History Trivia

On September 20, 356 BC, Alexander the Great King of Macedonia and one of the greatest generals in history was born. In 451 AD the Romans defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne in France. In 1378 Western Schism began. The Avignon Papacy came to an end when Pope Gregory XI returned the papal see to Rome, then died before he could return to France. A Roman was elected to succeed him and took the name Urban VI. Urban was so hostile to the cardinals, who had achieved considerable power during the papacy's years in France, that thirteen members of the Sacred College went into conclave and chose another pope. This antipope took the name of Clement VII and took up residence at Avignon, beginning a schism that was characterized by the simultaneous administrations of two (and later three) popes, and which would last nearly 40 years and in 1633 Astronomer Galileo Galilei was tried before the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth orbits the Sun.