1174 William the Lion of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, was captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.

1298 Death of Jacobus de Voragine (born c. 1230), Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author of the Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea), one of the most popular religious works of the Middle Ages, a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church.

From Wikipedia: The preface divides the ecclesiastical year into four periods corresponding to the various epochs of the world's history, a time of deviation, of renovation, of reconciliation and of pilgrimage. The book itself, however, falls into five sections: (a) from Advent to Christmas (cc. 1-5); (b) from Christmas to Septuagesima (6-30); (e) from Septuagesima to Easter (31-53); (d) from Easter Day to the octave of Pentecost (54-76); (e) from the octaye of Pentecost to Advent (77-180). The saints' lives are full of puerile legend, and in not a few cases contain accounts of 13^th-Century miracles wrought at special places, particularly with reference to the Dominicans. The last chapter but one (181), "De Sancto Pelagio Papa," contains a kind of history of the world from the middle of the 6^th century; while the last (182) is a somewhat allegorical disquisition, 'De Dedicatione Ecclesiae'.

The Golden Legend was translated into French by Jean Belet de Vigny in the 14^th century. It was also one of the earliest books to issue from the press. A Latin edition is assigned to about 1469; and a dated one was published at Lyon in 1473. Many other Latin editions were printed before the end of the century. A French translation by Master John Bataillier is dated 1476; Jean de Vigny's appeared at Paris, 1488; an Italian one by Nic. Manerbi (? Venice, H75); a Czech one at Pilsen, 1475 - '79, and at Prague, 1495; William Caxton's English versions, 1483, 1487 and 1493; and a German one in 1489. Several 15^th-Century editions of the Sermons are also known, and the Mariale was printed at Venice in 1497 and at Paris in 1503. All in all, during the first five decades of printing in Europe, editions of the Legenda Aurea appeared about two a year.

Almost as popular were Jacobus's collected sermons, also termed 'Aurea'.

His birth date appears to be unknown, and sources vary as to the date of his death, sometimes giving July 16, 1298.

1558 Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeated the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.

1643 English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down – In England, Lord Henry Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Sir William Waller.

1705 Death of Titus Oates, Protestant plotter.

1772 HMS Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook, set sail from Plymouth, England.

1787 The United States Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance, establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also established procedures for the admission of new states and limited the expansion of slavery.

1793 French Revolution leader Jean-Paul Marat (b. 1743) was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a Girondist activist.

"Jean Paul Marat, one of the most outspoken leaders of the French Revolution, was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a Royalist sympathizer. Originally a doctor, Marat founded the journal L'Ami du Peuple in 1789, and its fiery criticism of those in power was a contributing factor to the bloody turn of the Revolution in 1792. In August of that year, with the arrest of the king, Marat was elected as a deputy of Paris to the Convention. In France's revolutionary legislature, Marat opposed the Girondists; a faction made up of moderate republicans who advocated a constitutional government and continental war. In 1793, Charlotte Corday, the daughter of an impoverished aristocrat and an ally of the Girondists in Normandy, came to regard Marat as the unholy enemy of France, and plotted his assassination. Leaving her native Caen for Paris, she had planned to kill Marat at the Bastille Day parade on July 14, but was forced to seek him out in his home when the festivities were cancelled. On July 13, she gained an audience with Marat by promising to betray the Caen Girondists. Marat, who had a persistent skin disease, was working as usual in his bath when Corday pulled a knife from her bodice and stabbed him in his chest. He died almost immediately, and Corday waited calmly for the police to come and arrest her. She was guillotined four days later."   Source

1794 The Battle of the Vosges between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria.

1798 William Wordsworth, on a walking tour through the Wye Valley, visited the ruins of Tintern Abbey and a few miles further on composed a poem about them.  

'Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey'

On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During A Tour.
July 13, 1798

By William Wordsworth

FIVE years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.--Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
With some uncertain notice, as might seem!
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.

