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July 27

July 27

July 27 is the 208th day (209th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 157 days remaining.

Events

- 1214 - Battle of Bouvines: In France, Philip II of France defeats John of England.
- 1549 - Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship arrives in Kagoshima, Japan.
- 1663 - The British Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
- 1689 - Glorious Revolution: Battle of Killiecrankie ends
- 1694 - A Royal Charter is granted to the Bank of England.
- 1778 - American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant - British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
- 1789 - The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (later renamed Department of State).
- 1794 - French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution." (See 9 Thermidor.)
- 1865 - Welsh settlers arrive in Argentina at Chubut Valley.
- 1866 - The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.
- 1880 - British army defeated at Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan.
- 1914 - Felix Manalo establishes the modern-day Iglesia ni Cristo by registering it with the Filipino government.
- 1921 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
- 1928 - Tich Freeman becomes only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before end of July.
- 1940 - Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.
- 1941 - Japanese troops occupy French Indo-China.
- 1949 - Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
- 1953 - Korean War ends: The United States, People's Republic of China, and North Korea, sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, president of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
- 1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends (started on May 9, 1945).
- 1964 - Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
- 1968 - Pink Floyd releases the album A Saucerful of Secrets in the USA.
- 1974 - Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Richard Nixon: obstruction of justice.
- 1976 - Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed scandal.
- 1981 - British television: On Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event, with massive viewer numbers earned for the show.
- 1990 - The Jamaat al Muslimeen stage a coup d'état attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying Parliament and holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet hostage for 6 days.
- 1995 - In Washington, DC, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated.
- 1996 - Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, Georgia, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics, killing one and injuring 111.
- 1997 - Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria; about 50 people killed.
- 1999 - 21 die in a canyoning disaster near Interlaken, Switzerland.
- 2002 - Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.
- 2005 - STS-114: NASA makes the decision to ground the Space shuttle pending an investigation of the external tank's continued foam shed problem. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery shed a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam did not strike the spacecraft.

Births

- 1452 - Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1508)
- 1667 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1748)
- 1733 - Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (d. 1779)
- 1768 - Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat who killed Jean-Paul Marat (d. 1793)
- 1781 - Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (d. 1828)
- 1812 - Thomas Clingman, American Confederate general (d. 1897)
- 1824 - Alexandre Dumas fils, French author (d. 1895)
- 1833 - Thomas George Bonney, English geologist (d. 1923)
- 1835 - Giosue Carducci, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
- 1853 - Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (d. 1921)
- 1857 - José Celso Barbosa, Puerto Rican political leader (d. 1921)
- 1867 - Enrique Granados, Spanish composer (d. 1916)
- 1870 - Hilaire Belloc, English writer (d. 1953)
- 1877 - Ernst von Dohnanyi, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 1960)
- 1881 - Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)
- 1882 - Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer (d. 1965)
- 1886 - Ernst May, German architect (d. 1970)
- 1901 - Rudy Vallee, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1903 - Nikolai Cherkasov, Russian actor (d. 1966)
- 1904 - Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish Yiddish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1905 - Leo Durocher, baseball player (d. 1991)
- 1908 - Joseph Mitchell, American writer (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Mario Del Monaco, Italian tenor (d. 1982)
- 1916 - Keenan Wynn, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1917 - Bourvil, French actor (d. 1970)
- 1918 - Leonard Rose, American cellist (d. 1984)
- 1922 - Norman Lear, American television writer and producer
- 1922 - Adolfo Celi, Italian actor (d. 1986)
- 1924 - Vincent Canby, American film critic (d. 2000)
- 1931 - Jerry Van Dyke, American actor
- 1938 - Isabelle Aubret, French singer
- 1938 - Gary Gygax, American computer game creator
- 1940 - Pina Bausch, German dancer
- 1942 - Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
- 1944 - Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor, and musician (d. 2003)
- 1947 - Betty Thomas, American actor and film director
- 1948 - Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
- 1949 - Maureen McGovern, American singer and Broadway actress
- 1957 - Bill Engvall, American comedian
- 1964 - Rex Brown, American bassist (Pantera)
- 1967 - Juliana Hatfield, American musician
- 1967 - Kellie Waymire, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1968 - Cliff Curtis, New Zealand actor
- 1969 - Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Italian actress
- 1969 - Triple H, American professional wrestler
- 1972 - Jill Arrington, American sports reporter
- 1974 - Eason Chan, Hong Kong singer
- 1975 - Shea Hillenbrand, baseball player
- 1975 - Alex Rodriguez, baseball player
- 1975 - Alessandro Pistone, Italian footballer
- 1977 - Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Irish actor
- 1979 - Shannon Moore, American professional wrestler
- 1981 - Susan King Borchardt, American basketball player

