January 27 in history

225 sourced entries recorded on January 27, from 98 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

632An annular eclipse of the sun occurs.source
945The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown barely a month after deposing their father, Romanos I. With the help of his wife, Constantine VII becomes sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He appoints to the highest army commands four members of the Phokas family, which have been in disgrace under Romanos.source
1080Battle of Flarchheim: Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats the forces led by the German anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, duke of Swabia, near the town of Flarchheim (modern Germany).source
1186Constance of Sicily marries Henry (the future Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor).source
1204January 27–28 – Byzantine emperor Alexios IV Angelos is overthrown in a revolution.source
1306The University of Orléans is created by a papal bull issued by Pope Clement V endowing the Orléans institutes in France with the title and privileges of a university.source
1343Pope Clement VI issues his bull Unigenitus, defining the doctrine of "The Treasury of Merits" or "The Treasury of the Church" as the basis for the issuance of indulgences by the Catholic Church.source
1377The "Bad Parliament", the 48th and last to be convened during the reign of King Edward III of England, begins its session with the goal of repealing most of the acts of the 1376 Parliament. Influenced by John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and son of King Edward, it undoes the work done by the Good Parliament, the previous year, to reduce corruption in the Royal Council. For the first time, the leader of the members of the House of Commons has a title, as Sir Thomas Hungerford, Gaunt's steward, is selected as the first "Speaker of the House of Commons".source
1395The 22nd English Parliament of King Richard II assembles after being summoned on November 20. John Bussy is elected as Speaker of the House of Commons.source
1396Thomas Sparkford, previously a priest of the Diocese of Exeter in England was appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. Died in office before July 1397source
1410The 8th Parliament of King Henry IV of England is opened, with Thomas Chaucer as Speaker of the House of Commons.source
1416The Republic of Ragusa is the first state in Europe to outlaw slavery.source
1451The Saxon Brother War between Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and William III, Landgrave of Thuringia is ended as two brothers sign a peace treaty at Naumburg.source
1521Suleiman the Magnificent suppresses a revolt by the ruler of Damascus, Janbirdi al-Ghazali.source
1548King Henri II of France makes the Châtillon agreement, a contract for betrothal for an arranged marriage between his four year old son, Prince Francois, to the five year old Mary, Queen of Scots, to take place in 1558.source
1554Wyatt's rebellion begins in England at Maidstone as Sir Thomas Wyatt reads a proclamation that Queen Mary of England’s marriage to King Philip of Spain will "bring upon this realm most miserable servitude, and establish popish religion". Within two days, Wyatt has raised 2,000 soldiers to join his plan to overthrow Queen Mary.source
1574At Agra, Bhagwant Das becomes the new Maharaja of the Kingdom of Amber in what is now India's state of Uttar Pradesh, upon the death of his grandfather, the Raja Bharmal.source
1591Scottish schoolmaster John Fian becomes the first person to be executed after the North Berwick witch trials, following his conviction for the crime of witchcraft. Fian is taken to the Castlehill outside of Edinburgh and strangled after which his body is burned. Agnes Sampson is garroted the next day at Castlehill and then burned.source
1593The Roman Inquisition opens the seven-year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.source
1596With an epidemic of dysentery spreading through the English forces of Drake and Baskerville, Drake orders survivors to retreat to the English ships, anchored off of the island of Escudo de Veraguas. Drake dies of dystentery two days later on his flagship, Defiance.source
1600Colonel Richard Wingfield is made Marshal of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth.source
1614The Noordsche Compagnie is founded in the Netherlands at Vlieland as a cartel in the whaling market.source
1633Isabella approves a peace deal with the Dutch Republic on the condition of acknowledgement of Habsburg sovereignty.source
1649King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is found guilty of high treason in a public session.source
1659The third and final session of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland is opened by Lord Protector Richard Cromwell, with Chaloner Chute as the Speaker of the House of Commons, with 567 members. "Cromwell's Other House", which replaces the House of Lords during the last years of the Protectorate, opens on the same day, with Richard Cromwell as its speaker.source
1666Mughal conquest of Chittagong: Mughal forces of Emperor Aurangzeb, in alliance with the Portuguese, under Shaista Khan and his son Buzurg Umed Khan, expel the Maghs from the Bengal port city of Chittagong, renaming the city as Islamabad.source
1667The 2,000 seat Opernhaus am Taschenberg, a theater in Dresden (capital of the Electorate of Saxony) opens with its first production, Pietro Ziani's opera Il teseo.source
1670The Muslim emperor Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire in India issues an order for the destruction of all Hindu temples and schools in the empire, including the Keshvadeva Temple in Mathura.source
1678The first fire engine company in North America goes into service in Boston.source
1683Gove's Rebellion breaks out in the Province of New Hampshire in North America as a revolt against the Royal Governor, Edward Cranfield. Most of the participants, and their leader Edward Gove, are arrested. Gove is convicted of treason but pardoned three years later.source
1687In one of the most sensational cases in England in the 17th century, midwife Mary Hobry murders her abusive husband, Denis Hobry, after he beats her up for the last time. Mary then dismembers his body and scatters the remains in a dunghill and in several outhouses (or privies) in the area. Despite a defense of justifiable homicide, Mary is convicted of murder and burned at the stake.source
1687French-born Catholic midwife Mary Hobry murders her abusive husband, Denis, dismembers his body and conceals the remains in London. She will be convicted of murder and burned at the stake on 2 March.source
1690The Convention Parliament is dissolved in England.source
1690The crew of the ship HMS Welfare, commanded by John Strong, become the first European people to land at the Falkland Islands.source
1690William Coward is hanged for acts of piracy, following his capture after seizing the ketch Elenor anchored in Boston Harbor the previous year.source
1695A flotilla of six Royal Navy warships under the command of Commodore James Killegrew aboard HMS Plymouth captures two French warships, the Content and the Trident, the day after the French ships had mistaken the English fleet to be a group of merchant ships to attack.source
1696In England, the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly Sovereign of the Seas) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.source
1696the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly Sovereign of the Seas) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.source
1716The Tugaloo massacre changes the course of the Yamasee War, allying the Cherokee nation with the British province of South Carolina against the Creek Indian nation.source
1722Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders is published anonymously in London.source
1722Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders is published anonymously in London.source
1726On its maiden voyage, the Dutch East India Company frigate Aagtekerke departs from the Dutch Cape Colony on the second leg of its journey to the Dutch East Indies across the Indian Ocean and is never seen again. Aagtekerke carried a crew of 200 men.source
1726J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72, concluding his third Christmas season in Leipzig on the Third Sunday after Epiphany.source
1733George Frideric Handel's classic opera, Orlando is performed for the first time, making its debut at the King's Theatre in London.source
1748A fire at the prison and barracks at Kinsale, in Ireland, kills 54 of the prisoners of war housed there. An estimated 500 prisoners are safely conducted to another prison.source
1756Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg, Austria, to Anna Maria and Leopold Mozart.source
1759Battle of Río Bueno: Spanish forces, led by Juan Antonio Garretón, defeat indigenous Huilliches of southern Chile.source
1763The seat of colonial administration in the Viceroyalty of Brazil is moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro.source
1774British industrialist John Wilkinson patents a method for boring cannon from the solid, subsequently utilised for accurate boring of steam engine cylinders.source
1774John Wilkinson patents a method for boring cannon from the solid, subsequently utilised for accurate boring of steam engine cylinders.source
1774An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and feathers British customs collector and Loyalist John Malcolm, for striking a boy and a shoemaker, George Hewes, with his cane.source
1783The Herald newspaper begins publication as the weekly Glasgow Advertiser (with news of the Peace of Paris); it will become the longest continually-published daily in Britain.source
1785The University of Georgia in the United States is chartered by the Georgia General Assembly meeting in Savannah. The first students are admitted in Athens, Georgia in 1801.source
1785The University of Georgia is granted a charter (written by Abraham Baldwin) by the Georgia General Assembly meeting in Savannah. The first students are admitted in Athens, Georgia in 1801.source
