| 22 September 855 | Carolingian Empire [administration] | Worn out by illness, the Frankish emperor Lothair I retires to the monastery of Prüm (in present-day Germany) and partitions his lands among his three sons. The emperor Louis II receives Italy, Lothair II receives the area from Frisia to the Alps, called Lotharii regnum (‘Reign of Lothair’, Lotharingia or Lorraine), and Charles receives the kingdom of Provence. Lothair I dies six days later (28 September). |
| 22 September 1485 | France [law and government] | Louis, Duke of Orléans and heir to the French throne, submits to the French regent Anne of Beaujeu, ending the noble rebellion known as la Guerre Folle (the ‘Mad War’). |
| 22 September 1499 | Holy Roman Empire, Swiss Confederation [diplomacy] | Having met defeat at Calven Gorge, and moreover seen his Swabian League allies decimated at Dornach in the Swiss Confederation, Maximilian I the Holy Roman Emperor concedes victory to the Swiss in the Swabian War, and grants them de facto independence from the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Basel. |
| 22 September–18 October 1503 | Papal States, Italy, Venice [political events] | After the election of Pope Pius III, rulers deposed by the Borgias return to the cities of the Romagna, Emilia, and Umbria. The Orsini family returns to Rome and Venice invades the Romagna. |
| 22 September 1503 | Rome [Christianity] | The Italian churchman Francesco Todeschini is elected Pope Pius III. He is pope for less than a month. |
| 22 September 1504 | France, Holy Roman Empire [treaties] | King Louis XII of France, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and his son Philip (‘the Handsome’), Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy, sign the Treaty of Blois. Louis's daughter Claude is to marry Philip's son Charles (the future emperor Charles V); if Louis dies without a son, Charles and Claude are to succeed to Milan, Blois, and Brittany. By a secret treaty Louis is allowed to retain Milan for 100,000 ducats, and agrees a joint attack on Naples with Maximilian. |
| 22 September 1520 | Ottoman Empire [births and deaths] | Selim I, Ottoman sultan (1512–20), who extended the Ottoman Empire to Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz, dies in Corlu, Ottoman Empire (c. 50). |
| 22 September 1609 | Habsburg Monarchy, Spain, North Africa [political events] | The Duke of Lerma, chief minister of King Philip III of Spain, orders the expulsion of the Moriscos (Muslims forcibly converted to Christianity), many of whom have continued to practice Islam; some 300,000 are made refugees to the Maghreb during the next five years. |
| 22 September 1791 | England [births and deaths] | Michael Faraday, English physicist and chemist whose work contributed to a basic understanding of electromagnetism, born in Newington, Surrey, England (–1867). |
| 22 September 1792 | France [everyday life] | The National Convention in Paris proclaims France a republic, and the revolutionary calendar (although not established until 5 October 1793) comes into force. It comprises 12 months of 30 days, plus 5 days (6 in a leap year); each month has 3 decades of 10 days. The extra days are added at the end of the year. |
| 22 September 1862 | USA [slavery] | The US president, Abraham Lincoln, declares that all slaves will be free from 1 January 1863. |
| 22 September 1893 | USA [motor vehicles] | At Springfield, Massachusetts, US inventors Charles Edgar and James Frank Duryea demonstrate the first car built in the USA. It has a single-cylinder, water-cooled petrol engine, electric ignition, rubber tyres, and leather transmission. |
| 22 September 1955 | UK [television] | Commercial television is introduced in Britain, supervised by the Independent Television Authority. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) counters commercial television's first evening by scheduling the death of Grace Archer, a leading character in the popular radio series The Archers, in a fire. |
| 22 September 1955 | UK [television] | Barbara Mandell becomes the first woman newsreader on British television. |
| 22 September 1972 | Uganda [political events] | President Idi Amin orders 8,000 Asians to leave Uganda within 48 hours. |
| 22 September 1981 | France [railways] | French railways introduce the TGV (train à grande vitesse, ‘high-speed train’); electrically powered and capable of cruising at 290 kph/180 mph, it is Europe's first super high speed passenger train. Later in the year achieves a record speed of 380 kph/236 mph. |
| 22 September 1991 | Armenia, USSR [political events] | The Soviet republic of Armenia declares its independence from the USSR. |
| 22 September 1994 | USA [television] | The comedy Friends begins on US television. Based on the lives of six young friends in New York City, it stars Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Perry, Matt Le Blanc, and David Schwimmer. |
| 22 September 1994 | USA [television] | The medical drama ER begins on US television, starring George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle, Eriq La Salle, and Julianna Margulies. |
