25 Oct History: This Date

<< Oct 24| HISTORY “4” “2”DAY |Oct 26 >>
Events, deaths, births, of 25 OCT
[For Oct 25 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1582~1699: Nov 04 — 1700s: Nov 05 — 1800s: Nov 06 — 1900~2099: Nov 07]

ALTERNATE SITES ALL FOR 031025 ANY DAY OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY ART “4” OCT 25

On a 25 October:
2002 Healthcare insurer CIGNA (CI) foresees poor earnings for 2002, and for 2003 it expects $6.25 to $6.50 a share in 2003, while analysts' average estimate was $8.84. CI is downgraded by Merrill Lynch from Neutral to Sell, by Banc of America Securities from Buy to Market Perform, by CIBC World Markets from Sector Perform to Sector Underperform (at the same time as it upgrades AETna from Sector Perform to Sector Outperform, with little effect on its stock). On the New York Stock exchange 37 million of the 140 million CI shares are traded, dropping from their previous close of $63.60 to an intraday low of $34.70 and closing at $39.39. They had traded as high as $111.00 as recently as 01 May 2002, and $135.00 on 24 December 2000.
2002 The CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) publish Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings, which recommend that physicians and nurses replace soap-and-water handwashing between patients by rubbing hands with an alcohol gel, which is somewhat more effective in killing the 10 thousand to ten million bacterias on the hands, and, more importantly, is less likely to be omitted, because it is faster and can be done without stopping at a sink. In hospitals which have adopted this practice, infection rates have been halved.

Antimicrobial Spectrum and Characteristics of Hand~Hygiene Antiseptic Agents

group	gram + bacteria	gram – bacteria	myco bacteria	fungi	viruses	speed	comments
alcohols	3	3	3	3	3	3	optimum concentration 60%-90%; no persistent activity
chlorhexidine (2% and 4% aqueous)	3	2	1	1	3	2	persistent activity; rare allergic reactions
iodine compounds	3	3	3	2	3	2	causes skin burns; usually too irritating
iodophors	3	3	1	2	2	2	less irritating than iodine; acceptance varies
phenol derivatives	3	1	1	1	1	2	activity neutralized by nonionic surfactants
tricolsan	3	2	1	0	3	2	acceptability varies
quaternary ammonium compounds	1	2	0	0	1	1	used only in combination with alcohols; ecologic concerns
Note: 3 = excellent; 2 = good, but does not include entire bacterial spectrum; 1 = fair; 0 = insufficient. Hexachlorophene is not included because it is no longer an accepted ingredient.

2002 The August 2001 discovery of a 21st satellite of Uranus is announced [why 14 months late?]. It is 10 to 20 km across and, like 5 others, it orbits in an unusual plane. The remaining 15 satellites of Uranus orbit in the same plane. Jupiter has 39 satellites, Saturn 30. The other 20 satellites of Uranus are named after characters in the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. They are Cordelia — Ophelia — Bianca — Cressida — Desdemona — Juliet — Portia — Rosalind — Belinda — Puck — Miranda — Ariel — Umbriel — Titania — Oberon — Caliban — Stephano — Sycorax — Prospero — Setebos

2002 End of a 3~year Teamsters' strike.
      James P. Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announces that the union is ending its strike against Overnite Transportation (a unit of Union Pacific) started on 24 October 1999, without achieving its main goal of a contract for most of the company's 13'000 workers.
      In the early days of the strike, there were nearly 2000 strikers in more than 12 states. But workers said that the company bribed them to sabotage the union and Overnite claimed that strikers had fired guns at their trucks. 600 workers (according to the union, 300 according to Overnite).
      The director of the Teamsters freight division, Phil Young, cites widespread unfair labor practices by Overnite, such as firing union supporters, and blames the legal system. The previous week, the National Labor Relations Board had rejected the Teamsters' contention that Overnite was bargaining in bad faith. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia, had vacated a ruling that had awarded the Overnite workers more than $3 million in unlawfully withheld wages.
      During the strike, Overnite had increased its hourly wages from $13.75, to $19, and improved pensions and health coverage. Overnite workers in Rockford, Illinois, voted to join the Teamsters, but workers at 5 of Overnite's 26 unionized terminals voted to decertify the union.
      Overnite officials had reported a few days earlier that third-quarter profits rose 19% from 2001 to 2002, to $25.6 million, and that sales rose 6.6%, to $349.6 million.
      There was little likelihood of any settlement of the strike.

2001 Curly, Motley, Luncheon, Fluffy, Spiro, Poppy, Mavis, Lambchop, Bunter, and Button, open their web site in English and in Japanese. The 10 New Zealand lambs are assisted by St Canices school, Westport, New Zealand, after having been ‘adopted’ by a group of Japanese school children from Westport's sister city, Amagase, Japan [“welcome to the city of hot spa, flowers and spituality” Spituality? Does it involve spitting on visitors? Perhaps camels or llamas, being more spitual animals, would be better pets than lambs for Amagase.].
2000 Spain becomes the 22nd country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (which has not been ratified nor even signed by the US)
2000 Laboring in the frigid murk of the Barents Sea, divers found and removed the first bodies from the wreckage of the nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank on Aug. 12 with the loss of all 118 sailors aboard.
2000 Kofi Annan, secretario general de la ONU, anuncia el nombramiento del ex primer ministro holandés, Ruud Lubbers, como nuevo responsable de ACNUR (Alta Comisión de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados).
2000 British researcher Stephen Gray proves only that needless research can be addictive, as he announces: “Curry gives you a natural ‘high’ much more powerful than anything you get with traditional British foods.” — [Duh!...watching grass grow gives you a natural 'high' much more powerful than anything you get with traditional British foods.]
1999 Russian forces attacking Chechnya push closer to Grozny (CNN)
1999 Belén González Peñalva, dirigente de ETA y participante en varias conversaciones con el Gobierno español, es detenida en Pau (Francia) con otro presunto miembro de su organización.
1997 Sassu Nguesso asume la presidencia de la República Demócratica del Congo al terminar la guerra de la que salió vencedor.
1994 El Vaticano anuncia el establecimiento de relaciones oficiales y permanentes con la OLP (Organización para la Liberación de Palestina), sin carácter plenamente diplomático.
1993 Mario Moretti confiesa en la radio que fue él y no Prospero Gallinari, condenado a cadena perpetua, el asesino de Aldo Moro.
1988 ABC News reports on potbellied pygmy porkers' popularity as pets
1986 International Red Cross ousted from South Africa
1986 Se anuncia que Colombia sobrepasará en el año actual a Brasil como primer exportador mundial de café.

