: Honorius agrees that sons of prominent families at court in Ravenna be sent beyond the Danube as hostages; in return, later he calls up ten thousand Hun mercenaries.

title: 409

text: The forts on the west bank of the Danube, which were destroyed by the Huns, are rebuilt, and a new Danubian fleet is launched.

title: 412

text: Winter – Olympiodorus, historical writer, is sent on an embassy by Honorius, and sails in stormy weather around Greece up the Black Sea, to meet the Huns who are located on the middle Danube (modern Bulgaria).

title: 412

text: Rugila, chieftain of the Huns, attacks the dioceses of Dacia and Thrace (Balkans). Theodosius II allows Pannonian Ostrogoths to settle in Thrace, to defend the Danube frontier.

title: 421

text: Aetius campaign in the Alps: Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum), fights the rebellion in Rhaetia (Switzerland) and Noricum (Austria). He is attested in the city of Vindelicia (modern Augsburg), reestablishing Roman rule on the Danube frontier.

title: 431

text: The Huns under Attila reappear in force, along the frontier of the Western Roman Empire. They attack merchants on the north bank of the Danube and cities in Illyricum, including (according to Priscus) Viminacium, city of Moesia.

title: 440

text: The Huns, led by Attila, attack Constanţa (modern Romania), one of the few remaining Roman forts on the northern bank of the Danube, and designated as a secure trading post. On a crowded market day, the Huns take the town by surprise and slaughter the garrison.

title: 441

text: The Huns, on a military campaign along the Danube and the Great Morava, destroy the city of Naissus (modern Serbia). They have mastered siege technology and are able to capture fortified cities. The Roman Senate agrees to pay Attila a tribute of 700 pounds of gold per year.

title: AD 442

text: The Huns, led by Attila, cross the Danube, and invade the Balkans as far as Thermopylae (Greece). During the invasion, Serdica (modern Sofia) is destroyed. For disobeying the terms of the treaty made in 442, Attila triples his demand for tribute to 2,100 pounds (ca. 700 kg) of gold per year; and the ransom for each Roman prisoner to 12 solidi.

title: 447

text: Attila demands in the treaty the evacuation of the territory running from Singidunum (Belgrade, in Serbia) 300 mi km east along the Danube to Novae (Svishtov, in Bulgaria). This depopulated buffer zone deprives the Romans of their natural defensive advantages.

title: 448

text: Emperor Valentinian III sends an emissary to Attila the Hun. The purpose of the meeting is a long-running dispute over spoils of war during the Danube offensive (441–442). Attila claims his lost property, but Valentinian and Flavius Aetius (magister militum) refuse this request.

title: 449

text: Anthemius marries Marcia Euphemia, daughter of Marcian, and is elevated to the rank of comes. He is sent to the Danubian frontier to rebuild the border defences.

title: 453

text: Dengizich, son of Attila the Hun, sends an embassy to Constantinople to demand money. Leo I offers the Huns settlement in Thrace in exchange for recognition of his authority. Dengizich refuses and crosses the Danube.

title: 468

text: The Ostrogoths sack Belgrade, on the Danube and Sava rivers (modern Serbia).

title: 504

text: Justin, Byzantine general (magister militum), dies in battle against the Bulgars on the frontier of the Danubian limes in Moesia. He is succeeded by Constantiolus.

title: 528

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

title: 539

text: Audoin leads the Lombards across the Danube into Pannonia, and becomes an ally of the Byzantines.

title: 546

text: Winter – The Kutrigurs and Huns under Zabergan cross the frozen Danube River, and invade the Balkans. They raid Thracia and Macedonia, but are driven back near Constantinople by a Byzantine force under Belisarius.

title: 559

text: A Byzantine army, under command of Baduarius, assists the Gepids in their war against the Lombards. The Byzantines win the first battle in the lower Danube (Moesia), but Gepid King Cunimund refuses to hand back the fortress city of Sirmium (modern Serbia), as he had promised.

title: 566

text: The Slavs begin to migrate into the Balkan Peninsula. The Avars, under King (khagan) Bayan I, invade the Lower Danube (modern Bulgaria).

title: 580

text: Emperor Maurice builds more fortifications along the Danube frontier, separating the Byzantine Empire from the realm of the Avars and Slavs (approximate date).

title: 587

section: Events › By place › Eastern Roman Empire

text: Summer – Maurice begins a series of military expeditions, to defend the Balkan provinces from the Avars and Slavs. He establishes the Danube frontier (Limes Moesiae) from the Delta to the fortress city of Singidunum (Belgrade), and permits the Byzantines to reassert their authority in the interior.

title: 591

text: Spring – Priscus, commander-in-chief in Thrace, defeats the Slavic tribes and Gepids on Byzantine territory south of the Danube. He crosses the river to fight in the uncharted swamps and forests of modern-day Wallachia.

title: 593

text: Balkan Campaign: A Byzantine relief force under Priscus marches up the Danube River along the southern bank to Novae (modern Bulgaria). The fortress city of Singidunum (Belgrade) is plundered by the Avars, and abandoned after the approach of the Byzantines. The Avars retreat and launch a raid against Dalmatia.

title: 595

text: Emperor Maurice uses the city of Marcianopolis (modern Bulgaria) as a military base of operations on the lower Danube River, against the Slavs on the Balkans.

title: 596

text: Autumn – Balkan Campaign: The Avars, strengthened by the tribute of the Franks, resume their campaign along the Danube River, and besiege the Byzantine fortress city of Tomis (modern Romania) on the Black Sea coast.

title: 597

text: March 30 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege of the fortress city of Tomis (modern Romania). A Byzantine army under Comentiolus crosses the Balkan Mountains, and marches along the Danube River to Zikidiba.

title: 598

text: Summer – Balkan Campaign: The Byzantine generals Priscus and Comentiolus join their forces at Singidunum (modern Belgrade), and move downstream to the fortress city of Viminacium (Serbia). The Byzantines cross the Danube River and invade Upper Moesia, where they defeat the Avars in open battle.

title: 599

text: Balkan Campaign: A Byzantine army under command of Peter, brother of Emperor Maurice, crosses the Danube and advances to the Tisza River, where it defeats the Avars.

title: 601

text: Emperor Maurice succeeds in winning over the Avars to Byzantine rule, but his campaigns against the Avars, Lombards, Persians and Slavs drain the imperial treasury, requiring an increase in taxes. He orders the troops to stay for winter beyond the Danube, but a mutiny breaks out under Phocas. He brings the Byzantine forces back over the Danube and marches on to Constantinople.

title: 602

text: The Avars regroup after they are almost destroyed; together with the Slavs they start pillaging through the Byzantine provinces, west and south of the Danube. Due to the new Persian war, Emperor Phocas has few imperial troops available to defend the Balkan Peninsula.

title: 604

text: The Avars send envoys to Constantinople for a meeting with Heraclius. He is warned about an ambush, and flees for safety behind the city walls in time. Angry at the failure to capture the Byzantine emperor, the Avars plunder Thrace and return to the Danube River, carrying off 270,000 people.

title: 617

text: Samo, reputedly a Frankish merchant, is elected king of the Slavs in Moravia, Slovakia and Lower Austria. A string of victories over the Avars proves his utilitas (usefulness) to his subjects, and he secures the throne to establish his own kingdom, which stretches from the upper Elbe to the Danube.

title: 623

text: Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Emperor Constantine V builds a series of fortifications along the Byzantine frontier on the Danube, and starts settling Christian Armenians and Syrians in the Thracesian Theme. In response, Kormisosh, ruler (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire, demands the payment of tribute. Constantine refuses, and the Bulgars raid into Thrace, reaching the Anastasian Wall stretching between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara (near the outskirts of Constantinople).

title: 756

text: The Avars, a pagan Asian nomadic horde that has settled down in what is today Hungary, invade Friuli and Bavaria. King Charlemagne assembles a Frankish army, and marches down the Danube River to ravage Avar territory. A Frankish-Lombard expeditionary force, under his son Pepin, (king of the Lombards) invades the Drava Valley and devastates Pannonia.

title: 791

text: King Charlemagne orders a 3 kilometre long channel dug from Treuchtlingen to Weißenburg (the Rhine and Danube river basins), to improve the transportation of goods between the Rhineland and Bavaria. Charlemagne's son, Pepin of Italy, campaigns against the Lombards in Benevento (Southern Italy).

title: 793

text: Krum becomes ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire (until 814). During his reign Bulgarian territory doubles in size, from the Danube to the Dniester.

title: 802

text: May – Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, begins his territorial expansion and raids the Byzantine northern frontier. He leads his warriors — mostly Bulgars, Slavs, Thracians and Macedonians — across the Carpathian Mountains, over the Danube River, and throughout Transylvania, Thrace, and Macedonia.

title: 803

text: Autumn – Siege of Adrianople: Krum captures Adrianople—one of the most important Byzantine fortresses in Thrace—after being attacked with siege engines. The garrison is forced to surrender, due to starvation. On the orders of Krum, the population of the surrounding area (numbering about 10,000) is transferred to Bulgarian territory, north of the Danube.

title: 813

text: The Slavs in the vicinity of Thessaloniki revolt against the Byzantine Empire. Theophilos undertakes an evacuation of some Byzantine captives, who are settled in trans-Danubian Bulgaria.

title: 837

text: The Hungarians (also known as Magyars) who until this time have lived east of the Carpathians, raid the Lower Danube at the request of the Bulgarian Empire against the Byzantine insurgents.

