73 According to the Jewish historian Josephus, 967 Jewish zealots under the leadership of Eleazar ben Jair committed mass suicide within the fortress of Masada the night before it was successfully besieged by the attacking Roman Tenth Legion.

1345 Richard Aungerville, an English writer, bibliophile, Benedictine monk and bishop, died. He was a patron of learning and one of the first English collectors of books (b. 24 January 1287).

1434 The foundation stone of Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Nantes, France was laid.

1521 Johannes Marbach, champion of Lutheranism, was born at Lindau, Bavaria (d. 18 March 1581).

1582 The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, was chartered.

1684 Johannes Olearius II, Lutheran hymnologist and devotional writer, died (b. 17 September 1611, Halle). [German Wikipedia article]

1687 Wilhelm Christoph Berkenmeyer, Lutheran pastor in New York, was born in Bodenteich, Lueneberg, Germany (d. 1751).

1723 John Wainwright, composer, was baptized at Stockport, England (d. 28 January 1768, Cheshire, England).

1759 George Frideric Handel, German composer of oratorios, chamber music and concertos, died in London (b. 23 February 1685).

1775 John Philip, South African missionary, was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland (d. 27 August 1851).

1775 The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (Pennsylvania Abolition Society), America’s first society to abolish slavery, was organized in Philadelphia.

1782 William Bengo Collyer, hymnologist and English preacher who compiled the English hymnbook, was born at Blackheath, England (d. 8 January 1854).

1875 William Charles Poole, American Methodist clergyman and hymn writer, was born in Easton, Maryland (d. 24 December 1949).

1888 Wm. Fisk Sherwin, American sacred chorister, died (b. 14 March 1826).

1903 Paul William Streufert was born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 23 May 1983, Glendale Heights, Illinois). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1927 and served congregations in Missouri, Louisiana and Ohio. For the Missouri Synod he served on the Board for Parish Education, the Board of Control of Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) and as vice-president of the synod.

1924 Friedrich Streckfuss died at Springfield, Illinois (b. 7 September 1852, Van Wert County, Ohio). He was a graduate of Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1874 and served as a pastor at Young America, Minnesota. He became a professor of Latin in the proseminary and of symbolics in the seminary at Springfield, Illinois, in 1892.