506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of "Roman law".
880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III of France is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross results in the death of Owen Tudor.
1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe's adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
1814 – The last of the River Thames frost fairs comes to an end.
1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
1868 – Pro-Imperial forces capture Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burn it to the ground.
1870 – The Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä), a novel by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi, is published first time in several thin booklets.
1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
1881 – The sentences of the trial of the warlocks of Chiloé are imparted.
1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1899 – The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.