June 14th

Events -

1276 - In exile in Fuzhou due to advancing Mongols, the Song Dynasty crowned Prince Zhào Shì (趙昰) as Emperor Duānzōng ( 端宗).  The next to the last Song emperor, he was the son of Emperor Duzong (宋度宗).  His older brother, Emperor Gong (恭宗), had been captured by the Mongols in 1276, so Zhào Shì fled with his brother Zhào Bǐng (趙昺) to Fuzhou and established a court there.  In 1278, with the Mongols closing in, Duānzōng fled again.  He almost drowned during his escape, becoming ill and dying two months later in May 1278.

1285 - Prince Chiêu Minh Trần Quang Khải, son of Vietnam's Emperor Trần Thái Tông, led an army against the invading Mongols and defeated them at a battle in Chương Dương.  The Mongols, who had recently taken control of China from the Song Dynasty, were seeking to advance south before being stopped by the Trần Dynasty.  Prince Trần Quang Khải, grand chancellor for his father, remained in that position until his death in 1294.

1287 - Prince Nayan, a great-great-grandson of Ghengis Khan's half brother Belgutei, revolted against the rule of Kublai Khan in Mongolia.  Kublai Khan's troops defeated the rebels in battle, after which Nayan was executed.

1381 - King Richard II of England met at Blackheath in London with leaders of the Peasants' Revolt (also known as Way Tyler's Rebellion).  The rebels presented the king with a list of demands, including the abolition of serfdom and the removal of some of the king's ministers. At the same time as this meeting, another group of rebels invaded the Tower of London and executed those hiding within, including the Archbishop of Canterbury (who was Chancellor of England) and the Lord Treasurer.  The following day, Richard promised to meet the rebels demands, but the nobles reasserted control, chasing down and executing most of the rebel leaders.

1821 - King Badi VII, the last king of the Sudanese kingdom of Sennar, surrendered his kingdom to the Ottoman Empire.  After surrendering to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman army, Badi was placed back in nominal control of his territory under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire.

Born on this date -

1529 - Ferdinand of Austria, second son of Emperor Ferdinand I and Anne of Bohemia and Hungary.  After the death of his father in 1564, he inherited Further Austria according to the terms of his father's will.  He was also an administrator in Bohemia from 1547-1567, under his father and his brother Maximilian II.  He had no surviving legitimate male issue - his first marriage was morganatic and his second produced only daughters - so his territory was united with the rest of the Habsburg domains on his death on January 24, 1595 at the age of 65.  His youngest daughter by his second wife became Holy Roman Empress as consort of her cousin Matthias.

1870 - Sophie Dorothea Ulrike Alice of Prussia, seventh child of Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (daughter of Queen Victoria).  Staying in London in 1887 during her grandmother's Golden Jubilee, Sophie became acquainted with Crown Prince Constantine of Greece.  During the mourning for her father, Emperor Friedrich, she agreed to marry Constantine.  The marriage was celebrated on October 27, 1889 in Athens.  Due to her status as Crown Princess, Sophie was required to convert to the Greek Orthodox faith, which caused an estrangement with her brother Kaiser Wilhelm II and his wife Empress Augusta.  When Augusta went into premature labor after an argument with Sophie about religion, Wilhelm proclaimed to his mother that it would be Sophie's fault if the baby died (he didn't).  Wilhelm even went so far as to ban Sophie from Germany, although there was nothing he could do if she visited the country while accompanied by her husband, who could not be arrested as the Crown Prince of a sovereign state.  On the assassination of her father-in-law in 1913, Sophie and her husband ascended the throne, but were forced into exile in 1917 because of Constantine's pro-Germany sympathies.  Their second son Alexander became King, but died three years later, at which time Constantine was invited back as king.  A year later, after a defeat at the hands of Turkey, Constantine was forced to abdicate again.  Sophie died in Germany ten years later January 13,1932 at the age of 61.  Of her six children with Constantine, three were Kings of Greece (Alexander I, George II and Paul I) and one was Queen Mother of Romania (Helen, mother of Michael I of Romania).  She was also the paternal grandmother of Queen Sofia of Spain.

