1. 535 - John II's reign as Catholic Pope ends upon his death.

2. 589 - Visigothic King Recca Red summons the Third Council of Toledo, where he accepts the Catholic faith.

3. 615 - Saint Boniface IV's reign as Catholic Pope ends.

4. 685 - St. Benedict II's reign as Catholic Pope ends after 11 months upon his death.

5. 1254 - The University of Salamanca is granted a royal charter by Alfonso IX. It is the third - oldest university still operating and the oldest Hispanic one.

6. 1348 - A ship from Bordeaux carrying the plague lands in Melcombe Regis (now Weymouth), Dorset, marking the beginning of the Black Death in England.

7. 1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny is signed by the English and French, ending the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.

8. 1429 - Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orleans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

9. 1450 - Jack Cade's rebellion begins. Kentish men revolt against King Henry VI and march towards London.

10. 1521 - The Parliament of Worms installs an edict against Martin Luther.

11. 1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his expedition are the first Europeans to discover the Mississippi River.
1604 - Pierre Dugua de Monts reaches Cap La Hève (La Have) on the Nova Scotia coast, on his way to establish Acadia, the first successful permanent settlement in New France.

12. 1624 - Hungarian King Bethlen Gabor and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II sign the Treaty of Vienna, confirming the Peace of Nikolsburg agreed in 1621.

13. 1639 - William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island.

14. 1643 - Lady Blanche Arundell surrenders Wardour Castle, which she had led the defense of against siege by parliamentarian forces.

15. 1654 - The Magdeburg hemispheres experiment takes place in Germany.

16. 1657 - English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell refuses the English crown.

17. 1660 - The English parliament proclaims Charles II king of England and invites him to return.

18. 1721 - Michelangelo dei Conti succeeds Pope Clement XI as Innocent XIII.

19. 1741 - France and Bavaria sign the Covenant of Nymphenburg.

20. 1784 - The only known deaths by hailstones in the US occur in Winnsborough, South Carolina.

21. 1787 - The first US prison reform society, the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, is led by Dr. Benjamin Rush.

22. 1792 - British Captain George Vancouver sights and names Mount Rainier, Washington.

23. 1792 - The US establishes the military draft.

24. 1794 - Antoine - Laurent de Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is executed during the French Revolution.

25. 1812 - The US passes its first foreign aid bill, authorizing up to $50,000 to assist victims of the Caracas, Venezuela earthquake of March 26.

26. 1821 - The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia in the Greek War of Independence.

27. 1823 - "Home! Sweet Home!" by John Howard Payne is first sung in London.

28. 1834 - Prussia, Austria, and Russia sign a classified accord about Belgium.

29. 1835 - The first installment of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales is published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark.

30. 1840 - Alexander Wolcott patents a photographic process.

31. 1842 - The Versailles - to - Paris train catches fire, resulting in 50 deaths.

32. 1846 - The first major battle of the Mexican - American War is fought at Palo Alto, Texas.

33. 1847 - Scot Robert Thompson patents the rubber tyre.

34. 1852 - The Second London Protocol is signed, reaffirming Danish federation control of the independent duchies of Holstein, Lauenburg, and Schleswig.

35. 1858 - American abolitionist John Brown holds a secret antislavery convention in Canada.

36. 1861 - Richmond, Virginia, is named the capital of the Confederacy in the US.

37. 1862 - In the Valley Campaign, the Federals are repulsed at the Battle of McDowell, Virginia.

38. 1863 - The Confederación Granadina becomes the Estados Unidos de Colombia.

39. 1864 - Actions take place at Stony Creek / Nottoway Bridge, Virginia (Drewry's Bluff).

40. 1864 - The Atlanta Campaign sees severe fighting near Dalton.

41. 1864 - The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House begins.

42. 1871 - The British - US treaty ends the Alabama dispute.

43. 1877 - The first Westminster Dog Show is held.

44. 1878 - David Edward Hughes' paper on the idea for a microphone is read before the Royal Society of London by Thomas Henry Huxley.

45. 1879 - George Selden files for the first patent for a gasoline - driven automobile.

46. 1881 - Henry Morton Stanley signs the first of many contracts with the Congolian monarch.

47. 1882 - David Belasco's "La Belle Russe" premieres in NYC.

48. 1885 - Sarah Ann Henley survives a 76 - m jump from Clifton Bridge in Bristol, England.

49. 1886 - Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca - Cola" as a patent medicine in Atlanta.

50. 1895 - China cedes Taiwan to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki.