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… the disappearance of Osiris occurred in the month of Athyr ... this [i.e. the display of the gilded image of a cow] is kept for four days consecutively, beginning with the seventeenth of the month … On the nineteenth day they go down to the sea at night-time. 
Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, 366 E

"Come to thy house, come to thy house, O god On, come to thy house, thou who hast no foes. O fair youth, come to thy house, that thou mayest see me. I am thy sister, whom thou lovest; thou shalt not part from me. O fair boy, come to thy house ... yet doth my heart yearn after thee and mine eyes desire thee. Come to her who loves thee, who loves thee, Unnefer, blessed one! Come to thy sister, come to thy wife, to thy wife … Come to thy housewife. I am thy sister by the same mother, thou shalt not be far from me. Gods and men have buried their faces towards thee and weep for thee together … I call after thee and weep – yet am I thy sister, whom thou didst love on earth … my brother, my brother."
Isis to Osiris; Sir James George Frazer (1854 - 1941), British folklorist; The Golden Bough, 1922

... although the temple itself is very large, the sculptor is criticized for not having appreciated the correct proportions. He has shown Zeus seated, but with the head almost touching the ceiling, so that we have the impression that if Zeus moved to stand up he would unroof the temple.
Strabo (63 BCE or 64 BCE - c. 24 CE), Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, on the Statue of Zeus at Olympia

On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold... In his left hand, he holds a sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the sceptre. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory.
Pausanias, 2nd-century Greek geographical writer, on the Statue of Zeus at Olympia

'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'

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20th Anniversary Edition

Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations

Life in a Medieval Village

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Astro pic of the day

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Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature & Art (Seyffert)

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Anthony Robbins

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The bull running at Stamford

Until 1839, the November 13 bull running was a colourful tradition of the town of Stamford, Lincoln, England. The butchers of the town would purchase a wild bull for the purpose, and the shops would all be closed. In a kind of opposite ceremony to the famous bull running of Pamplona, Spain, the hapless creature was turned out of the alderman's house, whereupon the villagers ran after him with their bull-clubs.

According to ancient tradition, the sport went back to 1209, the time when William, Earl of Warren, in the time of King John, saw two bulls fighting for one cow. A butcher of the town, who owned one of the bulls, accidentally set one of his mastiffs upon his own bull which forced it into the town and all the dogs ran after it.

This caused such a commotion in the town that the earl gave the butchers in perpetuity the meadows in which the bulls were found fighting, as long as the butchers each year on this day put a mad bull into the town to be chased. A man in a barrel with both ends removed was rolled up to the animal to taunt it, and the bull would usually toss it.  

'Bridging the bull'

The bull was driven to the local bridge by the locals, who for the day were known as 'bullards', where the populace pressed in upon him and tumbled him into the water. At night, the animal was slaughtered and his carcass sold cheaply to the poor. 

Even before the rights of children were fully protected in the English-speaking world, there were laws for the protection of animals. In 1833, the SPCA started its campaign against the spectacle and, in 1836, prosecuted several people for "conspiring to disturb the peace by riotously assembling to run and torment a bull". In 1838, the Home Secretary determined to stop the custom, and sent in a large number of dragoons to stop it. A riot ensued, with injuries on both sides.

In 1839, a stronger force was sent to Stamford. The cost of the police and military was placed on the shoulders of the citizens, so the next year they discontinued the ancient tradition. For years afterwards, the townspeople would cry out "Bull! Bull!" whenever they packed out the local theatre, and would not cease until their old Bullards' Song was played (see an excerpt in the quotations section, top of this page).

The bull running was on or around Martinmas (Feast Day of St Martin, November 11), and might have pagan Horned God associations.

Last person alive (1928) to remember the bull running    The British bulldog, bred for this pursuit    More    And more

See also the Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain, July 6 in the Book of Days

Leonids meteor showers (Nov 12 - 23 annually)

Leonids in Native American history and folklore
"During the last 15 to 20 years, archeoastronomy has uncovered much concerning the astronomical beliefs of native Americans. Unfortunately, the methods of keeping records of astronomical events were not as straight forward as those of the Chinese and Europeans, as there are no books lying around. Instead, the methods of record keeping included rock and cave drawings, stick notching, beadwork, pictures on animal skins and jars, and story telling, most of which are not dateable.

