slug: francis-i-of-france

label: Francis I of France

description: King of France from 1515 to 1547 (1494-1547)

section: Religion & Belief

date: December 18

text: December 18 – King Francis I of France, victorious in the battle of Marignano in Italy and the new ruler of Milan, begins four days of meetings in Bologna with Pope Leo X. King Francis agrees to ensure the Pope's authority over the Catholic Church in France, and Leo promises to support Francis' claim to the throne of Naples.

title: 1515

date: January 1

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

title: 1515

date: September 14

text: September 14– The Battle of Marignano concludes after two days as the army of Francis I of France defeats the Swiss mercenaries, thanks to the timely arrival of a Venetian army. The French Army enters the Duchy of Milan on September 17 and reclaims it for King Francis.

title: 1515

text: Leonardo da Vinci accepts Francis I's invitation to France.

title: 1516

section: Events › Date unknown

date: August 13

text: August 13 – The Treaty of Noyon is signed. King François I of France recognizes Charles I of Spain's claim to Naples, and Charles recognizes Francis's claim to Milan. The treaty also promised Louise of France to Charles.

title: 1516

date: August 18

text: August 18 – King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X sign the Concordat of Bologna, agreeing on the relationship between church and state in France.

title: 1516

date: February 18

text: February 18 – After two months in Bologna, part of the Papal States in Italy, Pope Leo X concludes two months of negotiation with King François I of France. Their talks result in the abrogation of the French Pragmatic Sanction, and the conclusion of a new Concordat between the Papacy and France.

title: 1516

date: June 7

text: June 7 – King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France meet at the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold.

title: 1520

text: August 20 – The Italian War of 1521–1526 breaks out between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France as Henry III of Nassau-Breda leads Imperial troops on an invasion of northeastern France.

title: 1521

date: January 17

text: January 17 – Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, on board La Dauphine in the service of Francis I of France, sets out from Madeira for the New World, to seek out a western sea route to the Pacific Ocean.

title: 1524

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Claude of France, queen consort of Francis I of France (b. 1499)

title: 1524

date: October 28

text: October 28 – A French army invading Italy, under King Francis, besieges Pavia, months before the Battle of Pavia.

title: 1524

date: February 24

text: February 24 – Battle of Pavia: German and Spanish forces under Charles de Lannoy and the Marquis of Pescara defeat the French army, and capture Francis I of France, after his horse is wounded by Cesare Hercolani. While Francis is imprisoned in Lombardy and then transferred to Madrid, the first attempts to form a Franco-Ottoman alliance with Suleiman the Magnificent against the Habsburg Empire are made.

title: 1525

date: February 6

text: February 6 – Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, agrees to form a military alliance with France, after King François I sends a proposal by way of his envoy, Jean Frangipani.

title: 1526

date: January 14

text: January 14 – Treaty of Madrid: Peace is declared between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Francis agrees to cede Burgundy and abandons all claims to Flanders, Artois, Naples, and Milan.

title: 1526

date: March 6

text: March 6 – King François I of France is released from captivity in Spain after having signed the Treaty of Madrid.

title: 1526

date: August 5

text: August 5 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Cambrai, or Ladies' Peace in the War of the League of Cognac: Francis abandons his claims in Italy, but is allowed to retain the Duchy of Burgundy. Henry VIII of England accedes on August 27.

title: 1529

date: July 4

text: July 4 – King François of France marries Eleanor of Austria, daughter of King Philip the Handsome of Castile and widow of King Manuel I of Portugal.

title: 1530

section: Economy & Finance

text: August 13 – King François of France dispatches Colonel Pierre de Piton to Morocco with a letter addressed to the ruler, Sultan Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad, in order to establish a trade agreement.

title: 1533

date: January 21

text: January 21 – The French Protestant leaders of the October 1534 Affaire des Placards are burned to death in front of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris and witnessed by a large crowd that includes King François and the visiting Ottoman diplomats.

title: 1535

date: November 1

text: November 1 – Eighteen days after the death of Francesco II Sforza, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V claims the Duchy of Milan as his inheritance under Sforza's will. King François of France disputes the claim of Charles, citing the French right to rule Milan, Genoa and Asti, and the dispute leads to war between France and the Empire.

title: 1535

text: The Italian War of 1536–1538 resumes between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Francis seizes control of Savoy, and captures Turin. Charles triumphally enters Rome, following the Via Triumphalis, and delivers a speech before the Pope and College of Cardinals, publicly challenging the king of France to a duel.

title: 1536

date: June 2

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

title: 1536

date: December 28

text: December 28 – The Ordonnance de Montpellier, establishing the first system in Europe for all writers to submit copies of their printed work to the government for review and maintenance in a library, is signed into law by King François I of France. The law provides that a book cannot be legally sold until a copy has been deposited in the royal library.

title: 1537

text: January 1 – Princess Madeleine of Valois, the 16-year-old daughter of François I, King of France, is married to King James V of Scotland in a ceremony at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Already in ill health at the time of the marriage, Madaleine lives only six more months before dying at the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on July 7.

title: 1537

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Truce of Nice: Peace is declared between Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France.

title: 1538

date: August 15

text: August 15 – King Francis I of France issues the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêt, that places the whole of France under the jurisdiction of the royal law courts, and makes French the language of those courts, and the official language of legal discourse.

title: 1539

date: January 12

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

title: 1539

date: July 19

text: July 19 – Mary Boleyn, English courtier, mistress of Kings Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England (b. 1500)

title: 1543

date: October 6

text: October 6 – In order to aid James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, Regent of Scotland, in his defense against challenger Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, King Francois of France arranges for two envoys, Jacques de La Brosse and Jacques Ménage to deliver money and munitions to Dumbarton Castle. The envoys unwittingly deliver Arran's materials to Lennox.

title: 1543

date: September 18

text: September 18 – Peace of Crépy: Peace is declared between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France. The war between France and England continues.

title: 1544

text: January 1 – King Francis I of France issues the "Arrêt de Mérindol", to destroy the Protestant Waldensians of Provence.

title: 1545

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Work on construction of the Château de Chambord, in the Loire Valley, for Francis I of France, ceases.

title: 1547

date: March 31

text: March 31 – King Francis I of France dies at the Château de Rambouillet and is succeeded by his eldest surviving son Henry II (on his 28th birthday) as King of France.

title: 1547


slug: francis-of-assisi

label: Francis of Assisi

description: Italian Catholic saint, friar, deacon and preacher and founder of the Franciscan Order (1181/2–1226)

section: Births

text: Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order (d. 1226)

title: 1182

text: Pope Innocent III allows the formation of the mendicant order of Francis of Assisi, to begin the Order of Friars Minor.

title: 1210

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: September

text: September – Francis of Assisi, an Italian preacher, arrives in the Crusader camp and introduces Catholicism in Egypt. He seeks permission from Pelagius to visit Al-Kamil. After an initial refusal, he sends Francis under a flag of truce to Faraskur. Al-Kamil receives him courteously and offers him many gifts. He accepts a death-bed baptism, and is escorted back to the Crusader camp.

title: 1219

section: Events › By place › Fifth Crusade

date: December 24

text: December 24 – Father Francis of Assisi (Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone), founder of the Order of the Franciscans with in the Roman Catholic Church, begins the tradition of celebrating Christmas with a nativity scene. Having received permission from Pope Honorius III, Francis arranges for a display in a cave near the Italian city of Greccio, with the representation of the events associated with the birth of Jesus Christ as described in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospel of Luke, using real people and animals.

title: 1223

section: Events › October–December

date: September 14

text: September 14 – Francis of Assisi, while praying on the mountain of La Verna during a 40-day fast, has a vision, as a result of which he receives the stigmata. Brother Leo, who is with Francis at the time, leaves a clear and simple account of this event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata.

title: 1224

section: Events › July – September

date: July 16

text: July 16 – Saint Francis of Assisi is canonized by Gregory IX.

title: 1228

section: Deaths

date: April 23

text: April 23 – Giles of Assisi, companion of Francis of Assisi (b. 1190)

title: 1262

text: The Franciscan friar Matteo Bassi is inspired to return to the primitive life of solitude and penance, as practiced by St. Francis, giving rise to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

title: 1520


slug: franciscan

label: Franciscan

text: Approximate date – William of Rubruck, Flemish Franciscan missionary (b. c.1220)

title: 1293

text: Michael of Cesena is deposed as General of the Franciscans.

title: 1329

text: Franciscan friar James of Jülich is boiled alive, for impersonating a bishop and ordaining his own priests.

title: 1392

text: Gerónimo de Aguilar, Spanish Franciscan friar, participant in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (d. 1531)

title: 1489

title: 1520

date: July 9

text: July 9 – John of Cologne, Dutch Franciscan friar, martyr and saint (b. 1510)

title: 1572

date: April 26

text: April 26 – Benedict the Moor, Italian Franciscan friar and saint (b. 1526)

title: 1589

date: February 5

text: February 5 – Francisco Blanco, Spanish Franciscan and Roman Catholic priest, missionary, martyr and saint (b. 1570)

title: 1597

text: February 5 – Gonsalo Garcia, Portuguese Franciscan and Roman Catholic priest, missionary, martyr and saint (b. 1557)

title: 1597

text: July 9 – Gregorio Grassi, Italian Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic martyr and saint (b. 1833)

title: 1900

section: Deaths › July–September


slug: franciscans

label: Franciscans

description: from 1517, group of three religious orders within the Catholic Church

text: Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order (d. 1226)

title: 1182

text: Giovanni da Penna, Italian Franciscan priest (d. 1271)

title: 1193

text: Adam Marsh, English Franciscan scholar and theologian (d. 1259)

title: 1200

title: 1223

date: October 10

text: October 10 – Daniel and companions, Franciscan martyrs

title: 1227

date: May 7

text: May 7 – Agnellus of Pisa, Italian Franciscan friar (b. 1195)

title: 1236

date: March 20

text: March 20 – Gregory IX renews the excommunication of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, while he is at his court in Padua. Frederick responds by expelling the Franciscans and Dominicans from Lombardy.

