This Day In European History
8th March
Events1500: Swiss mercenaries working for the Duke of Milan refuse to fight other Swiss mercenaries working for France; Milan and the Duke are subsequently captured.
1702: When the death of King William III of England is blamed on a molehill (the horse he was riding fell over it), the monarchy's Jacobite opposition begin to toast "the gentleman in black velvet" (the mole).
1702: Queen Anne of England accedes to the throne.
Births
1495: St John of God, founder of the Brothers Hospitallers.
1714: Carl Bach, German composer.
1859: Kenneth Grahame, British writer of The Wind in the Willows.
1879: Otto Hahn, German chemist and co-discoverer of nuclear fission.
Deaths
1144: Pope Celestine III
1550: St John of God, founder of the Brothers Hospitallers.
1702: King William III of England and stadholder of the United Netherlands.
1712: The Duke of Brittany, the third Dauphin of France to die of small pox within a year; he was heir to France for just nineteen days.
1824: Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, French statesman.
1869: Hector Berlioz, French composer.
1917: Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German airship creator.
