On This Day in History: March 19 In 1077 the Norman monk Gundulf was consecrated as Bishop of Rochester. As chief engineer to William the Conqueror, he later oversaw the construction of Rochester Castle and the White Tower of the Tower of London. In 1644, when the dynasty was near its collapse, 200 members of…
Tag: famous birthdays
Historical Events on March 14
On This Day in History: March 14 In 1590, King Henry IV of France defeated the Catholic League at the Battle of Ivry during the French Wars of Religion. In 1743, the first American town meeting was held at Boston’s Faneuil Hall. In 1812, the US Congress approved war bonds to finance the War of…
Historical Events on March 13
On This Day in History: March 13 In 1634, the first meeting of the future French Academy took place at the Paris residence of Valentin Conrart, laying the foundation for France’s premier linguistic institution. In 1778, France informed Great Britain of its treaty with America, four days after which Britain declared war. In 1865, Confederate…
Historical Events on March 7
On This Day in History: March 7 In 161, the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius died, and for the first time in the empire’s history, co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus assumed power jointly, beginning an unprecedented political arrangement. In 1530, Pope Clement VII rejected King Henry VIII’s request for a divorce, paving the way for…
Historical Events on March 6
On This Day in History: March 6 In 1521, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan became the first European to sight Guam during his historic voyage across the western Pacific Ocean. In 1808, the first college orchestra in America was established at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision ruled…
Historical Events on Feb 28
On This Day in History: February 28 On this day in 1700, Sweden adopted the Swedish calendar, which skipped February 29 and went straight to March 1. In 1704, a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts resulted in 40 people being killed and 100 others being captured by Indigenous forces. In 1832, Charles Darwin arrived in Salvador,…
Historical Events on Feb 27
On This Day in History: February 27 On this day in 1623, the tragic Amboyna Massacre took place, when the Dutch killed ten Englishmen, ten Japanese and one Portuguese, accusing them of plotting to take over their fort on the island of Ambon, now part of modern-day Indonesia. In 1678, the Earl of Shaftesbury was…