History Trivia

February 26,364 Valentinian I was proclaimed Roman Emperor.1266, Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeated a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred was killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invested Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.

History Trivia

February 25, 38 The Emperor Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor. 1570 Elizabeth I was declared a heretic by Pope Pius V and was excommunicated.

History Trivia

February 24,30 AD, tradition has it that 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. 1303 The Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Roslin,the First War for Scottish Independence. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII published his plans for calendar reform - the 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 died. Humphrey was the fourth son of King Henry IV and a strong supporter of humanism,patronizing English and Italian artists, writers and philosophers, for which he was known as "Good Duke Humphrey." Unfortunately, his political acumen was not as good. Although he served his brother, Henry V, in a series of campaigns in the Hundred Year's War, after Henry died and he was named temporary regent for the infant Henry VI, he soon began a feud with Chancellor Henry Beaufort that lasted for more than twenty years. The feud ended with the arrest of Gloucester and his subsequent death from, most likely, natural causes five days later, but the poor timing of his demise led to a rumor that he had been murdered, which was used as a rallying point in later uprisings.

History Trivia

February 22, 1276 AD Innocent V was crowned Roman Catholic pope. 1495 King Charles VIII of France entered Naples to claim the city's throne.

History Trivia

February 21, 362 Athanasius returned to Alexandria. 1245 Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, was granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery. 1173 Thomas Á 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. The trial that had begun in secret in January was at last brought before the public. Joan's request to attend mass beforehand was refused, but she swore to tell the truth and she did so. However, she managed to evade revealing anything she had said to her king. Ultimately, Joan was sentenced to death and burned at the stake. 1437: King James I of Scotland was murdered in the Dominican Friary at Perth by a group led by Sir Robert Graham. James' son, Sir Robert Stewart, was the King's Chamberlain, and it was he who found a willing assassin in Sir Robert Graham, a man with his own grudge and a scarred memory of the imprisonment and banishment. Graham and his eight confederates broke into the room, dragged out the fighting King, and butchered him with twenty-eight dagger-strokes. The Queen was wounded in her efforts to save her husband, and Walter of Atholl, Robert Stewart, Robert Graham and his hired cutthroats were soon taken, and suffered long and appalling torture until the Queen's grief was satisfied andthey were sent to the merciful headsman.

History Trivia

February 20,1472 Orkney and Shetland were pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark. 1547 Edward VI of England was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.