April 26

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.

In 1336, Renaissance scholar Petrarch made what is often considered the first intentional ascent of a mountain by climbing Mont Ventoux in Provence.

The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.

The Pazzi conspiracy saw a plot to overthrow the Medici family violently erupt during Easter Mass in Florence Cathedral, resulting in the assassination of Giuliano de' Medici.

Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of birth is unknown).

William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, marking the earliest official record of the world’s most celebrated playwright.

The Virginia Company colonists make landfall at Cape Henry.

In 1607, the Virginia Company colonists made their first North American landfall at Cape Henry, paving the way for the establishment of Jamestown.

A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.

A massive earthquake struck the Iranian city of Tabriz in 1721, causing widespread destruction and significant loss of life.

Sybil Ludington, aged 16, allegedly rode 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of British regular forces

At age 16, Sybil Ludington rode 40 miles through the night to warn American colonial militias of a British advance, an act often compared to Paul Revere’s famous ride.

Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.

In the War of the First Coalition’s Flanders Campaign, Coalition and French forces clashed at the Battle of Beaumont in a fierce encounter for strategic control.

Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.

Napoleon Bonaparte signed a general amnesty in 1802, allowing most French émigrés to return home and aiding national reconciliation after revolutionary turmoil.

Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L'Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.

In 1803, thousands of meteor fragments fell over L’Aigle, France, providing decisive proof of the extraterrestrial origin of meteors.