History Trivia

January 7: The Egyptians celebrated this day as the birthday of Sekhmet, the goddess of the healing arts. 49 BC, Julius Caesar was ordered to disband his army. He refused and crossed the Rubicon three days later. 1325 Alfonso IV became King of Portugal. 1451 the University of Glasgow Founded at the request of King James II of Scotland. Pope Nicholas V issued a bull of foundation for a "studium generale." At first underfunded and lacking a place to hold lectures, the University nonetheless grew into a distinguished center of learning, its progress only briefly interrupted by the troubles of the Reformation. 1558 France took Calais, the last continental possession of England. 1598 Boris Godunov became Tsar of Russia. 1610 Galileo Galilei observed three of the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them, and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.

History Trivia

January 6 - The Egyptians celebrated this day as the Feast of Kore, the Goddess of Fertility and of cereal grains and agriculture. 1066 Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England. 1205 Philip of Swabia became King of the Romans. 1449 Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI was crowned at Mistra. 1494 the first Mass in the New World was celebrated at La Isabela, Hispaniola. 1540 King Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves. 1579 The Union of Atrecht was signed. 1649 English Civil War: The Rump Parliament voted to put Charles I on trial. 1661 English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully tried to seize control of London. 1690 Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I, became King of the Romans.

History Trivia

January 5, 1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England, died, sparking warfare between various claimants to his throne. 1355 Charles I of Bohemia was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan. 1477 Charles the Bold was killed at the Battle of Nancy at which time Burgundy became part of France. 1500 Duke Ludovico Sforza conquered Milan. 1527 Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, was executed by drowning. 1554 A great fire occurred in Eindhoven, Netherlands. 1675 Battle of Colmar, the French army beat Brandenburg.

History Trivia

January 4, 46 BC Julius Caesar defeated Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Greece in pursuit of his rival, Pompey, whom he later defeated at Pharsalus. 871 at the Battle of Reading Ethelred of Wessex fought and was badly defeated by a Danish invasion army. 1490 Anna of Brittany announced that all those who would ally with the king of France would be considered guilty of the crime of lèse majesté. 1493 Christopher Columbus left the New World, ending his first journey. 1642 King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament. 1698 most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.

History Trivia

January 3, 106 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero was born. This day was set aside to honor the Roman Goddess of Peace, Pax, whose temple stood open in Rome during times of peace, but was closed during war. 1431 Joan of Arc was handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon. 1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine. 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

History Trivia

January 2,69 AD Vitellius was named emperor. On this day the Egyptians, and many Romans, celebrated the Advent of Isis, the Egyptian Mother Goddess. 366 The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine River and invaded the Roman Empire. 533 Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy. 1492 Reconquista, the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrendered.

History Trivia

January 1, 45 BC Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar's calendar reform - 365 days in 12 months with leap years every four years - was introduced. 43 BC Cicero delivered his "Fifth Philippic" (fifth of a series of speeches condemning Mark Antony) in the Roman Senate. 27 BC Octavian became the first emperor of Rome, and took the name Caesar Augustus. 69 AD Roman legions in Germany refused to renew the oath of allegiance to Emperor Galba. They rebelled and proclaimed Aulus Vitellius Germanicus as emperor. 138 AD, Caesar Aelius died. 193 AD Pertinax became emperor. 193 The Senate chose Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman Emperor. 1001 Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary was named the first King of Hungary by Pope Silvester II. 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologos was proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris. 1438 Albert II of Habsburg was crowned King of Hungary. 1515 King Francis I of France succeeded to the French throne. 1527 Croatian nobles elected Ferdinand I of Austria as king of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin. 1600 Scotland began its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25. 1651 Charles II was crowned King of Scotland.

History

December 31, 192 The Roman emperor Commodus, whose brutal reign ended 90 years of peaceful prosperity, was assassinated. 406 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, which began an invasion of Gaul. 535 Byzantine General Belisarius completed the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year. 1229 James I of Aragon the Conqueror enteredMedina Mayurqa (Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.

1502 Cesare Borgia executed rival leaders. The infamous Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, sought to create a united government over central Italy with himself as monarch. However, the Orsini family headed up a strong league of nobles who stood against him. Borgia acted with great finesse and no scruples: even while he built his own army of loyal soldiers, he convinced the Orsinis and their associates that they had nothing to fear from him. He invited several leaders of the opposition to his castle, Senigallia, where he imprisoned Francesco Orsini, Paolo Orsini, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Vitellozzo Vitelli, all of whom were leaders of the Orsini faction. The latter two were murdered by strangulation. Already in control of Romagna, Perugia, and Urbino, Borgia now stood poised to conquer central Italy. However, his fortunes changed dramatically when his father died. After spending two years imprisoned in Spain, he joined his wife's brother, the King of Navarre, in a campaign against Castile and was killed in battle.