1983 US Marines invade Grenada
      Two days after a suicide bomber killed 241 US marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, 1800 US Marines and 300 soldiers from English-speaking Caribbean nations, assault the tiny island republic of Grenada (1/2000 the US population). US President Ronald Reagan, citing a recent coup within Grenada's Communist government, calls the invasion to restore order and provide protection for US citizens on the island against "a brutal group of leftist thugs.”
      The initial assault is met by moderate resistance from the Grenadine army and a number of armed Cuban personnel on the island. Skirmishes continue for several days, but as the invasion force grows to more than 7000, the defenders either surrender or flee into the mountains. By 02 November the island is under US control. US forces turn up evidence of a strong Cuban and Soviet presence — large stores of arms and documents suggesting close links to Cuba. Shortly thereafter a pro-US government is established, and by mid-December all US troops have returned home.
     President Ronald Reagan, citing the threat posed to American nationals on the Caribbean nation of Grenada by that nation's Marxist regime, orders the Marines to invade and secure their safety. There were nearly 1000 Americans in Grenada at the time, many of them students at the island's medical school. In little more than a week, Grenada's government was overthrown. The situation on Grenada had been of concern to American officials since 1979, when the leftist Maurice Bishop seized power and began to develop close relations with Cuba. In 1983, another Marxist, Bernard Coard, had Bishop assassinated and took control of the government. Protesters clashed with the new government and violence escalated. Citing the danger to the US citizens in Grenada, Reagan ordered 1800 US Marines into the island, where they soon found themselves facing opposition from Grenadan armed forces and groups of Cuban military engineers, in Grenada to repair and expand the island's airport.
      Matters were not helped by the fact that US forces had to rely on minimal intelligence about the situation. (The maps used by many of them were, in fact, old tourist maps of the island.) Reagan ordered in more troops, and by the time the fighting was done, nearly 6000 US soldiers were in Grenada. Nearly 20 of them were killed and over a hundred wounded; over 60 Grenadan and Cuban soldiers were killed. Coard's government collapsed and was replaced by one acceptable to the United States. A number of Americans were skeptical of Reagan's defense of the invasion, noting that it took place just days after a disastrous explosion in a US military installation in Lebanon killed over 240 US troops, calling into question the use of military force to achieve US goals. Nevertheless, the Reagan administration claimed a great victory, calling it the first "rollback" of communist influence since the beginning of the Cold War.

1979 Quedan aprobados por mayoría en sendos referéndum los Estatutos de Autonomía de Cataluña y del País Vasco.
1977 Se firman los pactos de La Moncloa.
1976 Governor Wallace grants full pardon to Clarence Norris, last known survivor of “9 Scottsboro Boys” who were unjustly convicted for a 1931 rape.

1973 North Vietnam has boosted its forces in South Vietnam
US intelligence officials report that since the cease-fire, North Vietnamese military presence in South Vietnam had been built up by 70,000 troops, 400 tanks, at least 200 artillery pieces, 15 anti-aircraft artillery, and 12 airfields. Intelligence reports also indicated that an all-weather road from North Vietnam to Tay Ninh province to the north of Saigon had been almost completed. The cease-fire had gone into effect on January 27 at midnight as part of the Paris Peace Accords. The provisions of the cease-fire left over 100,000 Communist troops in South Vietnam. The build-up of these forces did not bode well for the South Vietnamese because the fighting had continued after only a momentary lull when the cease-fire was instituted. Congress was cutting US military aid to South Vietnam while the North Vietnamese forces in the south grew stronger.

1972 Nixon suspends bombing of North Vietnam
The White House orders a suspension of bombing above the 20th parallel as a signal of US approval of recent North Vietnamese concessions at the secret peace talks in Paris. According to Nixon administration officials, the principal obstacle to a cease-fire was in Saigon. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu broadcast a denunciation of the cease-fire treaty, calling all peace proposals discussed by Kissinger and Hanoi in Paris unacceptable, and urged his troops to wipe out Communist presence in the South "quickly and mercilessly.” Thieu feared the peace treaty because it did not address the 160,000 North Vietnamese troops that were currently in South Vietnam. Ultimately, he would sign the accords, but only after repeated promises by President Nixon that he would come to the aid of South Vietnam if the North Vietnamese violated the terms of the agreement. However, the Watergate scandal erupted and Nixon was forced to resign. His successor could not make good Nixon's promises and the South Vietnamese government fell in 1975.

1971 UN: Communist China in, Taiwan out.
Reversing its long-standing commitment to the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan, and a policy of non-recognition of the communist People's Republic of China (PRC), the US's UN representatives vote to seat the PRC as a permanent member. Over American objections, Taiwan is expelled. The reasons for the US policy change include the US interest in having the PRC's help in resolving the sticky Vietnam situation; the goal of using US influence with the PRC as diplomatic leverage against the Soviets; and the desire for lucrative economic relations with the PRC. US relations with the PRC improved, and President Richard Nixon would visit China in 1972. However the United States still publicly avowed that it would defend Taiwan if it were attacked.

1968 Chicago recognizes Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable as its 1st settler
1962 110th member of the UN admitted (Uganda)
1962 The Nobel Literature Prize announced for US author John Steinbeck “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception” — MORE
1962 Stevenson demands USSR amb Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over"

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: US nukes readied
     On 23 October, U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations, had proposed a pause in the crisis to Kennedy and Khrushchev. He suggested that the Soviets stop shipping offensive weapons to Cuba for two or three weeks and in exchange the US would suspend the quarantine for the same length of time.
      On 25 October Kennedy politely turn down the suggestion because it would allow the Soviets to continue preparing the missiles that are already in Cuba.      Early in the morning, Khrushchev received another correspondence from Kennedy which restated the United State's position. Kennedy was not going to back down.
      Still attempting to avoid war, Kennedy had US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson confront the Soviets at the United Nations. When asked directly about the missiles, Soviet Ambassador Zorin refused to comment. So Stevenson showed the reconnaissance photos of missile sites.
      The aircraft carrier USS Essexand and the destroyer USS Gearing hail and attempt to intercept the Soviet tanker Bucharest as it crosses over the US quarantine of Cuba. The Soviet ship fails to cooperate, but as it is deemed unlikely that this type of vessel would carry offensive weapons, the US Navy lets it through.
      Later the aircraft carrier USS Kennedy neared the Lebanese freighter Marcula, which President Kennedy had chosen to be the first ship boarded by quarantine forces. The USS Kennedy radioed the Marcula that night that it would be boarded the following morning.
      At the close of the 17:00 meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EX-COMM), CIA Director John McCone reports that a number of the Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba are now operational. President Kennedy responds by issuing National Security Action Memorandum 199, authorizing the loading of multistage nuclear weapons onto US bombers under the direction of the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

1960 Martin Luther King, Jr., is sentenced to four months in prison for a sit-in.
1960 1st electronic wrist watch placed on sale, NYC

1958 The last US troops leave Beirut.
1956 The Nobel Literature Prize announced for Spain's Juan Ramón Jiménez “for his lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistical purity.” — MORE
1954 President Eisenhower conducts the first televised Cabinet meeting.— propone que EE.UU. conceda una ayuda directa a Vietnam del Sur.
1951 Peace talks aimed at ending Korean War resumed in Panmunjom after 63 days.
1951 In a general election, England's Labour Party loses to Conservatives. Winston Churchill becomes prime minister, and Anthony Eden becomes foreign secretary.
1950 Chinese Communist Forces launch their first-phase offensive across the Yalu River into North Korea.

