MaryAnn Bernal's Blog, page 580

History Trivia

February 24,30 AD, tradition has it that Matthias was elected as the apostle to fill the place of Judas after his suicide. 303, the first Roman edict for persecution of the Christians was published on the order of the Emperor Diocletian. 616 King Aethelbehrt of Kent died. Aethelbehrt was the first Christian king of England and was converted by St. Augustine of Canterbury. 1303 The Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Roslin,the First War for Scottish Independence. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII published his plans for calendar reform - the Gregorian Calendar - in a papal bull.

History Trivia

February 23,303, Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered a general persecution of the Christians. 532 work began on the third Cathedral of Santa Sophia in Constantinople.1447 Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester died. Humphrey was the fourth son of King Henry IV and a strong supporter of humanism,patronizing English and Italian artists, writers and philosophers, for which he was known as "Good Duke Humphrey." Unfortunately, his political acumen was not as good. Although he served his brother, Henry V, in a series of campaigns in the Hundred Year's War, after Henry died and he was named temporary regent for the infant Henry VI, he soon began a feud with Chancellor Henry Beaufort that lasted for more than twenty years. The feud ended with the arrest of Gloucester and his subsequent death from, most likely, natural causes five days later, but the poor timing of his demise led to a rumor that he had been murdered, which was used as a rallying point in later uprisings.

History Trivia

February 22, 1276 AD Innocent V was crowned Roman Catholic pope. 1495 King Charles VIII of France entered Naples to claim the city's throne.

History Trivia

February 21, 362 Athanasius returned to Alexandria. 1245 Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, was granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery. 1173 Thomas Á Becket was canonized. The Archbishop of Canterbury, one-time friend and opponent to King Henry II of England, had been murdered less than three years earlier, and the swift canonization by Pope Alexander III was a clear message of rebuke to the king. 1431 Public trial of Joan of Arc began. The trial that had begun in secret in January was at last brought before the public. Joan's request to attend mass beforehand was refused, but she swore to tell the truth and she did so. However, she managed to evade revealing anything she had said to her king. Ultimately, Joan was sentenced to death and burned at the stake. 1437: King James I of Scotland was murdered in the Dominican Friary at Perth by a group led by Sir Robert Graham. James' son, Sir Robert Stewart, was the King's Chamberlain, and it was he who found a willing assassin in Sir Robert Graham, a man with his own grudge and a scarred memory of the imprisonment and banishment. Graham and his eight confederates broke into the room, dragged out the fighting King, and butchered him with twenty-eight dagger-strokes. The Queen was wounded in her efforts to save her husband, and Walter of Atholl, Robert Stewart, Robert Graham and his hired cutthroats were soon taken, and suffered long and appalling torture until the Queen's grief was satisfied andthey were sent to the merciful headsman.

History Trivia

February 20,1472 Orkney and Shetland were pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark. 1547 Edward VI of England was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

History Trivia

February 19,197 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeated usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. 356 The Christian Roman emperor Constantius II issued a decree closing all pagan temples.607 Boniface III was elected Pope. Before his election as pope Boniface served as an ambassador to Constantinople,and as pontiff he worked to assure that the Bishop of Rome had supremacy over all the church in the face of attempts by the Bishop of Constantinople to use the title "Universal Bishop." 1601 Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, was tried for treason; he was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and a patron of many writers, including Barnabe Barnes, Thomas Nashe, Gervase Markham, and William Shakespeare (who dedicated Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece to the earl). A good friend of Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex, Henry accompanied him on his journeys until Elizabeth called him home. In February of 1601 he became involved in the Devereaux's rebellion, attempting to stir up the populace by reviving Richard II, which told the story of the deposition of a monarch. He was arrested, tried, and convicted; his titles were forfeited and he was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment due to the intercession of Robert Cecil. When Elizabeth's successor James I ascended the throne, Southampton returned to court and was restored to the Peerage by an act of Parliament. He then pursued an illustrious career, becoming a Knight of the Garter, an active member of the Virginia and East India Companies,and a privy councillor.

History Trivia

February 18, 1229 The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signed a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth,and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy. 1478 George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, was executed in private at the Tower of London. Clarence plotted against the king several times throughout Edward's rise and was given repeated chances by his family to return to the fold. In January, 1478, Edward finally had enough of his brother's faithlessness and threw him into prison, bringing charges of slander and rebellion against him. Both houses of Parliament passed a bill of attainder against the duke, and although his brother Richard protested, Clarence was executed in secret in the tower. Shortly after his death, rumors that he'd been drowned in a butt of malmsey wine began to circulate, but there is no proof of this rather odd claim. 1516 Mary Tudor was born. Eldest daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen Mary I of England was stubborn,courageous, and devoutly Catholic. Upon inheriting the throne from her fiercely Protestant brother Edward VI, she sought to turn England back to the Catholic Church, and in the process developed a reputation as a "bloody" fanatic. Her marriage to the Catholic prince Philip of Spain (whom she adored but who could not abide her)further exacerbated matters in England. She desperately wanted a child, and suffered several false pregnancies. Distrusted, disliked, and miserable, Mary died in 1558 at the age of 42. 1546 Martin Luther died.1564 Michelangelo Buonarrotti died.

History Trivia

February 17, 1370 – The Battle of Rudau - Teutonic knights defeated the Lithuanians in their attempt to Christianize the country.1461 Second Battle of Saint Albans -In the long-running Wars of the Roses, a previous battle had taken place at Saint Albans nearly six years earlier, a very brief incident that gave Richard, Duke of York, the upper hand in the conflict. But soon the opposition rose once more and war broke out again in 1459. The Duke had been dead some time when Henry's indomitable Queen Margaret and York's son Edward both sought to capture London. It was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (also known as the Kingmaker), who met the queen at Saint Albans, but he lost the battle, leaving his prisoner, King Henry VI, to Margaret's forces. Margaret made a grave error when she allowed her forces to pillage the town and Abbey of Saint Albans. The people of London, hearing of this behavior, sent her a message saying she would not be welcome unless she could guarantee that her troops would not so mistreat Londoners. While Margaret thought this over, Edward York and Richard Neville entered London, where York soon was crowned King Edward IV.

History Trivia

February 16, 116 Emperor Trajan sent laureatae to the Roman Senate at Rome on account of his victories and being conqueror of Parthia. 1249 Andrew of Longjumeau was dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with Mongol Khagan of the Mongol Empire. 1646 – Battle of Great Torrington, Devon – was the last major battle of the first English Civil War.

History Trivia

February 15, 44 BC, Mark Antony offered Julius Caesar the diadem of royalty which he refused. 360 AD, the first Cathedral of Santa Sophia in Constantinople was dedicated. 1113 Knights Hospitaller was formally named and recognized. The Hospitallers were founded in the eleventh century to care for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem. Begun as the monastic Order of St. John, it became under the guidance of Blessed Gerard a collection of hostels and was recognized in a bull issued by Pope Paschal II. The order evolved throughout the Crusades and still exists today. 1564 Galileo Galilei was born. An extraordinary man of superb genius, Galileo not only made great strides in scientific discovery, he caused wild controversy with those advances. Convicted of heresy for supporting the Copernican view of the solar system, his life sentence was commuted to house arrest after he formally repudiated his support. He died in his villa in Arcetri. 1637 Ferdinand III became Holy Roman Emperor.