Calendar date · April
What happened on April 7
On April 7, 451: Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
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Featured moment · 451
Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town.
Attila, frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and Eastern Europe.
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451 Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town. Ruler of the Hunnic Empire from 434 to 453
Attila, frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and Eastern Europe.
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529 First Corpus Juris Civilis, a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I. Collection of legal works codified by Justinian I of Byzantium
The Corpus Juris Civilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, enacted from 529 to 534 by order of Roman Emperor Justinian I. It is also sometimes referred to metonymically after one of its parts, the Code of Justinian.
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1141 Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England, adopting the title "Lady of the English". Holy Roman Empress from 1114 to 1125; claimant to the English throne
Empress Matilda, also known as Empress Maud, was Holy Roman Empress as the consort of Emperor Henry V from 1110 until his death in 1125, and was subsequently a claimant to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. Following the death of her father, King Henry I of England, she asserted her right to the English throne as his only surviving legitimate child and styled herself Lady of the English. However, her cousin Stephen of Blois was crowned king in her place.
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1348 Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV charters Prague University. Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 to 1378
Charles IV was Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 until his death in 1378. He was elected King of Germany in 1346 and became King of Bohemia that same year. He was a member of the House of Luxembourg from his father's side and the Bohemian House of Přemyslid from his mother's side; he emphasized the latter due to his lifelong affinity for the Bohemian side of his inheritance, and also because his direct ancestors in the Přemyslid line included two saints.
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1449 Felix V abdicates his claim to the papacy, ending the reign of the final Antipope. Savoyard nobleman and antipope (1383–1451)
Amadeus VIII, nicknamed the Peaceful, was Count of Savoy from 1391 to 1416 and Duke of Savoy from 1416 to 1440. He was the first to hold the ducal title, granted by Emperor Sigismund. Known for his diplomatic temperament and administrative reforms, he strengthened the state's institutions and fostered internal peace.
- 1521 Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
- 1541 Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
- 1724 Premiere performance of Bach's St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
- 1767 End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767).
- 1788 Settlers establish Marietta, Ohio, the first permanent settlement created by U.S. citizens in the recently organized Northwest Territory.
- 1790 Russo-Turkish war (1787–1792): Greek privateer Lambros Katsonis loses three of his ships in the Battle of Andros.
- 1795 The French First Republic adopts the kilogram and gram as its primary unit of mass.
- 1798 The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and the Spanish Empire. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
- 1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
- 1805 German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
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- 1824 The Mechanics' Institution is established in Manchester, England at the Bridgewater Arms hotel, as part of a national movement for the education of working men. The institute is the precursor to three Universities in the city: the University of Manchester, UMIST and the Metropolitan University of Manchester (MMU).
- 1831 Pedro II becomes emperor of the Empire of Brazil.
- 1862 American Civil War: The Union's Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
- 1868 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.
- 1906 Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
- 1906 The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
- 1922 Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on excessively generous terms.
- 1926 Violet Gibson attempts to assassinate Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.
- 1933 Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
- 1933 Nazi Germany issues the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service banning Jews and political dissidents from civil service posts.
- 1939 Benito Mussolini declares an Italian protectorate over Albania and forces King Zog I into exile.
- 1939 Italy invades Albania.
- 1940 Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- 1943 The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
- 1943 Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
Around the world
Holidays on April 7
- Christian feast days: Aibert of Crespin
- Christian feast days: Blessed Alexander Rawlins
- Christian feast days: Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
- Christian feast days: Brynach
- Christian feast days: Hegesippus
- Christian feast days: Henry Walpole
- Christian feast days: Hermann Joseph
- Christian feast days: Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
- Christian feast days: Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta
- Christian feast days: Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church (USA))
- Christian feast days: April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Flag Day (Slovenia)
- Women's Day (Mozambique)
- World Health Day (International observance)
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