February 22

1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand. 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty. 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne. 1632 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. 1651 – St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people. 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended. 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales. 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars. 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops. 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins. 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh. 1862 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861. 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee. 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores. 1881 – Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York. 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.