/year

February 22 in history

207 sourced entries recorded on February 22, from 521 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 521Samson of Dol is ordained as bishop in Brittany, on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter.source
  • 705Empress Wu Zetian is deposed in a coup d'état organized by her chancellor Zhang Jianzhi, after a 15-year reign. His chief ministers gain support from some generals to seize the imperial palace and execute the Zhang brothers. They reinstall her son Zhong Zong, whom she deposed 15 years ago, restoring the Tang dynasty. This marks the end of the short-lived Zhou dynasty in China.source
  • 1071Battle of Cassel: Robert I ("the Frisian") defeats his sister-in-law Richilde (widow of Baldwin VI) and her nephew Arnulf III, in a succession struggle for the County of Flanders. Robert is appointed count by King Philip I of France.source
  • 1076Gregory VII pronounces a sentence of excommunication against Henry IV at Rome. He is excluded from the Catholic Church, and all the bishops named by Henry are excommunicated.source
  • 1204February 21–23 – A large solar storm takes place, and is recorded in Meigetsuki, the diary of the Japanese poet Fujiwara no Sadaie.source
  • 1281Frenchman Simon de Brion succeeds Nicholas III as Pope Martin IV, becoming the 189th pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 1288Nicholas IV is elected as the successor of the late Honorius IV (see 1287) during a conclave in Rome and becomes the 191st pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 1300Pope Boniface VIII begins the practice of Roman pontiffs declaring a Jubilee or "Holy Year" to be observed every 100 years, and issues the papal bull Antiquorum habet fida relatio. Boniface declares that Christians who make a pilgrimage to visit Saint Peter's Basilica will receive a plenary indulgence forgiving them from purgatorial punishment for certain sins. The papal declaration, which also applies to a visit to the Basilica of Saint Paul, results in tens of thousands of people visiting Rome during the Jubilee Year. It is at this celebration that Giovanni Villani decides to write his universal history of Florence, called the Nuova Cronica ("New Chronicles").source
  • 1300The Jubilee of Pope Boniface VIII is celebrated.source
  • 1316Battle of Picotin: Catalan forces led by Prince Ferdinand of Majorca, claimant to the Principality of Achaea, defeat the army of Princess Matilda of Hainaut, on the Peloponnese. During the battle, the Catalans kill 500 Burgundians and 700 native troops. The remnants of the Princess's army withdraw in haste, pursued by the Catalan cavalry; before they turn back to loot the abandoned Achaean camp.source
  • 1341Alexander Bicknor, Archbishop of Dublin is appointed 'custos and acting justiciar.source
  • 1345an assembly is held in Callan, County Kilkenny, under the presidency of Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond.source
  • 1371Robert II becomes the first Stuart king of Scotland, after the death of his uncle, King David II, prompting a rebellion by the Earl of Douglas.source
  • 1415King Charles VI of France and John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, sign the Treaty of Arras.source
  • 1415Forty Years' War: (Full moon of Tabaung 776 ME) In what is now Myanmar, Razadarit, ruler of the Hanthawaddy kingdom, authorizes a plan to fight the forces of Minkhaung I ruler of the Ava Kingdom. King Razadarit leads the invasion on March 2 (8th waning of Tabaung 776 ME).source
  • 1440Four months after the death of King Albert of Hungary, his son, Ladislaus the Posthumous, is born at Komárom (modern-day Komárno in Slovakia) to Albert's widow, Elisabeth, regent for the vacant throne. Elizabeth argues to the Hungarian nobles that Ladislaus should be elected as the rightful successor to King Albert, and that she should serve as the boy's regent.source
  • 1463At the University of Cambridge in England, Henry Abyngdon becomes the first person in the world to receive a degree of Bachelor of Musicsource
  • 1484Pope John XIII of Alexandria begins a reign of 40 years as the partiarch of the Coptic Christian Church, filling a vacancy of five months since the death of Pope John XII.source
  • 1495Italian War of 1494–98: King Charles VIII of France enters the city of Naples, to claim the throne of the Kingdom of Naples. A few months later, he decides to return to France, and leaves Naples with most of his army, leaving a force under his cousin Gilbert, Count of Montpensier as viceroy. Syphilis is first definitely recorded in Europe during this invasion. (perhaps from French forces who may have contacted Croats fleeing an Ottoman army in the east).source
  • 1495King Charles VIII enters Naples in an extravagant display.source
  • 1545A firman of the Ottoman Empire is issued for the dethronement of Radu Paisie as Prince of Wallachia.source