1946 To try twenty-three Nazi physicians, the United States Military Government for Germany establishes Military Tribunal I. This will be the first of eleven trials in Nuremberg following the trial of the major war criminals..The Doctors Trial considered the fate of twenty-three German physicians who either participated in the Nazi program to euthanize persons deemed "unworthy of life" (the mentally ill, mentally retarded, or physically disabled) or who conducted experiments on concentration camp prisoners without their consent. The Doctors Trial lasted 140 days. Eighty-five witnesses testified and almost 1500 documents were introduced. Sixteen of the doctors charged were found guilty. Seven were executed

1945 Japanese surrender Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek

1944 WW II: First kamikaze attack.
As the Japanese are defeated in the world's largest sea engagement, the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, they use kamikaze ("divine wind") suicide bombers against American warships for the first time. It will prove costly-to both sides. This decision to employ suicide bombers against the American fleet at Leyte, an island of the Philippines, was based on the failure of conventional naval and aerial engagements to stop the American offensive. Declared Japanese naval Capt. Motoharu Okamura: "I firmly believe that the only way to swing the war in our favor is to resort to crash-dive attacks with our planes…. There will be more than enough volunteers for this chance to save our country.”
The first kamikaze force is in fact composed of 24 volunteer pilots from Japan's 201st Navy Air Group. The targets were US escort carriers; one, the St. Lo, was struck by a A6M Zero fighter and sunk in less than an hour, killing 100 Americans. More than 5000 kamikaze pilots died in the gulf battle-taking down 34 ships. For their kamikaze raids, the Japanese employed both conventional aircraft and specially designed planes, called Ohka ("cherry blossom") by the Japanese, but Baka ("fool") by the Americans, who saw them as acts of desperation. The Baka was a rocket-powered plane that was carried toward its target attached to the belly of a bomber. All told, more than 1321 Japanese aircraft crash-dived their planes into Allied warships during the war, desperate efforts to reverse the growing Allied advantage in the Pacific. While approximately 3000 Americans and Brits died because of these attacks, the damage done did not prevent the Allied capture of the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

1942 El general Rommel vuelve a Libia precipitadamente.
1940 German troops capture Kharkov and launch a new drive toward Moscow.
1930 1st scheduled transcontinental air service began

1929 Harding cabinet member guilty in Teapot Dome Scandal
      During the Teapot Dome affair, Albert B. Fall, who served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G. Harding's cabinet, is found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office. Fall is the first individual to be convicted of a crime committed while a presidential cabinet member.
      As a member of President Harding's corruption-ridden cabinet in the early 1920s, Hall accepted a $100'000 interest-free "loan" from Edward Doheny of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company, who wanted Fall to grant his firm a valuable oil lease in the Elk Hills naval oil reserve in California. The site, along with Teapot Dome naval oil reserve in Wyoming, had been previously transferred to the department of the interior on the urging of Fall, who evidently realized the personal gains he could achieve by leasing the land to private corporations.
      In October of 1923, the Senate Public Lands Committee launched an investigation that revealed not only the $100'000 bribe that Fall received from Doheny, but also that Harry Sinclair, president of Mammoth Oil, had given him some $300'000 in government bonds and cash in exchange for use of the Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming.
      In 1927, the oil fields were restored to the US government by a Supreme Court decision. In 1929, Fall was convicted of bribery and sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of $100'000. Doheny escaped conviction, but Sinclair was also imprisoned for contempt of Congress and jury tampering.

1923 The Teapot Dome scandal comes to public attention as Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, subcommittee chairman, reveals the findings of the past 18 months of investigation. His case will result in the conviction of Harry F. Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, and later Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, the first cabinet member in American history to go to jail. The scandal, named for the Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming, involved Fall secretly leasing naval oil reserve lands to private companies.

1918 El presidente Thomas Woodrow Wilson pide la capitulación "pura y simple" de Alemania.
1917 Eamon de Valera logra la elección presidente de la República de Irlanda.
1916 Over Bulgaria, German pilot Rudolf von Eschwege shoots down his first enemy plane, a Nieuport 12 of the Royal Naval Air Service.
1903 Senate begins investigating Teapot Dome scandals of Harding administration.
1901 Joseph Chamberlain defiende las severas medidas tomadas contra los bóers.
1900 England annexes Transvaal
1870 Postcards 1st used in US
1862 A sarcastic President Lincoln wires General George McClellan: "I have just read your dispatch about sore tongued and fatiegued [sic] horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?" Lincoln was nearly out of patience with McClellan. The president had ordered him to pursue Confederate General Robert E. Lee into Virginia after Antietam on September 17, but McClellan dallied for more than a month. A little over a week after sending this message, Lincoln replaced McClellan with Ambrose Burnside.

1861 Keel of the Monitor laid
      Signaling an important shift in the history of naval warfare, the keel of the Union ironclad Monitor is laid at Greenpoint, Long Island. Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles appointed an Ironclad Board when he heard rumors that the Confederates were trying to build an iron-hulled ship-an ironclad ship could wreck havoc on the Union's wooden armada. In September 1861, the board granted approval for engineer John Ericsson, a native of Sweden, to begin constructing the US Navy's first ironclad.
      The wooden keel was laid at the Continental Iron Works on Long Island. Carpenters worked around the clock on the frame while the iron sheathing was prepared for the hull. The vessel was not large — 52 meters long and 12.5 meters wide — but its design was unique. The craft had an unusually low profile, rising from the water only 46 cm. A 6-meter cylindrical turret in the middle of the ship housed two 11-inch (279.4 mm) Dahlgren guns that topped the flat, iron deck. The ship had a draft of less than 3.35 meters so it could operate in the shallow harbors and rivers of the South.
      Ericsson pushed the production to be as speedy as possible, but he could not deliver the ship by the 12 January 1862, delivery date. It was finally launched into New York's East River on January 30. Many small engine problems also needed to be solved before the craft was commissioned on 25 February. It sailed for Virginia soon after, arriving at Chesapeake Bay on 06 March. On 08 March 1862, it engaged in one of the most famous naval duels in history when it clashed with the Confederate ironclad the Virginia (which had been constructed from the captured Union ship Merrimack). A day of heavy pounding produced a draw; each ship was immune from the other's shots. A new naval era had dawned.