1894 - Marie Adélaïde Thérèse Hilda Antonie Wilhelmine of Luxembourg, daughter of William IV of Luxembourg and Maria Anna of Portugal.  Since her father had no sons, she was named heiress presumptive in 1907 and became the reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg in 1912 on her father's death.  After the country was invaded by Germany during World War I, Marie Adélaïde became friendly with the Germans, making her look pro-German in the eyes of her people.  In 1919, the parliament began to demand her abdication, which she finally agreed to on January 14, 1919, being succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte.  After becoming a nun, she left religious life because of ill health and died of the flu at the age of 29 on January 24, 1924.

Died on this date -

1161 - Emperor Qinzong (欽宗) of the Song Dynasty of China, aged 61.  He was born on May 23, 1100, the oldest son of Emperor Huizong (徽宗) and Empress Xiangong (顯恭皇后), with the name Zhao Huan (趙烜).  As the Jurgen of the Jin Dynasty prepared to invade, Emperor Huizong abdicated in favor of his son in 1126.  Qinzong tried to make peace with the Jurgen, but his lands were invaded anyway and he was captured in January 1127.  He was deported to northern Manchuria, where he spent the rest of his life imprisoned.

June 12th

Born on this date - 

1107 - Zhao Gou (趙 構) of China, son of Emperor Huizong (徽宗) of China and his concubine, later dowager Empress Xianren ((顯仁皇后).  After his father and his older half-brother Emperor Qinzong (欽宗) were captured by the Jurchen, Gou became emperor of China as Emperor Gaozong (高宗) and established the Southern Song empire.  After years of fighting the Jurchen, Gaozong turned pacifist, a major reason being that he did not want his brother released and restored to the throne.  Gaozong abdicated in 1162 after a reign of just over 35 years, but lived in retirement for 25 more years until his death on November 9, 1187.  He was a notable poet of his time, his work influencing other Chinese poets.  As his only son predeceased him, his successor was his sixth cousin, Emperor Ziaozong (孝宗), a descendant of Emperor Taizu (太祖), the founder of the Song dynasty.

1519 - Cosimo de' Medici, son of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and Maria Salviati.  Cosimo became Grand Duke of Tuscany when he was 17, after his distant cousin Alessandro de' Medici was assassinated.  Since Cosimo was relatively unknown in Florence at the time of his ascension, the city's nobles favored him as heir because they thought they could control him.  Once he was in power, Cosimo rejected the agreement he had signed which gave much of his power to a council of Forty-Eight.  Later that year, Cosimo was recognized as grand duke by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.  Charles would remove imperial garrisons from Tuscany, while Cosimo would provide help against France in the Italian Wars.  Cosimo is most known today for his creation of the Uffizi, which is now a museum with one of the most important art collections in the world.  Cosimo died in 1574 at the age of 54 and was succeeded by his oldest son Francesco I de' Medici, who had taken over day-to-day administration of Tuscany a decade earlier.  By his first wife, Eleanora di Toledo, he had 11 children, several of whom were infamous in Italian history.  His daughter Isabella was famously murdered by her husband for adultery in 1576.  Another daughter, Lucrezia was the wife of Alfonso II d'Este and was the subject of Robert Browning's poem, "My Last Duchess".  Her mysterious death when she was 17 was suggested to be due to poisoning because of her loose morals.  Cosimo's youngest son, Pietro, murdered his wife and cousin, Eleanora di Garzia di Toledo, due to adultery five days before his sister Isabella died for the same reason.  It is believed the two murders were coordinated between Pietro and Isabella's husband with the tacit approval of Francesco I de' Medici.

Died on this date - 

918 - Æthelflæd of Wessex, aged about 48-49.  She was born around 869-870, the oldest child of King Alfred and Ealhswith.  Before 890, she was married to Æthelred of Mercia, by whom she had a daughter Ælfwynn.  After her husband's death in battle in 911, she became Lady of the Mercians, ruling Mercia as her husband's successor.  Unusually for women at the time, she was considered to be a master tactician and military leader.  After her death, she was succeeded by her daughter Ælfwynn.  Ælfwynn's rule did not last long, as she was forced to submit to her uncle Edward the Elder, merging Wessex and Mercia into a single kingdom.