title: 1239

date: January 23

text: January 23 – Albert of Pisa, Italian Franciscan friar

title: 1240

date: December 8

text: December 8 – Pope John XXII issues the papal bull Ad conditorem canonum, permanently renouncing the doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church owns all of the properties of the Franciscan Order.

title: 1322

section: Events › October – December

date: July 3

text: July 3 – Pope Clement VII issues the bull Religionis zelus, recognizing the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum), commonly known as the Capuchin monks, as a reformist branch of the Franciscans order of Roman Catholicism.

title: 1528

section: Events › July–September

section: Culture & Society

date: January 6

text: January 6 – The Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, the oldest European school of higher learning in the Americas, is established by Franciscans in Mexico City.

title: 1536

section: Events › January–March


slug: francisco-pizarro

label: Francisco Pizarro

description: Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: September 13

text: September 13 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, Hernando de Luque and Diego de Almagro all set off on the first of three expeditions to conquer Peru, taking along 80 men and 40 horses, but the venture is halted in Colombia.

title: 1524

text: Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro and his brothers first reach Inca territory in South America.

title: 1526

section: Conflict & Security

date: April

text: April – Battle of Puná: Francisco Pizarro defeats the native inhabitants of the island of Puná, off of the coast of what is now the South American nation of Ecuador.

title: 1531

section: Events › April–June

date: May 13

text: May 13 – Francisco Pizarro lands on the northern coast of Peru.

title: 1532

section: Crime & Justice

date: November 16

text: November 16 – Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca, ambushing and slaughtering a large number of his followers, without loss to themselves. He subsequently offers a ransom of approximately $50 million in gold.

title: 1532

date: July 26

text: July 26 – Sapa Inca Atahualpa is executed by garotte, at the orders of Francisco Pizarro in Cajamarca. While older sources stated the execution had been on August 29, 1533, it would later be determined by late 20th century historians that the August date was incorrect because the Spaniards had departed Cajamarca by August 10. The Spanish arrange for his younger brother Túpac Huallpa to be crowned as a successor, but he dies in October after an apparent poisoning.

title: 1533

section: Science & Discovery

date: November 15

text: November 15 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cusco, Peru.

title: 1533

text: Manco Inca Yupanqui is crowned as Sapa Inca in Cusco, Peru by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, in succession to his brother Túpac Huallpa (d. October 1533).

title: 1534

date: January 18

text: January 18 – Lima, now the capital of Peru, is founded by Francisco Pizarro, as Ciudad de los Reyes.

title: 1535

text: April 26 – Battle of Las Salinas: In Peru, Almagro is defeated by Francisco Pizarro, who then seizes Cusco.

title: 1538

date: June 26

text: June 26 – At Lima, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire of Peru and Governor of Nueva Castilla since 1529, is assassinated by 20 heavily-armed supporters of Diego de Almagro II in retaliation for the 1538 execution of Diego de Almagro.

title: 1541


slug: franconia

label: Franconia

description: region in the south of Germany

date: July 8

text: July 8 – Irish missionaries, apostles to Franconia, martyred (approximate date)

title: 689

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: King Louis the German divides the East Frankish Kingdom among his three sons. Carloman receives Bavaria (with more lands along the Inn River). He gives Saxony to Louis the Younger (with Franconia, and Thuringia) and Swabia (with Raetia) to Charles the Fat. Louis arranges marriages into the local aristocracy, for his sons to hold important territories along the frontiers.

title: 865

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: August 28

text: August 28 – King Louis the German dies at Frankfurt, while preparing for war against his brother Charles II ("the Bald"), ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The East Frankish Kingdom is divided among his three sons: Carloman receives Bavaria and styles himself "King of Bavaria". Louis the Younger receives Saxony (with Franconia and Thuringia), and Charles the Fat receives Swabia (with Raetia).

title: 876

text: The Hungarians cross Bavaria, and invade Swabia and Franconia. They plunder the territories from Minfeld to Aargau. After that, they cross the Rhine, and attack Burgundy for the first time.

title: AD 911

date: July

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

title: 915

date: May 24

text: May 24 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom. He recognizes the stem duchies (uniting them in a German confederation) and all their sovereign privileges. Two of the four most influential duchies, Bavaria and Swabia, do not accept his rule. Henry fortifies Magdeburg against the Magyars.

title: 919

section: Events › By Place › Europe

text: A Hungarian army invades Franconia and occupies Fulda. They are attacked by East Frankish forces and forced to go westwards. Otto I moves against the rebellious Elbe Slavs.

title: 936

date: September 8

text: September 8 – Conrad the Elder is crowned as King Conrad II of Germany in a ceremony at Mainz, and he and Conrad the Younger are invested as joint dukes of Franconia.

title: 1024

section: Religion & Belief

text: Lothair II (supported by Pope Honorius II) asks Frederick II to restore to the crown the estates that he has inherited from Henry V. Frederick refuses, and by year's end a succession dispute breaks out between the House of Welf and the House of Hohenstaufen. The latter is led by Frederick and his brother Conrad III, duke of Franconia.

title: 1125


slug: frankfurt

label: Frankfurt

description: most populated city of Hesse, Germany

text: Council of Frankfurt: King Charlemagne calls for a church meeting of the Frankish realm. Bishops and priests from Francia, Aquitaine, Italy, and Provence are gathered in Franconofurd (modern-day Frankfurt am Main).

title: 794

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: August 10

text: August 10 – Queen Fastrada, third wife of Charlemagne, dies in Frankfurt after 11 years of marriage. Charlemagne consoles himself with Luitgard, an Alemannian noblewoman, whom he marries and moves into his new palace at Aachen (Germany). Luitgard shares Charlemagne's interest in the liberal arts.

title: 794

title: 876

date: January 20

text: January 20 – King Louis the Younger dies in Frankfurt. He leaves his territory to his younger brother, Emperor Charles the Fat, who becomes sole ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom.

title: 882

date: November 17

text: November 17 – East Frankish magnates revolt against the inept emperor Charles III (the Fat) in an assembly at Frankfurt, and depose him. His nephew Arnulf of Carinthia, the illegitimate son of former king Carloman of Bavaria, is elected ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom. Charles yields his throne without a struggle, and retires to Neidingen.

title: 887

date: September 24

text: September 24 – King Louis IV (the Child), the last Carolingian ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom, dies at Frankfurt am Main after an 11-year reign. The East Frankish dukes elect Conrad I at Forchheim as the king of the East Frankish Kingdom. Charles III is elected as king of Lotharingia. Conrad is chosen through the influence of Louis' guardian and regent, Hatto I, archbishop of Mainz.

title: AD 911

date: November 1

text: November 1 – King Henry II of Germany founds the Diocese of Bamberg during a synod held in Frankfurt.

title: 1007

date: May

text: May – Conrad III makes a peace agreement with the 13-year-old Henry the Lion at Frankfurt. He is appointed as duke of Saxony, which territories are deprived from his father, the late Duke Henry the Proud.

title: 1142

text: Spring – Emperor Henry VI travels to Italy to persuade Pope Celestine III to crown his infant son Frederick II, who has been elected "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt.

title: 1197

date: November 11

text: November 11 – Otto IV is elected by the German nobles as king of Germany at Frankfurt. He is engaged to Beatrice and travels to Milan where he receives the Iron Crown and the title of King of Italy, which continues until the end of World War I in 1918.

title: 1208

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Battle of Göllheim: German forces of Duke Albert I defeat King Adolf of Nassau at Göllheim over the prince electors' decision, without electoral act – to dethrone Adolf and proclaim Albert the new ruler of Germany at Frankfurt, on July 27. During the battle, Adolf is killed and his army is destroyed with the loss of 3,000 horses.

title: 1298

date: November 27

text: November 27 – Henry VII Count of Luxemburg, is elected the new Holy Roman Emperor at Frankfurt. The election comes with the support of his brother Baldwin, Archbishop of Trier, who wins over most of the electors, in exchange for some substantial concessions. The only elector who does not support Henry of Luxemburg is Henry of Bohemia.

title: 1308

date: May 22

text: May 22 – Meeting in Frankfurt, three of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire (Rupert, elector of the Palatinate, Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg, elector of Saxony, and Jobst of Moravia, elector of Brandenburg) meet in an attempt to replace the Emperor, Wenceslaus, King of the Romans because of his failure to stamp out civil unrest or to resolve the Western Schism. They select Frederick I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg as the replacement for Wenceslaus.

title: 1400

text: The Reichskammergericht of the Holy Roman Empire is founded in Frankfurt.

title: 1495

section: Events › Date unknown

text: August 28 – In the Imperial counterattack in the Schmalkaldic War, the Holy Roman Empire army attacks Frankfurt, the German stronghold of the Schmalkaldic League, but is forced to retreat after a two-day siege.

title: 1546

text: The chapbook Historia von D. Johann Fausten, printed by Johann Spies in Frankfurt, is the first published version of the Faust story.

