MAY 24.
1085. Gregory VII (Hildebrand), pope, died. He was the son of a carpenter, and when raised to the papal throne embroiled himself in disputes and dissensions till he was compelled to retire.
1153. David I, king of Scotland, died. He married Maud, daughter of William the conqueror, and is characterized as a mild and popular king.
1276. A capitation tax of three pennies
laid on every Jew in England above the age of 12 years, and all above the age of 7 to wear a yellow badge.
1357. Edward the black prince, conducted his captive, John, king of France, through the city of London, in triumph.
1430. Joan of Arc, after performing prodigies of valor, deserted and alone, was taken prisoner by the English, after her horse was slain, in a sally from Compiegne.
1543. Nicholas Copernicus, the great astronomer, died, aged 70. After a constant devotion of 43 years to the study, he produced his immortal work, De Orbium Cœlestium Revolutionibus. The work was excommunicated by the pope, and although the planets continued their revolutions, it was not till 278 years after, namely, in 1821, that the papal court annulled the sentence!
1551. Von Pannis, an eminent surgeon of England, burnt to death for denying the divinity of Christ.
1572. Drake sailed from England on his voyage of reprisal to the West-Indies, against the Spanish.
1612. Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, died; an English statesman, the ablest minister of his time.
1651. Louis XIV of France purchased of the West-India company, for the benefit of the knights of Malta, the islands of St. Christopher, St. Bartholomew, St. Martin and San Cruz, for the sum of 120,000 livres turnois. (See [August 10, 1665].)
1663. South Carolina erected into a separate province. First permanent settlement began in 1669; original charter included North Carolina and Georgia.
1686. An eruption of mount Ætna, which extended its ravages four leagues around, and buried several persons alive.
1689. Passage of the well known toleration act of England, which so greatly relieved the dissenters.
1692. Four days' action off La Hogue; the remainder of the French ships, seven in number, and a great many transports and ammunition ships burnt.
1698. Pere Gerbillon, a Jesuit missionary, set out on his eighth and last journey to Tartary, in the train of the Chinese grandees, sent by the emperor to hold an assembly of the Kalka Tartars, who had been several years in rebellion, and to regulate the affairs of the country. (See [April 1], [Oct. 13].)
1715. William Read died; originally a cobbler, became a mountebank, and practiced medicine by the light of nature! Queen Anne and George I honored him with the care of their eyes! He could neither write nor read, but such was the success of his practice, that he rode in his own chariot, and "dispensed good punch from golden bowls."
1775. John Hancock elected president of congress; he succeeded Peyton Randolph in that office.
1777. Colonel Meigs made a successful attack on the British stores at Sag harbor, destroyed 12 British brigs and schooners, and great quantities of stores, and brought away 90 British prisoners, without sustaining any loss.
1786. Charles William Scheele, an eminent Swedish chemist, died. His discoveries were numerous, though his experiments were made under great disadvantages.
1792. George Brydges, lord Rodney, a celebrated British admiral, died, aged 74.
1794. Battle of the Sambre, in the Netherlands, in which general Kaunitz defeated the French, who lost 3,000 taken prisoners, and 50 cannon.
1798. Several battles were fought at different places between the English troops and United Irishmen, in which the latter were generally defeated.
1811. The Seringapatam, prize to the United States frigate Essex, capt. Gamble, captured by the British sloop of war Cherub, at the Sandwich islands.
1814. Pope Pius VII, whose powers had been abridged by Napoleon, made his grand public entry into Rome, to resume the throne.
1822. Battle of Pichinca, fought near the volcano of that name. The Columbians under Sucre succeeded in gaining the vicinity of Quito by marching over the frozen mountains of Cotopaxi, by which, and several other daring movements, the Spaniards were compelled to hazard a battle, and sustained a total defeat. The patriots thus became possessed of the entire province, with all the Spanish magazines and stores, and the road to Peru was left open to Bolivar.
1833. John Randolph, of Roanoke, an American statesman, died, aged 60. He was a descendant in the 7th generation, from Pocahontas, the Indian woman who saved the life of capt. Smith, and was distinguished for genius, eloquence and eccentricity.
1839. William Legget, an American poet, and miscellaneous writer, died. He was a man of talent, and employed by government as charge d'affaire to Central America.
1844. James Thatcher, a surgeon of the revolutionary army and author of the Military Journal and History of Plymouth, died at Plymouth, Mass.
1845. William Ramsay died in Boone county, Mo., aged 104. Early a pioneer and Indian fighter in Kentucky.