1066. WILLIAM (_the Conqueror_) landed in England, at Pevensey, in
Sussex, and made the conquest of the country, and revolutionized its
institutions.
1399. RICHARD II resigned his right to the crown, publicly acknowledging
his incapacity to reign.
1494. COLUMBUS met with his brother Bartholomew at the town of Isabella
in the West Indies, after a separation of fourteen years, during which
the latter had paid an unsuccessful visit to the court of England.
1513. Fall of Tournay, in Belgium, which closed the campaign of the
English under Henry VIII.
1526. Rome taken by the partisans of cardinal Calonna, when the palace
of the Vatican, the church of St. Peter, and the pope's ministers and
servants were plundered.
1560. GUSTAVUS VASA, king of Sweden, died. He recovered the kingdom from
the Danish yoke, and established the protestant religion in his country.
1564. The earl of LEICESTER was ennobled, on which occasion it is said
coaches were first brought to London.
1604. The act of king JAMES against _witches_ went into operation.
1622. CONRAD VORSTIUS died; a learned German protestant divine and
polemical writer, who succeeded Arminius in the divinity chair at
Leyden.
1720. The great _South sea bubble_, a scheme for paying off the national
debt of England, burst and involved an incredible number of people in
utter ruin. The capital of the company was about $168,000,000.
1759. Volcano of Jorullo, in Mexico, by which a mountain was thrown up
in a single night to the height of 1224 feet in the midst of a large
plain. The volcano is surrounded by numerous conical hills, from which
smoke is continually issuing.
1760. The astronomer MASKELYNE was sent by the English government to St.
Helena, and Mr. MASON to Bencoolen, to observe the transit of Venus on
the 6th June, 1761. Three astronomers were sent from France for a like
purpose.
1764. Battle between the Irish White boys and English troops near
Kilkenny. Several killed on both sides.
1772. JOHN BENJAMIN MICHAELIS, one of the minor German poets, died in
his 25th year.
1778. American frigate Raleigh, after gallantly engaging two British men
of war some time, ran on shore, and was captured.
1791. The national assembly of France dissolved itself.
1793. FRANCIS ROZIER, an eminent French agriculturist, killed by a bomb
at Lyons, which fell on his bed, while he was asleep. He published a
work on agriculture in 10 volumes quarto.
1793. The French convention decreed the incorporation with the French
republic of all the Austrian possessions on the west side of the Rhine.
1809. CHARLES FRANCIS DUPUIS, a French philosopher, died; having filled
several important professorships and civil offices. He published a work
on the origin of all modes of religious worship, in 3 volumes quarto.
1813. The Americans under general HARRISON took possession of Sandwich
and Detroit.
1825. DANIEL SHAYS, noted for the part he took in the celebrated
rebellion of 1786, which bears his name, died at Sparta, aged 64. He had
been an officer in the revolutionary army, and enjoyed a pension.
1827. Captains PARRY and FRANKLIN reached the admiralty, from the arctic
and overland American expeditions. The latitude made by Parry was 82¾
degrees.
1833. FERDINAND VII, king of Spain, died, and was buried with great pomp
in the Escurial. His reign was a period of disaster to Spain, during
which she sank rapidly into insignificance as a European kingdom. He
received a superior education, but was a superstitious and weak minded
man, the victim or the tool of artful ministers or bigoted priests. His
first wife, an accomplished woman, was poisoned in 1806, the second
died 1808; the third 1829; the fourth by whom alone he had issue,
outlived him. It was during his reign that the inquisition was
re-established and six years afterwards permanently abolished. In his
latter years he seemed to take little or no interest in public affairs,
but continued to reign, nominally, goaded on one side by the liberals,
and on the other by the absolutists, or apostolical party as they called
themselves, who were for ruling by terror.
1840. JOHN MARSHALL, author of various works on manufactures, commerce
and statistics, died at London, aged 58.
1843. RICHARD HARLAN, a noted writer on natural history, died of
apoplexy at New Orleans. His parents were among the first quaker
families that emigrated from England.
1848. GEORGE F. RUXTON, a British officer, died at St. Louis, Mo., aged
38 (Allen says 88). He wrote the series in _Blackwood's Magazine_ on
life in the far west, and also a book of adventures in Mexico and the
Rocky mountains.
1854. Marshal DE SAINT ARNAUD, a commander of the French forces in the
Crimea, died at Balaclava, aged 53. He served in Algeria, and conducted
an expedition against the Kabyles; also executed the _coup d'état_ for
Louis Napoleon. He is represented as a man of deep religious
impressions, was courted by the clergy, and had been much engaged in
building chapels.
1855. The Russians, 35,000 strong, attacked Kars, gained possession of
the redoubt four times, and were four times driven back, and at length
retreated, leaving 4,000 dead in the trenches and around the city. Loss
of the garrison about 800.