/year

January 17 in history

227 sourced entries recorded on January 17, from 38 BCE to 2023 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 38 BCEOctavian marries Livia while she is still pregnant from a recently broken marriage. Octavian gained permission from the College of Pontiffs to wed her while she is still pregnant from another husband. Three months after the wedding she gives birth to a second son, Nero Claudius Drusus, while he and his elder brother, the four-year-old Tiberius, are living in Octavian's household.source
  • 1005January 13–18 – The Shanyuan Treaty is negotiated between the Liao dynasty and the Song dynasty. The Song government agrees to pay an annual tribute of 200,000 bolts of raw silk and 100,000 taels of silver, ending the northern border clashes against Liao.source
  • 1238January 15–20 – Siege of Moscow: The Mongols under Batu Khan and Subutai campaign across the northern heartland of the Kievan Rus', committing numerous atrocities across multiple settlements, including the sacking of an insignificant town known as Moscow. According to the Chronicle of Novgorod, Moscow is a fortified village, a trading post "on a crossroads of four rivers". The village is taken by the Mongols after 5 days of siege.source
  • 1287Aragonese forces led by King Alfonso III (the Liberal) conquer the island of Menorca. He signs the "Treaty of San Agayz" with Sultan Abû 'Umar ibn Sa'îd on January 21. Alfonso accepts a policy of free trade for merchants and their property. He also concludes an alliance against the Marinids with Abu Said Uthman I, ruler of the Zayyanid Kingdom of Tlemcen (modern Algeria). He proposes to supply him with five to ten galleys (with food and other goods) in exchange for 500 elite Zayyanid horsemen.source
  • 1300The marriage of Eleanor of Anjou, daughter of King Charles II of Naples, to Philippe II de Toucy is annulled by Pope Boniface VIII because neither husband nor wife is more than 10 years old and their parents have not sought permission from the Pope to approve the marriage. The dissolution clears the way for Eleanor to marry again, and she will wed Frederick III of Sicily on May 17, 1302, to become queen consort of the Italian island kingdom.source
  • 1303A major earthquake strikes Byzantium and Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey). Byzantine Emperor Michael IX Palaiologos spreads the word that the former Patriarch of the Eastern Church, Athanasius I had given him a warning about the imminent wrath of God against the city.source
  • 1314Queen Oljath, who had been the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Georgia as wife of King Vakhtang II (died 1292), and then his cousin, King David VIII (died 1311), marries a third time, taking as her husband Qara Sonqur, Governor of Maragheh (in the modern-day East Azerbaijan province of Iran), in exchange for a dowry of 30,000 dinars.source
  • 1328Louis IV, "the Bavarian", is crowned Holy Roman Emperor at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Because of conflict with the Avignon Papacy, the ceremony is carried out by a senator and three Italian bishops.source
  • 1345The Turks attack Smyrna.source
  • 1369Peter the Fat becomes the new King of Cyprus when his father, King Peter I, is stabbed to death while in bed at the Palace of La Cava in Nicosia. The murder is carried out by a group of noblemen, led by Philip of Ibelin, Henry of Jubail, John of Gaurelle, and James of Nores, along with some outlaws freed from imprisonment earlier in the evening.source
  • 1372Frederick the Simple, King of Sicily, agrees to marry Antonia of Baux, as part of negotiations for a peace treaty between Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples and Neapolitan and Papal recognition of his right to the throne. The marriage will take place the next year on November 26, 1373.source
  • 1374King Federico of Sicily swears his allegiance to Pope Gregory XI as part of the Treaty of Villeneuve after the Pope's recognition of him as the sovereign.source
  • 1374In Italy, at Padua, Alvise Forzatè is arrested on charges of treason and conspiracy with his nephew Filippo Forzate, in 1373, to assassinate Francesco I da Carrara, Lord of Padua. The two men are beheaded one week later on January 24.source
  • 1377Pope Gregory XI moves the papacy back from Avignon to Rome.source
  • 1433The seventh Ming Chinese overseas expedition fleet, led by Admiral Zheng He, arrives at the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, its furthest westward travel and stays for almost two months before setting off for its return to China.source
  • 1437Battle of Hällaskogen, Sweden: Rebels from the cities of Arboga, Köping, and Örebro, led by Erik Puke, defeat the troops sent by King Karl Knutsson. Puke is captured a few weeks later, and beheaded on February 13.source
  • 1439As part of Ming China's campaign against the Möng Mao kingdom in south China, General Fang Zheng, commander of 295,000 troops, attacks the stockade of the Mao kingdom's General Si Renfa and forces the enemy to retreat southward, after which he continues in pursuit. However, by this time his troops are exhausted and his supply lines are cut off. He requests reinforcements, but Mu Sheng sends only a small number as he is angry that Fang Zheng has disobeyed orders. Fang Zheng is then defeated at Kongni where he has pursued Si Renfa, and "fell into an ambush of the elephant phalanx of his enemy", at which point he orders his son to escape, and dies with his troopssource
