/year

January 8 in history

235 sourced entries recorded on January 8, from 307 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 871Battle of Ashdown: The West Saxons, led by Æthelred I and Alfred, gather at the Berkshire Downs. The Danes under the command of Halfdan and Bagsecg occupy the high ground, but are successfully attacked by Alfred's men. During the battle Alfred breaches the shield wall formation.source
  • 1148Battle of Mount Cadmus: The French crusaders under Louis VII are defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The vanguard led by Geoffrey de Rancon ignores orders to pause and moves too far ahead, losing touch with the main army. The French are attacked by the Turks with the baggage train (almost 10 km long) unprotected. Louis is able to escape the fray under cover of the darkness.source
  • 1169Shirkuh enters Cairo, leaving the Zangid army encamped outside the city. He goes to the palace, where the 18-year-old Fatimid caliph Al-Adid welcomes him with ceremonial gifts and promised money.source
  • 1215Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, is elected lord of Languedoc in a council at Montpellier (Southern France), after his campaign against the Cathar heretics during the Albigensian Crusade. The Crusaders capture Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and enter Toulouse; the town pays an indemnity of 30,000 marks and is gifted to Montfort.source
  • 1215Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, is elected lord of Languedoc in a council at Montpellier, after his campaign against the Cathar heretics during the Albigensian Crusade. The Crusaders capture Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and enter Toulouse; the town pays an indemnity of 30,000 marks and is gifted to Montfort.source
  • 1297Guelph forces, led by the Genoese leader François Grimaldi (il Malizia), storm and capture the Rock of Monaco. François, disguised as a Franciscan friar, gains entry to the city, and opens the gates for his soldiers. He seizes the castle with his stepson Rainier I, an event that is commemorated on the coat of arms of Monaco. Rainier becomes the first sovereign ruler of the House of Grimaldi in Monaco; he rules initially until 1301, but the family will be ruling there into the 21st century.source
  • 1313King Robert the Bruce of Scotland recaptures Perth Castle from the English, then orders the walls and the building to be destroyed in order to prevent it from ever being used by the English again as a garrison.source
  • 1345The marriage of Blanche of France, daughter of King Charles IV of France and his third wife Joan of Évreux, to her second-cousin, Philip, Duke of Orléans, son of King Philip VI of France and Queen Joan the Lame.source
  • 1371King Edward II summons the members of the House of Lords and House of Commons to assemble at Westminster for a one-month session of the English Parliament.source
  • 1397Isabella of Valois, the 7-year-old wife of King Richard II since their marriage on October 31, is formally crowned as Queen consort of England at Westminster Abbey.source
  • 1438Upset at the attempted reforms at the Council of Basel in Switzerland, Pope Eugene IV convenes a rival council at Ferrara in Italy, through Niccolò Albergati, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bologna, with 40 prelates in attendance.source
  • 1440Seventeen new Roman Catholic Cardinals are added to the College of Cardinals afer having been appointed by Pope Eugene IV on December 18.source
  • 1455Pope Nicholas V publishes Romanus Pontifex, an encyclical addressed to King Afonso V of Portugal, which sanctions the conquest of non-Christian lands, and the reduction of native non-Christian populations to 'perpetual slavery'. (Later there will be a dramatic reversal when, in 1537, the bull Sublimis Deus of Pope Paul III forbids the enslavement of non-Christians.)source
  • 1483Following the appointment of the Duke of Albany as Lieutenant-General of the Realm, King James III of Scotland is restored to the throne after having been captured in battle on July 22, 1482.source
  • 1488The Royal Netherlands Navy is formed by the Ordinance of Admiralty, issued by Archduke Maximilian of Austria, co-ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands.source
  • 1499Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany, in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.source
  • 1499Louis XII marries Anne of Brittany, in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.source
  • 1529Zhang Qijie becomes the most powerful woman in Ming dynasty China as the primary wife of the Jiajing Emperor, shortly after the death of the Empress Xiaojiesu.source
  • 1543The burial of King James V of Scotland is carried out at Holyrood Abbey.source
  • 1547The first Lithuanian-language book, a Catechism (Katekizmo paprasti žodžiai, Simple Words of Catechism), is published in Königsberg by Martynas Mažvydas.source
  • 1570Ivan the Terrible begins the Massacre of Novgorod.source
  • 1598In Berlin, Joachim Frederich of the House of Hohenzollern becomes the new Elector of Brandenburg upon the death of his father, Johann Georg von Brandenburg.source
  • 1599The Jesuit educational plan, known as the Ratio Studiorum, is issued.source
