Year of Four Emperors: Battle of Bedriacum (+ 7 more historical events on this day!)

A Daily Dose of History (14 Apr 2026) Today's historical events: Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome. After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state. Co-Emperor Otto II, a son of Otto I (the Great), marries the Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII at Rome. Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong. In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne. A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle. Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados. Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices