Died on Sunday, 15th June – Famous Deaths
On 15th June, 88 remarkable people passed away — from 923 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
On 15 June 2025, a Sunday in the middle of summer, commemorations fall on a date rich with historical significance. Among notable deaths recorded on this day, Franco Zeffirelli, the Italian film director who shaped cinema with his operatic vision and adaptations of classic literature, passed away in 2019 at the age of 96. His influence on European filmmaking remained considerable throughout a career spanning decades. Additionally, Glenda Jackson, the English actress and politician who transitioned from theatre and screen to Parliament, died in 2023 after a life that exemplified artistic achievement and public service. Jackson’s dual career made her a distinctive figure in British cultural and political life, having represented Hampstead and Highgate in the House of Commons during the 1990s and 2000s.
The historical record extends considerably further back, with significant events occurring on this date across centuries. In 1381, Wat Tyler, the English rebel leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, was executed during a pivotal moment in medieval English history. His uprising challenged the feudal order and left an enduring mark on popular memory. These interconnected stories across different eras demonstrate how a single date accumulates meaning through the lives and actions of those who shaped their times.
On this Sunday, 15 June 2025, the moon is waning gibbous, whilst those born under the zodiac sign of Gemini characterise the period. The weather conditions bring typical mid-June patterns to much of the Northern Hemisphere. DayAtlas provides comprehensive information on weather for this day, historical events, notable births and deaths for any chosen date and location, offering users a detailed perspective on how any calendar day intersects with history.
See who passed away today 11th April.
15/06/2024
James Kent, American chef (born 1979)
Jamal James Kent was an American chef. In 2010, he won the Bocuse d'Or USA. Kent and his commis Tom Allan went on to represent the U.S. at the international finals of Bocuse d'Or the following year, in Lyon, France, where they placed tenth.
Matija Sarkic, English-born Montenegrin footballer (born 1997)
Matija Sarkic was a professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
15/06/2023
Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician (born 1936)
Glenda May Jackson was an English actress and politician. Over the course of her distinguished career she received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting." Her other accolades include two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe Award. A member of the Labour Party, she served continuously as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 23 years, first for Hampstead and Highgate from 1992 to 2010, and then, following boundary changes, for Hampstead and Kilburn from 2010 to 2015.
15/06/2019
Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film director (born 1923)
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II era, gaining both acclaim and notoriety for his lavish stagings of classical works, as well as his film adaptations of the same.
15/06/2014
Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (born 1927)
Jacques Bergerac was a French actor and businessman.
15/06/2013
Heinz Flohe, German footballer and manager (born 1948)
Heinz "Flocke" Flohe was a German footballer and manager.
José Froilán González, Argentinian racing driver (born 1922)
José Froilán González was an Argentine racing driver who competed in Formula One between 1950 and 1960. Nicknamed "the Pampas Bull" and "el Cabezón", González was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1954 with Ferrari, and won two Grands Prix across nine seasons. In endurance racing, González won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1954, also with Ferrari.
Dennis O'Rourke, Australian director and producer (born 1945)
Dennis O'Rourke was an Australian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker.
Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1936)
Kenneth Geddes "Ken" Wilson was an American theoretical physicist and a pioneer in using computers for studying particle physics. He was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on phase transitions—illuminating the subtle essence of phenomena like melting ice and emerging magnetism. It was embodied in his fundamental work on the renormalization group.
15/06/2012
Phillip D. Cagan, American economist and author (born 1927)
Phillip David Cagan was an American scholar and author. He was Professor of Economics Emeritus at Columbia University.
Barry MacKay, American tennis player and sportscaster (born 1935)
Barry MacKay was an American tennis player, tournament director and broadcaster. He was ranked #1 in the U.S. in 1960.
Israel Nogueda Otero, Mexican economist and politician, 10th Governor of Guerrero (born 1935)
Israel Nogueda Otero was a Mexican politician, economist and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Nogueda served as the Municipal President of Acapulco municipality from 1969 to 1971 and the Governor of Guerrero from 1971 until 1975.
Jerry Tubbs, American football player and coach (born 1935)
Gerald J. Tubbs was an American professional football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. He was selected by Chicago Cardinals in the first round of the 1957 NFL draft. After his retirement, he stayed with the Cowboys as an assistant coach for 22 years. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma.
