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March 23

March 23

March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). There are 283 days remaining.

Events

- 752 - Stephen II becomes Pope.
- 1568 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine de Medici and Charles IX of France make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.
- 1708 - James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech - "give me liberty or give me death" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1801 - Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael Palace.
- 1806 - After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home.
- 1839 - First recorded use of "OK" as an abbreviation for "oll korrect" in the Boston Morning Post.
- 1848 - The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
- 1857 - Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway, New York City.
- Death of Emile L'Angelier in Glasgow, Scotland -- possibly by the hand of Madeleine Smith.
- 1868 - The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.
- 1889 - Land run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.
- The free Woolwich Ferry officially opens in east London.
- 1903 - The Wright Brothers apply for a patent on their invention of one of the first successful airplanes after much hard work.
- 1909 - Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
- 1919 - In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
- 1931 - Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt embrace the gallows during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
- 1933 - The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
- 1935 - Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
- 1940 - The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League.
- 1942 - World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.
- 1956 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world.
- 1962 - NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, was launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.
- 1963 - In London, United Kingdom, Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann win the eighth Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark singing "Dansevise" (Dancing tune).
- 1965 - NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).
- 1978 - The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.
- 1983 - Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.
- 1989 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.
- A 1,000-foot diameter Near-Earth asteroid misses the Earth by 400,000 miles.
- 1994 - At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.
- 1996 - Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President
- 1999 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.
- 2001 - The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
- The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (now World Wrestling Entertainment) purchases rival organization World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for an estimated $5 million.
- 2003 - In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom
- 2004 - Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India.
- 2005 - The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

Births

1429 to 1899

- 1429 - Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI of England (d. 1482)
- 1638 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1731)
- 1699 - John Bartram, American botanist (d. 1777)
- 1723 - Agha Mohammad Khan Ghajar, King of Iran (d. 1771)
- 1749 - Pierre Simon de Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1827)
- 1754 - Baron Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician, physicist, and artillery officer (d. 1802)
- 1769 - William Smith, English geologist and cartographer (d. 1839)
- 1823 - Schuyler Colfax, Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
- 1831 - Eduard Schlagintweit, German writer (d. 1866)
- 1834 - Julius Reubke, German composer (d. 1858)
- 1858 - Ludwig Quidde, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1941)
- 1878 - Franz Schreker, Austrian composer (d. 1934)
- 1881 - Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1881 - Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- 1882 - Emmy Noether, German mathematician (d. 1935)
- 1887 - Juan Gris, Spanish artist (d. 1927)
- 1887 - Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
- 1899 - Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d. 1943)

1900 to 1999

- 1900 - Erich Fromm, German-born psychoanalyst (d. 1980)
- 1905 - Lale Andersen, German singer and cabaretist (d. 1972)
- 1905 - Joan Crawford, American actress (d. 1977)
- 1907 - Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1992)
- 1910 - Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (d. 1998)
- 1912 - Betty Astell, British actress (d. 2005)
- 1912 - Wernher von Braun, German-born physicist and engineer (d. 1977)
- 1915 - Vasily Zaitsev, Russian World War II hero (d. 1991)
- 1929 - Sir Roger Bannister, British runner
- 1931 - Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player
- 1931 - Yevgenij Grishin, Russian speed skater (d. 2005)
- 1934 - Mark Rydell, American film and television director
- 1937 - Craig Breedlove, American land speed record holder
- 1938 - Maynard Jackson, American politician (d. 2003)
- 1942 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (d. 1980)
- 1948 - David Olney, American musician
- 1949 - Ric Ocasek, American musician (The Cars)
- 1950 - Anthony De Longis, American actor
- 1951 - Corinne Clery, French actress
- 1952 - Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
- 1953 - Bo Diaz, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1990)
- 1953 - Chaka Khan, American singer
- 1955 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
- 1956 - José Manuel Durão Barroso, Portuguese politician, president of the European Commission
- 1957 - Amanda Plummer, American actress
- 1960 - Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland
- 1961 - Helmi Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster
- 1964 - Hope Davis, American actress
- 1965 - Richard Grieco, American actor and singer
- 1968 - Damon Albarn, English musician (Blur and Gorillaz)
- 1971 - Gail Porter, British television presenter
- 1971 - Karen McDougal, American model
- 1972 - Judith Godrèche, French actress and author
- 1973 - Jerzy Dudek, Polish footballer
- 1973 - Jason Kidd, American basketball player
- 1975 - Alydar, American racehorse (d. 1990)
- 1976 - Keri Russell, American actress
- 1978 - Nicholle Tom, American actress
- 1978 - Walter Samuel, Argentine football player
- 1979 - Mark Buehrle, baseball player
- 1979 - Chad Dittman, American president of the Indoor Football League
- 1979 - Misty Hyman, American swimmer
- 1983 - Jerome Thomas, English footballer

