/year

April 9 in history

226 sourced entries recorded on April 9, from 37 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 37An earthquake destroys Antioch.source
  • 475Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, promoting the Miaphysite christological position. These religious views will make him highly unpopular.source
  • 537Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements: 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. Despite shortages, he starts raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.source
  • 624(15 Shawwal 2 AH) The Siege of Banu Qaynuqa is started by the Muslims in what is now Yathrib in Saudi Arabia, four days after Ghalib ibn Abd Allah al-Laythi is dispatched by Muhammad.source
  • 954April 6–10 – The Hungarians besiege Cambrai and burn its suburbs, but they are unable to conquer the city. One of Bulcsú's relatives is killed by the defenders, who refuse to pass his body over to the Hungarians. As a revenge, they kill all their captives.source
  • 1139The Treaty of Durham is signed, between Stephen, King of England and David I of Scotland.source
  • 1168Emperor Rokujō of Japan is deposed by his grandfather, retired-Emperor Go-Shirakawa, after an 8-month reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old uncle, Takakura, as the 80th emperor.source
  • 1217Peter II of Courtenay is crowned emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople at Rome, by Pope Honorius III. Shortly after his coronation, Peter borrows some ships from the Venetians, promising in return to conquer Durazzo for them. He fails in this enterprise and seeks to make his way to Constantinople by land. On the journey, he is seized by troops of Theodore Komnenos Doukas, despot of Epirus, and is put in prison.source
  • 1231A huge fire breaks out at night in the southeast of Hangzhou during the Song dynasty. Fighting the flames is difficult due to limited visibility. When the fires are extinguished, it is discovered that an entire district of the city (some 10,000 houses) has been consumed by the flames.source
  • 1241Battle of Legnica: The Mongols, under the command of Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, defeat the feudal Polish nobility, including the Knights Templar.source
  • 1288Battle of Bạch Đằng: Đại Việt (Vietnamese) general Trần Hưng Đạo sinks the fleet of an invading Mongol-led Yuan expeditionary army (some 94,000 men). He orders the placing of steel-tipped bamboo stakes (to create an ambush) in the Bach Dang River near Ha Long Bay. This ends the intentions of Kublai Khan to conquer Vietnam and Champa.source
  • 1307King Edward I of England dismisses the Parliaments of Ireland. A new Parliament will not be assembled until February 9, 1310.source
  • 1363Haakon VI of Norway marries Margaret I of Denmark.source
  • 1370Timur becomes first Amir of the Timurid Empire, following the Siege of Balkh which establishes his rule over the Chagatai Khanate, completing his conquest of Central Asia and parts of Persia.source
  • 1371Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan succeeds Emperor Go-Kōgon of the Northern Court of Japan.source
  • 1378Following the death of Pope Gregory XI, and riots in Rome calling for a Roman pope, the cardinals, who are mostly French, meet in a papal conclave and elect an Italian from Naples, Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari, as the 202nd Pope. Prignano takes the regnal name Pope Urban VI, and is the last Pope of the Roman Catholic Church to have been elected from outside of the College of Cardinals. The French cardinals then flee from Rome before the populace learns that a non-Roman was picked, and return to Avignon, beginning the Western Schism, a 39-year period where rival popes are selected at Avignon and Rome.source
  • 1379(22nd day of third month of Eiwa 5) The Kōryaku era begins in the Northern Court of Japan at Kyoto on decree of the northern Emperor Go-En'yū because of a disastrous time of plague and war.source
  • 1382Ming dyansty China, ruled by the Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, completes the conquerst of Yunnan the remaining portion of China still occupied by the Yuan dyansty in what is now the Yunnan province. General Fu Youde leads 250,000 Ming Chinese troops overwhelming the smaller Yunnan force of Mongol and Chinese Muslim troops.source
  • 1388At the Battle of Näfels, the Canton of Glarus, in alliance with the Old Swiss Confederacy, decisively defeats the Duchy of Austria and the Habsburgs, despite being outnumbered 16 to one.source
  • 1413The coronation of Henry V as King of England takes place at Westminster Abbey.source
  • 1433Ispend bin Yusuf deposes Shah Muhammad of Qara Qoyunlu as Governor of Baghdad.source
  • 1440Christopher of Bavaria is elected King of Denmark.source
  • 1445The 14th Parliament of King Henry VI (23 H. 6) closes and royal assent is given to new laws, including the Labourers Act (requiring that "A servant in husbandry purporting to depart from his master must give him half a year's warning, or else shall serve him the year following.") and the Exportation Act ("Whoever shall pack or ship thrums or threads to pass beyond the seas, during the three years next coming, shall forfeit the same, or the value.")source
