On this day: June 15

Events on June 15

• 763 BC Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. Wikipedia
• 763 BC The Bur-Sagale eclipse was observed in Assyria, the earliest solar eclipse mentioned in historical sources that has been successfully identified. Wikipedia
• 844 Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II. Wikipedia
• 1215 King John of England and a group of rebel barons agreed on the text of Magna Carta, an influential charter of rights. Wikipedia
• 1215 King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta. Wikipedia
• 1219 Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lindanise (modern-day Tallinn) establishes the Danish Duchy of Estonia. Wikipedia
• 1285 The Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice conclude a treaty. Apart from agreeing on a ten year truce, the Venetians are alloted a commercial quarter in Constantinople and are restored to earlier privileges. Wikipedia
• 1310 The Tiepolo conspiracy, seeking to seize power in the Republic of Venice, is thwarted after bloody street clashes in Venice. The suppression of the revolt will lead to the creation of the Council of Ten. Wikipedia
• 1389 The Ottomans under Sultan Murad I defeat a Serb army under Lazar of Serbia in the battle of Kosovo. Both leaders are killed in the battle. Wikipedia
• 1410 Ottoman Interregnum: Süleyman Çelebi defeats his brother Musa Çelebi outside the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. Wikipedia
• 1520 Leo X issued the papal bull Exsurge Domine, censuring 41 propositions from Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses and subsequent writings, and threatening him with excommunication unless he recanted. Wikipedia
• 1520 Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in Exsurge Domine. Wikipedia
• 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots, and her new husband Bothwell are confronted by disgruntled Scottish nobles in the encounter at Carberry Hill. The stand-off ends with the surrender of queen Mary. Wikipedia
• 1804 New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins. Wikipedia
• 1878 Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it gallops (animation pictured), which became the basis of motion pictures Wikipedia
• 1896 A magnitude-8.5 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami struck Japan, killing at least 22,000 people and destroying about 9,000 homes. Wikipedia
• 1920 Three African-American circus workers were lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota, a crime that shocked the country for having taken place in the Northern United States. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Operation Aerial begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began the first air raid of its strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese archipelago, although little damage was caused. Wikipedia
• 1944 In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government in North America. Wikipedia
• 1972 Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z is destroyed by a bomb over Pleiku, Vietnam (then South Vietnam) and kills 81 people. Wikipedia
• 1977 After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections take place in Spain. Wikipedia
• 1992 The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries. Wikipedia
• 1996 The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in the commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring more than 200 people and causing widespread damage to buildings. Wikipedia
• 2006 US president George W. Bush designated 140,000 square miles (360,000 km2) around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, now one of the world's largest protected areas. Wikipedia

Born on June 15

• 1479 Lisa del Giocondo, Italian model, subject of the Mona Lisa (died 1542) Wikipedia
• 1767 Rachel Jackson, American wife of Andrew Jackson (died 1828) Wikipedia
• 1843 Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (died 1907) Wikipedia
• 1902 Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1906 Léon Degrelle, Belgian SS officer (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1914 Yuri Andropov, Russian politician (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1915 Thomas Huckle Weller, American biologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1916 Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1917 John Fenn, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1920 Alberto Sordi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1943 Johnny Hallyday, French singer and actor (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1946 Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1947 Alain Aspect, French physicist (Nobel Prize 2022 for experiments with entangled photons) Wikipedia
• 1949 Jim Varney, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1953 Xi Jinping, Chinese engineer and politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of China Wikipedia
• 1963 Helen Hunt, American actress, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1964 Courteney Cox, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1964 Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1969 Ice Cube, American rapper, producer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1969 Oliver Kahn, German footballer and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1973 Neil Patrick Harris, American actor and singer Wikipedia
• 1992 Mohamed Salah, Egyptian footballer Wikipedia

Died on June 15

• 923 Robert I of France (born 866) Wikipedia
• 991 Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 960) Wikipedia
• 1389 Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (born 1319) Wikipedia
• 1849 James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (born 1795) Wikipedia
• 1888 Frederick III, German Emperor (born 1831) Wikipedia
• 1889 Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1938 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter and illustrator (born 1880) Wikipedia
• 1971 Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1991 Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 1996 Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2002 Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founded Taekwondo (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2013 Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2019 Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film director (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2023 Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician (born 1936) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Arbor Day (Costa Rica) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alice (or Adelaide) of Schaerbeek Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amos Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Clement Vismara Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edburga of Winchester Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Germaine Cousin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Peter Snow Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Trillo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vitus (Guy), Modestus and Crescentia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: June 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Valdemar and Reunion Day (Flag Day) (Denmark) Wikipedia
• Engineer's Day (Italy) Wikipedia
• Global Wind Day (international) Wikipedia
• National Beer Day (United Kingdom) Wikipedia
• National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “June 15” 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.