15/06/2011
Bill Haast, American herpetologist and academic (born 1910)
Bill Haast was the owner and operator, from 1947 until 1984, of the Miami Serpentarium, a tourist attraction south of Miami, Florida, where he entertained customers by performing live venom extraction from snakes. After closing the Serpentarium, he opened the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a facility in Punta Gorda, Florida that produced snake venom for medical and research use. Haast extracted venom from venomous snakes from the time he was a boy.
15/06/2008
Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1914)
Raymond Getliffe was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. Born in Galt, Ontario, he played with the Saint John St. Peters. At the time of his death, he was believed to be the oldest living former Montreal Canadiens player. Getliffe's name is on the Stanley Cup twice, for 1939 with Boston and 1944 with Montreal. On February 6, 1943, while playing for the Canadiens he scored five goals in one game.
15/06/2007
Hugo Corro, Argentine boxer (born 1953)
Hugo Pastor Corro, better known plainly as Hugo Corro, was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed middleweight championship between April 1978 and June 1979.
15/06/2006
Raymond Devos, Belgian-French comedian and clown (born 1922)
Raymond Devos was a French humorist, stand-up comedian and clown. He is best known for his sophisticated puns and surreal humour.
Herb Pearson, New Zealand cricketer (born 1910)
Herbert Taylor Pearson was a New Zealand cricketer who played for Auckland in the 1930s and 1940s.
15/06/2005
Suzanne Flon, French actress (born 1918)
Suzanne Flon was a French stage, film, and television actress. She won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in the 1961 film Thou Shalt Not Kill. Flon also received two César Awards and two Molière Awards in her career.
15/06/2004
Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician and mayor of İzmir (born 1952)
Ahmet Piriştina was a Turkish politician who was Mayor of İzmir from 1999 to 2004. His Family was of Albanian Turkish descent, his family was from the city of Prishtina.
15/06/2003
Hume Cronyn, Canadian-American actor (born 1911)
Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. was a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter and playwright. He appeared in many stage productions, television and film roles throughout his career, and received many honors, including three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Cronyn was the husband of actress Jessica Tandy, with whom he was presented the Kennedy Center Honor in 1986 and National Medal of Arts in 1990. In 1999, he was awarded with a star on the Canada's Walk of Fame.
15/06/2002
Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founded Taekwondo (born 1918)
Choi Hong-hi was a South Korean Army general, and martial artist who was an important figure in the history of the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, albeit controversial due to his introduction of taekwondo to North Korea.
15/06/2001
Henri Alekan, French cinematographer (born 1909)
Henri Alekan was a French cinematographer.
15/06/2000
Jules Roy, French author, poet, and playwright (born 1907)
Jules Roy was a French writer. "Prolific and polemical" Roy, born an Algerian pied noir and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences in the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War as inspiration for a number of his works. He began writing in 1946, while still serving in the military, and continued to publish fiction and historical works after his resignation in 1953 in protest of the First Indochina War. He was an outspoken critic of French colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and later civil war, as well as a strongly religious man.
15/06/1999
Omer Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1906)
Omer Côté was a Canadian politician and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.
15/06/1996
Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (born 1917)
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish general and politician (born 1911)
Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle Maclean, 1st Baronet, was a British Army officer, writer and politician. A Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) from 1941 to 1974 Maclean was one of only two soldiers who during the Second World War enlisted in the British Army as a private and rose to the rank of brigadier, the other being future fellow Conservative MP Enoch Powell.
Dick Murdoch, American wrestler (born 1946)
Hoyt Richard Murdoch was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names "Dirty" Dick Murdoch and "Captain Redneck". He was best known for his time in the NWA, World Wrestling Federation and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
15/06/1995
John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and inventor, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer (born 1903)
John Vincent Atanasoff was an American physicist and inventor credited with inventing the first electronic digital computer. Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa State College. Challenges to his claim were resolved in 1973 when the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand lawsuit ruled that Atanasoff was the inventor of the computer. His special-purpose machine has come to be called the Atanasoff–Berry Computer.
15/06/1994
Manos Hatzidakis, Greek composer and theorist (born 1925)
Manos Hatzidakis was a Greek composer and theorist of Greek music, widely regarded as one of the greatest Greek composers of all time. He was one of the main proponents of the "éntekhno" form of music, along with Mikis Theodorakis, and he is credited as the founder of the Orchestra of Colours, an ensemble performing lesser-known works and the music of Greek composers, and influenced a broad swathe of Greek culture through his writings and radio broadcasts. With his theoretical and compositional work, he is considered to be the first to connect post-war the worded music with traditional music.