  • 1629Frederick Henry, Hereditary Prince of the Palatinate, the 15-year-old son of the German Palatinate elector, Frederick V, drowns in an accident while sailing to Amsterdam.source
  • 1632University of Amsterdam is established at the site of the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam.source
  • 1638Shimabara Rebellion: The siege of Shimabara Castle ends after 27 days in Japan's Tokugawa shogunate (part of modern-day Nagasaki prefecture) as the rebel peasants flee reinforcements sent by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.source
  • 1652Michiel de Ruyter marries the widow Anna van Gelder and plans retirement, but months later becomes a vice-commodore in the First Anglo-Dutch War.source
  • 1657Miles Sindercombe and his group of disaffected Levellers are betrayed in their attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell by blowing up the Palace of Whitehall in London and are arrested.source
  • 1657Miles Sindercombe and his group of disaffected Levellers are betrayed in their attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell by blowing up the Palace of Whitehall in London and arrested.source
  • 1676Battle of Stromboli, part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678)source
  • 1685Almost 200 people are arrested in Coventry by English authorities for gathering to hear readings of the sermons of the non-conformist Protestant minister Obadiah Grew .source
  • 1687Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, is appointed as the last Lord Deputy of Ireland by the English crown, and begins efforts to include more Roman Catholic Irishmen in the administration. Upon the removal of King James II in England and Scotland, the Earl of Tyrconnell loses his job and is replaced by James, who reigns briefly as King of Ireland until William III establishes his rule over the isle.source
  • 1687the Roman Catholic Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland.source
  • 1697Thomas Aikenhead is hanged outside Edinburgh, becoming the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy.source
  • 1705George Frideric Handel's first opera, Almira, is premiered in Hamburg.source
  • 1719Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish-Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydalen mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,700 men and cripples a further 600 for life.source
  • 1729two women arrested in Edinburgh for wearing men's clothing.source
  • 1729Frederick, the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain is made Prince of Wales at the age of 21, a few months after he comes to Britain for the first time after growing up in Hanover. For 23 years, Frederick is heir apparent to the British throne, but dies of a lung injury in 1751.source
  • 1729Frederick, the eldest son of George II, is made Prince of Wales at the age of 21, a few months after he comes to Britain for the first time after growing up in Hanover. For 23 years, he will be heir apparent to the British throne but dies of a lung injury in 1751.source
  • 1729Prince Frederick, son of King George II, is created Prince of Wales, nearly two years after his father's accession.source
  • 1731An avalanche from the Skafjell mountain causes a massive wave in the Storfjorden fjord in Norway that sinks all boats that happen to be in the water at the time and kills people on both shores.source
  • 1731An avalanche from the Skafjell mountain causes a massive wave in the Storfjorden fjord, that sinks all boats that happen to be in the water at the time and kills people on both shores.source
  • 1734Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America.source
  • 1735George Frideric Handel's opera Ariodante is premièred at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.source
  • 1735premiere of George Frideric Handel's opera Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London.source
  • 1740All 237 crewmen on the Dutch East India Company ship Rooswijk are drowned when the vessel strikes the shoals of Goodwin Sands, off of the coast of England, as it is beginning its second voyage to the Indies. The wreckage is discovered more than 250 years later, in 2004.source
  • 1740Dutch East India Company ship Rooswijk is wrecked on the shoals of Goodwin Sands with the loss of all 237 crew as it begins its second voyage to the Indies.source
  • 1743King Augustus III of Poland, acting in his capacity as Elector of Saxony, signs an agreement with Austria, pledging help in war in return for part of Silesia to be conveyed to Saxony.source
  • 1745The Quadruple Alliance treaty is signed at Warsaw by Great Britain, Austria, the Dutch Republic and the Duchy of Saxony.source
  • 1746The Young Pretender Charles Edward Stuart occupies Stirling, Scotland.source
  • 1746Jacobite rising of 1745: Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") with his Jacobite forces occupies Stirling.source
  • 1746Jacobite rising: Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "The Young Pretender") occupies Stirling.source
  • 1790United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City.source
  • 1790President of the U.S. George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City.source
  • 1800first soup kitchens open in London.source