1816 The summer day of rain, hail and snow

Occasionally almanackists get it right. In March, 1816, Robert B Thomas, founder and editor (1792 - 1846) of the Farmer's Almanac, in New England, USA,  was ill in bed with influenza. A Boston printer's devil (office boy) was sent to his bedside to obtain copy for the July, 1816 weather forecast. He was so ill he sent the boy away, saying that the printer could insert whatever information he liked. The printer did just that, and for July 13, the height of the northern summer, he predicted 'Rain, hail and snow'.

On his recovery, Thomas was aghast to see such a forecast and ordered the proof sheets destroyed. Some, however, found their way into circulation. When it actually did rain, hail and snow on July 13, Mr Thomas became established as the foremost weather forecaster of his time, and he put most of his competitors out of business. Or so it is said.

1837 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom moved into the first Buckingham Palace in London and was the first British monarch to live there.

1854 In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez (Jose Maria Yanez) stopped the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon.

1861 American Civil War: Battle of Corrick's Ford, western Virginia.

The mob lynching a Negro in Clarkson Street; The Illustrated London News, August 8, 1863

1863 New York City, USA: First day of the New York Draft Riots in response to President Abraham Lincoln's Enrolment Act of Conscription to draft men to fight in the continuing Civil War. The first draft lottery was held on July 11, 1863.

The riots, which lasted five days, ending on July 17, are probably the worst in United States history, with possibly 1,000 people or more dying over four days; 18 African Americans were hanged, and five drowned. 

From Wikipedia: The riots erupted after the names of the drafted men appeared in the local New York City press on July 13, shortly after the newspapers had reported the tremendous loss of life at Gettysburg. Although the draft was universal, it was possible to pay a "commutation fee" to escape service, thereby excluding the wealthier classes from the hazards of war.

In response, some 50,000 people, particularly impoverished Irish immigrants, rioted, smashing store windows and attacking people, mainly African Americans, on the street. Telegraph offices and wires were attacked to disrupt communication, indicating organized leadership.

The riot began with the burning of a draft office. Members of the fire department stood by and watched, angry that they had lost their exemption to the draft. Targets of the rioters were initially draft offices and police stations, but soon spread to black property and organizations, and white sympathizers. An orphanage for black children was burned but the children were rescued. The Chief of Police was captured by the mob and badly beaten before he escaped. The office of abolitionist newspaper editor Horace Greeley was destroyed.

The New York police forces proved unable to quell the riots. The police were badly outnumbered and had to focus on minimising losses and rescuing those which they could. Control of the city was not re-established until the hasty arrival of the 7^th New York Infantry from Pennsylvania after a forced march. By the fifteenth the mob still controlled scattered portions of the city. By the morning of the sixteenth there were nearly 4,000 federal troops in the city and the riot subsided.

The exact death toll is unknown, but at least 100 people were killed and at least 300 more injured; property damage was about $1.5 million. The Guinness Book of World Records cites it as the bloodiest riot in history, costing approximately 1,200 lives.

"On the evening of Sunday, July 12th, working men and women met in the city's streets and saloons and read the names drawn during the previous day's draft lottery. Growing angry, they discussed resisting or disrupting the draft. On Monday morning, workers from the city's railroads, machine shops, shipyards, and iron foundries marched up Eighth and Ninth Avenues. The group stopped briefly at Central Park, where leaders spoke out against the draft, and then proceeded to the Provost Marshall's Office at Third Avenue and Forty Sixth Street, where more names were to be drawn that day. Carrying "No Draft" signs, they cut telegraph wires and gathered weapons along the way. On the East Side, crowds halted streetcars on Second and Third Avenues and attacked policemen, including Superintendent of Police John Kennedy."   Source

