History Trivia

February 29, leap day, which is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar, with 306 days remaining in the year. 992 St. Oswald, Archbishop of York died. He was a leading force in the reform of monasticism, and founded several Benedictine monasteries. 1528 Patrick Hamilton was the first Protestant martyr to be burned at the stake in Scotland.

History Trivia

February 28, 364 Valentinian I became Roman Emperor. 870 Ecumenical council ended in Constantinople. 1066 Westminster Abbey opened. 1574 Two Englishmen and an Irishman were burnt for heresy on the orders of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. 1694 Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

History Trivia

February 27, 280 Constantine I (The Great) was born. 380 Roman emperor Theodosius declared the orthodoxy of the Nicene Creed, and made Christianity the sole religion of the empire. 837 The 15th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 1560 The Treaty of Berwick, which expelled the French from Scotland, was signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland. 1594 Henry IV was crowned King of France.

History Trivia

February 26,364 Valentinian I, founder of the Valentinian Dynasty and considered to be the last great Western Emperor, was proclaimed Roman Emperor. 1266 Battle of Benevento was fought between Charles of Anjou and Manfred of Sicily. Charles' victory resulted in the collapse of Hohenstaufen rule in Italy. 1616 Spanish Inquisition delivered an injunction to Galileo.

History Trivia

February 25,777 Saint Walburga, patroness of sailors because her prayers calmed a stormy sea, and thereby saving a ship caught in its wake, died. 1570 Elizabeth I was declared a heretic by Pope Pius V.1601 Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex and former favorite of Elizabeth I, was beheaded in the Tower of London for high treason.

History Trivia

February 24, 30 According to tradition, Matthias was elected as the apostle to fill the place of Judas after his suicide. 303 the first Roman edict for persecution of the Christians was published on the order of the Emperor Diocletian. 616 King Aethelbehrt of Kent died. Aethelbehrt was the first Christian king of England and was converted by St. Augustine of Canterbury. 786 Pepin the Short of Gaul died. His dominions were divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman. 1208 St Francis of Assisi, 26, received his vocation in Portiuncula Italy. 1303 The Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Roslin, the First War for Scottish Independence. 1389 Battle at Falköping: Danes defeated King Albert of Sweden.1496 England's Henry VII ended a commercial dispute with Flanders. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII published his plans for calendar reform (Gregorian Calendar) in a papal bull.

History Trivia

February 23,303, Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered a general persecution of the Christians. 532 work began on the third Cathedral of Santa Sophia in Constantinople.1447 Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester and fourth son of Henry IV died.

History Trivia

February 22, 1071 Battle of Cassel: Robert I the Frisian defeated Arnulf III who was killed in the battle. Robert became count of Flanders and ruled until 1093. 1276 Innocent V was crowned Roman Catholic pope. He is noted for his commentaries on the Pauline epistles (Letters of St. Paul - 13 New Testament books). 1495 King Charles VIII of France entered Naples to claim the city's throne.

History Trivia

February 21, 1173 Thomas Becket was canonized. The Archbishop of Canterbury, one-time friend and opponent to King Henry II of England, had been murdered less than three years earlier, and the swift canonization by Pope Alexander III was a clear message of rebuke to the king. 1431 Public trial of Joan of Arc began. 1437 King James I of Scotland was murdered in the Dominican Friary at Perth, which sparked a civil war.

History Trivia

February 20, 1071 William FitzOsbern, a staunch support of William the Conqueror, died.1472 Norway gave the Orkney and Shetland islands to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark. 1513 Pope Julius II died and was buried in a tomb sculptured by Michelangelo. 1547 Edward VI of England was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. 1673 First recorded wine auction was held in London.

History Trivia

February 19,197 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeated usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. 356 The Christian Roman emperor Constantius II issued a decree closing all pagan temples.607 Boniface III was elected Pope. 1408 The revolt of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, against King Henry IV, ended with his defeat and death at Bramham Moor. 1473 Nicolau Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy, was born.

History Trivia

February 18, 1229 The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor signed a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy. 1478 George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, was executed. 1503 Henry Tudor (Henry VIII) was created Prince of Wales. 1516 Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, was born. 1546 Martin Luther died. 1564 Michelangelo Buonarrotti died.

History Trivia

February 17, 1370 The Battle of Rudau - Teutonic knights defeated the Lithuanians in their attempt to Christianize the country. 1461 Second Battle of Saint Albans where the Lancastrians were victorious, and were able to free King Henry VI who had been imprisoned by the Earl of Warwick. 1779 British historian Edward Gibbon published the The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

History Trivia

February 16, 116 Emperor Trajan sent laureatae (word of military glory) to the Roman Senate at Rome on account of his victories and being conqueror of Parthia. 374 The ninth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 600 Pope Gregory the Great decreed the saying "God bless you" is the correct response to a sneeze. 1646 The Battle of Great Torrington, Devon was the last major battle of the first English Civil War.

History Trivia

February 15, 44 BC, Mark Antony offered Julius Caesar the diadem of royalty which he refused. 360 AD the first Cathedral of Santa Sophia in Constantinople was dedicated. 399 Philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death. 670 Oswy, King of Bernicia and subordinate to King Penda of Mercia for 13 years died. When Penda invaded Bernicia, he was killed by Oswy's forces. Oswy then united all of Northumbria, which he ruled from 655 until his death. 1113 The Knights Hospitaller, founded to care for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem, was formally named and recognized. The order evolved throughout the Crusades and still exists today. 1564 Galileo Galilei was born.