  • 1806Battle of Blaauwberg: British infantry force troops of the Batavian Republic in the Dutch Cape Colony to withdraw.source
  • 1806British troops land at Losperds Bay, between Bloubergstrand and Melkbosstrand in the Cape Colony.source
  • 1810The Derwent Star and Van Diemen's Land Intelligencer, Australia's second newspaper and the first in Van Diemen's Land, begins publication.source
  • 1811An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes, in St. Charles and St. James Parishes, Louisiana.source
  • 1811An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.source
  • 1815Battle of New Orleans: American forces led by Andrew Jackson defeat British forces led by Sir Edward Pakenham. American forces suffer around 60 casualties and the British lose about 2,000 (the battle lasts for about 30 minutes).source
  • 1815War of 1812 – Battle of New Orleans: American forces under Andrew Jackson, John Coffee, and William Carroll, and John Adair defeat an invading British force.source
  • 1818Governor Macquarie accuses Samuel Marsden of conspiracy against himsource
  • 1820The General Maritime Treaty of 1820 is signed between the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah (later constituents of the Trucial States) in the Arabian Peninsula and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1824After much controversy, Michael Faraday is finally elected as a member of the Royal Society in London, with only one vote against him.source
  • 1828The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.source
  • 1829hanging of body-selling murderer William Burke in Edinburgh. His associate William Hare, who testified against him, is released.source
  • 1829Hanging of body-selling murderer William Burke in Edinburgh. His associate William Hare, who has testified against him, is released.source
  • 1835The United States public debt contracts to zero, for the only time in history.source
  • 1838January 6–11 – Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrates electric telegraphy, at Morristown, New Jersey, assisted by Alfred Vail and using dots and dashes, the forerunner of Morse code.source
  • 1839By Roual Order of 8 January 1738, sletdaler (coin) is replaced by the kurantdaler (= 4 mark à 16 skilling).source
  • 1842January 6–13 – First Anglo-Afghan War – Massacre of Elphinstone's army (Battle of Gandamak): British East India Company troops are destroyed by Afghan forces on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, by Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammad Khan.source
  • 1842Delft University of Technology is established by William II of the Netherlands, as a 'Royal Academy for the education of civilian engineers'.source
  • 1849Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Romanian armed groups massacre 600 unarmed Hungarian civilians, at Nagyenyed.source
  • 1853Taiping Rebellion: Zeng Guofan is ordered to assist the governor of Hunan in organizing a militia force to search for local bandits.source
  • 1856Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California.source
  • 1860Julius von Haast begins his journey of exploration of the West Coast.source
  • 1863American Civil War: The Second Battle of Springfield takes place near Springfield, Missouri. Fighting for the Union, General Egbert B. Brown leads the Missouri militia to victory over Confederate General John S. Marmaduke and the 18th Arkansas Infantry.source
  • 1863The Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel, in Sheffield, England.source
  • 1867African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.source
  • 1874Arthur Macalister becomes Premier of Queensland for the third time.source
  • 1877Great Sioux War of 1876: Battle of Wolf Mountain – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry in Montana.source
  • 1878The telephone is used for the first time in Australia in Melbourne.source
  • 1883January 8 — January 19 – Trial of the 66 in Lyon, targeting the Black International in France.source
  • 1886January 5–9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is published in New York and London.source
  • 1889Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine in the United States.source
  • 1897Lady Flora Shaw, future wife of Governor General Lord Lugard, officially proposes the name "Nigeria" in a newspaper contest, to be given to the British Niger Coast Protectorate.source
  • 1898Seminole burning: Lynching by burning of two Seminole boys near Maud, Oklahoma; 6 of the lynch mob are convicted and imprisoned, the first successful prosecution of lynching in the Southwest.source
  • 1902The Great National Convention took place in the Round Room of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Motions were passed regarding coercion, the Irish language and evicted tenants.source
  • 1902A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17 people, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains and the banning of steam locomotives in New York City.source
  • 1902A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains.source
  • 1907Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar ascended to the crown.source
  • 1908The General Velásquez football club is founded.source
  • 1910Treaty of Punakha: The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan becomes a protectorate of the British Empire.source
