History Trivia

October 15, 70 BC, Virgil was born. He is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the Roman Empire. 533 Byzantine general Belisarius made his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals. 1389 Pope Urban VI died. The election of Urban sparked the Western Schism, which lasted nearly 40 years. 1501English crown prince Arthur married Catherine of Aragon. 1520 King Henry VIII of England ordered bowling lanes at Whitehall. 1537 Prince Edward Tudor was baptized. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.

History Trivia

October 14, 222 Pope Callixtus I was killed by a mob in Rome's Trastevere (west bank of the Tiber River) after a 5-year reign in which he had stabilized the Saturday fast three times per year, with no food, oil, or wine to be consumed on those days. Callixtus was succeeded by Cardinal Urban I. 530 Boniface became sole pope. The brief schism that had resulted from both Boniface II and Dioscorus being consecrated as pope ended with Dioscorus' death. 996 Hugh Capet, the French king and founder of the Capetian line, died in Paris at age 56. 1066 Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings – In England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated the English army and killed King Harold II of England. 1322 Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence. 1586 Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England.

History TRivia

October 13, 54 Emperor Claudius died from poison given him by his physician Xenophon and his empress Agrippina, and Nero became emperor of Rome. 409 Vandals (East Germanic tribe) and Alans (group of Sarmatian tribes) crossed the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania (Iberian Peninsula, modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Gibraltar). 1307, on Friday the 13th, Hundreds of Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, and were later tortured into a confession of heresy. 1399 Henry IV of England was crowned.

History Trivia

October 12, 539 BC The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia (founder of the Achaemenid Empire) seized Babylon. 1216 King John of England lost the crown jewels in The Wash, possibly near Fosdyke or near Sutton Bridge. 1428 the Siege of Orleans began which lasted until Joan of Arc persuaded King Charles VII of France to send an army to relieve the city in April. 1537 King Edward VI was born; he was the only son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour (third wife); he became King at the age of 9 and died in his early teens.

History Trivia

October 11, 732, Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer), the great Frankish leader, defeated an army of 90,000 Saracens in the famous Battle of Tours, ending the Moorish Islamic advance into Europe. In 1303 Pope Boniface VIII died. He instituted the first Jubilee (special year of remission of sins and universal pardon). 1521 Pope Leo X granted Henry VIII the title Defender of the Faith for a tract defending Catholicism. 1542 Thomas Wyatt died. The English lyrical poet is credited with introducing the sonnet into English. 1551 John Dudley, Earl of Warwick was made the Duke of Northumberland. 1537 Lady Jane Grey, Britain's nine day queen, was born, the exact date is not known.

Interesting 20th Century fact: 1982 Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose was raised to the surface after 437 years at the bottom of the Solent.

History Trivia

October 10, 732 Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, the leader of the Franks, Charles Martel and his men, defeated a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, was killed during the battle. 1361 Prince Edward (Black Prince) married Joan Plantagenet. The "Fair Maid of Kent" was not considered the ideal wife for the heir of the English throne. Joan was the mother of Richard II. 1471 Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm: Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with the help of farmers and miners, repelled an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark. 1575 Battle of Dormans (battle during the 5th war of religion in France): Roman Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others. 1580 After a three-day siege, the English Army beheaded over 600 Irish and Papal soldiers and civilians at Dún an Óir, Ireland. 1631 During the Thirty Years War a Saxon army successfully entered Prague (capital and largest city of the Czech Republic). The war was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe, and was was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.

History Trivia

October 9, 28 BC The Temple of Apollo was dedicated on the Palatine Hill in Rome. 768 Carloman I and Charlemagne were crowned Kings of The Franks. 1000 Leif Ericson, the great Norse explorer, became the first European to land in North America, which he called Vinland. The date is celebrated as Leif Ericson Day in Norway. 1047 Pope Clement II died. 1390 King John I of Castile was killed in a fall from his horse while riding in a fantasia (equestrian performance) with some of the light horsemen known as the farfanes, who were mounted and equipped in the Arab style. 1192 Richard the Lionheart left Jerusalem in disguise. 1470 Henry VI of England restored to the throne. 1514 Marriage of Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor. 1529 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was indicted for using his power illegally. His failure to secure the annulment of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is widely perceived to have directly caused his downfall and arrest. 1536 The Pilgrimage of Grace, popular rising in York, Yorkshire, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances, began.