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June 14

June 14

June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining.

Events

- 1381 - King Richard II of England meets the leaders of Peasants' Revolt.
- 1645 - English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.
- 1648 - Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts colony.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The United States Army is established by the Continental Congress.
- 1777 - Stars and Stripes adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.
- 1789 - Mutiny on the Bounty: HMAV Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 4,000 mile journey in an open boat.
- 1822 - Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables."
- 1846 - Bear Flag Revolt begins - Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Second Winchester – A Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
- 1872 - Trade unions are legalised in Canada.
- 1900 - Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
- 1900 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
- 1905 - Battleship Potemkin uprising: Sailors start a mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin, denouncing the crimes of autocracy, demanding liberty and an end to war. (See also Eisenstein's classic film on the subject, The Battleship Potemkin).
- 1919 - John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.
- 1937 - Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
- 1940 - World War II: Paris falls under German occupation.
- 1940 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law which aims to increase the United States Navy's tonnage by 11%.
- 1940 - A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- 1941 - Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians begun.
- 1942 - Anne Frank begins to keep a diary.
- 1951 - UNIVAC I is dedicated by U.S. Census Bureau.
- 1952 - The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
- 1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" to the United States' Pledge of Allegiance.
- 1955 - Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1959 - A group of left-leaning Dominican exiles in Cuba landed in the Dominican Republic with the intent of assassinating Trujillo. They would later be known as the J14 or "Catorce de Junio" (14th of June) group.
- 1962 - Anna Slesersby becomes the first victim of Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler.
- 1966 - The Vatican announces the abolition of the index librorum prohibitum (index of prohibited books), which was originally instituted in 1557.
- 1967 - Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched toward Venus.
- 1967 - The People's Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.
- 1976 - The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
- 1976 - The Gong Show debuts on NBC.
- 1982 - Falklands War ends: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley unconditionally surrender to British forces.
- 1985 - TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Hezbollah.
- 1993 - A weeklong product tampering scare, later proven to be a hoax, occurs as customers throughout the USA discover syringes in unopened cans of Diet Pepsi Cola.
- 1994 - The New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup over the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game 7, breaking a 54-year drought.
- 2002 - Twelve are killed and 50 injured by a car bomb explosion in front of the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
- 2004 - The Workers Party of Bangladesh is split, as Khandaker Ali Abbas leaves to form a new party.
- 2005 - Phil Jackson is rehired to coach the Los Angeles Lakers.
- 2005 - Asafa Powell from Jamaica sets a new world record on the 100 m sprint in Athens with 9.77 seconds.

Births

- 1479 - Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet (d. 1552)
- 1529 - Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (d. 1595)
- 1671 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (d. 1751)
- 1726 - James Hutton, Scottish geologist (d. 1797)
- 1736 - Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French mathematician (d. 1806)
- 1801 - Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (d. 1868)
- 1811 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (d. 1896)
- 1832 - Nikolaus Otto, German engineer (d. 1891)
- 1855 - Robert La Follette, U.S. Senator (d. 1925)
- 1856 - Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (d. 1922)
- 1864 - Alois Alzheimer, German physician (d. 1915)
- 1868 - Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1943)
- 1877 - Jane Bathori, French mezzo-soprano (d. 1970)
- 1894 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1924)
- 1899 - Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1903 - Alonzo Church, American mathematican and logician (d. 1995)
- 1906 - Margaret Bourke-White, American photojournalist (d. 1971)
- 1909 - Burl Ives, American musician (d. 1995)
- 1910 - Rudolf Kempe, German conductor (d. 1976)
- 1919 - Dorothy McGuire, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1919 - Sam Wanamaker, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1921 - Gene Barry, American actor
- 1922 - Kevin Roche, Irish architect
- 1925 - Pierre Salinger, John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary (d. 2004)
- 1926 - Hermann Kant, German author
- 1926 - Don Newcombe, baseball player
- 1928 - Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, Argentine-born revolutionary (d. 1967)
- 1929 - Cy Coleman, American composer (d. 2004)
- 1933 - Jerzy Kosinski, Polish author (d. 1999)
- 1939 - Dr. John F. MacArthur, American evangelist
- 1945 - Rod Argent, English musician (The Zombies)
- 1946 - Marla Gibbs, American actress
- 1946 - Donald Trump, American businessman
- 1947 - Barry Melton, American guitarist (Country Joe and the Fish)
- 1949 - Jimmy Lea, British musician (Slade)
- 1949 - Harry Turtledove, American author
- 1950 - Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1951 - Paul Boateng, British politician
- 1952 - Pat Summitt, American basketball coach
- 1954 - Will Patton, American actor
- 1958 - Eric Heiden, American speed skater
- 1961 - Boy George, British singer (Culture Club)
- 1961 - Sam Perkins, American basketball player
- 1968 - Yasmine Bleeth, American actress
- 1969 - Steffi Graf, German tennis player
- 1977 - Chris McAlister, American football player
- 1980 - Chauncey Leopardi, American actor
- 1982 - Lang Lang, Chinese pianist

