/year

February 18 in history

235 sourced entries recorded on February 18, from 259 BCE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 749Kʼakʼ Yipyaj Chan Kʼawiil ("Smoke Squirrel") becomes the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Copán in Honduras upon the death of Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat, who had reigned since 738. K'ak' Yipyaj reigns until 763.source
  • 1126Battle of Chlumec: Duke Soběslav I defeats a German army under King Lothair III and his Moravian ally, Duke Otto II the Black. Soběslav becomes the head of the Bohemian Principality.source
  • 1189Emperor Xiaozong abdicates in favour of his son Guangzong as ruler of the Song dynasty. Xiaozong becomes a Taishang Huang ("Retired Emperor") and remains as the de facto ruler of China.source
  • 1198Emperor Go-Toba (or Toba the Second) abdicates the throne in favor of his two-year-old son Tsuchimikado, after a 14-year reign.source
  • 1229Treaty of Jaffa: Emperor Frederick II signs a 10-year truce together with Sultan Al-Kamil and his representatives; he manages to regain many parts of the Holy Land through political negotiation, rather than by resorting to military force or directly confronting the Muslim army. Frederick's achievements, including the control of Jerusalem (without the Temple Mount) and Bethlehem, with a corridor running through Lydda to the sea of Jaffa, as well as Nazareth and western Galilee, including Montfort Castle and Toron, and the remaining Muslim districts around Sidon. All Muslims are to be allowed the right of entry in Jerusalem and freedom of worship.source
  • 1248Battle of Parma: Imperial forces (some 6,000 men) under Emperor Frederick II are defeated by the Lombard League at Parma. Much of Frederick's treasure is lost, while he is hunting in the Taro Valley.source
  • 1268Battle of Rakvere: The Livonian Order is defeated by Dovmont of Pskov.source
  • 1320Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, becomes the new Lord High Treasurer of England.source
  • 1329Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia, begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces (possibly in 1332).source
  • 1332Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia, begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces (possibly in 1329).source
  • 1358Treaty of Zadar, between Louis I of Hungary/Croatia and the Republic of Venice: The Venetians lose influence over their former Dalmatian holdings.source
  • 1370The Battle of Rudau is fought between the Teutonic Knights and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania near Rudau village, north of Königsberg (now Melnikovo village in the Kaliningrad oblast). According to the Teutonic chronicler Wigand of Marburg and the Livonian chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, the Lithuanians suffer a great defeat.source
  • 1379Heinrich III is installed as the new Duke of Mecklenburg at Schwerin (now part of Germany) upon the death of his father, Albrecht II.source
  • 1386Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania marries Queen Jadwiga of Poland, unifying the two nations.source
  • 1426The English Parliament, nicknamed the Parliament of Bats because the members are not allowed to carry swords and arm themselves with clubs to defend themselves, is opened by King Henry VI at Leicester. The House of Commons elects Richard Vernon as its speaker.source
  • 1447Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester is arrested for treason. He dies five days later.source
  • 1478George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother King Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London.source
  • 1483King Edward IV gives royal assent to numerous acts passed by the English Parliament.source
  • 1486Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is born in the town of Nadia, West Bengal, India, just after sunset. He is regarded as an incarnation, or avatar, of Lord Krsna, and later comes to inaugurate the sankirtana movement, or the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. This chanting, or mantra meditation, is first brought to the United States in 1965, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.source
  • 1486At a meeting of six electors of the Holy Roman Empire at Frankfurt-am-Main, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, is elected as the King of the Romans and ruler of the Germans, as the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • 1504Henry Tudor created Prince of Wales following the death of his elder brother Arthur, Prince of Wales two years earliersource
  • 1504The investiture of Prince Henry of England as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester takes place.source
  • 1512War of the League of Cambrai: The French carry out the Sack of Brescia.source
  • 1513Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Exigit contumaciam, declaring queen Catherine of Navarre and king John III of Navarre to be heretics for their refusal to participate with other Roman Catholic nations in the anti-French Holy League of 1511.source
  • 1516After two months in Bologna, part of the Papal States in Italy, Pope Leo X concludes two months of negotiation with King François I of France. Their talks result in the abrogation of the French Pragmatic Sanction, and the conclusion of a new Concordat between the Papacy and France.source
