/year

February 20 in history

217 sourced entries recorded on February 20, from 702 CE to 2023 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 1224Jacopo Tiepolo (later: Doge of the Republic of Venice, 1229–1249), reaches an agreement in his capacity as Podestà, with Robert I, Emperor of Constantinople Latin Emperor, for favorable treatment for the Venetians in the Empire.source
  • 1226Pope Honorius III directs the Franciscan Archbishop of Toledo, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, to lead the Franciscans in converting Moroccan Muslims to Christianity.source
  • 1304Battle of Happrew: Scottish rebels led by William Wallace and Simon Fraser fight guerilla warfare against King Edward I of England. They defend themselves against a vanguard of English knights at Peebles, in the Scottish Borders. During the skirmish, the Scots are defeated and routed. Wallace and Fraser narrowly escape being captured.source
  • 1312Öljaitü, the Ikhanate of the Mongol Empire's territory in the Middle East, carries out a purge of corrupt officials, with the arrest and execution of his vizier, Sa'd al-Din Savaji and one of Sa'd al-Din's closest aides, Taj al-Din Avaji,source
  • 1323Norway's regency council takes a stand against Ingeborg Haakonsdater, mother of and regent for the 7-year-old King Magnus VII. Ingeborg is removed from her position as chief regent on charges of misuse of her power.source
  • 1326The foundation of Clare College (as University Hall), the University of Cambridge's second oldest (still surviving) college, by royal charter.source
  • 1364David II of Scotland marries Margaret Drummond.source
  • 1388London's Lord Mayor Bembre is hanged in public at Tyburn after having been imprisoned in the Tower of London.source
  • 1398The vicar John de Aston of Colston Bassett is released from incarceration at Fleet Prison in England by order of King Richard II upon the payment of mainprise or bail.source
  • 1403Signing of the Treaty of Gallipoli is completed as Süleyman Çelebi makes wide-ranging concessions to the Byzantine Empire and other Christian powers, in the southern Balkans.source
  • 1405Khalil Sultan becomes the new ruler of the western side of the Timurid Empire upon the death of his grandfather, the Mongol conqueror Timur, while the son of Timur, Shah Rukh, becomes the ruler of the eastern side.source
  • 1418At Srinagar, in what is now India, Zayn al-Abidin, already the vizier (Wazir) of the Kashmir Sultanate, is crowned as the new Sultan after he overthrows his older brother, the Sultan Ali Shah Miri.source
  • 1428Zhu Qizhen, son of China's Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, is named as the Crown Prince of Ming dynasty China by his father. He will become the Emperor Yingzong of Ming in 1435.source
  • 1447Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, uncle and heir apparent of King Henry VI of England, is arrested on a charge of treason. He dies from a stroke three days later while imprisoned at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk Richard of York becomes next in line for the throne.source
  • 1458Stefan Branković, blind since 1441, becomes the Despot of Serbia upon the death of his brother, Lazar Branković.source
  • 1472Orkney and Shetland are returned by Norway to Scotland, as a result of a defaulted dowry payment.source
  • 1475The joint Spanish rulers of Castile and León, Queen Isabella and King Fernando, issue a decree of monetary reform at Segovia, setting a standard value for the real as 30 maravedí coins, and the dobla castellana as 870 maravedis.source
  • 1491Jan I Olbracht, son of King Casimir IV or Poland and, like his older brother Vladislaus, a claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Hungary, renounces all of his claims in return for the Duchy of Głogów.source
  • 1499The Battle of Hard is fought near the village of Hard in modern-day western Austria as the Swiss Confederacy defeats the troops of the Holy Roman Empire in the first large-scale confrontation of the Swabian War.source
  • 1508Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, attacks the Republic of Venice and sack Ampezzo the next day.source
  • 1544The Fourth Diet of Speyer is convened.source
  • 1547Edward VI of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.source
  • 1564A group of four men assassinate the Spanish Viceroy of Peru, Diego López de Zúñiga, 4th Count of Nieva. López is succeeded temporarily by Hernando de Saavedra.source
  • 1599On Shrove Tuesday, the earliest known performance of William Shakespeare's play As You Like It is given, presented at Richmond Park for Queen Elizabeth.source
  • 1614Matthias I, Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor, directs the restoration of Roman Catholic rule to Aachen, allowing the Army of Flanders (from the Spanish Netherlands) to lay siege to the German town.source
  • 1631A fire breaks out in Westminster Hall, but is put out before it can cause serious destruction.source
  • 1631A fire breaks out in Westminster Hall, but is put out before it can cause serious destruction.source
  • 1642The Treaty of The Hague (1641), between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Portugal, is ratified by the Republic's States-General.source
  • 1652Brussels Privy Council issues a general regulation on coinage, listing the coins to be accepted as legal tender.source
  • 1662The survivors of the wreck of the Dutch freighter Arnhem strike reefs but are able to make their way to an uninhabited island, probably the Ile D'Ambre or Ilot Fourneau both islands within the territory of Mauritius. During more than two months while shipwrecked, the survivors kill and eat the local wildlife, including the last surviving dodo. They are rescued by the English ship Truroe in May.source