1675 - Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy, aged 40.  He was born on June 20, 1634, the son of Duke Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy and Christine of France.  Carlo became duke at the age of 4 on his older brother's death in 1638.  He was known for his persecution of the Vaudois, a heretical Christian sect, leading to a massacre of Vaudois in 1655.  He married twice, and had by his second wife, his successor Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, who was the first King of Sicily, although he was forced to give up the title and become King of Sardinia.  The Kings of Italy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are descended from Carlo and Vittorio.

1758 - August Wilhelm of Prussia, aged 35.  He was the son of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover and was born on August 9, 1722.  His older brother was Frederick the Great.  By his wife Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, August was the father of Friedrich II of Prussia, who inherited the throne from the childless Frederick the Great.  His daughter Wilhelmina was the Princess Consort of Orange and the mother of the first King of the Netherlands.

1818 - Emperor Egwale Seyon of Ethiopia, unknown age.  He was the son of Emperor Hezqeyas.  His father lost the throne in 1794 and a number of appointees became emperor before until several nobles brought Egwale Seyon back as emperor.  He married Walatta Iyasus and had five children.  His reign was marked by civil war among the nobles.  After his death, he was succeeded as emperor by his brother Iyoas, instead of his sons, supposedly due to his sons' bad character.

June 6th

Events -

1513 - The Battle of Novara, part of the War of the League of Cambrai, was fought between French forces and the Swiss Confederation on behalf of the Duchy of Milan.  The Swiss won the battle for Milan, which lead to the restoration of Milan's Duke, Massimiliano Sforza.  Massimiliano went into exile two years later after the French were victorious at the Battle of Marignano.

1523 - Gustav Vasa was crowned Gustav I of Sweden, and is considered to be the founder of the modern country of Sweden, since his coronation ended the Danish-led Kalmar Union.  The date of Gustav's coronation is still celebrated today as the National Day of Sweden (Sveriges nationaldag).

1644 - The Shunzhi Emperor's (順治帝) Manchu forces conquered Beijing during the dying years of the Ming Dynasty.  The Shunzhi Emperor (personal name Fulin) was the third emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the collapse of the Ming Dynasty made him the first emperor to rule all China.  The emperor entered the city on October 19th, and officially became Emperor of China on October 30th.  The Qing Dynasty would rule China until 1912.

1654 - Karl X Gustav, son of Catherine of Sweden and grandson of King Karl IX, succeeded his cousin Queen Christina as ruler of Sweden after Christina abdicated to become a Roman Catholic.  Karl X reigned for six years until his early death of pneumonia in November 1660 when he was 37.

1674 - Shivaji Bhosale was crowned sovereign of the newly-created Maratha Empire.  The empire at its greatest extent covered most of the Indian subcontinent.  The empire was founded after a resistance movement succeeded in freeing the Maratha people from the rule of the Mughal Empire and Sultanate of Bijapur.  The Maratha Empire re-established Hindu rule over India and lasted until the British gained control of India in 1818.

1808 - Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, brother of Emperor Napoléon, was created King of Spain and the Indies by his brother.  Joseph was never popular in Spain and eventually abdicated in 1813 after the defeat of the French in the Battle of Vitoria by the British.

1809 - Sweden instituted a new constitution and elected Karl XII as King of Sweden to succeed Karl's nephew Gustav IV Adolf, who had abdicated in March.

1857 - Sophia of Nassau-Weilburg married Prince Oskar of Sweden, son of then-King Oskar I and the future Oskar II.

