April 12

Today in History
• 0467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire by Leo I
• 1204 - 4th Crusade occupies and plunders Constantinople
• 1545 - French King Francois I orders protestants of Vaudois to be killed
• 1557 - Cuenca is founded in Ecuador
• 1606 - England adopts the Union Flag, replaced in 1801 by current Union Flag
• 1709 - 1st edition of Tattler magazine in England
• 1713 - Dutch State-Gen signs peace with France: Netherlands loses Orange Princedom
• 1787 - Philadelphia's Free African Society forms


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Cosmonautics Day
• Deskfast Day
• Halifax Day
• Hamster Day
• Martyrdom of Imam Ali
• National Only Child Day
• Teak Awareness Day
• Wear a Star Day

Birthdays
• 599 BC - Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism
• 1577 - Christian IV of Denmark, King of Denmark and Norway (1588-1648)
• 1579 - Francois de Bassompierre, marshal of France
• 1724 - Lyman Hall, U.S. physician, signed Declaration of Independence
• 1777 - Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, U.S. politician
• 1792 - John George Lambton, London, statesman, 1st Earl of Durham
• 1871 - Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and dictator, 1936-41
• 1889 - Pierre-etienne Flandin, French premier, 1934-35