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James Scott, 1st Duke Of Monmouth

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth

James Crofts, later Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, 1st Duke of Buccleuch (April 9, 1649–July 15, 1685) recognised by some as James II of England and James VII of Scotland, was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter, who had followed him into continental exile after the execution of King Charles I. Charles I

Life Account

Lucy Walter had almost as bad a reputation as the prince himself, and it is not at all certain that Charles was the natural father of James. There were rumours that Charles and Lucy did marry, secretly, which would have made James the true and legitimate heir to the throne. Whatever the truth, Charles recognised James as his son, but did not make him his heir. After succeeding to the throne, Charles married the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza; by this time Lucy Walter was dead. In 1663, at the age of 14, shortly after having been brought to England, James was created Duke of Monmouth with the subsidiary titles of Earl of Doncaster and Baron Scott of Tynedale, all three in the Peerage of England, and married off to the wealthy Anne Scott, 4th Countess of Buccleuch. The day after his marriage, they were made Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. Although he showed no aptitude for government, James was popular, particularly since he was a Protestant, whereas the official heir to the throne, James, Duke of York, was a Catholic. In 1665, at the age of 16, Monmouth served in the English fleet under his uncle the Duke of York in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Later in the war, he returned to England to assume his first military command as commander of a troop of cavalry. In 1669 he was made colonel of the King's Life Guards, one of the most senior appointments in the army. When the Captain General of the army, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, died in 1670, Monmouth became the senior officer in the army at the age of 21. At the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672, a brigade of 6,000 British troops was sent to serve as part of the French army (in return for money paid to King Charles), with Monmouth as its commander. In the campaign of 1673 and in particular at the siege of Maastricht, Monmouth gained a considerable reputation as one of England's finest soldiers. In 1678 Monmouth was commander of the Anglo-Dutch brigade, now fighting for the United Provinces against the French. He distinguished himself at the battle of St Denis, further increasing his reputation. The following year, after his return to England, he commanded the small army raised to put down the rebellion of the Scottish Covenanters. Despite being heavily outnumbered, he decisively defeated the rebels at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge on June 22 1679. By this time it was becoming apparent that Charles II would have no legitimate heir, and Monmouth was regarded by many as preferable to the Duke of York. Following the discovery of the so-called Rye House Plot in 1683, Monmouth was obliged to go into exile in the Dutch United Provinces. On his father's death Monmouth led the "Monmouth Rebellion", an attempt to take the throne from his uncle. He declared himself King on June 20, 1685 at Bridgwater. On July 6, 1685 the two armies met at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the second last to be fought on English soil. Monmouth's makeshift force could not compete with the regular army, and was soundly defeated. Monmouth himself was captured and arrested. Despite begging for mercy, he was executed on July 15, 1685, on Tower Hill. It is said that it took eight blows of the axe to sever his head. His dukedoms of Monmouth and Buccleuch were forfeited, but the subsidiary titles of the dukedom of Monmouth were restored to the Duke of Buccleuch. Following his execution, according to tradition, it was realised only too late that there was no portrait of him in the National Portrait Gallery in London. For someone who had claimed the throne, albeit in vain, this was unheard of. So his body was exhumed, the head placed back on the body, and it was sat for its portrait to be painted. One theory states that the Duke of Monmouth was in fact The Man in the Iron Mask. By this theory, James II would not execute his own nephew; someone else was executed instead; and James II arranged for Monmouth to be taken to France and put in the custody of Louis XIV of France.

Children

His marriage to Anne Scott resulted in the birth of seven children:
- Charles Scott, Earl of Doncaster (August 24, 1672 – February 9, 1673/1674).
- James Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (May 23, 1674 – March 14, 1705). He was married on January 2, 1693/1694 to Henrietta Hyde, daughter of Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester. They were parents to Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch.
- Lady Anne Scott (February 17, 1675 – August 13, 1685).
- Henry Scott, 1st Earl of Deloraine (1676 – December 25, 1730). He was first married in 1693 to Ann Duncombe, daughter of William Duncombe who served as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. The marriage resulted in the birth of Francis Scott, 2nd Earl of Deloraine, Henry Scott, 3rd Earl of Deloraine and a daughter Anne Scott who died young. He was secondly married on March 14, 1726 to Mary Howard, daughter of Colonel Philip Howard and Mary Jennings and grandaughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire. The marriage resulted in the birth of daughters Lady Georgiana Caroline Scott, later wife to James Peachey, 1st Baron Selsey, and Henrietta Scott.
- Francis Scott (1678 – buried December 8, 1679).
- Lady Isabella Scott (d. February 18, 1748).
- Lady Charlotte Scott (buried September 5, 1683). His affair with mistress Eleanor Needham, daughter of Sir Robert Needham of Lambeth resulted in the birth of three children:
- James Crofts who reportedly died young.
- Henriette Crofts (c. 1682 – February 27, 1729/1730). She was married arround 1697 to Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton.
- Isabel Crofts.

