/year

October 23 in history

204 sourced entries recorded on October 23, from 42 BCE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 42 BCESecond Battle of Philippi: Brutus' army is defeated by Antony and Octavian. The Triumvirs smash through the weakened Republican centre and take Brutus's right wing in their flank. After the battle, 14,000 legionaries lay down their arms. Brutus flees to the heights of Philippi, where he commits suicide the following day. After the victory, Brutus' body is brought to Antonius' camp, where he casts his purple paludamentum over his dead body and orders an honourable funeral for his erstwhile comrade. The Republican cause is crushed, and Rome rests in the hands of the Second Triumvirate.source
  • 424Emperor Theodosius II nominates his cousin Valentinian, age 5, the imperial title nobilissimus Caesar ("most noble") of the Western Roman Empire. Valentinian is betrothed to Theodosius's own daughter Licinia Eudoxia, who is only 2 years old.source
  • 425Valentinian III, six-year-old son of Galla Placidia, is installed as emperor (Augustus) of the Western Roman Empire. Real power is in the hands of his mother who becomes a regent.source
  • 502The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, clears Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.source
  • 524Anicius Manlius Boethius, one of Rome's most prolific writers and philosophers, is beaten to death at the prison at Pavia, where he has been imprisoned for treason. During his prison sentence, he has written his final work, The Consolation of Philosophy. The date of the death of St. Boethius is later celebrated as his feast day on the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints.source
  • 858Ignatios I, patriarch of Constantinople, is imprisoned by orders of Emperor Michael III, and replaced by the layman Photius I.source
  • 877Photius I is reinstated as patriarch of Constantinople, after the death of Ignatius.source
  • 1086Battle of Sagrajas: Spanish forces under King Alfonso VI ("the Brave") of Castile are defeated by the Moors and their allies, the Almoravids, who have been invited to help on orders by Emir Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad.source
  • 1157Battle of Grathe Heath: A civil war in Denmark ends with the death of King Sweyn III. Valdemar I of Denmark becomes king of all Denmark, and restores and rebuilds the country.source
  • 1295The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance ("Old Alliance"), between Scotland and France against England, is signed in Paris by Kings John Balliol and Philip IV.source
  • 1306James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland, after having been defeated in battle by King Edward of England, swears fealty to King Edward again at Lanercost Priory. To render his oath inviolable, Stewart's oath is taken upon the two crosses of Scotland most esteemed for their sanctity, the holy gospels and on various relics of saints. Stewart agrees to submit to instant excommunication if he should break his oath of allegiance to Edward.source
  • 1327Pope John XXII condemns Marsilius of Padua's 1324 treatise Defensor pacis (The Defender of Peace). The excommunicated Marsilius flees to Germany and seeks protection at the court of King Louis IV. John also excommunicates Louis and demands that he relinquishes his claim to the imperial crown.source
  • 1448Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Sark.source
  • 1452The Earl of Shrewsbury and his army capture Bordeaux, capital of Gascony, after having taken back most of the province without resistance.source
  • 1455Bonville–Courtenay feud in Devon: Thomas Courtenay, heir to the Earl of Devon, arranges the murder of lawyer Nicholas Radford.source
  • 1505In Portuguese India, the King of Cannanore gives permission to Francisco de Almeida to build the Fortaleza de Santo Ângelo in Kannur.source
  • 1520Charles V is crowned King of Germany in Aachen.source
  • 1526In October, Cuthbert Tunstall, the Roman Catholic Bishop of London, issues a proclamation directing followers to destroy all copies of Tyndale's New Testament.source
  • 1553George Dowdall is reinstated as Archbishop of Armagh, restoring the Roman Catholic succession.source
  • 1613Gabriel Bethlen is elected as the new Prince of Transylvania.source
  • 1641Irish Rebellion of 1641 breaks out: Irish Catholic gentry, chiefly in Ulster, revolt against the English administration and Scottish settlers in Ireland.source
  • 1641Irish Rebellion of 1641 breaks out: Irish Catholic gentry, chiefly in Ulster, revolt against the English administration and Scottish settlers in Ireland.source
  • 1641the Irish Rebellion of 1641 enjoys rapid success in Ulster, with Felim O'Neill of Kinard taking several forts, claiming to be acting in the King's name, but Hugh Og MacMahon and Connor Maguire, who were to seize Dublin Castle, are arrested due to an informer.source
  • 1642First English Civil War: Battle of Edgehill (Warwickshire) – Royalists and Parliamentarians battle to a draw in the first pitched battle of the War.source
