:: wikimiki.org ::
| January 19 |
January 19
January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 346 days remaining (347 in leap years).
Events
- 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England which completed his conquest of Normandy.
- 1520 - Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund
- 1764 - John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
- 1795 - Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands. End of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
- 1806 - The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1829 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust premieres.
- 1839 - British East India Company captures Aden.
- 1840 - Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.
- 1853 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres in Rome.
- 1862 - The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the American Civil War at the Battle of Mill Springs.
- 1883 - The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service (Roselle, New Jersey) It was built by Thomas Edison.
- 1893 - Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder premieres in Berlin.
- 1899 - Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
- 1915 - George Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
- 1915 - German zeppelins bomb the cities of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
- 1918 - Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
- 1920 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
- 1935 - Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs.
- 1937 - Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
- 1941 - World War II: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
- 1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
- 1945 - World War II: Soviet forces liberate ghetto of Lodz. Out of 230,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived Nazi occupation.
- 1946 - General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
- 1949 - Cuba recognises Israel.
- 1953 - 68% of all United States television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
- 1955 - The Scrabble board game debuts.
- 1966 - Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India.
- 1969 - Student Jan Palach died after setting himself on fire 3 days ago in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turned into another major protest.
- 1971 - Revival of No, No, Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City).
- 1974 - The UCLA men's basketball team sees its 88-game winning streak end at the hands of Notre Dame.
- 1975 - Double Jay began broadcasting in Sydney, Australia.
- 1977 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").
- 1977 - Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snowfall has occurred.
- 1981 - Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
- 1983 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia.
- 1983 - The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Computer, Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
- 1993 - IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992, the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history.
- 1997 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
- 2002 - Michael Jordan, formerly of the Washington Wizards, plays his first game in Chicago since rejoining the NBA.
Births
- 399 - Pulcheria, Byzantine empress (d. 453)
- 1544 - King Francis II of France (d. 1560)
- 1736 - James Watt, Scottish inventor (d. 1819)
- 1739 - Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect (d. 1808)
- 1807 - Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (d. 1870)
- 1808 - Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (d. 1887)
- 1809 - Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and poet(d. 1849)
- 1813 - Sir Henry Bessemer, English inventor (d. 1898)
- 1839 - Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)
- 1848 - John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (d. 1904)
- 1851 - Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (d. 1922)
- 1863 - Werner Sombart, German sociologist (d. 1941)
- 1887 - Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d. 1943)
- 1909 - Hans Hotter, German bass-baritone (d. 2003)
- 1912 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Minnesota Fats, American billiards player (d. 1996)
- 1917 - John Raitt, American singer and actor (d. 2005)
- 1918 - John H. Johnson, American publisher (d. 2005)
- 1920 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
- 1921 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- 1922 - Guy Madison, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1923 - Jean Stapleton, American actress
- 1923 - Markus Wolf, German spy
- 1924 - Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (d. 1985)
- 1924 - Jean-Francois Revel, French author
- 1926 - Fritz Weaver, American actor
- 1931 - Tippi Hedren, American actress
- 1931 - Robert MacNeil, Canadian journalist
- 1932 - Richard Lester, British director
- 1939 - Phil Everly, American musician
- 1941 - Colin Gunton, British theologian (d. 2003)
- 1942 - Michael Crawford, British singer and actor
- 1943 - Janis Joplin, American singer (d. 1970)
- 1943 - Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
- 1944 - Shelley Fabares, American actress
- 1944 - Peter Lynch, American investor
- 1944 - Dan Reeves, American football coach
- 1946 - Julian Barnes, English author
- 1946 - Dolly Parton, American singer and actress
- 1948 - Frank McKenna, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Ambassador
- 1949 - Robert Palmer, English singer and guitarist (d. 2003)
- 1949 - Dennis Taylor, Irish snooker player
- 1952 - David Patrick Kelly, American actor
- 1953 - Desi Arnaz Jr., American actor
- 1955 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
- 1955 - Paul Rodriguez, Mexican-born actor and comedian
- 1956 - Katey Sagal, American actress, singer, and writer
- 1966 - Floris Jan Bovelander, Dutch field hockey player
- 1966 - Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player
- 1969 - Junior Seau, American football player
- 1971 - Shawn Wayans, American actor, writer, and producer
- 1971 - John Wozniak, American singer and songwriter (Marcy Playground)
- 1973 - Drea de Matteo, American actress
- 1973 - Karen Lancaume, French actress (d. 2005)
- 1974 - Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer
- 1977 - Lauren, Cameroon footballer
- 1979 - Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast
- 1981 - Asier Del Horno, Spanish footballer
- 1982 - Jodie Sweetin, American actress
- 1983 - Hikaru Utada, Japanese singer and songwriter
- 1985 - Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1992 - Logan Lerman, American actor
- 1993 - Elián González, Cuban refugee.