  • 1912The African National Congress is founded as the South African Native National Congress in Bloemfontein, to promote improved rights for black South Africans, with John Langalibalele Dube as its first president.source
  • 1912The South African Native National Congress (now ANC) is formed in Bloemfontein and John Langalibalele Dube becomes the first president.source
  • 1914A railway strike is declared in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony.source
  • 1915Imperial Japanese government issues the Twenty-One Demands to the Chinesesource
  • 1918American president Woodrow Wilson presents the Fourteen Points as a basis for peace negotiations to end the war.source
  • 1919January 7–14 - Tragic Week (Argentina)source
  • 1919Allied economic committee sent by the American mission of Archibald Cary Coolidge arrives to Budapest, led by Alonzo E. Taylorsource
  • 1919Strike leader Paul Freeman was arrested outside of Dobbyn, Queensland, sparking a chain of events that would lead to his deportation.source
  • 1926Ibn Saud is crowned ruler of the Kingdom of Hejaz.source
  • 1926Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne as Bảo Đại, the last monarch of the Nguyễn dynasty of the Kingdom of Vietnam.source
  • 193477 persons die and 74 are hurt, when many families and troop members are pushing each other on the platform, before entering the extra troop train in Kyoto station, according to Japanese government official confirmed report.source
  • 1934Piet Dankert, politician (died 2003)source
  • 1935Battle of Khalkhyn Templesource
  • 1935Battle of Khalkhyn Temple.source
  • 1936Reza Shah of Iran issues the Kashf-e hijab which bans all Islamic veils such as the hijab, in addition to many types of male traditional clothingsource
  • 1940Winter War: Battle of Suomussalmi – Finnish forces destroy the Soviet 44th Rifle Division.source
  • 1940Food rationing in the United Kingdom begins; it will remain in force until 1954.source
  • 1944World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army, Philippine Constabulary and the USAFIP-NL units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in northern Luzon and attack Japanese forces.source
  • 1951The club Deportes Quindío founded in Armenia.source
  • 1959Charles de Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.source
  • 1962Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the worst Dutch rail disaster.source
  • 1965Adam Faith, a British pop singer, cancels his tour of South Africa because the South African government prohibited mixed audiences at concerts.source
  • 1971Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo, keeping him captive until September.source
  • 1972Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was released from the Mianwali jail and allowed to leave Pakistan after more than nine months' imprisonment. Two days later, after flying to London and Delhi, he returned to Dhaka to become the first President of Bangladesh.source
  • 1972Government of Pakistan under Bhutto administration releases Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from the house arrest.source
  • 1975Yehoshua Ben-Zion convicted of embezzling £20 million from the Israeli-British Bank which collapsed in July 1974 owing British investors £46.6 million. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Later, Ben-Zion was pardoned by the Israeli president after intervention of Menachem Begin and was released after serving 3 years.source
  • 1977Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.source
  • 1979The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the dissident rebels declare an end to Democratic Kampuchea, replacing it with the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), a Vietnamese puppet state. Heng Samrin was installed as the head of the new PRK government.source
  • 1980Tryggve Gran, aviator, explorer and author (b.1889)source
  • 1986Minor rioting breaks out in East Jerusalem due to a visit to the Temple Mount by members of the Knesset's Interior Committee to investigate complaints of illegal construction.source
  • 1988January 7–8 – In the Soviet-Afghan War, 39 men of the Soviet Airborne Troops from the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment fight off an attack by 200 to 250 Mujahideen in the Battle for Hill 3234, later dramatized in the Russian film The 9th Company.source
  • 1988According to state news agency Agerpres, an earthquake hits the Vrancea area at 18:51 EET with an intensity of 5 degrees on the Richter magnitude scale, at a depth of 120 km. No casualties are reported.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
  • 1994Soyuz TM-18: Valeri Polyakov begins his 437.7-day orbit of the Earth, eventually setting the world record for days spent in orbit.source
  • 1996Mapenduma hostage crisis: The Free Papua Movement took 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission captive at Mapenduma, Jayawijaya in Irian Jaya (now Papua Province), Indonesia.source
  • 1999United States officials admit to using UNSCOM to collect intelligence against the Iraqi government.source
  • 2000In Soria (Spain) a large chunk of ice is reported to have fallen from the sky. Over the following months, a social panic about this phenomenon is unleashed, with reports of a multitude of similar cases of falling ice chunks (incorrectly named as aerolites) all over Spain, attracting great attention from the Spanish media.source