"One of the few dateable events among the various records of native Americans was the 1833 appearance of the Leonid meteor shower. Historically recognized as one of the greatest meteor storms on record, it made a lasting impression among the peoples of North America.

"The most obvious accounts of the Leonid storm appear among the various bands of the Sioux of the North American plains. The Sioux kept records called 'winter counts,' which were a chronological, pictographic account of each year painted on animal skin. In 1984, Von Del Chamberlain (Smithsonian Institution) listed the astronomical references for 50 Sioux winter counts, of which 45 plainly referred to an intense meteor shower during 1833/1834. In addition, he listed 19 winter counts kept by other plains Indian tribes, of which 14 obviously referred to the Leonid storm ...
Much more at source

If you can't see nuthin' ... join the International Dark-Sky Association and help lobby governments to pass some laws to help save the human spirit!

Lamentations of Isis, ancient Egypt (Nov 13 - 14)

Today: 'Dismemberment of Osiris'. Isis and Osiris are archetypes bearing a similarity to other divine dualities such as Ishtar and Tammuz ( Damuzi), Venus and Adonis, Mary and Jesus Christ. The tears of Isis, as she lamented Osiris, were said to cause the periodic rising of the Nile; June 18 is another such event, The Egyptian story is believed to have influenced Christianity. See also the Festival of Isia, October 28.

Night of the Drop, and Cutting of the Dam, Egypt
According to Edward W Lane (An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, 1836), the night of June 17 is called 'Leylet-en-Nuktah', or 'the Night of the Drop', because "it is believed that a miraculous drop then falls into the Nile and causes it to rise". An interesting ceremony used to be performed at 'the cutting of the dam' in old Cairo. A round pillar of earth was formed; it was called the 'bride', and seeds were sown on the top of it. Lane says that an ancient Arabian historian "was told that the Egyptians were accustomed, at the period when the Nile began to rise, to deck a young virgin in gay apparel, and throw her into the river, as a sacrifice to obtain a plentiful inundation".

Related (use Search): Tears of Isis; Lamentations of Isis, Rising of the Nile)

The ides of November, ancient Rome

Commemoration of the Roman Goddess Fortuna as Fortunae Primigeniae in colle, at one of her three temples in ancient Rome

Runic half month of Nyd commences

Feast day of St Abbo of Fleury

Feast day of St Agostina Petrantoni

Feast day of St Amandus of Rennes

Feast day of St Arcadius

Feast day of St Brice (Brictio, Britius, Brixius), bishop and confessor
He became a monk under St Martin, and succeeded him to the see of Tours, where he had been born. The vicars-general and the canons of Tours, who didn't relish the idea of one day being ruled by the arrogant young Brice, urged St Martin to send him on his way. However, Martin replied, "If Christ put up with Judas, then surely I can put up with Brice".

The Golden Legend: Life of St Brice

Feast day of St Caillin

Feast day of St Chillien (Chillen; Killian), of Ireland

Feast day of St Didacus

Feast day of St Eutychianus

Feast day of St Gredifael

Feast day of St Homobonus, merchant, confessor
(Bay, Laurus poetica, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Feast day of St John Chrysostom (Eastern Orthodox)

Feast day of St Nicholas I

Feast day of Our Lady of Carmel or Garabandal, Spain
Commemorating a vision of the Virgin Mary by four children in 1965.

"'She is dressed in a white robe with a blue mantle and a crown of golden stars. Her hands are slender … Her hair, deep nut-brown, is parted in the center. Her face is long, with a fine nose. Her mouth is very pretty with lips a bit thin. She looks like a girl of eighteen. She is rather tall. There is no voice like hers …'  

"Further apparitions took place on January 18th and November 13th, 1965, both of them witnessed by Conchita. The latter is recorded by Steiger (id. p. 67) as follows: 'Our Lady of Carmel, Garabandal, 13th November 1965, received by Conchita . . "Have confidence in Us. . I am not coming only for you, Conchita, but I am coming for all my children."'"   Source

 

Feast day of St Paschasius

Feast day of St Paterniano

Feast day of St Paulillus

Feast day of St Probus

Wuwuchim (Hopi) Fire Ceremony (Nov 5 - 21)

Kitano Odori, Kyoto, Japan (Nov 1 - 15)

On which day of the week were you born? Find out here

354 St Augustine of Hippo (d. 430), African-born Bishop of Hippo, and father of the Church, (Confessiones; De civitate Dei), born at Tagaste, Numidia (now Algeria). Feast day August 28 (qv).

