1399
The prospect of facing daunting odds made his cousin quail, but Henry V acted like a true King.
The centrepiece of William Shakespeare’s play Henry V (?1599) is the Battle of Agincourt on October 25th, 1415, when Henry V clashed with the Dauphin (heir to the French crown) in a winner-takes-all struggle for England’s estates in France. That morning, an edgy Duke of Westmoreland regrets not bringing more men from England; but his cousin, King Henry, will have none of such talk.
Posted February 24 2016
1400
Hoping to please opinion at home, the French Emperor pressured the Turks into new outrages against their Christian population, and Russia hit back.
The Crimean War of 1853-1856 cost over 600,000 lives, and in the short term changed very little for those involved. It all started because the French Emperor, Napoleon III, wanted to curry favour with Roman Catholic opinion in Europe, but in no time at all France, Russia and Britain had committed themselves to positions from which they could not back down.
Posted February 22 2016
1401
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.
Posted February 21 2016
1402
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.
Posted February 20 2016
1403
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.
Posted February 20 2016
1404
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.
Posted February 18 2016