History Trivia

March 5,363 Roman Emperor Julian moved from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. 493 AD the German barbarian leader Odovacar (Odocacer), who had ended the Western Roman Empire in A.D. 476, was executed at age 59 by the Ostrogoths. 1133 King Henry II of England was born. 1496 King Henry VII of England issued letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands. 1616 Church declared Copernicanism "false and erroneous."Galileo had stirred up a great deal of interest in theories that contradicted Aristotelian tradition, and conventional professors saw this as a threat to their own work. They united in an attempt to set Church authorities against him, since the Copernican theories he was developing included contradictions to Scripture. The Church's chief theologian, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, unable to appreciate the significance of Galileo's work, saw only the danger of anything that could undermine Catholicism in its fight against Protestantism. He issued the decree against Copernicanism, though he warned Galileo in advance.