Monday, May 26, 2025
Today: 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile took Toledo, Spain, from the Moors, marking a key victory in the Reconquista. 1521 – The Diet of Worms concluded with Emperor Charles V issuing the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw and banning his writings. 1787 – The Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia to draft […]
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Today: 240 BC – The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet was observed by Chinese astronomers. 1085 – Alfonso VI of León and Castile captured Toledo, Spain, from the Moors, marking a major event in the Reconquista. 1521 – The Diet of Worms ended, with Emperor Charles V issuing the Edict of Worms, declaring […]
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Today: 1626 – Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island from local Native Americans for goods valued at 60 guilders, traditionally said to be worth $24. 1689 – The English Parliament passed the Act of Toleration, granting freedom of worship to Protestant dissenters. 1844 – Samuel Morse sent the first official telegraph message, “What hath God wrought,” […]
Friday, May 23, 2025
Today: 1430 – Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve the siege of Compiègne during the Hundred Years’ War. 1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Anne Boleyn was declared valid by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. 1568 – The Netherlands declared independence from Spain with […]
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Today: 1455 – The First Battle of St Albans was fought, marking the beginning of the Wars of the Roses in England. 1807 – Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was tried for treason in Richmond, Virginia. 1819 – The SS Savannah departed from Savannah, Georgia on the first successful transatlantic voyage by a steamship. […]
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Today: 1881 – The American Red Cross was established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C. 1904 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris. 1927 – Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, landing in Paris. 1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across […]
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Today: 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut, India, becoming the first European to reach India by sea. 1609 – Shakespeare’s Sonnets were first published in London by Thomas Thorpe. 1861 – North Carolina became the last state to secede from the Union during the American Civil War. 1873 – Levi Strauss […]
Monday, May 19, 2025
Today: 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, was beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest. 1568 – Queen Elizabeth I of England arrested Mary, Queen of Scots. 1649 – England declared itself a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell after the execution of King Charles I. 1743 – Jean-Pierre Christin published the […]
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Today: 1291 – The Fall of Acre marked the end of Crusader rule in the Holy Land when Muslim forces captured the city, ending the Kingdom of Jerusalem. 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd was arrested in England and tortured after being accused of heresy. 1652 – Rhode Island enacted the first law in North America […]
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Today: 1536 – George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn, and four others were executed for treason in England, accused of adultery with the queen. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange was founded when 24 brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement on Wall Street. 1814 – Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden under the Treaty of Kiel, […]