History Trivia

January 5, 1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England, died. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, and ruled from 1042 to 1066. 1477 Charles the Bold was killed at the Battle of Nancy at which time Burgundy became part of France. 1500 Duke Ludovico Sforza conquered Milan. 1554 A great fire occurred in Eindhoven, Netherlands. 1531 Pope Clemens VII forbade English king Henry VIII to re-marry.

Literary Underground Book of the Month

The Briton and the Dane (The Special Edition) is the featured release for the book of the month at Literary Underground.

http://litunderground.com/BookoftheMonth.html

History Trivia

January 4, 46 BC Julius Caesar defeated Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. 48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Greece in pursuit of his rival, Pompey, whom he later defeated at Pharsalus. 871, at the Battle of Reading Ethelred of Wessex fought and was badly defeated by a Danish invasion army. 1642 King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament. 1698 most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.

History Trivia

January 3, 106 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero was born. 1431 Joan of Arc was handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Legal proceedings began on 9 January 1431 at Rouen, the seat of the English occupation government where Joan was found guilty of heresy, and was burned at the stake on May 30. 1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested a flying machine. 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther, German theologian and Protestant reformer for heresy, in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

History Trivia

January 2, 69 Vitellius was named emperor. 366 The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine River in large numbers and invaded the Roman Empire. 533 Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy. 1492 Moorish Granada fell, completing the reconquest of Spain by Christian monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. 1602 Battle at Kinsale, Ireland: English army defeated Spanish forces.

History Trivia

January 1 45 BC Julius Caesar's calendar reform: 365 days in 12 months with leap years every four years was introduced. 43 BC Cicero delivered his Fifth Philippic (fifth of a series of speeches condemning Mark Antony) in the Roman Senate. 27 BC Octavian became the first emperor of Rome and took the name Caesar Augustus. 404 Last gladiator competition in Rome. 1431 Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) was born. 1600 Scotland began its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25. 1651 Charles II was crowned King of Scotland.1801 The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland created the United Kingdom.

History Trivia

December 31, 192 The Roman emperor Commodus, whose brutal reign ended 90 years of peaceful prosperity, was assassinated. 406 Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, which began an invasion of Gaul. 535 Byzantine General Belisarius completed the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year. 870 Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beat the Danish invasion army. 1229 James I of Aragon the Conqueror entered Medina Mayurqa (Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.1502 Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupied Urbino (walled city in the Marche region of Italy).