/year

March 20 in history

227 sourced entries recorded on March 20, from 44 BCE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 44 BCECaesar's funeral is held. Marcus Antony gives a eulogy and in his speech he makes accusations of murder and ensures a permanent breach with the conspirators against Caesar. He snatches Caesar's bloody tunic and purple toga to show the crowd the stab wounds; the citizens tear apart the forum and cremate their Caesar on a makeshift pyre. Antony becomes the highest ranking politician in Rome.source
  • 673Emperor Tenmu assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan at the Palace of Kiyomihara, in Asuka.source
  • 1066Halley's Comet reaches perihelion. Its appearance is subsequently recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry.source
  • 1184Battle of Ichi-no-Tani: Japanese forces under Minamoto no Noriyori defeat the Taira clan at Ikuta Shrine in the woods of Settsu Province during the Genpei War.source
  • 1239Gregory 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.source
  • 1305King Edward dissolves the 52nd Parliament.source
  • 1310Having secured the surrender of King Prataparudra of Kakatiya during the siege of Warangal, General Malik Kafur of the Delhi Sultanate begins his return journey to Delhi. He will arrive on June 23.source
  • 1311King Ferdinand IV, known as "Ferdinand the Summoned", grants new privileges to the Catholic Church within the Kingdom of Castile during an assembly at Palencia. In April, Ferdinand becomes seriously ill and is transferred to Valladolid, despite the opposition of his wife, Queen Constance, who wishes to transfer him to Carrión de los Condes (northern Spain).source
  • 1320March 20 (Easter Sunday) – Shepherds' Crusade (Le Pastoureaux): In France, a large group of common people band together in Normandy to begin a crusade, after a teenage shepherd says he was visited by the Holy Spirit. They march south to Aquitaine, attacking castles, royal officials, priests and lepers along the way. Jewish communes are attacked at Saintes, Cahors, Verdun-sur-Garonne, Albi and Toulouse. When they finally cross into Spain, Aragonese forces under Prince Alfonso halt their advance.source
  • 1370King David II of Scotland divorces his wife and queen consort of six years, Margaret Drummond. Queen Margaret then travels to Avignon and persuades Pope Urban V to rescind the divorce before King David dies the next year.source
  • 1374In a meeting at Dax in what is now the département of Landes, Gaston III of Foix, overlord in France of multiple territories in the Pyrenees as Count of Foix and Viscount of Béarn forms an alliance with England's John of Gauntsource
  • 1390Manuel III succeeds his father, Alexios III, as Emperor of Trebizond (now north eastern Turkey).source
  • 1404As the English Parliament adjourns, King Henry IV gives royal assent to acts that have passed, including the Multipliers Act, which declares "It shall be felony to use the craft of multiplication of gold or silver.", prohibiting any alchemists who has actually may have discovered how to perform transmutation of other substances into precious metals. The law remains in force until repealed 284 years later.source
  • 1415Despite his promise to resign, the Antipope John XXIII escapes the city of Constance and takes refuge in the Duchy of Austria at Schaffhausen.source
  • 1429Constantine XI Palaiologos, Emperor of Byzantium, begins the siege of the Greek port of Patras, which is controlled by the Venetian Republic. The city surrenders to the Byzantines on June 1.source
  • 1466Galezzo Sforza enters Milan after working his way across the Duchy of Savoy, where he is in danger of being captured.source
  • 1470The Battle of Nibley Green is the last fought between the private armies of feudal magnates in England.source
  • 1483In what is now the Kingdom of Spain, the Islamic Emirate of Granada defeats the Christian Crown of Castile in the Battle of Axarquía, despite the Castilians having four times as many troops as the Granadans.source
  • 1525In the German town of Memmingen, the pamphlet The Twelve Articles: The Just and Fundamental Articles of All the Peasantry and Tenants of Spiritual and Temporal Powers by Whom They Think Themselves Oppressed is published, the first human rights related document written in Europe.source
  • 1528The Battle of Szina is fought in the Kingdom of Hungary between the two rival kings, John Zápolya of Eastern Hungary and Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the Habsburg King of Western Hungary. Zapolya and his 15,000-man army are defeated by mercenaries hired by the Habsburgs.source
  • 1543King Gustav of Sweden leads troops in troops crushing Dacke's Rebellion, led by Swedish peasant Nils Dacke, with defeat coming at the Battle of Hjortensjon.source
  • 1578The Belgian city of Bruges, controlled by Spain, falls to Dutch rebels.source