Reference

- Protestant Duke: Life of the Duke of Monmouth by Violet Wyndham ISBN 0297770993

External link

- [http://www.worldroots.com/foundation/britain/jamesscottdesc1649.htm List of descendants]
- [http://regiments.org/biography/royals/1649jasM.htm regiments.org]

April 9

April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). There are 266 days remaining.

Events

- 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
- 1241 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeats the Polish and German armies.
- 1667: First ever public art exhibition opens in Paris
- 1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign is thwarted by Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at Mansfield, Louisiana.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
- 1867 - Alaska purchase: By a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
- 1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.
- 1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opens.
- 1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
- 1917 - World War I: Battle of Arras - The battle begins with Canadian forces executing a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.
- 1939 - Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after having been refused the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
- 1942 - Second World War: Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March - United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
- 1945 - The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.
- 1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
- 1947 - The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride of 16 black and white men traveling through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws begins. The riders, sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, are seeking to force southern states to enforce the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
- 1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).
- 1948 - Massacre at Deir Yassin.
- 1949 - The Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force is formed.
- 1953 - Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled House of Wax
- 1959 - Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts which the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
- 1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
- 1969 - The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1986 - The government of France rules against the privatization of French automaker Renault.
- 1987 - Dikye Baggett becomes the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson's disease.
- 1991 - Georgia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 - Manuel Noriega is convicted of eight crimes.
- 1992 - John Major wins the UK general election.
- 1998 - The National Prisoner of War Museum is dedicated in Andersonville, Georgia, on the site of an American Civil War POW camp.
- 1999 - Ismail Omar Guelleh is elected president of Djibouti.
- 1999 - Nigerian President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is assassinated.
- 2002 - The funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey.
- 2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: The Ba'ath regime headed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq is deposed.
- 2004 - 2004 KBR Convoy Attacked on BIAP highway: Nine KBR civilians were killed. KBR convoy commander Thomas Hamill captured. Two US Army soldiers killed. The fuel convoy from LSA Anaconda was delivering fuel to Baghdad Airport when insurgents attacked the convoy with small arms fire and RPG's. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton.
- 2005 - HRH Charles, Prince of Wales weds Camilla Parker Bowles

Births

- 1336 - Tamerlane, Turkish conqueror (d. 1405)
- 1498 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
- 1597 - John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (d. 1670)
- 1648 - Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
- 1649 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II of England (d. 1685)
- 1680 - Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (d. 1754)
- 1686 - James Craggs the Younger, English politician (d. 1721)
- 1691 - Johann Matthias Gesner, German classical scholar (d. 1761)
- 1757 - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (d. 1833)
- 1770 - Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (d. 1831)
- 1773 - Étienne Aignan, French writer (d. 1824)
- 1794 - Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute (d. 1881)
- 1806 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer (d. 1859)
- 1821 - Charles Baudelaire, French poet (d. 1867)
- 1830 - Eadweard Muybridge, English-born photographer and motion picture pioneer (d. 1904)
- 1835 - King Léopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
- 1865 - Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (d. 1937)
- 1867 - Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
- 1872 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (d. 1950)
- 1888 - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (d. 1974)
- 1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (d. 1985)
- 1897 - John B. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
- 1898 - Curly Lambeau, American football coach, executive (d. 1965)
- 1898 - Paul Robeson, American singer and activist (d. 1976)
- 1903 - Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1904 - Sharkey Bonano, American musician (d. 1972)
- 1905 - J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator from Arkansas (d. 1995)
- 1906 - Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
- 1908 - Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-born painter (d. 1997)
- 1910 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (d. 1998)
- 1912 - Lew Kopelew, Russian author (d. 1997)
- 1917 - Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect
- 1919 - J. Presper Eckert, American computer pioneer
- 1926 - Hugh Hefner, American editor and publisher
- 1928 - Tom Lehrer, American musician and mathematician
- 1932 - Jim Fowler, American zoologist
- 1932 - Carl Perkins, American musician (d. 1998)
- 1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
- 1935 - Avery Schreiber, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1937 - Marty Krofft, children's television producer
- 1938 - Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician
- 1939 - Michael Learned, American actress
- 1942 - Brandon De Wilde, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1945 - Peter Gammons, baseball journalist
- 1954 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
- 1954 - Iain Duncan Smith, British politician
- 1957 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
- 1962 - Imran Sherwani, British field hockey player
- 1965 - Jeff Zucker, American television executive
- 1966 - Cynthia Nixon, American actress
- 1971 - Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
- 1974 - Jenna Jameson, American adult entertainer
- 1975 - Robbie Fowler, English footballer
- 1977 - Gerard Way, American singer (My Chemical Romance)
- 1978 - Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 - Rachel Stevens, English singer
- 1979 - Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
- 1987 - Jesse McCartney, American singer/actor
- 1998 - Elle Fanning, American actress

