What happened on January 17 ?

395 - Theodosius I, Roman Emperor

1229 - Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier

1369 - King Peter I of Cyprus (murdered) (b. 1328)

1468 - Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)

1617 - Faust Vrancic, Croatian inventor (b. 1551)

1654 - Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (b. 1625)

1705 - John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)

1718 - Captain Benjamin Church, Plymouth Colony settler

1737 - Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)

1751 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (b. 1671)

1826 - Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)

1834 - Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)

1861 - Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)

1863 - Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)

1884 - Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)

1886 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (b. 1834)

1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)

1942 - Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)

1947 - Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1947)

1961 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)

1964 - T.H. White, English author (b. 1906)

1967 - Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (b. 1884)

1972 - Betty Smith, American writer and singer (b. 1896)

1977 - Gary Gilmore, American murderer (executed) (b. 1940)

1983 - Doodles Weaver, American actor (b. 1911)

1987 - Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)

1991 - Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)

1993 - Albert Hourani, English historian (b. 1915)

1994 - Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)

1996 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (b. 1936)

1997 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)

2001 - Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)

2001 - Laurent-Desire Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)

2002 - Bishop Karas, First Coptic Bishop of St. Antony Monastery

2002 - Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)

2003 - Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)

2004 - Czeslaw Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)

2004 - Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)

2004 - Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)

2005 - Charlie Bell, American fast food executive (b. 1960)

2005 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)

2005 - Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)

2005 - Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)

2006 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)