May 1305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. 1169 – Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland. 1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state. 1486 – Christopher Columbus presents his plans discovering a western route to the Indies to the Spanish Queen Isabella I of Castile.
April 15769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard. 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France. 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
January 22613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (Caesar) by his father Heraclius at Constantinople. 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing. 1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican. 1517 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Egypt at the Battle of Ridaniya. 1555 – The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now Myanmar.
April 12240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York. 1012 – Duke Oldřich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír, who flees to Poland. 1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
August 2519 – The Roman general Germanicus dies near Antioch. He was convinced that the mysterious illness that ended in his death was a result of poisoning by the Syrian governor Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, whom he had ordered to leave the province. 766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios. 1248 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
December 101317 – The "Nyköping Banquet": King Birger of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers Valdemar, Duke of Finland and Eric, Duke of Södermanland, who were subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle. 1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice. 1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
February 61579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop. 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II. 1694 – The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery. 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
November 2619 – A qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate is assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu. 1410 – The Peace of Bicêtre suspends hostilities in the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War. 1675 – Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow leads a colonial militia against the Narragansett during King Philip's War. 1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created. 1868 – Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally.
April 201303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. 1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. 1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. 1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City). 1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
July 6371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra shatters Sparta's reputation of military invincibility. 640 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under 'Amr ibn al-'As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). 1253 – Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania. 1348 – Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death. 1411 – Ming China's Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor.