Deaths

1103 to 1899

- 1103 - Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1058)
- 1369 - King Peter I of Castile (b. 1334)
- 1548 - Itagaki Nobukata, retainer of Takeda Shingen
- 1555 - Pope Julius III, (b. 1487)
- 1559 - Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b. 1522)
- 1596 - Henry Unton, English diplomat
- 1606 - Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (b. 1547)
- 1618 - James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, Scottish politician
- 1653 - Johan van Galen, Dutch naval officer (b. 1604)
- 1680 - Nicolas Fouquet, French statesman (b. 1615)
- 1742 - Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French writer (b. 1670)
- 1747 - Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French soldier (b. 1675)
- 1748 - Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist, organist, and composer (b. 1684)
- 1754 - Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (b. 1693)
- 1783 - Charles Caroll, American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1723)
- 1801 - Tsar Paul of Russia (b. 1754)
- 1842 - Stendhal, French writer (b. 1783)

1900 to 1999

- 1927 - Paul César Helleu, French artist (b. 1859)
- 1931 - Bhagat Singh, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1907)
- 1955 - Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
- 1960 - Franklin Pierce Adams, American newspaper columnist (b. 1881)
- 1964 - Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1904)
- 1965 - Mae Murray, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1970 - Del Lord, Canadian director (b. 1894)
- 1972 - Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (b. 1895)
- 1979 - Orlando Letelier, Chilean ambassador to the United States (b. 1932)
- 1992 - Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1994 - Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician (b. 1950)

2000 onwards

- 2002 - Eileen Farrell, American soprano (b. 1920)
- Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (b. 1977)
- 2003 - Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born journalist (b. 1926)
- 2004 - Rupert Hamer, Australian politician (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances

- Roman Empire - The fifth and final day of Quinquatria, held in honor of Minerva.
- Roman Empire - Tubilustrium was held in honor of Mars
- Ancient Latvia - Lieldienas held in honor of Mara and other goddesses
- Pakistan - National Day (Republic Day)
- Otago, New Zealand - Anniversary Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/23 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/23 Today in History: March 23] ---- March 22 - March 24 - February 23 - April 23 -- listing of all days ko:3월 23일 ms:23 Mac ja:3月23日 simple:March 23 th:23 มีนาคม

March 23

March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). There are 283 days remaining.

Events

Births

1429 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

1103 to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

Holidays and observances

External links

752

Events

- Pope Stephen II, pope for 3 days in March.
- Pope Stephen III, succeeded Stephen II.
- Retired Emperor Shōmu takes part in the dedication ceremony of the great statue of Vairocana Buddha at the Todaiji temple and declares himself a Buddhist.