  • 1685René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, intending to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi River, lands with 200 surviving colonists at Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast, believing the Mississippi to be near. He establishes Fort St. Louis.source
  • 1702William III falls from his horse, Sorrel, in Richmond Park after it stumbles on a molehill and breaks his clavicle.source
  • 1703March 10 – War of the Spanish Succession: Siege of Kehl – French forces under the command of the Duc de Villars capture the fortress of the Holy Roman Empire at Kehl, opposite Strasbourg on the Rhine.source
  • 170320 February – 10 March – War of the Spanish Succession: Siege of Kehl – French forces under the command of the Duc de Villars capture the fortress of the Holy Roman Empire at Kehl, opposite Strasbourg on the Rhine.source
  • 1724The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.source
  • 1724Giulio Cesare in Egitto, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, is premiered in London.source
  • 1725The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.source
  • 1727German composer George Frideric Handel becomes a British subject.source
  • 1727the German composer George Frideric Handel becomes a British subject under terms of the Handel's Naturalisation Act 1727.source
  • 1731Louise Hippolyte becomes the second woman to serve as Princess of Monaco, the reigning monarch of the tiny European principality, ascending upon the death of her father Prince Antonio. She reigns only nine months before dying of smallpox on December 29.source
  • 1737France's Foreign Minister, Germain Louis Chauvelin, is dismissed by King Louis XV's Chief Minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleurysource
  • 1737Foreign Minister Germain Louis Chauvelin is dismissed by Louis XV's Chief Minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury.source
  • 1738The Swedish Levant Company is founded.source
  • 1740The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the town of Newton as Wilmington, North Carolina, named for Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington and patron of Royal Governor Gabriel Johnston.source
  • 1755General Edward Braddock lands in Virginia to take command of the British forces against the French in North America.source
  • 1766The Pennsylvania Gazette reports that a British sloop off Wilmington, North Carolina, has seized a sloop sailing from Philadelphia, and another sailing from Saint Christopher, on the charge of carrying official documents without stamps. In response, local residents threaten to burn a Royal Man-of-War attempting to deliver stamps to Wilmington, forcing the ship to return to the mouth of the Cape Fear River.source
  • 1766the Pennsylvania Gazette reports that a British sloop outside of Wilmington, North Carolina seized one sloop sailing from Philadelphia and one sloop sailing from Saint Christopher on the charge of carrying official documents without stamps. In response, local residents threaten to burn a Royal Man of War attempting to deliver stamps to Wilmington, forcing the ship to return to the mouth of the Cape Fear River.source
  • 1782the phrase "Protestant Ascendancy" is first used by Sir Boyle Roche (in passing) in a speech to the Irish House of Commons.source
  • 1789Hanging as a capital punishment was abolished.source
  • 1792Parliament House, Dublin catches fire during a legislative session. "Although in imminent danger of the roof falling in," it is noted later, "the House did not adjourn until a proper motion had been put and carried in the affirmative."source
  • 1792The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.source
  • 1803Kandyan Wars: Kandy, Ceylon is taken by a British detachment.source
  • 1804Hobart is established in its permanent location in Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania) as a British penal colony.source
  • 1809United States v. Peters: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the power of the federal government is greater than any individual state.source
  • 1812Weber and his friend, clarinettist Heinrich Baermann, stay overnight in Berlin with the family of Baermann's former teacher Joseph Beer (father of Giacomo Meyerbeer).source
  • 1816Preston becomes the first English town outside London with gas lighting publicly available, promoted by the Jesuit priest Joseph Dunn.source
  • 1816Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of Seville premières at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.source
  • 1820A revolt begins against the Spanish crown in Santa María Chiquimula (now in Guatemala).source
  • 1823Explorer James Weddell's expedition to Antarctica reaches latitude 74°15' S and longitude 34°16'45" W: the southernmost position any ship has reached at this time.source
  • 1823Explorer James Weddell's expedition to Antarctica reaches latitude 74°15' S and longitude 34°16'45" W, further south than any ship has reached previously.source
  • 1824William Buckland formally announces the name Megalosaurus, the first scientifically validly named non-avian dinosaur species.source
  • 1824Rev. Professor William Buckland becomes the first person to describe a terrestrial dinosaur in a scientific journal.source