  • 1578James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, the last of the regents for King James VI of Scotland, resigns after having served as regent since November 24, 1572.source
  • 1588The ascension of Shah Abbas I as Emperor in Iran, of the Safavid Empire, is made official on the first day of the New Year on the Zoroastrian Calendar. Abbas has ruled since October 16, 1587.source
  • 1591Seamus Ó hÉilidhe is appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam.source
  • 1595After a siege of 13 days, the French town of Huy (now in Belgium) is captured by the army of the Spanish Netherlands, as the General Charles de Héraugière surrenders to the Baron de la Motte.source
  • 1598The Duchy of Brittany in France is conquered by King Henry IV, who forces the surrender of Philippe Louis de Lorraine-Mercœur, Duke of Brittany. Merceur is then exiled to Hungary.source
  • 1600Linköping Bloodbath conducted against the Sigismund loyalists.source
  • 1600Construction of Cullen House in Moray begins.source
  • 1600Linköping Bloodbath: Five Swedish nobles are publicly executed by decapitation and Polish–Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is de facto deposed as ruler of Sweden.source
  • 1601New regulations on distilleries for brandy and aqua vitae decreed.source
  • 1602The United East India Company is established by the United Provinces States-General in Amsterdam, with the stated intention of capturing the spice trade from the Portuguese.source
  • 1606Sorø Pharmacy is established in Sorø.source
  • 1623Richard Frethorne begins writing a letter to his parents from Jamestown, Virginia.source
  • 1631The siege of the Protestant German city of Magdeburg by the Catholic League begins and lasts for more than two months before the city falls and the inhabitants are massacred.source
  • 1651Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria lays the foundation stone of the new Capuchin church in Brussels, designed by Fr Charles of Brussels.source
  • 1654establishment of Commission of Triers which will fill empty Anglican benefices with Puritan ministers.source
  • 1663Sølvi Nilsdatter, Margrette Jonsdatter, and two more women were burned to death.source
  • 1690The 2nd Parliament of William III and Mary II is assembled in London, split almost equally with 243 Whigs, 241 Tories, and 28 independent members.source
  • 1691Leisler's Rebellion: A new governor arrives in New York – Jacob Leisler surrenders, after a standoff of several hours.source
  • 1703March 20 (February 4 in the Chinese calendar) – 46 of the forty-seven rōnin of Japan carry out an order of seppuku (ritual suicide) for the killing they committed on January 30. The punishment is given by the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. The story continues to be dramatized more than 300 years later in Chūshingura theater, novels and film.source
  • 1713Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore's Carolina militia launches a major offensive against Fort Neoheroka.source
  • 1718The Privy Council of the United Kingdom is reorganized, forming the Second Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. Secretary of State for the Northern Department Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland succeeds James Stanhope as the new First Lord of the Treasury, and Stanhope takes Sunderland's job.source
  • 1724The 1724 papal conclave opens in Rome, 13 days after the death of Innocent XIII. Starting with 33 electors and eventually having 53, the conclave deliberates for more than two months before selecting a successor.source
  • 1739Nader Shah occupies Delhi, India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, including the Koh-i-Noor.source
  • 1750The first number of Samuel Johnson's The Rambler appears.source
  • 1750Samuel Johnson begins publication of the periodical The Rambler.source
  • 1759King Frederick V issued a decree that a prison should be built in Iceland.source
  • 1760The Great Fire of Boston, Massachusetts, destroys 349 buildings and marks the biggest conflagration in the American colonies up to this time.source
  • 1762a French privateer takes six ships off Youghal.source
  • 1762Innovative publisher Samuel Farley launches the weekly newspaper The American Chronicle, the seventh in New York City.source
  • 1764After the British victory in the French and Indian War, the first post-war British expedition to explore the newly acquired territories east of the Mississippi River comes under attack by Tunica warriors. The 340 British Army men, under the command of Major Arthur Loftus, were at a spot south of Natchez, Mississippi and were forced to flee in their boats back toward the port of New Orleans while under fire from an unknown number of Tunicas firing from both banks.source
  • 1772Pedro Fages, the Spanish Governor of Alta California, and Juan Crespí, a Catholic priest, set off from the capital at Monterey with a party of 12 soldiers and begin the first European exploration of the lands around San Francisco Bay.source
  • 1792A new capital of North Carolina, and seat of the newly formed Wake County, is established after North Carolina State senator and surveyor William Christmas submits his design for the city. A few months later, the capital is officially named Raleigh, in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh.source
  • 1796The U.S. House of Representatives demands that the U.S. State Department supply it with documents relating to the negotiation of the Jay Treaty; President Washington declines the request, citing that only the U.S. Senate has jurisdiction over treaties.source
  • 1800Alessandro Volta describes his new invention, the voltaic pile, the first chemical battery, in a letter to the Royal Society of London.source
  • 1806Construction begins of Dartmoor Prison, to house prisoners of war.source
  • 1809March 20–22 - Crossing the Gulf of Bothniasource
  • 1812Destruction of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1812 ("Frame-breaking Act") makes Luddite machine-breakers subject to capital punishment.source
  • 1815Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon enters Paris, after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his Hundred Days rule.source
  • 1819Burlington Arcade opens in London.source
  • 1852Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is published in book form in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • 1853Taiping Rebellion: A rebel army of around 750,000 seizes Nanjing, killing 30,000 Imperial troops.source
  • 1854The Republican Party is formed by anti-slavery opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in Ripon, Wisconsin.source
  • 1854The Boston Public Library opens to the public.source
  • 1856Filibuster War: Battle of Santa Rosa: – Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers.source
  • 1860The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company takes delivery of eight broad gauge 0-4-2 tender locomotives for service on the Cape Town-Wellington line, which is still under construction.source
  • 1861Unification of Italy: The surrender of Civitella del Tronto ends the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.source
  • 1861An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.source
  • 1865March 19–21 – American Civil War : Battle of Bentonville: Union troops compel Confederate forces to retreat from Four Oaks, North Carolina.source
  • 1876Through constitutional reform taking legal effect, Louis De Geer becomes the first Prime Minister of Sweden.source
  • 1880£50,000 worth of diamonds are reported stolen from Cape Town's post office.source
  • 1880For the first and last time in its history, the annual side-by-side rowing race between the 8-member teams of University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge on the River Thames is postponed. The call comes because of a thick fog that makes visibility impossible. Two days later, Oxford wins the race by 3+3⁄4 lengths.source
  • 1882British gunboats enter Monrovia, with Arthur Havelock demanding that Liberia cede disputed territory to the British colony of Sierra Leone, of which he is Governor.source
  • 1883Belgium a signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.source
  • 1883The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is held.source
  • 1886William Stanley Jr. demonstrates the first commercial alternating current generator and transformer system in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.source
  • 1888The first Romani language operetta premieres in Moscow, Russia.source
  • 1890Kaiser Wilhelm II forces Otto von Bismarck to resign as Chancellor of Germany.source
  • 1890The battle cruiser Almirante Tamandaré is launched at Rio de Janeiro Dockyards.source
  • 1890Leo von Caprivi shift beginssource
  • 1892The first ever French rugby championship final takes place in Paris. Pierre de Coubertin referees the match, which Racing Club de France wins 4–3 over Stade Français.source
  • 1893Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti presents a bill to reorganize the banking system.source
  • 1893In Belgium, Adam Worth is sentenced to 7 years for robbery (he is released in 1897).source
  • 1897The East Asiatic Company is founded by H. N. Andersen in Copenhagen.source
  • 1899At Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman to be executed in an electric chair.source
  • 1900Thomas Lambert received a patent for the first indestructible type of cylinder records.source
  • 1903Carl Anton Bjerknes, mathematician and physicist (born 1825)source
  • 1905The title Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is officially recognised by King Edward VII by a royal warrant.source
  • 1905March 14 – 23 of the 26 crew of the British barque Kyber die when the ship is wrecked off England's Land's End.source
  • 1905The Grover Shoe Factory disaster kills 58 employees in Brockton, Massachusetts, when a boiler explodes and the factory building collapses.source