Deaths

- 1161 - Emperor Qinzong of China (b. 1100)
- 1381 - Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1497 - Giovanni Borgia, Duke of Borgia (assassinated)
- 1544 - Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489)
- 1548 - Carpentras, French composer
- 1594 - Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer
- 1662 - Henry Vane the Younger, British Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1613)
- 1674 - Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French writer (b. 1600)
- 1703 - Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (b. 1625)
- 1794 - Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, Viceroy of Ireland (b. 1718)
- 1800 - Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Veygoux, French military leader (killed in battle) (b. 1768)
- 1800 - Jean-Baptiste Kleber, French general (assassinated) (b. 1753)
- 1801 - Benedict Arnold, American general (b. 1741)
- 1825 - Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French architect (b. 1754)
- 1837 - Giacomo Leopardi, Italian writer (b. 1798)
- 1883 - Edward FitzGerald, English poet (b. 1809)
- 1886 - Alexandr Ostrovsky, Russian dramatist (b. 1823)
- 1920 - Max Weber, German sociologist (b. 1864)
- 1926 - Mary Cassatt, American artist (b. 1843)
- 1927 - Jerome K. Jerome, British author (b. 1859)
- 1928 - Emmeline Pankhurst, American feminist (b. 1857)
- 1932 - Dorimène Roy Desjardins, Canadian business pioneer
- 1936 - G. K. Chesterton, English author (b. 1874)
- 1936 - Maxim Gorky, Russian author (b. 1868)
- 1946 - John Logie Baird, Scottish television pioneer (b. 1888)
- 1967 - Eddie Eagan, American sportsman (b. 1897)
- 1968 - Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1972 - Martin Dies, American politician (b. 1900)
- 1986 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
- 1986 - Alan Jay Lerner, American composer (b. 1918)
- 1991 - Dame Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (b. 1907)
- 1994 - Henry Mancini, American composer (b. 1924)
- 1995 - Rory Gallagher, Irish musician and composer (b. 1949)
- 1995 - Roger Zelazny, American author (b. 1937)
- 1997 - Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2002 - June Jordan, American writer and teacher (b. 1936)
- 2004 - Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (b. 1900)
- 2004 - Eamonn McGirr, Irish-born singer and entertainer
- 2005 - Mimi Parent, Canadian painter (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances

- Liberation Day (Falkland Islands)
- Flag Day (United States)
- Mother's Day (Afghanistan)
- Roman Empire – eighth day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta
- World Blood Donor Day [http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2005/pr25/en/index.html
- ] – Celebration of blood donation on the birthdate of Karl Landsteiner, who discovered ABO blood groups
- International Weblogger's Day – Celebration of the work of webloggers around the world

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/14 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://english.eesti.pl/index.php?dzial=swieta&strona=june14 Estonia, June 14 - A National Day of Commemoration] ---- June 13 - June 15 - May 14 - July 14 – listing of all days ko:6월 14일 ms:14 Jun ja:6月14日 simple:June 14 th:14 มิถุนายน

June 14

June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

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

Richard II of England

: There is also a play entitled Richard II by Shakespeare. Richard II (January 6 1367 – February 14, 1400) was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent". He was born at Bordeaux and became his father's heir when his elder brother died in infancy. Out of the fact that Richard was born at Epiphany and that three kings were present at his birth came a legend that, despite being a second son, he was destined for great things. He became heir to the throne of England, and was created Prince of Wales, when the Black Prince died suddenly in 1376. The following year his grandfather King Edward III of England also died, leaving Richard as king at the age of only ten.

