- 1529 - In the Protestation at Speyer, a group of rulers and independent cities protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms
- 1560 - Death of theologian Philip Melanchthon
- 1922 - Birth of World War II ace Erich Hartmann
- 1967 - Death of Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany 1949–1963
- 2005 - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is elected Pope Benedict XVI