15/06/1993
John Connally, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Treasury (born 1917)
John Bowden Connally Jr. was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. He began his career as a Democrat and became a Republican in 1973.
James Hunt, English racing driver and sportscaster (born 1947)
James Simon Wallis Hunt was a British racing driver and broadcaster who competed in Formula One from 1973 to 1979. Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1976 with McLaren, and won 10 Grands Prix across seven seasons.
15/06/1992
Chuck Menville, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (born 1940)
Charles David Menville was an American animator and writer for television. His credits included Batman: The Animated Series, Land of the Lost, The Real Ghostbusters, The Smurfs, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Tiny Toon Adventures.
Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (born 1939)
Brett Whiteley was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitions, and lived and painted in Australia as well as Italy, the United Kingdom, Fiji and the United States.
15/06/1991
Happy Chandler, American businessman and politician, 49th Governor of Kentucky (born 1898)
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second commissioner of baseball from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. His grandson, Ben Chandler, later served as representative for Kentucky's sixth district.
Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915)
Sir William Arthur Lewis was a Saint Lucian economist and the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. Lewis remains the only black person to have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
15/06/1989
Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1912)
Maurice Bellemare, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He was known as Le Vieux Lion de la Politique Québécoise because of his colourful style and his many years of public office. Bellemare was one of the last survivors of the Union Nationale party.
Ray McAnally, Irish actor (born 1926)
Ray McAnally was an Irish actor. He was the recipient of three BAFTA Awards in the late 1980s: two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor, and a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for A Very British Coup in 1989. In 2020, he was ranked at number 34 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
15/06/1985
Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (born 1927)
Andrew William Stanfield was an American sprinter and Olympic gold and silver medallist.
15/06/1984
Meredith Willson, American playwright, composer, and conductor (born 1902)
Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson was an American flautist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer.
15/06/1976
Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1896)
James Joseph Dykes was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a third and second baseman from 1918 through 1939, most notably as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive American League pennants from 1929 to 1931 and, won the World Series in 1929 and 1930. Dykes played his final six seasons for the Chicago White Sox.
15/06/1971
Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904)
Wendell Meredith Stanley was an American biochemist, virologist and Nobel laureate. Stanley's work contributed to lepracidal compounds, diphenyl stereochemistry, and the chemistry of the sterols. His research on the virus causing the mosaic disease in tobacco plants led to the isolation of a nucleoprotein which displayed tobacco mosaic virus activity.
15/06/1968
Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (born 1880)
Samuel Earl Crawford, nicknamed "Wahoo Sam", was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Crawford batted and threw left-handed, stood 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) tall and weighed 190 pounds (86 kg). Born in Wahoo, Nebraska, he had a short minor league baseball career before rapidly rising to the majors with the Cincinnati Reds in 1899. He played for the Reds until 1902.
Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (born 1925)
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a distinctive sound.
15/06/1967
Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (born 1885)
Tatu Kolehmainen was a Finnish long-distance runner who competed at the 1912 and 1920 Summer Olympics. In 1912, he reached the finals of 10,000 m and marathon races, but failed to finish due to a strong heat. In 1920, he placed 10th in the marathon. His younger brother Hannes competed alongside at the 1912 and 1920 Games.
15/06/1962
Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor (born 1877)
Alfred Denis Cortot was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his poetic insight into Romantic piano works, particularly those of Chopin, Franck, Saint-Saëns and Schumann. For Éditions Durand, he edited editions of almost all piano music by Chopin, Liszt and Schumann.
15/06/1961
Giulio Cabianca, Italian racing driver (born 1923)
Giulio Cabianca was a Formula One driver from Italy.
Peyami Safa, Turkish journalist and author (born 1899)
Peyami Safa was a Turkish journalist, columnist and novelist. He came to the fore in the Turkish literature of the Republican era with his psychological works such as Dokuzuncu Hariciye Koğuşu. He reflected his life and his changes to his works. He wrote many novels under the pseudonym Server Bedi. He created Cingöz Recai, a character inspired by Arsène Lupin of the French writer Maurice Leblanc. He also worked as a journalist at various institutions and published several magazines such as Kültür Haftası with his brother İlhami Safa.
