Today in the Middle Ages...

Via the British Museum:

Today is Saint Crispin’s Day, date of the battle of Agincourt in 1415.

 

‘And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.’

Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3

Here is Henry V's funerary armour on display at the Shakespeare Exhibition:

This major exhibition will run until 25 November, don’t miss out:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/shakespeare_staging_the_world.aspx

Today in the Middle Ages

21 February, 1173 -- Thomas Becket is canonized...

... see, it isn't hard to get ahead (*rimshot*)

Today in the Middle Ages

14th February, 1076 -- Pope Gregory VII excommunicates King Henry IV

And thus one of history's most epic bromance is born...

Today in the Middle Ages

22nd December, 1216: Dominican order formally sanctioned...

... and for the next 792 years they fought vampires, demons and the forces of darkness.

Today in the Mid...GLORIOUS ROMAN PAST

21st September 19 BC - The Roman poet Virgil dies

21st September AD 1947 - The American author Stephen King is born

Is Stephen King the reincarnation of Virgil? Spoooooooooky...

Today in the Midd...GLORIOUS ROMAN PAST

+

=

31st August A.D. 12 - Gaius Cailgula is born

31st August A.D. 161 - Commodus is born

Wow, don't trust anyone born today (I'm looking at you Richard Gere)

Today in the Middle Ages

30th August, A.D. 526 - Theodoric the Great dies...

... and is buried in a sweet bathtub.

Today in the Middle Ages

19 July, 1374 - Francis Petrarch dies...

... and the world rejoiced.

Today in the Middle Ages

6 June, 1348 - Papal bull of Pope Clement VI which protected Jews during the Black Death.

See, the Middle Ages weren't a backwards time of religious persecution...

Also on 6 June, 1415 - Jan Hus is burned at the stake.

Oh, well maybe there was a little religious persecution. Well one out of two ain't bad.

Today in the Middle Ages

29 June, A.D. 512 - A solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland.

Between the abstinence and the isolation, the monks didn't have a lot to do.

Today in the Middle Ages

21 June, 1002 - Pope Leo IX is born...

... well okay, "Pope Leo IX" technically wasn't born on that day. Bruno von Eguisheim-Dagsburg was born. But that take way more time to type and isn't nearly as catchy.

Today in the Middle Ages

25 May, 1085 - Pope Gregory VII dies

Berman weeps...

Today in the Middle Ages

11 May, 1310 - 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics...

... fueling conspiracy novels for generations.

Today in the Midd... GLORIOUS ROMAN PAST

21st April, 753 BC - Romulus and Remus found Rome

Words cannot express my feelings for this event.

ROMA

Today in the Middle Ages

19 April, 1012 - Martyrdom of St Alphege in Greenwich, London.

What's it all about Alphege?

Today in the Middle Ages

28 March, 845 - According to a Norse saga, Viking raiders under Ragner Lodbrok captured Paris and held the city for ransom...

...thus beginning a long and glorious tradition of French surrender.

Today in the Midd... GLORIOUS ROMAN PAST

21st March, 238 - Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors.

I guess they were having good Fridays (Get it? "Good Friday." Man I crack myself up...).

Today in the Middle Ages - Leap Year Edition

29th February, 992 - St Oswald, Archbishop of York dies. Oswald was a leading force in monastic reform, founding several Benedictine monasteries.

See you in four years...

Today in the Middle Ages

24 February, AD 303 - Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published, beginning the Diocletianic Persecution the last and most severe episode of the persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire.

But hey, look at the bright side, at least a whole bunch of people got to become martyrs.

Tomorrow in the Middle Ages

1st Febuary, 1327 - Teenage Edward III is crowned King of England, but country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.

Awkward...