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Constantine III (died 411) was a common Roman soldier who was declared emperor in Roman Britain in 407. He moved to Gaul (modern France), taking all of the mobile troops and their commander Gerontius from Britain to confront bands of Germanic invaders. Constantine stabilised the situation and established control over Gaul and Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal). Honorius, the Western Roman emperor, sent an army to expel Constantine's forces. After initial victories it was repulsed. In early 409 Honorius recognised Constantine as co-emperor. Constantine in turn raised his oldest son to co-emperor as Constans II. In 409 Gerontius rebelled, defeating and killing Constans in early 411. Meanwhile, Honorius appointed a new general, Constantius, who besieged Constantine in Arles. A relief force was ambushed and he abdicated, took holy orders and – promised his life – surrendered. Constantius had lied: Constantine was killed and his head presented to Honorius on a pole in September 411. (Full article...)

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The wreckage of the Montevideo Maru is discovered in the South China Sea.

On this day

May 2

Aerial view of Old Portsmouth

1194 – King Richard I of England gave the city of Portsmouth (Old Portsmouth pictured) its first Royal Charter.
1559 – Presbyterian clergyman John Knox returned from exile to lead the Scottish Reformation.
1670 – A royal charter granted the Hudson's Bay Company a monopoly in the fur trade in Rupert's Land (present-day Canada).
1999 – Mireya Moscoso became the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
2003 – Cyclone Manou formed in the Indian Ocean; over the next two weeks it struck Madagascar and left more than 100,000 people homeless.
2011 – Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 in a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Blanche of Artois (d. 1302)
Ichiyō Higuchi (b. 1872)
Dwayne Johnson (b. 1972)

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Today's featured picture

The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS fighter-bomber, the Tornado ECR suppression of enemy air defences aircraft and the Tornado ADV interceptor aircraft. Developed by Panavia Aircraft, it made its first flight in 1974 and entered service in 1979–80. The Tornado is used in active service by the German Air Force, the Italian Air Force, the Royal Saudi Air Force and was also used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) until 2019. This RAF Tornado GR4 was photographed in a training sortie over North West England in 2012.

Photograph credit: Mike Jones

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