Saturday, February 8, 2025
Today: 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle after being implicated in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England. 1693 – The College of William & Mary was granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II, making it the second-oldest institution of higher education in the […]
Friday, February 7, 2025
Today: 1497 – The bonfire of the vanities took place in Florence, Italy, where followers of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola burned objects considered sinful, including books and art. 1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, restricting the ability of individuals to sue states in federal court. 1812 – The […]
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Today: 1685 – King Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland dies, and his brother James II becomes king. 1778 – France recognizes the United States and signs the Treaty of Alliance and Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the American revolutionaries. 1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1815 […]
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Today: 1783 – A powerful earthquake strikes Calabria, southern Italy, killing around 50,000 people. 1852 – The Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world, opens to the public. 1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger,” is discovered in Victoria, […]
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Today: 1303 – The English army, led by King Edward I, defeats the Scots at the Battle of Roslin during the First War of Scottish Independence. 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar, which later replaces the Julian calendar in many countries. 1803 – The Supreme Court of the United States establishes the […]
Monday, February 3, 2025
Today: 1377 – More than 2,000 people in Cesena, Italy, are slaughtered by Papal troops under Cardinal Robert of Geneva (later Antipope Clement VII) in what is known as the Cesena Bloodbath. 1690 – The first paper money in the Americas is issued by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to pay soldiers fighting in a military […]
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Today: 506 – The Breviary of Alaric, a collection of Roman laws compiled under the Visigothic King Alaric II, is promulgated. 962 – Pope John XII crowns Otto I as Holy Roman Emperor, marking the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. 1709 – Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued from an uninhabited island in the […]
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Today: 1793 – France declares war on Great Britain and the Netherlands, marking the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars. 1861 – Texas secedes from the United States and joins the Confederacy during the American Civil War. 1884 – The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary (A–Ant) is published. 1893 – Thomas Edison completes […]
Friday, January 31, 2025
Today: 1606 – Guy Fawkes is executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English Parliament. 1747 – The first venereal disease clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. 1865 – The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. 1917 – Germany announces unrestricted submarine warfare, a […]
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Today: 1649 – King Charles I of England was executed for treason, marking the end of the English Civil War and the temporary abolition of the monarchy. 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, the former Lord Protector of England, was posthumously executed, with his body exhumed and hanged in a symbolic act of retribution by the restored […]