  • 1454Treaty of Lodi: Francesco Sforza forms a triple alliance between the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence and Kingdom of Naples.source
  • 1486The coronation of Maximilian the First as "King of the Romans" takes place at Aachen, in that the Holy Roman Imperial capital of Vienna was captured by Hungary.source
  • 1500April 8–10 – Battle of Novara takes place during the Second Italian War. French victory over Ludovico Sforza.source
  • 1511The Şahkulu Rebellion breaks out in Anatolia.source
  • 1511St John's College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.source
  • 1529The Westrogothian rebellion breaks out in Sweden.source
  • 1561Ángel de Villafañe becomes the new Governor of Spanish Florida, assuming authority over the provinces of La Florida and of Punta de Santa Elena (now Parris Island in the U.S. state of South Carolina).source
  • 1567In India, the Battle of Thanesar is fought in what becomes the state of Haryana. The Mughal Emperor Akbar, with 300 men, wins a victory over more than 7,000 warriors of the Sanyasi Hindu sect. Akbar's army has two cannons, 400 rifles and 75 elephants.source
  • 1573The Siege of Sommières ends with the surrender of the Huguenot defenders, who are spared retaliation by General Montmorency, despite the loss of 2,500 royal troops.source
  • 1580English Fury at Mechelen: English and Scottish mercenaries, assisting the Dutch Republic, storm the Spanish Netherlands city of Mechelen (in modern-day Belgium), killing 60 civilians and plundering the town's houses and churches.source
  • 1583A Burmese Army force of 16,000 men, commanded by Thado Dhamma Yaza II of Prome and Nawrahta Minsaw of Lan Na to suppress the rebellious of the Shan States in the modern-day Yunnan province of China, is welcomed by King Nanda Bayin at the royal capital, Pegu, after a successful punitive expedition. The commanders bring with them the rebel chief from the Sanda state.source
  • 1596Siege of Calais: Spanish troops capture Calais.source
  • 1604On the first day of the new year 966 M.E. on the Burmese calendar, King Nyaungyan Min of Burma makes a triumphant return to his capital at Inwa after his victory in the war against the principality of Mongnai (Monē), one of the Shan States between Burma and Siamsource
  • 1609The Netherlands and Spain agree to the Twelve Years' Truce (which lasts until 1621) in the Eighty Years' War, with the signing of the Treaty of Antwerp, allowing the Dutch East India Company to trade within the Spanish Empire.source
  • 1621The Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire expires, and both sides prepare to resume the Eighty Years' War.source
  • 1637Charles IV and Béatrix de Cusance marry, just nine days after the death of her first husband. On 23 August the couple have their first child, Francis de Lorraine, who dies in infancy.source
  • 1669Aurangzeb, the Muslim Emperor of the Mughal Empire in India, issues a firman decree for the protection of all Hindu temples and schools in his kingdom.source
  • 1682At the mouth of the Mississippi River, near modern Venice, Louisiana, Robert de La Salle buries an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory as La Louisiane for France.source
  • 1686As the Valdesi rebellion continues, the Duke of Savoy issues a second edict, giving the Protestant Valdesi eight days to lay down their arms and allows safe passage into exile for those who agree.source
  • 1688Morean War: The Venetian forces under Francesco Morosini evacuate Athens and Piraeus.source
  • 1690Christian V approves the creation of Nyholm as a new home for Royal Dockyard.source
  • 1691A fire at the Palace of Whitehall in London destroys its Stone Gallery.source
  • 1691a fire at the Palace of Whitehall in London destroys its Stone Gallery.source
  • 1705The Queen's Theatre is opened in London by John Vanbrugh and William Congreve, serving as an opera house, premiering with Gli amori di ergasto ("The Loves of Ergasto"), an Italian language opera by German composer Jakob "Giacomo" Greber. A theatre remains in operation on this site for more than 300 years, becoming Her Majesty's Theatre.source
  • 1705The Queen's Theatre is opened in the Haymarket, Westminster, by John Vanbrugh and William Congreve, serving as an opera house, premiering with Gli amori di ergasto ("The Loves of Ergasto"), an Italian language opera by German composer Jakob "Giacomo" Greber. A theatre remains in operation on this site for more than 300 years, becoming Her Majesty's Theatre.source
  • 1708Ottoman princess Emine Sultan, daughter of Sultan Mustafa II, marries Grand Vizier Çorlulu Ali Pasha.source
  • 1731British trader Robert Jenkins has his ear cut off after his ship, Rebecca is boarded by Spanish coast guards at Havana in Cuba. The incident becomes the casus belli for the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739.source
  • 1731The Diocese of Dijon establishedsource
  • 1737William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in succession to Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset (sworn 7 September).source
  • 1743The Verendrye brothers make the first contact since 1722 between Europeans and the Sioux Indians, whom they refer to as Les Gens de la Fleche Collee ("the people of the sheathed arrow").source
