01010603 This Day In History, June 3

350: Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaimed himself Emperor of Rome (see also A History Of Jerusalem: Pompey And The Caesars and Whatever Happened To Those Romans?).

1083: Henry IV of Germany attacked Rome and captured St. Peter's Cathedral (see The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation).

1098: During the First Crusade, the Crusaders took Antioch after a five-month siege (see Constantine's Crusades In History And Prophecy).

1140: The French scholar Peter Abelard was convicted of heresy.

1326: The Treaty of Novgorod defined the borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark (an area of northeastern Norway).

1539: Hernando De Soto claimed what later became known as "Florida" for Spain.

1608: Samuel de Champlain completed his third voyage to "New France" (much of North America east of the Mississippi River).

1621: The Dutch West India Company was granted a charter for New Netherland (the general area that later became known as New England).

1665: James Stuart, Duke of York (later King James II of England) defeated the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.

1769: Captain James Cook, a year into his circumnavigation of the world, observed the transit of Venus over the sun.

1778: The first issue of The Montreal Gazette was published.

1818: The last of the Maratha Wars between the British and the Maratha Confederacy in India ended, securing British supremacy in India.

1866: The Fenians (a cult of Irish rebels) were driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario, into the U.S.

1841: Nicolas Appert died at age 91, The French chef and distiller, known as "the father of canning," invented the method of preserving food by enclosing it in hermetically sealed containers.

1885: The last military battle fought in Canadian territory: Cree against the North West Mounted Police (later to become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police).

1934: Dr. Frederick Banting of Toronto, co-discoverer of insulin, was knighted by King George V.

1937: The Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated as King Edward VIII of England, married Wallis Simpson in France. He gave up the crown to marry her, the first voluntary abdication in 1,000 years. His brother became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II.

1940: During the Second World War (1939-1945), the German Luftwaffe (air force) bombed Paris.

1969: Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collided with the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans; the destroyer was severed in half.

1979: An oil blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the Gulf of Mexico caused a 3 million barrel oil spill into the water. It was the second-worst accidental oil spill.

1989: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, revolutionary leader of Iran, died at age 89.

1989: China's crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents protesting in Tiananmen Square began.

1991: Mount Unzen erupted in Japan; 43 people were killed 43 people, all either scientists or journalists.