This Day In European History

12th October

Events
1492: Christopher Columbus sees 'The New World'.
1518: Martin Luther refuses to recant his earlier criticisms of the Catholic Church while under questioning by the Diet of Augsburg.
1702: The Battle of Vigo Bay, where English forces captured £2 million in booty from a Franco-Spanish fleet.
1940: Hitler postpones his planned invasion of Britain.
1984: The Brighton Bombing, committed by the IRA.

Births
1537: King Edward VI of England.
1866: James Ramsay MacDonald, British prime minister.
1896: Eugenio Montale, Italian poet.

Deaths
632: King Edwin of Northumbria.
1500: John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury.
1576: Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.
1845: Elizabeth Fry, British prison reformer.
1859: Robert Stephenson, English engineer.
1874: François Guizot, French historian.
1915: Edith Cavell, British nurse, executed for aiding POW's to escape.

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