"During the Civil War, major riots broke out in New York City against the implementation of the first wartime draft of U.S. civilian in American history. The majority of the rioters were Democratic Irish laborers who were outraged that exemptions from the draft could be legally bought for three hundred dollars, a small fortune out of reach of the average worker. Many of the rioters were also opposed to the Union war effort because of fears of losing their jobs to emancipated African-American slaves. The conscription act, passed by Congress on March 3, called for registration of all males between the ages of twenty and forty-five years by April 1. On June 11, the first names of draftees were drawn in New York City. Two days later, a mob swarmed into the draft office at 3rd Avenue and 45th Street in Manhattan, set it on fire, and nearly beat the superintendent to death. Within an hour, the entire block was burning, the riot was spreading, and looting had begun. The Federal troops usually stationed in the city had not yet returned from Gettysburg, so New York City police faced the enraged mobs alone. Well-dressed men on the street were beaten, a police captain was killed, and several Protestant churches were burned. The mob then turned it anger against African Americans, and eleven people were lynched, burned alive, or beaten to death. By July 15, several dozen protesters had been killed along with another policeman, and the first troops hastily marching back from Gettysburg arrived. Before the riot was suppressed the next day, eight soldiers and scores of rioters had been killed. In total, over one hundred people perished during the four days of violence. Protests and riots against the draft also erupted elsewhere, but none as costly as those that occurred in New York. New York's city council later announced that city funds would pay the three-hundred-dollar commutation fee for any man too poor to pay it himself, and in August, the draft act was suspended all across the Union."   Source  

Where the gangs lived    Harper's Weekly coverage    US race riots

Tulsa Race Riot in the Book of Days    More pictures   More    More

1865 An editorial by Horace Greeley published in the New York Tribune advised, 'Go West, young man, go West'.

1865 PT Barnum's American Museum was destroyed in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City's history. No one knows for certain who or what caused the fire.

Online recreation of Barnum's American Museum

1866 "After reinforcing, and renaming Fort Reno, in northeastern Wyoming, Colonel Henry Carrington sets out to find a base camp from which he can protect the Bozeman Trail. He arrives at a point near Big Piney Creek with plenty of good grass for his horses. Here he starts building Fort Phil Kearny. The fort is in the middle of one of the best hunting grounds in the region, just south of present day Sheridan, Wyoming."   Source

1876 At the invitation of Helena Blavatsky and Henry S Olcott, co-founders of the Theosophical Society, Henry Slade (1836 - 1905), controversial American medium and fraudster, arrived in England for a series of 'spiritual' demonstrations.

1878 The Treaty of Berlin made Serbia completely independent.

1889 British publisher Mr Macmillan disappeared from the summit of Mt Olympus.

1900 Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin was retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers.

1909 Gold was discovered near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada.

1923 Britain prohibited the sale of alcohol to those under 18 years.

1939 "Frank Sinatra made his recording debut with the Harry James band on July 13, 1939, singing 'Melancholy Mood' and 'From The Bottom of My Heart.' Bandleader Harry James had heard Sinatra sing on a radio broadcast from the Rustic Cabin roadside café and invited him to record with the band. Sinatra's first radio broadcast was with 'The Hoboken Four,' also known as 'Frank Sinatra and the 3 Flashes,' on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour talent competition on September 8, 1935. The group won."   Source

1942 World War II: German U-Boats sank three more merchant ships in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

1945 Ben Chifley became Prime Minister of Australia.

1947 Europe accepted America's Marshall Plan to aid economic recovery after World War II.

1948 The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reached an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops were immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, were empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV was granted the power to consecrate new bishops.

1957 Elvis Presley's first UK No 1 hit: 'All Shook Up'.

1973 USA: Alexander Butterfield revealed to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in the existence of the Richard Nixon tapes.

1977 Due to thunderstorms, the New York City Blackout of 1977 lasted for 25 hours and resulted in looting, a baby boom nine months later, and other disorder. Along Broadway between 96^th and 106^th Streets more than a dozen stores were looted, and at least 30 people were arrested and taken to the West 100^th Street stationhouse.

