Historical milestones: Death of William the Conqueror and births of Tolstoy and Vujić

September 9 marks several significant historical milestones. In 1087, William the Conqueror, the first Norman King of England, died at age 59 in Normandy. His reign, which began after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, profoundly altered the English Church, aristocracy, culture, and language. He is also noted for introducing the Domesday Book in 1085.

Other notable historical events include the 1776 adoption of the name ‘United States of America’ by the American Continental Congress. In the literary and scientific realms, the date marks the birth of Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 1828 and Serbian writer Joakim Vujić in 1772, the latter of whom founded the first Serbian theater in 1835. Additionally, the date commemorates the birth of Italian physicist Luigi Galvani in 1737 and the death of French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé in 1898.