Births

- Irene, empress of the Byzantine Empire

Deaths

- March 14: Pope Zacharias
- ca. March 26: Pope Stephen II
- Li Linfu, Chancellor of China Category:752 ko:752년

Pope Stephen II

Stephen II was elected pope in March of 752. The Holy See does not consider Stephen II as a pope (and, in 1959, deleted his name from its official list of popes), but many historians do. Stephen II was elected on the death of his predecessor Pope Zacharias on or about March 23, 752. Three days later he died of apoplexy, and was never consecrated. Because not all list-makers count him as having been pope, there exists an awkward nomenclature for later popes who chose the name Stephen. Later Stephens are sometimes numbered with parentheses, e.g., his immediate successor, also named Stephen, is sometimes referred to either as Stephen (II) III, or as Stephen II (III). Stephen 02 Stephen 02 ko:교황 스테파노 2세

1568

Events

- March 23 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine de Medici and Charles IX make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.
- May 2 - Mary Queen of Scots escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
- May 13 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
- May 16 - Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.
- May 19 - Queen Elizabeth I of England arrests Mary Queen of Scots.
- May 23 - Battle of Heiligerlee - Troops under Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat a smaller loyalist force under the Duke of Arenberg in an attempt to invade the Northern Netherlands.
- July 21 - Battle of Jemmingen - The main Spanish army of the Duke of Alva utterly defeats Louis of Nassau's invading army in the Northeastern Netherlands.
- August 18 - Beginning of the Third War of Religion in France after an unsuccessful attempt by the Royalists to capture Condé and Coligny, the Huguenot leaders.
- October 5 - William of Orange invades the Southeastern Netherlands.
- October 20 - Battle of Jodoigne. Spanish forces under the Duke of Alva destroy Orange's rearguard. Orange abandons his offensive.
- Beginning of the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
- Start of Eighty Years' War.
- Peace of Adrianople: The Ottomans agree to pay tribute to the Habsburgs.

Births

- February 11 - Honoré d'Urfé, French writer (d. 1625)
- March 9 - Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian Jesuit and saint (died 1591)
- September 3 - Adriano Banchieri, Italian composer (died 1634)
- September 5 - Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian and poet (d. 1639)
- Nikolaus Ager, French botanist (died 1634)
- John Welsh of Ayr, Scottish Presbyterian leader
- Barnabe Barnes, English poet (died 1609)
- Teodosio II, Duke of Braganza (died 1630)
- Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish religious leader (died 1614)
- Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester (died 1648)
- Marin Getaldic, Croatian scientist (died 1626)
- Nakagawa Hidemasa, Japanese military leader (died 1592)
- Gervase Markham, English poet and writer (died 1637)
- April - Pope Urban VIII (died 1644)
- Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester (died 1628)
- Henry Wotton, English author and diplomat (died 1639)
- Wei Zhongxian, Grand Secretary of China See also :Category: 1568 births.

Deaths

- January 15 - Catherine Carey, Chief Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I of England
- January 20 - Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator
- January 21 - Amato Lusitano, Portuguese physician (born 1511)
- March 20 - Duke Albert of Prussia (born 1490)
- June 5 - Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Flemish statesman (born 1522)
- July 7 - William Turner, British ornithologist and botanist
- July 24 - Don Carlos of Spain, son of Philip II of Spain (born 1545)
- October 3 - Elizabeth of Valois, Queen of Philip II of Spain (born 1545)
- October 14 - Jacques Arcadelt, Flemish composer (born 1504)
- October 28 - Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shogun (born 1538)
- December 23 - Roger Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth I of England (born 1515)
- December 31 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (born 1493)
- Andrés de Urdaneta, Spanish Friar (born 1498)
- Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg (born 1528)
- Henry, Count of Bréderode, Dutch reformer (born 1531)
- Henry Sutton Dudley, English soldier and sailor (born 1517)
- Lamoraal Egmond, Flemish general and political figure (born 1522)
- Gherman, archbishop of Kazan and later Metropolitan of Moscow
- Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (born 1539)
- Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn
- Aben Humeya, last independent king of Granada (born 1520)
- Antoine Héroet, French poet
- Garcia de Orta, Portuguese Jewish physician (born 1501)
- Dirk Philips, early Anabaptist writer and theologian
- Yan Song, Chinese prime minister (born 1481)
- Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton (born 1495) See also :Category: 1568 deaths. Category:1568 ko:1568년 simple:1568

Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici (April 13, 1519, Florence – January 5, 1589, Blois), born in Italy as Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medici, and later lived in France under the name Catherine de Médicis, was Queen of France as the wife of King Henry II of France, of the Valois branch of the kings of France, and mother of three further kings of that branch. Born in Florence, Italy, she was a daughter of Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and a French princess, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. Having lost both her parents at an early age, Catherine was sent to a convent to be educated; she was only fourteen when she was married (on October 28, 1533), at Marseille, to the duke of Orléans, whose elder brother François was alive at the time, but who would become King Henry II of France. Her uncle was Pope Clement VII (the pope who refused to grant Henry VIII a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon). Although Clement VII always addressed Catherine as his niece, he was in fact a first cousin of her grandfather. It was the pope who arranged her marriage negotiating with Henry's father Francis I of France. Francis, still engaged in his lifelong struggle against Charles V, was only too glad of the opportunity to strengthen his influence in the Italian peninsula, while Clement, ever needful of help against his too powerful protector, was equally ready to hold out some bait. During the reign of Francis, Catherine exercised little influence in France. She was young, a foreigner, in a country that had great weight in the world of politics, of unproven ability, and over-shadowed by more important persons. For ten years after her marriage, she had no children. In consequence, whispers of a divorce began at court, and it seemed possible that Francis, alarmed at the possible extinction of his royal house, would listen to such a proposal. But Catherine did produce children, and Francis lived long enough to see his grandchildren before he died. When her maternal aunt the Duchess of Albany died, Catherine inherited the County of Auvergne. During the reign of her husband (1547–1559), Catherine lived a quiet and passive life but observed what was going on. Henry being completely under the influence of his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, Catherine had little authority. In 1552, when the king left the kingdom for the campaign of Metz, she was nominated regent, but with very limited powers. This continued even after the accession of her sickly son Francis II of France at age 15. His wife, Mary, Queen of Scots, little disposed to meddle with politics on her own account, was managed by her uncles, the cardinal of Lorraine and the duke of Guise. The queen-mother, however, soon grew weary of the domination of the Guises, and entered upon a course of secret opposition. On April 1, 1560 she named as chancellor Michel de l'Hôpital, who advocated a policy of conciliation. Catherine unwittingly had vast influence on fashions for the next 350 years when she enforced a ban on thick waists at court attendance during the 1550s. For nearly 350 years, women's primary means of support was the corset, with laces and stays made of whalebone or metal. They forcefully shrank women's waists from their natural dimensions to as little as 43, 38, or even fewer centimetres (17, 15, or fewer inches). She has also been said to have been one of the most "influential people in culinary history" [http://www.annamariavolpi.com/caterina_de_medici.html]. corset On the death of Francis (December 5, 1560), Catherine became regent during the minority of her second son, Charles IX of France, and found before her a career worthy of the most soaring ambition. She was then forty-one years old, but, although she was the mother of nine children, she was still vigorous and active. She retained her influence for more than twenty years in the troubled period of the French Wars of Religion. At first she listened to the moderate counsels of l'Hôpital to avoid siding definitely with either party, but her character and the habits of policy to which she had been accustomed tended to be at odds with this stance. She was zealous in the interests of her children, especially of her favourite third son, the duke of Anjou. Like many of that time, she looked upon statesmanship in particular as a career in which finesse, lying, and assassination by poisoning were also one of her most famous if not admirable, traits. Rumors of a hidden or trap door to dispose the bodies of her victims does bring to light a more sinister side of the renaissance queen. By habit a Catholic, but above all fond of power, she was determined to prevent the Protestants from getting the upper hand and almost equally resolved not to allow them to be utterly crushed, in order to use them as a counterpoise to the Guises. This trimming policy met with little success: rage and suspicion so possessed men's minds that she could not long control the opposing parties, and one civil war followed another toward the end of her life. In 1567, after the Enterprise of Meaux, she dismissed l'Hopital and joined the Catholic party. Having failed to crush the Protestant rebellion by arms, she resumed, in 1570, the policy of peace and negotiation. She conceived the project of marrying her favourite son, the duke of Alençon, to Queen Elizabeth I of England, but that did not come about. She was successful in marrying her eldest daughter, Elisabeth (b. April 1545), to Philip II of Spain and then her third daughter, Marguerite, to Henry of Navarre. To this end she temporarily reconciled with the Protestants and allowed Coligny to return to court and to re-enter the council. Of this step she quickly repented: Charles IX conceived a great affection for the admiral and showed signs of taking up an independent attitude. Catherine, thinking her influence menaced, sought to regain it, first by the murder of Coligny, and, after that failed, by the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. However, although Catherine is blamed for the start of that war, in fact she was not the initiator. After the death of Charles in 1574 and the succession of her son, Henri III, Catherine pursued her old policy of compromise and concessions, but as her influence was nothing compared to her son's, so it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. She died on January 5, 1589, a short time before the assassination of Henry and the end of the House of Valois. In her taste for art and her love of magnificence and luxury, Catherine was a true Medici; her banquets at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau in 1564 were famous for their sumptuousness. In architecture, especially, she was well versed, and Philibert de l'Orme (Philibert of the Elm) relates that she discussed with him the plan and decoration of her palace of the Tuileries. Catherine's policy provoked a crowd of pamphlets, the most celebrated being the Discours merveilleux de la vie, actions et diportemens de la reine Catherine de Medecis, in which Henri Estienne undoubtedly collaborated. Catherine died at the Royal Château de Blois, France, where today, visitors to the castle can see her poison cabinets. She was interred with her husband in a cadaver tomb in the Saint Denis Basilica. On her death, her possessions, including the County of Auvergne, were merged into the French royal domain by her last surviving son, Henry III. See also: Medici family

