August 23rd in history--just barely

Here is today's Facebook Note, rather late in the day, but better late than never, I hope.

I’d like to thank you all for your good wishes. I am doing well and on the mend, though I probably won’t be around much for the next few days. So this might be a good time for someone to stage a palace coup; not that I am mentioning any names, of course. Thanks, too, for posting so many comments about Richard yesterday. He’ll never escape from Shakespeare’s shadow, but at least he has not been forgotten.
Another historical figure who deserves to be remembered is William Wallace, who was put to death in the most brutal manner possible—drawn and quartered—on August 23, 1305, after being charged with treason by Edward I.
And on August 23, 1358, Isabella of France, queen of Edward II, lover of Roger Mortimer, and mother of Edward III, died at Hertford Castle; she was 63 and had been in poor health for a while. She asked to be buried in her wedding mantle and with the heart of her husband, Edward II. Our Edwardian expert, Kathryn Warner, is one of those who have cast doubts upon whether Edward really died at Berkeley Castle as reported. I do find it strange that Edward’s half-brother, the Earl of Kent, tried to free him three years after his death had been announced, paying for that abortive rescue mission with his own life. So he must have believed that Edward was still alive. But I just don’t know enough about that era of British history to draw conclusions of my own.
And the infamous St Bartholomew’s Day massacre began in Paris on the night of August 23rd, 1572; thousands of French Huguenots were slain before the madness stopped. I’d written about this tragedy recently, so I won’t repeat myself, except to say that my favorite French king, Henri of Navarre, the future Henri VI, escaped being murdered because of his new bride, Marguerite de Valois, sister of the ruling French king. C.W. Gortner dramatizes this event in his novel, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, who was Marguerite’s mother. And here is a first-hand account of the killing that set off the massacre; be warned, though, for it makes grim reading. http://historymedren.about.com/gi/dyn...