1525:

Battle of Pavia

In the extended war between France and Italy, the Battle of Pavia was a decisive engagement in which King Francis I of France was taken prisoner and the French army was nearly destroyed.

1304:

Ibn Battutah

Ibn Battutah was a great Arab traveller who wrote the famous Rihlah (Travels). This book describes his extensive journeys to almost all the Muslim countries and to regions as far as China and Sumatra.

1463:

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Author of De hominis dignitate oratio ("Oration on the Dignity of Man"), Pico della Mrandola was a scholar and Platonist philosopher who was known for combining various philosophies, particularly attempting to reconcile Christian and Classical theories.

1557:

Holy Roman Emperor Matthias

Matthias sponsored a revival of Catholicism in the Protestant-controlled Habsburg domains of the empire, which eventually led to the Thirty Years' War.

616:

King Aethelbehrt of Kent

Aethelbehrt was the first Christian king of England and was converted by St. Augustine of Canterbury.