title: 839

text: King Louis the German invades Moravia, crossing the Danube River to besiege the civitas Dowina (identified, although not unanimously, with Devín Castle in Slovakia).

title: 864

text: The Magyars are expelled from western Siberia, and settle in the Carpathian Basin, under the leadership of Árpád (the traditional date of 896 held during the 20th century has proved to be erroneous). Emperor Leo VI (the Wise) seeks aid from the Magyars, and after crossing the Danube on Byzantine ships, they ravage Bulgarian territory.

title: 895

text: King Louis IV ("the Child") promulgates the Raffelstetten customs regulations, a legal document for a toll-bridge on the Danube River in Asten (modern Austria).

title: 903

text: Battle of Silistra: A Kievan army (60,000 men) led by Sviatoslav I crosses the Lower Danube and defeats the Bulgarians at Silistra. He occupies most of the Dobruja by seizing 80 fortresses in northeastern Bulgaria. They are looted and destroyed but not permanently occupied. During the winter, Sviatoslav transfers the capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets.

title: 968

text: Peter I, emperor (tsar) of the Bulgarian Empire, suffers a stroke and abdicates the throne in favour of his eldest son Boris II. He arrives (after being an honorary hostage at Constantinople) in Preslav and is proclaimed as the new ruler. Boris regains lost territory from the Kievan Rus' and recaptures Pereyaslavets, an important trade city at the mouth of the Danube.

title: 969

text: Winter – Constantine IX allows the Pecheneg tribes to cross the Danube and settle permanently in Byzantine territory. He buys their alliance with presents, using them to attack his enemies (Bulgars and Magyars) in the rear, and so to prevent any southward advance of the Kievan Rus'.

title: 1047

text: Fall – The Magyars cross the Danube River, together with several Pecheneg tribes, but are halted by Byzantine forces (approximate date).

title: 1059

text: Summer – The nomadic Cumans cross the River Danube and invade Thrace, to support the pretender Constantine Diogenes (son of the late Emperor Romanos IV). The Cumans occupy the province of Paristrion (located in the Lower Danube). Emperor Alexios I places Byzantine detachments to guard the passes over the Balkan Mountains, but they are bypassed.

title: 1095

text: June – The People's Crusade under Emicho are refused entry to Hungary on orders of Coloman, who sends troops to defend the bridge at Wieselburg. Emicho decides to build an alternative bridge and crosses the Danube. He besieges the fortress of Wieselburg, but is defeated and routed by the Hungarian army.

title: 1096

text: Emperor John II Komnenos recovers southwestern Anatolia (modern Turkey) from the Seljuk Turks and then hastens to the Balkans, where the Pechenegs are continuing their incursions. He transfers Byzantine troops to the Danube frontier at Paristrion.

title: 1121

text: Summer – Emperor John II Komnenos re-confirms the treaty of 1082. This ends the hostilities with Hungary and Venice. John secures Braničevo, and recovers the region of Sirmium on the Danube, but is forced by Venice to renew the exclusive commercial privileges.

title: 1126

text: Isaac II starts a campaign against the Bulgarians, who claim their independence. After passing the Balkan Mountains, Isaac marches westward to besiege Tarnovo, the new Bulgarian capital. Meanwhile, the Byzantine fleet reaches the Danube River in order to block the way of Cuman reinforcements from the North. The defense of Tarnovo is led by Ivan Asen I, emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria. After spreading rumors of the arrival of a Cuman army to relieve the city, Isaac orders to retreat to Stara Zagora.

title: 1190

text: Autumn – King Béla IV of Hungary allows some 40,000 Cumans, pagan nomads fleeing the Mongols, to settle in Hungary between the rivers Danube and Theiss, after their leader, Köten, has promised to convert to Christianity.

title: 1239

text: April 30 – Thousands of Christian crusaders from France depart from Dijon and march to Strasbourg, then sail on the Danube river to join forces with King Sigismund.

title: 1396

text: September 18 – As the Crusade of Varna resumes, the 16,000 Christian soldiers under the command of Wladyslaw and Hunyadi begin crossing over the Danube river near Belgrade and complete their crossing into Ottoman Muslim territory in Bulgaria.

title: 1444

text: October 22 – In the Great Turkish War, the Siege of Pécs ends when the Ottoman-held city, located across the Danube River from the recent liberated Buda, surrenders to Austrian troops of the Holy League, continuing the Austrian assumption of control of Hungary. Buda and Pest are later combined to form the Hungarian city (and now capital) of Budapest.

title: 1686

text: Rascians establish the settlement which will become Novi Sad on the Danube.

title: 1694

text: June 19 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Höchstädt – General Jean Victor Marie Moreau leads French forces to victory, opening the Danube passageway to Vienna.

title: 1800

text: June 27 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Neuburg – General Claude Lecourbe leads French forces to victory, securing control of the Danube from Austria.

title: 1800

text: October 28 – Crimean War: The Ottoman army crosses the Danube into Vidin/Calafat, Wallachia.

title: 1853


slug: dara-mesopotamia

label: Dara (Mesopotamia)

description: ancient city in Mardin Province, Turkey

section: Conflict & Security

date: May

text: May – Areobindus, Byzantine general (magister militum), is stationed as commander at Dara, with an army of 12,000 men to keep watch at the Persian stronghold of Nisibis (modern Turkey).

title: 503

section: Events › Byzantine Empire

text: Anastasius I decides to rebuild the village of Dara (Northern Mesopotamia). He constructs a new strategic fortress to guard the frontier.

title: 505

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Emperor Anastasius I completes the strategic fortress at Dara (Northern Mesopotamia). He raises the city walls to 30 feet (10 m), disregarding Persian protests. Alarmed by the depredations of Slavs and Bulgars in Thrace, he builds the Anastasian Wall from the Black Sea to Propontis, across the narrow peninsula near Constantinople (modern Turkey).

title: 507

text: Spring – Battle of Dara: Belisarius and Hermogenes (magister officiorum) defeat a combined Persian-Arab army of 50,000 men at Dara (modern Turkey), by entrenching his infantry in a refused position in the centre line, then carrying out a cavalry envelopment to culminate a classic defensive-offensive battleplan.

title: 530

section: Events › By place › Persia

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

title: 537

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: King Khosrau I unsuccessfully attacks the Byzantine fortress city of Dara. The siege of Edessa is repulsed, and the Persians are forced into a stalemate.

title: 544

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

text: Byzantine–Sassanid War: Persian forces under the command of King Khosrau I capture the Byzantine stronghold of Dara, after a six-month siege. Meanwhile, a smaller Persian army under Adarmahan advances from Babylon through the desert, crosses the Euphrates River and ravages Syria. The cities of Apamea and Antiochia are plundered.

title: 573

text: Battle of Solachon: A Byzantine army under command of Philippicus defeats the Sassanid Persians, near Dara.

title: 586

text: Byzantine–Persian War: King Khosrau II captures the Byzantine positions east of the Euphrates; the Persians destroy many cities in the Levant region, after prolonged sieges such as the Byzantine fortress of Dara (modern Turkey).

title: 604


slug: dardanelles

label: Dardanelles

description: strait in northwestern Turkey

year_label: 334 BCE

text: King Alexander III of Macedonia crosses the Dardanelles, leaving Antipater, who has already faithfully served his father, Philip II, as his deputy in Greece with over 13,000 men. Alexander himself commands about 30,000 foot soldiers and over 5,000 cavalry, of whom nearly 14,000 are Macedonians and about 7,000 are allies sent by the Greek League.

title: 334 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonia

year_label: 277 BCE

text: Antigonus crosses the Hellespont and defeats the Celts under the command of Cerethrius at the Battle of Lysimachia near Lysimachia at the neck of the Thracian Chersonese. After this success, he is acknowledged by the Macedonians as their king.

title: 277 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 30 BCE

text: Spring – Octavian leads his army to the Dardanelles, ships them across to Asia Minor and marches into Syria where Herod the Great sends him vows of loyalty and thousands of his own troops in support.

title: 30 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

date: July

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

title: 324

section: Events › Roman Empire

text: A riot breaks out in Constantinople; the Great Palace is burned to the ground. Gainas, a Gothic leader, attempts to evacuate his soldiers out of the city, but 7,000 armed Goths are trapped and killed by order of Arcadius. After the massacre, Gainas tries to escape across the Hellespont, but his rag-tag ad hoc fleet is destroyed by Fravitta, a Gothic chieftain in imperial service.

title: 400

text: Autumn – A military revolt breaks out in the Anatolic Theme (modern Turkey). The Byzantine army marches to Chrysopolis, and sends a delegation across the straits of the Hellespont to Constantinople, demanding that the two brothers should remain co-emperors alongside Constantine IV.

title: 681

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Muslim general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik leads his army of 80,000 men from Pergamum to Abydos, where he crosses the Hellespont. To prevent interference by the Bulgars, or by any Byzantine forces in Thrace, he sends part of his army to a covering position near Adrianople; with his main body, Maslama builds siege lines to blockade Constantinople, which is protected by the massive Theodosian Walls.

title: 717

section: Deaths

text: Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to help him defeat Bardas Phokas (the Younger), who suffers a seizure during the siege of Abydos (threatening to blockade the Dardanelles). Phokas dies, ending the revolt and threat to Constantinople. Upon Phokas' death, the other rebel leader Bardas Skleros (who is captured and blinded) yields to Basil's superior forces.

title: 989

text: Spring – Siege of Nicaea: Malik Shah, Seljuk ruler of the Sultanate of Rum, sends an expedition through Bithynia to the very walls of Nicaea. Seljuk forces raid Abydos on the Hellespont, with its rich custom-houses. Malik Shah attacks and captures Pergamum. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sets out to meet the Seljuk invaders. He lifts the siege at Nicaea and wins a complete victory near Cotyaeum (modern Turkey).

