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February 14

February 14

February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 320 days remaining, 321 in leap years.

Events


- 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German sign a treaty.
- 1014 - Pope Boniface I recognizes Henry of Bavaria as King of Germany.
- 1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1556 - Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
- 1575 - Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont
- 1743 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister.
- 1779 - James Cook is killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands.
- 1797 - John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent & Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson led the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent near Gibraltar.
- 1803 - Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of U.S. Congress which conflicts with the Constitution is void.
- 1804 - Karadjordje leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1831 - Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
- 1849 - In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
- 1854 - Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed.
- 1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
- 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone,as does Elisha Gray.
- 1879 - The War of the Pacific breaks out when Chilean armed forces occupy the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
- 1895 - First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play The Importance of Being Earnest at the St James's Theatre in London).
- 1899 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
- 1900 - Russia responds to international pressure to free Finland by tightening imperial control over the country.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
- 1903 - The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Labor).
- 1912 - Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
- 1912 - In Groton, Connecticut, the first diesel-powered submarine is commissioned.
- 1918 - The movie Tarzan of the Apes is released.
- 1918 - The Soviet Union adopts the Gregorian calendar (1 February according to the Julian calendar).
- 1920 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1924 - IBM corporation founded.
- 1929 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangster rivals of Al Capone are murdered in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1943 - World War II:Rostov, Russia is liberated.
- 1943 - World War II: The Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia.
- 1944 - World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
- 1945 - Bombing of Dresden in World War II: The British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.
- 1945 - Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru join the United Nations.
- 1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.
- 1946 - The Bank of England is nationalized.
- 1946 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania.
- 1949 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
- 1949 - The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
- 1952 - 1952 Winter Olympic Games open in Oslo, Norway.
- 1961 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
- 1962 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
- 1966 - Australian currency is decimalised.
- 1979 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
- 1980 - 1980 Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York.
- 1980 - Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from CBS Evening News.
- 1985 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
- 1989 - Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal Disaster.
- 1989 - Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie.
- 1989 - The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit.
- 1998 - Authorities in the United States announce that Eric Robert Rudolph is a suspect in an Alabama abortion clinic bombing.
- 2000 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
- 2002 - The Tullaghmurray Lass sinks off the coast of Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland killing three members of the same family on board.
- 2004 - In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
- 2005 - Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, is assassinated, prompting the Cedar Revolution (Intifada of Independence).

Births


- 1404 - Leone Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (d. 1472)
- 1483 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder of the Moghul dynasty (d. 1530)
- 1602 - Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
- 1680 - John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (d. 1737)
- 1692 - Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (d. 1754)
- 1701 - Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (d. 1773)
- 1763 - Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
- 1766 - Thomas Malthus, English economist (d. 1834)
- 1812 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (d. 1846)
- 1819 - Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico (d. 1880)
- 1847 - Anna Howard Shaw, American women's suffrage leader (d. 1919)
- 1848 - Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)
- 1856 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (d. 1931)
- 1869 - Charles Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- 1884 - Hezekiah M. Washburn, missionary (d. 1972)
- 1890 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (d. 1956)
- 1894 - Jack Benny, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
- 1895 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
- 1898 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
- 1903 - Stu Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1905 - Thelma Ritter, American actress (d. 1969)
- 1912 - Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (d. 1988)
- 1913 - Mel Allen, American sports reporter (d. 1996)
- 1913 - Woody Hayes, American college football coach (d. 1987)
- 1913 - Jimmy Hoffa, American labor union leader (disappeared 1975)
- 1916 - Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director
- 1916 - Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1917 - Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1921 - Hugh Downs, American game show host
- 1927 - Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress
- 1929 - Vic Morrow, actor (d. 1982)
- 1931 - Brian Kelly, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1932 - Alexander Kluge, German actor and film director
- 1934 - Michel Corboz, Swiss conductor
- 1934 - Florence Henderson, American actress
- 1936 - Fanne Foxe, Argentine dancer
- 1936 - Andrew Prine, American actor
- 1941 - Donna Shalala, American politician, educator
- 1941 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator (d. 1997)
- 1942 - Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
- 1943 - Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
- 1944 - Carl Bernstein, American journalist
- 1944 - Alan Parker, British film director and writer
- 1945 - Frank Welker, American actor
- 1946 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
- 1946 - Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)
- 1948 - Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster and television host
- 1948 - Teller, American magician (Penn and Teller)
- 1959 - Renee Fleming, Canadian soprano
- 1960 - Jim Kelly, American football player
- 1960 - Meg Tilly, Canadian actress
- 1962 - Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist
- 1963 - Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor
- 1963 - Zach Galligan, American actor
- 1967 - Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
- 1968 - Jules Asner, American model and television personality
- 1970 - Simon Pegg, English comedian, writer, and actor
- 1971 - Noriko Sakai, Japanese singer
- 1972 - Drew Bledsoe, American football player
- 1972 - Rob Thomas, American musician (matchbox twenty)
- 1973 - Steve McNair, American football player
- 1978 - Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
- 1979 - Antonio Chatman, American football player
- 1980 - Fatima Leyva, Mexican footballer
- 1985 - Philippe Senderos, Swiss footballer
- 1992 - Freddie Highmore, British actor
- 1994 - Paul Butcher, actor from Zoey 101