  • 1642First English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the War.source
  • 1642Battle of Breitenfeld (1642), the Second Battle of Breitenfeld, also known as the First Battle of Leipzig, was a decisive victory for the Swedish army under the command of Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson over an Imperial Army under the command of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and his deputy Ottavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi.source
  • 1666The most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes the county of Lincolnshire with a path of destruction through the villages of Welbourn, Wellingore, Navenby and Boothby Graffoe, with winds of more than 213 mph.source
  • 1666the most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes Lincolnshire with a path of destruction through the villages of Welbourn, Wellingore, Navenby and Boothby Graffoe, with winds of more than 213 mph.source
  • 1685Elizabeth Gaunt, humanitarian, burned at the stake at Tyburn for alleged complicity in the Rye House Plot, becomes the last woman executed for political treason in England. She is not granted the customary mercy of strangulation before burning.source
  • 1686Szeged, now the second largest city in Hungary, is liberated from Turkish Ottoman rule.source
  • 1694British/American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phips, fail to seize Quebec from the French.source
  • 1703Hannah Twynnoy, a 24-year-old barmaid in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, becomes the first person to be killed in Great Britain by a tiger. While working at the White Lion Inn, where a group of wild animals is on exhibit, she is mauled after bothering the tiger.source
  • 1703Hannah Twynnoy, a 33-year-old barmaid in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, becomes the first person to be killed in Great Britain by a tiger. While working at the White Lion Inn, where a group of wild animals is on exhibit, she is mauled after bothering the tiger.source
  • 1707The Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain first meets in London.source
  • 1707first sitting of the Parliament of Great Britain, at Westminster.source
  • 1722The six-month-long Siege of Isfahan ends, when the Safavid capital Isfahan capitulates to the Afghan rebels. Safavid Sultan Husayn abdicates, and acknowledges Mahmud Hotak as the new Shah of Persia.source
  • 1723Russian Emperor Peter the Great authorizes an incentive for men of Serbia to join a new Russian Imperial Army unit, the Serbian Hussar Regiment. The Emperor sends Jovan Albanez to recruit new officers and troops with a grant of farmable land in Russia, and 1,070 take advantage of the offer over the next two years.source
  • 1725Russia dispatches 1,500 troops and 120 civilians to Russia's border with China, on a mission to survey the boundaries in order to make a treaty with the Chinese Empire. Serbian adventurer Sava Vladislavich leads a group of cartographers to prepare maps in advance of traveling on to Beijing.source
  • 1728October 20–23 – The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 (the largest in the Danish city's history) burns.source
  • 1731A fire at Ashburnham House in Westminster destroys 114 irreplaceable manuscripts (including a manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and damages 98 others (among them the manuscript of Beowulf). Richard Bentley, the King's librarian and the House's owner, saves the only copy of the Codex Alexandrinus, carrying it under one arm as he leaps from a window. Bentley's ten year labor in translating the Greek Testament is ruined by the blaze. The remaining 844 manuscripts later form the heart of the collections of the British Library.source
  • 1731fire at Ashburnham House in London damages the nationally owned Cotton library, housed there at this time.source
  • 1734Jamaica's Governor John Ayscough declares martial law to fight the slave rebellion that began in 1733, then drafts 600 men into the colonial army to march into the Blue Mountains. (→ First Maroon War)source
  • 1739War of Jenkins' Ear: Great Britain declares war on Spain.source
  • 1739"War of Jenkins' Ear" (1739–1742) begins when Britain declares war on Spain.source
  • 1743After almost six weeks, Nader Shah of Persia lifts the siege of Mosul.source
  • 1753first naval patients admitted to Royal Hospital Haslar in Hampshire. When the main building is completed in 1762 this will be the world's largest hospital and Europe's largest brick building.source
  • 1769Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor (see drawing) in France.source
  • 1769Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor (or 'automobile').source
  • 1786Charter rights are given to Östersund.source
  • 1786The 13th century AH begins on the Islamic calendar on the 1st of Muharram 1201 AHsource
  • 1786The settlement of Östersund is established in Sweden.source