History Trivia

December 30, 41 AD, Titus was born. He was Roman emperor from 79-81 AD. During his reign the Coliseum was completed. 1066 Granada massacre: A Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city. 1370 Pope Gregory XI was elected pope. Gregory attempted to foster peace between England and France during the Hundred Years' War, defeated Florence in its war against the Papal States, and returned the papacy to Rome from Avignon. 1460 The Lancastrians rout the Yorkists at the Battle of Wakefield, and execute Richard, Duke of York.

History Trivia

December 29, 1170 AD Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered while at vespers in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of King Henry II. Acting on the frustrated outburst of King Henry II, four knights burst into Canterbury Cathedral and struck down the Archbishop. The knights fled. Henry would later do public penance for his ill-considered words that ultimately ended the quarrel between one-time friends.

History Trivia

December 28, 418 AD Boniface I became Roman Catholic pope. 1065 Westminster Abbey in London, built under the auspices of Edward the Confessor, was consecrated. Once a Benedictine monastery, this royal peculiarity was re-endowed by and enlarged under the oversight of Edward the Confessor, who was too ill to attend the consecration ceremonies.

History Trivia

December 27, 537 AD the third Cathedral of Santa Sophia at Constantinople was dedicated. The first two were destroyed but this one is still in use, a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture.

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.

History Trivia

December 16, 882 AD Marinus I was elected Roman Catholic pope, replacing the murdered John VIII. 955,18-year-old Ottaviano, the only son of Duke Alberic II of Spoleto, who ruled Rome, became Pope John XII when his father ordered his election. John's pontificate lasted nine years, and he is said to have died in the arms of his mistress. 1431 Henry VI of England was crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris. Though young Henry had been proclaimed king at age ten months, it was not until he was ten years old that he was officially crowned at Notre Dame Cathedral. 1485 Catherine of Aragon was born. The first wife of King Henry VIII of England, Catherine was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. 1497 Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal. 1653 Parliamentarian general Oliver Cromwell became 'lord protector' of England, Scotland and Ireland.

History Trivia

December 15, 37 AD, Nero was born. He was the Roman emperor who is alleged to have fiddled while Rome burned. 533 Byzantine general Belisarius defeated the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron. In 687, Sergius I (Saint Sergius) was elected Roman Catholic pope. A significant pontiff of the 7th century, Sergius showed a particular interest in the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks. 1167Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche moved the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion. In 1256 Hulagu Khan captured and destroyed the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
In 1467 Stephen III of Moldavia defeated Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.

History Trivia

December 14, 867 AD Adrian II was elected Roman Catholic pope. Adrian had difficulties with international politics. The eighth ecumenical council and the fourth Council of Constantinople took place during his reign. He died on this date in 872. In 872 AD John VIII was elected Roman Catholic pope on the very day Pope Adrian II died. His pontificate was marked with political intrigue, and he is believed to have been murdered by conspirators involved in a plot of local politics.

History Trivia

December 13 1294 Saint Celestine V resigned the papacy after only five months; Celestine, who founded the Celestine order, was the first pope to abdicate. He had accepted the position only because the papacy had been vacant for years and needed a leader. In his eighties when elected, the work proved too problematic, and he resigned. 1545 Council of Trent began. The council would pass legislation dealing with the doctrinal challenges of the Protestant Reformation.

History Trivia

December 12 627 Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeated Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh. 884 Charles the Fat inherited the West Frankish lands and briefly reunited the empire of his ancestor Charlemagne. 1098 First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breached the town's walls and massacred about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resorted to cannibalism. 1112 Tancred of Antioch died. 1189 Richard I left England, where he spent less than six months of his reign, to join the Third Crusade. 1408, The Order of the Dragon a monarchical chivalric order was created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, then King of Hungary.

History Trivia

December 11, The Ancient Roman religious festival Agonalia was held. The festival was also celebrated on January 9th, March 17th and May 21st. On each day a ram was sacrificed, probably as an offering to deities Janus and Angonius. In 359 Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, took office. In 969 Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II was assassinated by his wife Theofano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes. In 1192 Richard I was captured by Leopold, Duke of Austria, as he returned from the Third Crusade. In 1282 Llywellyn the Last, the last native Prince of Wales, was killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales. In 1475 Pope Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici) was born. Leo contributed strongly to the power of the papacy, made Rome a center of culture, and excommunicated Martin Luther.

History Trivia

December 10, 1041 Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevated her adopted son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V. In 1508 the League of Cambrai Formed. Ostensibly created as an alliance against the Turks, the true goals of the League, formed by Pope Julius II, Emperor Maximilian I, Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon, were to launch a campaign against the Republic of Venice and divide its possessions among the allies. The allies were unable to act together because of their individual ambitions, and the league collapsed in 1510, when the pope joined with Venice, while Ferdinand became neutral. In 1520 Martin Luther burned his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate. In 1541 Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.