Deaths
- 639 - Dagobert I, King of the Franks
- 1526 - Isabella of Burgundy, queen of Christian II of Denmark (b. 1501)
- 1576 - Hans Sachs, German Meistersinger (b. 1494)
- 1729 - William Congreve, English playwright (b. 1670)
- 1757 - Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish classical scholar (b. 1674)
- 1766 - Jean-Nicolas Servan, French architect and painter (b. 1695)
- 1785 - Jonathan Toup, English classical scholar and critic (b. 1713)
- 1833 - Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold, French composer (b. 1791)
- 1847 - Charles Bent, New Mexico pioneer (assassinated)
- 1851 - Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (b. 1805)
- 1865 - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and anarchist (b. 1809)
- 1869 - Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (b. 1788)
- 1874 - August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet (b. 1798)
- 1878 - Henri Victor Regnault French physicist and chemist (b. 1810)
- 1905 - Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1929 - Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (b. 1873)
- 1968 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)
- 1969 - Jan Palach, Czech student and political activist (suicide) (b. 1948)
- 1971 - Harry Shields, American musician (b. 1899)
- 1972 - Michael Rabin, American violinist (b. 1936)
- 1975 - Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (b. 1889)
- 1980 - William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1898)
- 1990 - Rajneesh, Indian religious leader (b. 1931)
- 1990 - Herbert Wehner, German politician (b. 1906)
- 1991 - John Russell, American actor (b. 1921)
- 1996 - Don Simpson, American film producer (b. 1943)
- 1997 - James Dickey, American writer (b. 1923)
- 1998 - Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932)
- 2000 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
- 2000 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-born actress (b. 1913)
- 2004 - Harry E. Claiborne, American judge (suicide) (b. 1917)
- 2004 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1955)
- 2005 - Bill Andersen, New Zealand communist and trade union leader (b. 1924)
- 2005 - K. Sello Duiker, South African novelist (b. 1974)
Holidays and observances
- Eastern Orthodoxy — Julian Calendar Theophany (Epiphany)
- Bahá'í Faith — Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty) — First day of the 17th month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Confederate Heroes Day in Texas
- Dr. Martin Luther Jr. day
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/19 BBC: On This Day]
----
January 18 - January 20 - December 19 - February 19 — listing of all days
ko:1월 19일
ms:19 Januari
ja:1月19日
simple:January 19
th:19 มกราคม
January 19
January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 346 days remaining (347 in leap years).
Events
- 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England which completed his conquest of Normandy.
- 1520 - Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund
- 1764 - John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
- 1795 - Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands. End of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
- 1806 - The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1829 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust premieres.
- 1839 - British East India Company captures Aden.
- 1840 - Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.
- 1853 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres in Rome.
- 1862 - The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the American Civil War at the Battle of Mill Springs.
- 1883 - The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service (Roselle, New Jersey) It was built by Thomas Edison.
- 1893 - Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder premieres in Berlin.
- 1899 - Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
- 1915 - George Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
- 1915 - German zeppelins bomb the cities of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
- 1918 - Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
- 1920 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
- 1935 - Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs.
- 1937 - Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
- 1941 - World War II: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
- 1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
- 1945 - World War II: Soviet forces liberate ghetto of Lodz. Out of 230,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived Nazi occupation.
- 1946 - General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
- 1949 - Cuba recognises Israel.
- 1953 - 68% of all United States television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
- 1955 - The Scrabble board game debuts.
- 1966 - Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India.
- 1969 - Student Jan Palach died after setting himself on fire 3 days ago in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turned into another major protest.