Books

- Leonie Frieda, (2004). Catherine de Medici - A biography. ISBN 1-84212-725-X - [http://www.leoniefrieda.com/review.htm Website]

References

- Category:Queen consorts Category:Queen mothers Category:Regents Category:1519 births Category:1589 deaths Category:Medici ja:カトリーヌ・ド・メディシス

Huguenots

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name of Huguenots came to apply to members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, or historically as the French Calvinists.

Origin of the name

Used originally as a term of derision, the derivation of the name Huguenot remains uncertain. It may have been based on the name Besançon Hugues, or a French corruption of the German word Eidgenosse, meaning a Swiss person - Geneva, Switzerland was John Calvin's adopted home and the center of the Calvinist movement. In Geneva, Hugues was the leader of the "Confederate Party", so called because it favored an alliance between the city-state of Geneva and the Swiss Confederation. This theory of origin has support from the fact that the label Huguenot was first applied in France to those conspirators (all of them aristocratic members of the Reformed Church) involved in the Amboise plot of 1560: a foiled attempt to usurp power in France from the influential House of Guise, a move which would have had the side-effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus, Hugues plus eidgenot becomes Huguenot, with the intention of associating the Protestant cause with some very unpopular politics. Another theory is offered by O.I.A. Roche, who writes in his book The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots that "Huguenot" is :"a combination of a Flemish and a German word. In the Flemish corner of France, Bible students who gathered in each other's houses to study secretly were called Huis Genooten, or 'house fellows', while on the Swiss and German borders they were termed Eid Genossen, or 'oath fellows', that is, persons bound to each other by an oath. Gallicized into 'Huguenot', often used deprecatingly, the word became, during two and a half centuries of terror and triumph, a badge of enduring honor and courage."

