Events Pre-1600 1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England. 1205 – Philip of Swabia undergoes a second coronation as King of the Romans. 1322 – Stephen Uroš III is crowned King of Serbia, having defeated his half-brother Stefan Konstantin in battle. His son is crowned "young king" in the same ceremony. 1355 – Charles IV of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan. 1449 – Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Mystras. 1492 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada at the conclusion of the Granada War. 1536 – The first European school of higher learning in the Americas, Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, is founded by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and Bishop Juan de Zumárraga in Mexico City. 1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves. 1579 – The Union of Arras unites the southern Netherlands under the Duke of Parma (Ottavio Farnese), governor in the name of King Philip II of Spain.
1601–1900 1641 – Arauco War: The first Parliament of Quillín is celebrated, putting a temporary hold on hostilities between Mapuches and Spanish in Chile. 1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England. The revolt is suppressed after a few days. 1721 – The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings, revealing details of fraud among company directors and corrupt politicians. 1724 – Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65, a Bach cantata, for Epiphany, is performed the first time.Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen BWV 65; BC A 27 Bach Digital 1725 – J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, a chorale cantata for Epiphany. 1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands. 1809 – Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne during the Napoleonic Wars. 1838 – Alfred Vail and colleagues demonstrate a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code). 1839 – The Night of the Big Wind, the most damaging storm in 300 years, sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin. 1900 – Second Boer War: Having already besieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
1901–present 1912 – New Mexico is admitted to the Union as the 47th U.S. state. 1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift. 1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution, starting the January 6th Dictatorship. 1929 – Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people. 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address. 1946 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket. 1951 – Korean War: Beginning of the Ganghwa massacre, in the course of which an estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered. 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami.Civil Aeronautics Board File No. 1-0002, pp. 1,12 1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties. 1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta. 1968 – Aeroflot Flight 1668 crashes near Olyokminsk, killing 45. 1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashes in Lafayette Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States, killing 11. 1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, the United States implements the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, switching to permanent daylight saving time for a trial period. 1974 – Aeroflot Flight H-75 crashes near Mukachevo, killing 24. 1989 – Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day. 1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup. 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol. 1993 – Four people are killed when Lufthansa CityLine Flight 5634 crashes on approach to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, France. 1994 – U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. 1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack. 2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the American Civil Rights Movement. 2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, United States, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas. 2012 – Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus. 2017 – Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida. 2019 – Muhammad V of Kelantan resigns as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, becoming the first monarch to do so. 2021 – Supporters of U.S. president Donald Trump storm the United States Capitol Building to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in four deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress. 2025 – Justin Trudeau announces his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada after nine years in office.
Births Pre-1600 1256 – Gertrude the Great, German mystic (died 1302) 1367 – Richard II of England (died 1400) 1384 – Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (died 1408) 1412 – Joan of Arc, French martyr and saint (died 1431) 1486 – Martin Agricola, German composer and theorist (died 1556) 1488 – Helius Eobanus Hessus, German poet (died 1540) 1493 – Olaus Petri, Swedish clergyman (died 1552) 1500 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (died 1569) 1525 – Caspar Peucer, German physician and scholar (died 1602) 1538 – Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria (died 1612) 1561 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (died 1656) 1587 – Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares (died 1645) 1595 – Claude Favre de Vaugelas, French educator and courtier (died 1650)
1601–1900 1617 – Christoffer Gabel, Danish politician (died 1673) 1632 – Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, Scottish peeress (died 1716)G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VI, page 264. 1655 – Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg (died 1720) 1673 – James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, English academic and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire (died 1744) 1695 – Giuseppe Sammartini, Italian oboe player and composer (died 1750) 1702 – José de Nebra, Spanish composer (died 1768) 1714 – Percivall Pott, English surgeon (died 1788) 1745 – Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier, French co-inventor of the hot air balloon (died 1799) 1766 – José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguayan lawyer and politician, first dictator of Paraguay (died 1840) 1785 – Andreas Moustoxydis, Greek historian and philologist (died 1860) 1793 – James Madison Porter, American lawyer and politician, 18th United States Secretary of War (died 1862) 1795 – Anselme Payen, French chemist and academic (died 1871) 1799 – Jedediah Smith, American hunter, explorer, and author (died 1831) 1803 – Henri Herz, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1888) 1807 – Joseph Petzval, German-Hungarian mathematician and physicist (died 1891) 1808 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American conchologist and paleontologist (died 1864) 1811 – Charles Sumner, American lawyer and politician (died 1874) 1822 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist and businessman (died 1890) 1832 – Gustave Doré, French painter and sculptor (died 1883) 1838 – Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (died 1920) 1842 – Clarence King, American geologist, mountaineer, and critic (died 1901) 1856 – Giuseppe Martucci, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1909) 1857 – Hugh Mahon, Irish-Australian publisher and politician, 10th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (died 1931) 1857 – William Russell, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Massachusetts (died 1896) 1859 – Samuel Alexander, Australian-English philosopher and academic (died 1938) 1860 – Morton Selten, British actor (died 1939) 1861 – Victor Horta, Belgian architect, designed Hôtel van Eetvelde (died 1947) 1861 – George Lloyd, English-Canadian bishop and theologian (died 1940) 1870 – Gustav Bauer, German journalist and politician, 11th Chancellor of Germany (died 1944) 1872 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (died 1915) 1874 – Fred Niblo, American actor, director, and producer (died 1948) 1878 – Adeline Genée, Danish-born British ballerina (died 1970) 1878 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (died 1967) 1880 – Tom Mix, American cowboy and actor (died 1940) 1881 – Ion Minulescu, Romanian author, poet, and critic (died 1944)Matei Călinescu, "Prefaţă" ("Introduction"), "Tabel cronologic" ("Chronological Table"), in Ion Minulescu, Romanţe pentru mai târziu şi alte poezii ("Songs for Later On and Other Poems"), Editura pentru literatură, Bucharest, 1967, p. V-XLX. 1882 – Fan S. Noli, Albanian-American bishop and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Albania (died 1965) 1882 – Sam Rayburn, American lawyer and politician, 48th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (died 1961) 1883 – Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, painter, and philosopher (died 1931) 1889 – Dida Dederding, Danish doctor and academic (died 1955) 1891 – Ted McDonald, Australian cricketer (died 1937) 1898 – James Fitzmaurice, Irish soldier and pilot (died 1965) 1899 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German engineer (died 1968) 1900 – Maria of Yugoslavia, Queen of Yugoslavia (died 1961)
1901–present 1903 – Maurice Abravanel, Greek-American pianist and conductor (died 1993) 1910 – Kid Chocolate, Cuban boxer (died 1988) 1910 – Wright Morris, American author and photographer (died 1998) 1912 – Jacques Ellul, French philosopher and critic (died 1994) 1912 – Danny Thomas, American actor, comedian, producer, and humanitarian (died 1991) 1913 – Edward Gierek, Polish lawyer and politician (died 2001) 1913 – Loretta Young, American actress (died 2000) 1914 – Godfrey Edward Arnold, Austrian-American physician and academic (died 1989) 1915 – Don Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2015) 1915 – John C. Lilly, American psychoanalyst, physician, and philosopher (died 2001) [Reprinted 1962, Gollancz, ]. 1915 – Alan Watts, English-American philosopher and author (died 1973) 1916 – Park Mok-wol, influential Korean poet and academic (died 1978) 1917 – Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat (died 2005) 1920 – Henry Corden, Canadian-born American actor (died 2005) 1920 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (died 2004) 1920 – Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader; founder of the Unification Church (died 2012)