Today in History : April 20

• 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
• 1453 – The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn.
• 1534 – Jacques Cartier begins the voyage during which he discovers Canada and Labrador.
• 1535 – The Sun dog phenomenon observed over Stockholm and depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
• 1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
• 1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
• 1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).

Today in History : April 19

• 65 – The freedman Milichus betrayed Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested.
• 531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persian at Ar-Raqqah (northern Syria).
• 1012 – Martyrdom of Ælfheah in Greenwich, London.
• 1529 – Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: The Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism; a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities (German: Reichsstadt) protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.
• 1539 – Charles V and Protestants signs Treaty of Frankfurt.

Today in History : April 18

• 1025 – Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland.
• 1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.
• 1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
• 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.
• 1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
• 1738 – Real Academia de la Historia ("Royal Academy of History") is founded in Madrid.

Today in History : April 17

• 69 – After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
• 1080 – The King of Denmark Harald III dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
• 1349 – Fall of the Bavand dynasty, and rise of the Afrasiyab dynasty.
• 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book's pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
• 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.

Today in History : April 16

• 1457 BC – Likely date of the Battle of Megiddo between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh, the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.
• 73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Great Jewish Revolt.
• 1346 – Dušan the Mighty is proclaimed Emperor, with the Serbian Empire occupying much of the Balkans.
• 1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V.
• 1521 – Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of theempire.

Today in History : April 15

• 769 – The Lateran Council condemned the Council of Hieria and anathematized its iconoclastic rulings.
• 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
• 1395 – Tokhtamysh–Timur war: Battle of the Terek River: Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Volga. The Golden Horde capital city,Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the Golden Horde throne. Tokhtamysh escapes to Lithuania.
• 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
• 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.

Today in History : April 14

• 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar's assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Hirtius.
• 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum and seizes the throne.
• 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital, with four Roman legions.
• 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
• 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Dobrawa of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
• 1028 – Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected king of the Germans.

Today in History : April 13

• 1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
• 1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. (Edict repealed in 1685.)
• 1612 – Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island.
• 1613 – Samuel Argall captures Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia to ransom her for some English prisoners held byher father. She is brought to Henricus as hostage.
• 1699 – Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Sikh Guru, Created Khalsa on this day at Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
• 1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.

Today in History : April 12

• 238 – Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. Gordian I, his father, commitssuicide.
• 240 – Shapur I is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
• 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
• 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.
• 1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
• 1557 – Cuenca is founded in Ecuador.

Today in History : April 11

• 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine Emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.
• 1079 – Bishop Stanislaus of Kraków is executed by order of Bolesław II of Poland.
• 1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Muhi.
• 1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: French forces led by Gaston de Foix win the Battle of Ravenna.
• 1544 – French forces defeat a Spanish army at the Battle of Ceresole.
• 1689 – William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.
• 1713 – War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War): Treaty of Utrecht.

Today in History : April 10

• 428 – Nestorius becomes Patriarch of Constantinople.
• 837 – Halley's Comet and Earth experienced their closest approach to one another when their separating distance equalled 0.0342 AU (3.2 million miles).
• 879 – Louis III and Carloman II become joint Kings of the Western Franks.
• 1407 – The lama Deshin Shekpa visits the Ming Dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma".
• 1500 – Ludovico Sforza is captured by the Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
• 1606 – The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.

Today in History : April 9

• 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christologicalposition.
• 537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite of shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
• 1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
• 1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
• 1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
• 1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.

Today in History : April 8

• 217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
• 632 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde)—possibly on orders of his half-brother Dagobert I—along with his infant son Chilperic. He claims Aquitaine and Gascony, becoming the most powerful Merovingian king in the West.
• 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
• 1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.
• 1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.
• 1149 – Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.

Today in History : April 7

• 451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
• 529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
• 611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
• 1141 – Empress Matilda, became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title 'Lady of the English'
• 1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague.
• 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
• 1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

Today in History : April 6

• 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
• 402 – Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
• 1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
• 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
• 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
• 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
• 1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, is made king John I of Portugal.
• 1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.