Deaths

- 491 - Zeno, Byzantine Emperor
- 715 - Pope Constantine
- 1024 - Pope Benedict VIII
- 1137 - William X, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
- 1483 - King Edward IV of England (b. 1442)
- 1484 - Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. 1473)
- 1553 - François Rabelais, French writer
- 1557 - Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. 1510)
- 1626 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist (b. 1561)
- 1693 - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (b. 1618)
- 1739 - Nicolas Saunderson, English scientist and mathematician (b. 1682)
- 1747 - Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief
- 1754 - Christian Wolff, German philosopher (b. 1679)
- 1761 - William Law, English minister (b. 1686)
- 1804 - Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
- 1806 - William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
- 1889 - Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist (b. 1786)
- 1917 - James Hope Moulton, English scholar of Classical Greek (b. 1863)
- 1936 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (b. 1855)
- 1940 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
- 1944 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1920)
- 1945 - Wilhelm Canaris, German Nazi leader (b. 1887)
- 1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906)
- 1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903).
- 1959 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
- 1961 - King Zog of Albania (b. 1895)
- 1963 - Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
- 1976 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
- 1976 - Phil Ochs, American singer (b. 1940)
- 1988 - Brook Benton, American actor (b. 1931)
- 1991 - Martin Hannett, record producer (b. 1948)
- 1996 - Richard Condon, American novelist (b. 1915)
- 1996 - James W. Rouse, American real estate developer, activist, and philanthropist (b. 1914)
- 1997 - Laura Nyro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 1999 - Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Niger politician and general (b. 1949)
- 2001 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (b. 1940)
- 2002 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
- 2005 - Andrea Dworkin, American feminist and writer (b.

Holidays and observances

- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Jalál (Glory) - First day of the second month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Good Friday (2004)
- Bataan Day (Day of Valor - Araw ng Kagitingan) in the Philippines

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/9 Today in History: April 9] ---- April 8 - April 10 - March 9 - May 9 -- listing of all days ko:4월 9일 ms:9 April ja:4月9日 simple:April 9 th:9 เมษายน

1649

Events

- January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. His widow Henrietta Maria resides in her native France.
- January 30 - The Commonwealth of England, a republican form of government, replaces the monarchy as the form of government of England and later of Scotland and Ireland. Members of the Long Parliament serve as government.
- January 30 - Prince Charles Stuart declares himself King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. At the time all three Kingdoms had not recognized him as ruler.
- February 5 - In Edinburgh, Scotland claimant King Charles II of England is declared King in his absence. Scotland is the first of the three Kingdoms to recognize his claim to the throne.
- March 11 - The Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
- March 19 - The House of Commons pass an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring that it is "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
- May 17 - Banbury mutiny ends - leaders of the Leveller mutineers in the New Model Army are hanged
- May 19 - [http://wikisource.org/wiki/An_Act_declaring_England_to_be_a_Commonwealth An act declaring England to be a Commonwealth] is passed by the Rump Parliament.
- Robert Blake is promoted to become an Admiral of the English fleet
- August 15 - Admiral Robert Blake blockades Prince Rupert to allow Oliver Cromwell to land in Dublin and begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
- September 2 - The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
- Unknown date - Urga founded (now Mongolian capital)