Born on this date -

1714 - Infante José of Portugal, later King José I, third child of King João V of Portugal and Maria Anna of Austria.  José's older brother died at the age of two, making José heir apparent to the throne.  He became King after the death of his father in 1750, reigning for 35 years.  With his wife Mariana Victoria of Spain, he was the father of the future Maria I of Portugal, the first undisputed Queen Regnant in the country's history.  The most notable event of José's reign was the great Lisbon earthquake in 1755, which lead to the King developing a severe case of claustrophobia, despite the fact that he and his family had been outside the city attending All Saints' Day Mass when the earthquake struck and destroyed the royal palace.  The King's condition led to the royal court being moved into tents and pavilions outside the city of Lisbon.  The King died at the age of 62 on February 24, 1777.

1772 - Maria Teresa of Naples, daughter of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Caroline of Austria (daughter of Empress Maria Teresa of Austria).  Maria Teresa married her double first cousin Archduke Franz of Austria, who later became the last Holy Roman Emperor as Franz II and Emperor of Austria as Franz I.  Maria Teresa died April 13, 1807 at the age of 34, a week after giving birth to her 13th child.  Among her children were Marie Louise (2nd wife of Napoléon), Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, Maria Leopoldina (Empress consort of Brazil) and Marie Caroline (Crown Princess of Saxony).

1807 - Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông of Vietnam, son of Emperor Minh Mang and Hồ Thị Hoa.  He became the third emperor of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty after the death of his father in 1841, taking the name Thiệu Trị.  He was known for his desire to rid Vietnam of all Christian missionaries, which strained relations between Vietnam and France.  Although missionaries were persecuted during his reign, his order for all Christians in the country to be executed was ignored.  He died November 4, 1847 at the age of 40 and was succeeded by his son Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, who reigned as Emperor Tu Duc.

1872 - Princess Alix Viktoria Helena Luise Beatrice of Hesse, sixth child of the future Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, third child of Queen Victoria.  Alix lost her mother at age six and was raised by her father with much input from her grandmother the Queen.  In 1884, at the wedding of her older sister Elisabeth to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, brother of Tsar Alexander III, Alix fell in love with Alexander III's oldest son, Tsesarevich Nicholas.  Nicholas returned her feelings and pursued her in the early 1890s, with encouragement from his Uncle Sergei and Aunt Ella and despite the disapproval of his parents, who wanted a grander bride for their son.  Although Alix refused his suit due to the requirement that she change her religion to Russian Orthodoxy to marry the heir to the throne, Nicholas persisted.  Finally, at the wedding of Alix's brother to Alix and Nicholas' mutual cousin Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Alix was convinced to overcome her objections to conversion and accepted Nicholas' proposal.  The wedding, originally planned for May 1895, was moved forward to November 1894 after the early death of Nicholas' father, giving Alix little time to acclimate to Russia and learn the language before becoming Empress.  Shortly after Alexander III's death, Alix was received into the Orthodox church and took the name Alexandra Feodorovna (Александра Фёдоровна).  It took almost ten years, and the births of four daughters, before Alix finally gave birth to an heir to the throne, Alexei - changes to the law during the reign of Pavel I restricted the throne to male Romanovs unless all male dynasts had died out.  Sadly, Alix passed to Alexei the "royal disease" hemophilia, which she had inherited from her mother Alice, who had inherited it from Queen Victoria.  The secrecy surrounding Alexei's condition, plus Alix's reliance on alleged holy man Rasputin to alleviate Alexei's condition helped contribute to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty.  Revolution broke out in 1917 and Nicholas was forced to abdicate on March 15th.  The family was held in captivity first at their home in Tsarskoe Selo, then in Tobolsk, and finally at Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, the latter two cities in Siberia.  The family's position became tenuous after the Bolsheviks seized power from the provisional government in November 1917, and the execution of the entire family was ordered by the Ural Soviet (although the ultimately decision reportedly rested with Vladimir Lenin).  In the early morning hours of July 17, 1918, Alix (aged 46), Nicholas, their five children (ranging in age from 13 to 22), their doctor and three servants were shot, bayoneted and bludgeoned to death.  Many other Romanovs, including Alix's sister Ella and Nicholas' brother Mikhail, were executed between June 1918 and January 1919.  The location of the family's remains remained unknown until 1991, when a grave was excavated near Ekaterinburg containing the bodies of nine of the eleven people massacred in Ipatiev House - the bodies of Alexei and one of his sisters (either Maria or Anastasia) were missing.  The bodies which had been found were buried in St. Petersburg on the 90th anniversary of the murders.  The two missing bodies were finally recovered in 2007 and positively identified the following year, although they have yet to be buried.

