April 20
1303 The University of Rome La
Sapienza was instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
1314 Clement V died. Clement,
who owed his election largely to King Philip IV of France, chose to move the
Papacy to Avignon, where it remained for more than 60 years. He also had a hand
in the trial of the Templars.
1442 Edward IV, King of England, 1461-83, was
born.
1453 The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurred, as three
Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fought their way through the
huge Ottoman blockade fleet.
April 9
193 Septimius Severus was
proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (Balkans).
475 Byzantine
Emperor Basiliscus issued a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his
empire, supporting the Monophysite Christological position.
491 Eastern Roman
Emperor Zeno died at an approximate age of 65.
999 Gerbert of Aurillac became
Pope Sylvester II.
1413 Henry V was crowned King of England.
1440 Christopher
of Bavaria was appointed King of Denmark.
1483 King Edward IV of England died.
1492 Lorenzo de' Medici died.
November
4
1333 The River Arno flooding caused massive damage in Florence as recorded
by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.
1429 Joan of Arc liberated
Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.
1501 Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first
wife) met Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII's older brother – they would later marry.
1520 Christian II Crowned King of Sweden. Already king of Denmark and Norway,
Christian conquered Sweden as well. But the subsequent massacre of his
opponents led to a Swedish war of liberation, which was achieved a mere three
years later.
1529 English Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was arrested. Wolsey's failure
to secure the annulment for Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon is widely
perceived to have directly caused his downfall and arrest.
November 3
1394 Jews
were expelled from France by Charles VI.
1468 Liège was sacked by Charles I of
Burgundy's troops.
1470 Edward V, King of England was born.
1507 Leonardo da
Vinci was commissioned to paint the Mona Lisa.
1529 London - first sitting of
the Reformation Parliament.
1534 English Parliament accepts the Act of
Supremacy: Henry VIII is head of the Church of England.
November 2
All Souls’ Day.
1164 Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, left Britain because of a quarrel with King Henry II. He fled to Flanders and stayed away from
England for 6 years.
1093 Malcolm III MacDuncan, King of Scots, was killed
while laying siege to Alnwick in an invasion of England. He was succeeded by his brother Donald Bane.
1355 English invasion army under King Edward landed at Calais.
1541 Henry VIII
was informed that Katherine Howard was involved in two affairs before their
marriage.
1570 A tidal wave in the North Sea destroyed the sea walls from
Holland to Jutland. More than 1,000 people were killed.
October
30
852 Swithun, counselor to Kings Egbert and Aethelwulf, became Bishop of
Winchester.
1270 The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis ended by an agreement
between Charles I of Sicily (brother to King Louis IX of France, who had died
months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
1470 Henry VI of England returned to
the English throne after the Earl of Warwick defeated the Yorkists in battle.
1485 King Henry VII of England was crowned.
October 18
768 Charlemagne and his brother Carloman were
crowned co-rulers of the Franks, after the death of their father, Pepin the
Short.
1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a Christian church in Jerusalem,
was completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who
hacked the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
1016 Canute of Denmark became
the heir of Edmund Ironside, King of England, with victory at Ashingdon, and
Edmund agreed to divide England between himself and Canute. At the end of
November, however, Edmund died, and Canute became king of all England.
1081 The
Normans defeated the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1210 Pope
Innocent III excommunicated German leader Otto IV.
1529 Henry VIII ordered Cardinal
Wolsey to hand over the great seal.
1541 Princess Margaret Tudor died.
