1547. Charles V summoned Wittenberg, defended by Sibylla, wife of the elector of Saxony; refusing to surrender, he ordered a court-martial who condemned her husband, then a prisoner, to death.
1574. Queen Elizabeth issued her royal license under seal, for the performance of stage plays; the first establishment of a regular company of players in England.
1611. Sir Thomas Dale arrived at the Jamestown colony, with 3 ships, 300 people, 12 cows, 20 goats, and all things needful. Lord Baltimore had previously left for England on account of his health, and Dale took command. Sir Thomas Gates arrived in August following, with 6 ships, 280 men, 20 women, 100 cattle, 200 hogs, and military stores, and assumed the government. These added to the 200 left by lord Baltimore, swelled the number to 800.
1631. Magdeburg taken by the Austrians under general Tilly, by assault, and given up to pillage, massacre and fire, only two churches and some ruins remaining.
1632. Louis de Marillac, marechal of France, beheaded. He conspired against Richelieu, to whom he was indebted for much of his good fortune, and to whose resentment he fell a victim.
1641. John Bannier died; a Swedish general under Gustavus Adolphus.
1646. Manuel d'Almeida, a Portuguese Jesuit, died; a missionary to India 40 years, and author of a work on Ethiopia.
1649. Governor Endicott, and other influential men in Massachusetts, formed an association against wearing long hair!
1671. The English admiral Sprague destroyed 12 Algerine pirate ships at Bugea, a seaport of Algiers.
1696. John de la Bruyere, a noted French author, died. His Characters, in imitation of Theophrastus, is a work of established excellence, and descriptive of the manners of that age.