1854 The Light Brigade charges (Battle of Balaklava) (Crimean War)
1836 Queda instalado en la plaza de la Concordia de París el obelisco de Tebas, regalado a Francia por el virrey de Egipto, Mehmet Alí.
1812 US frigate United States captures British vessel Macedonian
1795 (3 brumaire An IV) Création de l'Institut de France. Après la fondation de l'Institut par l'article 298 de la Constitution du 5 Fructidor an III (22 août 1795), c'est l'organisation de l'Institut même qui est arrêtée. Trois classes sont créées : celle de sciences physiques et mathématiques, celle de littérature et de beaux-arts, celles de sciences morales et politiques. Mais il faudra encore plusieurs lois , jusqu'à l'ordonnance royale du 26 octobre 1832 pour que cette institution prenne la forme définitive qui est la sienne depuis lors.
1764 John Adams and Abigail Smith are married.
1760 Britain's King George III succeeds his late grandfather, George II.

1748 Fielding becomes justice of the peace ^top^
Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones, is commissioned as justice of the peace for Westminster and Middlesex. In this role, he helped break up notorious criminal gangs. Fielding was born on 22 April 1707 in Somerset, England, and attended Eton. However, he dropped out at age 17 and lost his family's financial support. He went to London to become a playwright and met some success with more than two-dozen plays. However, his career as a playwright ended when his satire Historical Register of the Year 1736 earned him the prime minister's ire. In search of a new livelihood, Fielding studied law and edited a newspaper for several years. Meanwhile, in 1740, Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel Pamela was published to enormous popularity. A spoof on the book, called Shamela (1741), was generally credited to Fielding, though he never admitted authorship. He did admit to writing Joseph Andrews, another satire, in 1742. The year after he was appointed justice of the peace, Fielding published his masterpiece Tom Jones. The novel, serialized in 10 small volumes (the last one of which was published on 10 May 1749), told the humorous story of the attempts of the illegitimate but charming Tom Jones to win his neighbor's daughter. The novel boasted a vast cast of characters and provided a sweeping comic portrait of 18th-century England. Fielding published one more novel, Amelia (1751), before his death in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1754.
FIELDING ONLINE:
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, A Journey From This World to the Next

1743 Firma del segundo Pacto de Familia, que estableció una alianza defensiva entre España y Francia.
1722 Sacre de Louis XV, 13 ans, il est majeur.. Le faste de la cérémonie témoigne de l'attachement d'un peuple qui lui a donné le surnom de "Bien-Aimé".
1671 Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, satellite of Saturn

1555 Abdication de l'empereur Charles Quint ^top^
     L'empereur Charles Quint (ou Charles V) révèle son intention d'abdiquer de tous ses titres! Les héritages et les alliances matrimoniales ont réuni sur sa tête des couronnes de toute l'Europe et en ont fait le souverain le plus prestigieux à défaut d'être le plus puissant.
Un héritage mirifique
     Charles naît près de Gand le 24 février 1500. Il est le fils de l'archiduc d'Autriche Philippe le Beau, et de Jeanne la Folle, victime d'une dépression après la mort de son époux. Son père appartient à la dynastie des Habsbourg. Il est lui-même le fils de l'empereur d'Allemagne Maximilien 1er et de Marie de Bourgogne, fille unique du duc Charles le Téméraire.
     Philippe le Beau hérite de son père les Etats autrichiens des Habsbourg (capitale: Vienne) et de sa mère le très riche duché de Bourgogne, avec la Franche-Comté, les Pays-Bas, etc. Selon la tradition d'héritage collectif en vigueur dans le Saint Empire romain germanique, l'héritage des Habsbourg sera géré en commun par Charles Quint et son frère cadet Ferdinand, qui en héritera après l'abdication du premier.
      Les parents de Jeanne la Folle ne sont autres que les Rois Catholiques d'Espagne, Ferdinand d'Aragon et Isabelle de Castille. Ils déposent dans la corbeille de naissance de Charles les Espagnes et le royaume des Deux-Siciles. Grâce aux Grandes découvertes, ils lui assurent aussi la promesse d'"un empire sur lequel le soleil ne se couche jamais", du Mexique aux Philippines. Selon la règle de primogéniture en vigueur à l'ouest, Charles Quint pourra transmettre l'héritage des "Reyes Católicos" à son fils Philippe, futur Philippe II d'Espagne.
Un bilan amer
     Charles est élu empereur d'Allemagne en 1519 grâce à l'or des Fugger, marchands d'Augsbourg. Son rival malheureux n'est autre que le roi de France François 1er, qui appréhende l'encerclement de son pays par les possessions des Habsbourg. François 1er sera fait prisonnier après la bataille de Pavie et, sitôt relâché, n'hésitera pas à s'allier avec le sultan d'Istanbul et les protestants allemands contre l'empereur.
     S'étant fait couronner empereur à Aix-la-Chapelle, Charles Quint cultive le rêve de restaurer l'empire de Charlemagne sans percevoir l'avènement des nations modernes. Ayant fait serment, lors de son couronnement, de servir la chrétienté occidentale, l'empereur aura l'immense douleur de consacrer sa division entre protestants et catholiques, suite au triomphe de Luther. En tentant d'empêcher le divorce du roi Henri VIII et de Catherine d'Aragon, sa propre tante, il aura aussi poussé le roi d'Angleterre à rompre avec le pape.
      A 55 ans, lassé de tout, malade et usé, éprouvé par son échec à Augsbourg, face aux protestants d'Allemagne, un mois plus tôt, Charles Quint décide d'abdiquer. Le 25 octobre 1555, dans la grande salle du château de Bruxelles, devant les députés des dix-sept provinces bourguignonnes, ainsi que les chevaliers de l'ordre de la Toison d'Or et les ambassadeurs et représentants d'une grande partie de l'Europe, Charles Quint se dessaisit des états bourguignons en faveur de son fils Philippe.
     Le 16 janvier suivant, Philippe deviendra roi des Espagnes et des Deux Siciles sous le nom de Philippe II. Le 12 septembre 1556, Charles Quint cèdera à son frère Ferdinand les Etats autrichiens et le titre d'empereur d'Allemagne.
      En se retirant dans une résidence voisine du monastère de Yuste, en Estrémadure, le vieil empereur liquide le rêve médiéval d'un empire chrétien universel. Désormais, en Europe, la paix dépendra de l'équilibre entre les Etats nationaux et non plus de l'autorité d'un empereur ou d'un pape.
      NB: l'abdication de Charles Quint a fourni le prétexte à une création théâtrale de Jacques Attali, avec Gérard Depardieu dans le rôle de l'empereur: "Les portes du ciel".
Allegory on the Abdication of the Emperor Charles V on 25 October 1555, in Brussels (1620 painting by Frans Francken Jr.)
— Carlos V abdica del gobierno de los dominios borgoñones en su hijo Felipe. Previamente, el 12 de septiembre, había abdicado del trono imperial a favor de su hermano Fernando