title: 1113

date: September 7

text: September 7 – The German crusaders suffer a natural disaster near Constantinople, when part of their encampment is swept away by a flash flood with considerable loss of life. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos orders the Crusaders to cross to Asia Minor by the Hellespont. Conrad III ignores the advice of Manuel and after some minor clashes with the Byzantines, pushes towards Constantinople.

title: 1147

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade

text: Late Summer – Emperor Manuel I Komnenos sends an embassy to Egypt to demand tribute, and threatens the country with war when they refuse to pay it. The Byzantine fleet under Admiral Andronikos Kontostephanos sets out from the Hellespont; 60 war galleys are sent to Palestine with money for "the knights of Jerusalem". Andronikos with the rest of the fleet sails to Cyprus, at which he defeats a patrolling squadron of 6 Fatimid ships.

title: 1169

date: March

text: March – Frederick I leaves Adrianople to Gallipoli at the Dardanelles to embark, with the help of Byzantine transports, to cross into Asia Minor. On April 25, he enters territory of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum under the rule of Sultan Kilij Arslan II. Although promised to let the German Crusaders pass peaceably through his domains, Kilij Arslan harasses Frederick's forces with hit-and-run attacks. On May 7, a Turkish army (some 10,000 men) is defeated at the Battle of Philomelion, by 2,000 Crusaders.

title: 1190

section: Events › By place › Third Crusade

section: Exploration & Expansion

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

title: 1203

section: Events › By place › Fourth Crusade

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: December 18

text: December 18 – French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.

title: 1878

section: Events › December

date: January 23

text: January 23 – Benjamin Disraeli orders the British fleet to the Dardanelles.

title: 1878

section: Events › January

date: October 18

text: October 18–21 – First Balkan War: The Greek navy captures the island of Lemnos for use as a forward base against the Dardanelles.

title: 1912

section: Events › October

date: January 18

text: January 18 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the war.

title: 1913

text: Gallipoli campaign: A Franco-British naval attack on the Dardanelles fails.

title: 1915

section: Events › March

date: July 20

text: July 20 – The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits is signed in Montreux, allowing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.

title: 1936

section: Events › July–August


slug: darius-i

label: Darius I

year_label: 549 BCE

section: Births

text: Darius I, king of Persia (approximate date)

title: 549 BC

year_label: 518 BCE

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Darius I begins constructing Persepolis, a new capital for the Persian Empire (approximate date).

title: 518 BC

section: Events › By topic › Architecture

year_label: 510 BCE

text: Aryandes, Persian satrap of Egypt (executed by the Persian king Darius I)

title: 510 BC

year_label: 500 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Darius I of Persia proclaims that Aramaic will be the official language of the western half of his empire.

title: 500 BC

section: Events › By place › Middle East

year_label: 492 BCE

text: The first expedition of King Darius I of Persia against Greece commences under the leadership of his son-in-law and general, Mardonius. Darius sends Mardonius to succeed his satrap (governor) in Ionia, Artaphernes, with a special commission to attack Athens and Eretria.

title: 492 BC

year_label: 490 BCE

text: Darius I sends an expedition, under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede, across the Aegean to attack the Athenians and the Eretrians. Hippias, the aged ex-tyrant of Athens, is on one of the Persian ships in the hope of being restored to power in Athens.

title: 490 BC

year_label: 486 BCE

text: Egypt revolts against Persian rule upon the death of king Darius I. The revolts, probably led by Libyans of the western Delta, are crushed the next year by Xerxes, who reduces Egypt to the status of a conquered province.

title: 486 BC

section: Events › By place › Persian Empire

text: Darius I, king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (b. 550 BCE)

title: 486 BC

year_label: 460 BCE

text: The construction of the ceremonial complex of Apadana (the audience hall of Darius I and Xerxes I) in Persepolis is completed.

title: 460 BC

year_label: 283 BCE

text: The canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, initially started but not completed by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made operational by Ptolemy II.

title: 283 BC

section: Events › By place › Egypt

section: Conflict & Security

text: Byzantine–Sassanid War: King Khosrau II captures Ancyra, an important Byzantine military base in central Anatolia. After the conquest of Egypt and Palestine, he restores the Persian Empire as it existed in 490 BC under Darius I.

title: 620

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire


slug: darius-iii

label: Darius III

description: last king of the Achaemenid Empire (r. 336–330 BC)

year_label: 380 BCE

text: Darius III, king of (Achaemenid) Persia (approximate date)

title: 380 BC

year_label: 336 BCE

section: Health & Medicine

text: Bagoas then seeks to install a new monarch who will be easier to control. He chooses Codomannus, a distant relative of the royal house, who takes the name Darius III. When Darius tries to assert his independence from Bagoas' control, Bagoas attempts to poison him, but the king is warned and forces Bagoas to drink the poison himself.

title: 336 BC

section: Events › By place › Achaemenid Empire

text: May – Alexander wins a major victory against the Persians commanded by the Greek mercenary Memnon of Rhodes, in the Battle of the Granicus near the Sea of Marmara. A large number of King Darius III's Greek mercenaries are massacred, but 2,000 survivors are sent back to Macedonia in chains.

title: 334 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonia

year_label: 333 BCE

text: King Darius III of Persia executes Charidemus, a Greek mercenary leader living in exile in Persia, for criticising preparations taken for the Battle of Issus.

title: 333 BC

section: Events

year_label: 332 BCE

text: The Persian King Darius III twice sends on horseback to Alexander letters of friendship. The second time he offers a large ransom for his family, the ceding of all of the Persian Empire west of the Euphrates River, and the hand of his daughter in return for an alliance. Alexander rejects both letters and marches into Mesopotamia.

title: 332 BC

year_label: 331 BCE

date: October 1

text: October 1 – Alexander is victorious in the Battle of Gaugamela (near ancient Ninevah) over the Persian King Darius III. Alexander pursues the defeated Persian forces to Arbela, Darius moves his Bactrian cavalry and Greek mercenaries into Media.

title: 331 BC

year_label: 330 BCE

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Before continuing his pursuit of Darius III, who has retreated into Bactria, Alexander assembles all the Persian treasure and entrusts it to Harpalus, who is to hold it at Ecbatana as chief treasurer. Parmenion is also left behind in Media to manage communications between Alexander and the rest of his rapidly growing lands.

title: 330 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonian Empire

section: Crime & Justice

date: July 17

text: July 17 – King Darius III is deposed and killed by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria. Bessus assumes the kingship as Artaxerxes V.

title: 330 BC

year_label: 324 BCE

text: To further his policy of integrating the Macedonians and Persians, Alexander and 80 of his officers take Persian wives. He and Hephaestion marry Darius III's daughters Barsine (also called Stateira) and Drypteis, respectively, and 10,000 of his soldiers with native wives are given generous dowries. His determination to incorporate Persians on equal terms into his army and into the administration of the provinces is bitterly resented by the Macedonians.

title: 324 BC


slug: dauphin-of-france

label: Dauphin of France

description: title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France

text: Guigues VII, ruler (dauphin) of Viennois (d. 1269)

title: 1225

section: Deaths

text: Guigues VII, French ruler (dauphin) of Viennois (b. 1225)

title: 1269

date: December 3

text: December 3 – Joanna of Bourbon, Queen consort of France as wife of King Charles V, gives birth to his first child, the Dauphin Charles of Valois. The Dauphin will become King Charles VI in 1380 upon the death of his father.

title: 1368

section: Events › October–December

section: Culture & Society

date: July 9

text: July 9 – Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the mentally unstable, King Charles VI of France, agree that Philip's first granddaughter would marry King Charles's son and heir apparent, the two-year-old Dauphin Charles de France. The agreement will not achieve a result, in that the Dauphin and will die at age nine in 1401.

title: 1394

section: Events › July–September

text: December 18 – Jean de Touraine becomes the new Dauphin of France, heir to the throne, upon the death of his older brother Louis, Duke of Guyenne. Jean dies on April 5, 1417, five years before the death of his father, King Charles VI of France.

title: 1415

date: April 5

text: April 5 – Jean de Touraine, the Dauphin of France and heir to the French throne as the eldest living son of King Charles VI, dies suddenly at the age of 18 from a suspected poisoning. Jean's 15-year-old brother, Charles, becomes the new Dauphin.

title: 1417

section: Events › April–June

date: October 21

text: October 21 – King Charles VI of France passes away at the age of 53 after years of mental illness, and rival groups fight over who his successor will be. In Paris, Henry VI of England, the 10-month old son of the late French regent, England's King Henry V, and grandson of King Charles VI, is proclaimed King Henri II of France. In Bourges, the Dauphin Charles, eldest son of King Charles VI, is proclaimed as King Charles VII.

title: 1422

date: August 16

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

title: 1445

date: April 24

text: April 24 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Francis, Dauphin of France, at Notre-Dame de Paris.

title: 1558


slug: david-i-of-scotland

label: David I of Scotland

description: King of Alba from 1124 to 1153

section: Births

text: David I, king of Scotland (approximate date)

title: 1084

date: January 8

text: January 8 – King Edgar dies at Edinburgh Castle after a 9-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Alexander I, who is married to Sybilla of Normandy (an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I). A split of unity, between Alexander and his younger brother David I, makes David co-ruler in Lothian and Strathclyde (Southern Scotland). He does not receive the title of king, but of "Prince of the Cumbrians".

