JANUARY 28.
814. Charlemagne, or Charles I of France, died. He was an illustrious sovereign, as well in the cabinet as in the
field; and though he could not write his name, was the patron of men of letters and the restorer of learning. He wanted the virtue of humanity.
1547. Henry VIII of England having grown so unwieldy and corpulent that he was raised up and let down the stairs by a machine, after an illness of some weeks, sank under his disease, and died in the 38th year of his reign, and the 56th of his age. He repudiated his first wife 20 years after marriage, and in the course of about ten years espoused five others. Henry's reign was one of the most remarkable in the annals of the kingdom. He made himself so much feared, that no English king had fewer checks to his power. No hand less strong than his could have snapped the chain which bound the nation to papacy, and have resisted successfully the power and influence of the pope.
1588. Thomas Carn died in London, aged 207; an instance of longevity exceeding any other on modern record, but well authenticated in the parish register of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. An old man died at Ekaterinoslaf, Russia, in 1813, between 200 and 205 years of age; and Don John Taveira de Lima died in Portugal, 1738, aged 198.
1596. Francis Drake, the first Englishman that circumnavigated the world, died on board his own ship. (See [Jan. 9].)
1612. Thomas Bodley died. He was actively employed during the last fifteen years of his life in collecting manuscripts and books for the library at Oxford which bears his name, and which by his perseverance came to be one of the most celebrated in Europe.
1687. John Hevelius died, an eminent German astronomer.
1725. Peter the Great, of Russia, died, aged 53. He devoted his life time to civilize his subjects, and raise the nation from barbarism and ignorance, to politeness, knowledge and power. He spared no pains or fatigue to obtain knowledge which he thought would be beneficial to his subjects.
1732. The protestants of Saltzburg being driven out of their country, settled by invitation of the king of Prussia in Brandenburg.