Richard's minority

Edward III of England John of Gaunt, his uncle, ruled on Richard's behalf for the first years of his reign and it was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 that brought Richard into the limelight. It fell to him personally to negotiate with Wat Tyler and the other rebel leaders and their massed armed ranks of several thousand, which must undoubtedly have required some personal courage, aged only fourteen as he was. He offered pardon to the leaders of the rebellion, an offer that was rescinded as the ringleaders were eventually arrested and excecuted. It remains a matter of doubt as to whether Richard always intended this to happen, or whether he was eventually forced to go against his word by militant sections of the English nobility. Either way, his disingenuous tactics certainly had the desired effect of dispersing the rebel forces from the streets of London back to the shires whence they came and bringing the disorder to an end. The young king seemed to be showing great promise. As he matured into adulthood, however, he showed a striking inability to make the deals and compromises that were an essential aspect of 14th century politics and diplomacy, leading eventually to his downfall. In 1382 he married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Elizabeth of Pomerania, but they had no children, and she died in 1394. Richard is said to have been devoted to her. In 1396 he married Princess Isabella of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau de Bavière, but their marriage was likewise without issue.

First crisis of 1387-88

As Richard began to take over thee business of government himself, he sidelined many of the established nobles, such as Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick , Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel and Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester. Instead he turned to his inner circle of favourites for his council, men such as his beloved Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford and Michael de la Pole whom Richard created Earl of Suffolk and made chancellor of England. The nobles he had snubbed formed the head of a group of the disaffected who called themselves the Lords Appellant. It should be made clear that the central tenet of their appeal was continued war with France against Richard's policy of peace, an aim that many of them pursued in the interests of personal gain rather than the interests of the nation. In 1387, the English Parliament under pressure from the Lords Appellant demanded that Richard remove his unpopular councillors. When he refused, he was told that since he was still a minor, a Council of Government would rule in his place. Richard had the Earl of Arundel, leader of the Lords Appellant, arrested, but Richard's small army led by de Vere was overpowered by the forces of the Lords Appellant outside Oxford, and Richard was apprehended in the Tower of London. Richard’s unpopular councillors were thus disposed of (eight were executed for treason in 1388 and others exiled), and he was forced to accept new ones. Richard was stripped of almost all his authority.

A fragile peace

In the years which followed, Richard appeared to have heeded the lessons of 1387 and became more cautious in his dealings with the barons. In 1390, a tournament was held to celebrate Richard’s coming of age and the apparent new-found harmony since Richard's uncle John of Gaunt's return from Spain to lead the Lords Appellant. Richard’s team of knights all wore the identical symbol – a white hart – which Richard had chosen for himself. Richard himself favoured genteel interests like fine food, insisting spoons be used at his court and inventing the handkerchief. He beautified Westminster Hall with a new ceiling and was a keen and cultured patron of the arts, architecture and literature. In this sense, he can be seen as an early example of what was later held up as a model Renaissance prince. However, his tastes were before his time and many began to see him as another Edward II figure, somehow unworthy of his warlike Plantagenet inheritance, with his delicate 'unkingly' tastes. Richard also lacked the thirst for battle of his grandfather: his Scottish campaign in 1385 was not decisive, and he signed a 28-year truce with France in 1396 which was hugely unpopular at home in spite of the dividends that peace brought to the kingdom. Richard's commitment to peace rather than war can also been seen in his first expedition to Ireland in 1394. He put forward a sensible policy based on the understanding that the Irish rebels were motivated largely by the grievances they had against absentee English landowners and that they were perhaps entitled to some redress in this regard. Those whom he labelled the "wild Irish" - native Irish who had not joined the rebel cause he treated with kindness and respect. Had this policy not been cut short by his usurpation, it is possible that Ireland might have been saved centuries of strife. In spite of his forward-thinking attitude to culture and the arts, Richard seems to have developed a passionate devotion to the old ideal of the Divine Right of Kings, feeling that he should be unquestioned and unfettered in the way he ran the kingdom. He became a stickler for tradition, insisting on being addressed as ‘majesty’ and ‘highness’ and sitting alone for hours wearing his crown; those addressing him were required to direct their eyes downwards in deference. After the death of his queen, Anne, in 1394 he became still more rigid. He commissioned the first royal portrait, a very solemn affair in which he looks downwards unsmiling. In The Wilton Diptych he was portrayed alongside the Anglo-Saxon saint kings St Edmund and Edward the Confessor, which reflected not only his attitude to his own kingship but his genuine religious devotion.

