This Day in History: 0000-01-16

16 Jan – The Pope appointed the Medici family as the official bankers of the Papacy (1412).
16 Jan – Ivan the Terrible crowned himself the first Czar of Russia (1547).
16 Jan – The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism (1581).
16 Jan – The first edition of El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid, Spain (1605).
16 Jan – Virginia enacted the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson (1786).
16 Jan – Russian forces stormed the Ottoman fortress near Plovdiv, Bulgaria in the Battle of Philippopolis, capturing the citadel and driving Ottomans back to Constantinople (1878)
16 Jan – The United States prohibited alcohol use throughout the nation in the 18th amendment to the Constitution (1919).
16 Jan – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry (2003).