1799French Revolutionary Wars: Macau Incident – French and Spanish warships encounter a British Royal Navy escort squadron in the Wanshan Archipelago of China inconclusively.source
1819The Indiana, together with the Discover and the Investigator with William Farquhar surveying the possibility of the Karimun Islands as a new British site. After a discussion, they decided that it was not suitable.source
1820January 27 (NS, January 15 OS) – An Imperial Russian Navy expedition, led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in Vostok with Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, sights the Antarctic ice sheet.source
1827Author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe first elaborates on his vision of Weltliteratur (world literature), in a letter to Johann Peter Eckermann, declaring his belief that "poetry is the universal possession of mankind", and that "the epoch of world literature is at hand, and each must work to hasten its coming."source
1841The active volcano Mount Erebus in Antarctica is discovered, and named by James Clark Ross.source
1841The active volcano Mount Erebus in Antarctica is discovered and named by James Clark Ross.source
1849The Fayetteville and Western Plank Road Company is incorporated, to build a plank road from Fayetteville to Bethania, North Carolina.source
1849The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the North Carolina Railroad, to complete a rail line from Goldsboro through Raleigh, and Salisbury to Charlotte.source
1854The Great Western Railway opens, linking Toronto, Hamilton and Windsor.source
1855The Panama Railway becomes the first railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.source
1868January 27–31 – Battle of Toba–Fushimi: forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied pro-Imperial forces of the Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa Domains clash near Fushimi, Kyoto, ending in a decisive victory for the Imperial forces (although in the January 28 naval Battle of Awa, the Shogunate is victorious against Satsuma).source
1869The Republic of Ezo is proclaimed on the northern Japanese island of Ezo (which will be renamed Hokkaidō on September 20) by remaining adherents to the Tokugawa shogunate.source
1869Following defeat of the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate on Honshū in the Boshin War, former Tokugawa military led by Admiral Enomoto Takeaki flee to Ezo (Hokkaido), the large but sparsely populated northernmost island in Japan, and establish the Republic of Ezo. Ezo is notable for being the first government to attempt to institute democracy in Japan. Elections were based on universal suffrage among the samurai class. This was the first election ever held in Japan. Enomoto made a last effort to petition the Imperial Court to be allowed to develop Hokkaido and maintain the traditions of the samurai unmolested, but his request was deniedsource
1874Bo'ness Junction rail crash near Falkirk on the North British Railway: 16 killed in a collision.source
1876The Northampton Bank robbery occurs in Massachusetts.source
1880Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the incandescent light bulb. Edison filed for a US patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected ... to platina contact wires." Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament, including using "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways," Edison and his team later discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could last more than 1200 hours.source
1883In the same storm, the James Gray is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl, and the Agnes Jack off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat puts out, and 5 of its crew are drowned in the rescue attempt, in which Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright assist.source
1889Former defense minister General Georges Boulanger contemplates a coup.source
1891May 2 – The Jamaica International Exhibition is held.source
1891Mammoth Mine disastersource
1899The Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire decrees that all high officials in the Russian-administered Grand Duchy of Finland shall be required to be fluent in the Russian language.source
1900Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, Qing dynasty China, demand that the Boxer rebels (who oppose foreign interests in the country) be disciplined.source
1905The Nelson Act is passed into law in the United States, providing for racial segregation of schools in the Alaska Territory.source
1906A cyclone damages Cairns and Innisfail in Queensland.source
1913Robert Collett, zoologist (born 1842)source
1916conscription introduced by the Military Service Act; applies to unmarried men aged 18–41 from 2 March and to married men in the same age bracket from April/May; it does not extend to Ireland.source
1924January 20–30 – Kuomintang in China holds its first National Congress, initiating a policy of alliance with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party.source
1924Lenin is buried in the Lenin's Mausoleum at the Red Squaresource