  • 1905Grover Shoe Factory disaster: A boiler explosion, building collapse and fire in Brockton, Massachusetts kills 58.source
  • 1910The first clinic for treatment of occupational diseases is opened in Milan (Italy).source
  • 1913The city of Canberra, the centre of the Australian Capital Territory, becomes the official capital of the Commonwealth of Australia.source
  • 1917A motion to reduce the salary of the British prime minister by £100 was introduced in the British House of Commons as a protest against the refusal to publish the proceedings of the 1916 Easter Rising courts martial.source
  • 1917Lieutenant Frank Hubert McNamara becomes the first Australian airman to receive the Victoria Cross.source
  • 1919The Vix Note demands Hungary withdraw over 100 km to the Szeged–Debrecen–Vásárosnamény linesource
  • 1921Upper Silesia votes for re-annexation to Germany.source
  • 1922The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.source
  • 1927Mahad Satyagraha lead by B. R. Ambedkar for Dalit rights.source
  • 1927Establishment of S.L. Benfica (basketball)source
  • 1932The Graf Zeppelin airship begins a regular route between Germany and South America.source
  • 1933Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed in Germany (it opens March 22 to hold political prisoners).source
  • 1933Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed (it opens 22 March).source
  • 1934The Great Hakodate Fire kills at least 2,166 people in southern Hokkaido, Japan.source
  • 1934Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, former queen consort and regent (born 1858)source
  • 1936March 18–21. Strike action at Polish Rubber Factory Semperit in Kraków,source
  • 1939At an emergency meeting in London to deal with the Romanian crisis, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet suggests to Lord Halifax that the ideal state for saving Romania from a German attack is Poland.source
  • 1939William Snodgrass, a New Zealand politician, disappeared from the interisland ferry Arahura while travelling overnight from Wellington to Nelson.source
  • 1939March 10–21 — 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)source
  • 1944Landing on Emirau: 4,000 United States Marines land on Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago to develop an airbase, as part of Operation Cartwheel.source
  • 1948Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program in the United States.source
  • 1948The 20th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.source
  • 1949The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, Denver and Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the California Zephyr passenger train between Chicago and Oakland, California, as the first long-distance train to feature Vistadome cars as regular equipment.source
  • 1952The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.source
  • 1952Thor Heyerdahl received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 24th Academy Awards for the Kon-Tiki film.source
  • 1955Zerrin Güngör, president of the Council of Statesource
  • 1955The movie adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.source
  • 1956Tunisia gains independence from France.source
  • 1964June 6 – The first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development takes place.source
  • 1964The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.source
  • 1965The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins.source
  • 1965"Sol de inverno", performed by Simone de Oliveira, Portugal's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Naples, finishes twelfth.source
  • 1965"Poupée de cire, poupée de son", sung by France Gall (music and lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 (staged in Naples) for Luxembourg.source
  • 1965Representing Luxembourg, France Gall wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 with the song Poupée de cire, poupée de son.source
  • 1966Football's FIFA World Cup Trophy is stolen while on exhibition in London; it is found seven days later by a mongrel dog named "Pickles" and his owner David Corbett, wrapped in newspaper in a south London garden.source
  • 1968March 19–23 – Afrocentrism, Black Power, Vietnam War: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.source
  • 1969John Lennon and Yoko Ono are married at Gibraltar, and proceed to their honeymoon "Bed-in" for peace in Amsterdam.source
  • 1970The Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique (ACCT) is founded.source
  • 1973A British government White Paper on Northern Ireland proposes the re-establishment of an Assembly elected by proportional representation, with a possible All-Ireland council.source
  • 1976Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974.source
  • 1980March 19–20 – The MV Mi Amigo, the ship housing pirate radio station Radio Caroline, sinks off the English coast (the station returns aboard a new ship in 1983).source
  • 1987AZT is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.source