title: 1107

section: Events › By place › Scotland

section: Religion & Belief

text: Holyrood Abbey is founded in Edinburgh by King David I of Scotland.

title: 1128

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Spring – King David I of Scotland invades northern England and captures many of the major towns including Carlisle and Newcastle. In response, King Stephen raises an army (with Flemish mercenaries), and marches to Durham. David agrees to negotiate a peace between the two countries.

title: 1136

section: Events › By place › Britain

date: August 22

text: August 22 – Battle of the Standard: King David I of Scotland gives his full support to Matilda (daughter of the late King Henry I), and invades the north of England – travelling as far south as Lincolnshire. The Scottish army (some 15,000 men) is defeated by English forces under Earl William le Gros in Yorkshire. David retreats to Carlisle and reassembles an army.

title: 1138

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: April 9

text: April 9 – The Treaty of Durham is signed, between Stephen, King of England and David I of Scotland.

title: 1139

section: Events › By region › Europe

text: The town of Lanark in Scotland is made a Royal Burgh by King David I, giving it merchant privileges relating to government and taxation.

title: 1140

section: Events › By place › England and Scotland

text: The Lesmahagow Priory in Scotland, is founded after John, bishop of Glasgow, and King David I have granted lands at Lesmahagow.

title: 1144

date: May 22

text: May 22 – Henry of Anjou is knighted at Carlisle by King David I. Henry acknowledges the Scottish king's right to Northumberland.

title: 1149

date: May 24

text: May 24 – King David I of Scotland dies after a 29-year reign at Carlisle Castle. He is succeeded by his grandson, the 12-year-old Malcolm IV (Virgo). Malcolm is the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, who is crowned as ruler of Scotland at Scone Priory on May 27. Because of his young age, Donnchad (or Duncan) becomes Malcolm's regent and royal adviser.

title: 1153


slug: david-ii-of-scotland

label: David II of Scotland

description: King of Scotland from 1329 to 1371

text: December 3 – The Parliament of Scotland meets at Scone and votes to designate Robert Stewart, grandson of King Robert the Bruce as the heir presumptive. Robert Stewart is the son of Robert the Bruce's late daughter Marjorie Bruce and of Walter Stewart. On the birth of David as Robert the Bruce's son in 1324, Robert Stewart will become second in line for the throne, eventually becoming King Robert II in 1371.

title: 1318

section: Events › October – December

date: March 5

text: March 5 – David II, king of Scotland (Clan Bruce) (d. 1371)

title: 1324

date: June 7

text: June 7 – David II becomes King of Scots at age 5; he will rule Scotland for nearly 42 years.

title: 1329

section: Events › January–December

section: Conflict & Security

date: August 10

text: August 10–11 – Battle of Dupplin Moor: Edward Balliol rebels, and the English defeat the loyalists of David II in Scotland.

title: 1332

section: Events

date: December 16

text: December 16 – Battle of Annan: The loyalists of David II defeat Edward Balliol in Scotland.

title: 1332

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Battle of Culblean: David Bruce defeats Edward Balliol in Scotland.

title: 1335

date: October 3

text: October 3 – The Treaty of Berwick ends the Second War of Scottish Independence and King David II of Scotland is released by the English in return for a ransom.

title: 1357

date: September 7

text: September 7 – Joan of the Tower, Queen consort of king David II of Scotland (b. 1321)

title: 1362

date: February 20

text: February 20 – David II of Scotland marries Margaret Drummond.

title: 1364

date: March 20

text: March 20 – King David II of Scotland divorces his wife and queen consort of six years, Margaret Drummond. Queen Margaret then travels to Avignon and persuades Pope Urban V to rescind the divorce before King David dies the next year.

title: 1370

section: Events › January–March

date: February 22

text: February 22 – David II of Scotland (b. 1324)

title: 1371

text: February 22 – Robert II becomes the first Stuart king of Scotland, after the death of his uncle, King David II, prompting a rebellion by the Earl of Douglas.

title: 1371


slug: david-iv

label: David IV

description: King of Georgia (1073-1125)

text: David IV ("the Builder"), king of Georgia (d. 1125)

title: 1073

text: King George II abdicates the throne in favour of his 16-year-old son David IV ("the Builder") who becomes ruler of Georgia (until 1125).

title: 1089

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: King David IV of Georgia defeats 100,000 Seljuk Turks with only 1,500 warriors (approximate date).

title: 1104

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: David IV of Georgia settles a number of Kipchaks in Georgia.

title: 1118

section: Events › By place › Caucasus

section: Crime & Justice

text: David IV of Georgia captures Lori from the Seljuk Turks.

title: 1118

text: The much larger Seljuk army is heavily defeated; Georgia is unified and independence is achieved from Muslim authority. King David IV lays siege and captures Tbilisi later in the year assigning it as his capital.

title: 1121

section: Events › By place › Eurasia

date: August 12

text: August 12 – Battle of Didgori: King David IV ("the Builder") of Georgia with a Georgian army of 55,600 men) defeats the 300,000-strong Seljuk coalition forces at Mount Didgori.

title: 1121

text: Siege of Tbilisi: The Georgians led by King David IV ('the Builder') re-conquer the city of Tbilisi from the Emirate of Tbilisi after a 1-year siege. David makes it his capital and unifies the Georgian State.

title: 1122

date: June

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

title: 1123

section: Events › By date › April–June

section: Deaths

date: January 24

text: January 24 – David IV (the Builder), king of Georgia (b. 1073)

title: 1125


slug: decapitation

label: Decapitation

description: complete separation of the head from the body

text: Roman jurist Papinian, one of the famous jurists who flourished during the reign of the late emperor Septimius Severus, refuses to write a legal defence for the murder of Caracalla's brother, Emperor Geta. He is beheaded in Rome, in Caracalla's presence.

title: 212

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

section: Religion & Belief

date: September 25

text: September 25 – On a voyage preaching the gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens (Modern day France).

title: 303

date: August 22

text: August 22 – Stilicho is accused of treason against Honorius and is decapitated at Ravenna. His Hun bodyguard is killed; mass murders of Vandal soldiers follow.

title: 408

date: August 7

text: August 7 – Majorian, having been beaten and tortured for five days, is beheaded near the Iria River (Lombardy).

title: 461

text: Totila conquers the city of Perugia (Central Italy) and stations a Gothic garrison. He takes bishop Herculanus prisoner, and orders him to be completely flayed. The Ostrogoth soldier asked to perform this gruesome execution shows pity, and decapitates Herculanus before the skin on every part of his body is removed.

title: 549

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Yángdi is offended by his general Gao Jiong, who makes several comments critical of the emperor's policies, against Tujue submissive Yami Qaghan. He is executed (beheaded), and Gao's sons are exiled to the border provinces (Northern China).

title: 607

section: Events › By place › Asia

text: Ex-Emperor Anastasios II starts a revolt against Leo III with considerable support, including auxiliaries provided by Tervel, emperor (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire. His attack on Constantinople fails; Anastasios is captured and is put to death (by beheading), on the orders of Leo.

title: 719

date: May 20

text: May 20 – King Æthelberht II of East Anglia visits the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls (Herefordshire), with a view to marrying Princess Ælfthryth. He is taken captive and beheaded, on the orders of King Offa.

title: 794

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Perfecto, a Christian priest in Muslim Córdoba, is executed (beheaded) after he refuses to retract critical comments he made about Muhammad.

title: 850

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: March

text: March – King Lambert II proceeds to re-conquer Italy. Heading north, he captures western Lombardy, and decapitates count Maginulf of Milan. In the meantime, the deposed king Berengar I recovers Verona (March of Friuli) from Arnulf's candidate, count Walfred of Verona, who dies in office with "great fidelity to the emperor".

title: 896

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Mansur al-Hallaj, a Persian mystic writer, is sentenced to death for heresy after a long trial at Baghdad. Having supported reform in the Abbasid Caliphate, he has been seen as a rabble-rouser, and is flogged, mutilated and executed (by beheading).

title: 922

date: February 14

text: February 14 or March 9 – The first known mention is made of the name of Lithuania, in connection with the murder of Bruno of Querfurt. He is beheaded and his 18 companions are hanged the same day during a mission among the Prussians in the Baltic region.

title: 1009

date: February 4

text: February 4 – Great Northern War: Eighteen months after losing the Battle of Warsaw, while leading a cavalry charge for Saxony against the army of Sweden, General Otto von Paykull of Swedish Livonia is beheaded outside of Stockholm, following his conviction for treason.

title: 1707

date: July 1

text: July 1 – François-Jean de la Barre, a young French nobleman, is tortured and beheaded, before his body is burnt on a pyre, along with a copy of Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso, supposedly for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, and for other sacrileges, including desecrating a crucifix.

title: 1766

section: Events › July–September


slug: december

label: December

description: twelfth month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

date: December

text: December – Cheng Yu, Chinese official serving under the Eastern Han dynasty warlord Cao Cao (b. 141)

title: 220

text: December: Domitianus dies, but his corrector Aurelius Achilleus takes over as the leader of the rebellion.

title: 297

section: Culture & Society

text: December: Constantine marries Maximian's daughter Fausta, and is promoted to Augustus by Maximian.

title: 307

text: December – Battle of Mardia: Constantine I defeats his rival Licinius and senior officer Valerius Valens, near the town of Harmanli (Bulgaria).

title: 316

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

title: 456

section: Births

text: December – Aryabhata, Indian mathematician and astronomer (d. 550)

title: 476

text: December – Vitiges deposes his rival Theodahad at Ravenna, and marries Mataswintha (daughter of queen Amalasuintha). He becomes king of the Ostrogoths and assembles an army to fight against Belisarius.