Second crisis of 1397-99 and Richard's deposition

In 1397 Richard decided to rid himself of the Lords Appellant who were confining his power, on the pretext of an aristocratic plot. Richard had the Earl of Arundel executed and Warwick exiled, while Gloucester died in captivity. Finally able to exert his autocratic authority over the kingdom, he purged all those he saw as not totally committed to him, fulfilling his own idea of becoming God’s chosen prince. Richard, however, was still childless. The heir to the throne was Roger Mortimer the Earl of March, grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, and after his death in 1398, his seven-year-old son Edmund Mortimer. However, Richard was more concerned with Gaunt's son and heir Henry Bolingbroke, whom he banished for ten years on a spurious pretext in 1399. After Gaunt's death, Richard also confiscated Bolingbroke's lands on the basis of his open disloyalty, distributing them among his own followers. Some historians have seen this as an act designed to bring greater harmony to England. Bolingbroke's inheritance was huge, large enough to be seen as a small state within the greater state of England and thus an obvious obstacle on the path of a unified and peaceful England. In any event, Richard was only following the policy of his forebears Henry II and Edward I in seizing the lands of a powerful noble to centralize power in the crown. Edward I At that point Richard left for a campaign in Ireland, allowing Bolingbroke to land in Yorkshire with an army provided by the King of France to reclaim his father's lands. Richard's autocratic ways were worrying too many nobles and deeply unpopular, and Bolingbroke soon had control of most of southern and eastern England. Bolingbroke had originally just wanted his inheritance and a reimposition of the power of the Lords Appellant, accepting Richard's right to be king and March's right to succeed him. But by the time Richard finally arrived back to the mainland in Wales a tide of discontent had swept England. In the King's absence, Bolingbroke, who was generally well-liked, was being urged to take the crown himself. Richard was captured at Conway Castle in Wales and taken to London where crowds pelted him with rubbish. He was held in the Tower of London and forced, eventually, to abdicate. He was brought, on his request, before parliament, where he officially renounced his crown and thirty-three official charges (including ‘vengeful sentences given against lords’) were made against him. He was not permitted to answer the charges. Parliament then accepted Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) as the new king. Richard was placed in Pontefract Castle, and probably murdered (or starved to death) there in 1400. He was dead by February 17. Richard's body was displayed in the old St Paul's Cathedral for all to see that he was really dead, and he was then buried in Kings Langley Church. His coffin was badly designed, however, and it proved easy for disrespectful visitors to place their hands in to several openings in the coffin and interfere with what was inside. It is said that a schoolboy walked off with Richard's jawbone. Rumours that Richard was still alive persisted well into the reign of Henry V, who decided to have his body moved to its final resting place in Westminster Abbey with much ceremony in 1413.

Association with Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer served as a diplomat and Clerk of The King's Works for Richard II. Their relationship encompassed all of Richard's reign, and was apparently fruitful. In the decade before Chaucer's death, Richard granted him several gifts and annuities, including: twenty pounds a year for life in 1394, and 252 gallons of wine per year in 1397. Chaucer died October 25, 1400.