Deaths


- 1317 - Marguerite of France, queen of Edward I of England (b. 1282)
- 1400 - King Richard II of England (murdered) (b. 1367)
- 1405 - Timur, Mongol conqueror (b. 1336)
- 1523 - Pope Adrian VI
- 1676 - Abraham Bosse, French engraver and artist
- 1737 - Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
- 1744 - John Hadley, inventor (b. 1682)
- 1779 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (b. 1728)
- 1780 - William Blackstone, English jurist (b. 1723)
- 1808 - John Dickinson, American lawyer and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (b. 1732)
- 1831 - Vincente Guerrero, Mexican revolutionary hero (b. 1782)
- 1831 - Henry Maudslay, English inventor (b. 1771)
- 1929 - Tom Burke, American runner (b. 1875)
- 1943 - Dora Gerson, German actress, cabaret singer, and Holocaust victim (b. 1899)
- 1943 - David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
- 1959 - Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (b. 1898)
- 1969 - Vito Genovese, American gangster (b. 1897)
- 1970 - Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (b. 1880).
- 1974 - Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1903)
- 1975 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
- 1975 - P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
- 1979 - Adolph Dubs, American diplomat (b. 1920)
- 1983 - Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
- 1987 - Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (b. 1904)
- 1988 - Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (b. 1901)
- 1989 - James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
- 1994 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed) (b. 1936)
- 1994 - Michael Gazzo, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1999 - John Ehrlichman, American presidential advisor (b. 1925)
- 2002 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Dolly the sheep, first cloned mammal (b. 1996)
- 2003 - Johnny Longden, English jockey (b. 1907)
- 2004 - Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
- 2005 - Najai Turpin, American boxer
- 2005 - Rafik Hariri, Lebanese politician and billionaire businessman (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances


- Denmark - Gaekkebrev - gift exchange by school kids
- Mexico - Day of National Mourning (1831)
- Arizona - Admission Day (1912)
- Oregon - Admission Day (1859)
- Western World - Valentine's Day
- Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Valentine
- Catholicism - Feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050214.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 13 - February 15 - January 14 - March 14 -- historical anniversaries ko:2월 14일 ms:14 Februari ja:2月14日 simple:February 14 th:14 กุมภาพันธ์

45 (number)

45 is the natural number following 44 and followed by 46.
Cardinal forty-five
Ordinal45th (forty-fifth)
Factorization 3^2 \cdot 5
Divisors 3, 5, 9, 15
Roman numeralXLV
Binary101101
Hexadecimal2D

In mathematics

Forty-five is a triangular number, a hexagonal and 16-gonal number, a Kaprekar number and a Harshad number.

In astronomy


- Messier object M45, a magnitude 1.4 open cluster in the constellation Taurus, also known as the Pleiades
- The New General Catalogue object NGC 45, a magnitude 10.6 spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus
- The Saros number of the solar eclipse series which began on -1436 March 30 and ended on -156 May 7. The duration of Saros series 45 was 1280.1 years, and it contained 72 solar eclipses.
- The Saros number of the lunar eclipse series which began on -1369 August 19 and ended on 182 March 8. The duration of Saros series 45 was 1550.6 years, and it contained 87 lunar eclipses.