15/06/1949
Frank Elbridge Webb, American engineer and presidential candidate (born 1869)
Frank Elbridge Webb was an American engineer who served as the Farmer–Labor Party's presidential candidate in 1928. In the 1932 presidential election, he was initially renominated by the Farmer–Labor Party before being removed and running as the nominee for a wing of the Liberty Party. He also led many unsuccessful efforts to build bridges that spanned the San Francisco Bay.
15/06/1945
Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, Austrian diplomat
Albert Viktor Julius Joseph Michael Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat who served as Ambassador to London at the outbreak of World War I.
15/06/1941
Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist and physician (born 1873)
Otfrid Foerster was a German neurologist and neurosurgeon, who made innovative contributions to neurology and neurosurgery, such as rhizotomy for the treatment of spasticity, anterolateral cordotomy for pain, the hyperventilation test for epilepsy, Foerster's syndrome, the first electrocorticogram of a brain tumor, and the first surgeries for epilepsy. He is also known as the first to describe the dermatomes, and he helped map the motor cortex of the cerebrum.
Evelyn Underhill, English mystic and author (born 1875)
Evelyn Underhill was an English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in particular Christian mysticism. Her best-known work is Mysticism, published in 1911.
15/06/1938
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter and illustrator (born 1880)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. He was one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art. Kirchner volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged. His work was branded as "degenerate" by the Nazis in 1933, and in 1937 more than 600 of his works were sold or destroyed.
15/06/1934
Alfred Bruneau, French cellist and composer (born 1857)
Louis Charles Bonaventure Alfred Bruneau was a French composer who played a key role in the introduction of realism in French opera.
15/06/1917
Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and academic (born 1867)
Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland was a Norwegian space physicist, inventor, and professor of physics at the Royal Fredriks University in Oslo. He is best remembered for his theories of atmospheric electric currents that elucidated the nature of the aurora borealis. In order to fund his research on the aurorae, he invented the electromagnetic cannon and the Birkeland–Eyde process of fixing nitrogen from the air. Birkeland was nominated for the Nobel Prize seven times.
15/06/1890
Unryū Kyūkichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 10th Yokozuna (born 1822)
Unryū Kyūkichi was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Yanagawa, Chikugo Province. He was the sport's 10th yokozuna. Although the name of the style of the yokozuna 's in-ring ceremony is named after him, the fact that he himself practiced this style is highly debated.
15/06/1889
Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (born 1850)
Mihai Eminescu was a Romanian Romantic poet, novelist, and journalist from Moldavia, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul, the official newspaper of the Conservative Party (1880–1918). His poetry was first published when he was 16 and he went to Vienna, Austria to study when he was 19. The poet's manuscripts, containing 46 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, were offered by Titu Maiorescu as a gift to the Romanian Academy during the meeting that was held on 25 January 1902. Notable works include Luceafărul, Odă în metru antic, and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires). In his poems, he frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects.
15/06/1888
Frederick III, German Emperor (born 1831)
Frederick III, or Friedrich III, was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days from 9 March 1888 until his death in June that year, during the Year of the Three Emperors.
15/06/1881
Franjo Krežma, Croatian violinist and composer (born 1862)
Franjo Krežma, also known as Franz Krezma in German-speaking countries, was a Croatian violinist and composer.
15/06/1858
Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (born 1795)
Ary Scheffer was a Dutch-French Romantic painter. He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of Dante, Goethe, Lord Byron and Walter Scott, as well as religious subjects. He was also a prolific painter of portraits of famous and influential people in his lifetime. Politically, Scheffer had strong ties to King Louis Philippe I, having been employed as a teacher of the latter's children, which allowed him to live a life of luxury for many years until the French Revolution of 1848.
15/06/1849
James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (born 1795)
James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of American expansionism and Jacksonian democracy. Polk saw Texas join the Union in his first year in office, one of the precipitating causes that soon led the U.S. into the Mexican–American War. The settlement of that war expanded American territory to the Pacific Ocean. During his term, the dispute over the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom was resolved as well, creating the present U.S.-Canadian boundary.