title: 536

text: December – Belisarius sends John "the Sanguinary" with a force of 2,000 men towards Picenum, to plunder the east coast of Italy. He arrives at Ariminum (Rimini), where he is welcomed by the local population.

title: 537

text: December – Battle of Aqraba: The Muslim forces of Abu Bakr defeat the Apostate rebels (40,000 men) under Musaylimah, on the plain of Aqraba.

title: 632

section: Events › By place › Arabia

text: December – Upon hearing the news of Justinian's death, Anastasia, Justinian's mother, escapes with Justinian's 6-year-old son Tiberius to the sanctuary at the St. Mary's Church (Constantinople). She is pursued by Philippicus' henchmen, who drag the child from the altar and murder him outside the church. It is unknown what became of Justinian's wife, Theodora.

title: AD 711

section: Health & Medicine

text: December – King Liutprand of the Lombards attempts to counter the growing independence of the Lombard duchies in southern Italy.

title: 740

date: November

text: November - December: Caliph Harun al-Rashid marries Umm Muhammad, the daughter of Abbasid prince Salih al-Miskin and Umm Abdullah, the daughter of Isa ibn Ali, in Al-raqqah. She had formerly been married to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who had repudiated her.

title: 803

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: December – Treaty of Ribemont: Louis the Younger and the kings of the West Frankish Kingdom sign a treaty. The young Frankish monarch, Louis III, is reduced to merely Neustria.

title: 880

text: December – Ishaq ibn Kundaj, a Turkic military leader, arrests the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid, when the latter (and his followers) try to flee into Tulunid territory.

title: 882

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: December – Emperor Leo VI dismisses Patriarch Photius I, who has been his tutor, and replaces him with his own brother Stephen I.

title: 886

text: December – Guy III dies after a 4-year reign, and is succeeded by his 14-year-old son Lambert, already associated as co-emperor since 892. At the pleading of Archbishop Fulk of Reims, Pope Formosus reconciles with the young emperor. Lambert proceeds from Spoleto to Pavia, where he is acclaimed and crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.

title: 894

text: December – Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy, at the head of an East Frankish expeditionary army. He arrives in Pavia and reorganizes the Lombard state. Arnulf partitions the northern part of the kingdom: the western half (March of Lombardy) and the eastern half (March of Verona).

title: 895

text: December – Romanus is deposed and succeeded by Theodore II as the 115th pope of Rome, who dies twenty days later.

title: 897

text: December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine expeditionary force under General Nikephoros Phokas invades northern Syria, and sacks Aleppo, capital of the Hamdanid emir Sayf al-Dawla. In late December Aleppo is taken by storm, with the population killed or enslaved; the city is razed. The Byzantine army takes possession of 390,000 silver dinars, 2,000 camels and 1,400 mules.

title: 962

text: December – King Berengar II (the father of Adalbert II) surrenders at the fortress of Montefeltro to German forces. He and his wife Willa are taken prisoner and dispatched to Bamberg.

title: 963

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

title: 987

text: December – Empress Teishi gives birth to Prince Atsuyasu (who becomes the imperial heir), but on the next day, her rival, Fujiwara no Shoshi, is promoted to Consort.

title: AD 999

text: December – Fujiwara no Masanobu, an officer of the guard of empress consort Kenshi of Japan, is killed by Fujiwara no Korekane and Michinaga orders the assassin imprisoned.

title: 1013

text: December – Abbad I declares the Taifa of Seville independent from Córdoban rule. Abd ar-Rahman V is proclaimed Caliph at Córdoba.

title: 1023

section: Events › October–December

text: December – Sultan al-Dawla, Emir of Fars, dies and is succeeded by Abu Kalijar.

title: 1024

section: Events › October—December

text: December – Conrad I, duke of Bavaria, is summoned to a Christmas court at Merseburg, and deposed by Emperor Henry III. He flees to King Andrew I in Hungary, and joins a coalition with the rebellious Welf III, duke of Carinthia. Henry's 4-year-old son Henry becomes the new duke of Bavaria.

title: 1053

text: December – William the Conqueror moves along the south coast to Dover, and builds fortifications in the existing castle at the top of the cliffs. He moves to Canterbury and finally enters London. Archbishop Stigand and other English leaders submit to William's rule. On December 25, he is crowned as King William I of England in Westminster Abbey over Edward the Confessor's grave.

title: 1066

section: Events › Europe › England and Scotland

text: December – Tancred, Italo-Norman prince of Galilee, brings the Crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers in Syria under his control. He remains regent of the Principality of Antioch in the name of his cousin Bohemond II.

title: 1110

section: Events › By place › Levant

date: October

text: October–December – Crusaders under Baldwin I (supported by King Sigurd I of Norway) besiege Sidon. Norwegian ships blockade the harbour, but are nearly dispersed by a powerful Fatimid flotilla from Tyre. They are saved by the arrival of a Venetian squadron under Doge Ordelafo Faliero. On December 4, the city capitulates (under notable terms) to Baldwin.

title: 1110

text: December – Emperor Alexios III Angelos is threatened by Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demands 5,000 pounds of gold or the Byzantines will face an invasion, this due to a convoluted system of dynastic claims of Henry gaining control of Alexios' daughter Irene Doukaina. The amount is negotiated down to 1,600 pounds of gold – with Alexios plundering the imperial tombs within the Church of the Holy Apostles – as well as levying a heavy and unpopular tax, known as the Alamanikon (or German Tax).

title: 1196

text: December – King John I of Jerusalem leads an expedition into Lebanon. On December 3, he undertakes fruitless assaults on Muslim fortresses and on Mount Tabor. Meanwhile, the Crusader army under Andrew II wanders across the Jordan Valley and up the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. During the occupation, Andrew spends his time collecting alleged relics. By the end of December, supplies run out, and the crusaders retreat to Acre.

title: 1217

section: Events › Fifth Crusade

text: December – Theodore Komnenos (Doukas), ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, captures Thessaloniki – beginning the de facto Byzantine Empire of Thessalonica. Later, Theodore Komnenos was crowned Byzantine emperor but is not recognized as such by the rest of the Greek or Latin population.

title: 1224

section: Events › October – December

text: December – Siege of Caizhou: The Mongols under Ögedei Khan besiege Caizhou and ally themselves with the Chinese Song dynasty to eliminate the Jin Dynasty.

title: 1233

text: December – Siege of Lahore (1241): The Mongols under Tair Bahadur besiege and sack the city of Lahore in the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1241

text: December – King Louis IX (the Saint) falls desperately ill of a severe malarian infection. Near-death, he vows that if he recovers he will set out for a crusade. Louis' life is spared and as soon as his health permits him, he takes the cross and immediately begins preparations for the Seventh Crusade.

title: 1244

text: December – Crucial aspects of the philosophy of Averroism (itself based on Aristotle's works) are banned by the Roman Catholic Church, in a condemnation enacted by papal authority at the University of Paris.

title: 1270

text: December – Followers of Persian poet and mystic Rumi establish the Mevlevi Order ("whirling dervishes") in the city of Konya (approximate date).

title: 1273

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

title: 1291

text: December – John Balliol is summoned by Edward I to Westminster to answer an appeal by Macduff of Fife against a judgment imposed on him by the Scottish Parliament. John refuses to answer Macduff's appeal, 'without consulting the people of his realm'. Edward asks for compensation for the violation of English law and demands to hand him over three Scottish castles as repayment for the crime committed.

title: 1292

text: December – Muhammad II sends ambassadors to the Castilian court to ask Sancho IV to surrender Tarifa. Sancho refuses to yield the city to Granada and Muhammad, feeling betrayed, switches sides to form an alliance with the Marinids.

title: 1292

text: December – Mamluk sultan of Egypt Khalil is assassinated by his regent Baydara, who briefly claims the sultanate, before being assassinated himself by a rival political faction.

title: 1293

text: December – Marjorie Bruce, Scottish princess, only daughter of Robert I of Scotland (d. 1316)

title: 1296

text: December – Roger de Flor, Italian nobleman and adventurer, settles with the Catalan Company in Gallipoli and other towns in the southern part of Thrace and visits Constantinople to demand payment for his forces. He lives at the expense of the local population and uses the city as a base for his marauding raids in the surrounding area.

title: 1304

text: December – King Władysław I Łokietek of Poland imprisons Jan Muskata, Bishop of Kraków. In response, Polish and German citizens revolt against his rule in Kraków (as in all Poland's cities at this time). Władysław in a delicate position responds with force and arrests the revolt's leaders. He ties them to horses and drags them through the city streets.

title: 1308

text: December – The English take Aiguillon in Gascony.

title: 1345

text: December – Plague hits the island of Mallorca.

title: 1347

text: December – Financed by Charles V of France, Welshman Owain Lawgoch launches an invasion fleet against the English, in an attempt to claim the throne of Wales.A storm causes Owain to abandon the invasion.

title: 1369

text: December – At Suceava, Roman I succeeds Petru Mușat, as Prince of Moldavia (now Moldova and northeastern Romania).

title: 1391

text: December – The Yongle Encyclopedia, until the 21st century the largest encyclopedia of history, is completed in China after four years of work by 2,169 scholars at the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial University.

title: 1407

text: December – Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas meet with Polish King Wladyslaw Jagiello in Navahrudak Castle, where they agree to support the Samogitians uprising to provoke the Teutonic Knights into declaring war against Poland.