Deaths

- 1101 - Conrad, King of Germany and Italy (b. 1074)
- 1276 - King James I of Aragon (b. 1208)
- 1365 - Duke Rudolf IV of Austria (b. 1339)
- 1564 - Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1503)
- 1675 - Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, Marshal of France (b. 1611)
- 1759 - Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (b. 1698)
- 1770 - Robert Dinwiddie, British colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1693)
- 1841 - Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author (b. 1814)
- 1844 - John Dalton, English physicist and chemist (b. 1776)
- 1863 - William Lowndes Yancey, American Confederate leader (b. 1813)
- 1917 - Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss surgeon and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
- 1924 - Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1866)
- 1931 - Auguste-Henri Forel, Swiss entomologist (b. [[1848]{

July 27

July 27 is the 208th day (209th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 157 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Leap year

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

Gregorian calendar

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

Which day is the leap day?

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

Julian calendar

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

Revised Julian Calendar

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

Chinese calendar

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

Hebrew calendar

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

Hindu Calendar

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

Iranian calendar

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

Long term leap year rules

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

Marriage proposal

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

Saint Patrick and the leap year

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

Birthdays

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

Battle of Bouvines

The Battle of Bouvines, July 27, 1214, was the first great international conflict of alliances among national forces in Europe. In the alliances, which were orchestrated by Pope Innocent III, Philip Augustus of France defeated Otto IV of Germany and count Ferrand of Flanders so decisively that Otto was deposed and replaced by Frederick II Hohenstaufen. Ferrand was captured and imprisoned. Philip was himself able to take undisputed control of the territories of Anjou, Brittany, Maine, Normandy, and the Touraine, which he had recently seized from Otto's kinsman and ally John of England. The city of Bouvines is between Lille and Tournai, and in the 13th century was in the County of Flanders and is part of modern France.

Prelude

The campaign plan seems to have been designed by John, who was the fulcrum of the alliances; his general idea was to draw the French king away from Paris southward against himself and keep him occupied, while the main army, under emperor Otto IV, with the counts of the low countries, should march on Paris from the north. John's part in the general strategy was carried out at first, but the allies in the north moved slowly. John, after two encounters with his mortal enemy of France, turned back to his Guienne possessions on July 3, however, perhaps in one of his fits of despondency. When, three weeks later, the emperor finally concentrated his forces at Valenciennes, John was out of the picture, and in the interval Philip Augustus had countermarched northward and regrouped. Philip now took the offensive himself, and in maneuvering to get a good cavalry ground upon which to fight he offered battle (July 27), on the plain east of Bouvines and the river Marque. The imperial army drew up facing south-westward towards Bouvines, the heavy cavalry in the new-fangled plate armour on the wings, the infantry in one great mass in the center, supported by the cavalry corps under the emperor himself. The total force is estimated at 6500 heavy cavalry and 40,000 foot solidiers. The French army (about 7000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry) took ground exactly opposite in a similar formation, cavalry on the wings, infantry, including the townsmen (milice des communes) in the center, Philip with the cavalry reserve and the royal standard, the Oriflamme, in rear of the men on foot.

Battle

The battle opened with a confused cavalry fight on the French right, in which individual feats of knightly gallantry were more noticeable (and better recorded in the chronicles) than any attempt at combined action. The serious fighting was between the two centers; the infantry of the Low Countries, who were at this time almost the best in existence, drove back the French. Philip led the cavalry reserve of nobles and knights to retrieve the day, and after a long and doubtful fight, in which he himself was unhorsed and narrowly escaped death, began to drive back the Flemings. In the meanwhile the French feudatories on the left wing had thoroughly defeated the imperial forces opposed to them, and William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the leader of this corps, was unhorsed and taken prisoner by the fighting bishop of Beauvais. On the other wing the French at last routed the Flemish cavalry and captured Ferdinand Count of Flanders, one of the leaders of the coalition. In the center the battle was now a melée between the two mounted reserves led by the king and the emperor in person. Here too the imperial forces suffered defeat, Otto himself being saved only by the devotion of a handful of Saxon knights. The day was already decided in favor of the French when their wings began to close inwards to cut off the retreat of the imperial center. The battle closed with the celebrated stand of Reginald of Boulogne, a former vassal of King Philip, who formed a ring of seven hundred Brabancon pikemen, and not only defied every attack of the French cavalry, but himself made repeated charges or sorties with his small force of knights. Eventually, and long after the imperial army had begun its retreat, the gallant schiltron was ridden down and annihilated by a charge of three thousand men-at-arms. Reginald was taken prisoner in the mele; and the prisoners also included two other counts, Ferdinand and William Longsword, twenty-five barons and over a hundred knights. The killed amounted to about 170 knights of the defeated party, and many thousands of foot on either side. John returned to England to face the barons whose possessions in Normandy he had lost. After Bouvines there were no important wars in Western Europe until the 1290s.

