On This Day in History for February 8
Events in History
- 421 Flavius Constantine becomes Co-Emperor as Emperor Constantius III of the Western Roman Empire with Honorius
- 1526 Heavy storm strikes Dutch coast, killing large numbers
- 1575 University Leiden founded and given the motto "Praesidium Libertatis"
- 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot
- 1600 Vatican convicts scholar and wayward friar Giordano Bruno of heresy and turn him over civil authorities upon his refusal to recant to mete out his punishment of death [1]
- 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, leads an unsuccessful revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth
- 1622 King James I disbands the English parliament
- 1627 Gunpowder is used in a mining operation instead of mechanical tools in present-day Slovakia, reportedly the first time explosives had been used in mining
- More Events in History
William Tecumseh Sherman
Jules Verne
Dmitri Mendeleev
Billy Bishop
Tunku Abdul Rahman
John Grisham
Mary, Queen of Scots
Peter the Great
Charles Wilkes
Mad Dog Coll
William Lyons
Enoch PowellFebruary in History
2,000-year-old Glass Treasure Shattered by a Drunk
One of the British Museum's treasured pieces of Roman antiquity was shattered on this day by a drunken visitor.
February 7, 1845
Earthquakes and a Book Rock London
In the 18th Century, Englishmen went into a panic when London, of all places, was hit by earthquakes. But was there a stronger force than Mother Nature at work?
February 8, 1750
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
Depiction of the execution on Mary, Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire
February 8, 1587
Cold Or Curse: What Killed The President?
President William Harrison spent just 32 days in the White House, the shortest administration in American history. Was it because of a curse?
February 9, 1773