title: 1587

date: February 28

text: February 28 – In the aftermath of the 1613–1614 anti-Jewish pogrom called the Fettmilch uprising in Frankfurt, Germany, mob leader Vincenz Fettmilch is beheaded, but the Jews, who had been expelled from the city on August 23, 1614, following the plundering of the Judengasse, can return only as a result of direct intervention by Holy Roman Emperor Matthias. After long negotiations, the Jews are left without any compensation for their plundered belongings.

title: 1616

section: Events › January–February

text: Imprisoned Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella's utopian The City of the Sun is published in Latin (as Civitas Solis) in Frankfurt.

title: 1623

text: William Harvey publishes Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus in Frankfurt, containing his findings about blood circulation.

title: 1628

date: August 1

text: August 1 – The coronation of Leopold I takes place in Frankfurt.

title: 1658

date: January 26

text: January 26 – The Old Pummerin, a 18,161 kg bell newly installed in the Stephansdom, St. Stephen's Cathedral, in Vienna, is rung for the first time to mark the entry of Charles VI to Vienna from Frankfurt after his coronation as Emperor. It takes a quarter-hour for 16 men pulling on the bell rope to swing the heavy bell back-and-forth enough for the clapper to strike; the resulting forces endanger the tower so the architect orders that in future the bell be rung only by pulling its clapper.

title: 1712

section: Economy & Finance

text: Nathan Mayer Rothschild moves from Frankfurt in the Holy Roman Empire to England, settling up in business as a textile trader and financier in Manchester.

title: 1798

date: May 18

text: May 18 – The 'Frankfurt Parliament' (Nationalversammlung), the first German National Assembly, opens in Frankfurt.

title: 1848

text: November 27 – Richard Strauss's orchestral tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra is first performed, in Frankfurt, conducted by the composer.

title: 1896

section: Events › November

date: March 3

text: March 3 – Net als toen, sung by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, lyrics by Willy van Hemert), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 (held at Frankfurt), for the Netherlands.

title: 1957

section: Events › March

date: September 6

text: September 6 – Dawson's Field hijackings: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacks four passenger aircraft from Pan Am, TWA and Swissair on flights to New York from Brussels, Frankfurt and Zurich and flies them to a desert airstrip in Jordan.

title: 1970

section: Events › September

date: October

text: The Messeturm skyscraper in Frankfurt is completed, making it the tallest building in Europe, a distinction it will carry until 1997, when it is surpassed by the Commerzbank Tower, also in Frankfurt.

title: 1990

section: Events › October


slug: franklin-d-roosevelt

label: Franklin D. Roosevelt

description: president of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1882–1945)

date: August 7

text: August 7 – George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit (or the Order of the Purple Heart) to honor soldiers' merit in battle (reinstated later by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and renamed to the more poetic "Purple Heart", to honor soldiers wounded in action).

title: 1782

section: Events › July–September

section: Climate & Environment

date: November 8

text: November 8 – 1932 United States presidential election: Democratic governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory, having promised a New Deal and repeal of Prohibition.

title: 1932

section: Health & Medicine

date: April 5

text: April 5 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a national emergency and issues Executive Order 6102, making it illegal for U.S. citizens to own substantial amounts of monetary gold or bullion.

title: 1933

section: Events › April

date: February 15

text: February 15 – In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead fatally wounds the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Zangara is executed on March 20 by the electric chair.

title: 1933

section: Events › February

section: Deaths

date: March 20

text: March 20 – Giuseppe Zangara, American attempted assassin of Franklin D. Roosevelt (b. 1900)

title: 1933

section: Deaths › March

date: March 4

text: March 4 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in as the 32nd president of the United States.

title: 1933

date: March 5

text: March 5 – The Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "Bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions (the 'holiday' ends on March 13).

title: 1933

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: November 8 – New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

title: 1933

date: August 14

text: August 14 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law.

title: 1935

section: Events › August

date: September 30

text: September 30 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Hoover Dam.

title: 1935

date: November 3

text: November 3 – 1936 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term, in a landslide victory over Kansas Governor Alf Landon; farmers support Roosevelt.

title: 1936

section: Events › November–December

date: July 22

text: July 22 – New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

title: 1937

section: Events › July

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Roosevelt gives his famous Quarantine Speech in Chicago.

title: 1937

date: August 2

text: August 2 – The Einstein–Szilard letter is signed by Albert Einstein, advising President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb. It is delivered on October 11 and leads to the first meeting on October 21 of the Advisory Committee on Uranium.

title: 1939

section: Culture & Society

date: November 14

text: November 14 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.

title: 1939

date: November 4

text: November 4 – WWII: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.

title: 1939

date: September

text: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt advocates neutrality, in a nationwide radio address.

title: 1939

date: December 29

text: December 29 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."

title: 1940

section: Events › December

date: June

text: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech during the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.

title: 1940

section: Events › June

date: May 16

text: May 16 – President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress, asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900,000,000 to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.

title: 1940

section: Events › May

date: November 5

text: November 5 – 1940 United States presidential election: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt decisively defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie, and becomes the United States' first and only third-term president.

title: 1940

date: August 9

text: August 9 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet on board ship at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland. The Atlantic Charter (released August 14), setting goals for postwar international cooperation, is created as a result.

title: 1941

date: December 8

text: December 8 – WWII: President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his "Infamy Speech" to a Joint session of the United States Congress at 12:30 p.m. EST (17.30 GMT). Transmitted live over all four major national networks, it attracts the largest audience ever for an American radio broadcast, over 81% of homes. Within an hour, Congress agrees to the President's request for a United States declaration of war upon Japan, and he signs it at 4:10 p.m.

title: 1941

date: January 6

text: January 6 – During his State of the Union address, President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt presents his Four Freedoms, as fundamental global human rights.

title: 1941

section: Events › January

date: March 17

text: March 17 – In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

title: 1941

date: October 30

text: October 30 – WWII: Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, approves US$1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.

title: 1941

date: December 2

text: December 2 – Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (a coded message, "The Italian navigator has landed in the new world" is then sent to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt).

title: 1942

date: February

text: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.

title: 1942

text: August 14 – The Quadrant Conference begins in Quebec City; Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King meets with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

title: 1943

date: December 4

text: December 4 – With unemployment figures falling fast due to WWII-related employment, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.

title: 1943

date: November 22

text: November 22–26 – WWII: Cairo Conference ("Sextant") – President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Chairman of the National Government of China Chiang Kai-shek meet at Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan in the Pacific War.

title: 1943

date: December 1

text: December 1 – Edward Stettinius, Jr. becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration, filling the seat left by Cordell Hull.

title: 1944

date: January 11

text: January 11 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a Second Bill of Rights for social and economic security, in his State of the Union address.

title: 1944

text: May 15 – WWII: Allied military and political leaders, including Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Bernard Montgomery and more, meet for the final D-Day joint briefing at St. Paul's School in London.

title: 1944

text: November 7 – 1944 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey, becoming the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term.

title: 1944

text: April 12 – Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd president of the United States upon the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia of an intracerebral hemorrhage.

title: 1945

text: February 4–11 – WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin hold the Yalta Conference.

title: 1945

text: March 1 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives what will be his last address to a joint session of the United States Congress, reporting on the Yalta Conference.

title: 1945

text: March 2 – Former U.S. vice-president Henry A. Wallace starts his term of office as United States Secretary of Commerce, serving under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

title: 1945


slug: franks

label: Franks

description: historical Germanic ethnic group

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Roman Empire is threatened on several fronts at the same time. Africa revolts and tribes in northwest Germania, under the name of the Franks, are raiding the Rhine frontier.

title: 240

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: A group of Franks penetrate as far as Tarragona in Spain (approximate date).

title: 250

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

title: 251

text: The Franks cross the Rhine; the Alemanni reach Mediolanum (Milan) (disputed date).

title: 256

text: The Franks, who invaded the Roman Empire near Cologne in 257, reach Tarraco in Hispania.

title: 259

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Franks take control over the Scheldt estuary (approximate date).

title: 260

text: Emperor Probus defeats the Alamanni, advancing through the Neckar Valley. He expels the Franks from Gaul, and reorganizes the Roman defenses on the Rhine.

title: 278

text: Roman territory is under constant threat of raids from Franks. The cities in Gaul are reinforced with defensive walls.

title: 280

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Carausius, naval commander at Bononia (modern-day Boulogne), is given the task of clearing the English Channel of Frankish and Saxon pirates.

title: 285

section: Crime & Justice

text: Summer: Carausius, commander of the Classis Britannica, is accused of piracy by Maximian and is sentenced to death. He responds by declaring himself emperor of Britain and Northwestern Gaul. His forces consist of the newly built Roman fleet and three legions in Britain. The Carausian Revolt is supported by Gaulish merchant ships and Frankish mercenaries.

title: 286

text: Around this time, an army loyal to Maximian, probably led by the future emperor Constantius, defeats the usurper Carausius or his Frankish allies in northern Gaul. In this or the following year, Carausius withdraws his military forces and administrative presence from Gaul, confining himself to Roman Britain.

title: 288

text: In this or the following year, Constantius defeats the Franks in Batavia (Netherlands).

title: 293

text: Having supervised the Rhine frontier during Constantius' invasion of Britain, Maximian then marches into Spain, where he fights Frankish pirates. He then crosses into North Africa to contend with the rebellion of the Quinquegentiani.

title: 296

text: Caesar Constantius I wins a victory over the Franks (approximate date).

title: 300

text: Winter: Constantine fights with success against the Franks.

title: 306

text: Maximian, retired emperor, rebels against Constantine I in Arles while the latter is campaigning against the Franks.