1521 María Pacheco, viuda de Juan de Padilla, se rinde en Toledo a las tropas de Carlos I, con lo que termina la Guerra de las Comunidades.
1415 Se libra la Batalla de Azincourt que enfrenta a Enrique V de Inglaterra y a Carlos V de Francia, en el marco de la Guerra de los Cien años.
1295 Jaime II de Aragón se casa con Blanca de Anjou.
1241 Celestine IV becomes pope. He would die fifteen days later, poisoning suspected.
1147 Plagued with bickering and ineffective leadership, the German armies of the Second Crusade (1147-49) are destroyed by the Saracens at Dorylaeum (in modern Turkey).

0732 Charles Martel arrête les musulmans à Poitiers
     A Moussais, près de Poitiers, Charles Martel défait Abd al-Rhaman. Une victoire sanglante qui met fin aux conquêtes musulmane. Cette victoire vaut à Charles le surnom de " Martel ", car on l'a vu pendant la bataille écraser ses ennemis avec sa masse d'armes comme il eût fait avec un marteau.
      Moins d'un siècle après la mort de Mahomet, ses disciples ont atteint l'Espagne et le Languedoc actuel (cette province s'appelle alors la Septimanie). Mais les musulmans ont été arrêtés dans leur progression par la victoire à Toulouse, en 721, du duc d'Aquitaine Eudes. Eudes veut prévenir le retour des musulmans d'Espagne au nord des Pyrénées. Il s'allie au gouverneur berbère de la Septimanie. Le dénommé Munuza est de religion musulmane mais il est en révolte contre ses coreligionnaires d'Espagne. Eudes lui donne sa fille en mariage (contrairement à l'opinion courante, les préjugés religieux de cette lointaine époque sont moins virulents qu'à la Renaissance et encore de nos jours). Mais Munuza est tué en affrontant le gouverneur d'Espagne Abd el-Rahmann qui lance dans la foulée une expédition punitive contre les Aquitains. Ses troupes tentent de remonter jusqu'au riche sanctuaire de Saint-Martin de Tours avec l'intention de s'en approprier les richesses avant de s'en retourner au sud des Pyrénées.
     Eudes appelle à son secours les Francs qui vivent au nord de la Loire. Leur chef, le maire du palais d'Austrasie, Charles Martel, accourt. C'est ainsi que les armées d'Abd el-Rahmann sont stoppées à Moussais, entre Poitiers et Tours, par les armées de Charles Martel et Eudes, pour une fois unies. Pendant six jours, les cavaliers musulmans et les fantassins chrétiens s'observent et se livrent quelques escarmouches.
     Le 25 octobre 732, qui est aussi le premier jour du mois de Ramadan, les musulmans se décident à engager la bataille. Abd el-Rahmann meurt au combat et la nuit suivante, ses hommes plient bagage et se retirent.
     La bataille dite de Poitiers met un point final aux incursions musulmanes au nord des Pyrénées. Mais Charles Martel ne s'en tient pas là. Profitant de l'affaiblissement du duc Eudes, il s'empare des évêchés de la Loire puis descend dans le Midi qu'il saccage consciencieusement. C'est peut-être à cette occasion qu'il aurait gagné le surnom de Martel ("celui qui frappe comme un marteau"). Plus tard, les chroniqueurs français exalteront le souvenir de la bataille de Poitiers pour mettre en valeur Charles Martel, grand-père du futur Charlemagne et mythique fondateur de la France.

0431 The Council of Ephesus replaces Nestorius with a new patriarch of Constantinople, because of Nestorius's heresy that two separate persons indwelled the incarnate Christ.

TO THE TOP

Deaths which occurred on an October 25:
2003 William Carlson, 43, and Christopher Glenn Mueller, 32, CIA civilian contract employees, ambushed while they were tracking terrorists operating in the region of village Shkin, in eastern Afghanistan.
2002 Paul D. Wellstone, 58; his wife Sheila (née Ison) Wellstone, 58; his daughter Marcia Markuson, 33; 3 campaign workers: Will McLaughlin, 23, Tom Lapic, 49, Mary McEvoy, 49; pilot Richard Conry, 50; and co-pilot Michael Guess, 30, the 8 aboard a leased King Air A-100 which crashes at 10:20, 3 km short of the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport in Minnesota. Paul Wellstone [< photo], born on 21 July 1944, became a political science and a community organizer, then a liberal anti-war US Senator (Democrat, Minnesota). He was seeking election to a third term in the 05 November 2002 election and was narrowly favored over his Republican challenger. His death leaves the Senate tied 49 Democrats to 49 Republicans, and 1 Independent (James Merrill Jeffords [11 May 1934 –] of Vermont, who had his moment of fame when he defected on 24 May 2001 from the Republican party, destroying its majority in the Senate). The Minnesota Democratic Party replaces Wellstone on the ballot with former Vice-President Walter Mondale, 74, who gets elected. — Paul Wellstone was the author of How the Rural Poor Got Power: Narrative of a Grass Roots Organizer (1978) and The Conscience of a Liberal: Reclaiming the Compassionate Agenda (2001). — A similar tragedy: Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan [11 February 1934 – 16 October 2000] was killed in a plane crash while running for the US Senate. Carnahan's name remained on the ballot and he beat Republican incumbent Senator John Ashcroft (who became infamous President George “Dubyu” Bush's infamous Attorney General). Carnahan's widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place and on 05 November 2002 loses her attempt at election to a full term to Republican Jim Talent.
2002 René Thom [photo >], French topologist, born on 02 September 1923. His work on topology, in particular on characteristic classes, cobordism theory and the Thom transversality theorem led to his being awarded a Fields Medal in 1958. Thom pontificated outside his field: Structural Stability and Morphogenesis (1972, his “catastrophe theory”, a mathematical treatment of continuous action producing a discontinuous result), linguistics, philosophy, theoretical biology. He inspired Salvador Dali's painting Topological Abduction of Europe: Homage to René Thom (1983).
2002 Koki Ishii, 61, in Tokyo, stabbed in the hand, face, and chest, with a 30-cm-long sashimi knife by right-wing extremist Hakusui Ito, 48. Ishii was an opposition deputy, of the Democratic Party of Japan. In a decade in the Diet he had campaigned against expansion of Japan's military, kickbacks from businessmen to bureaucrats, and the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which carried out the deadly 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway. Aggressive in exposing graft, Mr. Ishii headed an anticorruption task force in his party known as the "G-Man Squad," (nickname from movies about FBI agents during Prohibition in the US). Ishii was the author of The Parasites Consuming Japan about bureaucratic corruption.
2001 At least 10 aboard a bus in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by a US bomb (not confirmed by US).
1999 Payne Stewart, 42, golfer, and five others, as their Learjet, after flying uncontrolled for four hours, crashes in South Dakota.
1997 Rees, mathematician.
Michael and Alex Smith

