OCTOBER 12.
638. Honorius I, pope, died. He presided over the church with great zeal and wisdom.
1303. Boniface III (Benedict Cajetan), pope, died. His ambition and insolence were unbounded, and he hurled the thunders of the Vatican against the kings of France and Denmark; but the former despising his threats, had him seized.
1307. All the knights templars in France ordered to be arrested, and on the following day the grand master, the templars and all their possessions were seized.
1424. John de Troeznou Zisca, a famous Bohemian patriot, died. He was the formidable general of the Hussites, who undertook to avenge the death of their leader; he also defended his country against the emperor Sigismund, and performed prodigies of valor after he had lost both his eyes.
1428. The siege of Orleans commenced, memorable as one of the most extraordinary incidents in history.
1492. Columbus landed on the island of Guanahani, of which he had seen the first twinkling on the previous night; thus in the space of 36 days completing a voyage which he had been 20 years in projecting, which opened to Europeans a new world, which enlarged the empire of Spain, and stamped with immortality the name of Columbus.
1573. Great naval victory of the Dutch over the Spaniards.
1576. Maximilian II died. He was elected king of the Romans 1562, and afterwards succeeded his father as king of Hungary and Bohemia, and emperor of Germany.
1621. Peter Matthieu, a French historian, died. He was historiographer to the king, and wrote the history of France, and of several of the French kings.
1646. Francis Bassompierre, marshal of France, died; a distinguished statesman, whom Richelieu confined 10 years in the Bastile, during which he wrote his own memoirs.
1649. The fall and massacre of Wexford under Oliver Cromwell.
1653. Humphrey Chetham, a great patron of learning and libraries, died, aged 73, at Manchester, England, endowing the city with munificent bequests.
1711. King Charles III, of Spain, elected emperor of Germany at Frankfort, by the name of Charles IV.
1716. Ludolf Kuster, a learned German critic, died.
1753. Sir Danvers Osborne, who had arrived at New York on the 7th to succeed Clinton as governor of the province, was found in the morning suspended by the neck in the garden, and dead.
1764. Rene Michael Slodtz, an eminent French sculptor, died.
1793. St. Domingo ceded by its inhabitants to the British.
1798. British fleet, admiral Warren, intercepted the French fleet and captured several ships laden with troops and stores destined for Ireland. Theobald Wolfe Tone, the founder of the united Irishmen, was on board, and taken.
1822. The independence of Brazil, under don John, was proclaimed.
1834. Thos. S. Grimke, of South Carolina, died of an attack of cholera. He distinguished himself in a speech against the test oath of his native state.
1842. Bartlett Bennett, one of the early pioneers of Kentucky, and a baptist preacher, died at Cincinnati, aged 99.
1851. Lewis Washington, an American commodore, died, aged 69. His services in the Tripoli war and the war of 1812 made his name familiar to the American people, as a brave, energetic and skillful captain.
1851. Samuel Beazley, a distinguished English architect died, aged 66. He was not only the designer of more theatres than any other modern architect, but also a dramatic compiler.
1855. General Walker took possession of Grenada, with a loss to the enemy of 15 killed and several wounded.