History of the Week: Patrick Henry, Spanish Armada, Chesterton, Rameses, Constantinople Falls, Trail of Tears& More
I recently came back from a trip to England. There is no way to understand a place better than by visiting it. Kneeling where St. Thomas a Becket stood as he was martyred, looking out of the same window as William Shakespeare did every morning, taking in the same view as St. Thomas More did from the Tower of London, or standing on the White Cliffs of Dover near the military tunnels of World War II, history begins to come alive. This is important because, without an accurate understanding of the past, we are no better than a confused amnesiac in the present. Below are a few of the important births, deaths, and events that happened this past week in history.
May 27
1508 - Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan and patron of artists and architects such as Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci, dies.
1703 - Tsar Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg to be the new capital of Russia.
1837 - James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok is born in Illinois. “Wild Bill Hickok is remembered for his services in Kansas as sheriff of Hays City and marshal of Abilene, where his ironhanded rule helped to tame two of the most lawless towns on the frontier. He is also remembered for the cards he was holding when he was shot dead – a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights – since known as the dead man's hand.”
1873 - German businessman and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann uncovers a cache of treasure, including jewelry, weaponry, and vases, that he called “Priam’s Treasure” after the King of Troy immortalized in the Iliad and Aeneid. The discovery proved a key point in the history of archaeology, and it apparently proved the existence of ancient Troy, which some had wrongly argued was a purely mythical city.
1905 - Start of the naval Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War, in which the Japanese inflict a massive defeat on the Russians.
1922 - Iconic English actor Christopher Lee, famous for playing villains in such film franchises as Dracula, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings, is born.
1930 - The Chrysler Building opens in New York; at the time, the world’s tallest structure.
1933 - Release of Walt Disney’s “Silly Symphony” short animated film “The Three Little Pigs,” with the classic Disney song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” The short film won an Academy Award.
2006 - Massive earthquake in Java, Indonesia, kills over 6,200 people and destroys over 60,000 homes.
May 28
585 BC - A total eclipse of the sun abruptly halts a battle in Asia Minor between the Medes and the Lydians, causing the two sides to declare a truce. The Greek mathematician Thales of Miletus is said to have predicted the eclipse for a date when the “Medians and the Lydians were at war.” Remarkably, the eclipse occurred within the year Thales had predicted.
1588 - The massive Spanish Armada sets sail as preliminary to an invasion of England. The English won a major victory over the Armada.
1759 - William Pitt the Younger is born. He became the youngest British Prime Minister in history at the age of 24, and served during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, also being the force behind the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland.
1830 - Democrat President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act into law, triggering the forced removal of 60,000 Indians and the deaths of 4,000 in the “Trail of Tears.”
1843 - Noah Webster dies. He “was a lexicographer and a language reformer. He is often called the Father of American Scholarship and Education. In his lifetime he was also a lawyer, schoolmaster, author, newspaper editor and an outspoken politician.”
May 29
1453 - The city of Constantinople falls to the Muslim Ottomans, marking the end of the ancient Christian Byzantine Empire. Constantinople is now called Istanbul.
1592 - Estimated date on which the Battle of Sacheon occurred, in which the Joseon (Korean) force destroyed the Japanese fleet.
1639 - Charles II is born. After years of exile, he was recalled to take the British throne and restore the monarchy.
1736 - Patrick Henry is born. ‘Patrick Henry was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the first governor of Virginia. A gifted orator and major figure in the American Revolution, his rousing speeches—which included a 1775 speech to the Virginia legislature in which he famously declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”—fired up America’s fight for independence. An outspoken Anti-Federalist, Henry opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, which he felt put too much power in the hands of a national government. His influence helped create the Bill of Rights, which guaranteed personal freedoms and set limits on the government’s constitutional power.’
1874 - Englishman GK Chesterton, one of the greatest thinkers and writers of the 20th century and the modern age, is born. Read more here.
1903 - English-American comedian Bob Hope, one of the most popular comic stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, is born.
1942 - Premiere of the classic film “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” starring James Cagney, a musical biography of American performer and composer George M. Cohan.
1953 - New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first explorers to reach Mount Everest’s summit.
May 30
1431 - St. Joan of Arc, the “Maid of Orleans” who led French troops in great and miraculous victories, is burned at the stake on false charges of heresy by the English and Burgundians. In spite of their shameful execution of Joan, the ultimate defeat of the English in the Hundred Years’ War was assured.
1539 - Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto lands in Florida.
1778 - Radical French writer Voltaire dies.
1868 - John A. Logan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (Civil War-era U.S. veteran organization), chose May 30, 1868, to decorate Union soldiers’ graves across America. Decoration Day later became Memorial Day.
1908 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor known as the Man of a Thousand Voices, is born. Read more here.
1909 - Hit clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman is born in Illinois.
1913 - The First Balkan War ends with a treaty. Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece had driven the Turks from Macedonia.
May 31
1279 BC - Estimated date on which Ramesses or Rameses the Great becomes pharaoh of Egypt. He built a new capital and temples, and led multiple military expeditions. Some scholars believe he is possibly the pharaoh in the Bible who refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt and ended up bringing plagues on Egypt, including the death of his first born son.
1809 - Austrian composer Joseph Haydn dies.
1819 - Influential American poet Walt Whitman is born.
1837 - Joseph Grimaldi, most famous harlequinade clown of the Regency era, dies.
1857 - The future Pope Pius XI is born.
1894 - Comedian and radio star Fred Allen is born in Massachusetts.
1902 - The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Boer War in South Africa.
1916 - “[IWM] The Battle of Jutland (31 May - 1 June 1916) was the largest naval battle of the First World War. It was the only time that the British and German fleets of 'dreadnought' battleships actually came to blows…The British lost 14 ships and over 6,000 men, but were ready for action again the next day. The Germans, who had lost 11 ships and over 2,500 men, avoided complete destruction but never again seriously challenged British control of the North Sea.”
June 1
1215 - Mongols capture Peking. “The city was destroyed, and the entire population was killed. Genghis Khan ordered the total destruction of the city, and buildings were set on fire, murders and rapes followed. Witnesses who visited Beijing a year after the fall testified that they found whole hills of human bones in the city.”
1616 - Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the last Japanese shogunate, dies.
1676 - The naval Battle of Öland, a Danish victory, during which the Swedish lost their three largest men-of-war.
1801 - Brigham Young, second leader of the Mormon church (a polytheist religion with Christian elements), is born. He had 59 wives and many children.
1926 - Marilyn Monroe, an actress famed as an international sex symbol, is born.
1937 - Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is born.
1962 - Adolf Eichmann, one of the key Nazi implementors of the “Final Solution,” is hanged in Israel for his crimes. Jewish authorities cremated Eichmann’s body and scattered his ashes in the sea.
1968 - Helen Keller, famous activist who was both blind and deaf most of her life, dies.
Did I miss any important events? Let me know in the comments!
Love this! Thank you, Catherine.
P.S. "Give me liberty or give me death." Great Hero Patrick Henry.