Events on Feb 15

• 0399Philosopher Socrates sentenced to death
• 1145Bernardo elected Pope Eugene III
• 1313Peace of Angleur
• 1386Duke Philip the Stout forms Council of Flanders
• 1539Emperor Charles receives Cardinal Pole in Toledo
• 1552Dutch coast hit by heavy storm
• 1563Russian troops occupy Polotsk Lithuania
• 1637Ferdinand III succeeds Ferdinand II as Holy Roman Emperor
• 1677King Charles II reports anti-French covenant with Netherlands
• 1689German Parliament declares war on France
• 1745Colley Cibbers "Papal Tyranny, " premieres in London
• 1763Austria, Prussia and Saxony sign Peace of Hubertusburg
• 1764St. Louis founded as a French trading post by Pierre Laclade Ligue
• 17681st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia
• 1775Angelo Braschi chosen as Pope Pius VI
• 1797Battle of Cape St. Vincent
• 17991st US printed ballots authorized, Pennsylvania
• 1804New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery
• 18421st adhesive postage stamps in US (private delivery company), New York City
• 1845William Parsons, Earl of Rosse, 1st uses 72" (183 cm) reflector
• 1848Sarah Roberts barred from white school in Boston
• 1851Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescueing a fugitive slave
• 1852Great Ormond St. Hospital for Sick Children, London, admits 1st patient
• 1861Ft Point completed and garrisoned (but has never fired cannon in anger)
• 1864Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans
• 1869Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped
• 1870Ground broken for Northern Pacific Railway near Duluth, Minnesota
• 1876Historic Elm at Boston blown down
• 1879Congress authorizes women lawyers to practice before Supreme Court
• 18821st cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on SS Dunedin

Born on Feb 15

• 0037Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar Nero: Emperor of Rome (54-68)
• 1483Babur: Founder of Mughal dynasty in India (1526-30)
• 1519Pedro Menendez de Aviles: Explorer (found St. Augustine Florida)
• 1524Charles de Guise: Archbishop / Cardinal of Reims
• 1557Alfonso Fontanelli: Composer
• 1564Galileo Galilei: Pisa, Italy -- Astronomer / physicist
• 1571Michael Praetorius: Kreuzberg, Germany -- Composer (Syntagma music)
• 1620Francois Charpentier: French Scholar / archaeologist
• 1650Anne Jules Duke de Noailles: Marshal of France (hugenot)
• 1660Frans Anneessens: Belgian Merchant / Dean of artisans
• 1666Antonio M Valsalva: Italian anatomist (eardrums, glottis)
• 1705Charles A Vanloo: French painter
• 1707Claude Prosper: Paris, France -- Novelist
• 1710Louis XV the Well-Beloved: Versailles, France -- King of France (1715-74)
• 1726Abraham Clark: Farmer / lawyer, signed Declaration of Independence
• 1740Ernst Eichner: Composer
• 1748Jeremy Bentham: London, England -- Philosopher / originator (Utilitarian)
• 1759Friedrich A Wolfius [Wolf]: German philological (Prolegomena)
• 1760Jean-Francois Le Sueur: Composer
• 1768Jozef B Cannaert [Olim]: Flemish lawyer
• 1774W G Frederik: Prince of Orange
• 1780Carel Asser: Dutch jurist
• 1783Johann Nepomuk Poissl: Composer
• 1785Claude Louis Marie Navier
• 1789Friedrich Fesca: Composer
• 1795Charles Niellon: Belgian brigade General (10 day campaign)
• 1797Henry Engelhard Steinway: Piano maker (Steinway)
• 1800Frederik W Conrad: Dutch hydraulic engineer / railway pioneer
• 1803John Augustus Sutter: Swiss / US colonist (New Helvetia Ca, Sutter Mill)
• 1807Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski: Composer