  • 1988Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the EPLF enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.source
  • 1989Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.source
  • 1990Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.source
  • 1995Members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo carry out the Tokyo subway sarin attack, killing 14 people and leading to over a thousand injured.source
  • 1997The first shipment of food and other commodities is delivered to Iraq as part of phase 1of the Oil-for-Food Programme.source
  • 2000President Bill Clinton becomes the first president of America to visit Bangladesh.source
  • 2000March 12–26 – Pope John Paul II visits Israel, and thus becomes the second pope to visit Israel. During his stay, the Pope visits Yad Vashem (the Israeli national Holocaust memorial) and the Western Wall placing a letter inside it in which he prayed for forgiveness for the actions against Jews in the past.source
  • 2003The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the United States and allied forces.source
  • 2006The UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, says it has been ordered to leave Uzbekistan within one month.source
  • 2007Taha Yassin Ramadan (born 1938), Iraqi vice president of Saddam Hussein, executed by hangingsource
  • 2008In a videotape, broadcast by Al Jazeera, the voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares "Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine."source
  • 2011The United Arab Emirates sends aircraft to Sardinia, Libya to join the anti-Gaddafi effort.source
  • 2015A total solar eclipse is visible in the north Atlantic, Faroe Islands, and Svalbard. It is the 61st eclipse of the 120th saros cycle.source
  • 2016The constitution referendum took placesource
  • 2019Europe's antitrust regulators fine Google €1.49 billion (US$1.7 billion) for freezing out rivals in the online advertising business, bringing the total cost of EU fines against Google at nearly €8.76 billion.source
  • 2020The Bhadla Solar Park is commissioned and becomes the world's largest solar park.source
  • 2020Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, restrictions on private gatherings, and closure of most in-person businesses, with limited hours for food stores and farmers' markets, pharmacies, gas stations, laundromats, banks, construction, and restaurants (limited to take-out only). Essential workers for the government, utilities, and media were exempted, as were health care providers and suppliers. The airport remained open, but only essential travel was allowed on public buses.source
  • 2023The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the synthesis report of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change.source
  • 2023March 8–21 – The 2023 World Baseball Classic is held in, and won by, Japan.source
  • 2023Beginning of 2023 SAFF U-17 Women's Championship which could last till 28 March. Bhutan ended on final position in 2023 SAFF U-17 Women's Championship.source
  • 2025The International Charity Organization announces plans to build a city in Mauritania.source

Births

  • 43 BCEOvid, Roman poet (died AD 17/18)source
  • 1224Sophie of Thuringia, duchess of Brabant (died 1275)source
  • 1253Wareru, founder of the Martaban Kingdom (assassinated 1307)source
  • 1263Yolande of Dreux, queen consort of Scotland (died 1330)source
  • 1319Laurence Hastings, English nobleman (died 1348)source
  • 1448Marie of Savoy, Countess of Saint-Pol, Luxembourgish noble (died 1475)source
  • 1469Cecily of York, English princess (died 1507)source
  • 1477Jerome Emser, German theologian (died 1527)source
  • 1479Ippolito d'Este, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1520)source
  • 1532Juan de Ribera, Spanish Catholic archbishop (died 1611)source
  • 1564Thomas Morton, English bishop (died 1659)source
  • 1607Lady Alice Boyle, later Alice Barry, Countess of Barrymore (died 1667)source
  • 1612Anne Bradstreet, née Dudley, English-born American Puritan poet (died 1672)source
  • 1615Dara Shikoh, Indian prince (died 1659)source
  • 1639Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of Ukraine (died 1709)source
  • 1725Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (died 1789)source
  • 1736Rama I, First King of Siam (died 1809)source
  • 1741Jean Antoine Houdon, French sculptor (died 1828)source
  • 1770Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (died 1843)source
  • 1782James Tod, English officer of the British East India Company, oriental scholar (died 1835)source
  • 1796Edward Gibbon Wakefield, New Zealand politician (died 1862)source
  • 1796Edward Gibbon Wakefieldsource
  • 1804Neal Dow, mayor of Portland, Maine and Father of Prohibition (died 1897)source
  • 1828Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (died 1906)source
  • 1833Daniel Dunglas Home, Scottish medium (died 1886)source
  • 1834Charles W. Eliot, American President of Harvard University (died 1926)source
