1264 - King Henry III was captured by his brother in law Simon deMontfort at the Battle of Lewes in France.
1509 - In the Battle of Agnadello, French defeated Venitians in Northern Italy.
1610 - French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) was assassinated by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac.
1643 - Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
1727 - Thomas Gainsborough was born.
1796 - The first smallpox vaccination was given by Edward Jenner.
1811 - Paraguay gained independence from Spain.
1853 - Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.
1897 - Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph.
1940 - The Netherlands surrendered to Nazi Germany.
1955 - The Warsaw Pact, a Easter European mutual-defense treaty, was signed in Poland by eight communist bloc countries including the Soviet Union.
1973 - Skylab One was launched into orbit around Earth as the first U.S. manned space station.