Events 5.20 (before 1900)
325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery. 685 – The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated. 794 – While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded. 921 – Christopher Lekapenos is crowned Byzantine co-emperor by his father, emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, on the feast of Whitsun. 942 – A Magyar raiding army defeats forces of the Muslim frontier state of Fraxinetum. 1202 – A major earthquake hits Syria, widely felt between Sicily and Iraq. 1217 – The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. 1293 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares. 1426 – King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava. 1449 – The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal. 1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west. 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India. 1520 – Hernan Cortés defeats Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination. 1521 – Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna. 1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas. 1601–1900 1609 – Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. 1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War. 1645 – Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of the residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing. 1714 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar. 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses. 1775 – The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina. 1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution. 1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory. 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. 1861 – American Civil War: The State of North Carolina secedes from the Union. 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. 1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units. 1882 – The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed. 1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people. 1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
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