1854. Albion college, Michigan, destroyed by fire.
1856. Jean Pierre David, a celebrated French sculptor, died at Paris, aged 65.
JANUARY 5.
62. B. C. Lucius Sergius Catiline, the Roman conspirator, killed in Etruria. The history of his life unfolds a series of most revolting crimes; but there is reason to believe that some of them are unreal. Murder, rapine and conflagration, were the
first pleasures of his life. Pompey, Crassus and Cæsar favored his schemes with a view to their own aggrandizement. Only two Romans remained determined to uphold their falling country—Cato and Cicero. The speeches of the latter in the Roman senate on the crisis of affairs are imperishable monuments of eloquence and patriotism, and produced the overthrow of the conspirators. Five of them were put to death, and Catiline being surrounded by the army under Petreius resolved to die sword in hand. The battle was fought with desperation, and the insurgents fell, with their leader at their head.
1066. Edward the Confessor, king of England, died. He was called to the throne 1041. He was not the immediate heir, but his claim was supported of Godwin, earl of Kent, whose daughter Editha he married. He was a weak and superstitious prince, and acquired the title of Saint or Confessor, by abstaining from nuptial connection with his queen. He was the first English monarch who undertook to cure the king's-evil by touching the patient. With him ended the Saxon line of kings.
1477. Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, killed in battle on this or the following day. This prince, the son of Philip the Good and Isabella of Portugal, early displayed a violent, impetuous and ambitious disposition; and in after life was constantly embroiled in unjust and cruel warfare, in which he performed many daring exploits. But having turned his arms against the Swiss, the fortune of war turned against him; and being deserted by his allies, with his usual temerity risked a battle with only 4000 men against a vastly superior force, was defeated and killed by the thrust of a lance in the 44th year of his age. His body covered with blood and mire, and his head imbedded in the ice, was not found till two days after the battle, when it was so disfigured that his own brother did not recognize it. With him expired the feudal government of Burgundy.
1531. The electoral college assembled at Rome and elected Ferdinand, brother of Charles V, king of the Romans. He was crowned a few days after at Aix-la-Chapelle.
1536. Catharine of Arragon, the repudiated queen of Henry VIII, died. She was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, born 1483. She was first married to Arthur, prince of Wales, who died five months after; and the king unwilling to return her dowry caused her to be contracted to his remaining son, Henry. The prince, at the age of 15, made a public protest against this proceeding, but finally consented to the match. Notwithstanding the inequality of their ages and the capricious disposition of the king, they had been married 20 years when the division took place. This separation led to a divorce from the pope also, and was the cause of mighty effects.
1559. Catharine de Medicis died. She was born at Florence 1519; married, 1533, the dauphin, afterwards Henry II, of France. She was three times regent of France, and during her administration made a conspicuous figure in the annals of Europe by her political genius. By her was begun the palace of the Tuilleries; but the lasting monument of her fame and iniquity is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's, which was brought about by her intrigues, when more than 50,000 protestants were massacred in one day.