Historical Writings

Benedict II is consecrated Pope. A humble, charitable man, he will be successful in freeing papal elections from the requirement of imperial confirmation.

Consecration of the scholar Rabanus Maurus as Archbishop of Mainz.

A council of about thirty German and Italian bishops meets at Brixen in the Tyrol and deposes Pope Gregory VII on trumped up charges, including avarice, simony, sorcery, and the Berengarian heresy.

The armies of the First Crusade (1096-99) occupied the ancient Byzantine city of Nicea.

The Diet of Ilanz proclaims religious freedom - the right of all persons in the Grisons (a region of Switzerland), of both sexes, and of whatever condition or rank, to choose between the Catholic and the Reformed religion. Those who choose the Reformed will be subject to banishment but not to death.

The Swiss agree to the first Peace of Kappel between Protestant and Catholic cantons.

Death at Exeter of John Flavel, an eminent English Puritan who suffered much of his life from laws against Nonconformists but had many loyal parishioners who would travel more than five miles one way to hear him preach after he was ejected from his pulpit, or meet in woods to hear him. He wrote many books, including one on Providence. Several future revival leaders, including George Whitefield and Robert Murray M'Cheyne, were influenced by his writings.

Birth of Philip Doddridge, an English Nonconformist clergyman. Doddridge authored 370 hymn- texts, of which 'O Happy Day That Fixed My Choice' is still sung today.

Scottish clergyman and missionary Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'Joy is increased by spreading it to others.'

Isaac Barton Kimbrough tells the Texas legislature how he was held up by highwaymen in Tennessee while raising funds for a Christian college and how he persuaded the young robbers to donate to the worthy cause instead.

Birth of Pearl S. Buck, American Presbyterian missionary to China and author of the 1931 best-seller, 'The Good Earth.'

Death of Benjamin Newton at Tunbridge Wells. He had been one of the early Plymouth Brethren until differences with the others caused him to separate.

Death of Mary Anne Sanderson Gibson Deck. A hymnwriter, she had written "There Is a City Bright."

Death in New York City of Isabel Florence Hapgood, who had translated many French and Russian works of literature into English. Love of Russian Orthodoxy and its liturgy had prompted her to translate its rites into English, too. She had also worked to bring together Russian Orthodox and Episcopalians in the United States.

Death of Alma Bridwell White, the first female bishop in the United States (for the Pillar of Fire denomination - formerly known as the Methodist Pentecostal Union Church). A supporter of the Ku Klux Klan, she was anti-Semitic and, despite the original name of her denomination, strongly opposed to Pentecostal manifestations such as tongues-speaking.

The first Southern Baptist congregation was formally organized in Las Vegas, with 33 charter members. It was the second Southern Baptist church established in Nevada.

Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, President Abdel Nasser, and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia inaugurate the new Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo, Egypt, a prominent Coptic church building.

Noble Alexander, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, steps off a plane in Washington D.C. after spending twenty-two years in Castro's prisons because of his faith.