13 May

1515    Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk are officially married at Greenwich. 1568   Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother. 1588   Ole Worm (born), Danish physician (died 1654) 1619    Dutch… Continue reading

12 May

1003   Pope Sylvester II (died) (born 946) 1191    Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre who is crowned Queen consort of England the same day. 1364   Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków, Poland. 1510    The Prince of Anhua rebellion begins when Zhu Zhifan kills all the officials invited to… Continue reading

11 May

330     Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but it is more popularly referred to as Constantinople. 868    A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it oldest known dated printed book. 912     Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 912     Leo VI the Wise (died), Byzantine emperor (born 866)… Continue reading

10 May

23       A sunspot is observed by Han Dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. 70       Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem and attacks the city’s Third Wall to the northwest. 1002   Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (born), Iraqi… Continue reading

9 May

1092   Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated. 1662   The figure who later became Mr. Punch made his first recorded appearance in England. 1763   The Siege of Fort Detroit begins during Pontiac’s War against British forces. 1800  John Brown (born), American activist (died 1859) 1805   Friedrich Schiller (died), German poet, playwright, and historian (born 1759) 1837   Adam Opel… Continue reading