  • 1584After being falsely accused of various charges, Jeremias II Tranos, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, is deposed by his fellow bishops and exiled to the island of Rhodes. Jeremias is replaced by Pachomius II Patestos.source
  • 1622a patent is granted for Dud Dudley's process for smelting iron ore with coke.source
  • 1630Native American Quadequine introduces popcorn to English colonists.source
  • 1632Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published in Florence.source
  • 1635The Académie française in Paris is formally constituted, as the national academy for the preservation of the French language.source
  • 1642The Italian opera Il palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace), by Luigi Rossi with libretto by Giulion Rospigliosi (the future Pope Clement IX), is given its first performance at the Teatro delle Quattro Fontane (Palazzo Barberini) in Rome.source
  • 1649The Mughal–Safavid War begins when Shah Abbas II of the Safavid Empire in Persia captures the Afghan city of Kandahar from the Mughal Empire of India after a six-week siege. The Mughals, led by Shah Jahan, fail to recapture Kandahar after three sieges in four years.source
  • 1651Pierre de Bex, former mayor of Liège, executed in Liègesource
  • 1651St. Peter's Flood: A first storm tide in the North Sea strikes the coast of Germany, drowning thousands. The island of Juist is split in half, and the western half of Buise is probably washed away.source
  • 1660The siege of Halden ends, and the Swedish forces retreat to Bohuslen.source
  • 1667The Lejonkulan ("lion's den") opens at Stockholm in Sweden as the first permanent theater in Scandinavia, with the performance of Jean Magnon's Orontes en Satira.source
  • 1670Laurentius Stigzelius is appointed as the new Swedish archbishop. When he was ordained shortly afterwards by Bishop Enander in Linköping, it was the last time before 1914 that a Swedish archbishop was ordained (all archbishops between Stigzelius and Nathan Söderblom are already bishops at the time of accession).source
  • 1686Sweden's Council of State endorses the reforms proposed by King Charles XI for the Swedish Church Law 1686, after having debated it in three sessions on February 18, 19 and 20. The law confirms and describes the rights of the Lutheran Church and confirms Sweden as a Lutheran state; all non-Lutherans are banned from immigration unless they convert to Lutheranism; the Romani people are to be incorporated to the Lutheran Church; the poor care law is regulated; and all parishes are forced by law to teach the children within them to read and write, in order to learn the scripture, which closely eradicates illiteracy in Sweden.source
  • 1697Gerrit de Heere becomes the new Governor of Dutch Ceylon, succeeding Thomas van Rhee and administering the colony for almost six years until his death.source
  • 1700February 22 (Gregorian), February 12 (Julian) – The Great Northern War begins with a joint invasion of Swedish territory in Germany and Latvia, by Denmark and Poland/Saxony. Sweden has control of the Baltic Sea and holds territory that includes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany. To challenge its power, an alliance is formed between Tsar Peter I of Russia, King Frederick IV of Denmark and Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Sweden's ruler is the militaristic Charles XII, known as the "Swedish Meteor".source
  • 1700Great Northern War starts.source
  • 1727February 22 (February 11, 1726 O.S.) – Spain besieges the British-held territory of Gibraltar, in order to recapture it. Britain's Royal Navy begins a blockade of Spanish ports and the unsuccessful siege ends with the signing of a truce on June 24.source
  • 1742Henry Fielding publishes his picaresque novel Joseph Andrews anonymously in London when "the first edition... reached the bookstalls" in the city.source
  • 1744February 22–23 – Battle of Toulon: A British fleet fights a Franco-Spanish fleet; the battle is tactically inconclusive but results in a strategic success for the allies.source
  • 1745The ruling white colonial government on the island of Jamaica foils a conspiracy by about 900 black slaves, who had been plotting to seize control and to massacre the white residents.source
  • 1746Brussels, at the time part of the Austrian Netherlands, surrenders to France's Marshal Maurice de Saxe.source
  • 1754Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the indigenous Guarani people residing in the Misiones Orientales stage an attack on a small Brazilian Portuguese settlement on the Rio Pardo in what is now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The attack by 300 Guarani soldiers from the missions at San Luis, San Lorenzo and San Juan Bautista is repelled with a loss of 30 Guarani and is the opening of the Guarani Warsource
  • 1757King Frederick V of Denmark issues an order to create a Lutheran mission for African slaves at the Danish West Indies (the modern-day United States Virgin Islands) at St. Croix.source