- 1971 - Revival of No, No, Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City).
- 1974 - The UCLA men's basketball team sees its 88-game winning streak end at the hands of Notre Dame.
- 1975 - Double Jay began broadcasting in Sydney, Australia.
- 1977 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").
- 1977 - Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snowfall has occurred.
- 1981 - Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
- 1983 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia.
- 1983 - The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Computer, Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
- 1993 - IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992, the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history.
- 1997 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
- 2002 - Michael Jordan, formerly of the Washington Wizards, plays his first game in Chicago since rejoining the NBA.
Births
- 399 - Pulcheria, Byzantine empress (d. 453)
- 1544 - King Francis II of France (d. 1560)
- 1736 - James Watt, Scottish inventor (d. 1819)
- 1739 - Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect (d. 1808)
- 1807 - Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (d. 1870)
- 1808 - Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (d. 1887)
- 1809 - Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and poet(d. 1849)
- 1813 - Sir Henry Bessemer, English inventor (d. 1898)
- 1839 - Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)
- 1848 - John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (d. 1904)
- 1851 - Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (d. 1922)
- 1863 - Werner Sombart, German sociologist (d. 1941)
- 1887 - Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d. 1943)
- 1909 - Hans Hotter, German bass-baritone (d. 2003)
- 1912 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Minnesota Fats, American billiards player (d. 1996)
- 1917 - John Raitt, American singer and actor (d. 2005)
- 1918 - John H. Johnson, American publisher (d. 2005)
- 1920 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
- 1921 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- 1922 - Guy Madison, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1923 - Jean Stapleton, American actress
- 1923 - Markus Wolf, German spy
- 1924 - Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (d. 1985)
- 1924 - Jean-Francois Revel, French author
- 1926 - Fritz Weaver, American actor
- 1931 - Tippi Hedren, American actress
- 1931 - Robert MacNeil, Canadian journalist
- 1932 - Richard Lester, British director
- 1939 - Phil Everly, American musician
- 1941 - Colin Gunton, British theologian (d. 2003)
- 1942 - Michael Crawford, British singer and actor
- 1943 - Janis Joplin, American singer (d. 1970)
- 1943 - Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
- 1944 - Shelley Fabares, American actress
- 1944 - Peter Lynch, American investor
- 1944 - Dan Reeves, American football coach
- 1946 - Julian Barnes, English author
- 1946 - Dolly Parton, American singer and actress
- 1948 - Frank McKenna, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Ambassador
- 1949 - Robert Palmer, English singer and guitarist (d. 2003)
- 1949 - Dennis Taylor, Irish snooker player
- 1952 - David Patrick Kelly, American actor
- 1953 - Desi Arnaz Jr., American actor
- 1955 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
- 1955 - Paul Rodriguez, Mexican-born actor and comedian
- 1956 - Katey Sagal, American actress, singer, and writer
- 1966 - Floris Jan Bovelander, Dutch field hockey player
- 1966 - Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player
- 1969 - Junior Seau, American football player
- 1971 - Shawn Wayans, American actor, writer, and producer
- 1971 - John Wozniak, American singer and songwriter (Marcy Playground)
- 1973 - Drea de Matteo, American actress
- 1973 - Karen Lancaume, French actress (d. 2005)
- 1974 - Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer
- 1977 - Lauren, Cameroon footballer
- 1979 - Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast
- 1981 - Asier Del Horno, Spanish footballer
- 1982 - Jodie Sweetin, American actress
- 1983 - Hikaru Utada, Japanese singer and songwriter
- 1985 - Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1992 - Logan Lerman, American actor
- 1993 - Elián González, Cuban refugee.
