What happened on March 27 ?

1191 - Pope Clement III

1350 - King Alfonso XI of Castile (b. 1312)

1378 - Pope Gregory XI

1462 - Vasili II of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. 1415)

1482 - Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1457)

1555 - William Hunter, protestant martyr

1572 - Girolamo Maggi, Italian Renaissance man (b. abt. 1523)

1625 - King James I of England and Ireland, James VI of Scotland (b. 1566)

1635 - Robert Naunton, English politician (b. 1563)

1697 - Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (b. 1603)

1757 - Johann Stamitz, Czech-born composer (b. 1717)

1770 - Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian artist (b. 1696)

1809 - Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter (b. 1716)

1827 - François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, French social reformer (b. 1747)

1836 - James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (b. 1804)

1843 - Karl Salomo Zachariae von Lingenthal, German jurist (b. 1769)

1849 - Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford (b. 1776)

1850 - Wilhelm Beer, German astronomer (b. 1797)

1864 - Jean-Jacques Ampère, French scholar (b. 1800)

1865 - Petrus Hoffman Peerlkamp, Dutch scholar (b. 1786)

1873 - Amedée Simon Dominique Thierry, French journalist and historian (b. 1797)

1875 - Edgar Quinet, French historian (b. 1803)

1878 - Sir George Gilbert Scott, English architect (b. 1811)

1889 - John Bright, English statesman (b. 1811)

1910 - Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, American scientist and engineer (b. 1835)

1918 - Henry Adams, American historian (b. 1838)

1923 - Sir James Dewar, Scottish chemist (b. 1842)

1924 - Walter Parratt, English composer (b. 1841)

1926 - Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)

1927 - Joe Start, baseball player (b. 1842)

1931 - Arnold Bennett, British novelist (b. 1867)

1940 - Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)

1967 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)

1967 - Jim Thompson, American designer (disappeared) (b. 1906)

1968 - Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut (b. 1934)

1969 - B. Traven, German writer

1972 - Sharkey Bonano, American musician (b. 1904)

1972 - M.C. Escher, Dutch artist (b. 1898)

1977 - A. P. Hamann, American politician

1977 - Diana Hyland, American actress (b. 1936)

1981 - Mao Dun, Chinese writer (b. 1895)

1989 - May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)

1989 - Jack Starrett, American actor and director (b. 1936)

1991 - Ralph Bates, British actor (b. 1940)

1991 - Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)

1992 - Easley Blackwood, American bridge player (b. 1903)

1993 - Paul László, Hungarian interior designer and architect (b. 1900)

1998 - David McClelland, American psychologist (b. 1917)

1998 - Ferry Porsche, Austrian automobile manufacturer (b. 1909)

2000 - Ian Dury, English musician (b. 1942)

2002 - Milton Berle, American actor and comedian (b. 1908)

2002 - Dudley Moore, British actor, musician, and composer (b. 1935)

2002 - Billy Wilder, American director (b. 1906)

2003 - Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor (b. 1927)

2003 - Ricardo Munguia, Salvadoran aid worker

2003 - Paul Zindel, American writer (b. 1936)

2005 - Bob Casey, baseball announcer (b. 1925)

2006 - Stanis?aw Lem, Polish writer (b. 1921)

2006 - Dan Curtis, American television producer and director (b. 1928)

2006 - Lyn Nofziger, American journalist and political advisor to Ronald Reagan (b. 1924)