NY Times report

1984 "In 1984, a street in Fort Worth, Texas, developed a 20ft long, two-foot-wide bulge. It moved from side to side like a giant worm before disappearing after about one hour. 'It seemed almost alive,' said a fireman. 'What spooked me was that there wasn't even a crack in the road.' Street crews used jackhammers to break through two inches of asphalt and four inches of concrete, but found no evidence of a gas build-up that might have caused the bulge. Six months later the story emerged in an American tabloid under the headline: 20 Foot Earthworm terrorizes City ... Swallows Dog."   Source

1985 The Live Aid benefit concert, a telecast fundraising concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow. Live Aid, organized by Ireland's Boomtown Rats frontman, Bob Geldof, was broadcast to 140 countries throughout the world, and more than 104 US television stations. Millions of dollars were raised. It was a great rock line-up:

Artists" From the Live Aid DVD

Credited cast:
Bob Geldof .... Himself 
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: 
Bryan Adams .... Himself (at JFK Stadium) 
Stuart Adamson .... Himself (as Big Country) 
Adam Ant .... Himself 
Nick Ashford .... Himself 
Joan Baez .... Herself 
Tom Bailey .... Himself (as Thompson Twins) 
Gary Beers .... Himself (INXS) (as INXS) 
Big Country .... Themselves 
Bono .... Himself (as U2) 
The Boomtown Rats .... Themselves 
David Bowie .... Himself 
Andrew Bown .... Himself (as Status Quo) 
Jeff Bridges .... Himself/host 
Pete Briquette .... Himself (as Boomtown Rats) 
Charlie Burchill .... Himself (as Simple Minds) 
Geezer Butler .... Himself (as Black Sabbath) 
Tony Butler .... Himself (as Big Country) 
Warren Cann .... Himself 
The Cars .... Themselves 
Martin Chambers .... Himself (as The Pretenders) 
Eric Clapton .... Himself 
Dick Clark .... Himself/host 
Adam Clayton .... Himself (as U2) 
Phil Collins .... Himself 
Billy Connolly .... Himself 
Elvis Costello .... Himself 
David Crosby .... Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) 
Crosby Stills Nash & Young .... Themselves (at JFK Stadium) 
Chris Cross .... Himself (as Ultravox) 
Simon Crowe .... Himself (as Boomtown Rats) 
Alannah Currie .... Herself (as Thompson Twins) 
Billy Currie .... Himself (as Ultravox) 
Roger Daltrey .... Himself (as The Who) 
John Deacon .... Himself (as Queen) 
Paul Denham .... Himself (Sade's backing band) 
Ronnie James Dio .... Himself (as Black Sabbath) 
Dire Straits .... Themselves 
Duran Duran .... Themselves 
Bob Dylan .... Himself 
John Entwistle .... Himself (as The Who) 
Andrew Farriss .... Himself (as INXS) 
Jon Farriss .... Himself (as INXS) 
Tim Farriss .... Himself (as INXS) 
Bryan Ferry .... Himself 
Sally Field .... Herself 
Johnnie Fingers .... Himself (as Boomtown Rats) 
David Gilmour .... Himself (Bryan Ferry's backing band) 
Tony Hadley .... Himself (as Spandau Ballet) 
Andrew Hale .... Himself (Sade's backing band) 
Daryl Hall .... Himself 
Michael Hutchence .... Himself (as INXS) 
Chrissie Hynde .... Herself (as The Pretenders) 
John Illsley .... Himself (as Dire Straits) 
INXS .... Themselves 
Tony Iommi .... Himself (as Black Sabbath) 
Mick Jagger .... Himself 
Elton John .... Himself 
John Paul Jones .... Himself (as Led Zeppelin) 
Casey Kasem .... Himself/announcer 
