MaryAnn Bernal's Blog, page 586

History Trivia

December 26, 795 AD Leo III was elected Roman Catholic pope. Pope Saint Leo recognized Charlemagne as the patricius of the Romans, and was later physically attacked and accused of misconduct. It was Leo who crowned Charlemagne Emperor, an act which helped widen the schism between East and West by firmly allying the papacy with the Western empire.

History Trivia

December 25, is the date recognized by the Roman Catholic Church for the birth of Jesus Christ. 336 AD the first recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25th took place in Rome. 795 Pope Adrian I died. The relationship of Adrian to Charlemagne was considered an ideal expression of Church and State in a united Christian society.
800 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in Rome. 875 Charles the Bald was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1000 Hungary was established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary. 1066 William the Conqueror was crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London. 1100Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity. 1130 Count Roger II of Sicily was crowned the first King of Sicily. 1156Peter the Venerable died. As Abbot of Cluny, Peter of Montboissier made great reforms to the monastery that restored its influence in European religious politics.
1223 St. Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene. 1261 John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire was deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus. 1559 Pius IV was elected pope. Born Giovanni Angelo de'Medici, Pius concluded the Council of Trent and pursued reforms of the Papal Curia.

History Trivia

December 24, 3 BC, Servius Sulpicius Galba was born. He was emperor of Rome from 68-69 AD. 563 The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes. 640 Pope John IV was elected. In his brief pontificate, John sent help to the victims of invaders in Dalmatia, opposed monothelitism and the Irish choice for the date of Easter, and defended the orthodoxy of Pope Honorius I. 1167 King John I of England was born. The youngest son of King Henry II, John lacked the trust of his barons and was maneuvered into signing the Magna Carta. 1294 Pope Boniface VIII was elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.

History Trivia

December 23, 619 AD Boniface V became Roman Catholic pope. 962 Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo. 1116 St. Ivo of Chartres died. Bishop of Chartres, Ivo is generally considered the most learned canonist of his times.

History Trivia

December 22, 69 Roman Emperor Vitellius was killed in a street battle in Rome by soldiers of Vespasian, who succeeded Vitellius as emperor. 1216 the Dominican order formally sanctioned. Founded by St. Dominic, the Dominican order of mendicant friars placed a great deal of emphasis on scholarship as well as preaching. The organization received official sanction from Pope Honorius III.

History Trivia

December 21,69 the end of the Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian became the fourth Emperor of Rome within a year. 882 Hincmar of Reims died. As archbishop of Reims, Hincmar was one of the most inlfuential political and ecclesiastical figures of Carolingian Europe. 1140 Conrad III of Germany besieged Weinsberg. 1118 Thomas A. Becket was born. 1401 Masaccio
(Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Guidi), an important painter of early Renaissance Florence was born.

History Trivia

December 20, 44 BC Cicero, the great Roman orator and statesman, delivered his third Philippic (one of 4 speeches against Mark Antony) in the Roman Senate. 69 Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, entered Rome to claim the title of emperor. 217 The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I was elected as the sixteenth pope, but was opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accused him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.1192 Richard the Lion-Heart was captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third crusade.
1334 Benedict XII was elected pope. The third pope to reside at Avignon, Benedict attempted to reform the church and its religious orders. His pontificate saw the beginning of the Hundred Years' War.

History Trivia

December 19, 211 Publius Septimius Geta, co-emperor of Rome, was lured to come without his bodyguards to meet his brother Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla), do discuss a possible reconciliation. When he arrived, the Praetorian Guard murdered him and he died in the arms of his mother Julia Domna. 324 Licinius abdicated his position as Roman Emperor. 1154 Henry II of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey.1187 Clement III became Pope. The pontificate of Clement saw the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in the Third Crusade. 1490 Anne, Duchess of Brittany, was married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.

History Trivia

December 18, 218 BC Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeated those of the Roman Republic. 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China. 1352 Innocent VI became Pope. Innocent was a law professor before taking holy orders. As pope, he made reforms to the papal Curia at Avignon.

History Trivia

December 17, 63 AD Lazarus died again (according to tradition). 546 Gothic War: The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison. 920 Romanos I was crowned co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII. 942 Assassination of William I of Normandy. 1187 Pope Gregory VIII died. In his brief pontificate, Gregory initiated the Third Crusade and began reforms in the Curia.
1531 Pope Clement VII established a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal. 1538 Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry VIII of England.