Died on Feb 15

• 1043Gisela: Wife of RC-German Emperor Conrad II the Salier, dies at 52
• 1145Lucius II [Gherardo Caccianemici]: Italian Pope (1144-45)
• 1152Konrad III: Roman-German King (1138-1152), dies at about 58
• 1503Henry Deane: Archbishop of Canterbury (1501-03)
• 1568Hendrik van Brederode: Dutch noble (Compromise of Nobles), dies at 36
• 1580Cunerus Petri: Dutch Theologist / Bishop of Leeuwarden
• 1597Pieter J Kies: Dutch Mayor of Haarlem (1572-73), dies at about 66
• 1600Jose the Acosta: Spanish Missionary (Peru)
• 1621Michael Praetorius: German Composer (In Dulce Jubilo), dies at 50
• 1637Ferdinand II: King of Bohemia / Hun / German Emperor (1619-37), dies at 58
• 1660Klaas Geritsz Compaen: Dutch buccaneer / merchant, dies at 72
• 1680Jan Swammerdam: Dutch entomologist (Bible of Nature), dies at 41
• 1680John Swammerdam: Anatomist / entomologist (Bible of Nature), dies at 43
• 1701Adam Drese: German composer, dies at 80
• 1713Anthony Ashley Cooper: 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, writer
• 1744Frantisek Antonin Mica: Composer, dies at 49
• 1744John Hadley: Inventor (sextant)
• 1759Alexander von Papenhoven: Flemish religious sculptor, dies at 89
• 1761Carlo Cecere: Composer, dies at 54
• 1778Johann Gottlieb Gorner: Composer, dies at 80
• 1781G E Lessing: Writer, dies at 52
• 1781Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Saxon playwright / critic
• 1818Charles XIII: King of Sweden (1809-18) / Norway (1814-18), dies at 69
• 1820Pierre-Joseph Cambon: Member of Committee the Salut Public, dies at 63
• 1820William Ellery: US attorney (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 92
• 1831Henry Maudslay: Inventor (metal lathe)
• 1832Hardenack Otto Conrad Zinck: Composer, dies at 85
• 1835Henry Hunt: British politican
• 1841Sibrand Acker Stratingh: Dutch dr / chemist (electrical car), dies at 53
• 1844Henry Addington Lord Sidmouth: British Premier (1801-04), dies at 86

Historical events on February 16

• 0600Pope Gregory the Great decreea saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze
• 1486Diet of Frankfort
• 1512Battle at Valeggio: French troops beat Venetianen
• 1559Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy
• 1641English King Charles I accept Triennial Act
• 1655Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker
• 1666Netherlands and Brandenburg sign treaty
• 1677Earl of Shaftesbury arrested / confined in London Tower
• 1742Earl of Wilmington becomes British Premier
• 1760Native American hostages killed in Ft Prince George, South Carolina
• 1771Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy
• 1777Messier adds M53 to his catalog (globular cluster in Coma Berenice)
• 1804Lt Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor and burns Navy frigate "Philadelphia" after pirates seized it
• 1824Athenaeum founded
• 1838Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
• 1840American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica
• 1846Battle of Sobraon ends 1st Sikh War in India
• 1854Franz Liszts symphony "Orpheus, " premieres
• 1857Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms (Washington, DC)
• 1860Dutch Rochussen / Van Bosse government resigns
• 1862Ft Donelson captured by General Grant (1,400 confederates surrender)
• 1864Battle of Mobile, AL - operations by Union Army
• 1868Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks forms (NY)
• 1878Silver dollar became US legal tender
• 1880American Society of Mechanical Engineers forms (NYC)
• 1883"Ladies Home Journal" begins publishing
• 18871st newspaper convention (Rochester NY)
• 1887Eduard Douwes Dekker writes his last text (Lf8-c5)
• 1892Opera "Werther, " premieres in Vienna
• 1894British troops occupy Ilorin, Gold Coast

Born on February 16

• 1075Ordericus Vitalis: French Monk / historian / poet
• 1519Gaspard de Coligny: Huguenot leader / French Admiral
• 1620Frederick William: Great Elector, founder of Brandenburg-Prussia
• 1669Arnold Boonen: Dutch portrait painter
• 1698Pierre Bouguer: French mathematician (heliometer)
• 1709Charles Avison: Composer
• 1740Giambattista Bodoni: Saluzzo, Italy -- Printer / typeface designer (Bodoni)
• 1746Johann Heinse: German Sturm und Drang Novelist / art critic
• 1774Pierre Rode: Composer
• 1787Andreas Schelfhout: Dutch painter / etcher / lithographer
• 1788Juan van Halen: Dutch / Spanish officer / adventurer
• 1790Chretien Urhan: Composer
• 1807Lysander Cutler: Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1866
• 1812Henry Wilson: (R) 18th VP (1873-75)
• 1813Joseph Reid Anderson: Brigadier General (Confederate Army) died in 1892
• 1813Semyon Stepanovich Gulak-Artemovsky: Composer
• 1821Heinrich Barth: Hamburg, Germany -- Geographer / explorer (Central Africa)
• 1822Francis Galton: Birmingham, England -- Anthropologist and geneticist
• 1822James Patton Anderson: Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1872
• 1823John Daniel Imboden: Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1895
• 1826Franz von Holstein: Composer
• 1826Joseph V von Scheffel: German writer (Gaudeamus)
• 1831Nikolai Leskow: Writer
• 1832Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac: Major General (Confederate Army)
• 1834Ernst Heinrich Haeckel: Potsdam, Germany -- Biologist (Causes of Evolution)
• 1836Benjamin Edward Woolf: Dutch composer
• 1838Henry Adams: Boston, Massachusetts -- Historian, writer (Education of Henry Adams)
• 1847Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka: German composer (Album polonaise)
• 1848Hugo de Vries: Dutch Botanist (How species emerge)
• 1852William Scarborough: Macon, Georgia -- Linguist / author (Birds of Aristophanes)