1925January 27–February 1 – The 1925 serum run to Nome (the "Great Race of Mercy") relays diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled across the U.S. Territory of Alaska to combat an epidemic.source
1929An auto parts brand, Akebono Brake was founded, as predecessor name of Akebono Asbest Manufacturing.source
1931Pierre Laval forms a government in France.source
1934Presentation of Belfast Castle to the City of Belfast by the Earl of Shaftesbury is announced.source
1938The Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses as a result of an ice jam.source
1939Adolf Hitler orders Plan Z, a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of crushing the British Royal Navy by 1944. The Kriegsmarine is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources.source
1939Adolf Hitler orders Plan Z, a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of crushing the Royal Navy by 1944. The Kriegsmarine is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources.source
1944Light cruiser HMS Spartan is sunk by a Henschel Hs 293 guided missile from a German aircraft off Anzio, western Italy, with the loss of 46 men.source
1948According to Japan Coast Guard official confirmed report, a passenger ship Joou Maru toward from Osaka to Tadotsu, Kagawa Prefecture route, capsized by touch on landmine off north of Shōdo Island, Seto Inland Sea, 154 persons were official rescue confirmed, 199 passenger and crew were perished.source
1952Aly Maher Pasha became the Prime Minister of Egypt for the 3rd time.source
1953The Canadian Dental Association approves the use of fluoride in drinking watersource
1954Village Institutes were closedsource
1958A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C.source
1959The 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was opened at Sverdlovsky Hall in Moscow as Nikita Khrushchev welcomed 1,500 delegates, including Communist leaders from 70 nations. For the first time, Western reporters were admitted to the conclave, held for the first time since 1956.source
1960Construction begins of the Baitul Mukarram mosque in Dacca, East Pakistan.source
1961Soviet submarine S-80 sinks in the Barents Sea, killing all 68 crew.source
1962The Soviet government changes all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgy Malenkov.source
1966Britain's Labour Party unexpectedly retains the parliamentary seat of Hull North in a by-election, with a swing of 4.5% to their candidate from the opposition Conservatives, and a majority up from 1,181 at the 1964 General Election to 5,351.source
1967The United States, Soviet Union and United Kingdom sign the Outer Space Treaty (ratified by USSR May 19; comes into force October 10), prohibiting weapons of mass destruction from space.source
1967The Chartered Industries of Singapore is established to produce ammunition for the Singapore Armed Forces.source
1969Reverend Ian Paisley, Northern Irish Unionist leader and founder of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster is jailed for three months for illegal assembly.source
1969Reverend Ian Paisley, hardline Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for three months for illegal assembly.source
1973U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.source
1976The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.source
1976Western Sahara War: The First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara.source
1978January 25–27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.source
1980Canadian Caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran, as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on Swissair.source
1981The Indonesian passenger ship Tampomas II catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580 people.source
1982The government of Garret FitzGerald in Ireland is defeated 82–81 on its budget; the 22nd Dáil is dissolved.source
1983The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) in Japan, breaks through.source
1984A state of emergency is declared in Southland as record rainfall causes flooding which forces the evacuation of 4000 people and leaves damage totalling $55 million.source
1985The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is formed, in Tehran.source
1992First Nagorno-Karabakh War: in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, fighting between Armenians and Azeris leaves at least 60 people dead.source
1993Burial service of Uğur Mumcusource
1999Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, writer (born 1910)source
2000The government of Zamfara, a predominantly Muslim state, institutes Islamic law. Eleven other states in the north soon follow suit.source
2001January 21–27 – Taba Summit: Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed at reaching the "final status" of negotiations. Ehud Barak temporarily withdraws from negotiations during the Israeli elections, subsequently Ariel Sharon refuses to continue negotiating in the face of the newly erupted violence.source
2005January 26–30: World Economic Forum in Davossource
