History Trivia

March 20, 43 BC, Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso), the most versatile of the Roman poets, was born. 141 Sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 235 Maximinus Thrax was proclaimed emperor. He was the first foreigner to hold the Roman throne. 687 Saint Cuthbert, a shepherd and hermit who achieved fame as a holy man, healer, and bishop, died. 851 Ebbo of Reims, Bishop in the Carolingian empire and evangelist to Denmark, died. 1345 Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction was thought to have caused the plague epidemic. 1413 King Henry IV of England died and was succeed by his son Henry V. 1549 Thomas Seymour was executed. Seymour had married Henry VIII's widow Katherine Parr and pursued the young princess Elizabeth without success. When his piratical activities were discovered he was arrested, tried, and executed.