August 20

430: The Vandals, a
Germanic tribe, established a kingdom in North Africa.  The Jews lived there peacefully and
flourished until the Almohad conquest in the 11th century.

636: Arab forces defeat
the Byzantine Christians at the Battle o…

July 21

285:
Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler. This was part of an attempt
to shore up the imperial authority.  In
another such step, Diocletian “ordered all the people …to accept his divinity
and offer sacrifices to him.  Fo…

July 28

450: Theodosius II the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor from
408 to 450 passed away. His reign was not a good period for the Jews people. In
425 “on the death of the Jewish Patriarch Gamaliel II, the patriarchate, and
the Jewish council …

July 31

904: Thessaloniki, which is also known as
Salonica, is sacked and looted by Saracens (an Arab group).  The Jewish population of Thessaloniki dates
back at least to the first century of the Common Era.  By the time Benjamin of Tudela …

August 9

48 B.C.E.: Julius
Caesar defeated Pompey at the battle of Parsalus. This victory helped to cement
Caesar’s position and put an end to Pompey. Considering Pompey’s behavior
towards the Jews, including his desecration of the Temple, Caesar’s vi…

July 29

1099:  Pope Urban II, the man behind the First
Crusade, passed away.  Considering the
impact of the Crusades on the Jews of Europe, his impact on Jewish history is
self-obvious.

1108: Philip
I, King of France one of whose subjects R…

July 27

1192: As
Richard the Lionheart and Saladin continued their conflict during the Third
Crusade, Saladin laid siege to Jaffa.

1214: French
King Phillip II defeats the forces headed by Otto IV, the Holy Roman Emperor
and King John of England at t…