title: 1408

text: December – Battle of Chalagan: The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans defeat the Georgians under Constantine I of Georgia, and their ally Ibrahim I of Shirvan.

title: 1412

text: December – Pippo Spano, Hungarian military leader (b. 1369)

title: 1426

text: November or December – Vlad the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia (d. 1476)

title: 1431

text: December – King Henry VI of England having regained his sanity dismisses the Duke of York as Protector.

title: 1454

text: December – After Radu III the Fair takes over the throne in Wallachia, Vlad III Dracula seeks help in Transylvania, where he is captured by Mathias Corvinus, and imprisoned for the next 12 years, over false charges of treason.

title: 1462

text: December – The Principality of Theodoro falls to the Ottoman Empire, arguably taking with it the final territorial remnant of the successor to the Roman Kingdom after nearly 2,228 years of Roman civilization since the legendary Founding of Rome in 753 BC.

title: 1475

text: December – Premislav of Tost, Silesian ruler (b. 1425)

title: 1484

text: December – Ingeborg Tott, influential Swedish noblewoman, spouse of Swedish regent Sten Sture the elder

title: 1507

text: December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).

title: 1508

text: December – Louis attempts to make peace with Spain by offering King Ferdinand the hand of his daughter Renée for one of his grandsons along with renouncing his claims on Naples. The proposal is never accepted.

title: 1513

text: December – Moxammat Amin of Kazan, khan of Kazan (b. c. 1469)

title: 1518

text: December – Martim Afonso de Sousa's expedition sets out for Brazil from Portugal.

title: 1530

text: December – Hendrick van Brederode, Dutch noble (d. 1568)

title: 1531

text: December – Manco Inca Yupanqui, nominally Sapa Inca, is imprisoned by the Spanish Conquistadors of Peru.

title: 1535

text: December – Siam attacks Tavoy, beginning the Burmese–Siamese War of 1548.

title: 1548

text: December – John Taylor, Bishop of Lincoln (b. 1503)

title: 1554

text: December – The Mariovo and Prilep rebellion occurs, the very first recorded rebellion by the Macedonian hajduks or voivode against the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1565

text: December – James Burbage opens the first permanent public playhouse in Britain, The Theatre.

title: 1576

text: December – Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1501)

title: 1578

text: December – Marie de Rohan, French courtier and political activist (d. 1679)

title: 1600

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

title: 1608

text: December – Barnabe Barnes, English poet (b. c. 1571)

title: 1609

text: December – Leonora Baroni, Italian singer (d. 1670)

title: 1611

text: December – In the Middle East, traveller Pietro Della Valle marries Jowaya, daughter of a Nestorian Christian father and an Armenian mother, in Baghdad. The couple then sets off (1617) to find the Shah in Isfahan.

title: 1616

text: December – The Dutch mathematician and astronomer, Willebrord Snel van Royen (1580–1626), reveals he has rediscovered the law of refraction, also known as Snellius' law.

title: 1621

text: December – Madame Ke, influential nanny of the Tianqi Emperor of China (b. c. 1588)

title: 1627

text: December – Bubonic plague breaks out in Edinburgh (Scotland).

title: 1644

text: December – The River Thames in England freezes, allowing a frost fair to be held.

title: 1683

text: December – Doamna Marica Brâncoveanu, princess consort of Wallachia (b. 1661)

title: 1729

text: December – Elisabeth Olin, Swedish opera singer (d. 1828)

title: 1740

text: December – Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Militias of the Royal Colony of North Carolina build a fort on the province's western frontier to protect it against natives allied with the French. The fort is named Fort Dobbs in honor of North Carolina Governor Arthur Dobbs, who persuaded the North Carolina legislature to fund the construction a year earlier.

title: 1756

text: December – A school is founded in Washington County, Pennsylvania that will later be known as Washington & Jefferson College.

title: 1781

text: December – Immanuel Kant's essay "Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?" is published.

title: 1784

text: December – Robert Burns writes his version of the Scots poem Auld Lang Syne.

title: 1788

text: December – The British government begins work on a 40-acre (162,000 m²) site at Norman Cross, for the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp.

title: 1796

text: December – Boyd massacre: Whangaroa Māori people kill and eat 66 crew and passengers of the brigantine Boyd in New Zealand.

title: 1809

text: October–December – Dispute between the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the Empire of Brazil over the Banda Oriental region leads to the Cisplatine War.

title: 1825

text: December – The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded.

title: 1833

text: December – First Anglo-Afghan War: British and Presidency armies set out from Punjab in support of Shah Shujah Durrani's claim to the throne of Afghanistan.

title: 1838

text: December – The world's first Christmas cards, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London from the artist John Callcott Horsley, are sent.

title: 1843

text: December – The Western Railroad is chartered to build a railroad from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to the coal fields of Egypt, North Carolina.

title: 1852

text: December – The Reform War in Mexico begins.

title: 1857

text: December – Peruvian slave raiders land on Easter Island, beginning a decade of the destruction of the society and population on the island.

title: 1862

text: December – Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace is published in complete book form, in Russia.

title: 1869

text: December – Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and patents a racquet sport, which he calls sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as Stické and an ancestor of lawn tennis, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.

title: 1873

text: December – Zikhron Ya'akov is founded in northern Israel.

title: 1882

text: November 11 – Jindandao Incident: The Chinese Juu Uda League in Inner Mongolia massacres tens of thousands of Mongols, before being suppressed by government troops in late December.

title: 1891

text: November 26 – Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Adventure of the Final Problem", published in the December dated issue of The Strand Magazine and serialized in Sunday newspapers worldwide, surprises the reading public by revealing that his popular character Sherlock Holmes had apparently died at the Reichenbach Falls on May 4, 1891.

title: 1893

text: December–February 1903 – Venezuelan crisis: Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela, in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

title: 1902

text: November–December – Russian Revolution of 1905: In the Baltic governorates, workers and peasants burn and loot hundreds of Baltic German manors. The Imperial Russian Army thereafter executes and deports thousands of looters.

title: 1905

text: December – Annie Besant becomes president of the Indian National Congress.

title: 1917

text: December – The year ends with hyperinflation showing no sign of slowing down in Germany, with 7,000 marks now needed to buy a single American dollar.

title: 1922

text: October 15 – T. S. Eliot establishes The Criterion magazine, containing the first publication of his poem The Waste Land. This first appears in the United States later this month in The Dial (dated November 1), and is first published complete with notes in book form, by Boni and Liveright in New York in December.

title: 1922

text: December – The Communist Party Congress condemns all deviation from the general party line in the USSR.

title: 1927

text: December – All adult Turkish women are given the right to vote in elections.

title: 1930

text: June 8 – The Dáil Éireann passes the Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937, which abolishes the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State, retrospectively dated to December 1936.

title: 1937

text: December – Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year", as the most influential person of the year.

title: 1938

text: December – Timely Comics' Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941), first appearance of Captain America and Bucky, hits newsstands in the United States.

title: 1940

text: March–December – History of computing hardware: British prototype Mark I Colossus computer is constructed (the world's first totally electronic programmable computing device) to assist in cryptanalysis of German signals at Bletchley Park.

title: 1943

text: December – Comet Hale Bopp was found again around 30.7 AU away from the Sun. The previous time the Comet was found was in April 1997.

title: 2010

text: December 4-6 – Egyptian protestors protest outside the presidential palace against the 2012 constitutional declaration which gave President Morsi influence over the judiciary and turns violent when Morsi supporters clashed with anti-Morsi protestors. It led to the intervention of security forces. The incident caused the deaths of at least 10, including anti-Morsi protestors and supporters of Morsi as well as hundreds of injuries.

title: 2012


slug: defensive-wall

label: Defensive wall

description: fortification used to protect an area from potential aggressors

section: Conflict & Security

text: Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage.

title: AD 194

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Siege of Autun: Julian receives a report that Augustodunum (Autun) is under attack by the Alemanni. The city walls are in poor state and in danger of falling.

title: 356

section: Crime & Justice

text: The Goths attack Adrianople; they attempt to scale the city walls with ladders but are repelled by the defenders, who drop lumps of masonry.

title: 378

text: Gothic War (436-439): Litorius, Roman general (Magister militum per Gallias), lays siege to Toulouse. During the decisive battle before the walls he suffers a severe defeat and is killed, and only the heavy loss of Visigoths makes King Theodoric I decide to agree to a provisional restoration of the status quo.

title: 439

section: Events › By place › Europe

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Anastasius I constructs a wall from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, to protect Constantinople from raiding Bulgars and Slavs.

title: 512

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Spring – Siege of Naples (542–543): The Byzantine garrison (1,000 men) in Naples surrenders to the Ostrogoths, pressed by famine and demoralized by the failure of two relief efforts. The defenders are well treated by King Totila, and the garrison is allowed safe departure, but the city walls are partly razed.

title: 543

text: Wen Xuan Di adopts a defensive policy towards the hostile northern tribes; he builds over 1,000 miles of walls on the border.

title: 550

text: Spring – Lazic War - Siege of Petra (550–551): The Byzantine army and their Sabir allies (some 6,000 men) under Bessas recapture the strategic Byzantine fortress of Petra, located on the coast of the Black Sea. He orders the city walls razed to the ground.

title: 551

section: Events › By place › Persia

text: Battle of Melantias: Outside the city walls of Constantinople, Belisarius defeats the combined "barbarians" with his veteran cavalry (bucellarii), and a few thousand hastily raised levies.

title: 559

text: Tulum, Maya walled city, on the Yucatán Peninsula (modern Mexico) is first mentioned on a stele inscription.