Ongoing events

- Fronde civil war in France (1648-1653)

Births

- February 2 - Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
- February 8 - Gabriel Daniel, French Jesuit historian (d. 1728)
- February 11 - William Carstares, Scottish minister (d. 1715)
- April 5 - Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (d. 1721)
- April 9 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland (d. 1685)
- June 13 - Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (d. 1706)
- July 23 - Pope Clement XI (d. 1721)
- September 15 - Titus Oates, English minister and plotter (d. 1705)
- December 7 - Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1606)
- December 8 - Noël Chabanel, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1613) See also :Category:1649 births.

Deaths

- January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland (executed) (b. 1600)
- March 9 - James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish statesman (b. 1606)
- March 9 - Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (executed) (b. 1590)
- March 16 - Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
- March 19 - Gerhard Johann Vossius, German classical scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
- March 26 - John Winthrop First Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
- May 14 - Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (b. 1600)
- June 3 - Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portugues historian and poet (b. 1590)
- September 6 - Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, English explorer and geographer (b. 1574)
- September 15 - John Floyd, English Jesuit preacher (b. 1572)
- October 3 - Giovanni Diodati, Swiss protestant clergyman (b. 1576)
- October 16 - Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (b. 1621)
- November 19 - Caspar Schoppe, German scholar (b. 1576)
- December 4 - William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (b. 1585) See also :Category:1649 deaths. Category:1649 ko:1649년

July 15

July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining.

Events

- 1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after a difficult siege.
- 1207 - John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton
- 1381 - John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England.
- 1410 - Battle of Grunwald (a.k.a. Tannenberg or Zalgiris): power of the Teutonic Knights broken by a defeat from Poles and Lithuanians
- 1685 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, England after his defeat at the Battle of Sedgemore on 6 July 1685.
- 1789 - Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, by acclamation, named colonel-general of the new National Guard of Paris.
- 1799 - Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta, by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard.
- 1806 - Pike expedition: Near St. Louis, Missouri, United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine to explore the west.
- 1815 - Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders from aboard HMS Bellerophon
- 1862 - American Civil War: Confederates break naval blockade of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
- 1870 - Post-American-Civil-War Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
- 1870 - Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the North-West Territories are established from these vast territories.
- 1895 - Archie MacLaren scores County Championship record cricket innings of 424 for Lancashire against Somerset at Taunton.
- 1916 - In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
- 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Marne - The battle begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
- 1926 - BEST buses make its début in Mumbai.
- 1927 - Massacre of July 15, 1927: 89 protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.
- 1929 - First weekly radio broadcast of Mormon Tabernacle Choir radio show, Music and the Spoken Word.
- 1931 - Kid Chocolate becomes Cuba's first world boxing champion.
- 1945 - President Harry Truman disembarks the heavy cruiser the USS Augusta (CA-31) in Antwerp en route to Potsdam for the Potsdam Conference.
- 1953 - John Reginald Christie, British serial killer executed.
- 1954 - First flight of the Boeing 707, the first American jet passenger airliner.
- 1958 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to provide military support to the pro-Western government there.
- 1974 - In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
- 1975 - Apollo Soyuz Test Project: Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space.
- 1977 - Griffith N.S.W, Anti - Drug campainer Donald Mackay disappears presumed murdered.
- 1979 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his famous "malaise" speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation."
- 1988 - Die Hard opens in theaters, starring Bruce Willis
- 1989 - Punk rock band Bad Religion releases their sixth album, No Control.
- 1992 - A major fire consumes an entire city block in tourist destination Gatlinburg, Tennessee, destroying the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Museum and several other local businesses in the process. The block was rebuilt and re-opened in 1995.
- 1994 - Albert Belle of the Cleveland Indians caught with a corked bat.
- 1995 - Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought by Douglas Hofstadter becomes the first item sold on Amazon.com
- 1996 - MSNBC cable-DBS channel launched
- 1996 - A Royal Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport. Thirty-two people die in the flames, two people die of their injuries, and Seven people sustain severe burns.
- 1997 - In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns down Gianni Versace outside his home.
- 1999 - Safeco Field opens in Seattle, Washington.
- 2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and for the possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each of the charges.
- 2002 - Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three other suspects convicted of murdering Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
- 2003 - AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
- 2004 - Monorail service begins in Las Vegas.
- 2004 - The BBC airs the documentary The Secret Agent, exposing racism by members of the British National Party.
- 2005 - Jack Nicklaus plays his last hole of competitive golf during The Open Championship at Hole 18 at St Andrews, finishing with a birdie.
- 2005 - Disneyland "re-launches" Space Mountain in Anaheim, California.

