Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Maximilien de Bethune, Duc de Sully, statesman, 1560; William Drummond of Hawthornden, poet, 1585; Heinrich (Harry) Heine, poet and journalist, 1797; Ernst Werner von Siemens, inventor, 1816; Sir Joseph Noel Paton, painter, 1821; Franz Lenbach, painter, 1836; Lucien-Germain Guitry, actor, 1860. Deaths: Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), philosopher, 1204; Donatello (Donato de Betto Bardi), sculptor, 1466; Francois Viete de la Bigotiere, advocate and mathematician, 1603; Charles de La Fosse, painter, 1716; The Rev John Strype, historian, 1737; Dr Samuel Johnson, lexicographer, 1784; William Calcraft, shoemaker and hangman, 1879; Wassily Kandinsky, abstract painter, 1944; "Grandma Moses" (Mrs Thomas Salmon Moses), primitive painter, 1961. On this day: the first assembly of the Council of Trent opened, 1545; Sir Francis Drake left Plymouth on his voyage around the world, 1577; New Zealand was discovered by Abel Janszoon Tasman, 1642; the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee were victorious at the Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862; in the United States, Italo Marcioni patented the first ice-cream cone, 1903; a spell of extreme cold weather killed over 200 people in the United States, 1960. Today is the Feast Day of St Aubert of Cambrai, St Eustratius of Sebastea, St Judocus or Josse, St Lucy and St Othilia or Odilia.