Today:
1111: Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Paschal II in Rome.
1204: Constantinople falls to the forces of the Fourth Crusade, leading to the temporary end of the Byzantine Empire.
1598: King Henry IV of France signs the Edict of Nantes, granting significant religious rights to the Huguenots and ending the French Wars of Religion.
1742: The world premiere of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah takes place in Dublin, Ireland.
1829: The British Parliament passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act, allowing Catholics to sit in Parliament.
1861: During the American Civil War, Union forces surrender Fort Sumter to the Confederates after a 34-hour bombardment.
1919: The Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurs in Amritsar, India, where British troops fire on a large crowd of unarmed protesters, killing hundreds.
1943: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth.
1964: Sidney Poitier becomes the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field.
1970: An oxygen tank explodes on the Apollo 13 spacecraft while en route to the Moon, leading to the famous message, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”