1399. John V (the Conqueror), duke of Brittany, died.
1483. Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, beheaded. He was the vile instrument of the third Richard's usurpation, and was executed by that king's order, without any legal process.
1596. Peter Pithou, a learned and eloquent French civilian, died. He visited England, and published some valuable works on law, history, and classical literature, and restored Phædrus and other ancient books which had long been lost.
1607. Sir James Melville died. He was a courtier, in the strictest sense of that word. To him the court was the world, and its rules of action his.
1653. The parliament of the English commonwealth chose a new council of state.
1678. William Coddington, governor of Rhode Island, died. He became dissatisfied with the ecclesiastical government in Massachusetts, and in 1638 associated himself with 170 others, who purchased Rhode Island of the natives. He was a man of learning, and contributed more than any other, perhaps, to the establishment of the colony of Rhode Island, and laying the foundation of civil and religious liberty in America.
1683. The counties of Albany, Dutchess, Kings, Orange, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, Ulster, and Westchester, N. Y., erected.
1700. Charles II, king of Spain, died. He was the last of the eldest branches of the Austrian princes who reigned in Spain.
1710. Lord Haversham, a noted British peer, died. He was a "constant" speaker in the house of lords.
1714. John Radcliffe, an English physician of great eminence, died. The university of Oxford is indebted to him for the library and infirmary which bears his name, and for an annuity of £600 for two traveling fellowships.