References

- Georges Duby, The Legend of Bouvines (1990). A careful study of the historiography of a single event, Duby examines how the Battle of Bouvines has been used and abused in French history.

External links

- [http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/SOURCES/bouvines.htm Historical accounts]
- [http://10.1911encyclopedia.org/B/BO/BOUVINES.htm Encyclopaedia Britannica]: Bouvines
- [http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/bouvines.htm Bouvines]: the battle in the context of the campaign in the war of 1202 - 1214 Category:1214 Bouvines 1214 Bouvines 1214 Bouvines 1214 Category:Nord

Philip II of France

Philip II (French: Philippe II), called Philip Augustus (French: Philippe Auguste) (August 21,1165 – July 14,1223), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. A member of the Capetian dynasty, Philip Augustus was born August 21, 1165 at Gonesse, Val-d'Oise, France, the son of Louis VII of France and his third wife, Adèle of Champagne. Philip was a younger half-brother of Marie de Champagne, Alix of France, Marguerite of France and Alys, Countess of the Vexin. He was an older brother of Agnes of France. In declining health, his father had him crowned at Reims in 1179. He was married on April 28, 1180 to Isabelle of Hainaut. His father and co-ruler died on September 18, 1180. His eldest son Louis (later King Louis VIII), was born on September 5, 1187. As king, he would become one of the most successful in consolidating France into one royal domain. He seized the territories of Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Brittany and all of Normandy from King John of England. His decisive victory at the Battle of Bouvines over King John and a coalition of forces that included Otto IV of Germany ended the immediate threat of challenges to this expansion (1214) and left Philip Augustus as the most powerful monarch in all of Europe. He reorganized the government, bringing to the country a financial stability which permitted a sharp increase in prosperity. His reign was popular with ordinary people when he checked the power of the nobles and passed some of it on to the growing middle class his reign had created. He went on the Third Crusade with Richard the Lionhearted and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa (1189-1192). His army left Vézelay on July 1, 1190. At first the French and English crusaders traveled together, but the armies split at Lyons, as King Richard decided to go by sea, and Philip Augustus took the overland route through the Alps to Genoa. The French and English armies were reunited in Messina, where they wintered together. On March 30, 1191 the French set sail for the Holy Land, where they launched several assaults on Acre before King Richard arrived (see Siege of Acre). By the time Acre surrendered on July 12, Philip Augustus was terribly ill with dysentery and had little more interest in further crusading. He decided to return to France, a decision that displeased King Richard, who said, "It is a shame and a disgrace on my lord if he goes away without having finished the business that brought him hither. But still, if he finds himself in bad health, or is afraid lest he should die here, his will be done." So on July 31, 1191 the French army remained in Outremer under the command of Hugues III, duke of Burgundy. King Philip and his cousin Peter de Courtenay, count of Nevers, made their way to Genoa and from there returned to France. Philip Augustus decided to marry again, and so August 15, 1193 he married Ingeborg of Denmark (1175-1236), the daughter of King Valdemar I of Denmark. She was renamed Isambour, and Stephan of Dornik described her as "very kind, young of age but old of wisdom." For some unknown reason, Philip Augustus was repulsed by her, and he refused to have her be crowned queen. Ingeborg protested this treatment, so he shut her up in a convent. He asked the pope for an annulment, on the grounds of non-consummation. Philip Augustus had not counted on Ingeborg, however; she insisted that the marriage had been consummated, and she was his wife and the rightful queen of France. In the meantime Philip Augustus had married for a third time on May 7, 1196 to Princess Agnès of Méranie (c.1180 - July 29, 1201). Their children were: # Marie (1198 - October 15, 1224) # Philippe Hurepel (1200 - 1234) Pope Innocent III declared that this new marriage was null and void, since Philip Augustus was still wed to Ingeborg. He ordered Philip to part from Agnès and when he did not, the pope placed France under an interdict in 1199. This continued until September 7, 1200. Due to pressure from the pope and from Ingeborg's brother, King Valdemar II of Denmark, Philip Augustus finally took Ingeborg back as his queen in 1213. Philip Augustus would play a significant role in one of the greatest centuries of innovation in construction and in education. With Paris as his capital, he had the main thoroughfares paved, built a central market, Les Halles, continued the construction begun in 1163 of the Gothic Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, constructed the Louvre as a fortress and gave a charter to the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) in 1200. Under his guidance, Paris became the first city of teachers the medieval world had known. Philip Augustus died July 14, 1223 at Mantes and was interred in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son by Isabelle of Hainaut, Louis VIII.