References

- Harvey, John (1948), (Revised Edition 1959), London: Collins Clear Type Press.
- Schama, Simon, A History of Britain 1 3000BC-ad1603 At the Edge of the World?, London: BBC Worldwide Ltd, ISBN 0563487143

Peasants' Revolt

:See Peasants' War for the German Peasants' Revolt of 1524-1526 :See also: 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, Tyler’s Rebellion or Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. The names of some of its leaders, John Ball, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, are still familiar even though very little is actually known about these individuals. The revolt was precipitated by heavy-handed attempts to enforce the third poll tax, first levied in 1377 supposedly to finance military campaigns overseas — a continuation of the Hundred Years' War initiated by King Edward III of England. The third poll tax, unlike the two earlier, was not levied on a flat rate basis (as in 1377) nor according to schedule (as in 1379), but in a manner that appeared more arbitrary and hence unfair. Equally unfair, and a longer-term factor, was the way the Statute of Labourers of 1351 was enforced. The Black Death, that ravaged England in 1348 and 1349 had greatly reduced the labour force, and as a consequence, labourers were able to demand enhanced terms and conditions. The Statute attempted to curb this by pegging wages and restricting the mobility of labour, but the probable effect was that labourers employed by lords were effectively exempted, but labourers working for other employers, both artisans and more substantial peasants, were liable to be fined or held in the stocks. In June 1381, two groups of common people from the southeastern counties of Kent and Essex marched on London. The most vociferous of their leaders, Walter, or "Wat" Tyler, was at the head of a contingent from Kent. When the rebels arrived in Blackheath on June 12, the renegade Lollard priest, John Ball, preached a sermon including the famous question that has echoed down the centuries: "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?"^[1]. The following day the rebels, encouraged by the sermon, crossed London Bridge into the heart of the city. Meanwhile the 'Men of Essex' had gathered with Jack Straw at Great Baddow and had marched on London, arriving at Stepney. Instead of what was expected from a riot however, there was only a systematic attack on certain properties, many of them associated with John of Gaunt and/or the Hospitallier Order. On June 14, they are reputed to have been met by the young king himself, and to have presented him with a series of demands, including the dismissal of some of his more unpopular ministers and the effective abolition of serfdom. One of the more intriguing demands of the peasants was "that there should be no law within the realm save the law of Winchester" - thought to be possibly a reference to the more equitable days of king Alfred the Great, when Winchester was the capital of England. Winchester At the same time, a group of rebels stormed the Tower of London — after likely being let in — and summarily executed those hiding there, including the Lord Chancellor (Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was particularly associated with the poll tax), and the Lord Treasurer (Robert de Hales, the Grand Prior of the Knights Hospitallers of England). The Savoy Palace of the king's uncle John of Gaunt was one of the London buildings destroyed by the rioters. Richard II agreed to reforms such as fair rents, and the abolition of serfdom. At Smithfield, on the following day, further negotiations with the king were arranged, but on this occasion the killing of Wat Tyler led to the dispersal of the rebel group. Most of the other leaders were pursued, captured and executed, including John Ball. Following the collapse of the revolt, the king's concessions were quickly revoked, and the tax was levied. Despite its name, participation in the Peasants' Revolt was not confined to serfs or even to the lower classes. Although the most significant events took place in the capital, there were violent encounters throughout eastern England -- but those involved hastened to disassociate themselves in the months that followed. John Gower, friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, saw the peasants as unjustified in their cause. In his Vox Clamantis, he sees the peasant action as the work of the Anti-Christ and a sign of evil prevailing over virtue. Froissart's Chronicles devotes twenty pages to the revolt. William Morris described the revolt in A Dream of John Ball (1888). In the book Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry (1990) author John J. Robinson (not a professional historian), combines scholarly research with entertaining storytelling to make the case that the leadership of the revolt was somehow involved with the disbanded Knights Templar, and makes broad correlations throughout his book to Freemasonry and the Templar Order. These claims are unique to Robinson and are warily received by professional scholars of the period.