Births

- 1353 - Vladimir the Bold, Russian prince (d. 1410)
- 1553 - Archduke Ernest of Austria (d. 1595)
- 1573 - Inigo Jones, English architect (d. 1652)
- 1606 - Rembrandt, Dutch artist (d. 1669)
- 1631 - Jens Juel, Danish diplomat (d. 1700)
- 1704 - August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German religious leader (d. 1792)
- 1779 - Clement Clarke Moore, American educator, author, and poet (d. 1863)
- 1796 - Thomas Bulfinch, American mythologist (d. 1796)
- 1808 - Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, English Catholic archbishop (d. 1892)
- 1812 - James Hope-Scott, English barrister (d. 1873)
- 1848 - Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist and sociologist (d. 1923)
- 1850 - Mother Cabrini, Italian-born Catholic saint (d. 1917)
- 1870 - Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, Russian publisher and politician (d. 1922)
- 1871 - Kunikida Doppo, Japanese writer (d. 1908)
- 1892 - Walter Benjamin, German literary critic and writer (d. 1940)
- 1899 - Sean F. Lemass, Irish leader (d. 1971)
- 1902 - Jean Rey, Belgian politician and President of the European Commission

1685

Events

- February 6 - James Stuart, Duke of York becomes King James II of England and Ireland and King James VII of Scotland.
- February 18 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
- June 20 - Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland declares himself King and heir to his father's Kingdoms as James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland, after already forming his own army and campaigning against his uncle.
- July 6 - Monmouth Rebellion: The Battle of Sedgemoor between the armies of King James II of England and rebel forces under Monmouth. Monmouth's army is defeated and the Duke himself is captured shortly after the battle.
- July 15 - The Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, London
- October 18-19 - Louis XIV declares the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and declares Protestantism illegal.
- Adam Baldrigde founds a pirate base in St Mary Island in the Madagascar

Births

- January 7 - Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (d. 1761)
- January 9 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist (d. 1766)
- February 8 - Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian (d. 1770)
- February 10 - Aaron Hill, English writer (d. 1750)
- February 23 - George Frideric Handel, German composer (d. 1759)
- March 12 - George Berkeley, English philosopher (d. 1753)
- March 18 - Ralph Erskine, Scottish minister (d. 1752)
- March 21 - Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
- June 30 - John Gay, English writer (d. 1732)
- July 3 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
- August 18 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (d. 1731)
- October 1 - Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1740)
- October 26 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1757)
- November 17 - Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye, French-Canadian trader and explorer (d. 1749)
- December 17 - Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)

Deaths

- January 2 - Harbottle Grimston, English politician (b. 1603)
- February 6 - King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland (b. 1630)
- February 11 - David Teniers III, Flemish painter (b. 1638)
- February 24 - Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English politician and military leader (b. 1629)
- March 22 - Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)
- May 26 - Karl II, Elector Palatine (b. 1651)
- July 15 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II of England (beheaded) (b. 1649)
- July 28 - Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, English statesman (b. 1618)
- September 1 - Leoline Jenkins, Welsh lawyer and diplomat (b 1625)
- October 12 - Christoph Ignaz Abele, Austrian jurist (b. 1628)
- October 30 - Michel le Tellier, French statesman (b. 1603)
- December 12 - John Pell, English mathematician (b. 1610) Category:1685 ko:1685년 simple:1685

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare
Richard II (Act 2, Scene 1)

The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.

Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)

Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees). The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity

The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one. A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism. One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase. Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture

Union Flag Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
- Sir Thomas Browne
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- John Milton
- William Shakespeare
- Jane Austen
- Mary Shelley
- Charles Dickens
- Thomas Hardy
- George Orwell
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- C. S. Lewis
- Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
- English school of painting
- Music of England

Languages

Music of England.]] As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willi