  • 1748the Newtown Act, allowing non-resident burgesses in parliamentary boroughs, is given royal assent.source
  • 1766African slaves are imported directly into the American colony of Georgia for the first time, as the sloop Mary Brow arrives in Savannah with 78 captives imported from Saint-Louis, Senegal.source
  • 1766American botanist John Bartram completes his first exploration and cataloging of North American plants after more than nine months.source
  • 1783April 9–28 – Second Anglo-Mysore War: Siege of Bednore – Tipu Sultan of Mysore with 100,000 troops besieges 1600 British East India Company troops who are obliged to surrender with honours of war.source
  • 1793Edmond-Charles Genêt, France's new Minister to the United States, arrives at Charleston, South Carolina.source
  • 1793Edmond-Charles Genêt, France's new Minister to the United States, arrives at Charleston, South Carolina.source
  • 1798The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is formally established in Dublin and members hold their first meeting on Dawson Street.source
  • 1801A meeting between Crown Prince Frederik and Vice Admiral Lord Nelson at Amalienborg Palace results in a ceasefire. Denmark-Norway has to leave the neutrality pact.source
  • 1807April 4–12 – Froberg mutiny: The British suppress a mutiny at Fort Ricasoli, Malta, by men of the irregularly-recruited Froberg Regiment.source
  • 1809Tiroleans rise, under the command of Andreas Hofer, against French and Bavarian occupation.source
  • 1809Tiroleans rise, under the command of Andreas Hofer, against French and Bavarian occupation.source
  • 1816March 29–April 10 – The Second Bank of the United States obtains its charter.source
  • 1816March 30–April 11 – In Philadelphia, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is established by Richard Allen and other African-American Methodists, the first such denomination in the U.S. completely independent of White churches.source
  • 18197 June: Select Committee of the House of Commons inquires into the state of disease and condition of the poor in Ireland. Typhus epidemic continues.source
  • 1824The first permanent settlers arrive to construct the new city of Tallahassee, Florida, selected to be the capital of the Florida Territory newly acquired from the Kingdom of Spain; the area has been selected because it is roughly equidistant from the territory's main cities, Pensacola and St. Augustine.source
  • 1830The first issue of the Dutch newspaper De Zuid-Afrikaan in the Cape Colonysource
  • 1839The world's first commercial electric telegraph line comes into operation, alongside the Great Western Railway line in England, from London Paddington station to West Drayton.source
  • 1840The first election for the new City Council is held. Only 1929 citizens, out of a population of about 121,000, are able to participate in the election due to heavy restrictions on voting access.source
  • 1851San Luis, the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Colorado, is founded by settlers from Taos, New Mexico.source
  • 1853Prince Leopold sworn in as a member of the Belgian Senate.source
  • 18581858 Hietsu earthquakesource
  • 1860French typesetter Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville creates a recording of the French folk song Au clair de la lune with his phonautograph, producing the world's earliest known intelligible sound recording of the human voice (however, it was not rediscovered until 2008).source
  • 1860Typesetter Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville sings "Au clair de la lune" into his phonautograph, producing the world's earliest known sound recording of a song. However, it would not be converted back into audible sound until 2008.source
  • 1865American Civil War: Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the war.source
  • 1868April 9–13 – Battle of Magdala: A British-Indian task force under Robert Napier inflicts 700 deaths and a crushing defeat on the army of Emperor Tewodros II; the British and Indians suffer 30 wounded, two of whom subsequently die. Tewodros commits suicide and Magdala is captured, ending the British Expedition to Abyssinia.source
  • 1868Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia massacres at least 197 of his own people at Magdala. These are prisoners incarcerated, for the most part, for very trivial offenses, and are killed for requesting bread and water.source
  • 1896The National Farm School (later Delaware Valley College) is chartered in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1899The Battle of Santa Cruz begins in the Philippines between U.S. Army troops and nationalists of the First Philippine Republic. After a two-day battle, 93 Filipino fighters and one American soldier are dead.source
  • 1899In Uganda, King Chwa II Kabalega of the Bunyoro kingdom, a leader of the fight against British colonial occupation, is taken prisoner after being shot in a battle near Hoima. Kabalega is exiled to the Seychelles and remains there until 1923.source
  • 1899The Greek ship Maria sinks after a collision sith the British steamer Kingswell in the Mediterranean and 45 people drown.source
  • 1904April 8–10 – Aleister Crowley writes The Book of the Law, a text central to Thelema, in Cairo.source
