This Day In European History

16th December

Events
1538: King Francis I of France orders his citizens to persecute Protestants by all legal means.
1653: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England.
1809: Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine Beauharnais divorce.
1969: Britain abolishes the death penalty for murderers.

Births
1485: Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England and Henry VIII's first wife.
1742: Gebhard von Blücher, Prussian field marshal.
1775: Jane Austen, English novelist.
1866: Wassily Kandinsky, Russian artist.
1899: Noël Coward, English wit.
1900: Victor Pritchett, English author.

Deaths
1774: Francois Quesnay, French economist.
1859: Wilhelm Grimm, German writer.
1897: Alphonse Daudet, French author.

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