title: 310

text: Crispus, eldest son of Constantine I, leads a victorious campaign against the Franks, assuring twenty years of peace along the Rhine frontier. He establishes his residence in Augusta Treverorum (modern Trier), capital of Germania.

title: 320

text: Constans I begins a successful campaign against the Franks.

title: 341

text: The Alamanni and the Franks cross the Rhine and defeat the depleted Roman units left at the frontier. The Germans take control of around 40 towns and cities between the Moselle and the Rhine.

title: 352

text: As a result of the armies of the West having been largely withdrawn by the usurper Magnus Magnentius, to fight Constantius II, hordes of barbarians (Franks and Alemanni) cross the upper Rhine into Gaul and invade the lands of the Helvetians.

title: 354

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: The Franks besiege Colonia Agrippinensium for ten months.

title: 355

text: Winter – Valentinian I mobilises a massive army for his campaign against the Alamanni and the Franks. He summons the Italian and Illyrian legions for a spring offensive.

title: 367

text: Frankish invasion of 388: Rebellious Franks led by Marcomer, Sunno and Genobaud invade the Roman Empire with plunder and threaten Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne). A part of the invaders are destroyed by the Romans in the charcoal forest (present-day Belgium). The Roman general Quintines pursues the invaders on Frankish soil and is ambushed. His army is surrounded and defeated by the Franks.

title: 388

date: May 15

text: May 15 – Emperor Valentinian II, age 21, dies while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne under unknown circumstances.

title: 392

date: September 6

text: September 6 – Battle of the Frigidus: Emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills the usurper Eugenius. The forces of Theodosius are bolstered by numerous auxiliaries, including 20,000 Visigoth federates under Alaric. The Frankish general Arbogast (magister militum) escapes into the Alps and commits suicide.

title: 394

date: April 27

text: April 27 – Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto (without the knowledge or consent of Rufinus, Praetorian prefect of the East). His seven-year-old half-sister, Galla Placidia, is sent to Rome, where she spends her childhood in the household of Stilicho and his wife Serena.

title: 395

text: Stilicho, Roman general (magister militum), controls the young emperor Honorius as his regent, and becomes the de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire. He enlists the Alemanni and the Franks, to defend the Rhine frontier.

title: 396

text: Vandal-Frankish war: The Vandals, led by Godigisel, are intercepted and defeated by the Franks under Marcomir. Godigisel is killed in battle and succeeded by his son Gunderic.

title: 406

text: The Franks cross the Rhine and invade Northern Gaul. In Italia an army is prepared to campaign with Castinus as chief.

title: AD 420

text: The Franks conquer new territories in their kingdom and sack the old Roman capital Augusta Treverorum (modern Trier).

title: 421

text: The Roman army invades Gaul; they capture and execute the Frankish king Theudemeres with his family.

title: 422

text: Theudemeres, king of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 422

text: Flavius Aetius gains appointment as master of both services (magister militum praesentalis), after gaining victories in Gaul over Visigoth and Frankish forces.

title: 428

section: Births

text: Vedast, Frankish bishop (approximate date)

title: 453

date: September 21

text: September 21 – Emperor Valentinian III stabs his commander-in-chief Flavius Aetius to death, during a meeting of the imperial council at Ravenna. He has accused Aetius of plotting against him to seize power. After his assassination, the Western Roman Empire has no effective defender against its hostile barbarian neighbors (Alans, Franks, Ostrogoths, Vandals and Visigoths).

title: 454

date: October 5

text: October 5 – The Visigoths under King Theodoric II, acting on orders of Avitus, invade Spain with an army of Burgundians, Franks and Goths, led by their kings Chilperic I and Gondioc. They defeat the Suebi under King Rechiar on the Urbicus River, near Astorga (Gallaecia); this shatters the power of the Suebi.

title: 456

text: The Franks conquer the city of Trier. The Frankish Kingdom becomes a military power and gets involved in Roman politics.

title: 459

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

title: 463

text: Franco-Roman War of 486 – Battle of Soissons (Gaul): Frankish forces under King Clovis I defeat the Roman army of Syagrius. Roman rule under Syagrius ends. The land between the Somme and the Loire becomes a part of the Frankish Empire. Syagrius flees to the Visigoths (under King Alaric II), but Clovis threatens war, and he is handed over for execution.

title: 486

text: Theodoric the Great allies with the Franks and marries Audofleda, sister of Clovis I. He also marries his own female relatives to princes or kings of the Burgundians, Vandals and Visigoths, establishing a political alliance with the Germanic kingdoms in the West.

title: 493

text: King Chlodomer of the Franks (d. 524)

title: 495

text: Childebert I, king of the Franks (d. 558)

title: 496

text: Ingund, queen of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 499

text: Burgundian Civil War: Battle of Dijon: A coalition of Franks and Burgundians crush the forces under Gundobad. King Clovis I pursues him to Avignon, where he surrenders and promises to pay a yearly tribute.

title: AD 500

text: Aregund, queen of the Franks (approximate date)

title: AD 500

text: Battle of Vouillé: A Frankish army under command of Clovis I invades the Visigothic Kingdom, and defeats King Alaric II near Poitiers. The Visigoths refuse to be enslaved, and retreat to Septimania (Southern Gaul). Clovis annexes Aquitania, and captures Toulouse.

title: 507

text: King Theodoric the Great sends an Ostrogoth army, led by his sword-bearer Theudis, drives the Franks out of Provence, and recovers Septimania (Languedoc) from the Visigoths.

title: 508

text: Clovis I (Chlodowech) becomes the first Catholic king of the Franks, uniting all the Frankish tribes under his rule. He controls an immense territory in Gaul (modern France), and delivers a major blow for the Church against the Arian heresy.

title: 509

text: King Theodoric the Great raises the Frankish siege at Arles; the city is heroically defended by its inhabitants, assisted by the Ostrogothic general Theudis. The Ostrogoths overrun Provence (Southern Gaul), and consolidate their gains in the region.

title: 510

text: November 27 – Clovis I, king of the Franks

title: 511

text: The Ostrogoths conquer the Frankish province Rouergue (Southern Gaul).

title: 512

text: Hygelac, king of the Geats (Sweden), raids the Lower Rhine, and is defeated by a Frankish force led by Theudebert (according to the "History of the Franks").

title: 516

text: Charibert I, king of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 517

text: Radegund, Frankish princess (approx.)

title: 520

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

title: 523

text: June 25 – Battle of Vézeronce: The Franks under Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I are defeated by the Burgundians and allied Ostrogoths near Isère (France), averting the Frankish advance into Burgundy. During the fighting Chlodomer is killed. Later Childebert annexes the cities of Chartres and Orléans.

title: 524

text: June 25 – Chlodomer, king of the Franks

title: 524

text: Frankish tribesmen, under the command of King Chlothar I, plunder Burgundy.

title: 525

text: The Franks under King Chlothar I march against the Thuringi with Chlothar's nephew Theudebert I. The Kingdom of Thuringia comes under Frankish domination.

title: 531

text: Battle of Autun - The Franks, under command of King Childebert I and his brother Chlothar I, invade the Kingdom of Burgundy. They defeat the Burgundians under King Godomar near Autun (modern France).

title: 532

text: The Frankish kings Childebert I and Chlothar I overthrow Godomar, king of the Burgundians, and end the Kingdom of Burgundy.

title: 534

text: March – Ostrogothic King Theodahad cedes Provence and upper Alamannia to the Franks, gaining their support in the war. He sends a large Gothic army into Dalmatia. They defeat the Byzantines, Mundus is killed during the fighting at Salona, and the Byzantine army withdraws.

title: 536

text: Summer – King Theudebert I sends a small Frankish force across the Alps, and defeats the Goths and Byzantines at the River Po. Belisarius retreats to Tuscany.

title: 538

text: Belisarius, still besieging Ravenna, negotiates a treaty with Theodebert I (whose forces are suffering from dysentery), and the Franks retreat to Gaul. The Byzantine fleet controls the Adriatic Sea and blockades the port of the capital from supplies.

title: 539

text: King Childebert I and his brother Chlothar I invade Visigothic Spain. They capture Pamplona, but Zaragoza withstands a siege and the Franks retreat to Gaul. From this expedition Childebert brings back to Paris a relic, the tunic of Saint Vincent.

title: 542

text: Gothic War: Narses arrives in Venetia and discovers that a powerful Gothic-Frank army (50,000 men), under joint command of the kings Totila and Theudebald, has blocked the principal route to the Po Valley. Not wishing to engage such a formidable force and confident that the Franks would avoid a direct confrontation, Narses skirts the lagoons along the Adriatic shore, by using vessels to leapfrog his army from point to point along the coast. In this way he arrives at the capital Ravenna without encountering any opposition. He attacks and crushes a small Gothic force at Ariminum (modern Rimini).

title: 551

text: The Ostrogothic Kingdom ends after 60 years of rule in Italy. The Goths are allowed to return to their homes in peace and (re)settle in modern-day Austria. Some 7,000 people retreat to Campsas (Southern Gaul), and resist with minimal help from the Franks against the Byzantines until 554.

title: 553

text: King Chlothar I annexes the Frankish territories of Metz and Reims, after the death of his great-nephew Theudebald.

title: 555

text: King Chlothar I of the Franks founds the Abbey of St. Medard at Soissons (Northern France).

title: 557

text: December 13 – King Chlothar I reunites the Frankish Kingdom after his brother Childebert I dies, becoming sole ruler of the Franks.