  • 1904April 8–11 – At the Eighth Congress of the Italian Socialist Party in Bologna the revolutionary syndicalists led by Arturo Labriola and Enrico Ferri's left centre together win a clear majority, ending the cautious rapprochement of the reformist leader Filippo Turati with Giolitti to advance social reforms.source
  • 1909The Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act is passed in the United States Congress.source
  • 1918Union of Bessarabia with Romania: Bessarabia votes to become part of the Kingdom of Romania.source
  • 1920The Times publishes a special "Belgian number" (pages 33-54) with contributions by many prominent Belgians.source
  • 1923Adkins v. Children's Hospital: The Supreme Court rules that a minimum wage law for women and minors is unconstitutional.source
  • 1925Administration of Estates Act abolishes the legal rule of primogeniture in England and Wales and the remnants of gavelkind in Kent; Law of Property Act modernises the law relating to real estate (both Acts come into effect 1 January 1926).source
  • 1927Georg Ossian Sars, marine biologist (born 1837)source
  • 1937The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London; it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.source
  • 1939African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR because of their decision.source
  • 1940WWII: Germany invades the neutral countries of Denmark and Norway in Operation Weserübung, opening the Norwegian campaign. The British Royal Navy attempts to attack elements of the German fleet off Norway. Vidkun Quisling proclaims a new collaborationist regime in Norway. The German invasion of Denmark lasts for about six hours, before that country capitulates.source
  • 1940Iceland takes full control of its foreign policy following the German invasion of Denmark.source
  • 1942Bataan, under US commander General Edward King, being the last province, surrenders to the Japanese armies.source
  • 1942Bataan Death March: American and Filipino prisoners of war are forced to march from San Fernando to Capas (some 65 miles). During the march some 15,000 soldiers are killed by severe physical abuse and wanton killings.source
  • 1942The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's east coast.source
  • 1945Abwehr conspirators Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster and Hans von Dohnányi are hanged at Flossenbürg concentration camp, along with pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other people associated with resistance groups.source
  • 1947United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 recommends that the United Kingdom and Albania take their dispute over the Straits of Corfu to the International Court of Justice.source
  • 1947Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 184 and injuring 970.source
  • 1947The Journey of Reconciliation in the Southern United States begins, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality.source
  • 1948Liberal politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo) and a further 10 years of violence (La Violencia) across Colombia.source
  • 1948The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in British Mandatory Palestine.source
  • 1951Vilhelm Bjerknes, physicist and meteorologist (born 1862)source
  • 1952Santa Teresa Church tragedy: 50 people are trampled to death in the Basilica of St. Teresa, Caracas, Venezuela, after someone shouts "Fire!"; 40 people are arrested in connection with the crush.source
  • 1952Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.source
  • 1953Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium (1927–2005) marries Prince Jean of Luxembourg (1921–2019), with civil registration in the Grand Ducal Palace and a nuptial mass in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourgsource
  • 1953Hereditary Grand Duke Jean marries Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium.source
  • 1956Habib Bourguiba is elected President of the National Constituent Assembly of the Kingdom of Tunisia; on April 15 he becomes prime minister.source
  • 1957Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to all shipping.source
  • 1959NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts, later known as the 'Mercury Seven'.source
  • 1960White gunman David Pratt shoots South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg, wounding him seriously.source
  • 1962The 34th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in the United States; West Side Story wins Best Picture.source
  • 1962Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor)source
  • 1965The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes.source
  • 1967The first Boeing 737 (A-100 series) takes its maiden flight.source
  • 1972The Iraqi-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation was signed in Baghdad, for a term of 15 years, after which the USSR supplied increased military aid to Iraq, as part of an agreement "to develop their cooperation in the matter of strengthening their defence capacity".source
  • 1974Dunedin experiences a magnitude 4.9 earthquake which causes $3.5 million (2024 terms) in damages.source
  • 1975Eight people were hanged for being involved with the People's Revolutionary Party Incident.source
  • 1976Air France launches a weekly service of its Concorde supersonic aircraft on the Paris/Charles de Gaulle to Caracas/Maiquetía route. This service continues until March 27, 1982.source