Deaths
- 639 - Dagobert I, King of the Franks
- 1526 - Isabella of Burgundy, queen of Christian II of Denmark (b. 1501)
- 1576 - Hans Sachs, German Meistersinger (b. 1494)
- 1729 - William Congreve, English playwright (b. 1670)
- 1757 - Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish classical scholar (b. 1674)
- 1766 - Jean-Nicolas Servan, French architect and painter (b. 1695)
- 1785 - Jonathan Toup, English classical scholar and critic (b. 1713)
- 1833 - Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold, French composer (b. 1791)
- 1847 - Charles Bent, New Mexico pioneer (assassinated)
- 1851 - Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (b. 1805)
- 1865 - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and anarchist (b. 1809)
- 1869 - Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (b. 1788)
- 1874 - August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet (b. 1798)
- 1878 - Henri Victor Regnault French physicist and chemist (b. 1810)
- 1905 - Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1929 - Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (b. 1873)
- 1968 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)
- 1969 - Jan Palach, Czech student and political activist (suicide) (b. 1948)
- 1971 - Harry Shields, American musician (b. 1899)
- 1972 - Michael Rabin, American violinist (b. 1936)
- 1975 - Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (b. 1889)
- 1980 - William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1898)
- 1990 - Rajneesh, Indian religious leader (b. 1931)
- 1990 - Herbert Wehner, German politician (b. 1906)
- 1991 - John Russell, American actor (b. 1921)
- 1996 - Don Simpson, American film producer (b. 1943)
- 1997 - James Dickey, American writer (b. 1923)
- 1998 - Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932)
- 2000 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
- 2000 - Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-born actress (b. 1913)
- 2004 - Harry E. Claiborne, American judge (suicide) (b. 1917)
- 2004 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1955)
- 2005 - Bill Andersen, New Zealand communist and trade union leader (b. 1924)
- 2005 - K. Sello Duiker, South African novelist (b. 1974)
Holidays and observances
- Eastern Orthodoxy — Julian Calendar Theophany (Epiphany)
- Bahá'í Faith — Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty) — First day of the 17th month of the Bahá'í Calendar
- Confederate Heroes Day in Texas
- Dr. Martin Luther Jr. day
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/19 BBC: On This Day]
----
January 18 - January 20 - December 19 - February 19 — listing of all days
ko:1월 19일
ms:19 Januari
ja:1月19日
simple:January 19
th:19 มกราคม
Leap yearA 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
Rouen
Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France, and presently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th century to the 15th century. It is in Rouen that the English burnt Joan of Arc in 1431.
The population of the metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 518,316 inhabitants. The city proper had a population of 106,592.
Administration
Rouen is the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région, as well as a commune and the préfecture (capital) of the Seine-Maritime département.
Rouen and 36 suburban communes of the metropolitan area form the Community of Agglomeration of Rouen Haute-Normandie, with 393,621 inhabitants in it at the 1999 census.
History
Rouen was probably founded by the Romans who called it Rotomagus. Rouen was the chief city of the Secunda Provincia Lugdunensis under Constantine. In the 5th century it became the seat of the bishopric and later a capital of Neustria. In the 9th century, it was overrun by Normans and since 912 has been the capital of Normandy and residence of the dukes.
On April 16, 1203 Philippe Auguste entered Rouen and definitively annexed Normandy to the French Kingdom in 1204.
During the Hundred Years' War, on January 19, 1419, Rouen surrendered to Henry V of England who made Normandy a part of England. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431.
The city was heavily damaged during World War II on the famous D-day and its famed cathedral was almost destroyed by Allied bombs. The city and cathedral were rebuilt after the war.
Sights
Rouen is known for its Notre Dame cathedral, with its Tour de Beurre (butter tower). The cathedral was the subject of a series of paintings by Claude Monet, some of which are exhibited in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
The Gros Horloge is an astronomical clock (16th century), located in the Gros Horloge street.
Other famous structures include the Gothic Church of Saint Maclou (15th century); the Tour Jeanne d'Arc, where Joan of Arc was brought in 1431 to be threatened with torture (contrary to popular belief, she was not imprisoned there); the Church of Saint Ouen (12th–15th century); the Palais de Justice, which was once the seat of the Parlement (French court of law) of Normandy and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics which contains a splendid collection of faïence and porcelain for which Rouen was renowned during the 16th to 18th centuries.
Rouen is noted for its surviving half-timbered buildings.
Miscellaneous
Transportation
Rouen is served by a light metro system opened in 1994.