Religious beliefs

Huguenot predecessors included the pro-reform and Gallican Roman Catholics, like Jacques Lefevre. Later, Huguenots followed the Lutheran movement, and finally, Calvinism. They shared John Calvin's fierce reformation beliefs which decried the priesthood, sacraments and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. They believed in salvation as an act of God as much as in creation as an act of God, and thus that only God's predestined mercy toward the elect made them fit for salvation. Some see this dual emphasis on creation and on salvation, and God's sovereignty over both, as a cornerstone principle for Huguenot developments in architecture, textiles and other merchandise. Above all, Huguenots became known for their fiery criticisms of worship as performed in the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the focus on ritual and what seemed an obsession with death and the dead. They believed the ritual, images, saints, pilgrimages, prayers, and hierarchy of the Catholic Church did not help anyone toward redemption. They saw Christian faith as something to be expressed in a strict and godly life, in obedience to Biblical laws, out of gratitude for God's mercy. Like other Protestants of the time, they felt that the Roman church needed radical cleansing of its impurities, and that the Pope represented a worldly kingdom, which sat in mocking tyranny over the things of God, and was ultimately doomed. Rhetoric like this became more fierce as events unfolded, and stirred up the hostility of the Catholic establishment. Huguenots faced periodic persecution from the outset of the Reformation; but Francis I (reigned 1515–1547) initially protected them from Parlementary measures designed for their extermination. The Affair of the Placards of 1534 changed the king's posture toward them: he stepped away from restraining persecution of the movement. Still, Huguenot numbers grew rapidly between 1555 and 1562, chiefly amongst the nobles and city-dwellers. During this time, their opponents first dubbed the Protestants Huguenots; but they called themselves reformés, "Reformed". They organized their first national synod in 1558, in Paris. By 1562, they had a total membership estimated at at least a million, especially numerous in the southern and central parts of the country. The Huguenots in France likely peaked in number at approximately two million, compared to approximately sixteen million Catholics during the same period. Violently opposed to the Catholic Church, the Huguenots attacked images, monasticism, and church buildings. Most of the cities in which the Huguenots gained a hold saw iconoclast attacks, in which altars and images in churches, and sometimes the buildings themselves were torn down. Bourges, Montauban and Orleans suffered particularly.

Wars of Religion

In reaction to the growing Huguenot influence, and the aforementioned excesses of Protestant zeal, Catholic violence against them grew, at the same time that concessions and edicts of toleration became more liberal. In 1561, the Edict of Orléans, for example, declared an end to the persecution; and the Edict of Saint-Germain recognized them for the first time (January 17, 1562); but these measures disguised the growing strain of relations between Protestant and Catholic. These bonds of peace became the knots of war; when violence unleashed them, the divisions became all the more irreconcilable. Tensions led to eight civil wars, interrupted by periods of relative calm, between 1562 and 1598. With each break in peace, the Huguenots' trust in the Catholic throne diminished, and the violence became more severe, and Protestant demands became more grand, until a lasting cessation of open hostility finally occurred in 1598. The wars gradually took on a dynastic character, developing into an extended feud between the Houses of Bourbon and Guise, which — in addition to holding rival religious views — both staked a claim to the French throne. The crown, occupied by the House of Valois, generally supported the Catholic side, but on occasion switched over to the Protestant cause when politically expedient. The French Wars of Religion began with a massacre at Wassy on March 1, 1562, in which at least 30 (some sympathetic sources say 1000 or more) Huguenots were killed, and about 200 were wounded. The Huguenots transformed themselves into a definitive political movement thereafter. Protestant preachers rallied a considerable army and a formidable cavalry, which came under the leadership of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Henry of Navarre and the House of Bourbon allied themselves to the Huguenots, adding wealth and holdings to the Protestant strength, which at its height grew to sixty fortified cities, and posed a serious threat to the Catholic crown and Paris over the next three decades. In what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 24 August – 17 September, 1572, Catholics killed many Huguenots in Paris; similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following, with an estimated total death toll of 70,000. An amnesty granted in 1573 protected the perpetrators. The fifth holy war against the Huguenots began on February 23, 1574, and conflict continued periodically until 1598, when Henry of Navarre, having converted to Catholicism and become King of France as Henry IV, issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted the Protestants equality with Catholics under the throne, and a degree of religious and political freedom within their domains. The Edict simultaneously protected Catholic interests by discouraging the founding of new Protestant churches in the Catholic-controlled regions. Note the difficulty of the French vocabulary of the day, depending on the point of view. Protestants considered themselves to practice a "reformed" religion (religion réformée) — which of course implied that the Catholic religion was in need of reforms. In opposition, Catholics, when talking in polite terms, called the Protestant religion the "allegedly reformed religion" (religion prétendue réformée, or RPR) — with an obvious pejorative undertone of "pretense".