title: 564

section: Events › By place › Mesoamerica

text: October – Siege of Aleppo: Muslim Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid conquer the Byzantine stronghold Aleppo; the large walled city surrenders after a four-month siege. A column of troops under Malik al-Ashtar is sent to take Azaz.

title: 637

text: The Bulgars under Tervel, ruler (khagan) of the Bulgarian Empire, raid Thrace and reach the city walls of Constantinople. Skirmishes continue until 716; Emperor Philippicus transfers a Byzantine army from the Opsikion Theme in Asia Minor, to police the Balkan Peninsula.

title: 712

text: Muslim forces under Al-Samh begin the prolonged siege of Carcassonne, a fortified Visigothic town located in the Languedoc-Roussillon.

title: 720

text: Umayyad conquest of Gaul: Muslim forces under Anbasa ibn Suhaym al-Kalbi (governor of Al-Andalus) capture the fortified town of Carcassonne, which has been under siege (see 720), as well as Nîmes in Septimania (the latter without resistance).

title: 725

text: Battle of Avignon: Frankish forces under Charles Martel, Merovingian Mayor of the Palace, retake Avignon from the Muslim forces, and destroy the Umayyad stronghold. Charles sends his brother Childebrand I, duke of Burgundy, to besiege the city. After his arrival, Charles leads the Frankish troops by using rope ladders and battering rams to attack the fortified walls, which are burned to the ground following its capture.

title: AD 737

section: Climate & Environment

date: October 26

text: October 26 – 740 Constantinople earthquake. An earthquake strikes Constantinople and the surrounding countryside, causing destruction to the city's land walls and buildings.

title: 740

section: Religion & Belief

text: Baghdad nears completion as up to 100,000 labourers create a circular city about 1 or 2 km in diameter (depending on the source). In the center of the "Round City" is a palace built for Caliph al-Mansur. The capital is ringed by three lines of walls (approximate date).

title: 766

text: Spring – Siege of Serdica: Krum, ruler (khan) of the Bulgarian Empire, captures the fortress of Serdica (modern Sofia), after a long siege. According to Byzantine sources, he massacres the garrison (supposedly 6,000 men), sacks the city, and razes the city walls, before returning with much loot to Bulgaria. In the following years (and centuries), Serdica will serve as a base for the expansion of the Bulgars to the south of the Balkans.

title: 809

text: Pope Leo IV builds (on the opposite of the Tiber River) the Leonine City, a fortified three-kilometre wall that encircles the Vatican Hill and Borgo, to defend Rome.

title: 848

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: In China, Fuzhou City (Fujian Province) is expanded, with the construction of a new city wall ("Luo City").

title: 901

text: The city of Fuzhou, located in Fujian province, builds new city walls.

title: 974

section: Events › By place › China

date: August 25

text: August 25 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, archbishop of Utrecht, after the town has been pillaged by a local robber baron.

title: 1248

section: Events › By topic › Cities and Towns


slug: deheubarth

label: Deheubarth

description: kingdom in west Britain

section: Births

text: Hywel ap Cadell, king of Deheubarth (Wales) (approximate date)

title: 880

text: Kings Idwal Foel of Gwynedd and Hywel ap Cadell, and Prince Clydog of Deheubarth (Wales) submit to the overlordship of Edward the Elder. The Vikings raid Anglesey.

title: 918

section: Events › By place › Britain

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Welsh ruler Hywel Dda ("the Good") merges Dyfed and Seisyllwg, establishing a new kingdom known as Deheubarth.

title: 920

date: July 12

text: July 12 – King Æthelstan of Wessex receives the submission of High-Reeve Ealdred I of Bamburgh and probably also of Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde, at Eamont Bridge. He also secures a pledge from King Constantine II of Scotland, that he will not ally with the Viking kings. This summer also Kings Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and Owain of Glywysing and Gwent submit to the overlordship of Æthelstan at Hereford. The borders between England and Wales are set at the River Wye.

title: 927

section: Economy & Finance

text: King Hywel Dda (the Good) of Deheubarth makes a pilgrimage to Rome, he becomes the first Welsh ruler to undertake such a trip. Hywel begins the codification of medieval Welsh law and mints his own coinage.

title: 928

text: King Morgan Hen of Glywysing and Gwent (Wales) submits to the overlordship of King Æthelstan, and attends his court with Kings Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and Idwal Foel of Gwynedd.

title: 931

section: Events › By place › England

text: King Tewdwr of Brycheiniog attends the court of King Æthelstan and signs the English Land Charters. Kings Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Idwal Foel of Gwynedd and Morgan Mwynfawr ("the Old") of Morgannwg are compelled to accompany Æthelstan on his campaign against King Constantine II of Scotland.

title: 934

text: Hywel Dda, king of Deheubarth, annexes Gwynedd and Powys, to become the sole ruler of most of Wales.

title: 942

section: Deaths

text: Rhodri ap Hywel, king of Deheubarth (Wales)

title: 953

text: Rhys ap Tewdwr, king of Deheubarth (d. 1093)

title: 997

text: Rhydderch ap Iestyn, king of Gwent and Deheubarth

title: 1033

text: Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, king of Deheubarth

title: 1055

text: Battle of Mynydd Carn (near St Davids in Wales): Gruffudd ap Cynan in alliance with Rhys ap Tewdwr, prince of Deheubarth, defeats the forces of Trahaearn ap Caradog, Caradog ap Gruffydd and Meilir ap Rhiwallon (who are all killed), allowing Gruffudd to claim the Kingdom of Gwynedd.

title: 1081

text: Gruffydd ap Rhys, Welsh king of Deheubarth (d. 1137)

title: 1081

date: April

text: April – Rhys ap Tewdwr, Welsh king of Deheubarth, killed in battle (b. 997)

title: 1093

text: The Welsh under King Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth attack Llandovery Castle, but are defeated. Gruffydd also attacks Swansea Castle and destroys the outer walls.

title: 1116

section: Events › By place › Wales

text: Rhys ap Gruffydd, Welsh prince of Deheubarth (d. 1197)

title: 1132

text: Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, Welsh princess of Deheubarth

title: 1136

text: c. August – Battle of Crogen: Owain Gwynedd (Owain Fawr), ruler of the Kingdom of Gwynedd in north Wales, having formed an alliance with his nephew Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth, to challenge English rule, defeats King Henry II of England and drives his army out of Wales.

title: 1165

section: Events › By place › British Isles

date: April 28

text: April 28 – Rhys ap Gruffydd, Welsh prince of Deheubarth

title: 1197

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Gruffydd ap Rhys II, Welsh prince of Deheubarth

title: 1201

date: June 8

text: June 8 – Welsh forces led by Rhys ap Maredudd revolt in Wales against King Edward I (Longshanks). Although Maredudd has assisted the English in the past, he accuses Edward of treating him unfairly over taxes. The rebels burn several towns, including Swansea and Carmarthen. They capture most of Ystrad Tywi, heartland of Deheubarth (the revolt will not be suppressed until 1288).

title: 1287


slug: deira

label: Deira

description: kingdom in the north of early Anglo-Saxon Britain

text: The Anglo-Saxons under Ælla conquer Deira (Northern England) from the Britons. He becomes the first king of Deira (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

title: 581

text: Edwin of Northumbria, king of Deira and Bernicia (d. 633)

title: 585

text: Æthelric succeeds his father Ælla as king of Deira in Northern England.

title: 588

text: Ælla, king of Deira (approximate date)

title: 588

section: Conflict & Security

text: Battle of Catraeth: The Gododdin under Mynyddog Mwynfawr, Brythonic king of Hen Ogledd ("The Old North"), defeat the Angles of Bernicia and Deira, at the stronghold of Catraeth in Northern England (approximate date).

title: 598

text: King Æthelfrith annexes the neighboring kingdom of Deira (Northern England). The region between the Forth and Humber rivers will hereafter be known as Northumbria, the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

title: 605

text: Rædwald installs Edwin as king of Northumbria, effectively confirming him as bretwalda. He takes power in his native Deira and in Bernicia. His reign marks the domination of Northumbria as leading Anglo-Saxon state of the British Isles.

title: 616

text: Œthelwald, king of Deira (approximate date)

title: 625

text: Alhfrith, king of Deira (approximate date)

title: 630

date: October 12

text: October 12 or 633 – Edwin of Northumbria, king of Deira and Bernicia

title: 632

text: Osric, king of Deira (approximate date)

title: 633

text: Battle of Heavenfield: Oswald, possibly accompanied by a force of Scots (or Picts), defeats and kills Cadwallon with a Welsh army near Hexham (northern England). He reunites Deira with Bernicia, and becomes king of Northumbria.

title: 634

text: Oswine, son of the late king Osric of Deira, manages to establish himself as king of Deira (Northern England) despite armed objections from King Oswiu of Bernicia. His succession, probably the choice of the people of Deira, splits the Kingdom of Northumbria.

title: 644

text: Œthelwald succeeds his uncle Oswine as king of Deira, and allies himself with Oswiu's enemy, King Penda of Mercia. Queen Eanflæd of Bernicia donates the estate of Gilling for the foundation of a monastery.

title: 651

date: August 20

text: August 20 – Oswine, king of Deira (England)

title: 651

text: Approximate date – Ælfwine, Northumbrian king of Deira (k. 679)

title: 661

title: 664

text: Ælfwine, king of Deira (approximate date)

title: AD 679

section: Crime & Justice

date: July 24

text: July 24 – King Oswulf of Northumbria is murdered by members of his own household (his servants or bodyguards), at Market Weighton. The Deiran patrician, Æthelwald Moll, who probably conspired in the regicide, is crowned king of Northumbria. He may have been a descendant of the late king Oswine of Deira.