Sources

- Payne, Robert. The Dream and the Tomb, 1984
- Baldwin, John W. The Government of Philip Augustus, 1991 Category:1165 births Category:1223 deaths Category:Natives of Ile-de-France Category:French monarchs Category:Crusades Category:Dukes of Brittany Category:Counts of Vermandois ja:フィリップ2世 (フランス王)

John of England

John (French: Jean) (December 24, c. 1166–October 18/19, 1216) reigned as King of England from April 6, 1199, until his death. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I (known as "Richard the Lionheart"). John acquired the nicknames of "Lackland" ("Sans Terre" in French) and "Soft-sword." John's reign has been traditionally characterised as one of the most disastrous in English history: it began with defeats—he lost Normandy to Philippe Auguste of France in his first five years on the throne—and ended with England torn by civil war and himself on the verge of being forced out of power. In 1213, he made England a papal fief to resolve a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, and his rebellious barons forced him to sign Magna Carta in 1215, the act for which he is best remembered. Some have argued, however, that John ruled no better or worse than his immediate predecessor or his successor. King John was also the subject of an early history play by William Shakespeare.

Early years

Born at Beaumont Palace, Oxford, John was the fifth son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. John was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. He was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King, Matilda of England, Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine and Joan of England. While John was always his father's favourite son, as the youngest he could expect no inheritance (hence his nickname, "Lackland"). He was almost certainly born in 1166 instead of 1167, as is sometimes claimed. King Henry and Queen Eleanor were not together nine months prior to December 1167, but they were together in March 1166. Also, John was born at Oxford on or near Christmas, but Eleanor and Henry spent Christmas 1167 in Normandy. The canon of Laon, writing a century later, states John was named after Saint John the Apostle, on whose feast day (December 27) he was born. Ralph of Diceto also states that John was born in 1166, and that Queen Eleanor named him. His family life was tumultuous, with his older brothers all involved in rebellions against Henry. Eleanor was imprisoned in 1173, when John was a small boy. Gerald of Wales relates that King Henry had a curious painting in a chamber of Winchester Castle, depicting an eagle being attacked by three of its chicks, while a fourth chick crouched, waiting for its chance to strike. When asked the meaning of this picture, King Henry said: :"The four young ones of the eagle are my four sons, who will not cease persecuting me even unto death. And the youngest, whom I now embrace with such tender affection, will someday afflict me more grievously and perilously than all the others." In 1189, John was married to Avisa, daughter and heiress of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester. (She is given several alternative names by history, including Isabella, Hawise, Joan, and Eleanor.) They had no children, and John had their marriage annulled on the grounds of consanguinity, some time before or shortly after his accession to the throne, which took place on April 6, 1199, and she was never acknowledged as queen. (She then married Geoffrey de Mandeville as her second husband and Hubert de Burgh as her third). Before his accession, John had already acquired a reputation for treachery, having conspired sometimes with and sometimes against his elder brothers, Henry, Geoffrey and Richard. In 1184, John and Richard both claimed that they were the rightful heir to the Aquitaine, one of many unfriendly encounters between the two. In 1185, John became the ruler of Ireland, whose people grew to despise him, causing John to leave after only eight months (see: John's first expedition to Ireland). During Richard's absence on the Third Crusade from 1190 to 1194, John attempted to overthrow his designated regent, despite having been forbidden by his brother to leave France. This was one reason the older legend of Hereward the Wake was updated to King Richard's reign, with "Prince John" as the ultimate villain and with the hero now called "Robin Hood". However, on his return to England in 1194, Richard forgave John and named him as his heir.