1934 - Prince Albert Félix Humbert Théodore Christian Eugène Marie of the Belgians, second son of King Leopold III of the Belgians and Astrid of Sweden.  He succeeded as King Albert II after the death of his childless older brother King Baudouin in 1993.  With his wife Paola Ruffo di Calabria, he is the father of three children, including the heir to the throne Prince Philippe.  Second in line to the throne is Philippe's oldest child Élisabeth, who due to a change in the succession laws ten years before her birth is eventually expected to become Belgium's first Queen Regnant.

1938 - Luís Gastão Maria José Pio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orléans e Bragança e Wittelsbach, son of Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza and Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria.  Luis is a pretended to the defunct throne of Brazil as a great grandson of Emperor Pedro II and is known to legitimists as Luiz I of Brazil.  His "heir apparent" is his younger brother Bertrand, who became heir when three other brothers renounced their claim to the throne to marry commoners.

Died on this date - 

1393 - Emperor Go-En'yū (後円融天皇), Northern Pretender to the Japanese throne, aged 34.  He was born on January 11, 1359 with the name of Ohito (緒仁), the son of Emperor Go-Kōgon (後光厳天皇, also a Northern Pretender) and Fujiwara no Nakako (藤原仲子).  He nominally ruled Japan during the time known as the Period of Northern and Southern Courts, a 56-year period in which separate ruling courts were set up by rival emperors.  He became the Northern Pretender on the abdication of his father in 1371.  He abdicated in favor of his son Motohito (幹仁親王), who ruled as Emperor Go-Komatsu (後小松天皇) and later became the sole emperor of Japan when the Southern Court emperor abdicated in his favor.  The current Imperial family of Japan is descended from the Northern Pretenders, even though a law passed in 1911 proclaimed the descendants of the Southern Court emperors as the legitimate Emperors of Japan.

2012 - Prince Tomohito of Mikasa (寛仁親王), aged 66, died of cancer which he had battled on and off for over 20 years. Tomohito was born on January 5, 1946 to Prince Takahito (三笠宮崇仁親王) and Takagi Yuriko (崇仁親王妃百合子).  Takahito is the younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇, Hirohito), and the only surviving uncle of the current emperor, making Tomohito a first cousin of Emperor Akihito (明仁).  Tomohito was the heir apparent to the title Prince Mikasa.  He earned the nickname "bearded prince" for being the first member of the Imperial house to wear a full beard since Emperor Meiji 100 years ago.  With his wife Asō Nobuko (麻生信子), whom he had married in 1980, he had two daughters Akiko (彬子女王) and  Yōko (瑶子女王).

June 4th

Events - 

1039 - Heinrich III of Germany became Holy Roman Emperor following the death of his father, Conrad II.  Heinrich would reign as Emperor until his own death on October 5, 1056 at the age of 38.  By his second wife, Agnes of Aquitaine, he was the father of his successor Heinrich IV.

1411 - King Charles VI of France granted an exclusive license to the city of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon for the aging of Roquefort cheese.  To this day, only cheese which has been aged in the caves of this city may be labeled Roquefort.

1802 - King Carlo Emanuele II of Sardinia abdicated his throne in favor of his brother Vittorio Emanuele.  His wife, Marie Clotilde of France, had died a few months previously, and Carlo Emanuele was so grieved by her death that he decided to give up the throne.  In addition to being the King of Sardinia, Carlo was also considered the Jacobite Pretender to the throne of England after 1807 as a great-great-great-great grandson of Charles I of England.