15/06/1844
Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet and academic (born 1777)
Thomas Campbell was a Scottish poet. He was a founder and the first President of the Clarence Club and a co-founder of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland; he was also one of the initiators of a plan to found what became University College London. In 1799 he wrote Pleasures of Hope, a traditional 18th-century didactic poem in heroic couplets. He also produced several patriotic war songs— "Ye Mariners of England", "The Soldier's Dream", "Hohenlinden" and, in 1801, The Battle of the Baltic, but was no less at home in delicate lyrics such as "At Love's Beginning".
15/06/1772
Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (born 1694)
Louis-Claude Daquin was a French composer, writing in the Baroque and Galant styles. He was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist.
15/06/1768
James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (born 1710)
James Short FRS was a Scottish mathematician and manufacturer of optical instruments, principally telescopes. During his 35-year career as a telescope-maker he produced approximately 1,360 scientific instruments.
15/06/1724
Henry Sacheverell, English minister and politician (born 1674)
Henry Sacheverell was an English Anglican clergyman who achieved nationwide fame in 1709 after preaching an incendiary sermon on 5 November. Sacheverell was subsequently impeached by the House of Commons of Great Britain and though found guilty, his light punishment was seen as a vindication and he became a popular figure in the country, contributing to the Tories' landslide victory at the 1710 British general election.
15/06/1614
Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English courtier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (born 1540)
Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton was an English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspected throughout his life of being Roman Catholic, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputation suffered greatly. He was distinguished for learning, artistic culture and his public charities. He built Northumberland House in London and superintended the construction of the fine house of Audley End. He founded and planned several hospitals. Francis Bacon included three of his sayings in his Apophthegms, and chose him as "the learnedest councillor in the kingdom to present to the king his Advancement of Learning." After his death, it was discovered that he had been involved in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.
15/06/1521
Tamás Bakócz, Hungarian cardinal (born 1442)
Tamás Bakócz OP was a Hungarian archbishop, cardinal and statesman. He was a serious candidate in the 1513 papal conclave.
15/06/1467
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (born 1396)
Philip III, also known as Philip the Good, was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the House of Valois, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, the Burgundian State reached the apex of its prosperity and prestige, and became a leading centre of the arts.
15/06/1416
John, Duke of Berry (born 1340)
John of Berry or John the Magnificent was Duke of Berry and Auvergne and Count of Poitiers and Montpensier. His brothers were King Charles V of France, Duke Louis I of Anjou and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy. He was Regent of France from 1380 to 1388 during the minority of his nephew Charles VI.
15/06/1389
Lazar of Serbia (born 1329)
Lazar Hrebeljanović was a medieval Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire. Lazar's state, referred to by historians as Moravian Serbia, comprised the basins of the Great Morava, West Morava, and South Morava rivers. Lazar ruled Moravian Serbia from 1371 until his death in 1389. He sought to resurrect the Serbian Empire and place himself at its helm, claiming to be the direct successor of the Nemanjić dynasty, which went extinct in 1371 after ruling over Serbia for two centuries. Lazar's programme had the full support of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but the Serbian nobility did not recognize him as their supreme ruler. He is often referred to as Tsar Lazar Hrebeljanović ; however, he only held the title of prince.
Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (born 1319)
Murad I, nicknamed Hüdavendigâr, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun. Murad I came to the throne after his elder half-brother Süleyman Pasha's death.
Miloš Obilić, Serbian knight.
Miloš Obilić is a legendary Serbian knight and saint in the Serbian Orthodox Church traditionally said to have served Prince Lazar during the Ottoman invasion of Serbia in the late 14th century. Although absent from contemporary records, he features prominently in later accounts of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo as the assassin of Sultan Murad I. The assassin remains unnamed in historical sources until the late 15th century, but the widespread circulation of the story in Florentine, Serbian, Ottoman, and Greek sources suggests that versions of it were known across the Balkans within decades of the battle.
15/06/1383
John VI Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor (born 1292)
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene was a Byzantine Greek emperor and nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byzantine emperor in his own right from 1347 to 1354. Deposed by his former ward, he was forced to retire to a monastery under the name Joasaph Christodoulos and spent the remainder of his life as a monk and historian. At age 90 or 91 at his death, he was the longest-lived of the Roman emperors. His two disastrous civil wars led to the loss of much of the remaining territory in the Balkans under Byzantine control to the Serbian and Bulgarian empires, but the most severe loss during his civil war was the loss of the Gallipoli peninsula to the Ottoman Turks, allowing the Ottomans to gain territory in Europe and setting the stage for the destruction of the Byzantine Empire a century later.