  • 1977Spain legalizes the Communist Party of Spain, which had been outlawed since 1939.source
  • 1978Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre; security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.source
  • 1985Carlos Manzo, politician (died 2025).source
  • 1989Moshe Ziffer (born 1902), Austro-Hungarian (Galicia)-born Israeli sculptor.source
  • 1989Munir Hussain, a wealthy industrialist, kills his wife Sharmin Rima after only four months of marriage. The murder and subsequent trial generates widespread public comment.source
  • 1990Comet Austin makes its closest approach to the sun.source
  • 1992In the United Kingdom general election the Conservative Party led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major narrowly retains power.source
  • 1992The garden exhibition Floriade 1992 openssource
  • 1992A jury in Miami, Florida, convicts former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega of assisting Colombia's cocaine cartel.source
  • 1995In a series of gubernatorial elections held across Japan, Yukio Aoshima and Knock Yokoyama become governors of Tokyo and Osaka respectively.source
  • 1996In a common statement, the European Union officially recognises the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.source
  • 2003U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the rule of Saddam Hussein.source
  • 2005Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall. Camilla receives the title Duchess of Cornwall.source
  • 2006Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Republic of the Congo president Denis Sassou-Nguesso host talks in Abuja between the rival groups in Darfur hoping to accelerate the peace process. Sudanese attendees include Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Minni Arcua Minnawi head of the most powerful faction of the divided Sudan Liberation Army, and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the smaller Justice and Equality Movement.source
  • 2009April 8 - April 12 – Maersk Alabama Hijacking occurs, the ship being taken over by Somalian pirates off the coast of Somalia.source
  • 2015Lithuania was invited to start accession talks with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.source
  • 2017The Palm Sunday church bombings, twin suicide bombings that took place at St. George's Church in Tanta, and Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, killed at least 45 people and injured more than 100.source
  • 2018April 4–15 – The 2018 Commonwealth Games are held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.source
  • 2021Roscosmos launches the Soyuz MS-18 mission, carrying three Expedition 65 crewmembers to the International Space Station.source
  • 2021Tajik President Emomali Rahmon visited the Vorukh exclave, assuring residents that there would not be a land exchange with Kyrgyzstan for the territory.source
  • 2021The 2021 Samoan general election was held.source
  • 2025The Central Bank of Solomon Islands grants IumiCash with a Money Transfer Service (MTS) license.source
  • 2025A 4,000-year-old musical instrument is found near Dahwa.source

Births

  • 1096Al-Muqtafi, caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (died 1160)source
  • 1283Margaret, Maid of Norway, queen-designate of Scotland (died 1290)source
  • 1285Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Mongol emperor (died 1320)source
  • 1304Venturino of Bergamo, Italian Dominican friar and preacher (died 1346)source
  • 1336Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire (died 1405)source
  • 1458Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian saint (died 1524)source
  • 1498Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (died 1550)source
  • 1586Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (died 1665)source
  • 1597John Davenport, English Puritan clergyman, co-founder of the American colony of New Haven (died 1670)source
  • 1604Duke Francis Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg (died 1658)source
  • 1624Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer (died 1679)source
  • 1627Johann Caspar Kerll, German baroque composer and organist (died 1693)source
  • 1649James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1685)source
  • 1649James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1685)source
  • 1656Francesco Trevisani, Italian painter (died 1746)source
  • 1680Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (died 1754)source
  • 1680Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (died 1754)source
  • 1690Johan Henrik Scheffel, artist (died 1781)source
  • 1757Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (died 1833)source
  • 1806Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British civil engineer (died 1859)source
  • 1821Charles Baudelaire, French poet, writer (died 1867)source
  • 1830Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer, pioneer of photographic studies of motion (died 1904)source
  • 1835King Leopold II of Belgium (died 1909)source
  • 1848Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz (died 1906)source
  • 1855Pavlos Kountouriotis, Greek admiral, 2-time president (died 1935)source
  • 1865Charles Proteus Steinmetz, German-American engineer, electrician (died 1923)source
