November 8, 1308: John Duns Scotus, the hard-to-follow Scottish theologian who first posited Mary's immaculate conception (that she herself was born without original sin), dies in Cologne, Germany. Mary's immaculate conception was declared dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854 (see issue 73: Thomas Aquinas).

November 8, 1674: English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and many other works, dies at age 65.

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