Education
- École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen, located at nearby Mont-Saint-Aignan
- INSA Rouen
Births
Rouen was the birthplace of:
- Isaac Oliver (c.1560-1617), French-born English portrait miniature painter
- Samuel Bochart (1599-1667), scholar
- Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), tragedian
- Adrien Auzout (1622-1691), astronomer
- Thomas Corneille (1625-1709), dramatist, brother of Pierre Corneille
- Noel Alexandre (1630-1724), theologian and ecclesiastical historian
- Marie Champmeslé (1642-1698), actress
- René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687), cleric and explorer
- Gabriel Daniel (1649-1728), Jesuit historian
- Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715), chemist
- Jean Jouvenet (1647-1717), painter
- Jacques Basnages (1653-1723), Protestant divine
- Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757), author
- Pierre Antoine Motteux (1663-1718), English translator and dramatist
- Pierre François le Courayer (1681-1776), Catholic theological writer
- François d'Agincourt (1684-1758), composer, harpsichordist and organist
- Jean Restout (1692 - 1768), painter
- Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1780), novelist
- Jacques Duphly (1715-1789), harpsichordist and composer
- François-Adrien Boïeldieu (1775-1834), composer, mainly of operas
- Pierre Louis Dulong (1785-1838), physicist and chemist
- Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), painter, painted The Raft of the Medusa
- Armand Carrel (1800-1836), writer
- Pierre Adolphe Chéruel (1809-1891), historian
- Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), novelist, who wrote Madame Bovary
- Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941), novelist, creator of the character Arsène Lupin
- Charles Nicolle (1866-1936), bacteriologist who earned the 1928 Nobel Prize in Medicine
- Georges Guillain (1876-1961), neurologist
- Marcel Dupré (1886-1971), organist and composer
- Philippe Étancelin (1896-1981), Grand Prix motor racing
- Roger Apéry (1916–1994), mathematician
- Jacques Rivette (born 1928) film director
- Vincent Delerm (born 1976), singer-songwriter, pianist
- David Trézéguet (born 1977), French-Argentine football striker
Twin towns
Rouean is twinned with:
- Hanover, Germany
- Norwich, United Kingdom
- Ningbo, China
- Salerno, Italy
Ecclesiastical history
The chapter of Rouen, (which consists of the archbishop, a dean, fifty canons, and ten prebendaries), have, ever since the year 1156, enjoyed the annual privilege of pardoning, on Ascension day, some individual confined within the jurisdiction of the city for murder. On the morning of Ascension day, the chapter, having heard many examinations and confessions read, proceed to the election of the criminal who is to be pardoned; and, the choice being made, his name is transmitted in writing to the parliament, which assemble on that day at the palace. The parliament then walk in procession to the great chamber, where the prisoner is brought before them in irons, and placed on a stool; he is informed that the choice has fallen upon him, and that he is entitled to the privilege of St. Romain.
After this form, he is delivered into the hands of the chaplain, who, accompanied by fifty armed men, conveys him to a chamber, where the chains are taken from his legs and bound about his arms; and in this condition he is conducted to a place named the Old Tower, where he awaits the coming of the procession. After some little time has elapsed, the procession sets out from the cathedral; two of the canons bear the shrine in which the relics of St. Romain are presumed to be preserved. When they have arrived at the Old Tower, the shrine is placed in the chapel, opposite to the criminal, who appears kneeling, with the chains on his arms. Then one of the canons, having made him repeat the confession, says the prayers usual at the time of giving absolution; after which service, the prisoner kneeling still, lifts up the shrine three times, amid the acclamations of the people assembled to behold the ceremony. The procession then returns to the cathedral, followed by the criminal, wearing a chaplet of flowers on his head, and carrying the shrine of the saint. After mass has been performed, he has a very serious exhortation addressed to him by a monk; and, lastly, he is conducted to an apartment near the cathedral, and is supplied with refreshments and a bed for that night. In the morning he is dismissed. This privilege was justified by the legend of the Gargouille, a fearsome dragon, and how St. Romain defeated him with the help of a prisoner.