Notes

- Gordon Stein, University of Rhode Island. Library Journal review 1989.[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871316021]

External links

- A [http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/peasant.html contemporary chronicle], the final meeting of king Richard II and the leader of the Peasant's Revolt Wat Tyler.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/voices/voices_revolt.shtml "The Peasants' Revolt"] BBC Radio program. 30-mins.
- [http://www.britannia.com/history/articles/peasantsrevolt.html Britannia:The History of the Peasants' Revolt by Jeff Hobbs] with useful bibliography
- [http://www.ku.edu/kansas/medieval/108/texts/froissart.html "Wat Tyler's Rebellion"], from The Chronicles of Froissart, , pp 61-63 includes John Ball's speech.
- [http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/froissart/king.htm "King Richard punishes the rebels in Kent"] from The Chronicles of Froissart, edited by Steve Muhlberger, Nipissing University.
- [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/357 A Dream of John Ball: a King's Lesson] by William Morris (Project Gutenberg etext)
- [http://historymedren.about.com/library/weekly/aa071798.htm "Conflagration: The Peasants' Revolt"], by Melissa Snell.

Books

- R. B. Dobson, editor, (2002), The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 (History in Depth) ISBN 0333255054 A collection of source materials
- Alastair Dunn (2004), The Peasants' Revolt: England's Failed Revolution Of 1381, ISBN 0752429655
- P. J. P. Goldberg (2004), Medieval England 1250-1550: A Social History, ISBN 0340577452 Chapter 13 is devoted to the Peasants' Revolt
- John J. Robinson, (1990), "Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry" ISBN 0871316021 Chapters 1-5 are dedicated to the Peasants' Revolt Category:History of England Category:History of London Category:Medieval popular revolt Category:Middle Ages Category:Peasant revolts ja:ワット・タイラーの乱 nb:Bondeopprøret i England

English Civil War

The term English Civil War (or Wars) refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651. The first (1642–1645) and the second (1648–1649) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–1651) was between supporters of Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The third war ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651.

Introduction

The wars inextricably mingled with and formed part of a linked series of conflicts and civil wars between 1639 and 1651 in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, which at that time shared a monarch but formed distinct countries with otherwise separate political structures. Those recent historians who aim to have a unified overview (rather than treating parts of the other conflicts as background to the English Civil War) sometimes call these linked conflicts the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Some have also described them as the "British Civil Wars", but this terminology can mislead: the three kingdoms did not become a single political entity until the Act of Union between Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England and Scotland), in 1800. The wars led to the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of his son Charles II, and the replacement of the English monarchy with the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then with a Protectorate (1653–1659) under the personal rule of Oliver Cromwell. The monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England came to an end, and the victors consolidated the already-established Protestant aristocracy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established a precedent that British monarchs could not govern without the consent of Parliament. Unlike other civil wars in England which focused on who ruled, this war also concerned itself with the manner of governing the British isles. Accordingly, historians also refer to the English Civil War as the English Revolution and (especially in 17th century Royalist circles) as the Great Rebellion.

Background

The King's aspirations

Royalist Contemporaries must have found it unthinkable that a civil war could result from the events taking place. It was less than forty years since the death of the popular Elizabeth I. At the accession of Charles I, England and Scotland had both experienced relative peace, both internally and in their relations with each other, for as long as anyone could remember. Charles hoped to unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland into a new single kingdom, fulfilling the dream of his father, James I of England (James VI of Scotland). Many English Parliamentarians were leery of such a move because they feared that if a new kingdom was created then the old English traditions which had bound the English monarchy would no longer exist. As Charles shared his father's position on the power of the crown (James had described kings as "little Gods on Earth", chosen by God to rule in accordance with a doctrine called the "Divine Right of Kings"), this was not an unfounded worry. Although pious and with little personal ambition, Charles demanded outright loyalty in return for "just rule". He considered any questioning of his orders as, at best, insulting. This latter trait, and a series of events, seemingly minor on their own, led to a serious break between Charles and his Parliament, and eventually to war.

Parliament in the English constitutional framework

Before the War, Parliament was not a permanent feature of English government, instead functioning as a temporary advisory committee—summoned by the monarch whenever additional tax revenue was required, and subject to dissolution by the monarch at any time. Because responsibility for collecting taxes lay in the hands of the gentry, the English kings needed the help of that stratum of society in order to ensure that revenue was collected without difficulty. If the gentry were to refuse to collect the king's taxes, he lacked the authority to compel them. Parliaments allowed representatives of the gentry to meet, confer and send policy proposals to the monarch in the form of Bills. These representatives did not, however, have any means of forcing their will upon the king—except by withholding the financial means he required to execute his plans.

