MaryAnn Bernal's Blog, page 585

History Trivia

January 5, 1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England, died, sparking warfare between various claimants to his throne. 1355 Charles I of Bohemia was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan. 1477 Charles the Bold was killed at the Battle of Nancy at which time Burgundy became part of France. 1500 Duke Ludovico Sforza conquered Milan. 1527 Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, was executed by drowning. 1554 A great fire occurred in Eindhoven, Netherlands. 1675 Battle of Colmar, the French army beat Brandenburg.

History Trivia

January 4, 46 BC Julius Caesar defeated Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Greece in pursuit of his rival, Pompey, whom he later defeated at Pharsalus. 871 at the Battle of Reading Ethelred of Wessex fought and was badly defeated by a Danish invasion army. 1490 Anna of Brittany announced that all those who would ally with the king of France would be considered guilty of the crime of lèse majesté. 1493 Christopher Columbus left the New World, ending his first journey. 1642 King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament. 1698 most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.

History Trivia

January 3, 106 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero was born. This day was set aside to honor the Roman Goddess of Peace, Pax, whose temple stood open in Rome during times of peace, but was closed during war. 1431 Joan of Arc was handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon. 1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine. 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

History Trivia

January 2,69 AD Vitellius was named emperor. On this day the Egyptians, and many Romans, celebrated the Advent of Isis, the Egyptian Mother Goddess. 366 The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine River and invaded the Roman Empire. 533 Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy. 1492 Reconquista, the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrendered.

History Trivia

January 1, 45 BC Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar's calendar reform - 365 days in 12 months with leap years every four years - was introduced. 43 BC Cicero delivered his "Fifth Philippic" (fifth of a series of speeches condemning Mark Antony) in the Roman Senate. 27 BC Octavian became the first emperor of Rome, and took the name Caesar Augustus. 69 AD Roman legions in Germany refused to renew the oath of allegiance to Emperor Galba. They rebelled and proclaimed Aulus Vitellius Germanicus as emperor. 138 AD, Caesar Aelius died. 193 AD Pertinax became emperor. 193 The Senate chose Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman Emperor. 1001 Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary was named the first King of Hungary by Pope Silvester II. 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologos was proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris. 1438 Albert II of Habsburg was crowned King of Hungary. 1515 King Francis I of France succeeded to the French throne. 1527 Croatian nobles elected Ferdinand I of Austria as king of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin. 1600 Scotland began its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25. 1651 Charles II was crowned King of Scotland.

History

December 31, 192 The Roman emperor Commodus, whose brutal reign ended 90 years of peaceful prosperity, was assassinated. 406 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, which began an invasion of Gaul. 535 Byzantine General Belisarius completed the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year. 1229 James I of Aragon the Conqueror enteredMedina Mayurqa (Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.

1502 Cesare Borgia executed rival leaders. The infamous Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, sought to create a united government over central Italy with himself as monarch. However, the Orsini family headed up a strong league of nobles who stood against him. Borgia acted with great finesse and no scruples: even while he built his own army of loyal soldiers, he convinced the Orsinis and their associates that they had nothing to fear from him. He invited several leaders of the opposition to his castle, Senigallia, where he imprisoned Francesco Orsini, Paolo Orsini, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Vitellozzo Vitelli, all of whom were leaders of the Orsini faction. The latter two were murdered by strangulation. Already in control of Romagna, Perugia, and Urbino, Borgia now stood poised to conquer central Italy. However, his fortunes changed dramatically when his father died. After spending two years imprisoned in Spain, he joined his wife's brother, the King of Navarre, in a campaign against Castile and was killed in battle.

History Trivia

December 30, 41 AD, Titus was born. He was Roman emperor from 79-81 AD. During his reign the Coliseum was completed. 1066 Granada massacre: A Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city. 1370 Pope Gregory XI was elected pope. Gregory attempted to foster peace between England and France during the Hundred Years' War, defeated Florence in its war against the Papal States, and returned the papacy to Rome from Avignon. 1460 The Lancastrians rout the Yorkists at the Battle of Wakefield, and execute Richard, Duke of York.

History Trivia

December 29, 1170 AD Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered while at vespers in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of King Henry II. Acting on the frustrated outburst of King Henry II, four knights burst into Canterbury Cathedral and struck down the Archbishop. The knights fled. Henry would later do public penance for his ill-considered words that ultimately ended the quarrel between one-time friends.

History Trivia

December 28, 418 AD Boniface I became Roman Catholic pope. 1065 Westminster Abbey in London, built under the auspices of Edward the Confessor, was consecrated. Once a Benedictine monastery, this royal peculiarity was re-endowed by and enlarged under the oversight of Edward the Confessor, who was too ill to attend the consecration ceremonies.

History Trivia

December 27, 537 AD the third Cathedral of Santa Sophia at Constantinople was dedicated. The first two were destroyed but this one is still in use, a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture.