February 18, 1546: German reformer Martin Luther dies in Eisleben.
February 18, 1564: Michelangelo Buonarroti, the Italian Renaissance artist whose works include the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, dies.
February 18, 1678: Puritan preacher John Bunyan publishes The Pilgrim's Progress. The allegorical tale, which describes Bunyan's own conversion process, begins, "I saw a man clothed with rags … a book in his hand and a great burden upon his back".
February 18, 1688: Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania, issue America's first formal protest of slavery.