354? Pelagius, celebrated antagonist of St Augustine, whose birthday he shared

1312 King Edward III of England (d. 1377). He transformed the Kingdom of England into the most efficient military power in Europe. Three years after his mother, Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, overthrew Edward's father, Edward II, the 17-year-old Edward boldly snatched power from them, executing Mortimer, without trial, at Tyburn and exiling his mother in Castle Rising. Edward remained on the throne for fifty years.

A video documentary about Edward II's 'round table' building

1714 William Shenstone (d. 1763), English poet

1715 Dorothea Christiane Erxleben (d. 1762), Germany's first female physician

1768 Bertel Thorvaldsen (d. 1844), sculptor

1785 The Lady Caroline Lamb (d. January 26, 1828), British aristocrat, the only daughter of the 3^rd Earl of Bessborough. In 1812, Lady Caroline embarked on her well-publicised affair with Lord Byron, who tried to destroy her marriage to William Lamb, a politician and heir to the Viscountcy of Melbourne, so that he might have her to himself.

1792 Edward Trelawny (d. 1881), English writer

1826 Charles Frederick Worth (d. 1895), couturier

1833 Edwin Booth (d. 1893), actor

1848 Albert I of Monaco (d. 1922)

1850 Robert Louis Stevenson (d. December 3, 1894), Scottish author (Kidnapped; Treasure Island; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) who spent some of the last years of his life on the Pacific island of Samoa, originally going there for his health and staying because he loved the 'South Seas'.

He stayed some months in Sydney, Australia, in 1890, and on three other visits during the early part of the decade. On one of his visits, with his mother and some in-laws, their party was turned away from at least one Sydney hotel because they appeared to be dishevelled bohemians carrying South Sea islands souvenirs and buckets.

On February 25, 1890, from the foyer of the Union Club, Sydney, Stevenson wrote his famous diatribe, Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu. He wrote the letter, which took up nearly the whole of the front page of the broadsheet The Australian Star of May 24, 1890, in defence of Belgian missionary Father Damien (Damien De Veuster) of Molokai, Hawaii, whom Dr Charles M Hyde, a former missionary to Molokai, had accused of contracting leprosy from having sexual relations with women at the leper colony he worked in. Stevenson also stayed in Sydney at the Oxford Hotel*, and at Richmond Terrace in the Sydney Domain (while on the seas his address was care of R. Towns & Co, Sydney). Around this time, he also wrote about the poverty he witnessed in the Domain. Stevenson arrived in Sydney in February on the German steamship, Lubeck,but suffered a relapse of his serious ill health in Sydney ("being a blooming prisoner here in the club, and indeed in my bedroom" he wrote in a letter to Charles Baxter**), and, since it seemed that only in the warmer climes of the South Pacific did he ever have respite from his illness, he and his wife Fanny set sail from Sydney on April 10, on board the Janet Nicoll ("had a cruel rough passage to Auckland, for the JANET is the worst roller I was ever aboard of. I was confined to my cabin, ports closed, self shied out of the berth, stomach [pampered till the day I left on a diet of perpetual egg-nogg] revolted at ship's food and ship eating, in a frowsy bunk, clinging with one hand to the plate, with the other to the glass, and using the knife and fork [except at intervals] with the eyelid," he wrote to Sidney Colvin), visiting dozens of islands and returning to Sydney in August, by which time the writer's health had returned. They stayed until September; during this short visit he wrote to Henry James from the Union Club, "Kipling*** is too clever to live ... I must tell you plainly – I can't tell Colvin – I do not think I shall come to England more than once, and then it'll be to die. Health I enjoy in the tropics; even here, which they call sub- or semi-tropical, I come only to catch cold. I have not been out since my arrival; live here in a nice bedroom by the fireside, and read books and letters from Henry James, and send out to get his TRAGIC MUSE, only to be told they can't be had as yet in Sydney, and have altogether a placid time. But I can't go out! The thermometer was nearly down to 50 degrees the other day – no temperature for me, Mr. James: how should I do in England? ... The sea, islands, the islanders, the island life and climate, make and keep me truly happier. These last two years I have been much at sea, and I have NEVER WEARIED". From the Union Club, in September, he wrote to Mrs Charles Fairchild, "You are quite right; our civilisation is a hollow fraud, all the fun of life is lost by it; all it gains is that a larger number of persons can continue to be contemporaneously unhappy on the surface of the globe." On August 19, from the Union Club, Stevenson wrote to Marcel Schwob: "I am just now overloaded with work. I have two huge novels on hand – THE WRECKER and the PEARL FISHER, in collaboration with my stepson: the latter, the PEARL FISHER, I think highly of, for a black, ugly, trampling, violent story, full of strange scenes and striking characters. And then I am about waist-deep in my big book on the South Seas: THE big book on the South Seas it ought to be, and shall. And besides, I have some verses in the press, which, however, I hesitate to publish. For I am no judge of my own verse; self-deception is there so facile. All this and the cares of an impending settlement in Samoa keep me very busy, and a cold (as usual) keeps me in bed."

