On this day: June 26

Events on June 26

• 4 Augustus adopts Tiberius. Wikipedia
• 1409 Western Schism: The Roman Catholic Church is led into a double schism as Petros Philargos is crowned Pope Alexander V after the Council of Pisa, joining Pope Gregory XII in Rome and Pope Benedict XIII in Avignon. Wikipedia
• 1409 The Council of Pisa elected Peter of Candia as Alexander V, becoming the third simultaneous claimant of the papacy during the Western Schism. Wikipedia
• 1541 Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed. Wikipedia
• 1718 Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Peter the Great's son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him. Wikipedia
• 1886 French chemist Henri Moissan successfully isolated elemental fluorine, for which he later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Wikipedia
• 1886 Henri Moissan isolates elemental fluorine for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1907 Organized by Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, among others, Bolshevik revolutionaries robbed a bank stagecoach in Tiflis, present-day Georgia. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat in the Battle of Hamel on July 4. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The 26-day Battle of Belleau Wood near the Marne River in France ended with American forces finally clearing that forest of German troops. Wikipedia
• 1934 United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths. Wikipedia
• 1945 At a conference in San Francisco, delegates from 50 nations signed a charter establishing the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1945 The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, California. Wikipedia
• 1948 Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade. Wikipedia
• 1960 Madagascar gains its independence from France. Wikipedia
• 1963 Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall. Wikipedia
• 1967 Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) is made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. Wikipedia
• 1975 Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. Wikipedia
• 1991 Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People's Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. Wikipedia
• 1995 Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup d'état. Wikipedia
• 1997 J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first book in the Harry Potter fantasy novel series, was released. Wikipedia
• 1997 J. K. Rowling publishes the first of her Harry Potter novel series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 2007 Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes. Wikipedia
• 2015 The U.S. Supreme Court rules, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Wikipedia

Born on June 26

• 12 BC Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder (died 14) Wikipedia
• 1600 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish-born bishop and viceroy of New Spain (died 1659) Wikipedia
• 1730 Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (died 1817) Wikipedia
• 1824 William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (died 1907) Wikipedia
• 1854 Robert Laird Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1937) Wikipedia
• 1892 Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1899 Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (died 1918) Wikipedia
• 1904 Peter Lorre, Slovak-American actor and singer (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1908 Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1909 Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-American talent manager, manager and promoter of Elvis Presley (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1933 Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1937 Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1944 Gennady Zyuganov, Russian politician Wikipedia
• 1956 Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of the Central African Republic Wikipedia
• 1963 Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian-Swiss businessman and philanthropist Wikipedia
• 1968 Paolo Maldini, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1968 Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Icelandic lecturer and politician, 6th President of Iceland Wikipedia
• 1970 Paul Thomas Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1984 Indila, French singer Wikipedia
• 1984 Aubrey Plaza, American actress Wikipedia
• 1987 Samir Nasri, French footballer Wikipedia
• 1993 Ariana Grande, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress Wikipedia

Died on June 26

• 363 Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor (born 332) Wikipedia
• 1274 Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (born 1201) Wikipedia
• 1541 Francisco Pizarro, Spanish explorer and politician, Governor of New Castile (born c. 1471) Wikipedia
• 1574 Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guard of Henry II of France (born 1530) Wikipedia
• 1830 George IV of the United Kingdom (born 1762) Wikipedia
• 1836 Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French soldier and composer (born 1760) Wikipedia
• 1856 Max Stirner, German philosopher and author (born 1806) Wikipedia
• 1878 Mercedes of Orléans, Queen Consort of King Alfonso XII of Spain (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1943 Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1868) Wikipedia
• 1946 Max Kögel, German SS officer (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1957 Alfred Döblin, Polish-German physician and author (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1975 Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1996 Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (born 1958) Wikipedia
• 2012 Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1941) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anthelm of Belley Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: David the Dendrite Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Giacinto Longhin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hermogius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Isabel Florence Hapgood (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jeremiah (Lutheran) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John and Paul Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: José María Robles Hurtado (one of Saints of the Cristero War) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Josemaría Escrivá Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mar Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pelagius of Córdoba Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Therese-Madeleine Fantou Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vigilius of Trent Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: June 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Somaliland from United Kingdom in 1960. (Somaliland) Wikipedia
• International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (International) Wikipedia
• International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (International) Wikipedia
• World Refrigeration Day (International) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “June 26” 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.