What happened on March 12 ?

604 - Pope Gregory I

1289 - King Demetre II of Georgia (b. 1259)

1374 - Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (b. 1336)

1447 - Shah Rukh, ruler of Persia and Transoxonia (b. 1377)

1507 - Cesare Borgia, Italian general and statesman (b. 1475)

1608 - Koriki Kiyonaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1530)

1628 - John Bull, English composer

1648 - Tirso de Molina, Spanish writer (b. 1571)

1681 - Frans van Mieris, Sr., Dutch painter (b. 1635)

1699 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (b. 1635)

1790 - Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (b. 1710)

1832 - Frederich Kuhlau, German composer (b. 1786)

1872 - Zeng Guofan, Chinese politician and general (b. 1811)

1889 - Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia

1894 - Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (b. 1840)

1898 - Zacharias Topelius, Finnish-Swedish writer (b. 1818)

1908 - Edmondo De Amicis, Italian children's writer (b. 1846)

1916 - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer (b. 1830)

1925 - Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary, politician (b. 1866)

1930 - Alois Jirásek, Czech writer (b. 1851)

1937 - Charles-Marie Widor, French organist and composer (b. 1844)

1937 - Jen? Hubay, Hungarian violinist (b. 1858)

1943 - Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)

1944 - Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (b. 1861)

1947 - Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)

1955 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)

1978 - John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)

1984 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (b. 1896)

1985 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)

1987 - Woody Hayes, American football coach (b. 1913)

1989 - Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)

1990 - Wallace Breem, British author (b. 1926)

1991 - Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)

1995 - Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)

1998 - Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramist (b. 1893)

1999 - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (b. 1916)

2001 - Morton Downey, Jr., American television talk show host (b. 1933)

2001 - Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)

2002 - Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)

2003 - Zoran ?in?i?, Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)

2003 - Howard Fast, American author (b. 1914)

2003 - Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)

2003 - Andrei Kivilev, Kazakh Cyclist (b. 1973)

2005 - Bill Cameron, Canadian journalist (b. 1943)

2006 - István Gyulai, Hungarian athletic official (b. 1943)

2006 - Victor Sokolov, Russian dissident journalist and priest (b. 1947)