In other fields

March 8]] Forty-five is also:
- The atomic number of rhodium
- The total of books in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible in the Catholic version if the Book of Lamentations is considered part of the Book of Jeremiah.
- In years of marriage, the sapphire wedding anniversary.
- In reference to gramophone records, 45 refers to a type of record by its revolution speed of 45 revolutions per minute (rpm). These small discs usually contained one song on each side which resulted in calling such records singles.
  - Originally the 45 RPM record was introduced as a longer play version of the 78 RPM discs. The first 45 RPM records were monaural with recordings on both sides of the Disc. Produced in several sizes, the 7" large hole version became the most popular. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 RPM records were produced in Stereo by the end of the decade.
  - See also: 78, LP and 33.
- The title of a book of essays by record producer Bill Drummond, derived both from the speed of a pop single and from his age when he finished writing it.
- The caliber of some handguns.
- a card game: Forty-five
- The retired uniform number of former pitcher Bob Gibson
- I-45 is the designation for a US interstate highway in Texas.
- The code for international direct dial phone calls to Denmark.
- The '45 refers to the 1745 Jacobite Rising in Great Britain.
- The year AD 45, 45 BC, and 1945.
- The forty fifth edition of the newspaper The North Briton published by John Wilkes Category:Integers ko:45 ja:45



Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

842

Events


- Oaths of Strasbourg — alliance of Louis the German and Charles the Bald against emperor Lothar — sworn and recorded in vernacular languages.
- Ramiro I succeeds Alfonso II as king of Asturias.
- Three year old Michael III succeeds Theophilus (emperor) as emperor of Byzantium.
- Uurad is succeeded by Bred, then Kineth.
- End of the reign of caliph Moqtasim.
- Charles the Bald marries Ermentrude.

Deaths


- January 5 - Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 794)
- Emperor Saga of Japan (b. 786)
- Alfonso II of Asturias (b. 759)
- Theophilus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 813) Category:842 ko:842년

Louis the German

Louis the German (also known as Louis II) (804 - August 28, 876), the third son of the emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Irmengarde, was ruler of Eastern Francia from 817 until his death. His early years were partly spent at the court of his grandfather, Charlemagne, whose special affection he is said to have won. When the emperor Louis divided his dominions between his sons in 817, Louis received Bavaria and the neighbouring lands, but did not undertake the government until 825, when he became involved in war with the Wends and Sorbs on his eastern frontier. In 827 he married Emma, sister of his stepmother Judith, and daughter of Welf I, whose possessions ranged from Alsace to Bavaria. Louis soon began to interfere in the quarrels arising from Judith's efforts to secure a kingdom for her own son Charles (later known as Charles the Bald), and the consequent struggles of Louis and his brothers with the emperor Louis I. When the elder Louis died in 840 and his eldest son Lothar claimed the whole Empire, Louis allied with his half-brother, (now) king Charles the Bald, and defeated Lothar at Fontenoy in June 841. In June 842, the three brothers met on an island in the Saone to negotiate a peace, and each appointed forty representatives to arrange the boundaries of their respective kingdoms. This developed into the Treaty of Verdun concluded in August 843, by which Louis received the bulk of the lands of the Carolingian empire lying east of the Rhine, together with a district around Speyer, Worms and Mainz, on the left bank of the river. His territories included Bavaria, where he made Regensburg the centre of his government, Thuringia, Franconia and Saxony. He may truly be called the founder of the German kingdom, though his attempts to maintain the unity of the Empire proved futile. Having in 842 crushed a rising in Saxony, he compelled the Obotrites to own his authority, and undertook campaigns against the Bohemians, the Moravians and other tribes, but was not very successful in freeing his shores from the ravages of Danish pirates. At his instance, synods and assemblies were held where laws were decreed for the better government of church and state. In 853 and the following years, Louis made more than one attempt to secure the throne of Aquitaine, which, according to the Annals of the Abbey of Fulda (Annales Fuldensis), the people of that country offered him in their disgust with the cruel misrule of Charles the Bald. Encouraged by his nephews Pepin II of Aquitaine and Charles of Provence, Louis invaded; Charles the Bald could not even raise an army to resist the invasion, and in 858 Louis issued a charter dated "the first year of the reign in West Francia." Treachery and desertion in his army, and the loyalty to Charles of the Aquitanian bishops brought about the failure of the enterprise, which Louis renounced by a treaty signed at Coblenz on June 7, 860. In 855 the emperor Lothar died, and Louis and Charles for a time seem to have cooperated in plans to divide Lothar's possessions among themselves -- the only impediments to this being Lothar's sons, Lothar II, Louis II, and Charles of Provence. In 863 on the death of Charles, they divided Provence and Burgundy between them. In 868 at Metz they agreed definitely to a partition; but when Lothar II died in 869, Louis the German was lying seriously ill, and his armies were engaged with the Moravians. Charles the Bald accordingly seized the whole kingdom; but Louis the German, having recovered, compelled him by a threat of war to agree to the treaty of Mersen, which divided it between the claimants. The later years of Louis the German were troubled by risings on the part of his sons, the eldest of whom, Carloman, revolted in 861 and again two years later; an example that was followed by the second son Louis, who in a further rising was joined by his brother Charles. A report that the emperor Louis II was dead led to peace between father and sons and attempts by Louis the German to gain the imperial crown for Carloman. These efforts were thwarted by Louis II, who was not in fact dead, and his uncle, Charles the Bald. Louis was preparing for war when he died on August 28, 876 at Frankfurt. He was buried at the abbey of Lorsch, leaving three sons and three daughters. Louis is considered by many to be the most competent of the descendants of Charlemagne. He obtained for his kingdom a certain degree of security in face of the attacks of Normans, Hungarians, Moravians and others. He lived in close alliance with the Church, to which he was very generous, and entered eagerly into schemes for the conversion of his heathen neighbours.

