1520. Montezuma, the Mexican monarch, died. The situation of the Spaniards becoming desperate, Cortez persuaded the captive monarch to address his people from a terrace, and request them to desist from their attacks and allow the Spaniards to evacuate the city. The Indians were silent while he spoke, but answered that they had promised their gods never to stop till the Spaniards were totally destroyed. A shower of stones and arrows then fell about the spot where he stood, which were warded off by the shields of the soldiers. At the moment they removed their shields, that the king might renew his address, three stones and an arrow struck him to the ground. He died, less of his wounds than of sorrow and indignation, at the age of 54.
1543. Battle of Atherton moor, in England; lord Fairfax defeated by the royalists, and totally routed.
1607. Cæsar Baronius, an Italian cardinal, died. His works are numerous and valuable, especially the Ecclesiastical Annals, 12 vols. folio.
1666. Alexander de Brome, an English poet, died; author of innumerable odes and sonnets written during the English revolution, in which the round heads are treated with great keenness and severity.
1670. Henrietta, duchess of Orleans, and sister to king Charles II, died in her 26th year. Suspicions were entertained that she had been poisoned by her husband for infidelity.
1685. Archibald Campbell, duke of Argyle, beheaded at Edinburgh for seditious measures. His father was also beheaded there 24 years before, as a traitor.
1690. Battle of Fleurus, in the Netherlands; the allies defeated by the French under Luxembourg, with the loss of 6,000 killed, 8,000 prisoners, and all their artillery and baggage.
1690. The Dutch and English fleets under Torrington, engaged the French fleet off Beachey head, and were defeated. English loss 2 ships, 400 men; Dutch loss 2 admirals, 6 ships; the king, William, was wounded by a cannon ball.
1694. Adam Littleton, an excellent English philologist and grammarian, died.
1697. Thomas Pope Blount died; an eminent English writer and a man of great learning and research.