- July 17, 0180 Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa executed for being Christians. This is the earliest
record of Christianity in that part of the world. - July 17, 0924 “Edward the Elder of Wessex and Mercia dies and is succeeded by his son Athelstan, 29, who will reign until 940, continuing his father’s conquest of the Danelaw north of the Thames-Lea line from the Vikings who have been in Britain since 787
- July 17, 1048 Damasus II appointed Pope.
- July 17, 1203 Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault; the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus flees from his capital into exile.
- July 17, 1453 “Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Castillon – The French under Jean Bureau utterly defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony”
- July 17, 1695 “Establishment of the Bank of Scotland under an Act of the Scottish Parliament,The Three Estates.”
- July 17, 1762 Catherine II becomes tzar of Russia upon the accidental murder of Peter III of Russia.
- July 17, 1771 “Bloody Falls Massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacre a group of unsuspecting Inuit.”
- July 17, 1775 The first military hospital approved
- July 17, 1791 “Members of the French National guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing as many as 50 people.”
- July 17, 1794 “African Church of St Thomas in Philadelphia, dedicated”
- July 17, 1794 Richard Allen organizes Phila’s Bethel African Meth Episcopal Church
- July 17, 1794 The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne are executed 10 days prior to the end of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.
- July 17, 1815 “Napoleonic Wars: In France, Napoleon surrenders at Rochefort, Charente-Maritime to British forces.”
- July 17, 1816 The French passenger ship Medusa runs aground off the coast of Senegal.
- July 17, 1841 “British humor magazine “”Punch”” first published in London – UK”
- July 17, 1850 Harvard Observatory takes first photograph of a star (Vega)
- July 17, 1856 Sunday school excursion train collides killing 46 children (Phila)
- July 17, 1856 “The Great Train Wreck of 1856, occurs in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania killing over 60 people.”
- July 17, 1858 Salving of the Lutine bell. The bell is subsequently hung in Lloyd’s of London.
- July 17, 1861 Congress authorizes paper money
- July 17, 1862 US army authorized to accept blacks as laborers