1387
One of the Emperor Galerius’s most trusted generals openly defied him.
At the end of the 3rd century, Christians of the pagan Roman Empire were comparatively free: they built churches, founded schools, and established networks of charity and goodwill that the authorities both envied and feared. One Emperor sent in the army to nip the flower in the bud, but George, one of his most senior military commanders, would have no part in it.
Picture: © OneArmedMan, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted April 24 2016
1388
For centuries, northern countries from Russia to England have laid the catkins of the willow tree before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.
Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Day and the start of Holy Week, has been celebrated with willow branches in colder climes, including England, for centuries.
Picture: © Paul Dickson, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted April 23 2016
1389
Alexander the Great dropped a hint to his sycophantic entourage.
In 336 BC, the young Alexander, son of Philip II of Macedon, was just beginning his astonishing rise to be King of all Greece and Asia. Like all great men, he was surrounded by tittering hangers-on; one wonders if they quite got the hint he gave them here.
Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted April 22 2016
1391
Anne Elliot resents being expected to court the society of anyone simply because of social status.
Anne Elliot’s snobbish father Sir Walter, of Camden Place in Bath, usually wastes no time on those who fall short of his exacting standards in beauty or manners. But as Anne complains to her attentive cousin, Mr Elliot, he makes a grovelling exception for his aristocratic relations, the Dalrymples.
Picture: © Maurice Pullin, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted April 19 2016
1392
Robert Clive turned seven hundred frightened recruits into crack troops by sheer force of personality.
By the Spring of 1752, the power of the French in India was waning, thanks to young Robert Clive of the East India Company’s militia. Now he was utterly exhausted, and ready for home; but he reckoned he had strength and time enough to capture a couple more forts and still marry Margaret Maskelyne in Madras before his ship sailed.
Picture: By an anonymous Indian artist c. 1765-70, via the Victoria and Albert Museum and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted April 17 2016