  • 1827Battle of Ituzaingó (Passo do Rosário): A Brazilian Imperial Army force is tactically defeated on the border of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata by Argentine and Uruguayan troops.source
  • 1827Cisplatine War: Battle of Ituzaingósource
  • 18351835 Concepción earthquake: Concepción, Chile, is destroyed by an earthquake. The resulting tsunami destroys the neighboring city of Talcahuano.source
  • 18351835 Concepción earthquakesource
  • 1841The Governor Fenner, carrying emigrants to America, sinks off Holyhead with the loss of 123 lives.source
  • 1843Søren Kierkegaard publishes Either/Or,source
  • 1846February 20–March 3 – Kraków uprising: Polish nationalists stage an uprising in the Free City of Kraków; it is suppressed by forces of the Austrian Empire, supported by peasants.source
  • 1852Brazilian forces, part of victorious anti-Rosas coalition, parade through Buenos Aires to mark 25th anniversary of Battle of Ituzaingó in Cisplatine Warsource
  • 1852the victorious Brazilian Army marches through the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina.source
  • 1860Canadian Royal Mail steamer SS Hungarian (1859) is wrecked on Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, on passage from the British Isles to the United States with all 205 onboard lost.source
  • 1860205 killed when the SS Hungarian (Allan Line) is wrecked at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.source
  • 1861In Britain, storms damage the Crystal Palace and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.source
  • 1861storms damage the Crystal Palace in London and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.source
  • 1869Ranavalona II, the Merina Queen of Madagascar, is baptized.source
  • 1872The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.source
  • 1873British naval officer John Moresby discovers the site of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and claims the land for Britain.source
  • 1873The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco.source
  • 187420 February to 10 August – agricultural workers' strike.source
  • 1878Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX, as the 256th pope. His pontificate will last for 25 years.source
  • 1885The Richmond Football Club is officially formed at the Royal Hotel in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria.source
  • 1888The Croatian sailing ship Kostrena, sailing from Cette to Rijeka, ran aground in the Bobina bay on the Istrian side of the Vela vrata strait because of bad weather; the same happened to another Croatian sailing ship, the Ireneo.source
  • 1895Venezuelan crisis of 1895: U.S. President Grover Cleveland signs into law a bill resulting from the proposition of House Resolution 252, by William Lindsay Scruggs and Congressman Leonidas Livingston, to the third session of the 53rd Congress of the United States of America. The bill recommends that Venezuela and Great Britain settle their dispute by arbitration.source
  • 1895The gold reserve of the U.S. Treasury is saved when J. P. Morgan and the Rothschilds loan $65 million worth of gold to the United States government. The offering of syndicate bonds sells out only 22 minutes after the New York market opens, and just two hours after going on sale in London.source
  • 189720 February England 6–0 Ireland (in Nottingham)source
  • 1901The Hawaii Territory Legislature convenes for the first time.source
  • 1902The Federation of Icelandic Cooperative Societies is founded.source
  • 1905In the Russo-Japanese War, the Battle of Mukden begins in Manchuria.source
  • 1907The Brazilian government approves the design for its new battleships.source
  • 1911Bologoye cinema fire, 64 dead, most of them (43) are childrensource
  • 1915In San Francisco, the Panama–Pacific International Exposition is opened.source
  • 1915In San Francisco, California the Panama–Pacific International Exposition is opened.source
  • 1918February 19–25 – WWI: The Imperial Russian Navy evacuates Tallinn through thick ice, over the Gulf of Finland.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
  • 1919Communists attack MSZDP newspaper Népszava's building, 8 fatalitiessource
  • 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 19201920 Gori earthquake: An earthquake hits Gori in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, killing 114.source
  • 1921The Young Communist League of Czechoslovakia is founded.source
  • 1926The Berlin International Green Week, a food and agriculture fair, debuts in Germany.source
  • 1928The Japanese general election produces a hung parliament.source
  • 1928The first Anglo-Tranjordanian treaty is concluded following which the Emirate of Transjordan becomes nominally independent, while Britain retains a degree of control over foreign affairs, armed forces, communications and state finances. The treaty fails to respond to Transjordanian demands for a fully sovereign and independent state.source
  • 19301930 Japanese general election: The Rikken Minseitō party, led by Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi, won an overall majority in the House of Representatives. Voter turnout was 83.34%.source
  • 1942Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first U.S. Navy flying ace of the war.source
  • 1942Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.source
  • 1943The Parícutin volcano begins to appear in a cornfield in Mexico.source
  • 1944Norwegian heavy water sabotage: The Norwegian resistance sinks train ferry SF Hydro which is carrying a shipment of heavy water from the Vemork plant to Germany along Tinnsjå in Telemark.source