title: 759

text: Deira, the southernmost part of Northumbria, is conquered by the Vikings. Ivar the Boneless, one of their leaders, installs a puppet king of Northumbria, Ecgberht I.

title: 867


slug: delhi-sultanate

label: Delhi Sultanate

description: 1206–1526 empire in the Indian subcontinent

text: Qutb al-Din Aibak, ruler of the Delhi Sultanate (d. 1210)

title: 1150

date: March 15

text: March 15 – Sultan Muhammad of Ghor is murdered and succeeded by Qutb al-Din Aibak, his deputy in India, who founds the Mamluk Dynasty, the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1206

section: Events › By place › Asia

date: June

text: June – Shams ud-Din Iltutmish, son-in-law of the former Sultan Qutb al-Din Aibak, becomes ruler of the Delhi Sultanate and quells the Hindu rebellions in India.

title: 1211

text: Iltutmish, Ghurid ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, repels a Mongol attack and invades Bengal. His rival, Ghiyasuddin, leads an army to halt Iltutmish's advance, but decides to avoid a conflict by paying him tribute and accepting his suzerainty.

title: 1225

section: Events › By place › Mongol Empire

date: October 10

text: October 10 – Razia Sultana, daughter of Mamluk Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, becomes the first female Muslim ruler of the Indian subcontinent, deposing her half-brother, Ruknuddin Firuz, as sultan of the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1236

text: December – Siege of Lahore (1241): The Mongols under Tair Bahadur besiege and sack the city of Lahore in the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1241

section: Events

date: November 19

text: November 19 – Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, Mamluk ruler of Delhi

title: 1266

date: June 13

text: June 13 – Shamsuddin Kayumars, Mamluk ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, is murdered and succeeded by Jalal-ud-din Khalji (or Firuz Shah I), founder of the Khalji dynasty, ending Mamluk rule and instigating the Khalji Revolution.

title: 1290

text: June 13 – Shamsuddin II, Mamluk ruler of the Delhi Sultanate (b. 1285)

title: 1290

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji dies, and his nephew and son-in-law Ala-Ud-Din-Khalji comes to the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in Hindustan, becoming the most powerful ruler of his dynasty.

title: 1296

section: Events › January–December

text: Mongol invasion of India (1297–1298): Mongol forces led by Qutlugh Khwaja invade the Sindh region of the Delhi Sultanate and occupy the castle of Sivistan (modern Pakistan). Sultan Alauddin Khalji sends an army under Zafar Khan, who defeats the Mongols, on February 6. Some 20,000 Mongols are killed in the ensuing battle. The survivors are put into chains and brought to Delhi, where they are trampled to death by elephants.

title: 1298

date: January 28

text: January 28 – In India, the siege of Chittorgarh, capital of the Medapata Kingdom (now in the state of Rajasthan), begins as the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khalji, seeks to acquire the territory of the Medapata Emperor, Ratnasimha.

title: 1303

section: Events › January–March

text: Sultan Alauddin Khalji orders a second invasion of Gujarat, which results in the annexation of the Kingdom of Vaghela into the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1304

section: Events › July – September

date: December 20

text: December 20 – Battle of Amroha: Mongol forces (some 30,000 men) invade the Delhi Sultanate again in northern India. Sultan Alauddin Khalji dispatches a cavalry force led by Vizier Ghazi Malik, to repulse the Mongols. During the battle (somewhere in the Amroha district), the Delhi forces inflict a crushing defeat upon the invaders. Many Mongols are taken prisoner and incorporated into the Delhi army.

title: 1305

section: Events › October – December

date: November 24

text: November 24 – In India, Mahalakadeva, King of Malwa, is killed while attempting to flee the invaders from the Delhi Sultanate. Ayn al-Mulk Multani takes control of the kingdom as the Sultanate's Governor of Malwa.

title: 1305

text: Mongol invasion of India: Mongol forces invade the Delhi Sultanate, Sultan Alauddin Khalji sends an army under Malik Kafur to deal with the invaders and defeats them at the banks of the Ravi River. The Delhi army kills and captures many Mongols in their pursuit. Alauddin orders the survivors to be trampled under the feet of elephants.

title: 1306

section: Events › By location › Asia

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Alauddin Khalji, Sultan of Delhi sets off from the Indian city of Delhi toward the Fort of Siwana (now in the Rajasthan state) to begin the siege of Siwana, which is completed in September.

title: 1308

date: October 31

text: October 31 – In India, Alauddin Khalji, Sultan of Delhi, orders General Malik Kafur to invade the Kakatiya kingdom, ruled by Prataparudra, and to besiege its capital, Warangal (now in India's Telangana state).

title: 1309

text: Spring – Siege of Warangal: Delhi forces led by Malik Kafur conquer the fortress of Warangal after a month-long siege. Rudradeva II, Indian ruler of the Kakatiya Dynasty, negotiates a truce and surrenders a huge amount of wealth to send to the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1310

date: January 19

text: January 19 – General Malik Kafur of the Delhi Sultanate begins the siege of Warangal, capital of the Kakatiya kingdom in what is now the Indian state of Telangana.

title: 1310

section: Events › January – March

date: March 20

text: March 20 – Having secured the surrender of King Prataparudra of Kakatiya during the siege of Warangal, General Malik Kafur of the Delhi Sultanate begins his return journey to Delhi. He will arrive on June 23.

title: 1310

date: April 14

text: April 14 – Qutb al-Din Mubarak, the 17-year-old son of Alauddin Khalji, succeeds him and ascends the throne as ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1316

section: Events › April – June

date: February 8

text: February 8 – After only 35 days of ruling the Delhi Sultanate as regent, Malik Kafur is assassinated by Sultan Alauddin's former bodyguards.

title: 1316

date: January 4

text: January 4 – Sultan Alauddin Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate dies after a 19-year reign at Delhi. He is succeeded by his 5-year-old son, Shihabuddin Omar, with the support of Alauddin's general Malik Kafur. During his reign, a power struggle occurs between Malik Kafur and the Khalji family.

title: 1316

date: July 9

text: July 9 – In India's Delhi Sultanate, Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah is murdered by his favourite, Khusrau Khan, who succeeds him on the throne.

title: 1320

text: July 9 – Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah, Indian ruler of the Delhi Sultanate

title: 1320

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: April 8

text: April 8 – In the Delhi Sultanate of India, European Dominican missionaries who have accompanied Jordan Catala are killed while stranded on Salsette Island. Jordan escapes and continues his ministry.

title: 1321

date: February 1

text: February 1 – Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq is murdered after a 5-year reign at Kara-Manikpur. He is succeeded by his son Muhammad bin Tughluq (Juna Khan) as ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.

title: 1325

text: The sultan of Delhi Muhammad bin Tughluq chooses Ibn Battuta to lead a diplomatic mission to Yuan Dynasty China.

title: 1341

section: Events › Date unknown

date: March 23

text: March 23 – Firuz Shah Tughlaq succeeds Mohammad Tughlaq as ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. At this time, the Samma dynasty in Sindh (part of modern-day Pakistan) breaks away from the Sultanate.

title: 1351

text: Ziauddin Barani, historian and political thinker of the Delhi Sultanate (b. 1285)

title: 1357

date: September 20

text: September 20 –Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq II succeeds Firuz Shah Tughlaq as Sultan of Delhi.

title: 1388

section: Events › July–September

date: March 14

text: March 14 – The unpopular Sultan Tughluq Khan of Delhi is murdered and succeeded by his brother, Abu Bakr Shah. The assassins, including Abu Bakr, kill the Sultan Tughluq and his vizier, Jahan Khan.

title: 1389

text: Sultan Mahmud II of the Delhi Sultanate

title: 1394

date: January 20

text: January 20 – In India, Ala ud-din Sikandar Shah becomes the new Sultan of Delhi upon the death of his father, Muhammad Shah III.

title: 1394

date: December 17

text: December 17 – Timur defeats the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, which has been weakened after four years of civil war. Following his victory, Timur's Islamic troops sack the city of Delhi, and proceed to massacre hundreds of thousands of the state's Hindu inhabitants.

title: 1398

text: January 13 – In the Delhi Sultanate in what is now the Uttarakhand state of India, Timur the Lame captures and sacks Haridwar.

title: 1399

text: May 28 – Khizr Khan, Timur's governor of Multan in India, conquers the Delhi Sultanate from Daulat Khan Lodi, founding the Sayyid Dynasty.

title: 1414

text: February 19 – In India, Mubarak Shah II, the Sultan of Delhi, is assassinated. His nephew, Muhammad Shah IV becomes the new Sultan.

title: 1434

text: January 1 – In northern India, Ala-ud-Din Alam Shah becomes the new Sultan of Delhi upon the death of his father, Muhammad Shah IV.

title: 1445

text: April 19 – In the Delhi Sultanate, the Afghan Lodi Dynasty succeeds the Turkish Sayyid Dynasty as the Sayyid ruler Ala-ud-Din Alam Shah flees Delhi and Bahlul Khan Lodi takes the throne.

title: 1451

text: July 17 – In India's Delhi Sultanate, Sikandar Lodi succeeds Bahlul Khan Lodi as the new Sultan of Delhi.

title: 1489

text: February 25 – The Battle of Hisar Firoza is fought in what is now the Indian state of Haryana, between the Mughal Empire (whose army is led by Prince Humayun) and the Delhi Sultanate, led by Hamid Khan. Humayun, in his first command, leads the Mughals to victory.

title: 1526