See also
- Saint Ouen (catholic saint)
External links
- [http://www.rouentourisme.com Site of the Tourist Board]
- http://www.agglo-rouennaise.fr/index1.html
- [http://www.mairie-rouen.fr/ City council website]
- [http://www.paris-normandie.fr/dossiers/ciel/76Seine-Maritime/IndexRouen.html Aerial pictures of Rouen]
- [http://www.dboc.net/rouen/ Objectif Rouen : Pictures and descriptions of the most famous monuments]
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13208b.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia 1908 detailed ecclesiastical history]
- Photo galleries (free of rights): [http://ric.jalix.org/Galleries/?dir=Rouen [1]] [http://romanito.free.fr/photos/?dir=Rouen [2]]
-
ko:루앙
ja:ルーアン
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region in northern France. Upper Normandy (Haute-Normandie) consists of the French départements of Seine-Maritime and Eure, and Lower Normandy (Basse-Normandie) of the départements of Orne, Calvados, and Manche.
The Duchy of Normandy is a formerly independent duchy situated in northern France occupying the lower Seine area, the Pays de Caux and the region to the west through the Pays d'Auge as far as the Cotentin Peninsula. Normandy was historically a province of France.
The Channel Islands, although British, are culturally and historically a part of Normandy that never reverted to the crown of France.
Population
Normandy has 3.2 million inhabitants, with an average population density of 107 per square kilometer, just under the French national average, but rising to 145 for upper Normandy. The principal cities are Rouen (population 385,000, including suburbs), the capital of upper Normandy and formerly of the whole province; Le Havre (247,000); Caen (200,000), the capital of lower Normandy; and Cherbourg (89,000).
Cherbourg
Other towns include:
- Alençon
- Arromanches
- Avranches
- Bayeux
- Coutances
- Dieppe
- Doudeville
- Évreux
- Falaise
- Honfleur
- Houlgate
- Lisieux
- Mortain
- Saint-Lô
- Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte
- Sainte-Mère-Église
- Villers-Bocage
Geography
Villers-Bocage
The region is bordered along the northern coasts by the English Channel. There are granite cliffs in the west and limestone cliffs in the east. There are also long stretches of beach in the centre of the region. The bocage, patchwork of small fields with high hedges, typical of the western areas caused problems for the invading forces in the Battle of Normandy. There are meanders of the Seine as it approaches its estuary which form a notable feature of the landscape.
Regions
- The Suisse normande (Norman Switzerland), in the south, presents hillier terrain.
- The Pays d'Auge is considered typical of the rich agricultural landscape of central Normandy.
- The Roumois
- The Lieuvin
- The Cotentin Peninsula
- La Hague
- The Pays de Caux
- The Bessin
- The Pays d'Ouche
- The Norman Vexin
- The Pays de Bray
Rivers
Rivers in Normandy include:
- the Seine
- the Orne
- the Vire
- the Eure
- the Risle
- the Robec
- the Touques
- the Couesnon, which traditionally marks the boundary between the Duchy of Brittany and the Duchy of Normandy.
The Pont de Normandie crossing the estuary of the Seine is regarded as a feat of modern engineering.
History
Pont de Normandie]
Normandy was the home of the Normans in the early Middle Ages, the last people to successfully invade England. The Normans were a mixture of the indigenous Gauls and of the Viking invaders under the leadership of Rollo (Gange Rolf), who besieged Paris and was given the area of Normandy (Treaty of St.-Claire-sur-Epte, 911) in return for defending it against future pirate attacks.
Rollo's descendant William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England in 1066 and became king William I of England. Normandy remained associated with England until 1087, in 1106-1144 and in 1154-1204. Also see the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years' War in 1346-1360 and again in 1415-1450.
Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville played important parts in the Crusades and established a kingdom in Sicily and the south of Italy.
Both Wace and Orderic Vitalis are important Norman writers for the history of the province.
During World War II, the town of Dieppe was the site of the ill-fated Dieppe Raid by Canadian and British units in 1942. Later, Normandy was also the site of the Normandy Invasion or Operation Overlord that began on June 6 1944, which day is also known as D-Day. This was the successful invasion of German-occupied France by U.S., British, and Canadian troops. Caen, Cherbourg, Carentan, and other Norman towns endured many casualties in the fight for the province, which continued until the liberation of Le Havre on September 12.
