Divine justice for an emperor and some famous horses

I am back for a quick visit. Some interesting happenings on September 28th in history.
In 48 BC, the Egyptians murdered the Roman general Pompey, thinking it would please his rival, Julius Caesar; they were so wrong. And in 58 BC, the future notorious Roman empress Livia was born; for those of us who watched I, Claudius, whenever we hear the name Livia, we think, “Don’t eat the figs.” For those who haven’t watched it, rush out to buy it on DVD!
In 1066, William the Bastard landed at Pevensey to launch his invasion of England, which would culminate a few weeks later in his victory at the battle of Hastings, so this was a very big deal.
In 1197, a day that really should be a holiday of some sort, the Holy Roman emperor and royal sociopath, Heinrich von Hohenstaufen, died unexpectedly at Messina, probably of malaria, though there were suspicions that he may have been poisoned since half of Christendom wanted him dead. His death spared the Sicilians much suffering and most likely saved his empress’s life for he suspected Constance of taking part in a rebellion against him. I am sure the news also gave Richard I a great deal of satisfaction and scared the daylights out of the French king, for now two of the men who’d defied Church law to capture a crusader king had met untimely deaths. Given what we know of Philippe’s temperament, he must have feared that he’d be next to suffer God’s punishment. Unfortunately for King John, Philippe managed to dodge that celestial thunderbolt.
Lastly, just for fun, I am throwing in this bit of information. On September 28, 1785, Napoleon Bonaparte graduated from the military academy in Paris at the age of 16. He was 42nd in a class of 51, thus proving that grades are not always helpful in predicting a student’s future. And I recently learned something else interesting about Napoleon. His favorite mount was a grey Arabian stallion named Marengo, who was wounded eight times, but lived much longer than his master and whose skeleton ended up in a London museum. Another famous man to have a cherished Arabian ( half-Arabian in this case, with the name of Blueskin) was George Washington…..and the reason I have these intriguing tidbits to share is that I was researching the Arabian breed for my book; two of these magnificent stallions will get screen time in The Land Beyond the Sea, one belonging to the young leper king, Baldwin, and one to Balian d’Ibelin. Saladin also has one, but his just has a walk-on role.