---

365 - Felix II ends his reign as Catholic Pope.

---

498 - Saint Symmachus begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

---

1497 - Vasco da Gama sails round the Cape of Good Hope, en route from Europe to India.

---

1511 - Birth of Erasmus Reinhold Germany, mathematician (calculated planetary table).

---

1710 - Birth of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach composer, son of JS Bach (Sinfonias 64).

---

1718 - Edward "Blackbeard" Teach English pirate, dies off Virginia coast.

---

1809 - Peregrine Williamson of Baltimore patents a steel pen.

---

1819 - Birth of George Eliot England, novelist (Silas Marner).

---

1825 - Ann Bailey pioneer, dies.

---

1831 - The opera "Robert Le Diable" is produced (Paris).

---