1143 - King Fulk of Jerusalem

Famous Death on this Day in History

Fulk (1089/1092 in Angers – 13 November 1143 in Acre), also known as Fulk the Younger, was Count of Anjou (as Fulk V) from 1109 to 1129, and King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death. He was also the paternal grandfather of Henry II of England.

Fulk was born in Angers between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband and bigamously married King Philip I of France.

He became count of Anjou upon his father's death in 1109, at the age of approximately twenty. In that year, he married Erembourg of Maine, cementing Angevin control over the County of Maine.

He was originally an opponent of King Henry I of England and a supporter of King Louis VI of France, but in 1127 he allied with Henry when Henry arranged for his daughter Matilda to marry Fulk's son Geoffrey of Anjou. Fulk went on crusade in 1120, and became a close friend of the Knights Templar. After his return he began to subsidize the Templars, and maintained two knights in the Holy Land for a year.

930 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (b. 885)

Famous Death on this Day in History

Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇 Daigo-tennō) (January 18, 885– October 23, 930) was the 60th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from 897 to 930.[1] Emperor Daigo's mausoleum, known as Nochi no Yamashina no misasagi, is located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.

Before his ascension of the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina) was Atsuhito-shinnō (敦仁親王).

Atsuhito-shinnō was the eldest son of his predecessor, Emperor Uda. His mother was Fujiwara no Taneko, daughter of the minister of the center, Fujiwara no Takafui. He succeeded the throne after his father, the Emperor Uda, abdicated in 897.

Daigo had 21 empresses, imperial consorts, and concubines; he had 36 imperial sons and daughters.

Charles Martel, ruler of the Franks, dies at 63

Famous Deaths on this Day in History

Charles Martel (Latin: Carolus Martellus) (ca. 688 – 22 October 741), called Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum (737–43) at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the title of Consul by the Pope, but he refused. He is perhaps best remembered for winning the Battle of Tours in 732, in which he defeated an invading Muslim army and halted northward Islamic expansion in western Europe.

A brilliant general he lost only one battle in his career (the Battle of Cologne) -he is a founding figure of the Middle Ages, often credited with a seminal role in the development of feudalism and knighthood, and laying the groundwork for the Carolingian Empire.

Charles Martel died on October 22, 741, at Quierzy-sur-Oise in what is today the Aisne département in the Picardy region of France. He was buried at Saint Denis Basilica in Paris. His territories were divided among his adult sons a year earlier: to Carloman he gave Austrasia and Alemannia (with Bavaria as a vassal), to Pippin the Younger Neustria and Burgundy (with Aquitaine as a vassal), and to Grifo nothing, though some sources indicate he intended to give him a strip of land between Neustria and Austrasia.

Gibbon called him "the hero of the age" and declared "Christendom ... delivered ... by the genius and good fortune of one man, Charles Martel."

1047 - Clemens II, [Suitger], Pope (1046-47), dies

Famous Deaths on this Day in History

Clement II, real name Suidger, Earl of Morsleben and Hornburg, (* 1005 in Hornburg, Lower Saxony, † October 9 1047 at S. Tommaso at Aposella at Pesaro) was a German pope of 1046 to 1047th Seine Namenswahl nach dem heiligen Papst Clemens I. (1. Jahrhundert) war bereits ein Signal, welches seine Reformabsichten anzeigte: zurück zu den Ursprüngen der Kirche am Anfang der Zeiten. His choice of name for the Holy Pope Clement I (1. century AD) was already a signal, which announced his reform plans: back to the origins of the church at the beginning of time.

472 - Olybrius, emperor of Westromeinse republic (472), dies

Famous Deaths on this Day in History

Anicius Olybrius (ca. 430 – 23 October/2 November 472, Western Roman ruler from March 23 or July 11 to October 23 or November 2, 472, was a member of the Anicii family - related to Petronius Maximus - and a native of Rome. He was a son of Flavius Anicius Probus and wife Adelphia and granduncle of Flavius Anicius Probus Iunior.


After the sack of the city by the Vandal King Geiseric in 455, Olybrius fled to Constantinople, where in 464 he was made Consul, and about the same time ca 454 married Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. This afforded Geiseric, whose son Huneric had married Princess Eudocia, the elder sister of Placidia, the chance of claiming the empire of the West for Olybrius. In fact, Geiseric had attempted in 461 and again in 465 to get Olybrius made monarch. He was made Roman Consul in 464.

In 472 Olybrius was sent to Italy by the emperor Leo I to support the emperor Anthemius against his son-in-law Ricimer, but, having entered into discussions with the latter, was himself proclaimed emperor against his will, and on the murder of his rival ascended the throne unopposed. Because of his marriage to Placidia, Olybrius can be considered the last member of the House of Theodosius. His reign was otherwise as uneventful as it was brief. He died of hydropsy later in 472, being the only Emperor of his time to die of natural causes.

Olybrius was survived by his wife and their daughter, Anicia Juliana He appears, in a wholly unhistorical light, in the medieval Golden Legend as the persecutor of Saint Margaret the Virgin after she refused to marry him.

959 - King Edwy of England

Famous Deaths on this Day in History

Eadwig, more rarely Edwy (941? – 1 October 959), sometimes nicknamed All-Fair or the Fair, was King of England from 955 until his death four years later. The eldest son of King Edmund and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, Eadwig was chosen by the dignity to succeed his uncle Eadred as King. His short reign was marked by ongoing conflicts with his family, thegns, and especially the Church, under the leadership of Saint Dunstan and Archbishop Odo.