title: 558

text: December 13 – Childebert I, king of the Franks

title: 558

text: November 29 – Chlothar I, king of the Franks

title: 561

text: Charibert I, king of the Franks

title: 567

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

title: 569

text: The Lombards again raid Southern Gaul, but are defeated by the Franks under Mummolus, patricius and son of the Gallo-Roman count of Auxerre, and are driven out.

title: 573

text: The Franks under Sigibert I pursue his half brother Chilperic I, and conquer the cities Poitiers and Tournai. While he is proclaimed new king of Neustria by the nobles, Sigibert is assassinated at Vitry-en-Artois (Northern Gaul) by hirelings of Fredegund.

title: 575

text: Gregory of Tours is brought before a council of bishops, on charges of slandering the Frankish queen Fredegund (approximate date).

title: 580

text: The Lombards re-establish a unified monarchy after a 10-year interregnum (Rule of the Dukes). Threatened by a Frankish invasion that the dukes have provoked, they elect Authari (son of Cleph) as their king and give him the capital of Pavia (Northern Italy).

title: 584

text: Chlothar II, king of the Franks (d. 629)

title: 584

text: King Childebert II, age 15, takes up his sole rule of Austrasia. A Frankish army under King Guntram marches to Comminges (Pyrenees), and besieges the citadel of Saint-Bertrand.

title: 585

text: King Guntram sends envoys to Brittany, to stop the raiding on Frankish territory. He compels obedience from Waroch II and demands 1,000 solidus for looting Nantes.

title: 587

text: August 13 – Radegund, Frankish princess

title: 587

text: The Franks and Burgundians under King Guntram and his nephew Childebert II invade Northern Italy, but suffer a disastrous defeat against the Lombards.

title: 588

text: Claudius, duke (dux) of Lusitania, defeats the Franks and Burgundians at Carcassonne (Languedoc) on the Aude River.

title: 589

text: The Franks and Burgundians under King Guntram invade Italy. They capture the cities Milan and Verona, but are forced to leave by a plague outbreak in the Po Valley.

title: 590

text: Gregory, bishop of Tours, completes his Historia Francorum ("History of the Franks").

title: 592

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

title: 595

text: Gregorian Mission: Augustine of Canterbury lands with a group of missionaries on the Isle of Thanet (South East England). He is welcomed by King Æthelberht of Kent, who accepts baptism along with the rest of his court at the behest of his Christian Frankish wife, Bertha. Æthelbert assigns Augustine and his 40 monks a residence at Canterbury (Kent), where they found a Benedictine monastery that will make the town a centre of Christianity (or 597).

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: Dorestad, lying in a fork between two branches of the Rhine, is established by the Franks as a trade center.

title: 600

text: The Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians successively control most of Europe, while strong feudal lords rise in power to gain the allegiance of the people.

title: 601

text: Dagobert I, king of the Franks (d. 639)

title: 603

text: December 25 – Battle of Ėtampes: Theuderic II, with the aid of Berthoald, defeats the Frankish forces under King Chlothar II of Neustria, at Étampes (near Paris).

title: 604

text: Queen Brunhilda pressures her grandson Theuderic II to go to war against his brother, Theudebert II of Austrasia. She puts Protadius, Mayor of the Palace, in charge of the Burgundian army. At the palace of Quierzy (Picardy), Theuderic assembles his army. The soldiers under Uncelen, Duke of Alemannia, refuse to fight against their countrymen, and declare that the king orders Protadius' death. He is killed by the Frankish warriors, and Theuderic is forced to sign a peace treaty.

title: 606

text: Chlothar II reunites the Frankish Kingdom by ordering the murder of Sigebert II. He accuses Brunhilda, age 70, of killing ten kings of the Franks (according to the Liber Historiae Francorum). She is dragged to death behind a wild horse at Abbeville.

title: 613

text: October 18 – King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defends the rights of the Frankish nobles and the church, and regulates the appointment of counts (secular officials in charge of law courts, collecting taxes, and assembling contingents for the army), while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 614

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: Balthild, queen of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 626

text: Chlothar II, king of the Franks

title: 629

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Heraclius assembles a large army consisting of contingents of Byzantines, Slavs, Franks, Georgians, Armenians, and Christian Arabs. He establishes a base at Yaqusah (near Gadara), close to the edge of the Golan Heights, protecting the vital main road from Egypt to Damascus. The base is protected by deep valleys and precipitous cliffs, well supplied with water and grazing.

title: 636

text: January 19 – Dagobert I, king of the Franks (b. c. 603)

title: 639

text: January 19 – Dagobert I dies after a 10-year reign as king of all the Franks, in which his realm has prospered. He is succeeded by Sigebert III (age 9), independent ruler of Austrasia, and his half-brother Clovis II (age 2), who becomes king of Neustria and Burgundy. Under the supervision of Pepin of Landen, Mayor of the Palace, the royal treasury is distributed between the two brothers and widowed queen Nanthild (regent on Clovis' behalf).

title: 639

text: February 27 – Pepin the Elder, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, dies and is succeeded by his son Grimoald. He becomes the head of the Frankish household, and the most powerful man in the Frankish Kingdom (approximate date).

title: 640

text: Radulf, a Frankish aristocrat, revolts against King Sigebert III of Austrasia and defeats his army, taking the title of rex or king of Thuringia.

title: 642

text: Childeric II, king of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 653

text: Theuderic III, king of the Franks (d. 691)

title: 654

text: Felix, patrician of Toulouse, assumes the titles of Duke of Vasconia and Aquitaine. He is formally a vassal of the Franks, but rules "de facto" independently.

title: 660

text: Approximate date – In Gaul all Roman bishops are replaced with Frankish bishops. They become increasingly common, as Frankish leaders control the episcopate.

title: 661

text: The Franks take advantage of the Lombard civil war and invade Northern Italy, but are defeated by Grimoald I. King Chlothar III gives Austrasia to his youngest brother Childeric II. He is raised on the shield of his warriors and proclaimed king of Austrasia.

title: 662

text: Emperor Constans II launches an assault against the Duchy of Benevento (Southern Italy). Taking advantage of the fact that Lombard king Grimoald I is engaged against Frankish forces from Neustria, Constans disembarks at Taranto, and besieges Lucera and Benevento.

title: 663

text: Ebroin, mayor of the palace, becomes de facto ruler of Neustria and (in theory) "of the Franks". According to Bede, he runs the nation's foreign policy and internal security.

title: 668

text: Childebert III, king of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 670

text: Chilperic II, king of the Franks (approximate date)

title: 672

text: Childeric II, king of the Franks

title: 675

text: Warinus, Frankish nobleman, is stoned to death near Arras, because of a feud between his brother, Leodegar (bishop of Autun), and Ebroin, the Mayor of the Palace of Neustria.

title: 677

text: January 30 – Balthild, queen of the Franks

title: 680

text: Battle of Dorestad: The Frisians under King Radbod are defeated by the Frankish mayor of the palace, Pippin of Herstal. The Rhine delta and Dorestad (modern Netherlands) become Frankish again, as well as the castles of Utrecht and Fechten (approximate date).

title: 689

text: Theuderic III, king of the Franks (b. 654)

title: 691

text: April 23 – Childebert III, king of the Franks

title: AD 711

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

title: 714

text: February 13 – Chilperic II, king of the Franks

title: 721

text: February 13 – King Chilperic II dies at Attigny (Ardennes), after a five-year reign. He is succeeded by Theuderic IV, infant son of Dagobert III, as Merovingian ruler of the Franks, under the control of the mayor of the palace, Charles Martel.

title: 721

text: Charles Martel leads two raids across the Loire River into the Berry region. The Franks seize and plunder Bourges (central France), but the city is immediately recaptured by Eudes of Aquitaine.

title: 731

text: Bilihildis, Frankish noblewoman and abbess

title: 734

text: Battle of Nîmes: The Franks under Charles Martel fail to capture Narbonne but devastate most of the other settlements, including Nîmes, Agde, Béziers and Maguelonne, which Martel views as potential strongholds of the Umayyads.

title: 736

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

text: Theuderic IV, king of the Franks

title: AD 737

text: The Lombards under King Liutprand sack the Exarchate of Ravenna, and threaten Rome. Pope Gregory III asks Charles Martel, Merovingian mayor of the palace, to help fight the Lombards (he also requests assistance in fighting the Byzantines and the Arabs). Liutprand signs a peace accord, and pulls back his forces to Pavia. After the pope's appeal to the Franks, a relationship begins that will continue as the Frankish Kingdom gains power.

title: 739

text: The Concilium Germanicum: First major Church synod held in the eastern parts of the Frankish Kingdom. Organized by Carloman, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, and presided over by Saint Boniface, who is solidified in his position as leader of the Frankish church.

title: 743

text: Synod of Soissons. Called at the instigation of Pepin the Short and Boniface, archbishop and metropolitan, it secures the condemnation of the Frankish bishop Adalbert.

title: 744

text: Charlemagne, king and emperor of the Franks (or 748)

title: AD 747

text: June 28 – Carloman I, king of the Franks (d. 771)

title: 751

text: Summer – The Franks under Pepin III invade Italy, and defeat the Lombards under King Aistulf, in the Susa Valley (Piedmont). He enforces the terms, including cession of the Exarchate of Ravenna to Rome.

title: 754

text: Siege of Narbonne: The Franks under King Pepin III ("the Short") retake Narbonne from the Muslims, after a 7-year siege. He pushes them back across the Pyrenees, and the Muslims retreat to the Andalusian heartland after 40 years of occupation. The government of the city is assigned to the Visigothic count Miló.

