[September 5] Constance, duchess of Brittany

Date of Birth: 12 June 1161
Parents: Conan IV, duke of Brittany, and Margaret of Huntingdon
House: Penthièvre
Spouse(s): (1) Geoffrey, son of Henry II, king of England, and Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine, then (2)Ranulf, earl of Chester, then (3) Guy of Thouars

Predecessor: Conan IV

Reign: 1171 – 1194
Summary: Inheriting the duchy of Brittany from her father in 1171 at the age of ten, Constance went on to lead a troubled life. At twenty, she was forced into marriage with Geoffrey Plantagenet, the fourth son of King Henry II of England. The couple had three children, two of which inherited Brittany after her. Geoffrey excluded his wife from managing Brittany while he lived, and when he was trampled to death in a tournament in 1186, she was only too eager to reclaim her authority. King Henry, though, sought to control his former daughter-in-law. He married her off again two years later to an English lord, who resumed her duties as lord suo uxoris. In 1191, King Richard I of England proclaimed Constance's son, Arthur, as his heir in a treaty signed by the king of France. Constance abdicated her throne in 1194 to support the claims of her son. Meanwhile, her married life was in disarray and her second husband eventually imprisoned her in England, sparking rebellions in Brittany. She was released in 1198. Constance immediately had her marriage annulled and soon after married a Breton nobleman. When Richard died in 1199, Arthur became the count of Anjou, Maine, and Poitou, but Richard's brother John took the English throne. Arthur swore loyalty to King Philip II of France prompting a short war with John. The young duke was captured at Mirabeau and vanished mysteriously three years later. Eleanor, Constance's eldest daughter, was also captured and imprisoned for the remainder of her life. Constance didn't live to see the fate of her children, though. She died at Nantes in 1201 and was buried in a nearby abbey. She probably died from complications related to the birth of twins at the age of 40.

Date of Death: 5 September 1201

Successor: Arthur I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Nijo, emperor of Japan (1165)
• Henry I, duke of Brabant (1235)

[September 4] Tughril, shahanshah of Persia

Commemorative monument dedicated to Tughril near Tehran

True Name: Tuğrul (طغرل)
Date of Birth: c. 990
Parents: Seljuk, chief of the Kinik tribe
House: Seljuk

Reign: 1016 – 1063

Summary: When he first appeared on the steppe around 1016, few feared him or worried about his power. Tughril was of the Seljuk line, descended from a Turkoman warrior and leader of a small confederacy of Turkic tribes. In 1025, his brother, Chaghri, and he joined forces with the Kara-Khanid Sultanate of Bukhara, but that year the sultanate was defeated by the Ghaznavid Empire. Tughril settled in Khwarezm where he began army building, while an uncle settled in Khorasan and did the same. When that uncle, Arslan, was defeated, Tughril reacted and conquered the entire region between 1028 and 1029. By 1037, they had sacked Ghazni itself and Tughril took the sultanate of Nishapur for himself. Three years later, the battle of Dandanaqan forced the remnants of the Ghaznavid Empire to flee to the east, leaving massive land gains for the up-and-coming Seljuk leader. With the Ghaznavids out of the way, Tughril moved to consolidate his control over the remainder of Persia, which he accomplished by 1044.

With Persia under direct Seljuk control, Tughril pushed his armies to the doorstep to the Byzantine Empire and was being looked on by the Abbasid Caliphate as a potential savior from their occupation by Buyid raiders. Tughril took the city of Baghdad for himself in 1055 but lost it three years later. He reclaimed the city in 1060, having killed his foster brother to ensure its defeat. To secure his position within the Caliphate, Tughril married the daughter of the caliph. Unfortunately, he died childless three years later in Persia. His nephew, Suleiman, was appointed his successor but Alp Arslan, another Seljuk rival, eventually defeated him and took the throne the next year.

Date of Death: 4 September 1063

Successor: Alp Arsian

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Boniface I, pope of Rome (422)
• Musa al-Kadhim, imam of Shi'a Islam (799)
• Bermudo III, king of León (1037)

[September 3] Gian Galeazzo, duke of Milan

Date of Birth: 16 October 1351
Parents: Galeazzo II, lord of Milan, and Bianca of Savoy
House: Visconti
Spouse(s): (1) Isabelle, daughter of Jean II, king of France, and Bonne of Bohemia, then (2) Caterina, daughter of Bernabò, lord of Milan, and Beatrice Regina della Scala

Predecessor: Galeazzo II and Barnabò (as lords of Milan)

Reign: 1395 – 1402

Date of Death: 3 September 1402

Successor: Gian Maria

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Sun Xiu, emperor of Eastern Wu (264)
• Umar al-Aqta, emir of Melitene (863)
• Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England (1658)

[September 2] Jiaqing, emperor of China

Native Name: 嘉慶帝

Date of Birth: 13 November 1760
Parents: Qianlong, emperor of China, and Xiaoyichun
House: Qing (Manchu)
Spouse(s): (1) Xiaoshurui, daughter of Hitara Horchingo, duke of Cheng'en, and Yongyan of China, then (2) Xiaoherui, daughter of Gong'ala

Predecessor: Qinglong

Reign: 1796 – 1820

Summary: Born in a secondary imperial palace, his mother was a native Chinese woman while his father was descended from the Qing dynasty of Manchuria north of China. In 1773, Jiaqing became the crown prince when his elder brothers dies. A close advisor to his father, Heshen, was severely despised by the prince for his abuses of power. When he became emperor, his first task was to remove the entrenched minister of state. Jiaqing's father abdicated the throne in 1795 to avoid out-reigning his father, Kangxi. His father continued to rule for another three years as a retired emperor.

