This Day In European History

2nd January

Events
1492: The Moorish Kingdom of Granada surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella, completing the 'reconquista', the Christian re-conquest of Spain.
1611: Countess Elizabeth Bathory, 'The Bloody Countess', placed on trial.
1635: The Académie française established by Cardinal Richelieu in France.
1839: Louis Daguerre, a French chemist, takes the first photograph of the Moon.
1861: William I succeeds to the Prussian throne; he later becomes the first Kaiser of a united German Empire.
1900: Queen Victoria uses the now famous line "We are not amused".
1942: The Washington Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Britain, the US and other nations, all disavowing a separate peace with their WW2 enemies.
1981: Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested in Britain.

Births
1727: James Wolfe, British General who seized Quebec from France.
1822: Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and writer of the second law of thermodynamics.
1837: Mily Balakirev, Russian composer.
1873: St. Theresa, French Carmelite nun.

Deaths
17: Livy, Roman Historian.
827: St. Adalard
1557: Jacopo da Pontormo, Italian artist.

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