  • 1946An explosion kills more than 400 coal miners in Bergkamen, West Germany.source
  • 1946The worst explosion in German history kills more than 300 coal miners in Bergkamen.source
  • 1947The U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Hermes program V-2 rocket Blossom I is launched into space, carrying plant material and fruitflies, the first living things to enter space.source
  • 1947An explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Company in Los Angeles leaves 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, and a 22 ft crater in the ground.source
  • 1947Trade Union was foundedsource
  • 1950Romania withdraws from the World Health Organization.source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1952Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, prohibiting processions and meetings is promulgated in Dhaka.source
  • 1953Record-breaking rainfall flooded several regions of the city-state, including Bukit Timah Road, Orchard Road, Tanjong Pagar and Kallang Airport.source
  • 1954Yvette Williams breaks the world long jump record by jumping 20 ft at Gisborne.source
  • 1956Tunku Abdul Rahman announced in Malacca Town after he returned from London that Malaya would become independent on 31 August 1957.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1956The magnitude 5.8 Eskişehir earthquake affected the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing moderate damage and four deaths.source
  • 1958February 19–20 – Rt Hon Ellen Fairclough first woman to assume the duties of Prime Minister for two days during John Diefenbaker's absence from the country.source
  • 1959Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah was installed as Sultan of Kedahsource
  • 1959Avro Arrow project is terminatedsource
  • 1959The Canadian Government cancels the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft project.source
  • 1961The Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKNS) is formed as a branch of UMNO. It later split following independence.source
  • 1962Project Mercury: Aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.source
  • 1965Suat Hayri Ürgüplü forms the new (interim) government of Turkey (29th government).source
  • 1965Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.source
  • 1966While Soviet author and translator Valery Tarsis is abroad, the Soviet Union negates his citizenship.source
  • 1970Chile signs a trade agreement with Cuba, despite the OAS ban.source
  • 1971Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah of Kedah was installed as the fifth Yang di-Pertuan Agong.source
  • 1971The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning across the nation's radio and television stations, meant to be a standard weekly test conducted by NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Some stations cease broadcasting until the message is rescinded, as required by federal rules, while most ignore it.source
  • 1975A violent feud erupts between the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) and the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).source
  • 1978Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978source
  • 1979Eleven Loyalists, known as the Shankill Butchers, are sentenced to life imprisonment for 112 offences, including nineteen sectarian murders.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
  • 1986The first component of the Mir space station - the core module - is launched.source
  • 1987A second Unabomber bomb explodes at a Salt Lake City computer store parking lot in the United States, injuring the owner's son.source
  • 1988The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and join the Armenian SSR, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.source
  • 1988Council of People's Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) declares the secession of the oblast from the Azerbaijan SSR, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.source
  • 1989In Canada's Yukon Territory, the ruling New Democrats narrowly maintain control of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, winning 9 seats vs. the Progressive Conservative Party's 7.source
  • 1991Python, a programming language created by Guido van Rossum, Is released.source
  • 1998Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the United States and United Kingdom.source
  • 1998The Nashville Banner publishes its last issue; the newspaper ceases operation after 122 years.source
  • 1998Rudy Giuliani kicks off his "quality of life" campaign in New York City, focused on increasing civility and reducing nuisances like littering and reckless driving.source
  • 2001Thousands of Ethiopian troops begin withdrawing from Eritrea after a successful peace agreement after the Eritrean-Ethiopian War.source
  • 2003The Station nightclub fire: A fire broke out at a music venue in West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, killing 100 people and injuring 230.source
  • 2017The South Sudan government and the United Nations declared a famine in parts of Unity State, affecting more than 100,000 people, and fearing the famine could spread significantly as the order of one million people are threatened.source
  • 2020The national electoral tribunal ruled that Evo Morales was ineligible to run for Senate.source
  • 2020Former prime minister Thomas Thabane, 80, of Lesotho is to be charged with his wife's 2017 murder.source
  • 2021Pope Francis accepts the resignation of conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, 75, from the Vatican′s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. As Metropolitan Archbishop of Conakry he was a critic of Islam and of President Ahmed Sékou Touré.source