  • 1797Peter Bryan Bruin, Gabriel Benoist, Philander Smith, Daniel Clark Sr., Isaac Gaillard, and others compose a "Memorial to Congress by Permanent Committee of the Natchez District," expressing their preference for American control of the Natchez District and their desire to have slavery preserved in Mississippi.source
  • 1798The Ottoman–Albanian forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeat the French and capture the town of Preveza in the Battle of Nicopolis.source
  • 1799The River Severn ferry at The Tuckies, Jackfield, Shropshire capsizes and 28 workers from Coalport China Works are drowned.source
  • 1805British troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.source
  • 1805Troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.source
  • 1811José Gervasio Artigas and 16,000 orientales leave the Banda Oriental del Uruguay, to go into exile.source
  • 1812Malet coup of 1812: General Claude François de Malet attempts unsuccessfully to overthrow the Napoleonic régime in Paris.source
  • 1814The first plastic surgery carried out in England by Dr Joseph Constantine Carpue.source
  • 1815A 6.8 earthquake shakes northern China causing many houses and caves to collapse, killing at least 13,000 people.source
  • 1831George Joseph Plunket Browne is consecrated as first Bishop of the new Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, created by the Holy See following abolition of the Wardenship of Galway (Edmund Ffrench being the last Warden).source
  • 1844The Báb is publicly proclaimed to be the promised one of Islam (the Qá'im, or Mahdi). He is also considered to be simultaneously the return of Elijah, John the Baptist and the "Ushídar-Máh" referred to in the Zoroastrian scriptures. He announces to the world the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest". He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh – the founder of the Baháʼí Faith – whose claims include being the return of Jesus.source
  • 184765 immigrants die in a week at Pointe St. Charles neighbourhood of Montreal.source
  • 1852The conjecture of the four color theorem is first proposed, as student Francis Guthrie of University College London presents the question of proving, mathematically, that no more than four colors are needed to give separate colors to bordering shapes on a map (the theorem is not proven for almost 123 years, until 1976).source
  • 1857The Colonist publishes its first issue, in Nelson. The newspaper is published until 1920, when it is incorporated into The Nelson Evening Mail.source
  • 1859Battle of Cepeda (1859)source
  • 1862Otto is deposed as King of Greece.source
  • 1863Acting President Willem Cornelis Janse van Rensburg becomes President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic.source
  • 1868The Japanese era name (nengō) is formally changed from Keiō to Meiji; and a general amnesty is granted. The adoption of the Meiji nengō was done retroactively to January 25, 1868 (Keiō 4/Meiji 1, 1st day of the 1st month).source
  • 1868The current Japanese era name is changed to the Meiji period. The Edo period ends.source
  • 1868Frederick Doulton, MP, brought to trial in Brussels on charges of fraud in public works, but acquitted of having broken any law.source
  • 1872Extradition treaty with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg signed in The Hague.source
  • 1892Legislative electionsource
  • 1893The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) is founded in the town of Thessaloniki. Its aim is to liberate the region of Macedonia from the Ottoman Turks.source
  • 1895The city of Tainan, last stronghold of the Republic of Formosa, capitulates to the forces of the Empire of Japan, ending the short-lived republic, and beginning the era of Taiwan under Japanese rule.source
  • 1897The Kappa Delta sorority is founded in Farmville, Virginia.source
  • 1898An anarchist, suspected of plotting the assassination of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II, is arrested in Egypt at Alexandria.source
  • 1899The Philippine Independent Church is formed at a conference in Paniqui, to separate from the Roman Catholic Church.source
  • 1900The country's first electric tram service begins, between Roslyn and Maori Hill in Dunedin.source
  • 1906An aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off at Bagatelle in France, and flies 60 meters (200 feet). This is the first officially recorded powered flight in Europe.source
  • 1906An aeroplane of Alberto Santos-Dumont takes off at Bagatelle in France and flies 60 meters (200 feet). This is the first officially recorded powered flight in Europe.source
  • 1906Santos-Dumont 14-bis aircraft performs the first publicly witnessed European unaided take-off by a heavier-than-air aircraft, in Bagatelle.source
  • 1907A magnitude 5.9 earthquake strikes Calabria, at a depth of 33.0 km. The event caused 167 deaths and major damage. The town Ferruzzano was the epicentre where many houses collapsed almost completely, and 158 persons, or 8% of its population, were killed.source