1994 Michael Daniel Smith [10 Oct 1991–], and Alexander Tyler Smith [05 Aug 1993–], [< photo] drowned strapped into the back seat of the car made to roll down a ramp into the John D. Long Lake, near Union, South Carolina, by their mother Susan Leigh Vaughan Smith [26 Sep 1971~], (seeking to satisfy her lover Tom Findlay, 27, who wanted no children). She was thinking of divorcing her husband David Smith [27 Jul 1970~]. She would claim that a Black man had hijacked her car with her two boys inside. She would appear on national television, tearfully begging for her son's safe return. On 03 November 1994, she would confess.

On 25 July 1995 she would be sentenced to 30-years-to-life in prison. A granite memorial to the two boys would be erected by the ramp.
[re-enactment of the Smith car sinking >]
In the evening of 31 August 1996, six adults and four children in a van stopped to visit the site. The lights of the van lit up the memorial and five adults got out to get a closer look. At about 21:00, the van suddenly rolled down the ramp and a steep grassy embankment into the lake. Tim Phillips, 28, and his wife, Angie Phillips, 22, jumped in the water to try to save those inside, but failed to do more than get the kids free of their seat belts. They, their children Courtney Phillips, 4, Melena Phillips, 23 months, and Kinsleigh Phillips, 4-months; and the other adult and child inside all drowned.
1994 Francisco Yndurain, filólogo español.
1989 Mary McCarthy, of cancer, US author born on 21 June 1912. Among her 28 books: The Company She Keeps (1942) — The Group — A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays — Memories of a Catholic Girlhood — The Groves of Academe — Venice Observed — Stones of Florence — On the Contrary — A Charmed Life — Occasional Prose: Essays — Cannibals and Missionaries — Cast a Cold Eye — Company She Keeps — Mary McCarthy's Theatre Chronicles — The Oasis — Birds of America — Making Books by Hand: A Step-by-Step Guide
1970 Collingwood, mathematician
1961 Peter Jensen, 75, co-inventor (loud speaker)
1945 Robert Ley, former chief of the German Labor Front and one of the prisoners awaiting trial by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, commits suicide.
1941 Robert Delaunay, French Cubist painter born on 12 April 1885. — MORE ON DELAUNAY AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to images.
1935 Charles Demuth, US Precisionist painter, born on 09 November 1883. — MORE ON DEMUTH AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to images.
1933 Wangerin, mathematician
1927 Svante August Arrhenius, químico sueco.
1920 King Alexander of Greece, from blood poisoning shortly after being bitten by a pet monkey. In 1917, Alexander became King of Greece when his father, Constantine, was forced by the Allies to abdicate because of his pro-German sympathies during World War I. After Alexander's death, Constantine is restored to the throne.
1919 Sir Ernest Albert Waterloo, British artist born on 24 May 1850.
1918 Nearly 400 persons as the Canadian steamship Princess Sophia founders off the coast of Alaska.
1914 Wilhelm Lexis, mathematician
1913 Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe, author. ROLFE ONLINE: (zipped) Don Renato, An Ideal Content, Don Tarquinio: A Kataleptic Phantasmatic Romance, Stories Toto Told Me, The Weird of the Wanderer (also used pseudonyms Baron Corvo, and Prospero)

1913: Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe (also used pseudonym Prospero), author of (zipped, and need special reader program for Windows):

(under pseudonym Baron Corvo): Stories Toto Told Me, 1898-1901 The author's charming Italian house-boy recounts thirty stories with a twist, mostly about love and priests [hum...DFA?]. Includes a photograph of the real-life Toto taken by Rolfe.

Frederick Rolfe: Don Tarquinio: A Kataleptic Phantasmatic Romance, 1905 About a set of noble Renaissance lads.

Frederick Rolfe: Don Renato (an Ideal Content), 1909 Mightily convoluted tale of more noble Italian lads in the Renaissance. Comes with its own very necessary glossary.

Frederick Rolfe: The Weird of the Wanderer, 1912 The least well known of Rolfe's surviving books. Nicholas Crabbe becomes (amongst other things) Odysseus, an Immortal, and King Balthazar. [described as "Suitable for Adults Only", which probably means DFA "Disgusting For All"].

1908 Hiram Bingham, author. BINGHAM ONLINE: Story of the Morning Star, the Children's Missionary Vessel
1905 Stolz, mathematician
1902 Benjamin Franklin Norris, author. NORRIS ONLINE: Blix, McTeague, A Story of San Francisco, McTeague, A Story of San Francisco, Moran of the Lady Letty, The Octopus: A Story of California, The Pit, A Story of Chicago
1884 Castigliano, mathematician
1866 Modesto Lafuente y Zamalloa, Spanish historian.

1854: 110 cavalry men in the Charge of the Light Brigade
In an event alternately described as one of the most heroic episodes in British military history and one of the most disastrous, Lord James Cardigan leads a charge of light cavalry over open terrain against well-defended Russian artillery at Balaclava during the Crimean War. Cardigan's brigade of cavalrymen, the majority of which are armed only with swords, are no match for the heavy Russian guns. Of the 673 cavalrymen taking part in Cardigan's disastrous charge, nearly half are casualties. Although Cardigan and others survivors of the charge are hailed as heroes for their bravery, the episode is regarded today as a massacre that only occurred because of the mutual animosity between Cardigan and another senior British officer, Lord George Lucan. This mutual dislike is said to have prevented the two men discussing the implications of the attack in detail, and it is known that they merely exchanged a few words before going on with an attack that had no margin for success.
Bataille de Balaklava. Cette bataille eut lieu pendant la Guerre de Crimée qui opposa les alliés Anglais, français et Turc aux armées russe autour de la Mer Noire. Par la suite d'un ordre mal transmis, Lord Cardigan lance la Brigade Légère britannique contre l'infanterie russe. C'est un désastre ! Sur les 673 hommes, les anglais perdront 110 hommes tués et auront 134 blessés, soit plus du 1/3 de la brigade hors de combat.

