History Trivia

December 14, 867 AD Adrian II was elected Roman Catholic pope. Adrian had difficulties with international politics. The eighth ecumenical council and the fourth Council of Constantinople took place during his reign. He died on this date in 872. 872 AD John VIII was elected Roman Catholic pope on the very day Pope Adrian II died. His pontificate was marked with political intrigue, and he is believed to have been murdered by conspirators involved in a plot of local politics. 1503Nostradamus was born. Author of a collection of predictions in quatrains published in the book Centuries, Nostradamus gained fame in his lifetime when some of his prophecies appeared to come true. 1542 Princess Mary Stuart became Queen Mary I of Scotland.

History Trivia

December 13 863 Boudouin with the Iron Arm, earl of Flanders, wed Charles II the Bald of France's daughter Judith. He was daring warrior who fell in love with the youthful widow of two English kings, married her and fled with his bride to Lorraine. Charles, though at first angry, was at last conciliated, and made his son-in-law margrave of Flanders, which he held as a hereditary fief. The Norsemen were continually devastating the coastlands at this time, and Baldwin was entrusted with this outlying borderland in order to defend it. He was the first of a line of strong rulers of Flanders, who early in the 10th century exchanged the title of margrave for that of count. 1294 Saint Celestine V resigned the papacy after only five months; Celestine, who founded the Celestine order, was the first pope to abdicate. He had accepted the position only because the papacy had been vacant for years and needed a leader. In his eighties when elected, the work proved too problematic, and he resigned. 1545 Council of Trent began. The council would pass legislation dealing with the doctrinal challenges of the Protestant Reformation.

History Trivia

December 12 884 Charles the Fat inherited the West Frankish lands and briefly reunited the empire of his ancestor Charlemagne. 1098 First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breached the town's walls and massacred about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resorted to cannibalism. 1112 Tancred of Antioch died. 1189 Richard I left England, where he spent less than six months of his reign, to join the Third Crusade. 1408, The Order of the Dragon a monarchical chivalric order was created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, then King of Hungary.

History Trivia

December 11, The Ancient Roman religious festival Agonalia was held. The festival was also celebrated on January 9th, March 17th and May 21st. On each day a ram was sacrificed, probably as an offering to deities Janus and Angonius. 359 Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, took office. 969 Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II was assassinated by his wife Theofano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes. 1192 Richard I (the Lionheart) was captured by Leopold, Duke of Austria, as he returned from the Third Crusade. 1282 Llywellyn the Last, the last native Prince of Wales, was killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales by King Edward I of England soldiers. 1475 Pope Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici) was born. Leo contributed strongly to the power of the papacy, made Rome a center of culture, and excommunicated Martin Luther.

History Trivia

December 10, 1520 Martin Luther burned his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate. 1541 Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham were executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and fifth wife of Henry VIII. Culpeper was beheaded and Dereham was hanged, drawn, and quartered, and their heads were placed on top of London Bridge. Catherine remained imprisoned in Syon Abbey until Parliament passed a bill of attainder on 7 February 1542. The bill made it treason, and punishable by death, for a queen consort to fail to disclose her sexual history to the king within twenty days of their marriage, or to incite someone to commit adultery with her. This solved the matter of Catherine's supposed precontract and made her unequivocally guilty. She was subsequently taken to the Tower on 10 February and was executed on February 13th.

History Trivia

December 9, 536 Byzantine General Belisarius entered Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully left the city, returning the old capital to its Empire. 1165 King Malcolm IV of Scotland died; his short reign was marked by rebellion and tension with his cousin Henry II of England. 1425 The Catholic University of Leuven, the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium was founded by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.

History Triivia

December 8,65 BC Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) was born. He was one of the most familiar and admired of the Roman poets. 877 Louis II, the Stammerer, was crowned King of France. 1542 Mary, Queen of Scots was born. 1609 Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Milan Italy) opened its reading room, the second public library of Europe. 1660 The first Shakespearian actress to appear on an English stage (believed to be a Ms. Norris) made her debut as Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello.