The year 942 CE, in Japan. Known to the locals as the fifth year of the tengyo period.
On March sixth, a dead baby, wrapped in cloth was thrown inside the residence of vice-minister Minamoto.
On April first, all government officials are given a day off, due to a solar eclipse.
On April 30th, a group a brigands enters Heian (now Kyoto) which causes much agitation amongst the populace.
On May first, troups are dispatched at night to deal with said brigands.
By many accounts, 33 AD is when they crucified notorious cult leader Jesus of Nazareth. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the cult from spreading.
1261 C.E.: The Greeks seized Constantinople. Slow news year, unless you were a Turk.
Well, it depends on your definition of upstate. I call upstate everything north of say, Poughkeepsie, since most people see NY and automatically think City. Anyway, I live in Western New York on breaks and go to college in the Finger Lakes region.
6938: the last of George H.W. Bush’s descendants declare war on each other.
Great thread idea, SentientMeat.
In 754 the Emperor Constantine V called the Iconoclast Council of Constantinople. Possibly influenced by exposure to Islam, the Iconoclasts called for the destruction of representations of Christ in human form.
The document refers specifically to “the evil art of painters.”
The events of the Iconoclast heresy before and after the 754 Council serve as background material for Guy Gavriel Kay’s wonderful two volume novel, The Sarantine Mosaic (Sailing to Sarantium, and Lord of Emperors).
In other news: A.D. 754. This year died Cuthred, king of the West-Saxons; and Sebright, his relative, succeeded to the kingdom, which he held one year; Cyneard succeeded Humferth in the see of Winchester; and Canterbury was this year on fire.
Actually, I guess the background for The Sarantine Mosaic even extends as far back as the reign of Justinian I (527-65 AD) and slightly before. Iconoclasm does play a large part in driving the plot of the novel.
AD 285
The Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (A.D. 284-305) put an end to the disastrous phase of Roman history known as the “Military Anarchy” or the “Imperial Crisis” (235-284). He established an obvious military despotism and was responsible for laying the groundwork for the second phase of the Roman Empire, which is known variously as the “Dominate,” the “Tetrarchy,” the “Later Roman Empire,” or the “Byzantine Empire.” His reforms ensured the continuity of the Roman Empire in the east for more than a thousand years.
43:
The civil war in the Roman republic is at its peak. Consul Aulus Hirtius dies in the battle of Mutina, the other consul Viblius Pansa shortly afterwards.
Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus), Marcus Antonius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus form the 2nd triumvirate.
Province of Britannia established.
The poet Publius Ovidius Naso (Metamorphoses, Ars amatoria…) is born.
43 AD: Britannia established
the rest: 43 BC
Man I really love google, I could spend all day doing this! (but I have to get some work done)