On this day: June 13

Events on June 13

• 313 The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia. Wikipedia
• 1325 Ibn Battuta begins his travels, leaving his home in Tangiers to travel to Mecca (gone 24 years). Wikipedia
• 1525 Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, beginning the practice of clerical marriage in Protestantism. Wikipedia
• 1525 Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests and nuns. Wikipedia
• 1774 Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves. Wikipedia
• 1855 Twentieth opera of Giuseppe Verdi, Les vêpres siciliennes ("The Sicilian Vespers"), is premiered in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1878 Start of the Congress of Berlin in which the major powers of Europe revise the Treaty of San Stefano, signed on March 3 the same year, that Russia had imposed on a defeated Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1886 A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: The Battle of Mont Sorrel in the Ypres Salient came to an end as a Canadian assault led German forces to withdraw to their original lines. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: The deadliest German air raid on London of the war is carried out by Gotha G.IV bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries. Wikipedia
• 1944 Second World War: At the Battle of Villers-Bocage, German tank commander Michael Wittmann destroyed around 30 Allied vehicles in less than 15 minutes. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Battle of Villers-Bocage: German tank ace Michael Wittmann ambushes elements of the British 7th Armoured Division, destroying up to fourteen tanks, fifteen personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns in a Tiger I tank. Wikipedia
• 1967 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Wikipedia
• 1970 "The Long and Winding Road" became the Beatles' twentieth and final number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Wikipedia
• 1971 The New York Times published the first excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page classified Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in the Vietnam War. Wikipedia
• 1971 Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers. Wikipedia
• 1977 Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before. Wikipedia
• 1981 English teenager Marcus Sarjeant fired six blanks at Queen Elizabeth II as she rode down The Mall to the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Wikipedia
• 1981 At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II. Wikipedia
• 1983 Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the proximity of the major planets of the Solar System. Wikipedia
• 1983 Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune. Wikipedia
• 1997 A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Wikipedia
• 2000 President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang. Wikipedia
• 2000 Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981. Wikipedia
• 2005 The jury acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of all charges for allegedly sexually abusing a child in 2003. Wikipedia
• 2012 A series of bombings across Iraq, including Baghdad, Hillah and Kirkuk, kills at least 93 people and wounds over 300 others. Wikipedia

Born on June 13

• 40 Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general (died 93) Wikipedia
• 823 Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor (died 877) Wikipedia
• 839 Charles the Fat, Holy Roman Emperor (died 888) Wikipedia
• 1367 Taejong of Joseon, third monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea (died 1422) Wikipedia
• 1773 Thomas Young, English physicist and physiologist (died 1829) Wikipedia
• 1831 James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist and mathematician (died 1879) Wikipedia
• 1865 W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1939) Wikipedia
• 1870 Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1961) Wikipedia
• 1888 Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet and critic (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1897 Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner and coach (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1911 Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1928 John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1943 Malcolm McDowell, English actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1944 Ban Ki-moon, South Korean politician and diplomat, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations Wikipedia
• 1946 Paul L. Modrich, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1953 Tim Allen, American actor, comedian, and producer Wikipedia
• 1959 Klaus Iohannis, Romanian educator and politician, 5th President of Romania Wikipedia
• 1959 Boyko Borissov, Bulgarian footballer and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Bulgaria Wikipedia
• 1966 Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician Wikipedia
• 1981 Chris Evans, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1986 Keisuke Honda, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1986 Måns Zelmerlöw, Swedish singer Wikipedia

Died on June 13

• 1231 Anthony of Padua, Portuguese priest and saint (born 1195) Wikipedia
• 1645 Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese samurai (born 1584) Wikipedia
• 1886 Ludwig II, king of Bavaria (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1931 Kitasato Shibasaburō, Japanese medical doctor and bacteriologist (born 1851) Wikipedia
• 1948 Osamu Dazai, Japanese author (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1951 Ben Chifley, Australian engineer and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1885) Wikipedia
• 1965 Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and theologian (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1972 Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1986 Benny Goodman, American clarinet player, songwriter and bandleader (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1987 Geraldine Page, American actress (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2006 Charles Haughey, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2012 Roger Garaudy, French philosopher and author (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 2021 Ned Beatty, American actor (born 1937) Wikipedia
• 2023 Cormac McCarthy, American author (born 1933) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Anthony of Padua, Doctor of the Church Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aquilina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cetteus (Peregrinus) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eulogius of Alexandria Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felicula Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: G. K. Chesterton (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gerard of Clairvaux Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Marianna Biernacka Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Psalmodius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ragnebert (Rambert)
• Christian feast day: Blessed Thomas Woodhouse Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Triphyllius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: June 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Inventors' Day (Hungary) Wikipedia
• Suleimaniah City Fallen and Martyrs Day (Iraqi Kurdistan) Wikipedia
• International Albinism Awareness Day (international) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “June 13” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.