2001 - Gyanendra of Nepal ascended to the throne of Nepal after the death of his nephew, King Dipendra.  Dipendra had perpetrated the Nepal royal massacre three days earlier, immediately ascending to the throne on the death of his father in the massacre.  However, Dipendra had been in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds since the massacre, with his uncle as regent.  Gyanendra was the last King of Nepal, as the constitution was amended in May 2008 to exclude a monarchy.

Born on this date -

1394 - Philippa of England, daughter of the future Henry IV of England and Mary de Bohun.  Philippa married King Eric VII of Denmark (also Eirik III of Norway and Ericus of Sweden), becoming Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.  Philippa's wedding was the first recorded instance of a bride wearing a white wedding dress.  She died on January 7, 1430, at the age of 35, having given the King no children (a stillborn son was born in 1429).

1604 - Claudia de' Medici, daughter of Ferdinando I de' Medici and Christina of Lorraine.  By her second husband, Archduke Leopold V of Austria, she became the mother of a Holy Roman Empress, Maria Leopoldine of Austria (wife of Emperor Ferdinand III).  She died on Christmas 1648 at the age of 44.

1738 - George William Frederick of Great Britain, later King George III.  He was the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, and was grandson of the reigning King George II.  His father's death in 1751, nine years before the death of George II, made George the heir to the throne, and he was created Prince of Wales three weeks later by his grandfather.  George ascended to the throne in October 1760, reigning until his death in January 1820 - the third-longest reign in British history after Queen Victoria (63 years) and Queen Elizabeth II (60 years).  George III was also the third-longest lived monarch after Elizabeth II (86 years) and Victoria (81 years).  Aside from the length of his reign and longevity, George III is perhaps best known for being King during the American Revolution.  Due to ill-health and insanity, believed to be caused by porphyria, George III was permanently confined to Windsor Castle after 1811, with his son the Prince of Wales serving as regent for the remainder of his reign.  George died January 29, 1820 at the age of 81, just six days after the death of his fourth son Edward, Duke of Kent (father of Queen Victoria).  By his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, he was the father of two future Kings of Great Britain, George IV and William IV.

Died on this date -

1039 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, at the age of approximately 49.  He was born around 990, the son of Heinrich of Spayer (great-grandson of Emperor Otto I) and Adelaide of Alsace.  He was elected King of Germany in 1024 after the Saxon line of Kings died out and became Holy Roman Emperor three years later.  He married Gisela of Swabia and was the father of his successor, Heinrich III.

1135 - Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty of China, at the age of 52.  He was the son of Emperor Shenzong and his wife Yinzhe and was born on November 2, 1082.  He succeeded his older half-brother, Zhezong, as Emperor in 1100, reigning until his abdication in favor of his oldest son Qinzong on January 18, 1126.   Another of his 32 sons would become Emperor Gaozong in 1127.  He also had 34 daughters.

1206 - Adèle of Champagne, third wife of King Louis VII of France, approximately aged 65-66.  She was born around 1140, the daughter of Count Theobald II of Champagne and Matilda of Carinthia.  She had married Louis just five weeks after the death of his second wife in childbirth and became mother of Louis' only son, Philippe II.

1257 - Przemysł I, Duke of Greater Poland, aged 36.  He was born on either 5 June 1220 or 4 June 1221 (if the latter, he would have died on his 36th birthday; if the former, the day before his 37th), the son of Duke Władysław Odonic and his wife Hedwig.  Przemysł became Duke on his father's death in 1239, formally ruling from 1241-1247 with his brother Bolesław, and afterwards alone.  By his wife, Elizabeth of Wrocław, he was the father of Przemysł II, who became the third King of Poland in 1295.

