Today in history

On this date:

In 585 B.C., the first known prediction of a solar eclipse occurred.

In 1085, Alfonso VI of Castile captured Toledo, Spain, and brought the Moorish centre of science into Christian hands.

In 1521, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V pronounced Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther an outlaw and heretic for refusing to recant his teachings while at the Diet of Worms (held the previous month).

In 1792, a highwayman named Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.

In 1793, 25-year-old Stephen T. Badin was ordained in Baltimore, Md. He was the first Roman Catholic priest to be ordained in the newly independent United States. He later served as a frontier missionary, and played a key role in establishing Catholicism in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee during the early nineteenth century.

In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spain.

In 1859, ground was broken for the Suez Canal. It was completed 10 years later.

In 1876, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland united with the Free Church of Scotland to form the new Free Church of Scotland.

In 1879, British publisher and politician Lord Beaverbrook was born William Maxwell Aitken in Maple, Ont.

In 1882, the Royal Society of Canada was founded to promote the development of the country’s arts and sciences.