History Trivia

November 16, 42 BC Tiberius was born. He was Roman Emperor from 14-37 AD, during the adult life of Christ. 13 Tiberius' triumphant procession through Rome after his siege of Germany occurred this day. 534 A second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus (collection of the Roman imperial constitutions mainly referring to those of the age of Hadrian) was published. 1272 King Henry III of England died. Only nine years old when his father, King John, died, Henry was the first English monarch to be crowned while still a child. Upon reaching adulthood, his indifference to tradition and lack of effective ruling ability resulted in the barons forcing him to agree to a series of reforms known as the Provisions of Oxford.

History Trivia

November 15, 655 Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia was defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Although the battle was said to be the most important between the early northern and southern divisions of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, few details are available. Significantly, the battle marked the effective demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism. 1397 Pope Nicholas V was born. Known as the Humanist Pope, he had a significant role in the founding of the Vatican Library. 1515 England's Thomas Wolsey was invested as a Cardinal.

History Trivia

November 14,565 Emperor Justinian died. Ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) from 527 to 565, Justinian was dynamic and ambitious, and shared many policy-making decisions with his wife, Theodora. They reclaimed much of the western empire, reformed Roman law, and rebuilt Constantinople. 1501 Arthur Tudor of England married Katherine of Aragon.

History Trivia

November 13, 354 Saint Augustine was born. He was one of the earliest Christian theologians, and author of The City of God, and, Confessions, two of the best-known religious writings of all time. 867 Pope Nicholas I died. 1002 Ethelred the Unready (Ethelred II) ordered the St Brice's Day Massacre - the murder of all Danes in England. 1093, Malcolm III MacDuncan, King of Scots, was killed while laying siege to Alnwick in an invasion of England. He was succeeded by his brother Donald Bane. 1160 Louis VII of France married Adele of Champagne. 1312 King Edward III of England was born. 1553 English Lady Jane Grey and Bishop Cranmer were accused of high treason. 1642 First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green – the Royalist forces withdrew in the face of the Parliamentarian army and failed to take London.

History Trivia

November 12, 607 Boniface III died. Before he became Pope, Boniface went as a legate to Constantinople and obtained from the emperor Phocas an edict that recognized the See of Rome as the head of all the churches. 1035 Canute the Great died. King Canute I of England was also King Canute II of Denmark and King Canute of Norway, and was known as "the Great" because of the empire he built in Britain and Scandinavia. 1276 Suspicious of the intentions of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales, English King Edward I resolves to invade Wales 1439 Plymouth, England, became the first town incorporated by the English Parliament. 1555 The English Parliament re-established Catholicism.

November 11, 308 At Carnuntum, Emperor emeritus Diocletian conferred with Galerius, Augustus of the East, and Maximianus, the recently returned former Augustus of the West, in an attempt to restore order to the Roman Empire. 887 Asser began Instructing King Alfred. The Welsh monk who taught and counseled the King, became his friend and biographer, and began teaching him Latin on St. Martin's Day. Alfred went on to translate the work of Boethius into English. 1050 AD Henry IV was born. He was King of Germany 1056-1106, who tried to depose Pope Gregory VII, and had to stand barefoot in the snow for three days before Gregory would pardon him, although Henry got his revenge later. 1215 The Fourth Lateran Council met and defined the doctrine of transubstantiation, the process by which bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. 1417 Martin V Elected Pope. Elected unanimously during the Council of Constance, Martin was faced with the enormous task of restoring the Western church, the Papal States, and the papacy itself. 1499 Pretender to the British throne Perkin Warbeck was executed. 1572 Tycho's Nova. Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed the Nova Cassiopeiae and, although other observers claimed to have spotted it earlier, his precise measurements revealed it was a distant phenomenon and that changes could occur among stars.

History Trivia

November 10, 461 St Leo I ended his reign as Catholic Pope. 627 Saint Justus died. The fourth archbishop of Canterbury, Justus had a role in converting Northumbria to Christianity. 911 Conrad I was elected German King. 1444 The Battle of Varna: The Turkish victory over a Hungarian force ended the efforts of European powers to save Constantinople from Turkish conquest. 1483 Martin Luther was born. 1520 Danish King Christian II executed dozens of people in the Stockholm Bloodbath after a successful invasion of Sweden. 1619 René Descartes had the dreams that inspired his Meditations on First Philosophy.