  • 2004The RMS Queen Mary 2, at the time the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by its namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.source
  • 2007Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia–Belarus energy dispute escalates; they are restored three days later.source
  • 2007Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia-Belarus energy dispute escalates.source
  • 2010The Togo national football team is attacked in Cabinda Province, Angola, and as a result withdraws from the Africa Cup of Nations. The attack was perpetrated by the FLEC, their first since the Angolan Civil War.source
  • 2010Kenya gazetted the new media law, despite being criticised by the media for limiting the freedom of press.source
  • 2014A meteor designated CNEOS 2014-01-08 struck the Earth's atmosphere near the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea.source
  • 2016Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum-security prison in Mexico.source
  • 20172017 Jerusalem truck attack: A Palestinian assailant entered the road where the Israeli defense forces were located with a truck, killing 4 people and injuring 15 others.source
  • 2020Iran launches ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. soldiers, injuring over 100 personnel.source
  • 2020West Africa's largest wind farm opens in Taiba NDiaye, Tivaouane Department.source
  • 2020Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by Iranian forces shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 people on board.source
  • 2023Following the 2022 Brazilian general election and the inauguration of Lula da Silva as president of Brazil, supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian National Congress, the Supreme Federal Court and the Presidential Palace of Planalto.source
  • 20232023 Beninese parliamentary electionsource
  • 2023Kaffrine bus crash: Two buses collide near Gniby in the Kaffrine Region, killing 40 and injuring 101. The government declares three days of mourning and introduces road safety measures.source
  • 2023A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes offshore near Sanma, Vanuatu.source
  • 2024Ecuadorian conflict (2024–present): Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declares a state of emergency following the escape of Los Choneros drug cartel leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar from prison. The military was deployed onto the streets and into prisons, while setting a national nighttime curfew.source

Births

  • 1037Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher (died 1101)source
  • 1345Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, qadi, and ruler of Sivas (died 1398)source
  • 1360Ulrich von Jungingen, German Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (died 1410)source
  • 1462Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch noble (died 1531)source
  • 1529John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony (died 1595)source
  • 1556Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (died 1623)source
  • 1587Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (died 1629)source
  • 1589Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet (died 1638)source
  • 1601Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish prose writer (died 1658)source
  • 1618Madeleine Béjart, actress and theatre director (died 1672)source
  • 1628François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (died 1695)source
  • 1632Samuel von Pufendorf, German jurist (died 1694)source
  • 1636Fernando de Valenzuela, 1st Marquis of Villasierra, Spanish noble (died 1692)source
  • 1638Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (died 1665)source
  • 1705Jacques-François Blondel, French architect and teacher (died 1774)source
  • 1735John Carroll first Roman Catholic Archbishop in the U.S. (died 1815)source
  • 1735John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, Royal Navy admiral (died 1823)source
  • 1742Philip Astley, English circus organizer (died 1814)source
  • 1763Edmond-Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution (died 1834)source
  • 1767Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist, originator of Say's law (died 1832)source
  • 1769Claus Pavels, bishop (died 1822)source
  • 1786Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (died 1844)source
  • 1805Orson Hyde, American religious leader (died 1878)source
  • 1817Theophilus Shepstone, British administrator in South Africa is born in Westbury-On-Trym near Bristol, England.source
  • 1821James Longstreet, American Confederate general (died 1904)source
  • 1823Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist, biologist (died 1913)source
  • 1824Wilkie Collins, English novelist (died 1889)source
  • 1836Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter (died 1912)source
  • 1839William A. Clark, American politician, entrepreneur (died 1925)source
  • 1864Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (died 1892)source
  • 1885John Curtin, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1945)source