Died on February 16

• 0309Pamphilus van Caesarea: Palestinian Scholar / martyr, beheaded
• 1279Afonso III: King of Portugal (1248-79)
• 1391Johannes V Palaeologus: Emperor of Byzantium (1341-91)
• 1538Everhard / Erardus van de Mark: Prince-bishop of Liege, dies at 65
• 1653Johannes Schultz: Composer, dies at 70
• 1754Richard Mead: Physician
• 1799Charles Theoby: Ruler (Palts & Bayern), dies at 74
• 1803Jan V clav Stich: Bohemian composer, dies at 56
• 1823Johann Gottfried Schict: Composer, dies at 69
• 1825George Gerson: Composer, dies at 34
• 1829Francois-Joseph Gossec: Belg / Fr Composer (Messe of Morts), dies at 95
• 1834Lionel Lukin: Life boat pioneer
• 1851Anne Nagell van Ampsen: Dutch politician, dies at 95
• 1857Auguste-Gaspard-Louis Desnoyers: French engraver, dies at 77
• 1857Elisha Kent Kane: Arctic explorer (Kane Basin), dies at 37
• 1858Georg F Creuzer: German philological / historian, dies at 86
• 1864Vaclav Jindrich Veit: Composer, dies at 58
• 1892Henry Walter Bates: Naturalist / explorer (South America)
• 1900George Labram: US mine engineer in South Africa, dies in battle
• 1910Albert Heinrich Zabel: Composer, dies at 75
• 1912Edgar Evans: British explorer (Antarctica)
• 1915Emil Waldteufel [Charles Levy]: French Composer (Estudiantina)
• 1916[Gerard] Jan Ligthart: Dutch educator (Ot & Sien), dies at 57
• 1916Jeltje de Bosch Kemper: Dutch feminist, dies at 79
• 1934Eduard Bagritsky [Dzjubin]: Russ Poet / journalist, dies at 38
• 1938Otto zur Linde: German Author (Lieder of the Leids), dies at 64
• 1939Jura Soyfer: Writer, dies at 26
• 1944Edmund von Borck: Composer, dies at 37
• 1951Henri Velge: 1st Chairman (Belgian Council of State), dies at 65
• 1952Knut [Pedersen] Hamsun: Norwegian writer (Wanders, Nobel 1920)

Events on Feb 17

• 1370Battle at Rudau: Germany beats Lithuania
• 1568Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay tribute to the Sultan for peace
• 1598Boris Godunov chosen tsar of Russia
• 1621Miles Standish appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony
• 1634William Prynne tried in Star Chamber for publishing "Histrio-masti
• 1670France and Bavaria sign military assistance treaty
• 1676Kings Charles II and Louis XIV sign secret treaty
• 1691Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service
• 17721st partition of Poland-Russia and Prussia, joined later by Austria
• 1791Messier catalogs M83 (spiral galaxy in Hydra)
• 1795Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England
• 1801House breaks electoral college tie, chooses Jefferson President over Burr
• 18171st US city lit by gas (Baltimore)
• 1818Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patents "draisine" (early bicycle)
• 1836HMS Beagle / Charles Darwin leaves Tasmania
• 1848Toscane gets liberal Constitution
• 1854British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
• 1864Confederate sub "HL Hunley" sinks Union ship "Housatonic"
• 1865Columbia SC burns down during Civil War
• 18671st ship passes through Suez Canal
• 1867Gyula Andressy becomes Premier of Hungary
• 1870Esther Morris appointed 1st female judge
• 1870Mississippi becomes 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War
• 1876Sardines 1st canned (Julius Wolff-Eastport, Maine)
• 18781st telephone exchange in SF opens with 18 phones
• 1880Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt
• 1883A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London
• 1897National Organization of Mothers forms (Parent Teacher Association)
• 1905Frances Willard becomes 1st women honored in National Statuary Hall
• 19111st hydroplane flight to and from a ship (Glenn Curtiss, San Diego)