* Oxford Hotel: Sources differ as to which this was. Some say that it was the "old Oxford Hotel", apparently on King St opposite St James's Church, others say it is now the Supreme Court building. My guess is it is a confusion between two or more hotels of that name in the 1890s. If you have any more information on this or any other aspects of the visits of RLS to Sydney, I would be very grateful to hear from you, thanks.

** "This visit to Sydney has smashed me handsomely; and yet I made myself a prisoner here in the club upon my first arrival. This is not encouraging for further ventures; Sydney winter – or, I might almost say, Sydney spring, for I came when the worst was over – is so small an affair, comparable to our June depression at home in Scotland." Why he wrote this when he arrived in February, the last month of Summer, 1890, is unknown to your almanackist.

*** Sydney was getting some interesting visitors in the 1890s. Among these, Rudyard Kipling was in Sydney in mid-November, 1891, in the same week as Henry Morton Stanley. The American economist Henry George was in Sydney in May, 1890 between Stevenson's visits.

Pictured: RLS in Sydney, 1893

Visits to Sydney

First visit: Arrived February 14, 1890, in unseasonably cold weather, was so weak (he probably had tuberculosis) he had to be helped off the SS Lubeck. With his wife Fanny, step-daughter and step-son-in-law Lloyd Osbourne, he looked like part of a group of vagrants (they were somewhat bohemian in style, and carrying buckets and assorted South Sea islands curios), and they were refused entry at at least one hotel, despite the author's wealth and worldwide fame. Most reports agree he stayed at the Union Club, 2 Bligh St. A Mr GF Young, of Apollo Bay, writing in the Melbourne Argus on December 28, 1935, recalled as an office boy visiting a very ill but extremely kind RLS "in 1889" [sic] where the writer and his wife were staying at a "faded old boarding-house in Woolloomooloo that seemed so out of keeping as a residence, even temporarily, for a great hero". Stevenson was interviewed by, among other journalists, Rose de Bohème (Mme Agnes Rose-Soley; c. 1847 - 1938; she wrote 'Vailima: The Place of the Five Rivers', 1899, about RLS's home, and 'The Joys of Antarctica', 1912). Stevenson had a haemorrhage of the lung while in Sydney and spent most of his time in bed, though he did dine sometimes, and receive visitors. Departed April 11, 1890. He had to be stretchered onto the Janet Nicoll.
Second visit: Arrived August, 1890. Short stay, departure date unknown. Stayed at the Union Club.
Third visit: Arrived January, 1891. He came to meet his mother who was en route from Edinburgh to Vailima, RLS's home in Samoa. In Sydney, Stevenson fell very ill and was taken straight from his sick bed to (as one source says) the Lubeck^† where his mother attended him. While in Sydney, he is said to have stayed at the old Oxford Hotel in King St opposite St James's Church, rooms in Macquarie St and the Australian and Athenaeum^†† Clubs. Departed in March.
Fourth visit: Arrived on February 28, 1893 as a guest of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales. His health was much better this time, because Samoa had agreed with his delicate constitution. He gave numerous interviews.

Stevenson was attracted to poor and bohemian people. On his visits, he took the ferry across Sydney Harbour to see the artists' colony at Balmoral near Sydney, and might have met the artists Tom Roberts (1856 - 1931), Julian Ashton and Arthur Streeton who stayed there. While in Sydney he once stayed for a week at 'Strathmore' in Glebe, and also spent time with JF Archibald of The Bulletin.

(With thanks to Ms Bridget Reilly of the State Library of New South Wales Information Request Service, who went to considerable trouble finding much of this information for me. Any errors are entirely my own, and I fear there may be some as the information comes in part from recollections of various people, gleaned from press reports.)

