1429
A council of mice comes up with a plan to outsmart the Cat, but volunteers are a bit thin on the ground.
This tale dates back no earlier than the thirteenth century, though it takes the form of one of Aesop’s Fables from ancient Greece. The author was Odo, a clergyman from Cheriton in Kent, who spent several years on the Continent before coming home in 1233 and settling down to his family estates. His fable reflects, he tells us, his experience of monks chafing under corrupt abbots.
Picture: © Juanedc, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 21 2016
1430
Remembered as the inspiration of the famous Olympic road race, but much more important than that.
The Battle of Marathon is remembered today chiefly as the inspiration for the modern road race. But its real significance was that it kept Greece from being asset-stripped by Persia, and so helped to save Western civilization.
Picture: © Phokion, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted February 20 2016
1431
Socrates was placed on death row while Athens celebrated a religious festival.
The philosopher Socrates (470/469 - 399 BC) was sensationally tried for ‘corrupting youth and for impiety’, code for challenging the government of Athens. Ironically, by law his execution had to be delayed while they commemorated the abolition of human sacrifice.
Picture: © Olaf Tausch, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted February 20 2016
1432
The Wars of the Roses pitted two royal houses against each other for the crown of England.
Henry VI was a descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; his closest relative was Richard, Duke of York. From 1455 to 1471, the two royal families, the Red Rose and the White, strove bitterly for the crown of England.
Picture: US Department of Defense, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 18 2016
1433
A struggle between rival Royal Houses begins in 1455, after questions are raised about King Henry VI’s capacity to rule.
The ‘Wars of the Roses’ was coined by Sir Walter Scott as a romantic name for an off-and-on struggle for the English crown between 1455 and 1485. The rivals were the ‘white rose’ Dukes of York and the ‘red rose’ Dukes of Lancaster, and both traced their right to the crown to the sons of King Edward III.
Picture: By Henry Arthur Payne (1868-1940), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 18 2016
1434
Naaman had very fixed ideas about what it takes to get a miracle.
Joram was King of Israel (i.e. the ten northern tribes) in the middle of the ninth century BC.
Picture: © Jim Gordon, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 15 2016