  • 1758A fleet of 158 British Royal Navy warships, under the command of Admiral Edward Boscawen, departs from Plymouth toward North America in an effort to conquer the French Canadian territories of New France. Many of the sailors die of nutritional deficiencies along the way, including the scurvy that kills 26 of the crew of HMS Pembroke, captained by future world explorer James Cook on his first long voyage.source
  • 1760February 21–26 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland – A force of French troops, under the command of privateer François Thurot, captures and holds the town and castle of Carrickfergus before retiring; the force is defeated (and Thurot killed) in the naval Battle of Bishops Court in the Irish Sea on February 28.source
  • 1770Christopher Seider, an 11-year-old boy in Boston in the British Province of Massachusetts Bay, is shot and killed by a colonial official, Ebenezer Richardson. The funeral sets off anti-British protests that lead to the massacre days later.source
  • 1774the legal case of Donaldson v Beckett is decided in the House of Lords, denying the continued existence of a perpetual common law copyright and holding that copyright is a creation of statute and can be limited in its duration. This does permit authors to claim copyright in their own works.source
  • 1774The town of Stathelle was founded.source
  • 1782Vermont accepts the prescribed delimitation.source
  • 1793French expedition to Sardinia: A small French and Corsican force briefly occupies the small Sardinian island of La Maddalena, then withdraws to Corsica. 23-year-old lieutenant Napoleon Buonaparte is second-in-command.source
  • 1797The last invasion of Britain begins: French forces, under the command of American Colonel William Tate, land near Fishguard, Wales.source
  • 1797The Last invasion of Britain begins. French forces under the command of American Colonel William Tate land near Fishguard in Wales.source
  • 1797The last invasion of Britain: An American colonel named William Tate leads French forces in a landing near Fishguard in Wales.source
  • 1800The Baker rifle, designed by Ezekiel Baker, is selected by the British Board of Ordnance as a new standard.source
  • 1804April 22 – 1804 Haiti massacre, an ethnic cleansing with the goal of eradicating the white population on Haiti.source
  • 1811Editor Leigh Hunt and his publisher brother John, defended by Henry Brougham, are cleared of seditious libel over a September 1810 article in their newspaper, The Examiner, criticising flogging in the Army.source
  • 1819Adams–Onís Treaty: Agreement is reached for Spain to cede Florida (already under USA's domination) to the United States in exchange for renunciation of American claims on Texas arising from the Louisiana Purchase, American payment of $5 million to settle citizens' claims regarding Florida, and definition of international borders. Following ratification, the treaty takes effect in 1821.source
  • 1828Treaty of Turkmenchay: By this Russian-Persian peace treaty signed on February 10 at Torkamanchay, Persia (Iran), the latter country is forced irrevocably to cede the territories of the Erivan Khanate (most of modern-day central Armenia and the northern Iğdır Province of Turkey), the Nakhichevan Khanate (most of the modern-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan), the remainder of the Talysh Khanate (southeastern Azerbaijan), and the Ordubad and Mughan regions (also part of modern-day Azerbaijan) to Imperial Russia. By this and the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) Persia has now lost all its territories north of the Aras River, comprising modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia to Russia. Armenians from Persian Azerbaijan are to be resettled in the Caucasus.source
  • 1832French Expedition to Ancona occupies Ancona in Italy, remaining until 1838source
  • 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
  • 1846The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is cracked while being rung for George Washington's birthday.source
  • 1847Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops under General Zachary Taylor use their superiority in artillery to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under Antonio López de Santa Anna, defeating the Mexicans the next day.source
  • 1853Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary.source
  • 1855Pennsylvania State University is founded, as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.source
  • 1860The New England Shoemakers Strike of 1860 begins in Lynn, Massachusetts. The strike spreads throughout New England, and eventually involves 20,000 workers.source
  • 1862Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated in Richmond, Virginia, to a six-year term as president of the Confederate States.source
  • 1865Tennessee adopts a new constitution that abolishes slavery.source