Flight

Under King Louis XIV (reigned 1643–1715), chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, who held real power during the king's minority up to his death in 1661, resumed persecution of the Protestants using soldiers to inflict dragonnades that made life so intolerable that many fled. The king revoked the "irrevocable" Edict of Nantes in 1685 and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. After this, huge numbers of Huguenots (with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 500,000) fled to surrounding Protestant countries: England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Prussia — whose Calvinist Great Elector Frederick William welcomed them to help rebuild his war-ravaged and underpopulated country. On December 31, 1687 a band of Huguenots set sail from France to the colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Barred from settling in New France, many Huguenots moved instead to the 13 colonies of Great Britain in North America, the first in 1624 (in 1924 a commemorative half dollar, known as the Huguenot-Walloon Half Dollar, was coined in the United States to celebrate the 300th anniversary of this settlement), among them a silversmith called Apollos Rivoire, who would later anglicize his name to Paul Revere. He would, still later, give his name and his profession to his son, Paul Revere, the famous United States revolutionary. Huguenot immigrants founded New Paltz, New York, where is now located the oldest street in America with the original stone houses, New Rochelle, New York (named after the town of La Rochelle in France), and a neighborhood in New York City's borough of Staten Island was named "Huguenot" after them. Some of the settlers chose the Virginia Colony, and formed communities in present-day Chesterfield County and Powhatan County just west of Richmond, Virginia, where their descendents continue to reside. The Huguenot Memorial Bridge across the James River was named in their honor, as were many local features including several schools. Many Huguenots also settled in the area around the current site of Charleston, South Carolina. In 1865, Rev. Elie Prioleau from the town of Pons in France settled in what was then called Charlestown. He became pastor of the first Huguenot church in North America in that city. That church is the oldest continuously active Huguenot congregation in the United States today. A leading Huguenot theologian and writer who led the exiled Huguenot community in London, Andre Lortie (or Andrew Lortie), became known for articulating Huguenot criticism of the Holy See and transubstantiation. Huguenot refugees flocked to Shoreditch, London in large numbers. They established a major weaving industry in and around Spitalfields (see Petticoat Lane and the Tenterground), and in Wandsworth. The Old Truman Brewery, then known as the Black Eagle Brewery, appeared in 1724. Huguenot refugees fled Tours, France virtually wiping out the great silk mills they had built. Some of them took their skills to Northern Ireland and assisted in the founding of the Irish linen industry. The exodus of Huguenots from France created a kind of brain drain from which the kingdom would not fully recover for years. The French crown's refusal to allow Protestants to settle in New France was a factor behind that colony's slow population growth, which ultimately led to its conquest by the British. By the time of the French and Indian War, there may have been more people of French ancestry living in Britain's American colonies than there were in New France. A third of American Presidents have some proven Huguenot ancestry, as do Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and other leading statesmen, and (according to an oft-repeated belief) one quarter or more of all Englishmen. Frederick the Great of Prussia, a strong believer in the separation of church and state, invited Huguenots to settle in his realms, and a number of their descendents rose to positions of prominance in Prussia. The last Prime Minister of the (East) German Democratic Republic, Lothar de Maiziere, was a scion of a Huguenot family. Persecution of Protestants ended in 1764, and the French Revolution of 1789 finally made them full-fledged citizens.

External link

- [http://www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org Huguenot Society of America]
- [http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk Huguenot Society of London(Now Huguenot Society of Great Britain & Ireland)]
- [http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk Huguenot Society of Great Britain & Ireland]
- [http://www.huguenotsociety.org Huguenot Society of South Carolina]
- [http://pages.prodigy.com/VRHZ10A/ressegui.htm History Of The French Huguenots In America] Category:Protestantism Category:Religion in France ja:ユグノー

1708

Events

- March 23 - James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth
- July 1 - Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia
- September 28 - Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya
- Kandahar conquered by Mir Wais
- In Masuria one third of the population die during the plague
- J.S. Bach appointed as chamber musician and organist at the court in Weimar, Germany

