36 B. C. Octavius Cæsar received the oration for his great naval victory over Sextus, the younger Pompey, in the Sicilian war.
1002. Massacre of the Danes, throughout England, by order of king Ethelred, one of those infamous shifts by which coward tyranny secures its sinister purposes. Neither age nor sex was spared, and among the victims was Gunilda, sister of Sweyn, king of Denmark. Her husband and children were butchered before her eyes. In the following year Sweyn invaded England and swept the country with fire and sword.
1004. Abbon de Fleury, a French ecclesiastic of note, who encouraged learning among the monastics, died of a wound he received in attempting to allay a brawl.
1499. Vincent Yanes Pinzon sailed from Palos, in Spain, for America, with four caravals, and was the first Spaniard who ventured to cross the equinoctial line. He explored a part of the coast of South America, and named the river which is still called Amazon—so named from the Spaniards observing that the women fought with the same bravery as the men in the common defence.
1503. Francisco Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy of India, having surrendered his office to Albuquerque, sailed from Cochin for Portugal.
1539. The Bible, called Matthew's Bible, was permitted to be read in private houses, "of the royal liberality and goodness."
1549. Pope Paul III died, and was succeeded by cardinal de Monte, who took the name of Julius III.
1553. Arraignment of lady Jane Grey at Guildhall.
1558. Cardinal Pole, since the death of bishop Cranmer, bishop of Canterbury, died.
1620. The Plymouth colonists disembarked on cape Cod, and proceeded to make discovery of the country, and search for a convenient place of settlement. In the course of this search they found baskets of corn concealed under heaps of sand, a quantity of which they brought away in a great kettle found at the ruins of an Indian house. This gave them seed for a future harvest, and preserved the infant colony from starvation.