Reign

1194 After Richard's death, John did not gain immediate universal recognition as king. Some regarded his young nephew, Arthur of Brittany, the posthumous son of John's brother Geoffrey, as the rightful heir. Arthur vied with his uncle John for the throne, and enjoyed the support of King Philip II of France. The conflict between Arthur and King John had fatal consequences. The war upset the barons of Poitou enough for them to see redress from the King of France, who was King John's feudal overlord with respect to certain terrorities on the Continent. In 1202, King John was summoned to the French court to answer the charges. King John refused and, under feudal law, because of his failure of service to his lord, the French King claimed the lands and territories ruled by King John as Count of Poitou. The French promptly invaded Normady, King Philip II invested Arthur with all those fiefs King John once held (except for Normandy), and betrothed him to his daughter Mary. As part of the war, Arthur attempted to kidnap his own grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, at Mirebeau, but was defeated and captured by John's forces. Arthur was imprisoned first at Falaise and then at Rouen. No one is certain what happened to Arthur after that. According to the Margram Annals, on 3 April 1203: :"After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time in the castle of Rouen... when [John] was drunk and possessed by the devil he slew [Arthur] with his own hand and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine." However, the officer commanding the Rouen fortress, Hubert de Burgh, claimed to have delivered Arthur around Easter 1203 to agents of the King sent to castrate him and that Arthur had died of shock. Hubert later retracted his statement and claimed Arthur still lived, but no one ever saw Arthur alive again and the supposition that he was murdered caused Brittany and later Normandy to rebel against King John. Besides Arthur, John also captured his niece Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany. Eleanor remained a prisoner the rest of her life (which ended in 1241); through deeds such as these, John acquired a reputation for ruthlessness. In the meantime, John had remarried, on August 24, 1200, Isabelle of Angoulême, who was twenty years his junior. She was the daughter of Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angouleme. John had kidnapped her from her fiancée, Hugh IX of Lusignan. Isabelle eventually produced five children, including two sons (Henry and Richard), and three daughters (Joan, Isabella and Eleanor). In 1205, John married off his illegitimate daughter, Joan, to the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great, building an alliance in the hope of keeping peace within England and Wales so that he could recover his French lands. The French king had declared most of these forfeit in 1204, leaving John only Gascony in the southwest. John is given a great talent for lechery by the chroniclers of his age, and even allowing some embellishment, he did have many illegitimate children. Matthew Paris accuses him of being envious of many of his barons and kinsfolk, and seducing their more attractive daughters and sisters. Roger of Wendover describes an incident that occurred when John became enamoured with Margaret, the wife of Eustace de Vesci and an illegitimate daughter of King William I of Scotland. Her husband substituted a prostitute in her place when the king came to Margaret's bed in the dark of night; the next morning, when John boasted to Vesci of how good his wife was in bed, Vesci confessed and fled. Besides Joan, the wife of Llywelyn Fawr, his illegitimate daughter by a woman named Clemence, John had a son named Richard Fitz Roy by his first cousin, a daughter of his uncle Hamelin de Warenne. By another mistress, Hawise, John had Oliver FitzRoy, who accompanied the papal legate Pelayo to Damietta in 1218, and never returned. By an unknown mistress (or mistresses) John fathered: Geoffrey FitzRoy, who went on expedition to Poitou in 1205 and died there; John FitzRoy, a clerk in 1201; Henry FitzRoy, who died in 1245; Osbert Gifford, who was given lands in Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sussex, and is last found alive in 1216; Eudes FitzRoy, who accompanied his half-brother Richard on Crusade and died in the Holy Land in 1241; Bartholomew FitzRoy, a member of the order of Friars Preachers; Maud FitzRoy, Abbess of Barking, who died in 1252; Isabel FitzRoy, wife of Richard Fitz Ives; and Philip FitzRoy, found living in 1263. As far as the administration of his kingdom went, John functioned as an efficient ruler, but he won the disapproval of the English barons by taxing them in ways that were outside those traditionally allowed by feudal overlords. The tax known as scutage, payment made instead of providing knights (as required by Feudal law), became particularly unpopular. John was a very fair-minded and well informed king, however, often acting as a Judge in the Royal Courts, and his justice was much sought after. Also, John's employment of an extremely able Chancellor and certain clerks resulted in the first proper set of records - the pipe rolls. John is also accredited with the founding of the modern Royal Navy. In 1203 he ordered all shipyards (including inland places such as Gloucester) in England to be responsible for at least one ship, with places such as the newly-built Portsmouth being responsible for several. He made Portsmouth the new home of the Navy (the Anglo-Saxon kings, such as Edward the Confessor, had had royal harbours at Sandwich, Kent.) By the end of 1204, he had 45 large galleys available to him, and from then on an average of 4 new ones every year. He also created an Admiralty of 4 Admirals, responsible for various parts of the new Navy. It was during John's reign that big improvements were made in ship design, including the addition of sails and removable forecastles. He also created the first big transport ships, called buisses. Everything known about this Navy comes from the pipe-rolls and is completely ignored by the chroniclers and pre-revisionist historians. When Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury died on 13 July 1205, John became involved in a dispute with Pope Innocent III. The monks of Christ Church chapter in Canterbury claimed the sole right to elect Hubert's successor, but both the English bishops and the King had an interest in the choice of successor to this powerful office. When their dispute could not be settled, the monks secretly elected one of their members as Archbishop and later a second election imposed by John resulted in another candidate. When they both appeared in Rome, Innocent disavowed both elections and his candidate, Stephen Langton, was elected over the objections of John's observers. Innocent thus disregarded the king's rights in selection of his own vassals. John was supported in his position by the English barons and many of the English bishops and refused to accept Langton. Stephen Langton John expelled the Canterbury monks in July 1207 and the Pope ordered an interdict against the kingdom. John immediately retaliated by seizure of church property for failure to provide feudal service, and the fight was on. The pious of England were theoretically left without the comforts of the church, but over a period they became used to it. The pope, meanwhile, realized that too long a period without church services could lead to loss of faith, and gave permission for some churches to hold Mass behind closed doors in 1209. In 1212, they allowed last rites to the dying. While the interdict was a burden to many, it did not result in rebellion against John. In November of 1209 John himself was excommunicated, and, in February 1213, Innocent threatened stronger measures unless John submitted. The papal terms for submission were accepted; in addition, John offered to surrender the Kingdom of England to God and the Saints Peter and Paul for a feudal service of 1000 marks annually, 700 for England and 300 for Ireland. With this submission, John gained the valuable support of his papal overlord in his dispute with the English barons, some of whom rebelled against him after he was excommunicated. Having successfully put down the Welsh Uprising of 1211 and settling his dispute with the papacy, John turned his attentions back to his overseas interests. The European wars culminated in defeat at the Battle of Bouvines, which forced the king to accept an unfavourable peace with France. This finally turned the barons against him, and he met their leaders at Runnymede, near London, on June 15, 1215, to sign the Great Charter called, in Latin, Magna Carta. Because he had signed under duress, however, John received approval from his overlord the Pope to break his word as soon as hostilities had ceased, provoking the First Barons' War.