  • 1867In Querétaro, Maximilian I and his generals held a council of war to determine their strategy. It was agreed that the Imperial army would leave the city on the 26th of that month to engage the Republican forces, a course of action that may have prevented the subsequent siege. The plan was not carried out, however, and Maximilian remained in Querétaro rather than launching the attack.source
  • 1867The Indiana Daily Student is established at Indiana University in Bloomington.source
  • 1872The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.source
  • 1876Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.source
  • 1879In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.source
  • 1881Cleopatra's Needle is erected in Central Park, New York City.source
  • 1889President Grover Cleveland signs the Enabling Act of 1889, admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.source
  • 1895Venezuela Crisis of 1895: United States President Grover Cleveland signs into law U.S. House Resolution 252, recommending Venezuela and the United Kingdom settle the dispute by arbitration.source
  • 1897Black Hills National Forest is established.source
  • 1901The Pacific Mail Steamship Company's SS City of Rio de Janeiro sinks entering San Francisco Bay, killing 128.source
  • 1903The Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík is consecrated in Reykjavik.source
  • 1911One of Japan's most well-known authors, Natsume Sōseki, sends a letter to the Ministry of Education, refusing the title of professor of literature. He explains that he just wants to go on living his life as "Natsume so-and-so."source
  • 1912MS Selandia, the world's first ocean-going diesel-powered ship, departs Copenhagen on her maiden voyage, bound for Bangkok, with two B&W four-stroke diesel engines.source
  • 1918February 19–25 – WWI: The Imperial Russian Navy evacuates Tallinn through thick ice, over the Gulf of Finland.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
  • 1920In Emeryville, California, the first dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.source
  • 1924Treaty of Rome: The Kingdom of Italy annexes the Free State of Fiume, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes absorbs Sušak.source
  • 1924Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.source
  • 1928Bert Hinkler arrives in Darwin, Northern Territory after flying solo from London on 7 February, and then, later, he arrives in his hometown of Bundaberg on 27 February.source
  • 1938The Battle of Teruel ends in a Nationalist victory with recapture of the city, a turning point in the Spanish Civil War.source
  • 1940In Tibet, province of Ando, 4-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is proclaimed the tulku (rebirth) of the 13th Dalai Lama.source
  • 1942WWII: General George Marshall transmits a direct order to General MacArthur in President Roosevelt's name, ordering MacArthur himself to turn over command of the Philippines to a subordinate, and report to Australia to assume command of the large American force being built up there. The orders are worded to allow MacArthur to choose the exact moment of his departure; for various reasons, he will not leave until March 11.source
  • 1943WWII: Royal Canadian Navy corvette HMCS Weyburn sinks east of Gibraltar, after being mined.source
  • 1950Halvor Møgster, Olympic sailor (born 1875)source
  • 1951President Quirino formally launches EDCOR (Economic Development Corps) projects, whose objective is establishing settlements for former Huks, with the opening of the country's first—the Arevalo ECDOR farm in Kapatagan Valley, Lanao. It will be inaugurated on March 6; and about two months later, the first batch of settlers will be brought to the site.source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1954Rendel Commission's recommendations were unveiled to the public. It proposed changes to the constitution, which took effect on 8 February 1955.source
  • 1955In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,077.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1962Coup attempt led by Colonel Talat Aydemir fails.source
  • 1967Donald Sangster becomes the new prime minister of Jamaica, succeeding Alexander Bustamante.source
  • 1967Suharto takes power from Sukarno in Indonesia (see Transition to the New Order and Supersemar).source
  • 1969Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969source
  • 1972February 21–28 – U.S. President Richard Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.source
  • 1972The Troubles: 1972 Aldershot bombing – A car bomb planted by the Official Irish Republican Army kills seven people outside a British military base in Aldershot, England.source
  • 1972Haim Revivo, former Israeli football player and a businessman.source
  • 1972Lufthansa Flight 649 is hijacked and taken to Aden. Passengers are released the following day after a ransom of 5 million US dollars is agreed.source