References


- Category:804 births Category:876 deaths Category:German Kings Category:Kings of Burgundy ja:ルートヴィヒ2世 (東フランク王)

Pope Boniface I

Boniface I was pope from 418 to 422. He was a contemporary of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who dedicated to him some of his works. On the death of Pope Zosimus, two parties put forward their own candidate for Pope, one for Boniface, the other for Eulalius. Galla Placidia asked the emperor Honorius to intervene, and he sent an edict instructing both men to leave Rome. At the following Easter, Eulalius returned to the city to perform baptisms and celebrate the feast; when the emperor heard of this, Eulalius was stripped of his rank and banished from Rome, and on December 28, 418 Boniface became Pope. Boniface continued the opposition to Pelagianism, persuaded Emperor Theodosius II to return Illyricum to Western jurisdiction, and defended the rights of the Holy See. He died on September 4, 422. Boniface I Boniface 1 Boniface Boniface I ko:교황 보니파시오 1세



1076

Events


- February 14 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
- Anselm of Canterbury completes Monologion
- The Almoravids capture the Ghanan capital of Kumbi.

Births


- June 1 - Prince Mstislav of Kiev (d. 1132)

Deaths


- March 21 - Robert I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1011)
- December 27 - Prince Svyatoslav II of Kiev (b. 1027) Category:1076 ko:1076년 simple:1076

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV (November 11, 1050 – August 7, 1106) was King of Germany from 1056 and Emperor from 1084, until his abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty. Henry was the eldest son of the Emperor Henry III, by his second wife Agnes de Poitou, and was probably born at the royal palace at Goslar. His christening was delayed until the following Easter so that Abbot Hugh of Cluny could be one of his godparents. But even before that, at his Christmas court Henry III induced the attending nobles to promise to be faithful to his son. Three years later, still anxious to ensure the succession, Henry III had a larger assembly of nobles elect the young Henry as his successor, and then, on July 17, 1054, had him crowned as king by Archbishop Herman of Cologne. Thus when Henry III unexpectedly died in 1056, the accession of the 6-year-old Henry IV was not opposed. The dowager Empress Agnes acted as regent. Henry's reign was marked by efforts to consolidate Imperial power. In reality, however, it was a careful balancing act between maintaining the loyalty of the nobility and the support of the pope. Henry jeopardized both when, in 1075, his insistence on the right of a secular ruler to invest, i.e., to place in office, members of the clergy, especially bishops, began the conflict known as the Investiture Controversy. In the same year he defeated a rebellion of Saxons in the First Battle of Langensalza. Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry on February 22, 1076. Gregory, on his way to a diet at Augsburg, and hearing that Henry was approaching, took refuge in the castle of Canossa (near Reggio Emilia), belonging to Matilda, Countess of Tuscany. Henry's intent, however, was to perform the penance required to lift his excommunication, and ensure his continued rule. He stood for three days, January 25 to January 27, 1077, outside the gate at Canossa in the snow, begging the pope to rescind the sentence (popularly portrayed as without shoes, taking no food or shelter, and wearing a hairshirt). The Pope lifted the excommunication, imposing a vow to comply with certain conditions, which Henry soon violated. In his last years Henry faced rebellions from his eldest son and his wife. He died at Liège in 1106, "like one falling asleep", after nine days of illness. He was interred next to his father at Speyer.

