Kevin's Watch

1144 - Louis VII of France capitulates to Pope Celestine II, and so earns the pope's absolution.

1453 - Siege and Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror ends the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire after more than a thousand years by capturing the capital, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). Mortars are perhaps used in battle for the first time in this action. The consequent closure of the traditional overland route from Western Europe to the Far East and need to identify new maritime routes leads to the Age of Discovery and ends the Middle Ages.

1499 - Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the throne of England, is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London.

1556: In this year, the Truce of Vaucelles collapses, and war resumes between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain.

1640 - Forty-one Spanish delegates to Japan at Nagasaki are beheaded.

2332 - The ship in my avatar was commissioned.

2854 - Rigil Kentaurus IV (also named Alpha Centauri B - Prime) is bombarded by a massive meteor shower which was produced by the break up of RK III six months previously. Twenty-nine of RK IV's thirty-five orbiting satellites are destroyed in less than ten minutes plunging Earth Colony Janus into a communications and power blackout that lasts for twelve days and results in twenty-eight deaths due to deep freeze exposure and radiation sickness.

317 - The earliest historically verified reference to tea is recorded, although the Chinese have been drinking the beverage for centuries.

746 - King Ratchis codifies the Lombard laws, promulgated in Latin, and advised by his council and the Lombard army (approximate date).

449 - Emperor Valentinian III sends an embassy to Attila the Hun. The purpose of the meeting is a long-running dispute over spoils of war during the Danube offensive (441-442). Attila claims his lost property, but Valentinian and Flavius Aetius (magister militum) refuse this request

455 - Battle of Aylesford: Prince Vortimer rebels against the pro-Anglo-Saxon policies of his father, Vortigern. He is defeated in the battle at Aylesford (Kent). Hengist and his son Oisc become kings of Kent. Horsa and Catigern, brother of Vortimer, are killed. The Britons withdraw to London (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

895 - The Musica enchiriadis is composed, marking the beginning of western polyphonic music (approximate date).

968 - The Battle near Silistra occurs in the spring, near the Bulgarian town of Silistra, but most probably on the modern territory of Romania.

1968 - I am born

1417 - The use of street lighting is first recorded in London, England when Sir Henry Barton, the mayor, orders lanterns with lights to be hung out on the winter evenings, between Hallowtide and Candlemas.

2513 - Life is discovered on the dark side of the moon.

1829 - Andrew Jackson is sworn in as the seventh President of the United States.

1910 - Comet Halley is visible from Earth. Its next visit was in 1986.


(It bugs me that I was too young to really appreciate it in 1986, and I probably won't see it again.)

1928 - The airship Italia crashes at the North Pole; one of the occupants is Italian general Umberto Nobile. A rescue expedition leaves for the Pole on May 30.

year 436 : Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum), attempts to put an end to Burgundian raids in Gaul. He calls in Hun mercenaries under command of Attila and his brother Bleda, which plunder Augusta Vangionum, killing some 20,000 Burgundians. The Kingdom of the Burgundians is destroyed; King Gunther and his family are killed (this epic disaster will later provide the source for the Nibelungenlied).