TODAY IN HISTORY

In AD 270 (traditional), Valentine, a priest in Rome during the reign of Claudius

II, was beheaded. A reason for his later relationship to the romantic holiday: Claudius, seeking to more easily recruit troops, nixed family ties by forbidding marriage. Valentine ignored the order and performed secret marriages -- an act that led to his arrest and execution.

In 1349, about 2,000 Jews were burned at the stake in Strasbourg, France.

In 1477, Margery Brews sent a letter to John Paston in Norfolk, England, addressed “To my right welbelovyd Voluntyne,” thought to be the world’s first Valentine.

In 1663, Canada became a royal province of France.

In 1779, British explorer

Capt. James Cook, apparently embroiled in an argument over a stolen boat, was clubbed and stabbed to death by Hawaiian natives who had appeared to trust him. Cook was 50.

In 1803, twins Eli and John Phipps were born in Virginia and lived for more than 108 years. The odds against both twins living that long are more than 700 million to one.

In 1835, Joseph Smith chose the 12 apostles of the Mormon Church.

In 1836, more than 1,600 people were killed by a disastrous fire at a theatre in Canton, China.

In 1876, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha

Gray applied separately for American patents related to the telephone. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that Bell -- who moved to Canada from his native Scotland -- was the rightful inventor.

In 1879, “La Marseillaise” became the national anthem of France.

In 1890, fire caused

$500,000 damage at the University of Toronto.