  • 1980The US upset the USSR in the Olympics, a hockey game known as the Miracle on Ice. They then proceeded to defeat Finland to secure their first of two gold medals since 1960.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
  • 1984President of Bangladesh, H M Ershad upgrades South Sylhet's sub-division status to a district and renames it back to Moulvibazar.source
  • 1986The People Power Revolution begins in the Philippines to remove President Ferdinand Marcos from office.source
  • 1988The Cuibul cu barză Church is translated.source
  • 1992Nawaz Sharif introduces yellow-cab taxi scheme.source
  • 1993United Nations Security Council Resolution 808 is voted on, deciding that "an international tribunal shall be established" to prosecute violations of international law in Yugoslavia. The tribunal is established on May 25 by Resolution 827.source
  • 2000OhmyNews is launched.source
  • 2001The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentences three Bosnian Serb soldiers to prison for wartime sexual violence, recognizing it as a war crime for the first time.source
  • 20062006 al-Askari mosque bombing: Explosions occur at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, causes the escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq into a full-scale war (the Iraqi Civil War of 2006–2008).source
  • 2008Riots break out in Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouhigouya due to increasing prices of basic necessities and unstable economic conditions.source
  • 2009Dung Quất Refinery were inauguratedsource
  • 2011March 14 – Uncertainty over Libyan oil output causes crude oil prices to rise 20% over a two-week period following the Arab Spring, causing the 2011 energy crisis.source
  • 2014Revolution of Dignity: The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Turchynov, after days of civil unrest leaving around 100 people dead in Kyiv.source
  • 2020The country banned all cruise ships from visiting the country.source
  • 2022February 21 – February 24 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree declaring the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and, despite international condemnation and sanctions, launched the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine; at dawn on 24 February missiles strike Kyiv. Ukraine severs diplomatic relations with Russia, followed by the Federated States of Micronesia on 25 February.source
  • 2022Syria voices support for Russia's recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as independent states.source
  • 2024American company Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander becomes the first commercial vehicle to land on the Moon.source

Births

  • 1040Rashi, French rabbi and writer (died 1105)source
  • 1066Lý Nhân Tông, Vietnamese emperor (died 1128)source
  • 1161Innocent III, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1216)source
  • 1315Chunghye of Goryeo, Korean crown prince and king (died 1344)source
  • 1403King Charles VII of France, monarch of the House of Valois, King of France from 1422 to his death (died 1461)source
  • 1403Charles VII of France (died 1461).source
  • 1405Gilbert Kennedy, 1st Lord Kennedy, Scottish noble (died 1489)source
  • 1500Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (died 1564)source
  • 1514Tahmasp I, Shah of Iran (died 1576)source
  • 1520Frederick III of Legnica, Duke of Legnica (died 1570)source
  • 1592Nicholas Ferrar, English trader (died 1637)source
  • 1612February 22 (bapt.) – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (died 1677)source
  • 1630Jean-Baptiste Christyn, councillor (died 1690)source
  • 1631Peder Syv, philologist, folklorist and priest, known for his collections of Danish proverbs and folksongs (died 1702).source
  • 1715Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (died 1790)source
  • 1719Joshua Thomas, writer and Particular Baptist minister (died 1797)source
  • 1732George Washington, first President of the United States (died 1799)source
  • 1748Timothy Dexter, American businessman (died 1806)source
  • 1755Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny (died 1843)source
  • 1759Claude Lecourbe, French general (died 1815)source
  • 1771Jørgen Aall, ship-owner and politician (died 1833)source
  • 1775John Hughes, minister, author and hymn-writer (died 1854)source
  • 1788Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (died 1860)source
  • 1819James Russell Lowell, American poet, essayist (died 1891)source
  • 1840August Bebel, German politician (died 1913)source
  • 1857Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of the Scouting movement (died 1941)source
  • 1857Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (died 1894)source
  • 1885Pat Sullivan, Australian-born American director, animated film producer (died 1933)source
  • 1888Ervand Kogbetliantz, Armenian mathematician.source
  • 1900Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (died 1983)source