Death

In 1216, John, retreating from an invasion by Prince Louis of France (whom the majority of the English barons had invited to replace John on the throne), crossed the marshy area known as The Wash in East Anglia and lost his most valuable treasures, including the Crown Jewels to the unexpected incoming tide. This dealt him a terrible blow, which affected his health and state of mind, and he succumbed to dysentery, dying on October 18 or 19, at Newark in Lincolnshire. Numerous, if fictitious, accounts circulated soon after his death that he had been killed by poisoned ale or poisoned plums. He was buried in Worcester Cathedral in the city of Worcester. His nine-year-old son succeeded him and became King Henry III of England, and although Louis continued to claim the English throne, the barons switched their allegiance to the new king, forcing Louis to give up his claim and sign the Treaty of Lambeth in 1217.
- Footnote: Newark now lies within the County of Nottinghamshire, close to its long boundary with Lincolnshire.

Alleged illiteracy

For a long time, schoolchildren have learned that King John had to approve Magna Carta by attaching his seal to it because he could not sign it, lacking the ability to read or write (ignoring the fact that King John had a large library he treasured until the end of his life.) This textbook inaccuracy resembled that of textbooks which claimed that Christopher Columbus wanted to prove the earth was round. Whether the original authors of these errors knew better and oversimplified because they wrote for children, or whether they had been misinformed themselves, is unknown. As a result of these writings, generations of adults remembered mainly two things about "wicked King John," both of them wrong. (The other "fact" was that, if Robin Hood had not stepped in, Prince John would have embezzled the money raised to ransom King Richard. The fact is that John did embezzle the ransom money, by creating forged seals, and Robin Hood may or may not have actually existed. In any case, the real life source for the legend lived at least half a century before Richard was king. ) In fact, King John did sign the draft of the Charter that the negotiating parties hammered out in the tent on Charter Island at Runnymede on 15–18 June 1215, but it took the clerks and scribes working in the royal offices some time after everyone went home to prepare the final copies, which they then sealed and delivered to the appropriate officials. In those days, legal documents were sealed to make them official, not signed. (Even today, many legal documents are not considered effective without the seal of a notary public or corporate official, and printed legal forms such as deeds say "L.S." next to the signature lines. That stands for the Latin locus signilli ("place of the seal"), signifying that the signer has used a signature as a substitute for a seal.) When William the Conqueror (and his wife) signed the Accord of Winchester (Image) in 1072, for example, they and all the bishops signed with crosses, as illiterate people would later do, but they did so in accordance with current legal practice, not because the bishops could not write their own names. Henry II had at first intended that John would receive an education to go into the Church, which would have meant Henry did not have to give him any land. In 1171, however, Henry began negotiations to betroth John to the daughter of Count Humbert III of Savoy (who had no son yet and so wanted a son-in-law.) After that, talk of making John a clergyman ceased. John's parents had both received a good education—Henry spoke some half dozen languages, and Eleanor had attended lectures at what would soon become the University of Paris—in addition to what they had learned of law and government, religion, and literature. John himself had received one of the best educations of any king of England. Some of the books the records show he read included: De Sacramentis Christianae Fidei by Hugh of St. Victor, Sentences by Peter Lombard, The Treatise of Origen, and a history of England—potentially Wace's Roman de Brut, based on Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

Notes

According to records of payment made to King John's bath attendant, William Aquarius, the king bathed on average about once every three weeks, which cost a considerable sum of 5d to 6d each, suggesting an elaborate and ceremonial affair. Although this may seem barbaric by modern standards, it was civilised compared to monks who were expected to bathe three times a year, with the right not to bathe at all if they so chose. By contrast, King John dressed very well in coats made of fur from sable and ermine and other exotic furs such as polar bear.