1394 - Mary de Bohun, first wife of the future King Henry IV of England, aged around 26.  She was born approximately 1368 as the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, and Joan FitzAlan.  She was around 12 when she married Henry, and was the mother of the future Henry V of England.  She died giving birth to her daughter Philippa, the future Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

1941 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, aged 82.  He was born on January 27, 1859 to Prince Friedrich (later Kaiser Friedrich III) and Victoria, Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.  He was born third in line to the throne of Prussia, after his father and grandfather.  Wilhelm came to the throne in June 1888, after his father's brief reign of 99 days, and ruled until his forced abdication at the end of World War I on November 9, 1918.  He lived the rest of his life in exile in the Netherlands.  He flirted with Nazism initially in the hopes of the monarchy being restored, but several atrocities soured him on them to the point that he virtually disowned his fourth son for being an ardent Nazi.  Despite Adolf Hitler's desire to bring Wilhelm's body back to Berlin for a state funeral, in order to connect the Third Reich with the Kaiserreich in the minds of the public, Wilhelm was buried at his home in exile in the Netherlands, as he had expressed a desire not to return to Germany until the monarchy was restored.  However, his wishes not to have any Nazi paraphernalia displayed at his funeral was ignored.

2001 - King Dipendra of Nepal, aged 29.  He was the son of King Birendra and and his wife Aiswarya, and was born on June 27, 1971.  He reigned as king for just three days, after murdering most of his immediate family at a dinner party on June 1, 2001, reportedly over a marriage dispute.  He shot himself in the head after the massacre and lingered in a coma during the three days he was king before dying of his injuries.

June 1st

Events -

987 - Hugh Capet, founder of the House of Capet which would rule France from 987 to 1328, was elected King of France.  Hugh would rule France until his death on October 24, 996 and was succeeded by his son, Robert II.  Later French Kings from the House of Valois and House of Bourbon, although all male-line (agnatic) descendants of Hugh Capet due to Salic Law, were descended from younger sons in the line.  The current rulers of Spain (King Juan Carlos I) and Luxembourg (Grand Duke Henri) are members of the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the House of Capet.

1204 - King Philippe II Augustus of France conquered Rouen.  The city was the capital of the Duchy of Normandy, which was under the control of King John of England.  On June 24th, Philippe entered the city and annexed Normandy to the French crown.  The city would come under English control again in 1419, when the city surrendered to King Henry V of England during the Hundred Years' War.  Thirty years later, the city would be conquered again by French king Charles VII, bring it under permanent French control.

1215 - The Battle of Zhongdu ended with the capture of the city of Zhongdu (present-day Beijing) by Genghis Khan.  Zhongdu was the capital of the Jin Dynasty, which ruled parts of northern China from 1115-1234.  Emperor Jin Xuanzong (金宣宗) was forced to move his capital to Kaifeng.

1252 - Alfonso X was elected King of Castile and Léon one day after the death of his father Ferdinand III.  He would rule until his death on April 4, 1284 and was succeeded by his son, Sancho IV.

1533 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned Queen of England.  She would remain queen until her marriage to Henry was annulled on May 17, 1536, two days before her execution.  She was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

1670 - England, under King Charles II, and France, under King Louis XIV, signed the Treaty of Dover.  The treaty had two aims - France was to help bring England back to the Roman Catholic Church and England was to assist France in its conquest of the Dutch Republic.  The treaty, which remained secret until 1830, resulted in the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

1815 - Napoléon I swore to uphold the Charter of 1815, which was adopted by a direct vote of the French people as France's new constitution.  After his return from exile on Elba, Napoléon requested that a new constitution be written.  Due to his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo less than three weeks later, the constitution was never fully implemented.

1918 - The Battle of Belleau Wood began near the Marne River in France.  The German troops were lead by Crown Prince Wilhelm.  One June 26, 1918, the battle ended when the Allied troops under American generals Pershing and Harbord cleared Belleau Wood of enemy troops.  Pershing later said "the Battle of Belleau Wood was for the U.S. the biggest battle since Appomattox and the most considerable engagement American troops had ever had with a foreign enemy."

Born on this date -

1076 - Mistislav I, Grand Prince of Kiev, son of Vladimir II of Kiev and Gytha of Wessex.  He ruled Kiev from his father's death in 1125 until his own death on April 14, 1132 at the age of 55.

1134 - Geoffrey FitzEmpress, Count of Nantes, son of Geoffrey V of Anjou and Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England.  He became Count of Nantes in 1156 at the suggestion of his brother King Henry II of England, after the previous count was deposed.  He died July 27, 1158 at the age of 24. 