Born on Feb 17

• 1444Rudolf Agricola [Roelof Huysman]: Dutch humanist / Organist
• 1490Charles de Bourbon: Officer / Governor (Lombardy)
• 1583J Henry Alting: Dutch theologist
• 1653Arcangelo Corelli: Fusignano, Italy -- Violinist / comp (Concerto Grossi)
• 1667Georg Bronner: Composer
• 1675Johann Melchior Conradi: Composer
• 1696Baron Ernst Gottlieb: Composer
• 1697Louis-Maurice de La Pierre: Composer
• 1699Hans Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff: German architect (Sanssouci)
• 1723Tobias Mayer: "method of lunars" for longitude determination
• 1740Horace B de Saussure: Switzerland -- Physicist / geologist
• 1747Narciso Casanovas: Composer
• 1752Friedrich M Klinger: German playwright (Wirrwarr)
• 1754Jan Jachym Kopriva: Composer
• 1758John Pinkerton: Scottish historian
• 1774Raphaelle Peale: United States -- Painter (After the Rain-1823)
• 1796Giovanni Pacini: Composer
• 1804Samuel Read Anderson: Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1883
• 1816Friedrich Wilhelm Markull: Composer
• 1820Henri Vieuxtemps: Verviers, Belgium -- Composer / teacher (Brussels Cons)
• 1824William Farrar "Baldy" Smith: Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1903
• 1831Francisco Salvador Daniel: Composer
• 1837Francis Jay Herron: Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1902
• 1837Sam[uel] van Houten: Dutch (lib) Minister (child labor laws)
• 1844A Montgomery Ward: Founded mail-order business (Montgomery Ward)
• 1849Selwyn Image: Bodiam, Sussex -- Painter
• 1850Anton Urspruch: Composer
• 1850Ludwig Bonvin: Composer
• 1854Friedrich A Krupp: German arms manufacturer
• 1855Otto Liman von Sanders: German General in Turkey (WWI)

Died on Feb 17

• 0364Flavius Jovianus: Christian Emperor of Rome (363-64), dies at about 32
• 0956Hugo the Great: Earl of Paris / Duke of Francia, dies at about 55
• 1600Giordano Bruno: Advocate of Copernican theory, burned at stake
• 1612Ernst of Bayern: Prince / Bishop of Luik / archbish Cologne, dies at 57
• 1612Jodocus Hondius: Flemish cartoonist / mathematician, dies at 48
• 1652Gregorio Allegri: Italian singer / Composer (Miserere), dies at about 67
• 1654Michael Lohr: Composer, dies at 62
• 1673Moliare [Jean Baptiste Poquelin]: French Author (Learned Lady)
• 1688Rev James Renwick: Hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian
• 1715Antoine Galland: French interpreter, dies at 68
• 1732Louis Marchand: Composer, dies at 63
• 1796James Macpherson: Poet
• 1804Christian Ernst Graf: Composer, dies at 80
• 1815Franz Gotz: Composer, dies at 59
• 1827Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi: Swiss educator, dies at 81
• 1841Ferdinando Carulli: Composer, dies at 70
• 1852Micha Joseph Levenson: Hebrew poet
• 1854Hugues F R de Lamennais: French priest / writer, dies at 71
• 1856Heinrich Heine: German poet, dies at 58 in Paris, France
• 1856John Braham: Singer / composer, dies at 81
• 1874[Lambert] Adolphe J Quetelet: Belg astronomer / sociologist, dies at 77
• 1883Napoleon Coste: Composer, dies at 76
• 1901Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin: Composer, dies at 38
• 1903Joseph Parry: Composer, dies at 61
• 1905Serge Alexandrovich: Governor-General Moscow, murdered
• 1907Henry Olcott: Co-founder (Theosophical Society-Madras)
• 1907Henry Steel Olcott: US co-founder (Theosophist Society), dies at 74
• 1908Geronimo: Apache chief, dies at about 79
• 1912Aloys von Aerenthal: Foreign Minister (Austria-Hungary), dies at 57
• 1912L Oates: British explorer (Antarctica)