565. Justinian I, emperor of Rome, died. He built St. Sophia's church at Constantinople, and reduced the Roman laws into a code, which was called the Digests or Pandects.
1318. The greatest earthquake ever known in England.
1524. Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panama for the conquest of Peru. Diego de Almagro, and Hernando de Luque a priest, associated with him under bonds and oaths for mutual protection. This expedition was a failure; they were repulsed and compelled to leave the country. More than six years afterwards the attempt was renewed with success.
1556. John de la Casa, an Italian writer, died. Besides some beautiful Italian poems, he wrote the lives of cardinals Contarini and Bembo, and various other works.
1574. An aurora borealis appeared in England.
1672. Francis de la Boe Sylvius, an eminent Dutch physician, died. He was professor of medicine at Leyden, where he ably demonstrated the truth of Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood.
1690. Capt. James Campbell, brother of the duke of Argyle, with the assistance of sir J. Johnstone, seized a rich heiress and married her, for which Johnstone was afterwards hung and Campbell divorced.
1716. Godfrey Willam Leibnitz, a German philosopher, died. He had in his life the singular felicity of being esteemed the greatest and most learned man in Europe.
1736. George Sale, a learned Englishman, died. He was well skilled in oriental literature, and contributed much to the
completion of the Universal History, but his chief work is a translation of the Koran.