Channel Islands
Since the Channel Islands have remained loyal to the English Crown since the division of Normandy in 1204, yet are not part of the UK but rather the Duchy of Normandy, the British monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II) is toasted as Duke of Normandy. However, she is not regarded as Duke of Normandy outside her realms since claims by English monarchs to the title were given up by the Treaty of Paris of 1259. Additionally, the rights of succession to that title are subject to Salic Law, which does not allow for female inheritance of the ducal title.
Culture
Languages
The Norman language, a regional language, is spoken by a minority of the population, especially in the Cotentin peninsula in the far West and in the Pays de Caux in the East. Many place names show the influence of this Norse-influenced oïl language; for example -bec (stream), -fleur (river), -hou (island), -tot (homestead).
oïl language
Arts
Architecture
:Main article is Architecture of Normandy.
Architecturally, Norman cathedrals, abbeys (such as the Abbey of Bec) and castles characterise the former Duchy in a way that mirrors the similar pattern of Norman architecture in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Domestic architecture in upper Normandy is typified by half-timbered buildings that also recall vernacular English architecture, although the farm enclosures of the more harshly landscaped Pays de Caux are a more idiosyncratic response to socio-economic and climatic imperatives. Much urban architectural heritage was destroyed during the Battle of Normandy in 1944 - post-war urban reconstruction, such as in Le Havre and Saint-Lô, could be said to demonstrate both the virtues and vices of modernist and brutalist trends of the 1950s and 1960s.
Vernacular architecture in lower Normandy takes its form from granite, the predominant local building material. The Channel Islands also share this influence - Chausey was for many years a source of quarried granite, including that used for the construction of Mont Saint Michel.
Literature
Writers in the French language connected with Normandy include:
- Alphonse Allais
- Olivier Basselin
- Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly
- Jean Bertaut
- François le Metel de Boisrobert
- Pierre Corneille
- Casimir Delavigne
- Octave Feuillet
- Gustave Flaubert
- André Gide
- Rémy de Gourmont
- François de Malherbe
- Guy de Maupassant
- André Maurois
- Jack Quesnot Monnier
- Jacques Prévert
- Marcel Proust
- Raymond Queneau
- Jean Rotrou
See also Anglo-Norman literature, Gesta Normannorum Ducum
Painting
From the 1860s, plein-air painters, who worked outside the studio, were attracted to Normandy by the ease of railway access from Paris. Claude Monet's waterlily garden at Giverny is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region. Eugène Boudin's paintings of fashionable seaside scenes are also typical.
Eugène Boudin]]
Artists Norman by birth include:
- Nicolas Poussin
- Jean-François Millet
- Marcel Duchamp
- Fernand Léger
- André Breton
- Raoul Dufy
- Théodore Géricault
- Jean Dubuffet
- Georges de Scudéry
- Madeleine de Scudéry
- Pierre Toutain Dorbec
Music
Erik Satie, Daniel Auber, Arthur Honegger and Marcel Dupré, composers, were born in Normandy.
Design
Christian Dior, fashion designer, was born in Granville.
Religion
The cathedrals of Normandy have exerted influence down the centuries in matters of both faith and politics. Mont Saint Michel is a historic pilgrimage site. The influence of Celtic Christianity can still be found in the Cotentin.
Many saints have been revered in Normandy down the centuries, including:
- Thérèse de Lisieux whose cult in Lisieux is a focus for religious devotion
- Joan of Arc who was martyred in Rouen, and who is especially remembered in that city
- Helier and Samson of Dol who are evangelizers of the Channel Islands
- Saint Marcouf and Saint Lô who are important saints in Lower Normandy
- St. Aubert who is remembered as the founder of Mont Saint Michel
- Thomas Becket, an Anglo-Norman whose parents were from Rouen, who was the object of a considerable cult in mainland Normandy following his martyrdom
Normandy does not have one generally-agreed patron saint, although this title has been ascribed to Saint Michael, and to Saint Ouen.
Food and drink
Normandy is famous for its rich, rolling countryside, which provides plentiful pasture for dairy cattle and orchards for apples. The dairy produce of the region is renowned: its cheeses are world famous and include Camembert, Livarot and Pont l'Evêque. Normandy butter is highly prized, as is Normandy cream, both of which are lavishly used in local gastronomic specialities.
