10 September in history
8 events that happened on 10 September, from 506 to 1939.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1089 CE 937 years ago
Pope Urban II opens the Synod of Melfi
Pope Urban II opened a synod at Melfi, attended by seventy bishops and twelve abbots, on church reform and relations with the Greek Church. The Byzantine emperor sent ambassadors, and the Norman duke Roger Borsa attended in person.
1419 CE 607 years ago
John the Fearless is murdered on the bridge at Montereau
The Duke of Burgundy was killed by followers of the Dauphin Charles during peace talks. Burgundy allied with England, leading to the Treaty of Troyes that made Henry V heir to France.
1509 CE 517 years ago
An earthquake in the Sea of Marmara devastates Constantinople
The earthquake known as Kıyamet-i Suğra, the 'Minor Judgement Day', struck the Sea of Marmara and devastated much of Constantinople. A tsunami and 45 days of aftershocks followed; estimates of the dead range from 1,000 to 13,000.
1779 CE 247 years ago
William Pickles captures HMS West Florida on Lake Pontchartrain
In a single-ship action on Lake Pontchartrain, then in the British province of West Florida, the Continental Navy schooner USS Morris fought the British sloop HMS West Florida, which Captain William Pickles boarded and captured.
1846 CE 180 years ago
Elias Howe patents the lockstitch sewing machine
Elias Howe received a US patent for a machine using an eye-pointed needle and a shuttle to form a lockstitch. He later won royalties from Singer and other makers who used his design.
1939 CE 87 years ago
Canada declares war on Germany
A week after Britain, Canada's parliament declared war on Germany in its own right. More than a million Canadians served in the Second World War.
Born on 10 September 3
Died on 10 September 10
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.