TODAY IN history

In 1274, during the Council of Lyons in France, the Eastern and Western churches were briefly reconciled.

In 1574, Pope Innocent X was born Giambattista Pamfili in Rome. He would advise the Russian czar to emancipate the serfs and would disapprove of the Treaty of Westphalia because a large number of cities would pass under Protestant control.

In 1727, Jews were expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia.

In 1789, the first inaugural ball was held in New York in honour of U.S. President George Washington and his wife, Martha.

In 1812, poet Robert Browning was born in London.

In 1893, longtime NHL executive Frank J. Selke was born in Kitchener, Ont. After helping build the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team in the 1930s and ’40s, Selke managed six Stanley Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens teams between 1953-60. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, and in 1978, the NHL inaugurated the Frank J. Selke Trophy. It is awarded annually to the best defensive forward in the league. He died on July 3, 1985.

In 1907, the Vancouver Stock Exchange was incorporated.

In 1915, during the First World War, the Cunard steamship “Lusitania” was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland with the loss of nearly 1,200 lives.