On This Day: February 8th

Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate.

An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.

Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.

The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I.

Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

The Byzantine civil war of 1341-47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.

The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

Constantius III becomes co-emperor of the Western Roman Empire.