Tuesday, November 18, 2014

History Trivia - William Tell shoots an apple off of his son's head

November 18

 326 Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was consecrated.

942: Saint Odo of Cluny died. The second abbot of the great monastery at Cluny, Odo achieved exemption from all but papal authority for his monastic community and reformed monasteries in Gaul and Italy.

1307 William Tell shot an apple off of his son's head. The historical existence of Tell is disputed. According to popular legend, he was a peasant from Bürglen in the canton of Uri in the 13th and early 14th centuries who defied Austrian authority, was forced to shoot an apple from his son’s head, was arrested for threatening the governor’s life, saved the same governor’s life en route to prison, escaped, and ultimately killed the governor in an ambush. These events supposedly helped spur the people to rise up against Austrian rule.



1421 A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike in the Netherlands broke, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people.

1477 William Caxton produced Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, the first book printed on a printing press in England.


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