History Trivia

March 11 222 – Emperor Elagabalus was assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard during a revolt. Their mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets of Rome before thrown into the Tiber. 1387 Battle of Castagnaro: English condottiero Sir John Hawkwood leads Padova to victory in a factional clash with Verona. 1513 Giovanni de'Medici elected to the papacy
Upon the death of Julius II in February, the Sacred College of Cardinals wanted a peace-loving successor to the warlike pope. They chose Cardinal Giovanni de'Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who became Pope Leo X. Leo had led a distinguished career as a cardinal; as pope he made Rome a center of European culture (depleting the treasury in the process), raised the papacy to significant political power, and excommunicated Martin Luther. 1544 Torquado Tasso was born. One of the greatest Italian poets of the Renaissance, Tasso is best known for his Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem liberated), an epic poem about the capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. 1669 Mount Etna erupted. The volcano in Sicily has been active for 2.5 million years, but this was the most violent eruption ever recorded in history. During the next four months about 990,000,000 cubic yards of lava were thrown out, destroying a dozen villages. Ashes formed a double cone more than 150 ft high, now called Monti Rossi. Workers dug a trench above the village of Catania in what may be the first attempt ever to divert a lava stream.