Normandy is a major cider-producing region (very little wine is produced). Perry is also produced, but in less significant quantities. The apple brandy, of which the most famous variety is calvados, is also popular. The mealtime trou normand, or Norman break, is a pause between meal courses in which diners partake of a glassful of calvados, is still observed in many homes and restaurants. Pommeau is an aperitif produced by blending unfermented cider and apple brandy. Another aperitif is the kir normand, a measure of cassis topped up with cider. Benedictine is produced in Fécamp.
Apples are also used in cooking: for example, moules à la normande are mussels cooked with apples and cream, bourdelots are apples baked in pastry, and localities all over the province have their own variation of apple tart. A classic pastry dish from the region is Flan Normand a flaky pastry-based variant of the apple tart.
Other regional specialities include tripes à la mode de Caen, andouilles, teurgoule (spiced rice pudding) and seafood. Normandy is the most significant oyster-cultivating region in France.
Symbols
oyster
The traditional provincial flag of Normandy, gules, two leopards passant or, is used in both modern regions. The historic three-leopard version (known in the Norman language as les treis cats, "the three cats") is used by some associations and individuals, especially those who support reunification of the regions and cultural links with the Channel Islands and England.
The unofficial anthem of the region is the song "Ma Normandie".
See also
- Duchy of Normandy
- Duke of Normandy
- List of postal codes in Normandy
- British military history
- COGEMA La Hague site
External links
- [http://www.mondes-normands.caen.fr/angleterre/index.htm The Normans, a European People. The Norman heritage, 10th-12th century]
- [http://www.offrench.net/photos/gallery-6.php Gallery of photos of Normandy]
- [http://www.chambresdhotesfrance.com/normandy.html Chambres D'Hotes in Normandy]
- [http://www.normandieweb.org Normandie Web - A community Web site about Normandy (in French)]
-
ja:ノルマンディー
Sten Sture the Younger
Sten Sture the Younger, or Sten Sture den yngre, Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden, under the Kalmar Union, 1512 - February 5, 1520. He was born in 1493, as the son of regent Svante Nilsson, a descendant of the Sture family, and Iliana Gädda. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Bogesund on January 19, 1520, in the last part of Christian II of Denmark's war against Sweden, and died on the ice of lake Mälaren on his way back to Stockholm. His marriage to Christina Gyllenstierna, great-granddaughter of King Charles VIII, in 1511 produced the son Svante Stensson Sture, later elevated to be 1st Count Sture.
Count Sture (1880). ]]
Sture, Sten, the Younger
Category:Swedish people
Category:Swedish nobility
List of Swedish monarchsThis is a list of Swedish monarchs, that is, the Kings and ruling Queens of Sweden with Regents and Viceroys of the Kalmar Union up until the present time.
There are lists of Swedish pagan monarchs with dates far older than these. These records contain the early kings, of the House of Yngling, and give an explanation to the numbering of the monarchs, particularly the names Erik and Karl (Eric and Charles). However these records are in many cases derived from historical romances and therefore of dubious historical authenticity. Because of this, lists of succession traditionally start with the first baptized Christian king of Sweden, Olof Skötkonung, and his father Erik Segersäll. Based on the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, these have often been classified as belonging to the Swedish house of Ynglings. However, the sagas tell that this line of kings was broken (see Ingjald and Ivar Vidfamne), and trace them back to Sigurd Ring and Ragnar Lodbrok (whom Saxo, on the other hand, considered to belong to the House of Yngling). As there is no evidence that Eric and Olof ever used the Yngling name themselves, modern historians instead refer to their family as the House of Munsö, the House of Ivar and Ragnar Lodbrok, the Old Dynasty or the House of Uppsala.
Monarchs, Regents and Viceroys of Sweden
For lists of the prehistoric kings of Sweden see
- Mythological kings of Sweden
- Semi-legendary kings of Sweden
- c. 970- c. 995 : Eric the Victorius (Erik Segersäll)
- c. 995- c. 1022 : Olof the Treasurer (Olof Skötkonung)
- c. 1022-1050 : Anund Jacob (Anund Jakob) - and in South Canute of Denmark
- 1050-1060 : Emund the Old (Emund den gamle)
The | | |