Mounting concerns

gentry One of the first events to cause concern about Charles I was his marriage to a French Roman Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria. The marriage occurred within months of Charles's accession to the throne in 1625. Foreign royal marriages were commonplace, but Charles's choice of a Catholic bride made him a potential Papist in the eyes of the small but powerful Puritan minority in Parliament, who constituted around one third of the assembly's members at the time. For many of his subjects, Charles's suspected "Papism" was cause for concern, not only because as head of the established Church in England, there was the possibility that his Bishops, at his request, would stipulate religious practices closer to those of Rome, but also because the English (since the papal excommunication of Henry VIII in 1533), had long associated Roman Catholicism with invasion threats and with political policy imposed from abroad. A potentially more troublesome issue was Charles' insistence on joining the wars raging in Europe, which he saw as something of a crusade. This alone might not have been a problem, except that Charles had placed his own "favourite", George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, in command. Parliament was rather suspicious of Buckingham, with whom they had had to deal under James as well, and eventually they decided to support the war effort only on the condition that Buckingham could be recalled if his performance did not meet expectations. The Parliament of 1625 then granted the king the right to collect customs duties for only a year at a time and not, as was usual, for his entire reign. After a disastrous raid on France, Parliament dismissed Buckingham in 1626, and Charles, furious at what he considered insolence and fearful that they might impeach his favourite, dismissed the Parliament.

Petition of Right

Having dissolved Parliament, and being unable to raise money without it, the king assembled a new one in 1628. Among the members elected was Oliver Cromwell. The new Parliament drew up the Petition of Right in 1628, and Charles accepted it as a concession in order to get his subsidy. Amongst other things the Petition referred to the Magna Carta and said that a citizen should have freedom from:
- arbitrary arrest and imprisonment,
- non-parliamentary taxation,
- the enforced billeting of troops, and
- martial law. However, Charles was determined to rule without summoning another Parliament, and this required him to devise new means of raising extraordinary revenue. Among the most controversial of these policies, was the revival and extension of ship money. This tax had been levied in the medieval era on seaports, but Charles extended it to inland counties as well. As a levy for the Royal Navy, ship money was, according to Charles and his supporters, needed for the defence of the realm and was therefore within the legitimate scope of the royal prerogative. The tax had not been approved by Parliament, however, and a number of prominent men refused to pay it on these grounds. Reprisals against Sir John Eliot, one of the prime movers behind the Petition of Right, and the prosecution of William Prynne and John Hampden (who were fined after losing their case 7–5 for refusing to pay ship money, taking a stand against the legality of the tax) aroused widespread indignation. Charles' use of the Court of Star Chamber in this issue also angered many, as the court had always been seen as the citizenry's last appeal against the monarch's power, and was now apparently being used against them.

The Eleven Years' Tyranny and a rebellion in Scotland

Charles I managed to avoid calling a Parliament for a decade. Depending upon one's political affiliation, this time was known either as the "Eleven Years' Tyranny" or "Charles' Personal Rule". This policy broke down when he was involved in a series of disastrous and expensive wars against his Scottish subjects, the Bishops' Wars of 1639 and 1640. Charles believed in a sacramental version of the Church of England, called High Anglicanism, with a theology based upon Arminianism, a belief shared by his main political advisor, Archbishop William Laud. Laud was appointed by Charles as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633 and started a series of reforms in the Church to make it more ceremonial, starting with the replacement of the wooden communion tables with stone altars. Puritans accused Laud of trying to reintroduce Catholicism, and when they complained, Laud had them arrested. In 1637 John Bastwick, Henry Burton and William Prynne had their ears cut off for writing pamphlets attacking Laud's views—a rare penalty for gentlemen to suffer, and one that aroused anger. As part of Charles' plan to have one uniform High Anglican church across all three kingdoms, he forced the English Common Prayer Book upon Scotland. Scottish Presbyterians reacted explosively when it was introduced in the spring of 1638 with riots started in Edinburgh by Jenny Geddes leading to the National Covenant, that sought to purge bishops from the Church of Scotland altogether. Charles took a year to raise an army, and sent it north in 1639 to end the rebellion. After a disastrous skirmish he decided to seek a truce, the Pacification of Berwick, and was humiliated by being forced to agree not only not to interfere with religion in Scotland, but to pay the Scottish war expenses as well.