^† Lubeck: So one source says, though I am unsure of this as it was the ship that brought him from Europe on his first voyage to Sydney in 1890. My guess is this should read the Janet Nicoll.

^†† Athenaeum: One source gave me that info. However, another says that on October 2, 1890 the worst fire ever in Australia at that time burnt out the whole block of Sydney bounded by Pitt and Castlereagh Streets between Hosking Place and Martin Place. It began in the premises of Gibbs, Shallard and Co., Printers (Pitt St). Businesses destroyed included the  Southern Club, the Athenaeum Club, Lark and Sons warehouses, Richardson and Wrench, City Bank, Jones and Lawson furniture.

Stevenson, Australia and Dr Hyde

"While Stevenson was in Hawaii, in June 1889 he visited the government's leper colony on Molokai. According to Fanny Stevenson, her husband had first gone to the island on a fact-finding mission, expecting to uncover the "truth" about Father Damien De Veuster, the missionary to the lepers who had died only a month earlier. His admiration was awakened by firsthand reports of the man's courage and resourcefulness which contradicted then-current rumors that the priest had contracted leprosy through intimacies with female patients. In Sydney, Australia, eight months later Stevenson read an attack in the religious press upon Damien by a Dr. Charles M. Hyde, a former missionary to Molokai, who maintained that these rumors were true. The letter by Hyde was circulated throughout the South Seas and the world. Stevenson was so provoked that he wrote his famous Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde of Honolulu (1890) in a hotel lobby, in uncharacteristic haste.

"His defense of Father Damien was curious. It did not deny Hyde's charges so much as it suggested that their publication was an indication of the meanness, cowardice, and jealousy of Hyde. Though defending Damien DeVeuster's character was a way for Stevenson to identify with the good work of the missionary priest, the defense involved some risk. Stevenson fully expected to be sued and financially ruined by Hyde--by a libel suit he knew, as a lawyer, he had little chance of winning. Luckily for the Stevensons, Hyde contented himself with dismissing the author as a crank. The episode had a profound effect on Stevenson and his work on the South Seas. He continued to champion the oppressed even when it seemed to threaten his safety and security."   Source

More on Father Damien, in the Book of Days

RL Stevenson at Project Gutenberg    World of RL Stevenson

Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

Letters before, during and after Sydney

1856 Louis Brandeis (d. 1941), Justice of the United States Supreme Court

1869 Helene Stöcker (d. February 24, 1943), German feminist, pacifist and publicist who, in 1903, founded the Bund für Mutterschutz und Sexualreform for protection of unmarried mothers and their children. In 1921, she (with Kees Boeke and Wilfred Wellock) co-founded the Internationale der Kriegsdienstgegner, an international union of pacifists.

1886 Mary Wigman (d. 1973), dancer, choreographer

1908 Hermione Baddeley (d. 1986), actress

1916 Jack Elam (d. 2003), American actor

1922 Oskar Werner (d. 1984), actor

1922 Jack Narz, game show host

1924 Motoo Kimura, population geneticist

1934 Garry Marshall, producer, director, writer, actor

1938 Jean Seberg (d. 1979), actress

1942 John Hammond, blues musician

1947 Joe Mantegna, actor

1955 Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Johnson), American actress and comedienne (movies: The Color Purple; Jumpin' Jack Flash; Sister Act; Star Trek: Nemesis and Ghost, for which she won an Oscar)

 

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867 Death of St Nicholas I, Pope.

 

A good day not to be Danish in England

1002 Ethnic cleansing: The St Brice's Day Massacre, England

This year the king and his council agreed that tribute should be given to the fleet, and peace made with them, with the provision that they should desist from their mischief. Then sent the king to the fleet Alderman Leofsy, who at the king's word and his council made peace with them, on condition that they received food and tribute; which they accepted, and a tribute was paid of 24,000 pounds. In the meantime Alderman Leofsy slew Eafy, high-steward of the king; and the king banished him from the land. Then, in the same Lent, came the Lady Elfgive Emma, Richard's daughter, to this land. And in the same summer died Archbishop Eadulf; and also, in the same year the king gave an order to slay all the Danes that were in England. This was accordingly done on the mass-day of St Brice; because it was told the king, that they would beshrew him of his life, and afterwards all his council, and then have his kingdom without any resistance.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1002

On the Feast of St Brice (successor to St Martin of Tours), the Anglo-Saxon people rose up and massacred all the Danish people living in England (mostly merchants and mercenaries), under whose Danelaw the Anglo-Saxon people were required to live. 