  • 1910Vajiravudh (Rama VI) is crowned King of Siam, after the death of his father, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).source
  • 1913Kristian Vilhelm Koren Schjelderup, Sr., bishop (born 1853)source
  • 1915WWI: The torpedoing of armored cruiser SMS Prinz Adalbert results in only 3 men being rescued from a crew of 675, the greatest single loss of life for the Imperial German Navy in the Baltic Sea during the war.source
  • 1915Sinking of SS Marquette with 32 New Zealand deaths; mainly nurses and medical staffsource
  • 1917The Brazilian freighter Macau, one of the vessels seized in the course of the war, was torpedoed by the German submarine SM U-93 near the coast of Spain, and the captain taken prisoner.source
  • 1917A Brazilian ship is destroyed by a German U-boat, encouraging Brazil to enter World War I.source
  • 1923Hamburg Uprising: In Germany, the Communists attempt a putsch in Hamburg, which results in street battles in that city for the next two days, when it ends unsuccessfully.source
  • 1925October 19–29 – Incident at Petrich: A brief conflict occurs between Bulgaria and Greece after a Greek soldier accidentally crosses into the Bulgarian side and is shot by border guards.source
  • 1926Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev are removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.source
  • 1926The Fazal Mosque, the first purpose-built in London and the first Ahmadiyya mosque in Britain, is completed.source
  • 1926A decree in Italy bans women from holding public office.source
  • 1929October 18–24: battle at Zhengzhou, Henan between Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army and National Revolutionary Armysource
  • 1934October 20–November 3 – Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first eastward crossing of the Pacific Ocean, from his native Brisbane, Australia, to San Francisco, in the Lockheed Altair Lady Southern Cross. The November 3 Hawaii–San Francisco leg is the first eastward flight from Hawaii to North America.source
  • 19371937 Australian federal election: Joseph Lyons' UAP/Country Coalition government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by John Curtin.source
  • 1940Fouad Twal, the Roman Catholic archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since June 2008source
  • 1941Walt Disney's fourth animated film Dumbo is released in the United States.source
  • 1942Award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory") is among 12 people killed in a mid-air collision between an American Airlines DC-3 and a U.S. Army bomber near Palm Springs, California.source
  • 1944October 23–26 – WWII: Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines – In the largest naval battle in history by most criteria and the last naval battle in history between battleships, combined United States and Australian naval forces decisively defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy.source
  • 1945Jackie Robinson signs a contract with the Montreal Royals baseball team.source
  • 1946The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City.source
  • 1947Sigurd Christiansen, novelist and playwright (born 1891).source
  • 1950Wirtgen Ferdinand is appointed to the Council of State.source
  • 1952The West German Federal Constitutional Court bans the Socialist Reich Party as unconstitutional for being a Nazi Party successor organization.source
  • 1953Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) in the Philippines makes the first television broadcast in southeast Asia, through DZAQ-TV. Alto Broadcasting System is the predecessor of what will later become ABS-CBN Corporation.source
  • 1953The Philippines' DZAQ-TV 3 of Alto Broadcasting System (now ABS-CBN) makes its initial telecast, becoming Asia's first commercial television broadcaster.source
  • 1954Paris Agreement sets up the Western European Union to implement the Treaty of Brussels (1948), providing for mutual self-defence and other collaboration between Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Germany is granted admission to the NATO which becomes effective in 1955.source
  • 1956The Hungarian Revolution breaks out against the pro-Soviet government, originating as a student demonstration in Budapest. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.source
  • 1958The third Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 74.source
  • 1961The establishment of Taiwan Stock Exchange.source
  • 1962October 14–28 — The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs between the United States and Soviet Union over the deployment of Soviet ballistic missiles to Cuba.source
  • 1964October 10–24 – The 1964 Summer Olympics are held in Tokyo, Japan, the first in an Asian country.source
  • 1964Pakistan loses 0–1 to India in field hockey at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, taking home the silver medal.source
  • 1967Charles de Gaulle becomes the first French Co-Prince of Andorra to visit his Andorran subjects. In addition to being President of France, de Gaulle is a joint ruler (along with Spain's Bishop of Urgel) of the tiny nation located in the mountains between France and Spain, pursuant to the 1278 agreement creating the nation.source
