MAY 8.
685. Pope Benedict II died.
1360. The treaty called the great peace signed at Bretigni, by which Edward III renounced all his claims to the French crown and its territories.
1429. The siege of Orleans was abandoned. At dawn, the English army was discovered at a small distance from the walls, drawn up in battle array, and braving the enemy to fight in the open field. After waiting for some hours, the signal was given; the long line of forts, the fruit of 7 months' labor, was instantly in flames and the soldiers, with mingled feelings of shame and regret, turned their backs to the enemy. This was one of the inexplicable feats of Joan d'Arc.
1493. Ferdinand and Isabella confirmed, at Barcelona, the appointment of Columbus, on his return from the new world. "The office of admiral of the said ocean, which is ours, commences by a line, which we have ordered to be marked, passing from the Azores to the cape de Verd islands, from the north to the south, from pole to pole; so that all which is beyond the aforesaid line to the west is ours, and belongs to us; and of all this we create our admiral, you and your children."
1532. Francis Alvarez Paez died; a Portuguese divine of the order of the Cordeliers, and an author.
1535. Henry VIII of England had his head shaved, and commanded all about his court to follow his example.
1538. Edward Fox, an English prelate and statesman, died. He was the principal pillar of the reformation in England.
1572. Dame Dorothy Packington sent the trusty and well beloved Thos. Lichfield and George Borden to be her burgess in parliament, informing the queen that whatever they might do in her service in parliament should receive her (Dorothy's) approval.
1638. Cornelius Jansenius died; founder of the Jansenists, who gave the pope and the Jesuits much trouble in Europe.