  • 1519Because of the large population of Jews included converts to Christianity ("New Christians") in the colony of Portuguese India at Goa, King Manuel I of Portugal announces that there will be no further appointment of New Christians to government offices, but affirms that those already in office are not to be dismissedsource
  • 1533The order of the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul, more commonly called the Barnabites, is given papal approval by Pope Clement VII in the brief Vota per quae vos.source
  • 1536A Franco-Ottoman alliance exempts French merchants from Ottoman law and allows them to travel, buy and sell throughout the sultan's dominions, and to pay low customs duties on French imports and exports. The compact is confirmed in 1569.source
  • 1562The siege of the Portuguese fort of Mazagan begins in Morocco as the Sultanate tries to take back control of the area from the Portuguese occupiers.source
  • 1588In modern-day Sri Lanka, the siege of Colombo by King Rajasinha I of Sitawaka ends when Portuguese Admiral Pedro Teixeira arrives with a fleet of 80 ships and frees the capital of Portuguese Ceylon. King Rajasinha and his troops flee back to his capital at Seethawakapura.source
  • 1595Hercules Stewart, a supporter of the rebel Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, is hanged in Edinburgh.source
  • 1600Nine Years' War: Rebel cavalry in Munster led by Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh) are intercepted and their leaders killed.source
  • 1608Don Julius Caesar d'Austria, the illegitimate son of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, brutally murders his girlfriend, Markéta Pichlerová, then dismembers her body. Emperor Rudolf imprisons Julius for the rest of his life.source
  • 1611Sir Humphrey Winch, retiring Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, is sent to London with draft legislation.source
  • 1616Preparing the declaration of independence from the colony of the Hashimi Empire, namely the Arya Bayu Kingdom by Khan Nasaruddin II, who was crowned in Mecca,Medina, and Isfahan.source
  • 1618Chŏng Inhong becomes the new Chief State Councillor (the Yŏngŭijŏng, similar to a Prime Minister) of the Joseon Kingdom, after being appointed by Gwanghaegun of Joseon.source
  • 1634Emperor Ferdinand II's dismissal of Commander Wallenstein for high treason, and the order for his capture, dead or alive, is made public.source
  • 1634Nicholas Francis of Lorraine marries his cousin Claude Françoise at Lunéville against the advice of the king of France; on returning to Nancy, the ducal family is arrested by French troops and held in custody.source
  • 1637Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point – Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.source
  • 1637Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point: off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.source
  • 1639In the course of the Eighty Years' War, a sea battle is fought in the English Channel off of the coast of Dunkirk between the navies of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, with 12 warships, and Spain, with 12 galleons and eight other ships. The Spanish are forced to flee after three of their ships are lost and 1,600 Spaniards killed or injured, while the Dutch sustain 1,700 casualties without the loss of a ship.source
  • 1639Action of 18 February 1639 off Dunkirksource
  • 1656February 18 (February 8 O.S.) – Battle of Golab: Swedish Empire troops led by King Carl X Gustav defeat troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth commanded by General Stefan Czarniecki in the first major engagement of the Swedish Deluge.source
  • 1662The Kangxi era begins with the start of the following Lunar Yearsource
  • 1676Isaac Newton observes to Robert Hooke that "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".source
  • 1678The first part of English nonconformist preacher John Bunyan's Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress is published in London.source
  • 1684"Court of grace" appointed to enquire into tithes on land.source
  • 1700Instigated by Ole Rømer, Denmark adopts the Gregorian calendar, although not the Catholic Church's lunar cycle, in place of the Julian calendar.source
  • 1742British attack La Guayra.source
  • 1751As the Governor of French Louisiana, Pierre de Rigaud, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, issues the first police regulations for New Orleans in an attempt to combat crime in that city.source
  • 1766Meermin Slave Mutiny: Captive Malagasy people seize a Dutch East India Company slave ship in the Indian Ocean.source
  • 1768The Hon. Frederick Augustus Hervey, later 4th Earl of Bristol, is appointed Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry (being translated from Cloyne), an office he will hold until his death in 1803.source
  • 1782Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Shirley's Gold Coast expedition lands at Elmina on the Dutch Gold Coast. The British expedition fails to take the fort here but over the next several weeks seizes, with minimal resistance, four small Dutch forts.source
  • 1788Lord Howe Island is discovered by Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball on HMS Supply.source
  • 1792Thomas Holcroft produces the comedy The Road to Ruin in London.source
  • 1793A school opens in an unfinished church building in Sydney; Isabella Rosson is the first teacher (the first school had been established in 1789).source
  • 1797Invasion of Trinidad: Spanish Governor José María Chacón peacefully surrenders the colony of Trinidad to a British naval force, commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby.source
