Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, Pius IX’s election by the Papal conclave of 1846 came at a time of significant political unrest across Europe.
3rd April 1860: The first Pony Express service went into operation
3rd April 2019
On the 30th May 1431, Joan of Arc was executed by being burned at the stake.
The Covenant of Perfectibility, the forerunner of the original Bavarian Illuminati, was founded by Adam Weishaupt in Ingolstadt.
On the morning of 14th April 1561, the people of Nuremberg in Germany witnessed a “dreadful apparition” in the sky.
On the 22nd March 1621, Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius – also known as Hugo de Groot – escaped imprisonment in Loevestein Castle concealed inside a book chest.
The first stone of Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia basilica was laid.
On the 18th March 1314 Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was executed on the orders of King Philip IV.
On the 1st March 1692, the Salem witch trials began when Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba were brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts.
On the 23rd February 1455, tradition dictates that Johannes Gutenberg published his printed Bible – the first book to be produced with moveable type in the West.
The first professional archaeological excavation began in the Qumran Caves, the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2018
9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
9th November 2017