29 January in history
9 events that happened on 29 January, from 757 to 1916.
904 CE 1,122 years ago
Sergius III seizes the papacy from the antipope Christopher
At the behest of Theophylact I of Tusculum, Sergius III seized the papal throne from Christopher, who had himself deposed Leo V. His reign fell in a time of violence and disorder in central Italy.
946 CE 1,080 years ago
The Abbasid caliph al-Mustakfi is deposed and imprisoned
The Abbasid caliph al-Mustakfi, who had reportedly intrigued against Mu'izz al-Dawla with some of the Buyids' Daylamite officers, was deposed on Mu'izz al-Dawla's orders. He spent the rest of his life as a prisoner in the caliphal palace.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1676 CE 350 years ago
Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia
On the death of Tsar Alexei, his sickly 14-year-old son Feodor succeeded him. In a short reign he abolished the system of ranking nobles by ancestry, paving the way for his half-brother Peter the Great.
1820 CE 206 years ago
George III dies at Windsor
Blind and suffering from mental illness, George III died after a reign of almost 60 years, which had seen the loss of America and victory over Napoleon. His son the Prince Regent became George IV.
1886 CE 140 years ago
Karl Benz files a patent for his motor car
Benz applied for a German patent on a 'vehicle powered by a gas engine', his three-wheeled Motorwagen. It is generally regarded as the first practical petrol-driven automobile.
1900 CE 126 years ago
The American League of baseball is organised
Ban Johnson reorganised a minor league as the American League, with eight teams. It declared itself a major league in 1901 and met the National League in the first World Series in 1903.
Born on 29 January 3
Died on 29 January 5
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.