On This Day in History for August 17
Events in History
- 682 Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1180 Yoritomo Minamoto leads uprising against Kiyomori Taira who installed his grandson, Emperor Antoku, to the throne
- 1544 Imperial/English armies occupy Saint-Dizier France
- 1563 King Charles IX of France declared an adult at 13
- 1577 Peace of Bergerac: Political rights for Huguenots
- 1579 Francois of Anjou visits English Queen Elizabeth I
- 1585 Antwerp surrenders after 8 months siege by Duke of Parma
- 1590 Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
- More Events in History
Weddings in History
- 1498 Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander IV, 1st man to resign the cardinalate marries Charlotte d'Albret of Navarre
- 1996 Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (72) weds Grace Marufu (31) at Kutama College in Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe
More Weddings & Divorces in History
August in History
First Faltering Steps of Jane Eyre
With hope, pride – and some subterfuge – Charlotte Brontë sent her hefty manuscript of Jane Eyre to publishers in London on this day, then crossed her fingers.
August 15, 1847A Kiss For Adolf Hitler
A woman spectator leaned over and kissed Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympic Games on this day. Hitler pretended to be amused, but his guards were to suffer.
August 15, 1936Why The King Became a Party Pooper
A man who tried to impress his king on this day with one of the most lavish and extravagant parties of all time, ended up spending the rest of his life in jail.
August 17, 1661Death of the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and in 2014 (right)
August 19, 2014