  • 1471Portuguese navigators João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar discover the uninhabited island of Príncipe (now part of the nation of São Tomé and Príncipe). They initially call it "Ilha de Santo Antão" because they land it on the feast day of Saint Anthony.source
  • 1501Cesar Borgia returns triumphantly to Rome, from Romagna.source
  • 1524Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, on board La Dauphine in the service of Francis I of France, sets out from Madeira for the New World, to seek out a western sea route to the Pacific Ocean.source
  • 1562Huguenots are recognized under the Edict of Saint-Germain.source
  • 1582Kristinehamn is made a city when Duke Charles (future king Charles IX) issues a royal charter granting town privileges to the city then known as Broo.source
  • 1589The French city of Chartres closes its gates to King Henry III and subsequently recognizes 65-year-old Charles I, Cardinal de Bourbon as King Charles X.source
  • 1594Construction of the Junagarh Fort in the Mughal Empire's principality of Bikaner (now in India's Rajasthan state) is completed after almost five years.source
  • 1595During the French Wars of Religion, King Henry IV of France declares war on Spain, ordering Henry, Duke of Bouillon to lead armies through Luxembourg for an attack on the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).source
  • 1598financier Thomas Foulis is bankrupted.source
  • 1601Treaty of Lyon: France gains Bresse, Bugey and Gex from Savoy, ceding Saluzzo in exchange.source
  • 1601Treaty of Lyon: France gains Bresse, Bugey and Gex from Savoy, ceding Saluzzo in exchangesource
  • 1608Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia defeats an Oromo army at Ebenat; 12,000 Oromo are reportedly killed at a cost of 400 Amhara.source
  • 1625Led by the Duke of Soubise, the Huguenots launch a second rebellion against King Louis XIII, with a surprise naval assault on a French fleet being prepared in Blavet.source
  • 1633January 17–19 – Quarrel between Diogo de Oliviera, alias Sindicario, a member of the Portuguese marrano community of Rouen, and Diego de Cisneros, a Spanish priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of León in Spain, over a request for a catholicity certificate. The case is brought before the courts and causes the dispersion of part of the Rouen marrano community, some finding refuge in Lille, Antwerp and London. The Spanish priests Cisneros and Juan Bautista de Villadiego, denounced as spies, as well as Oliviera, are arrested. The 36 marranos accused of crypto-Judaism are finally absolved on June 30 after an investigation by the King's Council and the promise to pay 250000 livres to the crown.source
  • 1640Action of 12–17 January 1640: A naval battle, part of the Dutch invasions of Brazil, between ships of the Dutch Republic and those of the Kingdom of Portugal, ends after five days of fighting with the Dutch driving the Portuguese away from the port of Recife.source
  • 1640John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.source
  • 1647Postvesenet is established.source
  • 1647Posten Norge is founded as Postvesenet.source
  • 1648By a vote of 141 to 91, England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I, and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.source
  • 1648the Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the Second English Civil War.source
  • 1649The Second Ormonde Peace concludes an alliance between the Irish Royalists and the Irish Confederates during the War of the Three Kingdoms. Later in the year the alliance is decisively defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.source
  • 1656The Treaty of Königsberg is signed, establishing an alliance between Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.source
  • 1656Treaty of Königsberg is signed, establishing an alliance between Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.source
  • 1666The Chair of Saint Peter (Cathedra Petri, designed by Bernini) is set above the altar in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.source
  • 1671The ballet Psyché, with music composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, premieres before the royal court of King Louis XIV at the Théâtre des Tuileries in Paris.source
  • 1686King Louis XIV of France reports the success of the Edict of Fontainebleau, issued on October 22 against the Protestant Huguenots, and reports that after less than three months, the vast majority of the Huguenot population had left the country.source
  • 1688Ilona Zrínyi, who has defended the Palanok Castle in Hungary from Austrian Imperial forces since 1685, is forced to surrender to General Antonio Caraffa.source
  • 1712Robert Walpole imprisoned in the Tower of London following charges of corruption.source
  • 1713Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take refuge in Fort Reading, on the Pamlico River.source
  • 1718Jeremias III reclaims his role as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, chief leader within the Eastern Orthodox Church, 16 days after the Metropolitan Cyril IV of Pruoza had engineered an election to become the Patriarch.source