History Trivia

December 9, 536 The Byzantine general Belisarius conquered Rome, claiming Italy for the Byzantine empire. In 730 at the Battle of Marj Ardabil the Khazars annihilated an Umayyad army and killed its commander, al-Djarrah ibn Abdullah. In 1165 King Malcolm IV of Scotland died. Known as the "maiden," Malcolm died young, and his short reign was marked by rebellion and tension with his cousin Henry II of England. In 1425 The Catholic University of Leuven, the the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium was founded by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.

History Trivia

December 8,65 BC Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) was born. He was one of the most familiar and admired of the Roman poets and in 1542 Mary, Queen of Scots was born.
A Catholic queen in a land of Protestants, Mary posed a threat to her cousin Elizabeth of England, as well.

History Trivia

December 7, 43 BC Roman orator and advocate Cicero was executed on the orders of the Mark Antony. In 909 Sa'id ibn Hussein, the 'divinely guided one', established a Shiite caliphate in Tunis, rival to Baghdad. 1254 Pope Innocent IV died. The pontificate of Innocent was marked by a long struggle with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, characteristic of the conflict between empire and papacy.

History Trivia

December 6, 1060 Béla I of Hungary was crowned king of Hungary. In 1240 Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev under Danylo of Halych and Voivode Dmytro fell to the Mongols under Batu Khan. In 1421 Henry VI was born. Henry VI was a mere child when he came to the throne on the death of his father Henry V. His weakness as a ruler and his occasional displays of mental instability exacerbated the Wars of the Roses.

History Trivia

December 5, 63 BC Cicero read the last of his Catiline Orations. In 663 the Fourth Council of Toledo took place. In 771 Charlemagne became the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman. In 1082 Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona was assassinated. In 1360 The French Franc was created. In 1408 Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reached Moscow. In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputized Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and lead to one of the most oppressive witch hunts in European history. In 1536 The 'Pilgrimage of Grace' against Henry VIII's Reformation was persuaded to disband by the duke of Norfolk.

1443, Pope Julius II was born. One of the most powerful rulers of the Renaissance, Julius was more concerned with political matters than theological ones, working hard to restore and preserve the Papal States and leading military efforts to hold off the encroaching forces of France. When defecting cardinals threatened another schism, he called the Fifth Lateran Council, and overturned another military coup with the help of Swiss troops.

Though he was enormously successful in keeping Italy together politically and militarily, Julius is perhaps best known as a patron of the arts, and is particularly remembered for his patronage of Michelangelo, who completed the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel barely a year before the pope's death.

History Trivia

December 4, 306 Martyrdom of Saint Barbara. 771 Austrasian King Carloman died, leaving his brother Charlemagne King of the now complete Frankish Kingdom.1093 Anselm of Canterbury was consecrated as Archbishop. In 1110 First Crusade: The Crusaders sack Sidon. 1154 Nicholas Breakspear was elected Pope Hadrian IV, the only Englishman to become pope. 1259 Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.1563 The final session of the Council of Trent was held (it opened on December 13, 1545).

History Trivia

December 3, 741 St. Zachary began his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Gregory III. In 1347 Pope Clemens VI declared the Roman tribunal Coke di Rienzo as heretics. 1368 Charles VI of France was born. Known as "Mad" and as "Well-Beloved," Charles had a long reign during which he remained primarily a figurehead because of his occasional fits of madness. In 1557 1st Covenant of Scottish protestants formed. In 1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduced potatoes to England, from Colombia.

History Trivia

December 2,537 Pope Saint Silverius died. When Silverius refused to restore Anthimus as Patriarch of Constantinople, Empress Theodora ordered him deposed. He was banished and died on the island of Palmaria, murdered or starved to death. and in 1409 The University of Leipzig was founded by Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and his brother William II, Margrave of Meissen, and originally comprised four faculties. Since its inception the university has enjoyed over 600 years of uninterrupted teaching and research.

History Trivia

December 1 193 AD, Pertinax became emperor. Also, the Festival of Juno occurred on this day. In 800 Charlemagne was called to the Vatican to judge the accusations against Pope Leo III whose enemies stated he was unfit to hold the sacred office. In 1135 Henry I of England died. Henry, the youngest son of William the Conqueror, was an able king who strengthened the monarch's executive position and ruled Normandy, as well. In 1170 Becket returned to Canterbury. After establishing an uneasy reconciliation with Henry II, the Archbishop returned to his See, ending a six-year-long self-imposed exile and in 1420 Henry V of England entered Paris.