title: 759

text: Charlemagne repudiates his Lombard wife Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius, after one year of marriage. He marries the 13-year-old Swabian girl Hildegard, who will bear him nine children. Desiderius, furious at Charlemagne, plans a punitive campaign against the Franks and Rome.

title: 771

text: December 4 – Carloman I, king of the Franks (b. 751)

title: 771

text: Saxon Wars: King Charlemagne leads a Frankish expedition from the Middle Rhine into disputed territory lost by the Franks in 695. He starts a campaign against the Saxons and seizes Eresburg, destroying the Irminsul (Saxon sacred tree) near Paderborn. Charlemagne devastates several major Saxon strongholds, and forces them to retreat beyond the Weser River. After negotiating with some Saxon nobles and obtaining hostages, he installs a number of garrisons.

title: 772

text: Summer – King Charlemagne and his uncle Bernard, son of Charles Martel, cross the Alps with a Frankish expeditionary force at the request of Pope Adrian I. At the foot of the mountains in the Susa Valley (Northern Italy), the Franks are hindered by Lombard fortifications. After scouting, Charlemagne attacks the defenders from the flank, and forces the Lombards to flee to the fortified capital Pavia.

title: 773

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

title: 774

text: Battle of Süntel: The Franks under Charlemagne are defeated by Saxon rebels, led by Widukind. He succeeds in wiping out more than half of the occupying Frankish forces and again raises the banner of revolt.

title: 782

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

title: 785

text: The Frankish Kingdom conquers Girona and Urgell (modern Spain) from the Moors. The Franks divide Catalonia into 14 countships. Charlemagne suppresses a rebellion by count Hardrad of Thuringia.

title: 785

text: The Avars, who are allied with Tassilo III, invade East Francia (modern Germany). This begins the Frankish-Avar conflict.

title: 788

text: Byzantine troops led by Adalgis, son of former Lombard king Desiderius, invade southern Italy. His attempts are thwarted by the Franks, who attack territories in Benevento, obtaining notably the annexion of Chieti (Spoleto).

title: 788

text: King Charlemagne crosses the Elbe River with a Frankish-Saxon army into Obotrite territory. He subdues the Wiltzes, and reaches the Baltic.

title: 789

text: Emir Hisham I of Córdoba calls for a jihad ("Holy War") against the Christian Franks. He assembles an army of 70,000 men, half of which attacks the Kingdom of Asturias, destroying its capital, Oviedo, while the other half invades Languedoc, penetrating as far as Narbonne. After capturing the city, the contingent moves towards Carcassonne and conquers it too. Both armies return to Córdoba enriched with the spoils of war.

title: 793

text: King Charlemagne abandons his channel project (see 793), and attacks the Saxon rebels from the north, supported by a second Frankish army under his son Charles the Younger, which crosses the Rhine at Cologne from the west; threatened from two directions, the Saxons surrender near Paderborn (Westphalia).

title: 794

text: Saxon War: The Slav Obodrites, under their ruler Witzan, attack the northern Saxons in Liuni. He is killed in an ambush and succeeded by his son Drożko (Thrasco), who becomes a Carolingian dux. King Charlemagne leads a Frankish expeditionary force north from Mainz, and marches to the Elbe, where eastern Saxon rebels again surrender.

title: 795

text: King Charlemagne issues the Capitulare Saxonicum, making Westphalian, Angrian and Eastphalian Saxons equal to other peoples in the Frankish Kingdom. The Nordalbian Saxons revolt; a Frankish fleet is sent to the North Sea coast of Germany. It lands in Hadeln, a marshy coastal region between the Weser and Elbe estuaries, near modern-day Cuxhaven. Charlemagne invades northern Saxony, and again accepts the submission of the Saxons.

title: 797

text: Autumn – Siege of Trsat: Višeslav, prince or duke of Dalmatian Croatia, decisively defeats an invading Frankish army under Eric of Friuli, during the siege at the fortress city of Trsat (Rijeka).

title: 799

text: Siege of Canburg: The Franks under Charles the Younger, son of emperor Charlemagne, unsuccessfully besiege Bohemians near the modern-day town of Kadaň.

title: 805

text: Emperor Michael I re-opens peace negotiations with the Franks, and recognizes Charlemagne as emperor (basileus) of the Frankish Empire. In exchange for this recognition, Venice is returned to the Byzantine Empire.

title: 812

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

title: 813

text: Winter – The Basques, supported by the Moors, cross the Garonne River and revolt against the Franks in Gascony (north of the Pyrenees).

title: 816

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

title: 819

text: May 24 – Battle of Blain: Breton forces under Erispoe, count of Vannes, defeat the Franks led by Renaud d'Herbauges, near the town of Messac, at the River Vilaine. This battle marks a Breton war between Charles the Bald and Nominoe, duke of Brittany.

title: 843

text: August 22 – Battle of Jengland: Duke Erispoe takes command of the Breton forces after his father Nominoe, king of Brittany, dies. He continues an offensive against the Franks in alliance with Lambert II of Nantes. In Ille-et-Vilaine near Grand-Fougeray (Brittany), Erispoe defeats a Frankish-Saxon army (4,000 men) led by King Charles the Bald.

title: 851


slug: fraticelli

label: Fraticelli

description: Medieval radical groups of the Franciscan tradition declared heretical by the Church

section: Religion & Belief

date: May 14

text: May 14 – In Italy, more than 50 of the Fraticelli spiritualists of the Franciscan order of Tuscany are excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by the Archbishop of Genoa after refusing to return to obedience to the Pope.

title: 1314

section: Events › April – June

text: April 27 – John XXII orders the Spiritual Franciscans, including the French priest Bernard Délicieux, to come to Avignon and answer for their disobedience. Upon arrival, Délicieux is arrested and interrogated.

title: 1317

date: March 15

text: March 15 – Pope John XXII admonishes King Frederick III of Sicily to take severe measures against the Fraticelli, the Spiritual Franciscans who have broken with the Roman Catholic Church doctrine.

title: 1317

section: Events › January – March

date: May 7

text: May 7 – At the marketplace in the French city of Marseille, four of the most defiant members of the Fraticelli (or Spiritual Franciscans) are found guilty of heresy and burned at the stake.

title: 1318

date: August 1

text: August 1 – Pope John XXII issues a general decree condemning the Fraticelli (Spriritual Franciscans) in the Kingdom of Naples, urging Robert, King of Naples ("the Wise") to suppress the adherents rebelling against Roman Catholic doctrine.

title: 1322

section: Events › July – September

date: January 14

text: January 14 – On behalf of the Fraticelli order of Spiritual Franciscans, Italian lawyer Bonagrazia of Bergamo issues a protest to Pope John XXII of the December 8 papal bull Ad conditorem canonum. Pope John revises the text of the bull and reissues it, but also punishes Bonagrazia for his insolence by having him imprisoned.

title: 1323

date: November 12

text: November 12 – Pope John XXII issues the papal bull Cum inter nonnullos as an addendum to the December 8 bull Ad conditorem canonum, declaring that the assertion of the Fraticelli that Christ and the Apostles possessed no property (and advocated poverty as a Christian virtue) is a heresy.

title: 1323

section: Events › October – December

date: May 22

text: May 22 – Louis IV, King of the Romans, comes to the defense of the Spiritual Franciscans, delivering a sharp criticism of Pope John XXII, whom Louis describes as a heretic.

title: 1324

date: November 10

text: November 10 – Pope John XXII issues the papal bull Quia quorundam, his third major statement concerning apostolic poverty and the Fraticelli, in response to a claim that an earlier bull by Pope Nicholas III had implied that Christ and the apostles had lived without possessions. In addition, Pope John restates the doctrine of Papal infallibility, declaring that "What the Roman pontiffs have once defined in faith and morals with the key of knowledge stands so immutably that it is not permitted to a successor to revoke it."

title: 1324

date: May 10

text: May 10 – Pope John XXII issues a papal bull to King Robert of Naples and to Charles, Duke of Calabria demanding the imprisonment of the Fraticelli in Naples and their leader, Fra Enrico da Ceva. The demand, and several subsequent admonitions, is ignored by Robert and Charles.

title: 1325

date: May 20

text: May 20 – Led by Michael of Cesena, the Michaelites, a French branch of the Spiritual Franciscans who have been accused of heresy within the Roman Catholic Church in a disagreement over the issue of a vow of poverty, assemble at Lyon in France and agree to make peace with the Church and to make no further disrespectful references to Pope John XXII.

title: 1325

section: Deaths

date: June 15

text: June 15 – Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (b. 1247)

title: 1337

date: June 7

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

title: 1427

section: Events › April–June


slug: frederick-barbarossa

label: Frederick Barbarossa

description: Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 to 1190

text: Autumn – King Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, leads an expedition into Italy for his imperial coronation. He wants to impose his will upon the towns and cities of Lombardy, a region long accustomed to interference from Germany. Frederick encounters stiff resistance to his authority, the Lombard nobles are unwilling to acknowledge his rule and the rights to raise taxes.

title: 1154

date: June 18

text: June 18 – King Frederick Barbarossa is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

title: 1155

date: January 11

text: January 11 – Vladislav II becomes king of Bohemia. He is crowned by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, with a diadem (called by the chroniclers a diadema or circulus). Vladislaus is also invested with Upper Lusatia, and accompanies Frederick to Milan to suppress the rebellion in Lombardy (northern Italy).

