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.