What happened on February 8 ?

1204 - Alexius IV Angelus, deposed Eastern Roman Emperor (strangled) (b. circa 1182)

1250 - Robert I of Artois, French crusader (killed in battle) (b. 1216).

1250 - William II Longespee

1265 - Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1217)

1296 - King Przemys? II of Poland (b. 1257)

1529 - Baldassare Castiglione, Italian writer and diplomat (b. 1478)

1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots (executed) (b. 1542)

1599 - Robert Rollock, Scottish educator

1623 - Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (b. 1546)

1696 - Tsar Ivan V of Russia (b. 1666)

1709 - Giuseppe Torelli, Italian composer (b. 1658)

1725 - Tsar Peter I of Russia (b. 1672)

1749 - Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)

1750 - Aaron Hill, English writer (b. 1685)

1768 - George Dance the Elder, English architect (b. 1695)

1772 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (b. 1719)

1849 - France Pre?eren, Slovenian poet (b. 1800)

1849 - François Antoine Habeneck, French violinist (b. 1781)

1856 - Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist (b. 1773)

1910 - Hans Jæger, Norwegian writer and political activist (b. 1854)

1921 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)

1929 - Maria Christina, Queen Regent of Spain (b. 1858)

1956 - Connie Mack, baseball manager and executive (b. 1862)

1957 - Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

1957 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician and physicist (b. 1903)

1960 - Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect (b. 1880)

1964 - Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (b. 1888)

1973 - Max Yasgur, American Woodstock Festival host (b. 1919)

1975 - Robert Robinson, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)

1977 - Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and ethnomusicologist (b. 1901)

1984 - Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (b. 1903)

1985 - Sir William Lyons, British automobile manufacturer (b. 1901)

1987 - Harriet E. MacGibbon, American actress (b. 1905)

1990 - Del Shannon, American entertainer (suicide) (b. 1934)

1992 - Denny Wright, British jazz guitarist (b. 1924)

1993 - N. Shanmugathasan, Sri Lankan communist leader

1994 - Raymond Scott, American composer, bandleader, and inventor (b. 1908)

1998 - Halldór Laxness, Icelandic writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

1998 - Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)

1999 - Iris Murdoch, Irish author (b. 1919)

2000 - Sid Abel, Canadian hockey player and coach (b. 1918)

2000 - Derrick Thomas, American football player (b. 1967)

2001 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian animated film director (b. 1920)

2002 - Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (b. 1930)

2002 - Ong Teng Cheong, President of Singapore (b. 1936)

2004 - Julius Schwartz, American comic book and science fiction editor (b. 1915)

2005 - Jimmy Smith, American jazz musician

2006 - Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (b. 1914)