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.