Historical Writings

During the iconoclast controversies, Byzantine Emperor Constantine V has John, the Abbot of Monagria, tied up in a sack and thrown into the sea because he refuses to trample an icon.

Death of Berno of Reichenau who had done much to restore prosperity to the Lake Constance area (now in Switzerland). A scholar, he enriched the library, rebuilt the church, and wrote many treatises on music.

Murder at Lentz of the warrior-prince Gottschalk by heathen who reject his attempts to Christianize them.

The armies of the First Crusade (1096-99) reached the walls of Jerusalem.

The Concord sets sail, carrying the first German settlers (Quakers and Mennonites fleeing persecution) toward their new home in Pennsylvania.

Ordination of Archibald Alexander who will become a famous educator and first principal of Princeton Seminary.

A little more than two weeks after their marriage, Samuel and Marie Gobat leave Germany bound for Ethiopia as missionaries. They will suffer great privations, terrible sufferings, and death of a child while crossing Egypt.

Death of Franz Xaver Gruber, Austrian church organist and composer of "Silent Night" (STILLE NACHT). Gruber had written almost one hundred music compositions during his lifetime but "Silent Night" is his most famous tune.

English Baptist clergyman Charles H. Spurgeon preached the last sermon of his 38-year-long ministry at London's Metropolitan Tabernacle. He died the following January.

Ohio-born Methodist evangelist George Bennard introduced his new hymn, 'The Old Rugged Cross,' during a revival he was conducting at Pokagon, Michigan.

Wycliffe Bible Translators held its first study course in linguistics at Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. The training session lasted 3 months.

Death in Guadalcanal of Ini Kopuria, founder of an evangelistic outreach known as the Melanesian Brotherhood.

English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'If we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a 'wandering to find home,' why should we not look forward to the arrival?'

American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap are killed when the Philippine military launches a raid to rescue them from Islamic radicals who have held them captive in the jungle for more than a year. Burnham's wife Gracie is freed but suffers a gunshot wound.