  • 1971The Sentosa Satellite Earth Station is officially launched, making it Singapore's first Satellite Earth Station.source
  • 1977The president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returns to Barcelona from exile and the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, is restored.source
  • 1979Coihuín tragedy: intense rains cause the collapse of a hill in the coastal town of Coihuín, in the commune of Puerto Montt, crushing ten people, all algae collectors.source
  • 1983Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.source
  • 1984Napoleón Herson Calitto, 42, commanding officer, helicopter crash.source
  • 1984A fire destroys Pines Hotel, a hillside hotel in Baguio; killing 17–22 people, nine of them members of the American Legion tour group which has been commemorating the 1944 return of Gen. Douglas MacArthur to the country.source
  • 1986The beginning of experimental broadcasts of the Israeli Channel 2.source
  • 1987On a vote of 58–42, the United States Senate rejects President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.source
  • 1987British champion jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for three years after being convicted of tax evasion.source
  • 1988October 23–24 – Typhoon Unsang struck into Luzon resulted in a widespread flooding and landslides. The storm and flood brought scores of fatalities.source
  • 1989The Phillips disaster, a chemical plant explosion, in Pasadena, Texas, kills 23 and injures 314 others.source
  • 1991In Paris, the Vietnam-backed government of the state of Cambodia signs an agreement with the Khmer Rouge to end the civil war and bring the Khmer Rouge into power despite its role in the Cambodian genocide. The deal ends the Cambodian–Vietnamese War and results in the creation of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia.source
  • 1992Emperor of Japan Akihito begins the first imperial visit to China, telling a Beijing audience he feels deep sorrow for the suffering of the Chinese people during World War II.source
  • 1993The National Forces' Movement is founded through the merger of the Happiness Party and the Hungarian Republican Party.source
  • 1993The Toronto Blue Jays repeat as World Series champions, becoming the first team to win back-to-back titles since the 1977–1978 New York Yankees.source
  • 1994Khulna Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir leader Abul Kashem Pathan was shot dead by activists of the Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dalsource
  • 2001Apple Inc. introduces the iPod, a portable media player and multi-purpose mobile device. The company will sell an estimated 450 million iPod products by May 2022.source
  • 2001Apple releases the first iPod in the United States, revolutionizing the way people listen to music.source
  • 2002October 23–26 – Chechen rebels take control of the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow and hold the audience hostage. At least 170 people are killed following a Russian attempt to subdue the militants.source
  • 2003A Russian air base opens in Kant, Kyrgyzstan, as Russia's first foreign air base since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.source
  • 2003The Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants comes into effect.source
  • 2009The 2009 Cataño oil refinery fire began after an explosion at the refinery in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.source
  • 2010In preparation for the Seoul summit, finance ministers of the G-20 agree to reform the International Monetary Fund and shift 6% of the voting shares to developing nations and countries with emerging markets.source
  • 2011A magnitude 7.2 M w earthquake jolts eastern Turkey near the city of Van, killing over 600 people and damaging about 2,200 buildings.source
  • 2012October 22 – November 2 – Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record (as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spanning 900 miles (1,400 km)), wreaks havoc, resulting in 233 total deaths and $68.7 billion (2012 USD) damage.source
  • 2015Hurricane Patricia becomes the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere and the second strongest worldwide, with winds of 215 mph and a pressure of 872 mbar.source
  • 2018The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, the world's longest sea crossing bridge, is opened by Chinese Paramount leader Xi Jinping.source
  • 2019Google announces that its 53-qubit "Sycamore" processor has achieved quantum supremacy. IBM disputes the claim.source
  • 2019The bodies of 39 people are found in a truck container in Essex, England. A 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland is arrested on suspicion of murder.source
  • 2020Israel and Sudan agree to normalise relations, marking the fifth Israel–Arab peace deal.source