Ongoing events

- Great Northern War (1700 - 1721)
- War of the Spanish Succession (1702 - 1713)

Births

- April 23 - Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (d. 1754)
- October 16 - Albrecht von Haller, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (d. 1777)
- October 22 - Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (d. 1742)
- November 15 - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, British politician (d. 1778)
- December 8 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
- Pompeo Batoni, Italian painter (d. 1787)
- Richard Dawes, British classical scholar (d. 1766)

Deaths

- March 29 - John Partridge, English astrologer and almanack-maker (b. 1644)
- May 6 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
- May 11 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
- May 12 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
- June 30 - Emperor Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (stabbed to death)
- September 6 - John Morden, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1623)
- October 1 - John Blow, British composer (b. 1649)
- October 2 - Anne-Jules, 2nd duc de Noailles, French general (b. 1650)
- October 7 - Guru Gobind Singh, Indian religious leader (b. 1666)
- October 10 - David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (b. 1659)
- October 11 - Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (b. 1651)
- October 22 - Hermann Witsius, Dutch theologian (b. 1636)
- October 24 - Seki Kowa, Japanese mathematician
- October 28 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of England (b. 1653)
- November 17 - Ludolf Backhuysen, Dutch painter (b. 1631)
- December 22 - Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (b. 1681)
- December 28 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656) Category:1708 ko:1708년

Firth of Forth

] The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh, and East Lothian to the south. The river is tidal as far inland as Stirling, but generally it is considered that the inland extent of the firth ends at the Kincardine Bridge. A large number of towns line the shores, as well as the petrochemical complexes at Grangemouth and Burntisland, the commercial docks at Leith, oilrig construction yards at Dalgety Bay and Methil and the naval dockyard at Rosyth, with numerous other industrial areas including the Forth Bridgehead area. The Kincardine Bridge and the famous Forth Road Bridge and Forth Bridge carry traffic across the Firth. The inner Firth, i.e. between the Kincardine and Forth bridges, has lost about half of its former intertidal area as a result of land being reclaimed, partly for agriculture, but mainly for industry. The Firth is important for nature conservation. The Firth of Forth Islands SPA (Special Protection Area) is host to over 90,000 breeding seabirds every year. There is a bird observatory on the Isle of May. Firth of Forth islands
- Bass Rock
- Craigleith
- Cramond Island
- Eyebroughy
- Fidra
- Inchcolm
- Inchgarvie
- Inchkeith
- Inchmickery with Cow and Calf
- Isle of May
- Lamb Island Towns and villages on the shoreline
- North Shore
- Aberdour, Anstruther
- Buckhaven, Burntisland
- Dalgety Bay, Dysart
- Earlsferry, East Wemyss, Elie
- Inverkeithing
- Kincardine, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy
- Leven, Lower Largo
- Methil
- North Queensferry
- Pittenweem
- Rosyth
- St. Monans
- South Shore
- Blackness, Bo'ness
- Cockenzie, Cramond
- Dunbar
- Edinburgh
- Grangemouth, Gullane
- Leith
- Musselburgh
- North Berwick
- Port Edgar, Portobello, Port Seton
- Prestonpans
- South Queensferry Places of interest along the Firth
- Blackness Castle
- Dalmeny House
- Hopetoun House
- Ravenscraig Castle
- Scottish Fisheries Museum
- St. Fillan's Cave
- St. Monans Windmill
- Tantallon Castle

External link

- [http://www.birdobscouncil.org.uk/IsleofMay/body_isleofmay.htm Isle of May bird observatory]
- [http://www.genesis-music.com/ Progressive-Rock band Genesis wrote a song entitled "Firth of Fifth" (Wordplay on "Firth of Forth")] Category:Geography of Scotland Category:Firths

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known, especially internationally, as the American War of Independence, was a war fought primarily between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen British colonies in North America. The war began largely as a colonial revolt against the economic policies of the British Empire, and eventually widened far beyond British North America, with France, Spain, and the