  • 1932Ted Kennedy, American politician (died 2009)source
  • 1943Eduard Limonov, Russian writer, poet, publicist and political dissident (died 2020)source

Deaths

  • 556Maximianus, Bishop of Ravenna (born 499)source
  • 606Sabinian dies at Rome after a two-year reign, and will not be replaced until 607.source
  • 793Sicga, Anglo-Saxon noblemansource
  • 845Wang, empress and concubine of Mu Zongsource
  • 954Guo Wei, emperor of the Later Zhou (born 904)source
  • 965Otto, duke of Burgundy (born 944)source
  • 970García I, king of Pamplonasource
  • 978Lambert, count of Chalon (born 930)source
  • 1071William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford — killed at the Battle of Casselsource
  • 1071Arnulf III, count of Flanders (House of Flanders) — killed at the Battle of Casselsource
  • 1072Stigand, Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterburysource
  • 1072Peter Damian, cardinal-bishop of Ostia (or 1073)source
  • 1079John of Fécamp, Italian-Norman abbotsource
  • 1098Hugh de Grandmesnil, Norman sheriff (born 1032)source
  • 1111Roger Borsa, Italo-Norman noblemansource
  • 1217Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg, German Jewish rabbi (born 1150)source
  • 1297Margaret of Cortona, Italian nun and saint (born 1247)source
  • 1371David II of Scotland (born 1324)source
  • 1407Pir Muhammad Mirza, co-ruler of the Timurid Empire (Transoxiana) that encompasses what is now Iran and most of the Near East of Asia, is murdered by his vizier, Pir Ali Taz. He is succeeded by his cousin, Khalil Sultan, who becomes the sole ruler of Transoxiana until being overthrown in 1409.source
  • 1452William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas is killed by James II of Scotland, at Stirling Castle.source
  • 1452William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (born 1425)source
  • 1481Charles I d'Amboise, politician and military figure (born 1430)source
  • 1511Henry, Duke of Cornwall, eldest son of Henry VIII of Englandsource
  • 1512Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and cartographer, after whom the Americas are named (born 1451)source
  • 1596David Wemyss of That Ilksource
  • 1610Polykarp Leyser the Elder, German theologian (born 1552)source
  • 1636Santorio Santorio, Italian physician (born 1561)source
  • 1671Adam Olearius, German scholar (born 1599)source
  • 1680Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin, a fortune teller in France who organized a ring of killers in what became known as the "Affair of the Poisons" that killed at least 1,000 people, is burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft. In all, 36 people are executed for their role in the poisoning.source
  • 1680Catherine Monvoisin, French fortune teller and poisoner (born c. 1640)source
  • 1690Charles Le Brun, French painter and art theorist (born 1619)source
  • 1731Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (born 1638)source
  • 1732Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (born 1663)source
  • 1732Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (born 1666)source
  • 1753Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim, German countess (born 1686)source
  • 1756Akdun, Chinese Manchu statesman (born 1685)source
  • 1760Anna Magdalena Bach, accomplished German singer, second wife of Johann Sebastian Bach (born 1701)source
  • 1797Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (born 1720)source
  • 1810Charles Brockden Brown, American novelist (born 1771; tuberculosis)source
  • 1816Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher, historian (born 1723)source
  • 1845William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, British politician (born 1763)source
  • 1875Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (born 1797)source
  • 1875Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter (born 1796)source
  • 1903Victor Meirelles, painter (born 1832)source
  • 1913Francisco I. Madero, 33rd President of Mexico (born 1873)source
  • 1913Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and semiotician (born 1857)source
  • 1913José María Pino Suárez, 7th Vice President of Mexico (born 1869)source
  • 1987Andy Warhol, 58, American artist, director and writer, sudden post-operative irregular heartbeat.source
  • 2002UNITA guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in clashes against government troops led by Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos in Moxico Province, Angola.source
  • 2011A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Christchurch, in what becomes New Zealand's third-deadliest natural disaster. 185 people are killed, many ESL students within the CTV Building, and the city centre and 10,000 homes are destroyed. Many foreign search and rescue workers respond to the event.source
  • 2021Luca Attanasio, the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is murdered near Goma.source