What happened on July 31 ?

855 - Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim Jurisprudent (b. 780)

1099 - El Cid, Spanish warrior (b. 1044)

1108 - King Philip I of France (b. 1052)

1396 - William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)

1508 - Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b. 1494)

1547 - King Francis I of France (b. 1494)

1556 - Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest and founder of the Jesuits

1653 - Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)

1726 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)

1750 - King John V of Portugal (b. 1689)

1784 - Denis Diderot, French philosopher and encylopedist (b. 1713)

1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)

1886 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (b. 1811)

1914 - Jean Jaurès, French politician (d. 1859)

1917 - Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)

1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b. 1900)

1953 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio and Presidential candidate (b. 1889)

1972 - Paul-Henri Spaak, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)

1980 - Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)

1980 - Mohd. Rafi, Indian playback singer (b. 1924)

1981 - Omar Torrijos, Panamanian military leader

1986 - Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)

1993 - King Baudouin I of Belgium (b. 1930)

2001 - Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)

2003 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (b. 1933)

2005 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch banker and 1st president of the European Central Bank