TODAY IN HISTORY:

In 337, Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, died at the age of 47.

In 1216, Louis VIII of France invaded England, the last military invasion of the British Isles.

In 1370, Jews were massacred or expelled from Brussels, in modern-day Belgium, and Flanders. They had been accused of having defiled the “host,” the wafer used in the church mass. Until 1820, every 15 years a feast was held to celebrate the event.

In 1859, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In 1867, Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the British North America Act. Canada became the first Dominion of the British Empire the following July 1. In 1947, the British government amended the act to allow Canada to draft its own constitution, but it was not patriated until 1982.

In 1868, a train robbery took place near Marshfield, Ind. Seven members of the Reno Gang held up the crew, detached the locomotive and made off with $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds.

In 1877, the Germany Academy announced the discovery of the second part of the Old Testament translation by Martin Luther in his own handwriting. It was found in the Ducal

Archives at Zerbst. The text from Joshua to Esther was comprised of 216 quarto pages and dated from 1523.

In 1885, French author Victor Hugo died in Paris at age 83.

In 1893, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association beat the visiting Ottawa Generals 2-1 in the first Stanley Cup game.

In 1900, The Associated Press was incorporated in New York as a non-profit news co-operative.

In 1906, Orville and Wilbur Wright received a patent for the airplane.

In 1919, the House of Commons passed a bill barring Canadians from receiving foreign hereditary titles.

In 1939, dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed the Act of Steel, a 10-year alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake, the strongest on record, struck southern Chile. According to the U.S. Geological Survey website, the quake claimed approximately 1,655 lives, injured 3,000 people, left two million homeless and caused $550 million worth of damage.

In 1969, the lunar module of the U.S. Apollo 10 separated from the command module and flew within 15 kilometres of the Moon’s surface. It