History Trivia

January 16, 27 BC – The title Augustus was bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate. 550 during the Gothic War (535–552), the Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquered Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison. 1120 The Council of Nablus was held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.1245 Edmund Lancaster was born. Edmund was the founder of the House of Lancaster and son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. 1362 a storm tide in the North Sea destroyed the German city of Rungholt on the island of Strand.1412 the Medici family was appointed official banker of the Papacy. 1492 the first grammar of the Spanish language was presented to Queen Isabella I. 1547 Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible became Tsar of Russia. 1556 Philip II became King of Spain. 1556 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicated. Charles, who inherited a vast empire from his grandfather, Maximilian, had difficulty holding his lands together under the pressures of growing Protestant rebellion, the antagonism of Pope Adrian VI, and Turkish and French incursions. At last he yielded his claims to the Netherlands and Spain in favor of his son, Philip II, and entered a monastery after ceding his title to his brother, Ferdinand I. 1572 Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk was tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. 1581 The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism. 1605 The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.