  • 1804Ohio University is chartered by the Ohio General Assembly.source
  • 1808First recorded rescue using the Manby Mortar when the crew of the Plymouth brig Elizabeth stranded off Great Yarmouth are hauled safely to shore under the direction of Captain Manby.source
  • 1814War of the Sixth Coalition – Battle of Montereau: A French army led by Napoleon is victorious against Austrian forces.source
  • 1815The War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom (including Canada) officially ends, following ratification of the Treaty of Ghent (1814) in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1817Mr. McCord reads a petition for the deepening of the St. Lawrence.source
  • 1841March 11 – First ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate.source
  • 1841The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins, and lasts until March 11.source
  • 1846The Galician Peasant Uprising of 1846 begins in Austria.source
  • 1856The American Know Nothing Party convenes in Philadelphia to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.source
  • 1856The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first presidential candidate, former President Millard Fillmore.source
  • 1865The Press in Christchurch starts publishing a magazine, The Weekly Press. The magazine ran until 1928.source
  • 1871Namaqualand – Port Nolloth to Muishondfontein, 44 mi 40 ch.source
  • 1875The Mason County War begins, as a German-American mob breaks into a prison, and lynches cattle rustlers in central Texas.source
  • 1876The first trans-Tasman submarine communications cable is completed, allowing telegraph communications with the rest of the world.source
  • 1878The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.source
  • 1881Carlos Finlay introduces his discovery of the transmission of Yellow Fever by mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, in the Fifth International Sanitary Conference held in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1884English Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins takes up a post as professor of Greek and Latin at University College Dublin on St Stephen's Green, where he will remain until his death in 1889 and write his "terrible sonnets".source
  • 1885Mark Twain publishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the United States.source
  • 1887National Colliery disaster at Cwtch in the Rhondda: an underground explosion kills thirty miners.source
  • 1890The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.source
  • 1892Pennsauken Township, New Jersey is incorporated.source
  • 1893February 11–19 – White Star Line cargo liner SS Naronic sinks without a trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage.source
  • 1895the Marquess of Queensberry (father of Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde's lover), leaves his calling card at the Albemarle Club in London, inscribed: "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite", i.e. a sodomite, inducing Wilde to charge him with criminal libel.source
  • 1897Benin is put to the torch by the British Army's Benin Expedition. Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin, is exiled from his kingdom and the Benin Bronzes are carried off to London.source
  • 1899The National Assembly of France elects a new President to serve the remainder of the late President Faure's term. Senate president Émile Loubet wins the vote against prime minister Jules Méline.source
  • 1902U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the antitrust Sherman Act.source
  • 1902U.S. President Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Company for violation of the antitrust Sherman Act.source
  • 1911Henri Pequet, flying a Humber biplane, carried mail from Allahabad to Naini junction which was the first flight in India.source
  • 1911The first official air mail flight, second overall, takes place in British India from Allahabad to Naini when Henri Pequet carries 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km.source
  • 1911A serious earthquake causes a landslide that creates Lake Sarez in modern-day Tajikistan.source
  • 1911an earthquake in Pamir Mountains blocking the Murghab River by a landslide led to the formation of Sarez Lakesource
  • 1913Mexican Revolution: President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President José María Pino Suárez are forced to resign.source
  • 1913February 9–19 — Ten Tragic Dayssource
  • 1915WWI: Germany regards the waters around the British Isles to be a war zone from this date, as part of its U-boat Campaign.source
  • 1919February 16–21 – Estonian War of Independence: Uniformed peasants in Saaremaa rebel against the government of Estonia; the rebellion is crushed by government forces, leaving more than 200 dead.source
  • 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1923An amnesty for Irish Republican Army (IRA) Irregulars expired. It had been introduced by the Minister for Home Affairs, Kevin O'Higgins on 8 February.source
  • 1928February 11 – 19 – The 1928 Winter Olympics are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first as a separate event. Sonja Henie of Norway wins her first gold medal, in women's figure skating.source
  • 1930While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh confirms the existence of Pluto, a celestial body considered a planet until redefined as a dwarf planet in 2006.source