It is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 1002 that on St Brice's Day the Danish community in Oxford, fearing for their lives, took refuge in St Frideswide's, the minster church of the female saint who founded Oxford (Cardinal Wolsey later transformed her monastery into Christ Church College, and King Henry VIII made her church into Oxford Cathedral). The townspeople burnt down the church building with considerable loss of life. Among those said to have been murdered were Gunnhild (Gunhilda), sister of King Sweyn I ('Forkbeard') of Denmark (circa 965 - February 3, 1014; father of King Canute the Great, 994/995-1035), her husband and their son.

For it is fully agreed that to all dwelling in this country it will be well known that, since a decree was sent out by me with the counsel of my leading men and magnates, to the effect that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a most just extermination, and thus this decree was to be put into effect even as far as death, those Danes who dwelt in the afore-mentioned town, striving to escape death, entered this sanctuary of Christ, having broken by force the doors and bolts, and resolved to make refuge and defence for themselves therein against the people of the town and the suburbs; but when all the people in pursuit strove, forced by necessity, to drive them out, and could not, they set fire to the planks and burnt, as it seems, this church with its ornaments and its books. Afterwards, with God's aid, it was renewed by me.
From a royal charter by King Aethelred Unraed

This act of carnage, ordered by King Æthelred II ('the Unready') (968 - April 23, 1016) so outraged the Vikings that it led to a full scale invasion by them the following year. Æthelred's anger derived from the fact that he was paying protection money – Danegeld – to Danish warriors or Vikings, who were becoming, as he saw it, much too greedy in their demands. Both king and subjects became exasperated with the financial burden imposed on them.

Regrettably, President Æthelred, his Defence Department and his Department of Homeland Security had a pre-modern, limited apprehension of human nature, and did not foresee that their action would incense the Danes, who returned to England in 1003 to exact cruel revenge. Understandably, perhaps, for most of the next decade King Sweyn extracted 'blood-money' for the death of his sister and nephew – he took 36,000 pounds in tribute in 1005, 3,000 pounds in 1009, and 48,000 pounds in 1012.

[John of Wallingford suggests that the Vikings had to be killed because they combed their hair daily, bathed every Saturday and regularly changed their clothes – helping to undermine the virtue of married women and even seduce the daughters of nobles and make them their mistresses.

As another wayward point of interest, Æthelred, according to William of Malmesbury, as a child defecated in the baptismal font leading St Dunstan to prophesy that the English monarchy would be overthrown during Æthelred's reign; King Swein's reign fulfilled the prophecy.]

It is widely held that Hocktide games in England commemorated the Anglo-Saxon's inhumane slaughter on that cruel day. Hocktide is the Monday and Tuesday following the second Sunday after Easter.

Pictured above right: Aethelred penny from around the year 1000 CE, with a legend that reads ÆTHELRED REX ANGLO[RUM] (Æthelred, King of the English)

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle online

1093 Death of King Malcolm III of Scotland.

1170 Death of Albert I of Brandenburg, 'the Bear', Margrave of Brandenburg,.

1460 Death of Henry the Navigator, Portuguese prince and patron of African exploration.

1521 Moctezuma's nephew and successor, Cuahtemoc (his name is spelled Guatimozin in some sources) surrendered to Hernán Cortés.

1635 England: The death of Thomas Parr, allegedly 152 years old.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Thomas Parr was an English man who supposedly lived for 152 years, often referred to simply as 'Old Parr', or 'Old Tom Parr'.

He was said to have been born in 1483 near Shrewsbury, and joined the army around 1500. He did not marry until he was 80 years old. He attributed his long life to his vegetarian diet and moral temperance, although when he was around 100 years old he had an affair and an illegitimate child.

In 1635, Thomas Howard, 21^st Earl of Arundel, visited Parr and brought him to London to meet Charles I. Charles asked what Parr had done that was greater than any other man, and Parr replied that he was the oldest man to have performed penance (for his affair). In London he was treated as a spectacle, but the change in food and environment apparently caused his death. Charles I arranged for him to be buried in Westminster Abbey on November 15, 1635.