Matthew Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor
Matthew Asen Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus was Byzantine Emperor from 1353 to 1357 and later Despot of the Morea from 1380 to 1381.
15/06/1381
John Cavendish, English lawyer and judge (born 1346)
Sir John Cavendish was an English judge and politician from Cavendish, Suffolk, England. He and the village gave the name Cavendish to the aristocratic families of the Dukedoms of Devonshire, Newcastle and Portland.
Wat Tyler, English rebel leader (born 1341)
Wat Tyler was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the collection of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. While the brief rebellion enjoyed early success, Tyler was killed by officers loyal to King Richard II during negotiations at Smithfield, London.
15/06/1341
Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (born 1297)
Andronikos III Palaiologos, commonly Latinized as Andronicus III Palaeologus, was the Byzantine emperor from 1328 to 1341. He was the son of Michael IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia. He was proclaimed co-emperor in his youth, before 1313, and in April 1321 he rebelled against his grandfather, Andronikos II Palaiologos. He was formally crowned co-emperor in February 1325, before ousting his grandfather outright and becoming sole emperor on 24 May 1328.
15/06/1337
Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (born 1247)
Angelo da Clareno, also known as Angelo Clareno, was the founder and leader of one of the groups of Fraticelli in the early 14th century.
15/06/1246
Frederick II, Duke of Austria (born 1219)
Frederick II, known as Frederick the Quarrelsome, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1230 until his death. He was the fifth and last Austrian duke from the House of Babenberg, since the former margraviate was elevated to a duchy by the 1156 Privilegium Minus. He was killed in the Battle of the Leitha River, leaving no male heirs.
15/06/1189
Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (born 1159)
Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a Japanese samurai commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. His older half-brother was Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. His common name was Kurō, and his formal name was Yoshitsune.
15/06/1184
Magnus Erlingsson, King of Norway (born 1156)
Magnus Erlingsson, also known as Magnus V, was a king of Norway during the civil war era in Norway. He helped to establish primogeniture in royal succession in Norway. King Magnus was killed in the Battle of Fimreite in 1184 against the forces of Sverre Sigurdsson who became King of Norway.
15/06/1073
Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (born 1034)
Emperor Go-Sanjō was the 71st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His given name was Takahito (尊仁).
15/06/0991
Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 960)
Theophanu Skleraina was empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Emperor Otto II, and regent of the Empire during the minority of their son, Emperor Otto III, from 983 until her death in 991. She was the niece of the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes. Theophanu was known to be a forceful and capable ruler, and her status in the history of the Empire was in many ways exceptional. Her official titles contained 'consors imperii', which her stepmother Adelaide of Italy already received and 'comperatrix augusta', which was modeled after the Byzantine position of the empress to ensure succession and regencies.
15/06/0970
Adalbert, bishop of Passau
Adalbert was the 17th Bishop of Passau from 946 to 970.
15/06/0960
Eadburh of Winchester, English princess and saint
Eadburh was the daughter of King Edward the Elder of England and his third wife, Eadgifu of Kent. She lived most of her life as a nun known for her singing ability. Most of the information about her comes from hagiographies written several centuries after her life. She was canonised twelve years after her death and there are a small number of churches dedicated to her, most of which are located near Worcestershire, where she lived.
15/06/0952
Murong Yanchao, Chinese general
Murong Yanchao, known at one point as Yan Kunlun (閻崑崙), was a Chinese general of the Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han dynasties. As a half-brother of the Later Han founding emperor Liu Zhiyuan, he was particularly prominent in the Later Han dynasty. After the Later Han throne was seized by the general Guo Wei, who founded the Later Zhou dynasty, Murong initially submitted to Guo but then rebelled. His rebellion was quickly suppressed, and he committed suicide.
15/06/0948
Romanos I Lekapenos, Byzantine Emperor (born c. 870)
Romanos I Lakapenos or Lekapenos, Latinized as Romanus I Lacapenus or Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for and senior co-ruler of the young Constantine VII.
15/06/0923
Robert I of France (born 866)
Robert I was the elected King of West Francia from 922 to 923. Before his election to the throne he was Count of Poitiers, Count of Paris and Marquis of Neustria and Orléans. He succeeded the overthrown Carolingian king Charles the Simple, who in 898 had succeeded Robert's brother, king Odo.