OCTOBER 21.
1097. The siege of Antioch opened by the crusaders. (See [June 3].) Baldwin founded the principality of Edessa in this year.
1217. The fortress of Alcazar-do-Sal taken from the Moors, after a hard fought
battle, by the Portuguese under Alphonso II, assisted by William, earl of Holland, with a portion of the fleet and forces bound for the crusade.
1439. Ambrose of Portico, in Romania, died; distinguished by his fluency in the Greek tongue, at the councils of Basil, Ferrara, &c.
1441. Margery Jourdemain, the witch of Eye, condemned to be burnt for furnishing love potions to Eleanor Cobham, wife of that duke of Gloucester so eminent as a patron of science and letters.
1558. Julius Cæsar Scaliger died; an Italian physician, eminent as a Latin critic and poet.
1583. Laurent Joubert, a French physician and medical writer, died.
1593. Nymegen, a strong city of Holland, surrendered to Maurice of Nassau, who added a new fort to it.
1621. Anthony Montchrestien de Vateville, a French poet, torn to pieces and burnt by order of the authorities, for sedition and other crimes.
1662. Henry Lawes, an English musician, died. He was originally a choir boy of Salisbury church, first introduced the Italian style of music in England, and composed the notes for Milton's Comus.
1687. Edmund Waller, an eminent English poet and political writer, died.
1692. A commission was granted by William and Mary to Benjamin Fletcher, governor of New York, conferring on him the government of Pennsylvania, and depriving Penn of that office. He was however, restored again in two years after.
1716. James Gronovius died; a Dutch writer on the belles-lettres, and a man of learning.
1766. Cumana, the capital of New Andalusia in South America, entirely destroyed by an earthquake.
1771. Tobias Smollet, a Scottish physician, died; better known as a historian and novelist.
1771. William Clarke, an English divine and antiquary, died.
1774. The provincial congress of Massachusetts determined to raise and enlist men for the defence of the province for the first time, under the name of minute men.
1777. Samuel Foote died; a celebrated English dramatist and actor, called the English Aristophanes.
1783. Congress insulted at Philadelphia by a band of mutineers, whom the authorities were unable to quell, adjourned to Princeton; a circumstance which doubtless led to the agitation of the question of a permanent seat of government.
1794. Coblentz surrendered to the French revolutionists. The fortifications of this city, celebrated for having been the court of the emigrant princes, had been vastly augmented during the course of the war, but the Austrian commander evacuated it on the first appearance of the French.
1794. Anthony Petit, an eminent French physician, died. He was a copious and learned writer.
1800. Simeon Thayer, an officer of the revolution, died. He was in the army led by Arnold through the wilderness to Quebec, was wounded by a cannon ball at Monmouth, and was the brave volunteer defender of Mud fort on the Delaware.
1803. Frederick Cavendish, an English field marshal died.
1805. Battle of Trafalgar; the British fleet, 27 sail and 4 frigates, defeated, after an action of 4 hours, the combined French and Spanish fleets of 33 sail. Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed, and the French admiral Villeneuve was captured. British loss 423 killed, 1164 wounded. The French and Spanish fleet was completely overthrown; but 14 escaped from the battle, and nearly the whole of those were afterwards wrecked or captured.
1841. John Forsyth, an eminent American statesman, died. As a member of the Union convention of Georgia in 1832, he was principally instrumental in preventing that state from pledging itself to nullification. He was a man of talent and eloquence and long distinguished in public life by the many important offices which he held.
1849. Charles E. Horn, a well known musical composer of Boston, died.
1852. Saul Alley, long known as a leading merchant and capitalist of New York, died aged 74.