Depictions in fiction

- King John was the subject of a Shakespearean play of the same name. See King John.
- Philip José Farmer, a science fiction author, featured King John as one of several historical figures in his Riverworld Saga.
- John and one of his Justices of Eyre, the Sheriff of Nottingham, are portrayed as the evil king and henchman in the Robin Hood legends. Perhaps the most well-known version of this character is featured in the 1973 animated movie Robin Hood, in which John is an anthropomorphic lion who sucks his thumb and cries out for his "mommy" whenever Robin Hood (a fox) steals his gold.
- John was impersonated by Kamelion in a plot by The Master in the 1983 episode of the British science fiction series, Doctor Who.
- John is a character in William Goldman's 1966 play The Lion in Winter, which dramatises Henry II's struggles with his wife and sons over the rule of his empire. He is portrayed as a spoiled, simpleminded pawn in the machinations of his brothers and Philip II.

References

King John, by W.L. Warren ISBN 0520036433 The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216 by Frank Barlow ISBN 0582495040

External link

Francis Xavier

:Not to be confused with St. Francis Borgia, another Spanish nobleman turned Jesuit. Francis Borgia, Nagasaki, Japan.]] Saint Francis Xavier (Chinese: 沙勿略) (April 7, 1506 - December 2, 1552) was a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order). The Xaverian Brothers are named after him. The Roman Catholic Church considers him to have converted more people to Christianity than anyone else since St. Paul.

Early life

Xavier was born Francisco de Jaso y Azpilcueta in the Castle of Xavier (modern Spanish Javier, Basque Xabier, Catalan Xavier) near Sangüesa and Pamplona, in Navarre, Spain. He sprang from an aristocratic Basque family of Navarre. In 1512, Castile invaded Navarre. Many fortresses were devastated, including the family castle, and land was confiscated. Francis' father died in 1515. At the age of 19, Francis Xavier went to study at the University of Paris, where he received a licence ès arts in 1530. He furthered his studies there in theology, and became acquainted with Ignatius Loyola. Along with Ignatius, Pierre Favre and four others, Xavier was one of those who on August 15, 1534 bound themselves by a vow at Montmartre and formed the Society of Jesus.