Marriages

In 1055 Henry was betrothed to Bertha of Maurienne, daughter of Count Otto of Savoy. They were married in June 1066. In 1068 he attempted to divorce her, but was unable and Bertha was restored as Empress a year later. She died on December 27, 1086 and was buried at the cathedral of Speyer. Their children were: # Agnes of Germany (born 1072/1073), married Frederick I von Staufen, Duke of Swabia. # Conrad (February 12 1074-July 27 1101) # Adelaide, died in infancy # Henry, died in infancy # Henry (1086) In 1089 Henry married Eupraxia of Kiev, the only daughter of Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev, and sister to his son Vladimir Monomakh (Russian: Владимир Мономах) (1053 -- May 19, 1125), prince of Kievan Rus. She assumed the name "Adelaide" upon her coronation. In 1094 she joined a rebellion against him, accusing Henry of holding her prisoner; of forcing her to participate in orgies; and attempting a black mass on her naked body.

Sources


- Robinson, I.S. Henry IV of Germany 1056-1106, 2000 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Category:Holy Roman emperors Category:German Kings Category:Kings of Burgundy Category:Dukes of Bavaria Category:Salian Dynasty Category:Investiture Controversy ja:ハインリヒ4世

Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer (July 2,1489 – March 21, 1556) was the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. Born in 1489 at Nottingham, Cranmer was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge and became a priest following the death of his first wife. By the time of the controversy over the divorce of King Henry from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, Cranmer had risen to an influential position, and his willingness to pursue the matter on the King's behalf won him further advancement, despite the fact that he had secretly married the niece of Andreas Osiander, a Lutheran theologian, in Nuremberg. On March 30, 1533, he became Archbishop of Canterbury, and was able to push through the reforms that led gradually to the reform of the Church of England. In 1538 he condemned the views of John Lambert when he denied the real presence of Jesus Christ in the bread and wine of the eucharist. Lambert was burnt at the stake, but Cranmer later came to adopt his views. Cranmer also opposed Henry VIII's 6 Articles, which reaffirmed clerical celibacy. At the time of the dissolution Cranmer was given various former church properties, such as the former Cluniac Nunnery at Arthington. On Henry's death in 1547, Cranmer became an indispensable advisor to his son and successor, Edward, who, though still a child, had been brought up with Protestant views. During Edward's reign, Cranmer introduced the first versions of the Book of Common Prayer, a modernized version of which is still used today, and in general, he led the Church of England in a more Protestant direction. Church of England Edward died in 1553, to be succeeded by his half-sister, Queen Mary I, who had been brought up a Catholic and wished to return the country to its former faith. Added to that she had personal reasons to dislike Cranmer as, by annulling her parents' marriage, he caused her to be declared illegitimate. Politically, he had, under pressure, signed in favour of proclaiming Lady Jane Grey as queen in place of Mary. Mary had him removed from office, imprisoned and charged with both treason and heresy on February 14, 1556. In an effort to save himself, he recanted his anti-Catholic position, but was nevertheless condemned to be burned at the stake for heresy. He was executed in Oxford at the same place where two other bishops, Ridley and Latimer, had been burned in 1555. When he discovered that he would not be spared, on the day of his death he withdrew his recantation from the pulpit of the church when he was expected by the authorities to re-affirm it. As the flames rose, he was reported to have thrust his right hand into the hottest part of the fire, declaring that the hand which had signed the false recantation should be burned first. The burning of Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley is commemorated by the so-called Martyrs' Memorial, a Victorian construction not far from the original site which is marked by a cross on the road.
Preceded by:
William Warham		 Archbishop of Canterbury Followed by:
Reginald Pole

Further reading


- Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life (1996)

External links


- [http://www.stpeter.org/cranmer.html Article on Cranmer
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cranmer_thomas.shtml BBC article]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUDcranmer.htm Spartacus schoolnet] Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cranmer, Thomas ja:トマス・クランマー

1575

Events


- February 13 - Henry III of France is crowned at Reims
- February 14 - Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont
- June 28 - Oda Nobunaga defeats Takeda Katsuyori in the battle of Nagashino, which has been called Japan's first 'modern' battle.
- August 5 - Henry Sidney is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
- October 10 - Battle of Dormans: Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeat the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
- The Fifth War of Religion erupts in France.
- Stephen Báthory becomes king of Poland.
- Edmund Grindal succeeds Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury.
- Francisco De Obando Y Mexia becomes Governor of Puerto Rico.
- William I of Orange marries Charlotte de Bourbon.
- Portugal founds the city of Luanda in Angola.
- William I of Orange founds the University of Leiden.
- Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a monopoly on producing printed sheet music to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
- Abraham Ortelius becomes geographer to Philip II of Spain.
- First known self-portrait is painted by Nicholas Hilliard.