1853 John W. Gunnison and 7 surveyors, killed by Amerindians
Paiute Indians attack US Army Captain John W. Gunnison and his party of 37 soldiers and railroad surveyors near Sevier Lake, Utah. Gunnison and seven other men were killed, but the survey party continued with its work and eventually reported its findings to the United States Congress. Gunnison was a West Point graduate who had led several previous topographical surveys before being assigned to conduct this survey of potential railroad routes across central Colorado and Utah. Gunnison's mission was only one of four surveys dispatched by the US Congress in an attempt to break a sectional deadlock over which route the proposed transcontinental railroad should follow. The whole idea of a transcontinental railroad was jeopardized by a bitter dispute between northern and southern politicians, with both factions stubbornly insisting that the line should have its terminus in their respective regions.
Congress hoped that by turning the question over to the impartial and scientific surveyors of the topographical corps, a clearly superior route would emerge and break the deadlock. Following Gunnison's death at the hands of the Paiute, his lieutenant, E.G. Beckwith, assumed command. Beckwith eventually found a potential railroad route through Weber Canyon in the Unita Mountains and discovered two feasible passes over the northern Sierra Nevada. The survey also provided valuable information on the geology, flora, and fauna of the West and set a high standard for subsequent explorers to follow. However, the results of neither the Gunnison/Beckwith survey nor any of the others succeeded in breaking the deadlock in Congress. Since no clearly superior route emerged from the volumes of maps and data gathered, the decision remained a political rather than scientific one. The issue would only be settled after the southern states seceded from the Union, leaving the matter in the hands of northern politicians.

1733 Saccheri, mathematician
1647 Evangelista Torricelli, Italian mathematician and physicist.

1415: Some 6000 French, 400 English, in Battle of Agincourt, decisive English victory
      During the Hundred Years' War between England and France, the young King of England, Henry V, leads his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France.
     Two months before, Henry had crossed the English Channel with 11'000 men and laid siege to Harfleur in Normandy. After five weeks the town surrendered, but Henry lost half his men to disease and battle casualties. He decided to march his army northeast to Calais, where he would meet the English fleet and return to England. At Agincourt, however, a vast French army of 20'000 men stood in his path, greatly outnumbering the exhausted English archers, knights, and men-at-arms.
      The battlefield lay on one kilometer of open ground between two woods, which prevented large-scale maneuvers and thus worked to Henry's advantage. At 11:00 on 25 October, the battle began. The English stood their ground as French knights, weighed down by their heavy armor, began a slow advance across the muddy battlefield. The French were met by a furious bombardment of artillery from the English archers, who wielded innovative longbows with a range of 250 meters. French cavalrymen tried and failed to overwhelm the English positions, but the archers were protected by a line of pointed stakes. As more and more French knights made their way onto the crowded battlefield, their mobility decreased further, and some lacked even the room to raise their arms and strike a blow. At this point, Henry ordered his lightly equipped archers to rush forward with swords and axes, and the unencumbered Englishmen massacred the French.
      Almost 6000 Frenchmen lost their lives during the Battle of Agincourt, while English deaths amounted to just over 400. With odds greater than three to one, Henry had won one of the great victories of military history. After further conquests in France, Henry V was recognized in 1420 as heir to the French throne and the regent of France. He was at the height of his powers but died just two years later of camp fever near Paris.
     Bataille d'Azincourt: Jean-Juvénal des Ursins rapporte : "Les archers d'Angleterre, légèrement armés, frappaient et abattaient les Français à tas, et semblaient que ce fussent enclumes sur quoi ils frappassent... et churent les nobles Français les uns sur les autres, plusieurs y furent étouffés et les autres morts ou pris.” Sept mille Français ont péri pendant la bataille, mille cinq cent fait prisonniers. Parmi eux, Charles d'Orléans. La pluie n'a cessé de tomber pendant toute la bataille, elle fut favorable aux Anglais, plus légèrement équipés que les chevaliers français, embourbés avec leurs lourdes armures.

La bataille d'Azincourt
      La "fleur de la chevalerie française" est anéantie à Azincourt, au nord de la Somme, par les archers et les piétons du roi d'Angleterre. Le désastre d'Azincourt relance la guerre de Cent Ans après une "embellie" de 35 ans consécutive aux victoires de Charles V et de son connétable Bertrand Du Guesclin.
S'ajoutant aux défaites de Crécy et Poitiers, Azincourt signe la mort de la chevalerie féodale.
Désastre
     Henri V de Lancastre a profité de la folie du roi Charles VI et des querelles entre les membres du Conseil de Régence, Armagnacs et Bourguignons, pour dénoncer la trêve conclue en 1396. Il débarque le 13 août 1415 près de Harfleur avec 1400 navires et un total de 30'000 hommes.
     Les chevaliers français groupés autour de la faction des Armagnacs vont à sa rencontre pour lui couper la route de Calais. Malgré l'avantage du nombre (50'000 combattants contre 15'000), les Français succombent car ils se montrent indisciplinés. Ils prétendent attaquer à cheval les lignes ennemies derrière lesquelles sont solidement retranchés les archers anglais. Les chevaliers chargent les archers sans se soucier d'attendre la piétaille. Mais ils sont encombrés par des armures qui atteignent jusqu'à 20 kilos et peinent à se déplacer sur un sol détrempé par la pluie. Dans la panique face aux volées de flèches, beaucoup de chevaliers chutent de cheval et sont faits prisonniers.
      La plupart des prisonniers (1700 environ) sont égorgés par les archers sur ordre du roi Henri V qui veut ainsi décapiter la faction des Armagnacs et renforcer ses alliés bourguignons. Les Anglais ne se soucient pas de les garder vivants pour les échanger contre rançon selon l'ancienne coutume féodale.
     Les pertes sont énormes du côté français (près de 10'000 hommes contre 1500 du côté anglais). Elles font d'Azincourt l'une des batailles les plus meurtrières du Moyen Age occidental.
      Fort de sa victoire, le roi d'Anglerre en profitera pour s'emparer de la Normandie. Par le traité de Troyes, il épousera Catherine, fille du roi de France Charles VI le Fou et de son indigne femme Isabeau de Bavière. Il se fera reconnaître comme l'héritier du trône de France après la mort de Charles VI... Mais ce sera compter sans Jeanne d'Arc.
     Le duc Charles d’Orléans, 24 ans, neveu du roi Charles VI et chef des Armagnacs, est fait prisonnier à Azincourt. Il n'est pas égorgé comme ses compagnons d'armes mais devra demeurer 25 ans en Angleterre où il cultivera la poésie.
En regardant vers le pays de France
Un jour m'advint, à Douvres sur la mer,
Qu'il me souvint de la douce plaisance
Que je soulais audit pays trouver ;...
     La bataille d'Azincourt inspirera deux siècles plus tard à Shakespeare le drame King Henry V.

