16 March: On this day in history
What events happened on 16 March in history? We round up the events, births and deaths…
16 March 1309
Robert Bruce convenes his first parliament at St Andrews. The parliament issues a declaration asserting both the independence of the kingdom and Bruce's right to rule it.
16 March 1322
Royalist forces under Sir Andrew Harcla defeated a rebel army under the earls of Lancaster and Hereford at Boroughbridge in Yorkshire. Hereford was killed; Lancaster was captured on the next day and later executed outside his own castle at Pontefract.
16 March 1457
Hungarian statesman and warrior László Hunyadi is beheaded in Buda.
16 March 1563
A bill for the ‘Punishment of Invocations of Evil Spirits, Witchcraft, Inchantment, or Sorcery’ received its first reading in the Elizabethan House of Commons.
16 March 1660
The Long Parliament voted for its own dissolution, paving the way for the election of the Convention Parliament which was to bring about the Restoration of King Charles II.
16 March 1751
Birth in Port Conway, Virginia, of James Madison. The fourth president of the United States of America, Madison led the country during the War of 1812 with Britain.
16 March 1968
As many as 500 Vietnamese civilians are murdered by US troops at My Lai, South Vietnam. Lieutenant William Calley will be the only participant to be convicted for the crime. | Read more about the Vietnam War
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