title: 1158

date: January 25

text: January 25 – Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, captures Crema, Lombardy after a 6-month siege, as part of his campaign against the independent Italian city-states. Some 20,000 survivors are allowed to leave the city with whatever they could carry before Crema is looted and burnt to the ground. The expense of the siege (over 2,000 silver marks) and Frederick's determination to enforce it over the winter, demonstrates his ability to hold troops in the field and to keep his allies on side.

title: 1160

date: March 6

text: March 6 – German forces led by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, capture Milan; much of the city is destroyed three weeks later on the emperor's orders. The fortifications are demolished and the churches are destroyed. The population is dispersed, and the commune abolished. The fate of Milan leads to the submission of Brescia, Piacenza, and many other northern Italian cities.

title: 1162

text: Rainald of Dassel brings relics of the Three Magi from Milan to Cologne as a gift for Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

title: 1164

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Spring – Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos makes an alliance with Venice against Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who takes an oath at the Diet of Würzburg to support Antipope Paschal III against Pope Alexander III.

title: 1165

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Autumn – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa begins his fourth Italian campaign, hoping to secure the claim of Antipope Paschal III in Rome and the coronation of his wife Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy, as Holy Roman Empress.

title: 1166

date: June 25

text: June 25 – The Peace of Constance is signed, between Frederick Barbarossa and the Lombard League, forming the legal basis for the autonomy of the Italian city republics.

title: 1183

section: Events › By area › Europe

text: May 20 – Diet of Pentecost: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, organises a conference in Mainz. During the diet Frederick negotiates with Henry the Lion about an anti-French alliance with England.

title: 1184

date: September

text: September – Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, returns to Germany after being banished for three years by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor.

title: 1185


slug: frederick-i-elector-of-brandenburg

label: Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg

date: September 21

text: September 21 – Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1440)

title: 1371

date: September 20

text: September 20 – Following the death of Rupert, King of the Romans, on May 18, a council of three electors— Louis III, Elector Palatine; Werner von Falkenstein, Elector of Trier and Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, Burgrave of Nuremberg votes to elect King Sigismund of Hungary as the new King of the Romans and the informal "King of Germany". The rest of the electors of the Holy Roman Empire refuse to accept Sigismund.

title: 1410

section: Events › July–September

date: January 18

text: January 18 – Jobst, King of the Romans and Elector of Brandenburg, a member of the House of Luxembourg who had been elected to rule as the German monarch on October 1, dies suddenly at the age of 35 following a suspected poisoning. His death clears the way for Jobst's cousin and rival, Sigismund of Hungary, to become the new King of the Romans, and for control of the Electorate of Brandenburg to pass from the House of Luxembourg to the House of Hohenzollern, with Frederick of Hohenzollern becoming the new Elector in return for supporting the election of Sigismund.

title: 1411

section: Events › January–March

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, is appointed to an additional position as Archchamberlain of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1417

date: November 21

text: November 21 – Brandenburg–Pomeranian conflict: In Germany, the Treaty of Ueckermünde is signed by the Dukes of Pomerania-Stettin (Otto II and Casimir V) with the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Albert V), Mecklenburg-Werle (Lord Christopher) and Mecklenburg-Stargard (John III) to ally against the Electorate of Brandenburg, ruled by the House of Hohenzollern elector Friedrich I

title: 1418

section: Events › October–December

section: Conflict & Security

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg leads a decisive defeat of the Pomeranian Alliance in the battle of Angermünde.

title: 1420

date: October 12

text: October 12 – Uckermark War (1425–1427): Representing Brandenburg, the Elector Friedrich and his son Johann "the alchemist" sign a treaty with William of Werle, ruler of one of the opposing states of Mecklenburg. Friedrich and Johann had recaptured the town of Prenzlau on August 23.

title: 1426

date: February 6

text: February 6 – The Hussite General Andreas Prokop signs a treaty with Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg at Kulmbach, agreeing to withdraw Hussite troops entirely from Germany.

title: 1430

date: August 14

text: August 14 – Hussites under Prokop the Great and Sigismund Korybut defeat the forces of Frederick of Brandenburg at the Battle of Domažlice.

title: 1431

section: Culture & Society

date: February 17

text: February 17 – In the Duchy of Cieszyn in Poland, Duke Wenceslaus I marries Elisabeth of Hohenzollern, the daughter of the Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich.

title: 1439


slug: frederick-i-holy-roman-emperor

label: Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Frederick I (Barbarossa), Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1190)

title: 1122

date: May

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

title: 1147

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade

date: February 15

text: February 15 – King Conrad III dies after a 14-year reign at Bamberg. He is succeeded by his 29-year-old nephew Frederick I (Barbarossa), duke of Swabia, who is crowned as King of the Germans at Aachen several days later, on March 9. Frederick becomes sole ruler of Germany and receives the royal insignia, despite the fact that Conrad has a 6-year-old son, Frederick IV, who becomes duke of Swabia.

title: 1152

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) marries Beatrice I, daughter of Reginald III, adding the County of Burgundy to the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1156

date: April 7

text: April 7 – Oath of Pontida: Supported by Pope Alexander III, the Lombard League is founded, a military alliance between the municipalities of Milan, Lodi, Ferrara, Piacenza and Parma, against the German invading forces of Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) in Northern Italy. The League (with other Italian cities) openly challenges Frederick's claim to power (Honor Imperii).

title: 1167

text: September 20 – Antipope Paschal III dies at Rome after a 4-year reign. Giovanni di Struma is elected as his successor and will reign as Antipope Callixtus III with support from Emperor Frederick I.

title: 1168

date: October 29

text: October 29 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), on his fifth Italian campaign, begins the siege of Alessandria in northern Italy. He is opposed by the Lombard League (now joined by Venice, Sicily and Constantinople).

title: 1174

date: May 29

text: May 29 – Battle of Legnano: The Imperial army (some 5,500 men) led by Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) is defeated by forces of the Lombard League, leading to the pactum Anagnium (the Agreement of Anagni).

title: 1176

date: June 30

text: June 30 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) is crowned King of Burgundy at Arles. He will repeat the ceremony in 1186. Returning to Germany, he begins proceedings against Henry III (the Lion), duke of Saxony, who has been charged by Saxon noblemen with breaking the king's peace.

title: 1178

section: Health & Medicine

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, is put under the ban of the empire when he refuses to appear before Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) to answer charges of misgovernment.

title: 1179

text: Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, submits to Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) at an Imperial Diet in Erfurt. He is banished to England and retains only Brunswick among his former lands.

title: 1181

section: Events › Europe

text: October 29 – Gregory VIII issues the bull Audita tremendi, proposing the Third Crusade and negotiates with Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa).

title: 1187

date: March 27

text: March 27 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) holds a Diet at Mainz and takes the Cross, followed by his 21-year-old son, Frederick IV, and other German nobles. He sends a delegation to present an ultimatum to Saladin in Syria on May 26. With demands to withdraw his Muslim forces from Palestina and to return the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

title: 1188

text: Spring – A German expeditionary force (some 15,000 men) led by Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) marches towards Constantinople, on the way to the Holy Land. Emperor Isaac II (Angelos), suspicious that Frederick is planning to conquer Constantinople, attempts to stop him by attacking the Crusaders. The German forces are too strong and they capture Adrianople. A peace treaty is signed by both Isaac and Frederick, that ensures the Germans are given supplies, and free passage through to Palestina.

title: 1190

date: April 15

text: April 15 – Henry VI, son of the late Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), is crowned as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, together with his wife Constance by Pope Celestine III, on Easter Monday at Rome. Henry marches south and begins a campaign in Apulia. He besieges Naples, but encounters the resistance of Sicilian forces under Margaritus of Brindisi, who come to support the city's defense. Tusculum is destroyed by the rebel army of the Commune of Rome, on April 17.

title: 1191

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Frederick VI, son of Frederick I (Barbarossa) (b. 1167)

title: 1191

date: March 8

text: March 8 – Philip of Swabia, son of the late Emperor Frederick I, is elected "King of Germany" by his supporters at Mühlhausen in Thuringia. Archbishop Adolf of Cologne elects Otto of Brunswick, son of Henry the Lion, as Philip's rival. Otto IV is crowned as King of the Romans in Aachen by supporters of the House of Welf. Philip's coronation does not take place until September 8, at Mainz.

title: 1198

date: April 25

text: April 25 – The 16-year-old Isabella II, Holy Roman Empress and wife of Frederick II, dies after giving birth to her second child, Conrad IV, at Andria. He receives the title King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II) – with Frederick as regent. By his father, Conrad is the grandson of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Henry VI and great-grandson of the late Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa).

title: 1228


slug: frederick-ii-holy-roman-emperor

label: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

description: King of Sicily, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250, 1220–1250)

date: December 25

text: December 25 – Henry VI deposes the 8-year-old William III (son of Tancred de Lecce) and is crowned king of Sicily. The next day, Constance I, who stays in the town of Iesi, gives birth to Frederick II, the future emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1194

section: Religion & Belief

text: Spring – Henry VI persuades a diet at Würzburg. He manages to convince the majority of the German nobles and clergy to recognize his 2-year-old son, Frederick II, as king of the Romans and heir to the imperial throne. However, Archbishop Adolf of Cologne thwarts the will of the diet and arouses the resistance of several Saxon and Thuringian nobles against Henry, who realizes that he is unable to establish a hereditary monarchy (his Erbreichsplan) in the Holy Roman Empire without resistance.

title: 1196

text: Spring – Emperor Henry VI travels to Italy to persuade Pope Celestine III to crown his infant son Frederick II, who has been elected "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt.