  • 1865Erich Ludendorff, German general (died 1937)source
  • 1867Chris Watson, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (died 1941)source
  • 1872Léon Blum, French politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1950)source
  • 1898Paul Robeson, African-American actor, singer and political activist (died 1976)source
  • 1899Hans Jeschonnek, German general (died 1943)source
  • 1971Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian 1997 Formula 1 world champion, 1995 Indy 500 and series champion.source

Deaths

  • 92Yuan An, Chinese administrator, scholar and statesmansource
  • 436Tan Daoji, general of the Liu Song dynastysource
  • 491Zeno, Byzantine Emperorsource
  • 491Emperor Zeno, age 66, dies of dysentery (or of epilepsy) after a 17-year reign. He has no sons to succeed him and Anastasius, palace official (silentiarius) and favoured friend of empress Ariadne, is elevated to the throne.source
  • 715Constantine I, Pope of Rome (born 664)source
  • 715Pope Constantine I dies at Rome after a 7-year reign. He is succeeded by Gregory II as the 89th pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 929Cui Xie, Chinese official and chancellorsource
  • 1024Pope Benedict VIII, formerly Theophylact II, Count of Tusculum, dies after a reign of 12 years at Rome.source
  • 1024Benedict VIII, pope of the Catholic Churchsource
  • 1066Al-Bayhaqi, Persian Sunni hadith scholar (born 994)source
  • 1102Raoul II, Norman nobleman (House of Tosny)source
  • 1137William X (the Saint), duke of Aquitaine, dies while on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (modern Spain). On his deathbed, he expresses his wish to see King Louis VI (the Fat) of France as protector of his 15-year-old daughter Eleanor, and to find her a suitable husband.source
  • 1137William X (the Saint), duke of Aquitaine (born 1099)source
  • 1147Conrad I, archbishop of Salzburg (born 1075)source
  • 1166Waleran de Beaumont, English nobleman (born 1104)source
  • 1241Duke Henry II of Polandsource
  • 1248Hugh I of Châtillon, French nobleman and knightsource
  • 1283Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway, the Maid of Scotland, queen consort of Norway (born 1261)source
  • 1284Adelaide of Holland, Dutch noblewoman (born 1230)source
  • 1302Constance II of Sicily, queen and regent of Aragon (born 1249)source
  • 1321Thomas of Tolentino, Italian preacher and missionary — The "Four Martyrs of Thane"source
  • 1327Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (born 1293)source
  • 1346Ralph de Ufford, Justicier of Ireland, dies at Kilmainham. [13].source
  • 1347William of Ockham, English philosopher and Franciscan monk (born c. 1285)source
  • 1483King Edward IV of England (born 1442)source
  • 1483At the age of 12, Edward V becomes King of England upon the sudden death of his father, King Edward IV. The young king will reign for only 78 days before being deposed, imprisoned and murdered by his uncle, Richard III.source
  • 1484Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (born c. 1473)source
  • 1553François Rabelais, French writersource
  • 1555Marcello Cervini degli Spannocchi is unanimously chosen as the successor to Pope Julius III, who died on March 23, and takes the name of Pope Marcellus II as the 222nd Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He will reign for 22 days.source
  • 1557Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (born c. 1510)source
  • 1564Georg Hartmann, German instrument maker (born 1489)source
  • 1626Francis Bacon, English scientist and statesman (born 1561)source
  • 1711Charles Duncombe, British politician (born 1648)source
  • 1738Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet, English politician (born 1657)source
  • 1747The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat is beheaded at Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last person in Britain to be beheaded, although beheading would not be formally abolished until more than 200 years later.source
  • 1747Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief (born c. 1667)source
  • 1754Christian Wolff, German philosopher, mathematician, scientist (born 1679)source
  • 1761William Law, English minister (born 1686)source
  • 1768Sarah Fielding, English writer (born 1710)source
  • 1779Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer (born 1717)source
  • 1804Jacques Necker, French statesman (born 1732)source
  • 1844José Miguel Infante (born 1778)source
  • 1882Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet, painter (born 1828)source
  • 1904Queen Isabella II of Spain (born 1830)source
  • 1911Manuel Aguirre de Tejada. (born 1827)source
  • 1945Johann Georg Elser, would-be assassin of Adolf Hitler, is executed at Dachau concentration camp.source
  • 1959Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (born 1867)source
  • 1969Fermín Monasterio Pérez is murdered by ETA in Biscay, Spain; the 4th victim in the name of Basque nationalism.source
  • 1989Tbilisi massacre: Georgian demonstrators are massacred by Soviet Army soldiers in Tbilisi's central square during a peaceful rally; 20 citizens are killed, many injured. This causes further protests.source
  • 2018Ira Philip, writer and politician (born 1925).source