  • 1746Battle of Falkirk Muir: British Government forces are defeated by Jacobite forces.source
  • 1750John Canton reads a paper in the presence of the Royal Society of London on a method of making artificial magnets.source
  • 1757Ahmad Shah Durrani leads his Afghan forces to sack Delhi during his invasions of India.source
  • 1770American Revolution: British troops clash with American colonists at the Battle of Golden Hill.source
  • 1772Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda are arrested, leading to his execution and her banishment from Denmark.source
  • 1773Second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in HMS Resolution (1771) becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.source
  • 1773second voyage of James Cook: Captain Cook in HMS Resolution becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.source
  • 1775Second voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook takes possession of South Georgia for the Kingdom of Great Britain.source
  • 1775Richard Brinsley Sheridan's first play, the comedy of manners The Rivals, is premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre, London.source
  • 1775first performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners The Rivals at the Covent Garden Theatre in London.source
  • 1780January 16-17: Battle of Cape St. Vincentsource
  • 1781American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cowpens: The American Continental Army, under Daniel Morgan, decisively defeats British forces in South Carolina.source
  • 1795Duddingston Curling Society formally organised.source
  • 1807Henry George Grey is appointed as acting Governor of the Cape.source
  • 1811Mexican War of Independence – Battle of Calderón Bridge: A heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.source
  • 1816Fire nearly destroys the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.source
  • 1826The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining novelist Sir Walter Scott as a principal investor. He undertakes to repay his creditors from his writings. His publisher, Archibald Constable, also fails.source
  • 1847St. Anthony Hall fraternity is founded at Columbia University, New York City.source
  • 1847Saint Anthony Hall is founded at Columbia University in New York City.source
  • 1852The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Transvaal.source
  • 1853With the passing of New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 the previous year the Provinces of New Zealand are created. The former New Ulster Province and New Munster Province, which had been in place since 1846, are abolished. New Ulster is split into Auckland, New Plymouth and Wellington; New Munster is split into Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. Each of the new provinces has its own legislature, known as a Provincial Council, that elects its own Speaker and Superintendent.source
  • 1863Explorer John McKinlay returns home to Gawler, South Australia after an unsuccessful two-year search for the missing Burke and Wills expedition.source
  • 1871General Assembly approved an amnesty to every individual who until that moment took part of the armed uprising and after that deserted the rebel forces and appear before the authorities. This amnesty excuses them of any offences due to being part of the rebel forces, they were promised not being prosecuted for their actions or previous opinions, and they could make use of their civilian and political rights again, along with their warranties to that rights, and in the case of military officers of the Army, they would be restored with the rank they reached up to the time they were discharged.source
  • 1873American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat the United States Army.source
  • 1873Indian Wars: The first Battle of the Stronghold is fought during the Modoc War.source
  • 1878Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Philippopolis – Russian troops defeat the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1883January 8 — January 19 – Trial of the 66 in Lyon, targeting the Black International in France.source
  • 1885Mahdist War in Sudan: Battle of Abu Klea – British troops defeat Mahdist forces.source
  • 1886the Anglo-Irish writers cousins Somerville and Ross first meet, at Castletownshend.source
  • 1893Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii: Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizen's Committee of Public Safety in Hawaii, with the intervention of the United States Marine Corps, overthrow the government of Queen Liliuokalani.source
  • 1893The U.S. Marines intervene in Hawaii, resulting in overthrow of the government of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii.source
  • 1895A 6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes northeastern Iran near the town of Quchan and causes at least 1,000 deaths.source
  • 1896Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War: British redcoats enter the Ashanti capital, Kumasi, and Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I is deposed.source
  • 1899The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.source
  • 1900Brigham H. Roberts is refused a seat in the United States House of Representatives because of his polygamy.source
