1834. The inquisition again abolished in Spain.
1839. Winthrop Macworth Praed, an eminent English orator and statesman, died.
1853. An earthquake at Cumana, in Venezuela, South America, destroyed many edifices and killed 600 persons.
1855. The first legislature of the new state of Panama, formed of the provinces of Panama, Azuen, Veraguos and Chiriqui, met at Panama. Justo Arogemena was appointed superior chief.
JULY 16.
523 B. C. One hour before midnight at Babylon the moon was eclipsed 6 digits on her northern disk. This is believed to be the 5th eclipse on record.
622. The Hegira, or Mohammedan era, commenced. It was instituted by Omar, the second caliph, in imitation of the era of the martyrs, beginning with the first appearance of the new moon (the crescent), 68 days before the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina.
1054. Michael Cerularius, the Greek patriarch, excommunicated at Constantinople by the pope's legates. "Shaking the dust from their feet, they deposited on the altar of St. Sophia, a direful anathema, which enumerates the seven mortal heresies of the Greeks, and devotes them to the eternal society of the devil and his angels." The Greeks have never abandoned their errors, the popes have never repealed the sentence, and from this thunderbolt we may date the consummation of the schism between the two churches.
1212. Battle of Tolosa in Spain; the Moors defeated by Alphonso of Castile. This day became an anniversary festival called The triumph of the Cross.
1216. Innocent III died; he was a steadfast friend of king John of England.