1265. First English parliament constituted of members from counties, &c., as at present, met.
1528. Henry VIII and Francis I declared war against Charles V of Germany.
1552. The duke of Somerset beheaded on pretence of inciting others to imprison Dudley, the duke of Northumberland. He was a distinguished writer of that age.
1561. Birthday of Francis Bacon, the English philosopher.
1562. The two houses of convocation subscribed the 39 articles of the English church.
1575. Queen Elizabeth granted to Thomas Tallis and William Birde an exclusive patent for printing music, for the term of twenty-one years.
1683. Anthony Ashley Cooper, first earl of Shaftsbury, died. The career of this able, but dubious and versatile statesman was cast in a stormy period, and his acts have been severely reprehended. Yet much of it is to be attributed to the odium excited by opposing party feelings. His vices appear to have been redeemed by corresponding virtues, and had he appeared in a different age, it is likely he would have developed a different character.
1689. The British parliament having met under the name of a convention, declared that the king, James II, had abdicated the throne. William and Mary succeeded him.
1696. Birthday of James Brucker, a German scholar, remembered by his Critical History of Philosophy, 6 vols. 4to. He gives an account of every school, from the Hebrew, Chaldaic and Egyptian, down to the Huron in America.
1749. Matthew Concanen, some time attorney-general of Jamaica, and a dramatic writer, died.