  • 1903Venezuela Crisis of 1902-1903: Bombardment of Fort San Carlossource
  • 190313 days after Topsy's death, the Edison Manufacturing Company released the short, black-and-white, silent documentary film Electrocuting an Elephant, showing the footage of Topsy's electrocution.source
  • 1904Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, opens at the Moscow Art Theatre directed by Constantin Stanislavski.source
  • 1905In France, Prime Minister Émile Combes and his cabinet announce their resignations after being implicated in the Affair of the Cards (L'Affaire des Fiches), a system set up by the War Ministry to purge the French Army officers corps of Jesuits.source
  • 1909The Federal University of Amazonas is founded.source
  • 1912British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four become the second expeditionary group to reach the South Pole.source
  • 1915WWI: Caucasus Campaign – Battle of Sarikamish: Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey.source
  • 1920Prohibition in the United States begins, with the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution which bans the sale of alcohol in all states.source
  • 1921January 15-21 – The XVII Congress of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) was held at the Carlo Goldoni Theatre in Livorno from 15 to 21 January 1921. After tumultuous proceedings the congress resulted in a split in the party.source
  • 1921The first recorded public performance of the illusion of "sawing a woman in half" is given by English stage magician P. T. Selbit at the Finsbury Park Empire variety theatre in London.source
  • 1923January 17 (or 9) – First flight of the first rotorcraft, Juan de la Cierva's Cierva C.4 autogyro, in Spain. (It is first demonstrated to the military on January 31.)source
  • 1928The OGPU arrests Leon Trotsky in Moscow; he assumes a status of passive resistance and is exiled with his family.source
  • 1929Kabul falls to Habibullāh Kalakāni's forces, beginning a 9-month period of Saqqawist rule in Afghanistan while the Afghan Civil War continues.source
  • 1929The comic strip hero Popeye first appears in Thimble Theatre.source
  • 1933The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wishes of U.S. President Herbert Hoover.source
  • 1933Alexandru Vaida-Voevod introduces the third sacrificial curve, reducing wages by 10 to 12.5 percent, which leads to widespread demonstrations.source
  • 1937the People's Party votes in favour of a general peasant strike (see 1937 peasant strike in Poland),source
  • 1943January 14–24 – WWII: Casablanca Conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States; Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and generals Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle of the French Resistance meet secretly at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next stage of the war.source
  • 1946The United Nations Security Council holds its first session, at Church House, Westminster in London.source
  • 1947William Dargie wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Marcus Clarke.source
  • 1949The first VW Type 1 to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models are sold in America that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff the car has no future in the U.S. (The Type 1 goes on to become an automotive phenomenon.)source
  • 1954In Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties.source
  • 19541953 Albanian Cup: team Dinamo Tirana wins the finals, beating Partizani with a 2-0.source
  • 1955USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.source
  • 1961President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a "military–industrial complex."source
  • 1963A last quarter moon occurs between the penumbral lunar eclipse and the annular solar eclipse, only 12 hours, 29 minutes after apogee.source
  • 1963Prototype Short SC.7 Skyvan short-haul freighter first flies.source
  • 19661966 Palomares B-52 crash: A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea. Carl Brashear, the first African-American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter, which results in the amputation of his leg.source
  • 19661966 Palomares B-52 crash: A USAF B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea. Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter which results in the amputation of his leg.source
  • 1968The Radio Malaysia and Television Malaysia service were moved from Tunku Abdul Rahman multipurpose hall at Jalan Ampang to the new building at Angkasapuri.source
  • 1970Cyclone Ada hits Central Queensland, killing 14.source
  • 1973Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines.source
  • 1978The San Juan Earthquake is felt in the cities of Chañaral, Copiapó, Vallenar, La Serena and Coquimbo.source
  • 1981Cargo ship Deniz Sönmez sinks near Crete, resulting in 32 fatalities.source
  • 1986January 13–24 – South Yemen Civil War.source
  • 1987The Jumalan teatteri ("The theatre of God") theatre students' group cause a huge scandal at the Oulu City Theatre in Oulu, Finland by throwing excrement, eggs and yoghurt on the audience during their two-minute performance.source