John Keeble .... Himself (as Spandau Ballet) 
Gary Kemp .... Himself (as Spandau Ballet) 
Martin Kemp .... Himself (as Spandau Ballet) 
Eddie Kendricks .... Himself 
Jim Kerr .... Himself (as Simple Minds) 
Andy Kershaw .... Himself 
Nik Kershaw .... Himself 
BB King .... Himself 
Mark Knopfler .... Himself (as Dire Straits) 
Patti LaBelle .... Herself 
Alan Lancaster .... Himself (as Status Quo) 
Simon Le Bon .... Himself (as Duran Duran) 
Joe Leeway .... Himself (as Thompson Twins) 
Matt Lettley .... Himself (as Status Quo) 
Madonna .... Herself 
Stuart Matthewman .... Himself (Sade's backing band) 
Brian May .... Himself (as Queen) 
Paul McCartney .... Himself 
Marilyn McCoo .... Herself/hostess 
Darryl McDaniels .... Himself (as Run-D.M.C.) 
Robbie McIntosh .... Himself (as The Pretenders) 
Freddie Mercury .... Himself (as Queen) 
George Michael .... Himself (as Wham!) 
Jason Mizell .... Himself (as Run-D.M.C.) 
Alison Moyet .... Herself 
Larry Mullen Jr. .... Himself (as U2) 
Graham Nash .... Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) 
Jack Nicholson .... Himself 
Petter Nome .... Himself (host, Norway) 
Steve Norman .... Himself (as Spandau Ballet) 
John Oates .... Himself (as Hall & Oates) 
Ric Ocasek .... Himself (as The Cars) 
Ben Orr .... Himself (as The Cars) 
Ozzy Osbourne .... Himself (as Black Sabbath) 
Jimmy Page .... Himself (as Led Zeppelin) 
Rick Parfitt .... Himself (as Status Quo) 
Teddy Pendergrass .... Himself 
Robert Plant .... Himself (as Led Zeppelin) 
Power Station .... Themselves 
The Pretenders .... Themselves 
Queen .... Themselves 
Nick Rhodes .... Himself (as Duran Duran) 
Griff Rhys Jones .... Himself 
Keith Richards .... Himself (as The Rolling Stones) 
Lionel Richie .... Himself 
Andrew Ridgeley .... Himself (as Wham!) 
Tony Rivers .... Himself (background-singer with Elton John) 
Garry Roberts .... Himself (as Boomtown Rats) 
Francis Rossi .... Himself (as Status Quo) 
David Ruffin .... Himself 
Black Sabbath .... Themselves 
Sade .... Herself 
Carlos Santana .... Himself (as Santana) 
George Segal .... Himself/host 
Joseph Simmons .... Himself (as Run-D.M.C.) 
Simple Minds .... Themselves 
Valerie Simpson .... Herself 
Mel Smith .... Himself 
Spandau Ballet .... Themselves 
Rick Springfield .... Himself 
Status Quo .... Themselves 
Stephen Stills .... Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) 
Sting .... Himself 
Style Council .... Themselves 
Andy Taylor .... Himself (as Duran Duran/Power Station) 
John Taylor .... Himself (as Duran Duran/Power Station) 
Roger Taylor .... Himself (as Queen) 
Roger Taylor .... Himself (as Duran Duran) 
The Edge .... Himself (as U2) 
The Thompson Twins .... Themselves 
Pete Townshend .... Himself (as The Who) 
Tina Turner .... Herself 
U2 .... Themselves 
Tracey Ullman .... Herself 
Ultravox .... Themselves 
Midge Ure .... Himself (as Ultravox) 
Bill Ward .... Himself (as Black Sabbath) 
Bruce Watson .... Himself (as Big Country) 
Paul Weller .... Himself (as Style Council) 
Wham! .... Themselves 
The Who .... Themselves 
Brian Wilson .... Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as The Beach Boys) 
Ron Wood .... Himself 
Neil Young .... Himself (at JFK Stadium) (as Crosby Stills Nash & Young) 
Paul Young .... Himself 

Source of list: IMDB