1300 - Thomas of Brother, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of King Edward I of England and Margaret of France.  He became the 1st Earl of Norfolk in 1312.  He died August 4, 1338 at the age of 38.

1754 - Archduke Ferdinand Karl Anton Joseph Johann Stanislaus of Austria-Este, son of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Austrian Empress Maria Theresa.  He was an older brother of French queen Marie Antoinette.  He was the Duke of Breisgau from 1803 until he ceded the territory to the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1805.  He died on December 24, 1806 at the age of 52.

1815 - Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria, later King Otto of Greece, son of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.  He was elected the first King of the modern country of Greece in 1832 when he was 17.  He was deposed in 1862 after 30 years of rule.  He died in exile in Bavaria on July 26, 1867, aged 52.

Died on this date - 

 

195 BC - Emperor Gao (高帝), born Liu Bang, first emperor of the Han Dynasty of China.  He was born in either 256 BC or 247 BC, making him either 60-61 or 51-52 at the time of his death.  He became Emperor of China in 202 BC, and was succeeded by his second son Liu Ying on his death.

193 - Marcus Didius Severus Julianus, 20th Emperor of the Roman Empire and the second emperor in the Year of the Five Emperors.  He was born either on January 30, 133 (according to historian Cassius Dio) or February 2, 137 (per Historia Augusta).  He purchased the throne from the Praetorian Guard after the assassination of his predecessor Pertinax on March 28, 193 and was assassinated after a reign of only 3 months.

1432 - Dan II of Wallachia, Voivode of Wallachia, son of Dan I of Wallachia and Maria of Serbia.  He was Prince of Wallachia five times in the early 15th century - 1420–1421, 1421–1423, 1423–1424, 1426–1427, and 1427–1431.  He was killed in battle by the Ottomans.  His son, Basarab II, would be buried alive by Vlad III of Wallachia, known as Vlad the Impaler (the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula).

1434 -  Władysław II Jagiełło, Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1434), King consort of Poland (1386–1399) and King regnant of Poland (1399–1434).  He was born around 1362 and was the son of Algirdis of Lithuania and Uliana Alexandrovna of Tver.  He became the King consort of Poland with his marriage to Jadwiga, Queen regnant of Poland.  He became king after Jadwiga's death, strengthening his claim to the throne with his marriage to Anna of Celje, granddaughter of Casimir III of Poland.  His territory was divided between his two sons on his death - Władysław III became King of Poland and Casimir succeeded as Grand Duke of Lithuania.

1879 - Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, Prince Imperial of France.  He was born on March 16, 1856 as the only son of Emperor Napoléon III of France and Eugénie de Montijo.  He was killed at the age of 23 in battle during the Anglo-Zulu War.

1983 - Charles Théodore Henri Antoine Meinrad of Belgium, Prince Regent from 1944-1950 during the reign of his older brother Leopold III.  He was born on October 10, 1903, the son of King Albert I of Belgium and Elisabeth in Bavaria.  He retired from public life after 1950 and died at the age of 79.

2001 - Nine members of the Nepalese royal family were murdered by Crown Prince Dipendra at a dinner party.  The dead included King Birendra (born December 28, 1945), Queen Aishwarya (born November 7, 1949), Prince Nirajan (born November 6, 1977, son of Birendra and Aishwarya), Princess Shruti (born October 15, 1976, daughter of Birendra and Aishwarya), Prince Dhirendra (brother of Birendra), Princess Jayanti (cousin of Birendra), Princesses Shanti and Sharada (sisters of Birendra) and Kumar Khadga (husband of Princess Sharada).  Five other members of the royal family were wounded.  Dipendra became King on the death of his father, despite having perpetrated the massacre, and died of self-inflicted wounds three days later.

2009 - Pedro Luís of Orléans-Braganza, third in line to the former Brazilian throne after his uncle and father.  He was born on January 12, 1983 and was the son of Prince Antônio of Orléans-Braganza and Christine of Ligne.  He was killed at the age of 26 when Air France 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France.