On this day: September 27

Events on September 27

• 1066 William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme river, beginning the Norman conquest of England. Wikipedia
• 1331 The Battle of Płowce is fought, between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order. The Poles are defeated but their leaders escape capture. Wikipedia
• 1540 The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) receives its charter from Pope Paul III. Wikipedia
• 1777 American Revolution: Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States for one day after Congress evacuates Philadelphia. Wikipedia
• 1810 The French army under André Masséna fails to break British forces under the Arthur Wellesley in the battle of Bussaco. Wikipedia
• 1821 The Army of the Three Guarantees triumphantly enters Mexico City, led by Agustín de Iturbide. The following day Mexico is declared independent. Wikipedia
• 1822 In a letter to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, Jean-François Champollion announced his initial successes in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone. Wikipedia
• 1822 Jean-François Champollion officially informs the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in France that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone. Wikipedia
• 1851 The British East India Company inaugurated the Horsburgh Lighthouse on the rocky outcrop of Pedra Branca, Singapore, which later became the subject of a territorial dispute. Wikipedia
• 1854 The paddle steamer SS Arctic sank after a collision with SS Vesta 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Newfoundland, killing approximately 320 people. Wikipedia
• 1875 The merchant ship Ellen Southard was wrecked in a storm at Liverpool, England; the U.S. Congress subsequently awarded 27 Gold Lifesaving Medals to the men who rescued her crew. Wikipedia
• 1908 The first production Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the United States, was completed at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. Wikipedia
• 1917 The Broadhurst Theatre opened in New York City with a performance of Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw. Wikipedia
• 1928 The Republic of China is recognized by the United States. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin, officially forming a military alliance known as the Axis. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy. Wikipedia
• 1949 Members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference unanimously selected Zeng Liansong's design for the flag of China. Wikipedia
• 1964 The British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2, an advanced Cold War tactical strike and reconnaissance aircraft that was later cancelled, made its maiden flight. Wikipedia
• 1981 Iran–Iraq War: Iran broke the Iraqi siege of Abadan by Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh. Wikipedia
• 1983 American software developer Richard Stallman announced plans for the Unix-like operating system GNU, the first free software developed by the GNU Project. Wikipedia
• 1988 Led by pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, the political party National League for Democracy was founded in Burma. Wikipedia
• 1988 The National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and others to fight dictatorship in Myanmar. Wikipedia
• 1996 The Taliban drove Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, tortured and murdered former president Mohammad Najibullah, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Wikipedia
• 1998 The Google internet search engine retroactively claims this date as its birthday. Wikipedia
• 2007 NASA launches the Dawn probe to the asteroid belt. Wikipedia
• 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: Azerbaijan launches an offensive against the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, inhabited predominantly by ethnic Armenians. Wikipedia

Born on September 27

• 808 Ninmyō, Japanese emperor (died 850) Wikipedia
• 1389 Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (died 1464) Wikipedia
• 1533 Stefan Batory, King of Poland (died 1586) Wikipedia
• 1601 Louis XIII of France (died 1643) Wikipedia
• 1722 Samuel Adams, American philosopher and politician, fourth Governor of Massachusetts (died 1803) Wikipedia
• 1772 Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas Jefferson who had twelve children (died 1836) Wikipedia
• 1821 Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Swiss philosopher, poet, and critic (died 1881) Wikipedia
• 1871 Grazia Deledda, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1918 Martin Ryle, English astronomer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1925 Robert Edwards, English physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1932 Oliver E. Williamson, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1934 Wilford Brimley, American actor (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1946 Nicos Anastasiades, Cypriot lawyer and politician, seventh President of Cyprus Wikipedia
• 1947 Meat Loaf, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1968 Mari Kiviniemi, Finnish politician, 41st Prime Minister of Finland Wikipedia
• 1972 Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress, blogger, and businesswoman Wikipedia
• 1976 Francesco Totti, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Lil Wayne, American rapper, producer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1984 Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer Wikipedia
• 1991 Simona Halep, Romanian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1992 Granit Xhaka, Swiss footballer Wikipedia
• 2002 Jenna Ortega, American actress Wikipedia

Died on September 27

• 765 Pugu Huai'en, Chinese general during the Tang dynasty Wikipedia
• 1115 Bonfilius, Italian saint and bishop of Foligno (born c. 1040) Wikipedia
• 1125 Richeza of Berg, Duchess of Bohemia (born c.1095) Wikipedia
• 1590 Pope Urban VII (born 1521) Wikipedia
• 1700 Pope Innocent XII (born 1615) Wikipedia
• 1891 Ivan Goncharov, Russian author and critic (born 1812) Wikipedia
• 1917 Edgar Degas, French painter and sculptor (born 1834) Wikipedia
• 1919 Adelina Patti, Italian-French opera singer (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1940 Walter Benjamin, German philosopher and critic (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1940 Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian physician and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 2017 Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founder of Playboy Enterprises (born 1926) Wikipedia
• 2023 Michael Gambon, Irish-English actor (born 1940) Wikipedia
• 2024 Maggie Smith, English actress (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2024 Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese politician, 3rd Secretary-General of Hezbollah (born 1960) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast days: Adheritus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Bonfilius Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Caius of Milan Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Hiltrude of Liessies Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Vincent de Paul Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Cosmas and Damian Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: September 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Consumación de la Independencia (Mexico) Wikipedia
• French Community Holiday (French community of Belgium) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Turkmenistan), celebrates the independence of Turkmenistan from USSR in 1991. Wikipedia
• Meskel (Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church, following Julian calendar, September 28 on leap years) Wikipedia
• National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Polish Underground State's Day (Poland) Wikipedia
• World Tourism Day (International) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 27” 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.