Historical Events
The Plague Arrives in England
1348 Ship from Bordeaux carrying the plague, lands in Melcombe Regis (now Weymouth), Dorset. The beginning of the Terrible Pestilence (Black Death) in England.
- 1360 Treaty of Brétigny signed by English & French, ending the first phase of the Hundred Years' War
- 1604 Pierre Dugua de Monts reaches Cap La Hève (La Have) on the Nova Scotia coast, on his way to establish Arcadia, the first successful permanent settlement in New France
- 1741 France & Bavaria sign Covenant of Nymphenburg
- 1842 Versailles to Paris train catches fire; 50 die
- 1902 Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of Saint-Pierre, killing 30,000 and leaving only two survivors
- 1925 French colonial army beats Rifkabylen in Morocco
German Surrender in Berlin
1945 German General Wilhelm Keitel formally surrenders to the Allies represented by the United States, the UK, France and the Soviet Union in Berlin
Election of Interest
1988 François Mitterrand elected President of France
Famous Birthdays
- 1326 Joan I, Countess of Auvergne, queen of France (1350-60) (d. 1360)
- 1653 Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshal of France, born in Moulins, France (d. 1734)
- 1742 Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz [Jan Křtitel Krumpholtz], Czech-French harpist and composer, born in Budenice, Zlonice, Czech Republic (d. 1790)
- 1786 Jean Vianney, French Catholic priest, and eventual saint, born in Dardilly, Lyonnais, Kingdom of France (d. 1859)
- 1803 Joseph Napoleon Ney, French politician, born in Paris (d. 1857)
- 1815 Jean-Delphin Alard, French violinist and composer, born in Bayonne, France (d. 1888)
- 1902 Andre Michel Lwoff, French physiologist (1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis), born in Ainay-le-Château, France (d. 1994)
- 1903 Fernandel [Fernand Contandin], French actor (The Little World of Don Camillo), born in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France (d. 1971)
- 1925 Bettina Graziani [Simone Bodin] French model, one of the first supermodels, born in Normandy, France (d. 2015)
- 1938 - Algerian-French Catholic Bishop of Oran (murdered by Islamic extremists in Algeria, born in Bab El Oued, Algeria (d. 1996)
- 1938 Jean Giraud, French comic artist (Alien, Tron), born in Val-de-Marne, French (d. 2012)
- 1942 Benoît Dauga, French rugby union lock, #8 (63 caps; Stade Montois), born in Montgaillard, Landes, France (d. 2022)
- 1997 [Xiaoyu] Bruce Liu, Chinese-Canadian classical pianist (International Chopin Piano Competition, 2021), born in Paris, France
Famous Deaths
- 1672 Jean-Armand du Peyrer, Comte de Tréville and French Officer (b. 1598)
- 1688 Pierre de Troyes, French officer and explorer in North America (re-took James Bay forts from the English), dies at Fort Niagara [1]
- 1785 Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman, dies at 65
- 1809 Augustin Pajou, French sculptor (Bachante), dies at 78
- 1842 Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer and naval officer, dies at 51
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)
French novelist (Madame Bovary), dies at 58
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
French painter who worked in French Polynesia, dies at 54
- 1991 Jean Langlais, French organist, and composer (Missa Salve Regina), dies at 84