  • 1907Keizō Hayashi, civil servant (died 1991)source
  • 1908William Hartnell, British actor (died 1975)source
  • 1935Elvis Presley, American rock 'n' roll singer, guitarist and actor (died 1977)source
  • 1942Stephen Hawking, British physicist (died 2018)source
  • 1947David Bowie, English singer, songwriter, and actor (died 2016)source
  • 1961Shoaib Mohammad, cricketer.source
  • 1981Ioannis Kokkodis, swimmersource
  • 1983Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012, son of the Eternal General Secretary Kim Jong Il and grandson of the Eternal President Kim Il Sung.source
  • 2011Princess Josephine, princess of Denmarksource

Deaths

  • 307Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor of the Jin Dynasty (born 259)source
  • 307Emperor Hui of Jin dies after a 16-year reign, in which eight dukes of the imperial family have conducted a civil war (War of the Eight Princes) against each other in a struggle for power. Huai of Jin, age 23, succeeds his father and becomes the third ruler of the Jin Dynasty.source
  • 482Severinus of Noricum, monk and saintsource
  • 871Bagsecg, Viking kingsource
  • 926Athelm, archbishop of Canterburysource
  • 1002Wulfsige III, bishop of Sherbornesource
  • 1079Adela of France, countess of Flanders (born 1009)source
  • 1107Edgar, king of Scotlandsource
  • 1107King Edgar dies at Edinburgh Castle after a 9-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Alexander I, who is married to Sybilla of Normandy (an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I). A split of unity, between Alexander and his younger brother David I, makes David co-ruler in Lothian and Strathclyde (Southern Scotland). He does not receive the title of king, but of "Prince of the Cumbrians".source
  • 1152Conrad I, German nobleman (born 1090)source
  • 1198Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1106)source
  • 1198Pope Celestine III dies at Rome, after a pontificate of nearly 7 years. He is succeeded by Innocent III, as the 176th pope of the Catholic Church. Shortly after he lays an interdict on Laon, in an attempt to create independent beliefs there. This will be followed by interdicts against France in 1199, and Normandy in 1203.source
  • 1324Marco Polo, Italian merchant and explorer (born 1254)source
  • 1332Andronikos III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizondsource
  • 1337Giotto, Italian painter (born 1267)source
  • 1354Charles de La Cerda (born 1327)source
  • 1370January 6 – 11 (Tubah 1086 AM) Pope Gabriel IV is consecrated as the new leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church for the Coptic Christians of Egypt, and assumes the title of Bishop of Alexandria, succeeding the late Pope Yoannis X, who had died eight months earlier.source
  • 1424Stephen Zaccaria, Latin Archbishop of Patrassource
  • 1425The interment of Ming dynasty China's Yongle Emperor, who died on August 12, takes place at the Chang Mausoleum in Beijing's Ming tombs.source
  • 1444Wilhelm II, Count of Henneberg-Schleusingen (born 1415)source
  • 1538Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy (born 1504)source
  • 1556Anne Shelton, English courtier, elder sister of Thomas Boleyn (born 1475)source
  • 1560Jan Łaski, Polish Protestant evangelical reformer (born 1499)source
  • 1570Philibert de l'Orme, French architect (born 1510)source
  • 1570Philibert de l'Orme, French architect and writer (born 1514)source
  • 1593Mingyi Swa, Burmese crown prince (born 1558)source
  • 1598John George, Elector of Brandenburg, Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (born 1525)source
  • 1642Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (born 1564)source
  • 1642Niels Toller, merchant (born c. 1592).source
  • 1697Thomas Aikenhead, Scottish student (hanged) (born c. 1678)source
  • 1713Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (born 1653)source
  • 1724Mary Herbert, Marchioness of Powis, age unknownsource
  • 1736Jean Leclerc (theologian), Swiss theologian and biblical scholar (born 1657)source
  • 1759Rasmus Paludan, bishop (born 1702).source
  • 1825Eli Whitney, American inventor (born 1765)source
  • 1854William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (born 1768)source
  • 1855Diponegoro, Leader of Javanese Rebellion (born 1785)source
  • 1878Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (born 1821)source
  • 1878Gauchito Gil, legendary religious figure (born 1847)source
  • 1880Joshua A. Norton, self-anointed Emperor Norton I of the United States of America (born 1811)source
  • 1941Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English soldier; founder of the Scouts (born 1857)source
  • 1956Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Waorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them.source
  • 1957Tengku Muhamad bin al-Marhum Sultan Ahmad, 4th Menteri Besar of Pahang (born 1901)source
  • 1976Zhou Enlai, 1st Premier of China (born 1898)source
  • 1996François Mitterrand, 79, French statesman and President of France, prostate cancer.source
  • 2007Yvonne De Carlo, 84, Canadian-born American actress (The Ten Commandments, The Munsters, McLintock!).source
  • 2025Eighteen gunmen and a soldier are killed in an attack on the presidential palace in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad.source