AncientPages.com – On October 28, 1636, Harvard University – America’s oldest learning institution, was formed. Harvard Yard winter 2009. Image credit: chensiyuan – CC BY-SA 4.0 It was initially called “New College” or “the college at New Towne.” In 1639, the College

AncientPages.com – On October 27, 1553, Michael Servetus (Michel de Villeneuve) was arrested in Geneva and burnt at stake as a heretic. On this day, Michael Servetus was murdered for blasphemy and heresy. Monument to Michael Servetus in Geneva, Switzerland,

AncientPages.com – On October 26, 1689, Austrian General Enea Silvio Piccolomini led a campaign against the Ottomans in Kosovo, Bosnia, and Macedonia. Piccolomini (ca.1640-1689) was an Italian nobleman with his root in Siena in Italy. During the offensive, the city of Skopje

AncientPages.com – On October 25, 286 (or possibly 285), Saints Crispin and Crispinian were beheaded during the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian. Much of the earnings Saints Crispin and Crispinian earned as shoemakers were given to the poor. Crispin and

AncientPages.com – On October 24, 1360, the Treaty of Brétigny was ratified. It was drafted earlier on May 8, 1360 between King Edward III of England and King John II (the Good) of France. The agreement marked the end of the first

AncientPages.com – On October 23, 1919, Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist, was born. Andronikos discovered the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander III the Great. He was born in Bursa, Turkey and later moved to Thessaloniki, Greece,

AncientPages.com – On October 22, 1797, the first recorded parachute jump from one thousand meters (3,200 feet) above Paris took place by André-Jacques Garnerin. Garnerin releases the balloon and descends with the help of a parachute, 1797. Illustration from the

AncientPages.com – On October 21, 1600, the first shogun of the Tokugawa family began his reign in Japan. This day is often considered the beginning of the Tokugawa family’s reign over Japan. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Image credit: Kanō Tan’yū  – Public

AncientPages.com – On October 20, 1632, Sir Christopher Wren – one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history – was born. He was a man of considerable scientific abilities. He was regarded as the most influential British architect

AncientPages.com – On October 19, 1386, Heidelberg University was established in 1386 and is Germany’s oldest university. The university was established on instruction of Pope Urban VI and became one of the strongest research universities in all of Europe. One of

AncientPages.com – On October 18, 1931, inventor Thomas Edison died. Edison – known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” is considered by many the world’s greatest inventor. He is credited with 1,093 US patents in his name and several patents

AncientPages.com – On October 17, 1604, German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus. Supernova 1604, also known as Kepler’s Supernova, was a supernova of Type Ia that occurred in the Milky Way in the constellation Ophiuchus.

AncientPages.com – On October 16, 1758, Noah Webster, Jr. “Father of American Scholarship and Education,” was born. He was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. Webster’s name is linked with the word  “dictionary”

AncientPages.com – On October 15, 1211, the Battle of the Rhyndacus was fought between the successor states of the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire, and the Byzantine Greek Empire of Nicaea, established following the dissolution of the Byzantine state after the Fourth

AncientPages.com – On October 14, 1644, William Penn, English philosopher and founder of Pennsylvania, was born. When Penn was 22 years old, he joined the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, a Christian movement founded by George Fox circa 1650 and devoted to

AncientPages.com – On October 13th, 1307, King Philip IV of France, in league with Pope Clement V, ordered the arrest of all Templars in the Kingdom of France; they were rounded up and thrown in prison. Drawing of two knights