2005Iraq's expatriates start voting for the Iraqi National Assembly election, 2005source
2006The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1653 on peace and stability in the Great Lakes region, including Burundi.source
2011Within Ursa Minor, H1504+65, a white dwarf with the hottest known surface temperature in the universe at 200,000 K, was documented.source
2013A controversial referendum on whether to build a second Bulgarian nuclear plant is invalidated by low turnout.source
2013An estimated 245 people die in a nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.source
2015Australia wins 2–0 against United Arab Emirates to advance to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final for the second consecutive time.source
2017U.S. President Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations. Protests against the immigration order erupt nationwide for about two weeks.source
2017A Czech court rules in favour of a nursing school that banned a Somali refugee student from wearing a headscarf.source
2018January 26–27 – The second round of voting of the 2018 Czech presidential election is held and incumbent president Miloš Zeman is reelected.source
2018season start of the 2018 Ligue 1 (Congo)source
2021Over 67,600 internally displaced persons (IDPs) across 196 sites in Idlib and Aleppo have again been displaced due to heavy rains, which destroyed tents, food and belongings.source
2021The GameStop short squeeze reaches its peak of $483 per share, as the result of influence from the online community, r/wallstreetbets, drawing international attention.source
2021A near-total ban on abortion comes into effect in Poland.source
2023Widespread unrest erupts in Israel following an Israeli military raid in Jenin the previous day, which killed nine Palestinians. Incendiary air balloons are launched into Israeli-populated areas following it. Israel responds with targeted airstrikes. Later the same day, seven Jewish civilians are killed in a synagogue in Neve Yaakov in a terrorist attack.source
2025Global technology shares outside China fall sharply in response to the release of DeepSeek's chatbot, a Chinese competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Chip giant Nvidia loses almost $600 billion of its value, the biggest drop for a single company in U.S. stock market history.source

Births

1242Margaret of Hungary, Hungarian nun (died 1270)source
1365Edward of Angoulême, French-born royal prince of England (died 1370)source
1443Albert III, Duke of Saxony (died 1500)source
1546Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1608)source
1571Abbas I of Safavid, Shah of Iran (died 1629)source
1603Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet, English lawyer and politician, Speaker in 1660 (died 1685)source
1603Humphrey Mackworth, English politician, lawyer and judge (died 1654)source
1615Nicolas Fouquet, French Superintendent of Finances (died 1680)source
1615Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances (died 1680)source
1621Thomas Willis, English doctor who played an important part in the history of anatomy (died 1675)source
1662Richard Bentley, English classical scholar (died 1742)source
1662Richard Bentley, classical scholar (died 1742)source
1663George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, English Royal Navy admiral (died 1733)source
1675Erik Benzelius the Younger, Swedish priest (died 1743)source
1687Johann Balthasar Neumann, German architect (died 1753)source
1720Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (died 1777)source
1741Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist (died 1821)source
1741Hester Thrale, diarist and friend of Dr Johnson (died 1821)source
1756Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (died 1791)source
1773Prince Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Sussex (died 1843)source
1775Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (died 1854)source
1790Juan Álvarez, interim president of Mexico, 1855 (died 1867)source
1805Samuel Palmer, English artist (died 1881)source
1811João Crisóstomo de Abreu e Sousa, prime minister (died 1895)source
1814Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (died 1879)source
1826Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (died 1889)source
1826Richard Taylor, American Confederate general (died 1879)source
1827Nakahama Manjirō (died 1898), translatorsource
1832Lewis Carroll, English author (died 1898)source
1848Tōgō Heihachirō, Japanese admiral (died 1934)source
1850Edward Smith, British captain of the Titanic (died 1912)source
1850Samuel Gompers, American labor union leader (died 1924)source
1859Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (died 1941)source
1893Soong Ching-ling, one of the Soong sisters, wife of Chinese president Sun Yat-sen (died 1981)source
1900Hyman G. Rickover, American admiral (died 1986)source
1929Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian business magnate (died 2023)source
1968Mike Patton, American singersource
1982Eva Asderaki, tennis umpiresource

Deaths

