Today in History

1535 – Henry VIII assumes title of Supreme Head of the Church in England.

1559 – Elizabeth I, right, is crowned in Westminster Abbey.

1649 – French court leaves Paris at outbreak of Fronde Rebellion.

1777 – ‘‘New Connecticut’’ declares its independence. The tiny republic later becomes Vermont.

1892 – The rules of basketball are published for the first time, in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originates.

1919 – Revolutionaries Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg are murdered during a failed uprising in Germany.

1922 – Irish Free State is established under Michael Collins.

1967 – First Super Bowl, in which the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Los Angeles.

1970 – Start of a three-day visit to New Zealand by US vice-president Spiro Agnew, sparking violent antiVietnam War protests; Biafran rebels in Nigeria surrender after a two-year war.

2009 – ‘‘Miracle on the Hudson’’ as Captain Chesley Sullenberger safely lands the plane he was piloting on New York City’s Hudson River after a bird strike caused its engines to fail.

2010 – A French lawmaker submits a draft law that would ban Islamic veils, robes, and headscarves in public, a measure that would set a European precedent and trap thousands of women between their religious convictions and the law.