1. 350 - Magnentius declared himself emperor in Gaul, triggering a civil war with Constantine II, which accelerated the division of the Roman Empire.

2. 429 - Zu Chongzhi, an outstanding mathematician in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, was born.

3. 850 - Guntherus became the bishop of Cologne.

4. 1130 - The second Lateran Council opened in Rome.

5. 1139 - The 2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opened in Rome.

6. 1199 - Richard the Lionheart died, and John I succeeded to the throne of England.

7. 1290 - A round - table tournament was held near Winchester, England, in imitation of King Arthur.

8. 1505 - Jews were expelled from Orange Burgundy by Philibert of Luxembourg.

9. 1509 - Leonardo da Vinci began to paint Leda and the Swan.

10. 1534 - French explorer Jacques Cartier set sail with two ships from Saint - Malo for Newfoundland.

11. 1551 - John Dudley became the Earl Marshal of England.

12. 1611 - The first - known performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth was held at the Globe Theatre in London.

13. 1650 - The Dutch East India Company (VOC) management set new guidelines.

14. 1653 - Oliver Cromwell and 40 musketeers forcibly dissolved the English Rump Parliament.

15. 1657 - The English philosopher Hobbes' Leviathan was published in its Latin version.

16. 1657 - In the battle of Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife, the English fleet under Robert Blake sank the Spanish silver fleet.

17. 1689 - The former King James II of England laid siege to Derry.

18. 1702 - Comet C / 1702 H1 approached within 0.0437 au of Earth.

19. 1715 - Nicholas Rowe's play The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey premiered in London.

20. 1736 - French mathematician Pierre - Louis Maupertuis began the Lapland expedition.

21. 1759 - George Frideric Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey, London.

22. 1777 - New York adopted a new constitution as an independent state.

23. 1785 - Thomas Warton was appointed British poet laureate by King George III.

24. 1792 - The French legislative assembly voted to declare war on Austria, initiating the French revolutionary wars.

25. 1799 - Friedrich von Schiller's Wallensteins Tod premiered in Weimar.

26. 1809 - Napoleon I and the French forces defeated Austria at the Battle of Abensberg.

27. 1810 - The governors of Caracas declared national sovereignty from Spain.

28. 1818 - Napoleon Bonaparte bade an emotional farewell to his old guard at the Palace of Fontainebleau.

29. 1828 - René Caillié, a Frenchman, was the first non - Muslim to enter Timbuktu.

30. 1836 - The territory of Wisconsin was created.

31. 1862 - The first pasteurization test was completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.

32. 1862 - The US Homestead Act took effect.

33. 1865 - The Crosby Opera House opened in Chicago.

34. 1871 - The Civil Rights Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant.

35. 1879 - The first mobile home (horse - drawn) was used in a journey from London to Cyprus.

36. 1884 - Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical On Freemasonry.

37. 1889 - Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.

38. 1894 - 136,000 mine workers struck in Ohio for a pay increase.

39. 1896 - John Philip Sousa's operetta El Capitan premiered on Broadway.

40. 1898 - The US assay office in Deadwood, South Dakota opened.

41. 1899 - David Beatty was appointed executive officer of the HMS Barfleur.

42. 1902 - Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive compound radium chloride.

43. 1903 - The 7th Boston Marathon was won by Irishman John Lorden.

44. 1904 - The Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in St. Louis.

45. 1908 - The 12th Boston Marathon was won by Tom Morrissey.

46. 1908 - The opening day of competition of the New South Wales rugby league.

47. 1910 - Halley's Comet passed its 29th recorded perihelion.

48. 1912 - Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium opened.

49. 1914 - The Ludlow Massacre occurred in Colorado.

50. 1914 - US President Wilson asked Congress to approve the use of armed force in Mexico.