Mary Ann Bernal

  A Celtic warrior princess is torn between her forbidden love for the enemy and duty to her people. AWARD-WINNING APOLLO'S RAVEN swee...

June 14 1497 Giovanni (Juan) Borgia, favorite son of Pope Alexander VI, was murdered, allegedly by his brother Cesare or by his younger...

June 3  350  Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaimed himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome at the head of a gr...

May 6 1527 Spanish and German troops sacked Rome, ending the Renaissance

May 3 996 Gregory V was consecrated as pope. The pontificate of Gregory was brief and turbulent, and was interrupted by the installati...

April 29 1347 Catherine of Siena was born. Catherine, the patron saint of Italy, played a significant role in returning the Papacy from...

April 25 799 Pope Leo III was attacked during a procession in Rome due, in part, for recognizing Charlemagne as patricius of the Romans...

April 20 1314  Clement V died. Clement, who owed his election largely to King Philip IV of France, chose to move the Papacy to Avignon,...

April 18 1506 First stone laid in St. Peter's Basilica and was completed in 1615.

March 26 752 Pope Stephen (II) III elected; he was the first sovereign of the Papal States, crowned Pepin as King of the Franks, corre...

March 13 483 Felix III became pope.   He repudiated the Henoticon, a deed of union originating with Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople ...

History Extra Submitted by: Dominic Sandbrook Thomas Cranmer thrusts his hand into the flames that would soon burn him alive in th...

February 21 1173 Thomas Becket was canonized. The Archbishop of Canterbury, one-time friend and opponent to King Henry II of England, ...

February 16 116 Emperor Trajan sent laureatae (word of military glory) to the Roman Senate at Rome on account of his victories and being...

History Extra A Valentine's Day card from 1906 depicting Cupid at the wheel of a car decorated with flowers. (Kean Collection/Arc...

History Extra The Intervention of the Sabine Women, painting by the French painter Jacques-Louis David, 1799. Musee Du Louvre, Paris,...

January 31 314 Silvester I began his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades. During his pontificate, the Basili...

January 10  49 BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon without disbanding his army, which signaled the start of civil war in Rome. Pompey a...

December 20   860 King Ethelbald of Wessex died     1334 Benedict XII was elected pope. The third pope to reside at Avignon, B...

November 23  534 BC Thespis of Icaria became the first actor to portray a character onstage.  800 Charlemagne arrived at Rome...