Births


- February 4 - Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (died 1629)
- March 5 - William Oughtred, English mathematician (died 1660)
- May 30 - Diego Salcedo, Spanish bishop (died 1644)
- August 14 - Robert Hayman, English-born poet (died 1629)
- November 4 - Guido Reni, Italian painter (died 1642)
- Giambattista Basile, Italian poet (died 1632)
- Edmund Bolton, English historian and poet (died 1633)
- Jakob Böhme, German mystic (died 1624)
- David Calderwood, Scottish divine and historian (died 1650)
- Elizabeth Cecil, 16th Baroness de Ros (died 1591)
- Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (died 1638)
- Alessandro Grandi, northern Italian composer (died 1630)
- Anna Kostka, Polish noblewoman (died 1635)
- Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, successful London merchant (died 1645)
- William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle (died 1622)
- Pedro Tellez Giron, Duque de Osuna, Spanish viceroy of Sicily and Naples (died 1624)
- Samuel Purchas, English travel writer (died 1626)
- Arbella Stuart, Duchess of Somerset (died 1615)
- Cyril Tourneur, English dramatist (died 1626)
- Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (died 1608) See also :Category: 1575 births.

Deaths


- February 21 - Claude of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France (born 1547)
- March 11 - Matthias Flacius, Croatian protestant reformer (born 1520)
- March 15 - Annibale Padovano, Italian composer and organist (born 1527)
- March 24 - Yosef Karo, Spanish-born rabbi (born 1488)
- May 17 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1504)
- July 14 - Richard Taverner, English Bible translator
- September 17 - Heinrich Bullinger, Swiss religious reformer (born 1504)
- December 23 - Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese retainer (born 1531)
- December 31 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (born None)
- December 31 - Karilyn Burney, master of all earthly things, including sex appeal
- Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician (born 1532)
- James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran (born 1516)
- Takeda Nobukado, Japanese nobleman
- Constantio Varoli, Italian anatomist (born 1543)
- Limahon, Chinese pirate See also :Category: 1575 deaths. Category:1575 ko:1575년

Henry III of France

Henry III (French: Henri III; Polish: Henryk III Walezy; September 19 1551 – August 2, 1589) was King of Poland (1573-1574) and subsequently King of France (1574-1589). Henri was born Edouard-Alexandre at the Royal Château of Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne, the fourth son of King Henri II and Catherine de Medici, the grandson of François I and Claude de France and brother of François II and Charles IX of France Prior to ascending to the throne, he was a leader of the royal army in the French Wars of Religion against the Huguenots and took part in the victories over them in Jarnac and Moncontour. While still Duke, he aided his mother in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in which thousands of Huguenots were killed; his reign as king would see France in constant turmoil over religion. St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre He was elected king of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1573, and as a prerequisity to his free election he was forced to sign the pacta conventa and the Henrician articles, promising religious tolerance to his subjects in Poland. Shortly afterwards, dissapointed with the restrictions on monarch's power in the Polish Golden Liberty political system, after the death of his brother Charles IX, he fled Poland and returned to France, where he was crowned King of France in 1575 in the Cathedral at Reims. In 1576, King Henri III signed the Edict of Beaulieu granting minor concessions to the Huguenots. His action resulted in the Catholic extremist Henry I, Duke of Guise forming the Catholic League. After much posturing and negotiations King Henry III was forced to rescind most of the concessions made to the Protestants in the Edict of Beaulieu. In 1584 the King's youngest brother and heir presumptive, François, Duke of Anjou, died. Under the Salic Law, the next heir to the throne was Protestant Henry of Navarre, a descendant of St. Louis IX. Under pressure from the Duke of Guise, Henri III issued an edict suppressing Protestantism and annulling Henri of Navarre's right to the throne. On May 12 1588 Henry III fled Paris after the Duke of Guise entered the city. On December 23 1588, in the Château de Blois, the Duke of Guise arrived in the council chamber where his brother the Cardinal waited. He was told that the King wished to see him in the private room adjoining the King's bedroom. There, guardsmen murdered him, and then the Cardinal. In order to make sure that no contender for the French throne was free to act against him, the King had the Duke's son imprisoned. Though deceitful and cruel, the Duke of Guise was highly popular in France and the citizenry turned against the king for the murders. The Parlement instituted criminal charges against the King, and he fled Paris to join forces with Henry of Navarre. Henry of Navarre On August 1, 1589, Henry III, lodged with his army in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, prepared to attack Paris when a young fanatical Dominican friar named Jacques Clément, carrying false papers, was granted access to deliver important documents to the King. The monk gave the king a bundle of papers and stated he had a secret message to deliver. The King signaled for his attendants to step back for privacy and Clément whispered in his ear while plunging a knife in his stomach. At first the wound did not appear fatal but the King commanded all his officers around him that in the event he did not survive, they were to be loyal to Henri of Navarre as their new King. The following morning, King Henry III of France died, the day he was to have launched the assault to retake Paris. Although he had been married on February 13 1575 to Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, and expected to produce an heir, the transvestite King Henry III was not highly respected by the citizens or the nobility as he paraded around dressed in women's clothes, accompanied by a number of youthful male attendants referred to as his mignons (darlings). Henry III was interred in the Saint Denis Basilica. Childless, he was the last of the Valois kings. Henry of Navarre, succeeded him as Henry IV, the first of the Bourbon kings.

