[September 30] Yoshitaka, daimyo in Japan

Native Name: 大内 義隆
Parents: Yoshioki, daimyo of Suo Province
Date of Birth: 18 December 1507
House: Öuchi
Predecessor: Yoshioki

Reign: 1528 – 1551
Brief: Before he ascended the throne, Yoshitaka worked with his father and the Amago clan to take control of Aki Province. After his father's death, he continued the campaign conquering northern Kyushu and then the territories of his former ally, Amago Clan. By 1541, Yoshitaka was the sole ruler of Aki Province as well as his own hereditary area of Suo. Discontented with his new status, Yoshitaka turned on Izumo and lost terribly. He gave up on campaigning and turned to the arts and culture, splitting his advisors into two camps: those who wished to continue the wars and those who were content like their lord. In 1551, the warmonger camp rebelled and captured the daimyo, forcing him to commit suicide. Yoshitaka's adopted son, Yoshinaga, was installed on the throne as a puppet for the conqueror, Sue Harukata.

Date of Death: 30 September 1551

Successor: Yoshinaga

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Louis IV, king of France (954)
• Yaroslav II, grand prince of Vladimir (1246)

[September 29] Ferdinand VII, king of Spain

Surnamed: "The Desired"
Parents: Charles IV, king of Spain, and Maria Luisa of Parma
Date of Birth: 14 October 1784
House: Capet-Bourbon
Spouse(s): (1) Maria Antonietta, daughter of Ferdinand I, king of the Two Sicilies, and Marie Caroline of Austria, then (2) Maria Isabel, daughter of João VI, king of Portugal, and Carlota Joaquina of Spain, then (3) Maria Josepha Amalia, daughter of Maximilian of Saxony and Caroline of Bourbon-Parma, then (4) Maria Christina, daughter of Francis I, king of the Two Sicilies, and Maria Isabella of Spain
Predecessor: Charles IV

Reign: 1808, 1813 – 1833
Brief: Ferdinand ascended the throne in the wake of his father's forced abdication. Few supported him and the new king turned to Napoleon for help. Instead, Napoleon deposed the king and imprisoned him at the Chateau of Valençay in France for six years. The Peninsular War was the direct result of his abdication and governments throughout the Spanish colonies in the New World began rebelling against French control. Napoleon installed his brother, Joseph, on the Spanish throne and only acknowledged Ferdinand VII as king again in 1813 after signing the Treaty of Valençay. Once king again, Ferdinand became an autocrat, prompting a large-scale revolt in 1820. As he approached death, he changed the order of succession to favor his daughter, Isabella, over his nephews, angering a segment of the royal family that would soon rise up and begin the Carlist Wars.

Date of Death: 29 September 1833

Successor: Isabella II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Lothair I, emperor of the Romans (855)
• Charles, duke of Brittany (1364)
• Gustav I, king of Sweden (1560)

[September 28] St. Wenceslaus I, duke of Bohemia

Parents: Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia, and Drahomíra of the Havolans
Date of Birth: circa 907
House: Premyslid
Predecessor: Vratislav I

Reign: 921 – 935
Brief: Good King Wenceslas, a man who became a Christmas carol, was raised a Christian by his grandmother who served as his regent during the first decade of his reign. As duke, he accomplished little in his reign. Duke Arnulf of Bavaria and German King Henry I attacked Prague in 929 and forced the duchy to resume tribute payments to Germany. Raids of Magyars in Hungary drained the Bohemian coffers empty. In 935, nobles allied with Wenceslaus' brother, Boleslav, attacked and killed the young duke while on his way to church. A martyr cult developed within days of his death and he was proclaimed a saint by popular acclaimation. He was posthumously granted the title "king" by Emperor Otto I a few decades later, hence the name of the carol.

Date of Death: 28 September 935

Successor: Boleslav I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Louis II, king of East Francia (876)
• Pedro I, king of Aragon & Navarre (1104)
• Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1197)
• John Paul I, pope of Rome (1978)

[September 27] Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria

Surnamed: "The Great"
Parents: William V, duke of Bavaria, and Renata of Lorraine
Date of Birth: 17 April 1573
House: Wittelsbach
Spouse(s): (1) Elisabeth Renata, daughter of Charles III, duke of Lorraine, and Claude of France, then (2) Maria Anna, daughter of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria Anna of Bavaria
Predecessor: William V

Reign: 1597 – 1651
Brief: Raised by Jesuits, Maximilian was instrumental as a Catholic leader during the Thirty Years' War. When the Protestant Union was formed by princes in Northern Germany, Maximilian became the military leader of the rival Catholic League in 1609. In 1623, after years of warfare in and around Germany, Maximilian's head general conquered the Palatinate of the Rhine and the electoral dignity of that branch of the Wittelsbachs was revoked the transferred to Maximilian I, who became the first elector of Bavaria. While Bavaria lost the Thirty Years' War after Swedish and French troops sacked Munich in 1632, Maximilian was able to retain the electoral dignity and some of his conquered Palatinate lands at the end of the war in 1648. Maximilian died three years later at Ingolstaft and was buried in Munich.

Date of Death: 27 September 1651

Successor: Ferdinand Maria

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Raymond VII, count of Toulouse (1249)
• Go-Nara, emperor of Japan (1557)
• Urban VII, pope of Rome (1590)
• Innocent XII, pope of Rome (1700)

[September 26] Taichang, emperor of China