William Harvey, the physician who discovered the circulation of the blood, performed an autopsy on Parr's body.

The poet John Taylor wrote about Parr in his 1635 poem, The Old, Old, Very Old Man or the Age and Long Life of Thomas Parr.

It is likely that his records were confused with those of his grandfather. However, he did not claim to remember specific events from the 15^th Century, and he was blind and feeble when the Earl of Arundel met him, so it seems to be true that he was very old, possibly a centenarian. The whiskey brand Old Parr is named for him and recounts his claimed birth and death years on its label.

"This 'old, very old man' was discovered by the Earl of Arundel working as a farmer near his country seat. He was alleged to have married for the first time at the age of eighty and to have been forced to do penance for licentious conduct when over a hundred. Arundel brought him to London in 1635, not without difficulty, since on the journey great crowds thronged to see the old man. Parr was often in danger of being smothered, and his guards proved quite inadequate at keeping away the curious. He was put on show in the Strand for a few weeks but died soon after. This portrait of him in a coat and with a walking stick may represent his journey to London; it certainly makes the point that he was active. There is an inscription on the rock to the right which claims that Parr was 152 when he died."   Source

 

1775 American Revolutionary War: Patriot revolutionary forces under Col. Ethan Allen captured Montreal from British General Guy Carleton.

1797 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' was begun as a collaborative effort between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth while walking through the Valley of Stones near Lynmouth, England.

From 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'

And a good south wind sprung up behind ;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo !

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine ;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.

The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.

"God save thee, ancient Mariner !
From the fiends, that plague thee thus !--
Why look'st thou so ?"--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.

 

1833 The sky over the Northern Hemisphere was lit up by hundreds of thousands of 'shooting stars' (pictured). The phenomenon was observed globally on this day in 1831 and 1832.

Leonids meteor showers (Nov 12 - 23 annually)

"The Leonids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle. The meteor stream is viewable every year around November 17 and is thought to be comprised of particles ejected by the comet as it passes by the Sun. When the Earth moves through the meteor stream, the meteor shower is visible. The Leonids get their name from usually making their appearance in or near the constellation Leo.

"The Leonids are famous because their meteor showers, or storms, can be among the most spectacular. They seem to follow a 33 year cycle, associated with the 33 year orbit of Tempel-Tuttle. Storms in peak years can feature thousands of meteors per hour; notable events were observed in 1698, 1799, 1833, 1866, 1966, and 2001."

Source: Wikipedia

"On this day in 1833 a magnificent shower of falling stars terrified or enchanted the people along the whole Atlantic coast of the USA. Many people remembered the words of the Apocalypse: 'The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.' Charles Fort called it 'the most sensational celestial spectacle of the nineteenth century.'"   Source

The Falling Stars of 1833 

 

1851 USA: The Denny Party landed at Alki Point, the first settlers of what would become Seattle, Washington.

1851 The telegraph between Paris and London was opened.

1862 Alice's Adventures started.

"Lewis Carroll, 30, writes in his diary, 'Began writing the fairy-tale of Alice – I hope to finish it by Christmas.' In fact, he did, and on 26 November sent the manuscript [sample below] of Alice's Adventures Under Ground as a Christmas present to Alice Liddell, 10 [photo >], to whom he had told the story orally some months before. Carroll did not intend publication, but when a friend noticed the manuscript and recommended that Carroll publish it, he revised it under the name Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the first edition came out on 04 July 1865."    Source

 The Background & History of Alice In Wonderland

1868 Death of Gioacchino Rossini, composer (The Barber of Seville; William Tell).

1887 Bloody Sunday clashes in central London.

1907 The first helicopter-style aircraft was launched by Paul Cornu, a French bicycle-maker and engineer. The 'Direct Lifter' rose 1.5 metres in the air, lifting the inventor's brother in the air, and stayed aloft for about one minute.

1909 The Ballinger-Pinchot scandal began: Collier's magazine accused US Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of questionable dealings in Alaskan coal fields.

1909 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, left England bound for South Africa. He wrote to Hind Swaraj in Gujarat on board the Kildonan Castle on the way to South Africa from London.

1914 Mary Phelps Jacob (better known as Caresse Crosby) patented the brassiere.

1916 Prime Minister of Australia William Morris Hughes was expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.

Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

1920 Five thousand representatives from 41 nations attended the first full session of the League of Nations.

1925 The South African government called for more segregation of the races.

1933 The first recorded sit-down strike in the USA was staged by workers at the Hormel packing company, Austin, Minnesota.