  • 1856Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor and efficiency expert (died 1915)source
  • 1870Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (died 1964)source
  • 1917Dame Vera Lynn, English actress, singer (died 2020)source
  • 1928Fred Rogers, American children's television host (died 2003)source
  • 1939Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (died 2024)source

Deaths

  • 687Cuthbert, Anglo-Saxon bishopsource
  • 703Wulfram, archbishop of Senssource
  • 842King Alfonso II of Asturias (Northern Spain) dies after a 50-year reign, in which he undertook numerous campaigns against the Muslim armies of the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba, and allied himself with the late Charlemagne. The childless Alfonso chooses Ramiro I, son of former king Bermudo I, as his successor.source
  • 851Ebbo, archbishop of Reimssource
  • 1007Abu Rakwa, Andalusian Umayyad princesource
  • 1150Simon of Worcester, bishop of Worcestersource
  • 1181Taira no Kiyomori, Japanese military leader and dictator, dies at Kyoto. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in Japan.source
  • 1181Taira no Kiyomori, Japanese military leader (born 1118)source
  • 1191Pope Clement III dies at Rome after a pontificate of less than 3½ years. He is succeeded by the 85-year-old Celestine III as the 175th pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 1191Clement III, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1130)source
  • 1239Hermann von Salza, German Grand Master (born 1165)source
  • 1281Chabi, Mongol empress consort of Kublai Khan (born 1225)source
  • 1286Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq dies after a 28-year reign at Algeciras. He is succeeded by his son Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr, who becomes ruler of the Marinid Sultanate. Abu Yaqub makes a peace agreement with Muhammad II, Nasrid ruler of Granada, ceding all the towns previously occupied (except Algeciras and Tarifa). After confirming the peace with Castile on May 28, he leaves 3,000 men in the Peninsula.source
  • 1286Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq, Marinid rulersource
  • 1287Ambrose of Siena, Italian nobleman and missionary (born 1220)source
  • 1336Maurice Csák, Hungarian Dominican friar (born c. 1270)source
  • 1351Muhammad bin Tughluq, Sultan of Delhisource
  • 1390Alexios III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (born 1338)source
  • 1413King Henry IV of England dies at Westminster Abbey, where the English Parliament has been meeting, in the Jerusalem Chamber of the house of the Abbot, William de Colchester.source
  • 1413Henry IV of England (born 1367)source
  • 1440Sigismund Kęstutaitis, Grand Duke of Lithuania (born 1365)source
  • 1440Sigismund Kęstutaitis, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, is assassinated at his residence at the Trakai Peninsula Castle by supporters of his rival, Svitraglia.source
  • 1470Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle, English nobleman killed at the Battle of Nibley Green (born c.1449)source
  • 1475Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poetsource
  • 1549Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English politician and diplomat (born 1508)source
  • 1568Albert, Duke of Prussia (born 1490) — plaguesource
  • 1600March 20 (Linköping Bloodbath)source
  • 1611March 19–20 – The Moscow Uprising, an armed rising of the inhabitants of Moscow in the Tsardom of Russia against the military Polish–Lithuanian occupation of Moscow (Fall 1610–Fall 1612), results in the occupying forces starting a major fire in the city and the death of 6–7,000 Muscovites.source
  • 1619Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, Austrian Habsburg ruler (born 1557)source
  • 1663Empress Xiaokangzhang, (孝康章皇后; 1638 – 1663) a consort of the Shunzhi Emperorsource
  • 1673Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior (born 1603)source
  • 1732Johann Ernst Hanxleden, German philologist (born 1681)source
  • 1746Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (born 1656)source
  • 1793William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge, politician (born 1705)source
  • 1816Maria I, Queen of Portugal, first monarch of Brazil (born 1734)source
  • 1816Queen Mary I dies at the age of 81, leaving the throne to her 48-year-old son John VI.source
  • 1872William Wentworth, Australian explorer (born 1790)source
  • 1894Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian politician (born 1802)source
  • 1913Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (Kuomintang), is wounded in an assassination attempt, and dies two days later.source
  • 1925George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India (born 1859)source
  • 1929Ferdinand Foch, French commander of Allied forces in World War I (born 1851)source
  • 2015Malcolm Fraser, 84, Australian politician, Prime Minister (1975–1983).source