Local grievances

In the summer of 1642, these national troubles helped to polarize opinion, ending indecision about which side to support or what action to take. Opposition to Charles also arose owing to many local grievances. For example, the livelihoods of thousands of people were negatively effected by the imposition of drainage schemes in The Fens after the King awarded a number of drainage contracts. The King was regarded by many as worse than insensitive and this was important in bringing a large part of eastern England into Parliament’s camp. This sentiment brought with it people like the Earl of Manchester and Oliver Cromwell, each a notable wartime adversary of the King. Conversely, one of the leading drainage contractors, the Earl of Lindsey, was to die fighting for the King at the Battle of Edge Hill.

Recall of Parliament

Charles needed to suppress the rebellion in his northern realm—he was insufficiently funded, however, and was forced to seek money from a recalled Parliament in 1640. Parliament took this appeal for money as an opportunity to discuss grievances against the Crown; moreover, they were opposed to the military option. Charles took exception to this lèse-majesté and dismissed the Parliament. The name "the Short Parliament" was derived from this summary dismissal. Without Parliament's support, Charles attacked Scotland again and was comprehensively defeated; the Scots, seizing the moment, took Northumberland and Durham. Meanwhile, another of Charles's chief advisers, Thomas Wentworth, had risen to the role of Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632 and brought in much needed revenue for Charles by persuading the Irish Catholic gentry to pay new taxes in return for promised religious concessions. In 1639, he had been recalled to England and in 1640, was granted the title Earl of Strafford, as Charles attempted to have him work his magic again in Scotland. This time he was not so lucky, and the English forces fled the field in their second encounter with the Scots in 1640. Almost the entirety of Northern England was occupied, and Charles was forced to pay £850 per day to keep the Scots from advancing. If he did not, they would "take" the money by pillaging and burning the cities and towns of Northern England.

The Long Parliament

In desperate straits, Charles was obliged to summon Parliament in November 1640; this was the "Long Parliament". None of the issues raised in the Short Parliament had been addressed, and Parliament took the opportunity to raise them again, refusing to be dismissed. Under the leadership of John Pym and John Hampden, a law was passed which stated that Parliament should be reformed every three years, and removed the king's right to dissolve the Long Parliament without Parliament's consent. Other laws passed by the Long Parliament made it illegal for the king to impose his own taxes, and later, gave members control over the king's ministers. With Ireland apparently peaceful after Strafford's able administration of eight years, Charles thought he saw a way out—Strafford had raised an Irish Catholic army and was prepared to use it against Scotland. Of course the very thought of a Catholic army campaigning against the Scots from Protestant England was considered outrageous by the parliamentary party. In early 1641 Strafford was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, charged with treason. John Pym made the claim that Wentworth's statements of readiness to campaign against "the kingdom" were in fact directed at England itself. The case could not be proven, so the House of Commons, led by John Pym and Henry Vane, resorted to a Bill of Attainder. Unlike treason, attainder required not only the burden of proof, but also the king's signature. Charles, still incensed over the Common's handling of Buckingham, refused. Wentworth himself, hoping to head off the war he saw looming, wrote to the king and asked him to reconsider. Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, was executed on May 12, 1641. Instead of saving the country from war, Wentworth's sacrifice in fact doomed it to one. Within months, the Irish Catholics, fearing a resurgence of Protestant power, struck first, and the entire country soon descended into chaos. Rumours circulated that the Irish were being supported by the king, and Puritan members of the Commons were soon agitating that this was the sort of thing Charles had in store for all of them. On January 4, 1642, Charles attempted to arrest five members of the House of Commons (John Hampden, John Pym, Arthur Haselrig, Denzil Holles, and