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February 14, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was made dictator of Rome for life, which turned out to be one month and a day. 1014 Henry II, the last of the Saxon dynasty of emperors, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1400 Britain's deposed Richard II was murdered in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire. 1556 Thomas Cranmer, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, was declared a heretic when staunch Catholic Mary I became Queen.

History Trivia

February 13, 1542, Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery. 1633 Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. 1689 British Parliament adopted the Bill of Rights. 1692 Massacre of Glencoe where 38 members of the MacDonald clan were murdered by soldiers of the Campbell clan for not pledging allegiance to William of Orange.

History Trivia

February 12, 881 Pope John VIII crowned Charles the Fat, the King of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor. Charles was the grandson of Charlemagne who suffered from epilepsy and other illnesses; he also paid the Vikings to keep them from pillaging his empire. 1554 Lady Jane Grey, the nine day queen of England, was executed at the age of 16.

History Trivia

February 11, Norway folk-belief: Christ's Cross was hewn on this day, and therefore the axe should not be used. 55 Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, died under mysterious circumstances in Rome, clearing the way for Nero to become Emperor. 1466 Elizabeth of York Queen of England and mother of Henry VIII was born. 1531 Henry VIII of England was recognized as supreme head of the Protestant Church of England.

History Trivia

February 10, 60 it is believed St Paul was shipwrecked off the coast of Malta on this date. 1098 Crusaders defeated Prince Redwan of Aleppo at Antioch. 1162 Baldwin III, King of the crusader state of Jerusalem, died. 1306 Robert the Bruce murdered his leading political rival John Comyn in front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries and sparked revolution in the Scottish Wars of Independence. 1355 the St. Scholastica's Day riot broke out in Oxford, England, where 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals died.

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February 9, 474 Zeno was crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1119 Callistus II became pope. He settled the lay investiture disagreement and presided over the ninth Ecumenical Council (the First Lateran Council). 1540 The first recorded race meet in England (Roodee Fields, Chester) took place. According to official records, Chester Racecourse (Roodee Fields, Chester) is the oldest racecourse still in use in England. 1554 Battle at London: Sir Thomas Wyatt was defeated. 1555 Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper was burned at the stake. 1567 Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was murdered in Edinburgh. 1649 Charles I was buried without a funeral at Windsor rather than Westminster to avoid public disturbances.

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February 8, 421 Constantius III became co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 1587 After twenty years of captivity in England, Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringay Castle, Northamptonshire, on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. 1601 Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebelled against Queen Elizabeth I but the revolt was quickly crushed. 1622 King James I of England disbanded the English Parliament.

History Trivia

February 7, 457 Leo I became emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1301 Edward, eldest son of Edward I was made the first English Prince of Wales, a tradition continued to this day. 1477 Saint Thomas More was born. More was martyred for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. 1497 the bonfire of the vanities occurred in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burned thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy. 1550 Julius III became pope. He maintained excellent diplomatic relations with England's Queen Mary Tudor during her turbulent reign, and expanded the Vatican Library, supported universities, and was keenly interested in the arts.

History Trivia

February 6, 337 St Julius I began his reign as Catholic Pope. Julius is credited with setting Jesus' birthday on December 25th. 1189 Riots of Lynn in Norfolk spread to Norwich England. The riots began in Lynn when the Jews attempted to attack a baptized coreligionist who had taken refuge in a church. The seafaring population rose against them, fired their houses, and put them to the sword. 1508 Maximilian I crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1685 James II of England and VII of Scotland became King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

February 5, 46 BC, Marcus Cato, the Roman philosopher, committed suicide by stabbing himself,after learning of the victory of his enemy, Julius Caesar, over Pompey at Thapsus. 62 Pompeii and Herculaneum were severely damaged by an earthquake. 1204 Alexius V was proclaimed Eastern Roman Emperor during the siege of Constantinople. 1265 Pope Clement IV was elected. 1576 Henry of Navarre abjured Catholicism at Tours and rejoined the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.

History Trivia

February 4, 211 Roman emperor Septimius Severus died at York while campaigning to subdue northern Britain, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta. 1194 King Richard I of England was freed by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, after being ransomed. Richard did return to England but soon set sail for France where he died five years later. 1586 Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, became governor of Neth (Netherlands).

History Trivia

February 3, 590 Gregory I, the Great, was elected Roman Catholic pope. He is known as the Father of Christian Worship because of his liturgical reforms. 1014 King Sweyn I (Forkbeard) of Denmark died. The Viking leader established a Danish empire, gained control of Norway, and conquered England. His name appears as Swegen in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

History Trivia

February 2, 506, The Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum, a collection of Roman law, was drafted at Toulouse under Alaric II, King of the Visigoths. 962 Pope John XII crowned Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years. 1032 Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor became King of Burgundy. 1208 James I (the Conqueror) King of Aragon was born. 1461 England's War of the Roses: Second battle of St Alban's-Lancastrians defeated Yorkists.

History Trivia

February 1, 772 Adrian I was elected pope. During one of the longest pontificates in history, he forged a strong bond with Charlemagne and presided over the Second Council at Nicea where twenty-two canons relating to points of discipline was established. 1327 Edward III was crowned King of England. 1587 Elizabeth I of England signed the Warrant of Execution for Mary (Queen of Scots).