  • 2021Colombia's most wanted drug lord, Dario Antonio Úsuga, whose Gulf Clan controls many smuggling routes into the US and other countries, is captured by Colombia's armed forces.source
  • 2022October 16–October 23 – The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held. Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary by the Central Committee, beginning a third term as the paramount leader of China.source
  • 2022A fire, spread by strong winds, occurs on the slopes of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro.source
  • 2024A UN helicopter is shot at shortly after taking off from Port-au-Prince, forcing it to land again with no injuries recorded among the 18 people on board.source

Births

  • 1006Wen Yanbo, grand chancellor (died 1097)source
  • 1255Fernando de la Cerda, Spanish prince (died 1275)source
  • 1256Möngke Temür, Mongol ruler of Shiraz (died 1282)source
  • 1587Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Baronet of Harrow on the Hill, English politician (died 1670)source
  • 1636Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, queen consort of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden (died 1715)source
  • 1698Ange-Jacques Gabriel, principal architect of King Louis XV of France (died 1782)source
  • 1705Maximilian Ulysses Browne, Austrian military officer (died 1757)source
  • 1715Peter II of Russia, Emperor of Russia (died 1730)source
  • 1727Empress Xiaoyichun of China (died 1775)source
  • 1759Sivert Aarflot, educator (died 1817).source
  • 1762Samuel Morey, American inventor (died 1843)source
  • 1766Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (died 1847)source
  • 1771Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (died 1813)source
  • 1789Jean Chrétien Baud, governor general of the Dutch East Indiessource
  • 1805Adalbert Stifter, writer (died 1868)source
  • 1835Adlai Stevenson I, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (died 1914)source
  • 1844Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (died 1923)source
  • 1900Douglas Jardine, English cricketer (died 1958)source
  • 1925Johnny Carson, American comedian and television host (died 2005)source
  • 1940Pelé, Brazilian footballer (died 2022)source
  • 1957Paul Kagame, 4th President of Rwandasource
  • 1959"Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodistsource

Deaths

  • 877Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinoplesource
  • 891Yazaman al-Khadim, Abbasid emirsource
  • 902Ibrahim II dies of dysentery in a chapel near Cosenza. His grandson, Ziyadat Allah, takes over the army, but lifts the siege.source
  • 902Ibrahim II, Aghlabid emir (born 850)source
  • 945Hyejong, king of Goryeo (Korea) (born 912)source
  • 1086Rodrigo Muñoz, Galician noblemansource
  • 1134Abu al-Salt, Andalusian astronomersource
  • 1157King Sweyn III of Denmark (b.c. 1125) (in battle)source
  • 1181Adela of Meissen, queen consort of Denmarksource
  • 1273Adelaide of Burgundy, French noblewomansource
  • 1456Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (born 1386)source
  • 1550Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (born 1480)source
  • 1557Mohammed al-Shaykh, Sultan of Morocco since 1549, is assassinated by Ottoman soldiers who had infiltrated the Moroccan army. The assassination comes on orders of the Ottoman sultan after Mohammed makes plans for an alliance with Spain against the Ottoman Empire. Mohammed is succeeded by his son, Abdallah al-Ghalib.source
  • 1590Bernardino de Sahagún, Franciscan missionary (born 1499)source
  • 1595Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, Italian-French dignitary and diplomat (born 1539)source
  • 1642George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny, Scottish nobleman and military commander (born 1618)source
  • 1698David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl, painter (born 1628)source
  • 1730Anne Oldfield, English actress (born 1683)source
  • 1780João da Bemposta (born 1726)source
  • 1805On the early death of her husband, Madame Clicquot Ponsardin takes over his champagne wine business in France as Veuve Clicquot.source
  • 1834Fath Ali Shah Qajar, King of Iran (born 1772)source
  • 1861José María Linares (born 1808)source
  • 1868Mariquita Sánchez, Buenos Aires salonnière (born 1786)source
  • 1869Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1799)source
  • 1874Abraham Geiger, German rabbi, a founder of European Reform Judaism (born 1810)source
  • 1896Columbus Delano, American statesman (born 1809)source
  • 1910King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) of Siam (born 1853)source
  • 1915W. G. Grace, English cricketer (born 1848)source
  • 1921John Boyd Dunlop, inventor (born 1840)source
  • 1939Zane Grey, American writer (born 1872)source
  • 1950Al Jolson, American musician, actor (The Jazz Singer) (born 1886)source
  • 1984The world learns from moving BBC News television reports presented by Michael Buerk of the famine in Ethiopia, where thousands of people have already died of starvation due to a famine, and as many as 10,000,000 more lives are at risk.source