  • 1931The Royal Australian Navy light cruiser HMAS Pioneer is scuttled off Sydney Heads.source
  • 1932Japan declares Manchukuo (Japanese name for Manchuria) formally independent from China.source
  • 1936February 10–19 – Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Amba Aradam – Italian forces gain a decisive tactical victory, effectively neutralizing the army of the Ethiopian Empire.source
  • 1939The Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco.source
  • 1942Bernt Oftestad, historian and theologiansource
  • 1943World War II: The Polish Anders Army arrived in Palestine, where many Polish Jews, including Menachem Begin, desert to work on establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. This becomes known as the 'Anders Aliyah'.source
  • 1944WWII: British light cruiser HMS Penelope is torpedoed and sunk by U-410 in the Mediterranean; 418 of her crew, including the captain, go down with the ship.source
  • 1946The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Norman Gilroy, becomes Cardinal Gilroy, the first Australian born member of the College of Cardinalssource
  • 1948Éamon de Valera, Irish head of government from 1918 to 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach by President Seán T. O'Kelly, until 1960.source
  • 1948Keeper of the Rulers' Seal was established.source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1956Żurrieq Scottish Airlines crashsource
  • 1957The last person to be executed in New Zealand, Walter James Bolton, is hanged at Mount Eden Prison for poisoning his wife.source
  • 1958Finance minister of India T. T. Krishnamachari resigns following M. C. Chagla Commission report on Haridas Mundhra LIC scandal.source
  • 1959Women in Nepal vote for the first time.source
  • 1959Elections were held in Nepal for the first time its history, as voters chose candidates for 18 of the 109 lower house seats, with the remainder to be chosen on eight other days.source
  • 1960The Latin American Free Trade Association is created by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Pero, and Uruguay in Montevideo. The LAFTA was replaced by the Latin American Integration Association in 1980.source
  • 1960The 1960 Winter Olympics begin at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Placer County, California.source
  • 19621962 NHRA Winternationals: Carol Cox becomes the first woman allowed to race at a National Hot Rod Association national event in the United States; she wins in the Super Stock class.source
  • 1965The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.source
  • 1968February 6–18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France.source
  • 1969El Al Flight 432 attack: Four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, machine-gun El Al's flight 432, a Boeing 707 preparing for takeoff at the Kloten Airport near Zürich. Several crew members are wounded in the attack and damage is caused to the plane. The co-pilot, who was severally wounded, dies from his wounds a month later.source
  • 1973Presidential elections were scheduled to be held but, as incumbent President Makarios III was the only candidate, the elections were not held and Makarios III was automatically declared the winner. A separate election for the vice president also took place. Rauf Denktaş stood unopposed and was elected.source
  • 1975Communist terrorists sabotaged the railway track which derailed the goods train at Rimba Mas near Padang Besar, Perlis.source
  • 1977The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignites wreaths to the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 people, mostly children. It remains the deadliest fire in China.source
  • 1977American Space Shuttle program: First test flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise mated to the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.source
  • 1977Kalakuta Republic, a communal compound founded by political activist Fela Kuti is destroyed by armed soldiers.source
  • 1977Test cricket debuts of Colin Croft and Joel Garner vs. Pakistan Bridgetown.source
  • 1979The Khomeini government in Iran cuts diplomatic relations with Israel.source
  • 1979Second National Parliamentary Elections were held. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which won 207 of the 300 seats.source
  • 1979The 1979 Daytona 500 is televised on CBS, the first ever full airing of a 500-mile race on US television, Richard Petty wins after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison battle for first place on the final lap and crash out, leading to a fist fight. This race brought NASCAR to a wider audience.source
  • 1981February 17–22 – Pope John Paul II visits the Philippines.source
  • 1981February 17–22 – First papal visit of Pope John Paul II in the country; during the visit, he beatified Lorenzo Ruiz.source
  • 1982The Ireland general election gives a boost to Fianna Fáil.source
  • 1982February 11-19: the 1982 Amílcar Cabral Cup took place in Praiasource
  • 1983Nellie massacre: Over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, are massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.source
  • 1983Over 2,000 people, mostly Muslims of Bangladeshi origin, are massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.source
  • 1983The Venezuelan bolívar is devalued and exchange controls are established in an event now referred to as Black Friday by many Venezuelans (the Bolívar had been the most stable and internationally accepted currency).source