98Nerva dies of a fever at his villa in the Gardens of Sallust and is succeeded by his adopted son Trajan. Trajan is the first Roman Emperor born in Italica, near Seville. A brilliant soldier and administrator, he enters Rome without ceremony and wins over the public. Continuing the policies of Augustus, Vespasian and Nerva, he restores the Senate to its full status in the government and begins a form of state welfare aimed at assuring that poor children are fed and taken care of. He has a specific vision of the Empire, which reaches its maximum extent under his rule, and keeps a close watch on finances. Taxes, without any increase, are sufficient during his reign to pay the considerable costs of the budget. The informers used by Domitian to support his tyranny are expelled from Rome. In order to maintain the Port of Alexandria, Trajan reopens the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea.source
98Nerva, Roman emperor (born AD 30)source
457Flavius Marcian, Roman emperor (born 392)source
457Emperor Marcian dies at Constantinople, possibly of foot gangrene, an infection contracted during a long religious journey. He is buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, together with his late wife Pulcheria.source
555Yuan Di, emperor of the Liang dynasty (born 508)source
632Ibrahim, son of Muhammadsource
672Pope Vitalian dies at Rome after a reign of more than 14 years. He is succeeded by Adeodatus II as the 77th pope.source
847Sergius II, pope of the Catholic Church (born 790)source
906Liu Can, chancellor of the Tang dynastysource
931Ruotger, archbishop of Triersource
947Zhang Yanze, Chinese general and governorsource
1029Unwan (or Unwin), archbishop of Hamburg-Bremensource
1062Adelaide of Hungary, German duchesssource
1129Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester (born 1070)source
1137John of Crema, Italian cardinalsource
1245Ralph of Maidstone, bishop of Herefordsource
1311Külüg Khan, Mongol ruler and Emperor Wuzong of the Yuan dynasty China, (born 1281)source
1377Frederick the Simple, King of Sicily (born 1341)source
1490Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (born 1435)source
1509John I, Count Palatine of Simmern, German nobleman (born 1459)source
1518Sir John Ernley is selected as the new Chief Justice of the Common Pleas of England by King King Henry VIII to replace the late Robert Rede, who died on January 8. Emley. He is replaced as Attorney General for England and Wales by John FitzJames.source
1540Angela Merici, Italian religious leader and saint (born 1474)source
1547Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Queen consort of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary (born 1503)source
1556Humayun, 2nd Mughal Emperor (born 1508)source
1592Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (born 1538)source
1627Princess Cecilia of Sweden (born 1540)source
1661Axel Mowat, admiral and land owner (born 1592).source
1664Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria, Roman Catholic bishop (born 1649)source
1669Gaspar de Crayer, Flemish painter (born 1584)source
1688Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, concubine of Qing Dynasty ruler Hong Taiji (born 1613)source
1699Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, English statesman and essayist (born 1628)source
1731Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (born 1655)source
1740Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (born 1692)source
1814Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (born 1762)source
1814Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (born 1762)source
1816Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (born 1724)source
1844Charles Nodier, French writer (born 1780)source
1851John James Audubon, French-American naturalist, illustrator (born 1785)source
1857Dorothea Lieven, Baltic-German diplomat in Russian services (born 1785)source
1860Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer (born 1773)source
1893James G. Blaine, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Secretary of State (born 1830)source
1901Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (born 1813)source
1951Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish military leader and statesman, 6th President of Finland (born 1867)source
1967Apollo 1: U.S. astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed when fire breaks out in their Apollo spacecraft during a launch pad test.source
1969Fourteen men, 9 of them Jews, are executed in Baghdad for spying for Israel.source
1972Mahalia Jackson, American gospel singer (born 1911)source
1978Oscar Homolka, Austrian actor (born 1898)source
2008Suharto, 86, Indonesian President (1967–1998), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.source
2010Howard Zinn, 87, American historian (A People's History of the United States), civil rights and anti-war activist, heart attack.source
2010J. D. Salinger, 91, American author (The Catcher in the Rye).source
2014Pete Seeger, 94, American folk singer and songwriter ("Turn! Turn! Turn!", "If I Had a Hammer").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