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 7th

Events -

421 - Emperor Theodosius II of the Byzantine Empire married Aelis Eudocia in Constantinople. Theodosius and Eudocia were both important figures in the rise of Christianity during the early days of the Byzantine Empire.  Theodosius is mostly known for the Codex Theodosianus, which codified all the laws from the time of Constantine to Theodosius' time.  As Theodosius was increasingly interested in Christianity, a large part of his Codex dealt with implementing orthodoxy into the Church - during a time when the Arian Controversy was major issue for Christians - and 65 of the decrees in the Codex were directed specifically at heretics.  Eudocia's work is little considered today, but in her day it was important in understanding the rise of Christianity in Byzantium.  She drew from both her Greek heritage and Christianity in her most famous work, a Homeric centos, where she used Homeric themes from Iliad and Odyssey to interpret biblical passages from Genesis and New Testament stories of Jesus, using the familiar Homer to bring the tenets of Christianity to a people who were still fairly new to the religion.  Of the couple's three children, their only son died in infancy, one daughter died in childhood, and their surviving daughter married two emperors of the Western Roman Empire - Valentinian III and Petronus Maximus.

1654 - The man who would become the longest-reigning monarch in the Western world (72 years and 110 days) was crowned this day, 11 years after he had come to the throne at the age of five.  As the head of the preeminent power in Europe, he led France through three major wars and two minors one.  Although there is no proof that he ever said it, "L'État, c'est moi" summed up his ardent belief in the divine rights of Kings.  With his wife, Maria Theresa of Spain, of whom he said the only unease she had ever caused him was when she died, he had six children, none of whom would succeed him to the throne.  Only one of their children, Louis, know as le Grand Dauphin, survived to adulthood.  The Dauphin's early death of smallpox when he was 49 left the next generation as heirs to the throne.  Of the three sons of the Dauphin, the youngest was the Duke of Berry, the middle had become the King of Spain (as a result of the treaty that ended the War of Spanish Succession), and the oldest, the Duke of Burgundy, le Petit Dauphin, was now heir to France's throne.  As Burgundy had two sons himself, the succession seemed to be secure.  But then the Duke of Burgundy died in 1712 after catching measles from his dying wife.  Both their sons caught the disease, and the older of the two, Louis, Duke of Brittany, died as well.  The two-year-old Duke of Anjou, great grandson of Louis XIV, was now the only surviving heir in the direct line.  Then le Grand Dauphin's youngest son, Berry, died in 1714 in a hunting accident, making the next heir after the young Duke of Anjou the middle son of le Grand Dauphin - King Philip V of France (whose sudden interest in a throne he had renounced his claims to may have started another war in Europe).  Fortunately, Anjou's nurse kept the doctor's away from him, refusing to let them do any bloodletting, which is widely credited with saving his life.  Like his great grandfather, Anjou would come to the throne at the age of five as Louis XV.

1940 and 1945 - King Haakon VI, along with his son Crown Prince Olaf, arrived in London in exile after the Germans starting bombing government sites because Haakon and his government refused to appoint a Nazi sympathize as Prime Minister after Norway was invaded by the Nazis.  Haakon reported the ultimatum to the Council of State, which agreed unanimously with the King not to make the appointment.  The King, Prince and Council worked on staying one step ahead of the Germans hunting them until they could be safely evacuated to London.  The Nazi's attempted to force Parlament to force the King to abdicate, but the King refused. Exactly five years after they went into exile, Haakon and the government returned to Oslo on June 7, 1945 to cheering crowds.

1977 - The high day of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee draws 500 million people to television to watch the festivities.  35 years later, the Queen has just finished celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, making 60 years on the throne.

Born on this date -

1840 - Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Belgium, only daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium and Marie-Louise of France (daughter of future King Louis-Philippe I of France).  When she was 17, she married her second cousin, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef.  Napoléon III, wishing to add Mexico to his empire, sought out Maximilian as a figurehead for the throne of Emperor of Mexico.  Maximilian agreed and Charlotte and her husband were crowned in 1864 as Emperor and Empress of Mexico.  After they were abandoned by the French, Charlotte returned to Europe seeking assistance to prop up their shaky throne.  After several refusals, she suffered an emotional collapse and never returned to Mexico.  In 1867, three years after their coronation, Maximilian was overthron and executed.  Living in seclusion after the death of her husband (one of her brother even had her declared insane), Charlotte died January 19, 1927 at the age of 86.

1907 - Sigvard Oscar Fredrik Bernadotte, son of King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife Margaret of Connaught.  He renounced his right to the throne in 1934 to marry a commoner.  He was one of Queen Victoria's longest-lived descendants when he died February 4, 2002 at the age of 94.

1969 - Joachim Holger Waldemar Christian of Denmark, younger son of Queen Margarthe II and Henrik, Prince Consort.  With his first wife, he is the father of two sons; with his second, he has a son and a daughter.

Died on this date -

1329 - King Robert I of Scotland, known as Robert the Bruce, aged 54.  Robert was born July 11, 1274 to Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick.  Robert and his father both initially sided with Edward I after John Balliol was picked as the new King of Scotland.  Robert's grandfather, the 5th Lord of Annandale, resigned his title over to his son possibly so he not to have to swear fealty to John.  The Bruces believed their claim to the throne was superior to the Balliol family.  After swearing fealty to Edward I of England, the younger Robert reneged on his oath and sided with the Scottish rebels in 1297.  Robert wavered between loyalty to Edward and loyalty to his country.  Robert finally choose Scotland when he had himself crowned King of Scotland in 1306.  The next few years were spent battling the English, until Scotland's independence was won militarily at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.  Ongoing conflicts with England and Ireland consumed much of his reign.  Robert died of what was believed at the time to be leprosy, although alternative explanations have been put forth.

1394 - Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England, aged 28 of the plague.  She was born to Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Elizabeth of Pomerania on May 11, 1366.  She married Richard II of England in 1382, and despite the length of their marriage, they were to have no children.  Genuinely loved by her husband, her death is often cited as one of the causes that led down the path to eventually losing his throne.

1840 - King Friedrich William III of Prussia, aged 69.  He was born August 3, 1770 as the son of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.  He became King of Prussia at his father's death in 1797.  With his wife Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, he had 10 children, among whom were his two successors as King of Prussia and an Empress Consort of Russia.

2002 - Lillian, Princess of Réthy, aged 85.  She was born Mary Lilian Baels and became known for being the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium.  They secretly married while Leopold was being held prisoner by the Germans in Laeken Castle.  The wedding was very controversial in Belgium - it was considered an insult to the late Queen Astrid and Lillian was considered little more than a social climber.  Before her death, Lillian had wanted to be buried at Argenteuil, but she was buried in the royal crypt beside her husband and his first wife.