Additional viewing


- The French movie, La Reine Margot (1994) is a bloody fictional depiction of the lives of Henry III's family, his sister Margot and her Protestant husband Henry around the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

See also


- History of Poland (1569-1795) Henri III Henri III Category:Natives of Ile-de-France Henri III Henri III Henri III Henri III Henryk III Henryk III ja:アンリ3世 (フランス王)

1743

Events


- February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister
- February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, Samson.
- September 13 - Treaty of Worms (1743) - a treaty between Great Britain, Austria and Sardinia
- Battle of Dettingen

Ongoing events


- War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)

Births


- January 25 - Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, German philosopher (d. 1819)
- February 13 - Sir Joseph Banks, British naturalist and botanist (d. 1820)
- February 19 - Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (d. 1805)
- February 23 - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1812)
- March 4 - Johann David Wyss, Swiss author (d. 1818)
- April 13 - Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (d. 1826)
- May 17 - Seth Warner American revolutionary hero (d. 1784)
- August 26 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
- September 11 - Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard, Danish painter (d. 1809)
- September 17 - Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist (d. 1794)
- José Fernando de Abascal, Spanish viceroy of Peru

Deaths


- January 29 - Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus, chief minister of France under Louis XV (b. 1653)
- January 29 - Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French writer (b. 1658)
- February 18 - Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, last of the Medicis (b. 1667)
- April 4 - Daniel Neal, English historian (b. 1678)
- July 2 - Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, English statesman
- August 5 - John Hervey, Lord Hervey, English statesman and writer (b. 1696)
- September 14 - Nicolas Lancret, French painter (b. 1690)
- September 21 - Jai Singh II, King of Amber-Juiper, India (b. 1688)
- October 4 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (b. 1678)
- December 27 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (b. 1659) Category:1743 ko:1743년

