What happened on October 27 ?

939 - King Athelstan I of England

1271 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)

1312 - John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)

1327 - Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert I of Scotland

1331 - Abu al-Fida, Arab historian and geographer (b. 1273)

1430 - Vytautas the Great, Grand Prince of Lithuania

1439 - Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1397)

1449 - Ulugh Beg, Timurid ruler and astronomer (b. 1394)

1505 - Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)

1553 - Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian (burned at the stake) (b. 1511)

1561 - Lope de Aguirre, Spanish conquistador

1573 - Laurentius Petri, first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1499)

1617 - Ralph Winwood, English politician

1670 - Vavasor Powell, Welsh non-conformist leader (b. 1617)

1674 - Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)

1675 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)

1789 - John Cook, American farmer and President of Delaware (b. 1730)

1917 - Arthur Rhys Davids, English pilot (b. 1897)

1949 - Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)

1949 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)

1953 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)

1962 - Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)

1968 - Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)

1975 - Rex Stout, American novelist (b. 1886)

1977 - James M. Cain, American novelist (b. 1892)

1980 - Steve Peregrin Took, English singer and songwriter (b. 1949)

1980 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)

1990 - Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)

1990 - Elliott Roosevelt, American war hero, author, and advertising executive (b. 1910)

1992 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)

1996 - Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)

1999 - Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)

2000 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)

2003 - Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)

2004 - Serginho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1974)