What happened on April 12 ?

65 - Seneca the Younger, Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist

238 - Gordian I, Roman Emperor (suicide)

238 - Gordian II, heir to the Roman Empire (killed in battle)

352 - St. Julius I, 35th Pope

434 - Maximianus, Patriarch of Constantinople

1125 - Vladislaus I of Bohemia

1443 - Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury

1550 - Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b. 1496)

1555 - Juana of Castile, wife of Philip I of Castile (b. 1479)

1687 - Ambrose Dixon, Virginia Colony pioneer

1704 - Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and writer (b. 1627)

1748 - William Kent, English architect

1782 - Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)

1788 - Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-born composer (b. 1719)

1795 - Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b. 1710)

1814 - Charles Burney, English music historian (b. 1726)

1850 - Adoniram Judson, American Baptist missionary (b. 1788)

1878 - William Marcy Tweed, aka Boss Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)

1902 - Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist (b. 1842)

1912 - Clara Barton, American nurse and Red Cross advocate (b. 1821)

1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)

1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)

1962 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Indian politician and engineer (b. 1861)

1968 - Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile engineer, first managing director of Volkswagen (b. 1899)

1971 - Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)

1971 - Ed Lafitte, American baseball player (b. 1871)

1975 - Josephine Baker, American dancer (b. 1906)

1980 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (b. 1895)

1980 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia (b. 1913)

1981 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)

1986 - Valentin Kataev, Russian writer (b. 1897)

1988 - Alan Paton, South African novelist (b. 1903)

1989 - Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)

1989 - Abbie Hoffman, American radical leader (b. 1936)

1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)

1997 - George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

1999 - Boxcar Willie, American singer (b. 1931)

2003 - Cecil H. Green, American manufacturer (b. 1900)

2006 - Dr. Rajkumar, Kannada language film actor/singer (b. 1928)

2006 - Puggy Pearson, American professional poker player (b. 1929)