In 1799, Jiaqing took over management of the empire from his father, who died early in the year. Heshen was accused of corruption and abuse of power, stripped of his titles and rank, and ordered to commit suicide. The White Lotus Rebellion and the Miao Rebellions had broken out around this time and emptied the Chinese treasury quickly, putting China at a severe economic disadvantage. His lifelong goal became the re-establishment of Chinese fortunes and influence in East Asia. Unfortunately, British imperialism led to an outflow of silver to pay for Indian opium, a process that continued to drain the Chinese treasury. In 1803, and again in 1813, members of Jiaqing's family attempted to kill the emperor. Hundreds of members of the family were exiled for their betrayal. Fearing the spread of European ideas, the preaching of Catholicism was outlawed in China under penalty of death. Those Christians already in China were sent to Muslim cities in western China and given as slaves to appease Muslim leaders. By 1820, Jiaqing was an obese emperor and probably suffered a stroke resulting in his death. His second son, Daoguang, succeeded him.

Date of Death: 2 September 1820
Successor: Daoguang

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Constantius III, emperor of Rome (421)
• Munetaka, shogun of Japan (1274)
• Dawit II, emperor of Ethiopia (1540)
• Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (1690)

[September 1] Louis XIV, king of France & Navarre

Surnamed: "The Sun King" (le Roi-Soleil)

Date of Birth: 5 September 1938
Parents: Louis XIII, king of France, and Anne of Austria
House: Bourbon
Spouse(s): (1) Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip IV, king of Spain & Portugal, and Elisabeth of France, then (2) Françoise, daughter of Constant d'Aubigné and Jeanne de Cardillac

Predecessor: Louis XIII

Reign: 1643 – 1715

Summary: The longest-reigning monarch in European history, Louis XIV began his rule as a five-year-old child, leaving the management of the state to various regents. Anne of Austria, his mother, served as the chief regent, with Cardinal Mazarin as the prime minister. In 1648, the Thirty Years' War ended with Dutch independence from Spain formalized. As the war ended, the Fronde, a French civil war, erupted. It was led by dissatisfied aristocrats who feared a centralized French monarchy. Anne fled Paris with her sons and some courtiers until the French army returned and reestablished order in the kingdom. A second Fronde, this time led by many members of the royal family, broke out, but ended when Louis came of age. 

Mazarin's death in 1661 began Louis' formal rule in France. Although he had been of age for three years already, he chose to allow his prime minister to rule. In 1665, Louis chose Jean-Baptiste Colbert as his controller of finances in a role that he would one day regret. Over the next few years, Louis attempted to gather all the varied legal codes from throughout France into one tome that was later known as the Code Louis. As a patron, Louis expanded many of his palaces and supported all forms of art. At Versailles, he built a new chateau to rival all of those of Europe. He remodeled Paris as well, demolishing city walls and expanding boulevards. Most of Louis' reign was frought with war, many that he started or maintained. The War of Devolution in the Spanish Netherlands began in 1665 and acted as a prelude to the War of the Spanish Succession in 1700. The Franco-Dutch War in 1672 helped bring William of Orange to power in the Netherlands and also brought enmity between the two monarchs. Outside of Europe, France expanded its holdings to nearly every habitable continent, especially America and India. Louis famously began requiring all his nobles attend him at court in Versailles on a regular basis, a means to control the aristocracy. He included military nobles in this game to ensure the loyalty of the army and navy. Religion, though, was something he had little control over. In 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes and began to actively persecute non-Catholics living in France. Up to 200,000 Huguenots fled France in the ensuing years. The War of the League of Augsburg began in 1688 and was a direct response to French aggression in Germany. Piggybacking off this war, the Glorious Revolution in France deposed the French-friendly Stuarts with the Dutchman William of Orange, who had been hurt by France before. Louis funded Irish revolt and backed the deposed English king James II, but to no avail. The Augsburg War ended in 1697 with France having the upper hand. Another war, this time over the Spanish Succession, consumed the remainder of Louis' reign. His grandson, Philip of Anjou, was the declared heir of the dying King Charles II of Spain. When the king died, Louis went to war over Philip's claim. Attempts to avoid war failed and world war followed, with theaters in Europe, Asia, and the Americas (Queen Anne's War). The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 ended the war, with the Treaty of Rastatt ending the conflict between France and Austria. Philip retained his new throne as Philip V of Spain, while Austria gained the Austrian Netherlands and parts of Italy. Louis died of gangrene at Versailles in 1715, only days before his 77th birthday. His son, the Grand Dauphin, his grandson, the Petit Dauphin, and his great-grandson, the Duke of Brittany, had all predeceased him. A brother of the duke of Brittany, Louis, Duke of Anjou, therefore, became his successor as Louis XV.

Date of Death: 1 September 1715
Successor: Louis XV

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Baldwin V, count of Flanders (1067)
• Adrian IV, pope of Rome (1159)
• Kujo Yoritsune, shogun of Japan (1256)
• Guru Ram Das, Sikh Guru (1581)