July 12: The Twelfth, commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne (1690) in Northern Ireland.

• 1543 – King Henry VIII of England married Catherine Parr (pictured), his sixth and last wife, at Hampton Court Palace.

• 1580 – Ostrog Bible, the first Bible in Old Church Slavonic, was printed in Ostroh, Ukraine by Ivan Fyodorov.

• 1806 – Sixteen German imperial states left the Holy Roman Empire and formed the Confederation of the Rhine.

• 1862 – The U.S. Army Medal of Honor was first authorized by the U.S. Congress.

• 1975 – São Tomé and Príncipe declared independence from Portugal.

• 1979 – The Gilbert Islands gained independence and became known as Kiribati.

More events on this day... Recent days: July 11 – July 10 – July 9