title: 1197

date: November 18

text: November 18 – Emperor Otto IV is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III after he occupies Apulia in southern Italy. Otto annuls the Concordat of Worms and demands from Innocent recognition of the imperial crown's right. A German civil war breaks out, and Otto prepares an invasion against Frederick II, king of Sicily.

title: 1210

date: September

text: September – The 16-year-old Frederick II is elected in absentia as German king by rebellious nobleman (supported by Pope Innocent III) at the Diet of Nuremberg (Germany).

title: 1211

date: December 9

text: December 9 – The 18-year-old Frederick II is crowned King of the Germans at Mainz. Frederick's authority in Germany remains tenuous, and he is recognized only in southern Germany. In the region of northern Germany, the center of Guelph power, his rival Otto IV continues to hold the imperial power despite his excommunication.

title: 1212

text: Summer – Emperor Otto IV is excommunicated and forced to abdicate as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The German nobles, supported by Innocent III, again elect the 20-year-old Frederick II as King of the Romans who is crowned in Aachen, on July 25. The same day, Frederick takes the Cross and promises to go on Crusade.

title: 1215

section: Events › By continent › Europe

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: September – Cardinal Pelagius arrives with reinforcements at the Crusader camp, and proceeds to challenge the command of John I, claiming that the Church holds greater authority than a secular leader. Meanwhile, the Crusaders spend time clearing out an old canal, so that their ships can surround Damietta. Pelagius also brings news that King Frederick II has promised to follow soon, with a German expeditionary force.

title: 1218

section: Events › By place › Fifth Crusade

date: April 26

text: April 26 – King Frederick II confirms rights of independence to the German bishops (the Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis) in an attempt to secure the election of his 9-year-old son, Henry VII as King of Germany.

title: 1220

text: Traditional date – The University of Padua is founded in Italy, by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.

title: 1222

date: March 23

text: March 23 – At a meeting in Ferentino at the imperial villa of the Papal States, Pope Honorius III hosts a meeting with the newly-widowed Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor; John I, King of Jerusalem; Patriarch Raoul of Mérencourt; and papal legate Pelagius Galvani to prepare for the Sixth Crusade by European Christians against the Muslims of the Middle East. Frederick agrees to lead the crusade in return for being able to marry John's daughter, Yolande of Brienne.

title: 1223

date: June 5

text: June 5 – The University of Naples is founded by Emperor Frederick II. Frederick's main purpose is to create an institution of higher learning that will put an end to the predominance of the universities of northern Italy, most notably these of Bologna and Padua, which are considered either too independent or under the strong influence of \Pope Honorius III.

title: 1224

section: Events › April – June

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: November 24

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

title: 1224

date: July 25

text: July 25 – Emperor Frederick II takes an oath at San Germano (near Cassino) and promises to depart on a Crusade (the Sixth Crusade), for the Near East in August 1227. He sends 1000 knights to the Levant and provides Rome with 100,000 ounces of gold, to be forfeited to the Catholic Church should he break his vow. These funds will be returned to Frederick once he arrives at Acre.

title: 1225

date: March 26

text: March 26 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor issues the Golden Bull of Rimini, in which he grants Teutonic Knights the right to all of the lands they will get during the mission in Prussia; he also declares himself a senior of the Teutonic Order and Poland, as well as the universal ruler of Christian Europe.

title: 1226

section: Events › January – March

date: August

text: August – Emperor Frederick II musters a German expeditionary force in Apulia. The crowded conditions and high heat contribute to discontent and disease among the assembled troops. On September 24, an epidemic of malaria enfeebles the army at Brindisi. Several thousand Crusaders led by Henry IV, duke of Limburg, and French and English mercenaries under the bishops Peter des Roches and William Briwere, arrive at Acre.

title: 1227

text: August – Treaty of Ceprano: Emperor Frederick II returns from the Sixth Crusade and signs a peace agreement with Pope Gregory IX at Ceprano. He agrees not to violate any territories held by the Papal States in return for Frederick's concessions in Sicily.

title: 1230

text: Emperor Frederick II promulgates the Constitutions of Melfi (Liber Augustalis), a collection of laws for Sicily, as well as the Edict of Salerno, regulating the exercise of medicine and separating the professions of physician and apothecary, and requiring medical schools to practice dissection.

title: 1231

date: June 15

text: June 15 – Battle of Agridi: The Cypriot army under King Henry I ("the Fat") defeats the Lombard forces of Emperor Frederick II. After the battle, John of Beirut (supported by funds from Henry), hires 13 Genoese war-galleys to aid in the siege of Kyrenia.

title: 1232

date: July

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

title: 1236

text: Summer – Emperor Frederick II assembles an expeditionary force (some 15,000 men) to crush the rebellious Lombard League. He crosses the Alps to Verona – where he is joined by Lord Ezzelino III da Romano, including troops from Brescia, Vicenza, Padua and Treviso. Frederick relies on his allies for support and in doing so, he provokes the opposition of earlier supporters, such as the House of Este, which now sides with the Lombards.

title: 1237

date: July 11

text: July 11 – Siege of Brescia: Emperor Frederick II begins the siege of Brescia. He rejects the negotiations of the Lombard League and insists on unconditional surrender to the imperial forces in northern Italy. This blocks all possibilities of a peaceful settlement. Milan and five other Lombard cities are attacked. In early October, after a successful sortie by the city's defenders, Frederick is forced to lift the siege.

title: 1238

text: Summer – A German expeditionary force under Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, invades the Romagna and Tuscany, hoping to capture Rome. He appoints his 21-year-old son, Enzo of Sardinia, as imperial vicar general for Northern Italy. Frederick also threatens with war against Venice, which has sent ships to blockade the harbors on Sicily. In order to finance his growing need for arms, he institutes an administrative reorganization of the Holy Roman Empire (among others, the formation of 10 vice regencies in Italy).

title: 1239

date: March 20

text: March 20 – Gregory IX renews the excommunication of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, while he is at his court in Padua. Frederick responds by expelling the Franciscans and Dominicans from Lombardy.

title: 1239

date: October 10

text: October 10 – Richard of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III of England, arrives at Acre for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His pilgrimage has the approval of Emperor Frederick II, who is married to his younger sister, Isabella of England, and gives him the task to make arrangements with the Military Orders. On his arrival, Richard travels to Ascalon, where he is met by ambassadors from As-Salih Ayyub. As a negotiator, he is successful in the release of prisoners captured in the Battle at Gaza (1239), and he also assists with the building of the citadel in Ascalon.

title: 1240

section: Events › By place › Levant

date: December 1

text: December 1 – Isabella of England, Holy Roman empress, spouse of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1214)

title: 1241

text: Siegfried III, archbishop of Mainz, conquers Wiesbaden (a free imperial city) and orders the city's destruction, during the war of Emperor Frederick II against the Papal States.

title: 1242

text: Siege of Viterbo: Emperor Frederick II besieges Viterbo on request of the rebel citizens. The defenders are able to set fire to the siege towers and after signing a peace treaty, Frederick is persuaded to withdraw his army.

title: 1243

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Pope Innocent IV is driven from Rome by imperial forces of Emperor Frederick II, and travels secretly in disguise to Sutri. Genoese galleys prepared by his relatives are waiting for him at the port of Civitavecchia to take him to Genoa.

title: 1244

date: June 28

text: June 28 – First Council of Lyon: In a general church council held at Lyon, Innocent IV declares Emperor Frederick II excommunicated and deposed. He proclaims the Seventh Crusade.

title: 1245

text: June 15 – Battle of the Leitha River: Hungarian forces, under King Béla IV, defeat Duke Frederick II (the Quarrelsome) at the banks of the Leitha River. Frederick is killed (leaving no male heirs); the House of Babenberg is dissolved. Emperor Frederick II places the fiefs of Austria and Styria under his rule. This ends the Austrian claims to the western counties of Hungary.

title: 1246

date: May 22

text: May 22 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king in Germany in opposition to Conrad IV of Germany and Conrad's father, the excommunicated emperor Frederick II.

title: 1246

date: February 18

text: February 18 – Battle of Parma: Imperial forces (some 6,000 men) under Emperor Frederick II are defeated by the Lombard League at Parma. Much of Frederick's treasure is lost, while he is hunting in the Taro Valley.

title: 1248

date: May 26

text: May 26 – Battle of Fossalta: King Enzo of Sardinia, an illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II, is captured and imprisoned by Lombard forces, in a clash between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Enzo is put in golden chains and paraded around Bologna on a horse. He becomes a prisoner in a palace, named Palazzo Re Enzo.

title: 1249

date: December 13

text: December 13 – Emperor Frederick II dies, beginning the 23-year-long "Great Interregnum". Frederick is the last Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; after the interregnum, the empire passes to the Habsburgs.

title: 1250

date: October

text: October – Pope Innocent IV returns to Rome, after being deposed for 9 years by former Emperor Frederick II, whose clash forms an important chapter in the conflict between the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1253

text: May 21 – King Conrad IV, son of the late Emperor Frederick II, dies of malaria at Lavello (southern Italy). With Conrad's death a interregnum begins, during which no ruler manages to gain undisputed control of Germany. The 22-year-old Manfred, half-brother of Conrad, refuses to surrender Sicily to Pope Innocent IV and accepts the regency on behalf of Conrad's 2-year-old son Conradin ("the Younger").

title: 1254

text: August 10 – Manfred, son of the late Emperor Frederick II, is crowned king of Sicily at Palermo. Pope Alexander IV, who has an alliance with the Saracens, declares the coronation void and excommunicates Manfred.

title: 1258