Missionary work

Society of Jesus Francis Xavier devoted much of his life to missions to remote countries. As King John III of Portugal desired Jesuit missionaries for the Portuguese East Indies, he was ordered there in 1540. He left Lisbon on April 7, 1541, together with two other Jesuits and the new viceroy Martin de Sousa, on board the Santiago. From August of that year until March 1542, he remained in Mozambique, and reached Goa, India, the capital of the then Portuguese colonies, on May 6. His official role in Goa was Apostolic Nuncio. He spent the following three years operating out of Goa. On September 20, 1542, he left for his first missionary activity among the Paravas, pearl-fishers along the east coast of southern India, north of Cape Comorin. He then exerted himself to convert the king of Travancore to Christianity, on the west coast, and also visited Ceylon. Dissatisfied with the results of his activity, he turned eastward in 1545, and planned a missionary journey to Macassar, on the island of Celebes, in today's Indonesia. After arriving in Malacca in October of that year and waiting there three months in vain for a ship to Macassar, he gave up the goal of his voyage. He left Malacca on January 1, 1546 and landed on Amboyna, where he stayed until mid-June. He then visited other Molucca Islands, including Ternate and More. Shortly after Easter 1546, he returned to Ambon Island, and then Malacca. During this time period, frustrated by the elites in Goa, St. Francis wrote to King D. João III for an Inquisition to be installed in Goa. However this Inquisition did not begin till eight years after his death. In December 1547, in Malacca, Francis Xavier met a Japanese nobleman from Kagoshima called Anjiro. Anjiro had heard from Francis in 1545 and had travelled from Kagoshima to Malacca with the purpose of meeting him. Having been charged with murder, Anjiro had fled Japan. He poured his heart out to Francis Xavier, telling him about his former life and the customs and culture of his beloved homeland. Anjiro was a samurai and as such provided Xavier with a skilled mediator and translator for the mission to Japan that was his inevitable future. “I asked [Anjiro] whether the Japanese would become Christians if I went with him to this country, and he replied that they would not do so immediately, but would first ask me many questions and see what I knew. Above all, they would want to see whether my life corresponded with my teaching…All the Portuguese merchants who have come from Japan assure me that by going there I could render God our Lord much service, and more than among the peoples of India, because the Japanese are a race greatly given to the exercise of reason.” Thus intrigued, Xavier baptized Anjiro—who was now called Paulo de Santa Fe—and began to plan for a mission to this recently discovered land. Anjiro helped Francis Xavier to translate a few paragraphs of Christian doctrine into phonetic Japanese which Xavier learned by heart. He returned to India in January 1548. The next 15 months were occupied with various journeys and administrative measures in India. Then due to displeasure at the unchristian life and manners of the Portuguese, which impeded proselyting work, he went forth once again into the unknown Far East. He left Goa on April 15, 1549, stopped at Malacca, and visited Canton. He was accompanied by Anjiro, two other Japanese men, the father Cosme de Torrès and Brother Juan Fernandez. He had taken with him presents for the "King of Japan", since he was intending to introduce himself as the Apostolic Nuncio. Xavier reached Japan on July 27, 1549, but it was not until August 15 that he went ashore at Kagoshima, the principal port of the province of Satsuma, on the island of Kyushu. He was received in a friendly manner and was hosted by Anjiro's family until October 1550. From October to December 1550, he resided in Yamaguchi. Shortly before Christmas, he left for Kyoto, but failed to meet with the Emperor. He returned to Yamaguchi in March 1551. There he was permitted to preach by the daimyo, but not knowing the Japanese language he had to limit himself to reading aloud the translation of a catechism. Ultimately his sojourn was fruitful, as attested by congregations established in Hirado, Yamaguchi, and Bungo. Xavier worked for more than two years in Japan and saw his successor-Jesuits established. He then decided to return to India. During his trip, a tempest forced him to stop on an island near Guangzhou, China. There he saw the rich merchant Diégo Pereira, an old friend from Cochin, who showed him a letter of Portuguese being held prisoners in Guangzhou asking for a Portuguese ambassador to talk to the Chinese Emperor in their favor. Later, he stopped at Malacca on December 27, 1551 and was back in Goa by January, 1552. On April 17 he set sail, with Diégo Pereira, leaving Goa on board the Santa Cruz for China. He introduced himself as Apostolic Nuncio, and Pereira as ambassador of the King of Portugal. Shortly thereafter, he realized that he had forgotten his testimonial letters as an Apostolic Nuncio. Back in Malacca, he was confronted by the capitan Alvaro de Ataide de Gama, who now had total control over the harbor. The capitan refused to recognize his title of Nuncio, asked Pereira to resign from his title of ambassador, named a new crew for the ship, and demanded that the gifts for the Emperor be left in Malacca. In early September 1552, the Santa Cruz reached the Chinese island of Shangchuan, 14 km away from the southern coast of mainland China, near Taishan, Guangdong, 200 km south-west of what later became Hong Kong. At this time, he was only accompanied by a Jesuit student, Alvaro Ferreira, a Chinese man called Antonio, and a Malabar servant called Christopher. Around mid-November he sent a letter saying that a man had agreed to take him to the mainland in exchange for a large sum of money. Having sent back Alvaro Ferreira, he remained alone with Antonio.

Death

Malabar On November 21, he fainted after celebrating Mass. He died on the island on December 2, 1552, at age 46, without having reached mainland China. He was first buried on a beach of Shangchuan island. His intact body was taken from the island in February 1553. It was temporarily buried in St. Paul's church in Malacca on March 22, 1553. An open grave in the church now marks the place of Xavier's burial. Pereira came back from Goa, removed the corpse shortly after April 15, 1553, and moved it to his house. On December 11, 1553, Xavier's body was shipped to Goa. The body, having resisted extensive decay, is now in the [http://www.dommartin.cc/Basilica%20ptgs/Basilica%20ptgs%20index.htm Basilica of Bom Jésus] in Goa, where it was placed into a silver casket on December 2, 1637. The silver casket is lowered for public viewing only during the [http://www.dommartin.cc/Exposition/Exposition.html public exposition] which occurs for a duration of 6 weeks every 10 years, the most recent of which took place in 2004. There is a debate as to how the body could have remained incorrupt for so long. Some say that Francis Xavier was mummified, while others argue that the incorruptible body is evidence of a miracle.

Legacy

Francis Xavier accomplished a great deal of missionary work, both as organizer and as pioneer. By his compromises in India with the Christians of St. Thomas he developed the Jesuit missionary methods along lines that subsequently became fateful for his order. The instruction he dispensed in connection with baptism was superficial. He combined missions with politics, and approved of the extension of Christianity force (cf. his letter to King John III. of Portugal, Cochin, Jan. 20, 1548).

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Francis Xavier

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