"In Austin, Minnesota, striking workers at the packing plant of George A. Hormel and Company, in Austin, MN, hold the first sit-down strike in American labor history. The technique is a variation on earlier methods of striking such as refusal-to-work strikes and stay-in strikes, and proves the most effective of the three in discouraging violence. Three days later, the Industrial Commission of Minnesota begins mediation hearings, and by mid-December the strike is peaceably resolved. During the 1960s, various types of protest movements adopt the sit-down technique, especially as a method of disarming overly aggressive authorities."   Source

1940 The animated feature-length film, Fantasia, was released.

1941 World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was torpedoed by U 81, resulting in its sinking on November 14.

1942 World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal – Aviators from the USS Enterprise sank the Japanese heavy cruiser BB- Hiei.

1945 General Charles de Gaulle was elected President of the French Provisional Government.

1953 Robin Hood communistic, Indiana Textbook Commission member charges.

1954 Australia's first automatic time telephone service was introduced.

1960 Sammy Davis, Jr married Swedish actress May Britt. Interracial marriage was still illegal in 31 US states out of 50. While so-called miscegenation laws were ruled unconstitutional in the United States by the Supreme Court in 1967, those laws were not completely repealed in individual states until November 2000 when Alabama became the last state to repeal its law.

1961 Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny succeeded Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shelepin as head of the KGB.

1969 Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, DC staged a symbolic March Against Death.

March Against Death in Washington, DC

"In Washington, as a prelude to the second moratorium against the war scheduled for the following weekend, protesters stage a symbolic "March Against Death." The march begins at 6 p.m. with over 45'000 participants, each with a placard bearing the name of a soldier who had died in Vietnam. The marchers began at Arlington National Cemetery and continued past the White House, where they called out the names of the dead. The march lasted for two days and nights. This demonstration and the moratorium that followed did not produce a change in official policy — although President Nixon was deeply angered by the protests, he publicly feigned indifference and they had no impact on his prosecution of the war."   Source

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 

1970 A 160-kph (100-mph) tropical cyclone hit the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people (this is regarded as the 20^th century's worst cyclone disaster).

Losses included more than a million acres of rice paddies (including app. 800,000 tons of grain), a million head of livestock, and an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 human lives. Delayed and half-hearted rescue and relief attempts on the part of the distant capital resulted in the death of thousands more and created a refugee population that numbered in the tens of thousands. This precipitated the civil war which eventually led to the establishment of Bangladesh.  Source: The Daily Bleed  

 

1974 Karen Gay Silkwood (b. 1946), 28, American nuclear plant worker and whistle-blower, was killed in a car crash under suspicious circumstances. During the week prior to her death, Silkwood was reportedly gathering evidence for her labor union to support her claim that Kerr-McGee was negligent in maintaining plant safety. In November 1974, Silkwood tested positive for plutonium contamination.

Karen Silkwood's story has achieved worldwide fame as the subject of many books, magazine and newspaper articles, and even a major motion picture (Silkwood, 1983).

More    Silkwood v Kerr-McGee Corp. (1984)

 

1982 USA: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington DC after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.

1985 The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buried Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people.

1989 Australia: After attacking a gorilla in its cage at Melbourne Zoo, a Tasmanian man was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

1990 English scientist, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, wrote the first known World Wide Web page. The first web site Berners-Lee built (and therefore the first web site) was at http://info.cern.ch/info.cern.ch and was first put online on August 6, 1991.

Berners-Lee is author of Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web.

First known web page    December 31, 2003, BBCNews: Web's inventor gets a knighthood

1994 Voters in Sweden decided to join the European Union in a referendum.

1995 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Six people, including five Americans, were killed when two bomb blasts hit a military training and communications centre

2001 Doha Round: The World Trade Organization ended a four-day ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar.

2001 War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W Bush signed a Military Order (Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism) allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States. Critics describe military commissions as, literally, unprecedented and that the officials implementing the commissions would be making up the rules as they went along.

Myths of the War on Terrorism and Iraq    Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)    Killing Habeas Corpus

2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agreed to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441.

2002 The oil tanker Prestige sank off the Galician coast and caused a huge oil spill.

Tomorrow: Intrepid Nellie Bly

 

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Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research.
I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude.
© My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply.

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