  • 1983The federal government decrees a maximum devaluation of the Cruzeiro, Brazil's monetary unit.source
  • 1984February 8–19 – The 1984 Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.source
  • 1990A bus from the Ramos Cholele company collides with a truck near Taltal, leaving 22 dead and 30 injured.source
  • 1991The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes bombs in the early morning, at both Paddington station and Victoria station, in London.source
  • 1992Iraq disarmament crisis: The Executive Chairman of UNSCOM details Iraq's refusal to abide by UN Security Council disarmament resolutions.source
  • 2008WikiLeaks releases allegations of illegal activities carried out by the Cayman Islands branch of Swiss banking corporation Julius Baer; a subsequent lawsuit against WikiLeaks prompts a temporary suspension of the website, but uproar about violations of freedom of speech causes WikiLeaks to be brought back online.source
  • 2009Al-Jazeera aired a recording by members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in which they claim to have kidnapped two Canadian diplomats, one of them a former advisor to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. The men were abducted in Niger in December 2008. Salah Abu Mohammed, spokesman for the Algerian/North African group, also claimed responsibility for the capture of four European tourists in January 2009. The four were kidnapped in Mali, and are a British citizen, two Swiss, and a German.source
  • 2009Togolese security forces shoot and kill three serial robbers of patrons of the Lomé International Airportsource
  • 2010The president of Niger, Mamadou Tandja, is overthrown after a group of soldiers storms the presidential palace and form a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy headed by chef d'escadron Salou Djibo.source
  • 2010A military junta named the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy carries out a coup d'état, suspending the constitution and detaining President Mamadou Tandja.source
  • 2011Police shoot tear gas at thousands of people demonstrating against the Ismail Omar Guelleh regime in Djibouti.source
  • 2011Mary Keitany sets a new World Half marathon record at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon (time 1:05:50 hours)source
  • 2012A massive fire destroys three markets in the center of Tegucigalpa, nine persons injured.source
  • 2013Voters in Armenia go to the polls for a presidential election with incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan expected to win. Independent observers including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have expressed concern about the conduct of the elections.source
  • 2015The Irish Naval Service donated the patrol boat LÉ Aoife to the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta.source
  • 2018Kizlyar church shooting: a man carrying a knife and a double-barreled shotgun opens fire on a crowd at an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, Dagestan, killing five women and injuring several other people; the perpetrator is shot and killed by police.source
  • 2021Porfirije Peric is elected as the 46th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.source
  • 2021NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.source
  • 2021The government creates the National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. It will be under the control of the Nicaraguan army.source
  • 2025Vladimir Putin announces that Russia and the United States have officially agreed to restore diplomatic relations. A four-hour summit between the US and Russia is held in Saudi Arabia.source
  • 20252025 Sino-Metals Leach Zambia dam disaster: A tailings dam belonging to a Chinese-operated copper mine collapses in northern Zambia, causing 50 million liters of waste containing concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals to enter a tributary of the Kafue River and prompting a shutdown of the water supply in Kitwe.source
  • 2025Egypt announces the discovery of Thutmose II's tomb by a joint British-Egyptian team, the first royal tomb to be discovered since Tutankhamun's in 1922. It is the 15th and final pharaoh tomb from the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt to have been found by archeologists.source
  • 2025Following a constitutional reform, Nicaragua becomes a diarchy with spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo as co-presidents.source

Births

  • 259 BCEQin Shi Huang, first emperor of China (died 210 BC)source
  • 1201Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (died 1274)source
  • 1219Tettsū Gikai, Japanese Zen Master (died 1309)source
  • 1372Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Islamic scholar (died 1449)source
  • 1486Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bengali ascetic and monk (died 1534)source
  • 1516Queen Mary I of England, daughter of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon (died 1558)source
  • 1530Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (died 1578)source
  • 1543Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (died 1608)source
  • 1543Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (died 1608).source
  • 1547Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, Syrian Arab co-founder of the Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (died 1621)source
  • 1559Isaac Casaubon, French-born classical scholar (died 1614)source
  • 1589Henry Vane the Elder, English politician (died 1655)source