  • 1988Education Minister Yitzhaq Navon orders the mobilisation of high school students to assist in the citrus fruit harvest in a crisis caused by the absence of Palestinian Arab workers.source
  • 1991Operation Desert storm starts with the American led coalition forces sending hundreds of planes on to carry out around 400 bombing raids into Iraq.source
  • 1993January 6–20 – The Bombay riots take place in Mumbai.source
  • 1993January 8–17 – The Braer Storm of January 1993, the most intense extratropical cyclone on record for the northern Atlantic Ocean, occurs.source
  • 1994The 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake strikes the Greater Los Angeles Area of the United States, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.source
  • 1995The 6.9 Great Hanshin earthquake strikes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan with a maximum Shindo of 7, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.source
  • 1997A Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.source
  • 1998The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him.source
  • 2002Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.source
  • 2002The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo displaces an estimated 400,000 people.source
  • 2006Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo attack United Nations peacekeepers after the Ivorian Popular Front withdraws from the Ivorian Civil War peace process.source
  • 2008President José Ramos-Horta urges Timorese to forgive and pray for former Indonesian president Suharto, who ordered the invasion of East Timor in 1975.source
  • 2013January 16–20 – 39 international workers and 1 security guard die in a hostage crisis at a natural gas facility near In Aménas, Algeria.source
  • 2015The Bahraini government clashes with the protesters.source
  • 2015January 15–19 – Pope Francis visits the country for a five-day state and pastoral visit. The pope also visits the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in Leyte. This is the first papal visit to the Philippines in the 21st century.source
  • 2017The government approves proposed amendments tightening conditions for job-seekers receiving unemployment benefits.source
  • 2023January 10–17 – A cold snap in Afghanistan kills 166 people and nearly 80,000 livestock.source

Births

  • 1090Qin Hui, Chinese chancellor (died 1155)source
  • 1342Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (died 1404)source
  • 1429Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Italian artist (d.c. 1498)source
  • 1449Osanna of Mantua, Italian Dominican tertiary (died 1505)source
  • 1463Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (died 1525)source
  • 1463Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (died 1535)source
  • 1472Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero and Duke of Urbino (died 1508)source
  • 1484George Spalatin, German religious reformer (died 1545)source
  • 1501Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (died 1566)source
  • 1504Pope Pius V (died 1572)source
  • 1512Sibylle of Cleves, electress consort of Saxony (died 1554)source
  • 1517Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, English duke (died 1554)source
  • 1560Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (died 1624)source
  • 1565Mariana Navarro de Guevarra Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun, member of the Mercedarian Tertiaries (died 1624)source
  • 1566Anna Juliana Gonzaga, Archduchess of Austria and nun (died 1621)source
  • 1574Robert Fludd, English Rosicrucian and Paracelsian physicist (died 1637)source
  • 1600Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (died 1681)source
  • 1612Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (died 1671)source
  • 165717 January (baptism) – Pieter van Bloemen, painter (died 1720)source
  • 1658Samson Wertheimer, European rabbi (died 1724)source
  • 1706Benjamin Franklin, American inventor and Founding Father (died 1790)source
  • 1709George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (died 1773)source
  • 1719William Vernon, American merchant (died 1806)source
  • 1726Hugh Mercer, brigadier general in the American Continental Army, and a close friend to George Washington (died 1777)source
  • 1732Stanisław August Poniatowski, last King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (died 1798)source
  • 1761James Hall, Scottish geologist (died 1832)source
  • 1800Caleb Cushing, American statesman, diplomat (died 1879)source
  • 1820Anne Brontë, English author (died 1849)source
  • 1829Catherine Booth, English Mother of The Salvation Army (died 1890)source
  • 1850Joaquim Arcoverde, cardinalsource
  • 1862Javier Ángel Figueroa (died 1945)source
  • 1863David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1945)source
  • 1863Constantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre practitioner, founder of modern realistic acting (died 1938)source
  • 1864Mehdi Qoli Hedayat, Prime Minister of Iran.source
  • 1871David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, British admiral (died 1936)source
  • 1899Al Capone, American gangster (died 1947)source
  • 1905Guillermo Stábile, football player and manager (died 1966)source
  • 1917M. G. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu chief minister, actor (died 1987)source