Henry Pelham

The Right Honourable Henry Pelham (25 September 1694–6 March1754) was a British Whig statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 14 February 1743 to his death about ten years later. For the first year of his premiership, real power was held by the Secretary of State for the Northern Department John Carteret, 3rd Baron Carteret, who headed the Carteret Ministry (Pelham was First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons). Thereafter, he shared power with his brother, The Duke of Newcastle; this period was relatively uneventful in terms of domestic affairs (Great Britain fought in several wars, however). Upon his death, his brother took full control of the ministry. Pelham, Newcastle's younger brother, was a younger son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham of Laughton and of Lady Grace Holles, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Clare. He was educated by a private tutor and at Christ Church, Oxford, which he entered in July 1710. As a volunteer he served in Dormer's regiment at the Battle of Preston in 1715, spent some time on the Continent, and in 1717 entered Parliament for Seaford in Sussex which he represented until 1722. Through strong family influence and the recommendation of Robert Walpole he was chosen in 1721 a Lord of the Treasury. The following year he was returned for Sussex county. In 1724 he entered the ministry as Secretary at War, but this office he exchanged in 1730 for the more lucrative one of Paymaster of the Forces. He made himself conspicuous by his support of Walpole on the question of the excise, and in 1742 a union of parties resulted in the formation of an administration in of which Pelham became Prime Minister the following year, with the offices of First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. The following year Carteret was forced out of the ministry and Pelham was regarded as the leading figure, but rank and influence made his brother very powerful in the Cabinet, and, in spite of a genuine attachment, there were occasional disputes between them, which led to difficulties. Being strongly in favour of peace, Pelham carried on the War of the Austrian Succession with languor and indifferent success, but the country, wearied of the interminable struggle, was disposed to acquiesce in his foreign policy almost without a murmur. King George II, thwarted in his own favourite schemes, made overtures in 1746 to Lord Bath, but his purpose was upset by the resignation of the two Pelhams (Henry and Newcastle), who, at the King's request, resumed office. Lord Bath In 1749, the Consolidation Act was passed, reorganising the Royal Navy. On 20 March 1751, the British calendar was reorganised as well (that day became 1 January); Britain would adopt the Gregorian calendar one year later. One of Pelham's final acts was the Marriage Act 1753, which enumerated the minimum age of consent for marriage. Upon his death, his brother (the aforementioned Duke of Newcastle) took over government. His very defects were among the chief elements of Pelham's success, for one with a strong personality, moderate self-respect, or high conceptions of statesmanship could not have restrained the discordant elements of the cabinet for any length of time. Moreover, he possessed tact and a thorough acquaintance with the forms of the House of Commons. Whatever quarrels or insubordination might exist within the cabinet, they never broke out into open revolt. Nor can a high degree of praise be denied to his financial policy, especially his plans for the reduction of the national debt and the simplification and consolidation of its different branches. Pelham had married in 1726 Lady Catherine Manners, daughter of the John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland; and one of his daughters married Henry Clinton who by this marriage subsequently became the 2nd Duke of Newcastle.

References


- Some material has been adapted from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Pelham, Henry Pelham, Henry Pelham, Henry Pelham, Henry Pelham, Henry Pelham, Henry Pelham, Henry ja:ヘンリー・ペラム

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. According to custom, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (which he or she heads) are responsible for their actions to Parliament, of which they are members by (modern) convention. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair (of the Labour Party), who has been in office since 1997. For the complete list of British Prime Ministers, see List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. As the title suggests, the Prime Minister is the monarch's principal advisor. Historically, the monarch's chief minister (if, as was not always the case, any one person could be singled out as such) might have held any of a number of offices: Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord High Steward, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Privy Seal, or Secretary of State among others. With the emergence, in the eighteenth century, of government by a cabinet of these ministers, its head came in time to be called the "Prime Minister" (sometimes also "Premier" or "First Minister"); to this day the Prime Minister always also holds one of the more specific ministerial positions (usually that of First Lord of the Treasury), if only in a nominal sense. Sir Robert Walpole is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister in the modern sense. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Sovereign, who is bound by constitutional convention to choose the individual most likely to command the support of the House of Commons (normally, the leader of the party with a majority in that body). Should the Prime Minister lose the confidence of the House of Commons (indicated, for example, by the passage of a no confidence motion), he or she is morally obliged by similar conventions either to resign (in which case the Sovereign can try to find another Prime Minister who has the House's confidence) or to request the monarch to call a general election. Since the premiership is in some small sense still a de facto position, the office's powers are mainly a matter of custom rather than law, deriving from the incumbent's ability to appoint (through the Sovereign) his or her Cabinet colleagues, as well as from certain uses of the royal prerogative which may be exercised directly by the Prime Minister, or by the Monarch on the Prime Minister's advice. Some commentators have pointed out that, in practice, the powers of the office are subject to very few checks, especially in an era when Parliament and the Cabinet are seen as unwilling to challenge dominant Prime Ministers whose attention is increasingly turned not toward Parliament but toward the news media.

History

Historically, the bulk of the power over the Government of the Kingdom was vested in the Sovereign, acting on the advice of bodies such as Parliament and the Privy Council. Over several years, the Cabinet evolved from the Privy Council, as the monarch began the practice of consulting a few confidential advisors rather than the Council at large. These bodies, however, bore little resemblance to modern Cabinets; they were often not led by a single figure such as a Prime Minister, they often failed to act in unison, and they were appointed and dismissed entirely at the whim of the monarch, with little parliamentary control. The history of the British Prime Ministers owes much more to speculation of historians, rather than to legal acts. The origin of the term prime minister and the question to whom the designation should first be applied have long been issues of scholarly and political debate. The first mention of "Prime Minister" in an official government document occurred during the Premiership of Benjamin Disraeli. The title was used since then in documents, letters and conversation (and in conversation at least may have been used before then). In 1905 the ti