  • 1589Maarten Gerritsz Vries, Dutch explorer (died 1646)source
  • 1602Per Brahe the Younger, Privy Councillor (born 1680)source
  • 1609Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English statesman and historian (died 1674)source
  • 1626Francesco Redi, Italian physician (died 1697)source
  • 1632Giovanni Battista Vitali, Italian composer (died 1692)source
  • 1745Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist (died 1827)source
  • 1795George Peabody, American businessman and "father of modern philanthropy" (died 1869)source
  • 1796John Bell, American lawyer and politician (died 1869)source
  • 1836Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Indian religious leader (died 1886)source
  • 1848Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (died 1933)source
  • 1892Wendell Willkie, U.S. Republican presidential candidate (died 1944)source
  • 1906Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician (died 1980)source
  • 1912Gholam Reza Azhari, Iranian military leader and prime minister.source
  • 1921Branko Bauer, film director (died 2002)source
  • 1931Toni Morrison, African-American writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (died 2019)source
  • 1933Yoko Ono, Japanese-born artist and musician, widow of John Lennonsource
  • 1933Sir Bobby Robson, English soccer player, manager (died 2009)source
  • 1951Komal Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shahsource
  • 1965Dr. Dre, African-American rapper and music producersource
  • 1967Roberto Baggio, Italian football playersource

Deaths

  • 675Colmán, bishop of Lindisfarnesource
  • 814Angilbert, Frankish diplomat and abbotsource
  • 901Thābit ibn Qurra dies at Baghdad, having served as court astronomer to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutadid. He has spent his life translating and teaching the works of Greek mathematicians, and of his own.source
  • 901Thābit ibn Qurra, Syrian astronomer and physician (born 826)source
  • 999Pope Gregory V dies after a 3-year pontificate in which the Crescentii family forced him to flee Rome. He is succeeded by Sylvester II as the 139th pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 999Gregory V, pope of the Catholic Church (born 972)source
  • 1126Otto II the Black, Moravian prince (born 1085)source
  • 1139Prince Yaropolk II of Kiev (born 1082)source
  • 1162Theotonius, Portuguese advisor (born 1082)source
  • 1187Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London (born 1110)source
  • 1190Otto II (the Rich), margrave of Meissen (born 1125)source
  • 1208Mark Ibn Kunbar, Egyptian Coptic priestsource
  • 1218Berthold V, German nobleman (born 1160)source
  • 1221Theodoric I, Margrave of Meissen (born 1162)source
  • 1225Hugh Bigod, English nobleman (born 1182)source
  • 1248Taddeo da Suessa, Italian jurist and diplomatsource
  • 1274Jakob Erlandsen, Danish cleric and archbishopsource
  • 1294Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (born 1215)source
  • 1294Kublai Khan dies; by this time the separation of the four khanates of the Mongol Empire (the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Golden Horde in Russia, the Ilkhanate in Persia, and the Yuan Dynasty in China) has deepened.source
  • 1379Albert II of Mecklenburg (born c. 1318)source
  • 1397Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy (born 1340)source
  • 1455Fra Angelico, Italian painter (born 1395)source
  • 1478George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III of England (executed) (born 1449)source
  • 1478George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, third son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (born 1449).source
  • 1502Hedwig Jagiellon, Duchess of Bavaria (born 1457)source
  • 1535Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German alchemist and occult writer (born 1486)source
  • 1546Martin Luther, German religious reformer (born 1483)source
  • 1563François, Duke of Guise, is assassinated while besieging Orléans by Jean de Poltrot.source
  • 1564Michelangelo, Italian artist, architect and sculptor (born 1475)source
  • 1642A group of Protestant English settlers in Ireland surrender to Irish authorities at Castlebar in County Mayo in hopes of having their lives spared, but are killed one week later at Shrule on orders of Edmond Bourke.source
  • 1679Lady Anne Finch Conway, English philosopher (born 1631)source
  • 1695Sir William Phips, First royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (born 1651)source
  • 1712Louis, duc de Bourgogne, heir to the throne of France (born 1682)source
  • 1743Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, last of the Medicis (born 1667)source
  • 1772Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (born 1712)source
  • 1780Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (born 1714)source
  • 1786Ludvig Daae, priest and landowner (born 1723).source
  • 1873Vasil Levski, Bulgarian revolutionary (executed) (born 1837)source
  • 1891Sanjō Sanetomi (born 1837)source
  • 1931Milan Šufflay, historian and politician (born 1879)source
  • 1957Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.source
  • 1967J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (born 1904)source
  • 1983Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in the Chinatown area of Seattle, United States.source
  • 2001NASCAR Champion Dale Earnhardt is killed in a crash during the Daytona 500.source
  • 2001Dale Earnhardt, 49, American NASCAR race car driver, racing accident.source