742        Charlemagne (born), Frankish king (died 814) 1412      Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo (died), Spanish author 1453      The Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II begins the siege of Constantinople. 1513      Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now Florida. 1565      Cornelis de Houtman (born), Dutch explorer (died 1599) 1618      Francesco Maria Grimaldi (born),… Continue reading →

1384     John Wycliffe (died), English theologian and translator (born circa 1328) 1491     Jacques Cartier (born), French explorer (died 1557) 1514     Andreas Vesalius (born), Flemish anatomist (died 1564) 1600     The British East India Company is chartered. 1687     The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope. 1695     A window tax is imposed… Continue reading →

39         Titus, Roman emperor (died 81) 1816     The Treaty of St. Louis (1816) between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed. 1825    The Treaty of St. Louis (1825) between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed. 1851     Asa Griggs Candler (born), American businessman and politician, 44th… Continue reading →

1170     Thomas Becket (born 1118), Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church. 1709     Elizabeth of Russia (born), (died 1762) 1721     Madame de Pompadour (born), French mistress of Louis XV of France (died 1764)… Continue reading →

1065     Westminster Abbey is consecrated. 1663     Francesco Maria Grimaldi (died), Italian mathematician and physicist (born 1618) 1763     John Molson (born), English-Canadian brewer, founded the Molson Brewing Company (died 1836) 1818     Carl Remigius Fresenius (born), German chemist (died 1897) 1832     John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign. 1835     Osceola… Continue reading →