  • 2023A Rescue mission begins after a number of foreign citizens and local guides are kidnapped in a remote region of the country.source

Births

  • 1358Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (died 1382)source
  • 1469Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (died 1534)source
  • 1494Johan Friis, Danish statesman (died 1570)source
  • 1523Jan Blahoslav, Czech writer (died 1571)source
  • 1549Francesco Maria II della Rovere, last Duke of Urbino (died 1631)source
  • 1632Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (died 1712)source
  • 1751Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet (died 1826)source
  • 1756Angelica Schuyler Church, American socialite, daughter of Genl.Philip Schuyler, sister to Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (died 1814)source
  • 1776Mariano Ricafort Palacín y Abarca, Spanish colonial governor of Cuba (died 1846)source
  • 1784John E. Wool, general officer in the United States Army, who served during the War of 1812, Mexican–American War, and the American Civil War (died 1869)source
  • 1794William Carleton, Irish novelist (died 1869)source
  • 1844Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (died 1906)source
  • 1887Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada (died 1967)source
  • 1902Ansel Adams, American photographer (died 1984)source
  • 1927Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, film director, (Oscar winner for Lilies of the Field) (died 2022)source
  • 1942Mitch McConnell, American politician, U.S. senior senator from Kentuckysource
  • 1951Gordon Brown, Scottish-born Prime Minister of the United Kingdomsource
  • 1967Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (died 1994)source
  • 1988Rihanna, Barbadian pop singersource

Deaths

  • 702Kʼinich Kan Bahlam II, ruler (ajaw) of Palenque, dies after an 18-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Kʼinich Kʼan Joy Chitam II.source
  • 789Leo of Catania, saint and bishop of Catania (born 709)source
  • 922Theodora, Byzantine empresssource
  • 1043Alexios Stoudites, patriarch of Constantinoplesource
  • 1054Yaroslav the Wise, Kievan Rus' grand prince (born c.978)source
  • 1078Herman, bishop of Salisburysource
  • 1154Wulfric of Haselbury, English miracle workersource
  • 1171Conan IV ("the Young"), duke of Brittany (born 1138)source
  • 1194Tancred of Lecce, king of Sicily (born 1138)source
  • 1243Romano Bonaventura, Italian cardinalsource
  • 1258Al-Musta'sim, Abbasid caliph of Baghdadsource
  • 1301Asukai Gayū, Japanese nobleman and poet (born 1241)source
  • 1408Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English rebel (in battle) (born 1341)source
  • 1431Pope Martin V (born 1368)source
  • 1458Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbiasource
  • 1505Arvid Trolle, Swedish politician (born 1440)source
  • 1513Hans, King of Denmark (also king of Norway and former king of Sweden) (born 1455)source
  • 1524Tecun Uman, the K'iche' Maya ruler of Guatemala's highlands, is killed in a battle near Quetzaltenango between the K'iche' Maya people and the invading Spanish conquistadors led by Pedro Alvarado.source
  • 1524Tecun Uman, Kʼicheʼ Mayan ruler (born c. 1500)source
  • 1552Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke, English countess (born 1515)source
  • 1562Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming, former governess of Mary, Queen of Scotssource
  • 1575Maria of Jever, last ruler of the Lordship of Jever (born 1500)source
  • 1579Nicholas Bacon, English politician (born 1509)source
  • 1595Archduke Ernest of Austria, Governor-General of the Habsburg Netherlands (now Belgium), dies at the age of 41 and is temporarily replaced by his Spanish assistant, Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes.source
  • 1626John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (born 1563)source
  • 1685Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Danish queen (born 1628)source
  • 1685Queen Sophie Amalie, Queen of Denmark (born 1628)source
  • 1728J Raudot, Intendant of New France (born 1638)source
  • 1771Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (born 1678)source
  • 1773King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (born 1701)source
  • 1778Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and academic (born 1711)source
  • 1790Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1741)source
  • 1806Death of Russian commander Pavel Tsitsianovsource
  • 1810Tyrolean rebel leader Andreas Hofer is executed.source
  • 1827Federico de Brandsen, French-born military officer and veteran of Argentine War of Independence, killed in actionsource
  • 1835Clemente Malcher, rebel leader (assassinated)source
  • 185620 February − Þórður Sveinbjörnsson, politician.source
  • 1862Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet (born 1788)source
  • 1871Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (born 1810)source
  • 1879Joaquim Heliodoró da Cunha Rivara, physician, professor, intellectual, politician (born 1809)source
  • 1882Manuel Camilo Vial, politician (birth 1804)source
  • 1893P. G. T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (born 1818)source
  • 1895Frederick Douglass, American ex-slave and author (born c.1818)source
  • 1910Boutros Ghali, the first native-born Prime Minister of Egypt, is assassinated in Cairo.source
  • 1920Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (born 1856)source