1439 Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy (1383–1451), in southeastern France, was elected Pope Felix V by one cardinal and eleven bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. Felix was the last of the church’s “antipopes” (men whose election to the papal office has been traditionally viewed as irregular by Roman Catholic historians).

1494 Hans Sachs, meistersinger, shoemaker and poet, was born (d. 19 January 1576). His works include “Die Wittenbergisch
Nachtigall” (The Wittenberg Nightingale), written in Martin Luther’s honor.

1592 Charles Chauncy, Anglican clergyman and English-born president of Harvard College, was born (d. 19 February 1672).

1605 The Gunpowder Plot, an assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland that intended to kill the king and most of the Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening, failed, leading to the execution of Guy Fawkes and other plotters.

1660 Father Alexander de Rhodes, a French Jesuit missionary who had a lasting impact on Christianity in Vietnam, died at Isfahan, Persia (b. 15 March 1591, Avignon, France).

1758 Hans Egede (b. 31 January 1686), Lutheran Apostle of Greenland, died at Stubbekjoebing, Denmark.

1790 Karl Theophil Ewald Rhenius, missionary to India, was born at the fortress of Graudenz, West Prussia (d. 5 June 1838).

1841 Daniel C. Roberts, hymnist, was born (d. 31 October 1907).

1851 Benjamin B. Warfield, American Presbyterian Bible scholar, was born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 16 February 1921).

1867 The Susquehanna Synod was organized at Montoursville, Pennsylvania, from the Susquehanna Conference of the East
Pennsylvania Synod.

1868 The Kansas Synod was organized at Topeka, Kansas.

1878 The second Lutheran Diet in America was held at Philadelphia.

1887 Donald M. Baillie, Scottish theologian, was born at Gairloch, Ross-shire, Scotland (d. 31 October 1954).

1892 Frederick Emanuel Mayer, professor at  Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis), was born in New Wells, Missouri (d. 20 July 1954).

1917 St. Tikhon of Moscow (1865–1925) was elected the Patriarch of Moscow and of the Russian Orthodox Church

1935 The Cooperative General Association of Free Will Baptists (northern U.S.) and the General Conference of Free Will Baptists (southern U.S.) merged in Nashville, Tennessee, to form the National Association of Free Will Baptists.

1960 Donald Grey Barnhouse (b. 1895), American Presbyterian clergyman and pioneer radio preacher, died.

1987 Dissenting members of The American Lutheran Church and others held a constituting convention (through 7 November 1987) to form The American Association of Lutheran Churches (TAALC) in reaction to the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America earlier in the year.