  • 1921Asghar Khan, Pakistani politician, first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force, the world's youngest Air Vice Marshal at 36 and Air Marshal at 37 years old (died 2018)source
  • 1922Luis Echeverría, 50th President of Mexico (died 2022)source
  • 1922Betty White, American actress, television personality and animal welfare activist (died 2021)source
  • 1942Muhammad Ali, African-American boxer, activist, and philanthropist (died 2016)source
  • 1944Françoise Hardy, French singer (died 2024)source
  • 1954Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer, 2024 United States presidential election candidatesource
  • 1964Michelle Obama, American attorney and author, former First Lady of the United Statessource
  • 1987Oleksandr Usyk, Ukrainian boxersource
  • 2014Mia Tindall, daughter of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall michal wojnosource

Deaths

  • 395Emperor Theodosius I, age 48, dies of a disease involving severe edema in Milan. The Roman Empire is divided for the final time into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under his brother Honorius.source
  • 395Theodosius I, Roman emperor (born 347)source
  • 644Sulpitius the Pious, French bishop and saintsource
  • 646Sulpitius the Pious, bishop of Bourgessource
  • 764Joseph of Freising, German bishopsource
  • 1024Abd al-Rahman V, Caliph of Córdoba is assassinated in a coup d'etat by Muhammad III of Córdoba.source
  • 1040Masʽud I, Ghaznavid sultan (born 998)source
  • 1103Frutolf of Michelsberg, German monksource
  • 1156André de Montbard, French noblemansource
  • 1168Thierry of Alsace, count of Flanders (born 1099)source
  • 1221Walter de Clifford, English nobleman (born 1160)source
  • 1229Albert of Buxhoeven, bishop of Riga (born 1165)source
  • 1243Herman V, German nobleman (born 1180)source
  • 1305Roger of Lauria, Italian nobleman and admiral (born 1245)source
  • 1318Erwin von Steinbach, German architect (born 1244)source
  • 1329Saint Roseline, Carthusian nun (born 1263)source
  • 1334John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (born c. 1266)source
  • 1345Martino Zaccaria, former Genoese Lord of Chios (killed by Turks at Smyrna)source
  • 1345Henry of Asti, titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople (killed by Turks at Smyrna)source
  • 1369King Peter I of Cyprus (murdered) (born 1328)source
  • 1456Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont, French translator (born 1395)source
  • 1458Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (1413–1458) (born 1402)source
  • 1507Henry IV of Neuhaus (born 1442)source
  • 1523Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg, German landgravine (born 1466)source
  • 1588Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (born 1528)source
  • 1598The Tsar of the Russian Empire, Feodor I, dies of a sudden illness at the age of 40, leaving no children and bringing an end to the Rurik dynasty. His widow, Irina Godunova, takes action to secure the throne but her rule lasts for only nine days.source
  • 1617Faust Vrančić, Croatian inventor (born 1551)source
  • 1634Albert Szenczi Molnár, Hungarian translator (born 1574)source
  • 1668George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, fights a duel with Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (with whose wife he was having an affair) in which the latter is fatally wounded and a second is killed.source
  • 1670Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France, is burned at the stake after being accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a child who had disappeared from the village of Glatigny. The prosecutor applies to King Louis XIV for an order expelling all 95 Jewish families from Metz, but the king refuses.source
  • 1686Carlo Dolci, Italian painter (born 1616)source
  • 1698Moyse Charas, apothecary in France during the reign of Louis XIV (born 1619)source
  • 1705John Ray, English naturalist (born 1627)source
  • 1733George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, English Royal Navy admiral (born 1663)source
  • 1861Lola Montez, Irish-born dancer, mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria (born 1821)source
  • 1874Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese twins, sideshow performers (born 1811)source
  • 1893Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (born 1822)source
  • 1911Sir Francis Galton, British explorer, biologist (born 1822)source
  • 1933Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist, jewellery designer, son of Charles Lewis Tiffany (born 1848)source
  • 1961Patrice Lumumba, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (born 1925)source
  • 1961Patrice Lumumba of the Republic of Congo is assassinated.source
  • 1997Susanna Al-Hassan, politician and writer, Ghana's first female parliamentary minister (born 1927)source
  • 2008Bobby Fischer, 64, American chess grandmaster, world champion (1972–1975), kidney failure.source
  • 2010Jyoti Basu, 95, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (1977–2000), complications from pneumonia.source
  • 2016January 16 – 30 people are killed and 56 injured in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, targeting a hotel and a nearby restaurant. A siege occurs and 176 hostages are released afterwards, by government forces.source