1400 Geofrey Chaucer, 57, author, in London.
He had abruptly stopped writing his famous Canterbury Tales some time before. The end of his tales includes a "retraction," where Chaucer himself takes the stage and, nearing the end of his life, apologizes for his "translations and [writings] of worldly vanities.” Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey, a high honor for a commoner, and became the first of those entombed in what is now called Poets' Corner.
CHAUCER ONLINE:

Complete On-Line Works

The Canterbury Tales (multiple editions)

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English)

The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer, Edited for Popular Perusal

Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims (also by K.L. Bate)

The Book of the Duchesse

The House of Fame

The Legend of Good Women

The Parliament of Fowles

A Treatise on the Astrolabe

Troilus and Criseyde http://www4.torget.se/artbin/art/oastro.html

contributor to The Floure and the Leafe, The Assemblie of Ladies, and The Isle of Ladies

1244 Leonor de Castilla, reina viuda de Alfonso VIII.

1180 John of Salisbury
      The intimate friend of Pope Hadrian IV, well known to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, John of Salisbury was also in contact with many of the leading men of his age and was entrusted with the affairs of state and church, for which his moderation and practical sense made him a trusted adviser and agent.
      John sat at the feet of the famed nominalist scholar Peter Abelard, but did not imbibe uncritically all that the master had to teach. He served as secretary to two archbishops of Canterbury and was wounded when archbishop Thomas á Becket was hacked to death by four ruthless knights.
      John wrote extensively and many of his writings cast light upon the lives, events and schools of his day. Little wonder, then, that his era is sometimes called the Age of John of Salisbury.
      John's close association with Becket caused him trouble. Even before his master was exiled by Henry II to the continent, John was forced abroad. John thought Becket tactless and rude in his dealings with the king and urged him to a more moderate course. Nonetheless, when the archbishop was killed, John wrote his biography in such terms as would ensure his canonization.
      In one of his books, John gives a brief account of his own life. One of its more interesting details was that as a child he was used by a would-be wizard in a magical experiment. Thanks to his practical good sense the experiment failed.
      It was as a scholar that John won much of his renown in his own day. He was a strong advocate of Aristotalian logic and wrote influentially on the subject. He also developed a political theory which prefigured later works such as the Lex Rex of Samuel Rutherford. John argued that a king is restrained by God's laws and may be executed if he disobeys those laws.
      John's good sense is obvious when he writes against follies such as witchcraft, astrology and the interpretation of dreams. Yes, certain men in the Bible interpreted dreams, but they also were able to report what was the dream which they interpreted. “If there be any who enjoys such special favor let him join Daniel and Joseph and like them attribute it to the Lord. But for him whom the spirit of truth has not illumined it is vain to place trust in the art, since every art has its source in nature and its development in experience and reason.” He argues that experience and reason are so undependable in these matters that only revelation from God can draw any sure truth from them. He concludes that the most effective remedy for nonsense is to "embrace the true faith, refuse to listen to such lies and never give thought to follies and inanities of the sort.”
      Despite his talents, John of Salisbury struggled financially most of his life. He died on this day October 25, 1180, and his age was the poorer for the loss of this man of wit, integrity, moderation, intelligence and faith.

1147 The armies of the Second Crusade (1147-49) were destroyed by the Saracens at Dorylaeum (in modern Turkey). The Crusaders went on with fruitless campaigns against Damascus, Syria.
0625 Boniface V, Pope

Births which occurred on an October 25:
2001 Windows XP computer operating system is released by Microsoft.
1955 The microwave oven is introduced by the The Tappan Company.
1950 Constantino Méndez Martínez, político español.
1941 Anne Tyler, US writer (The Accidental Tourist, Searching for Caleb, Morgan's Passing, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Ladder of Years)
1939 Once in a Lifetime, de William Saroyan se estrena en el Both Theatre de Nueva York.
1926 Rafael Azcona Fernández, escritor y cineasta español.
1914 John Berryman , US poet (Friends & Associates)
1902 Henry Steele Commager Pitts Pa, historian who wrote the fifty-five volume Rise of the American Nation, also Atlas of the Civil War.
1891 Charles Coughlin, US Catholic priest and bigoted radio commentator, who died on 27 October 1979.
1888 Richard E Byrd Virginia, admiral, US aviator and explorer who made the first flight over the North Pole (1926). He died on 11 March 1957.
1884 Eduardo Barrios Chile, novelist (The Love-Crazed Boy)
1881 Pablo Ruiz Picasso, in Malaga, painter and sculptor of over 6000 works in many different modern styles, founder of cubism. He died on 08 April 1973. — MORE ON PICASSO AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to many images.
1875 Modest Huys, Belgian artist who died in 1932.
1865 Walter Leistikow, German painter, decorative artist, etcher, exhibition organizer, and writer, who died on 24 July 1908. — more
1859 Rubens Santoro, Italian artist who died in 1942.
1843 Gleb Uspensky Russia, author (Power of the Soil)
1838 Alexandre-César-Léopold “Georges” Bizet, French composer who died on 03 June 1875. [same birthday, 13 years later, and death day, 24 years earlier, as Strauss Jr.] Best known for the opera Carmen (also: The Pearl Fishers, The Young Girl of Perth)
1825 Johann Strauss Jr., eldest son of Johann Strauss Sr. [14 March 1804 – 24 September 1849] ('The Waltz King': composer: On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Emperor Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Wine, Women and Song; operettas: Die Fledermaus, A Night in Venice, The Gypsy Baron). He died on 03 June 1899.
1825 Giovanni Fattori, Italian artist who died on 30 August 1908. — MORE ON FATTORI AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to images.
1812 Charles Emile Vacher de Tournemine, French artist who died on 22 December 1872.
1811 Evariste Galois, mathematician who hurriedly wrote his best work in the night before he was killed in a duel on 31 May 1832. An apt observation of his is: "Unfortunately what is little recognized is that the most worthwhile scientific books are those in which the author clearly indicates what he does not know; for an author most hurts his readers by concealing difficulties.”
1811 Karl Morgenstern, German artist who died on 10 January 1893.
1801 Richard Parkes Bonington, Britist painter who died on 23 September 1828. — MORE ON BONINGTON AT ART “4” OCTOBER with links to images.
1800 Thomas Babington 1st baron Macaulay England, poet/historian (Ivry, Naaseby)
1800 Jacques Paul Migne, French theological publisher. Establishing his own press in 1836, Migne published a voluminous collection of writings by the ancient Greek and Latin fathers (161 vols: Patrologia Graecae; 221 vols: Patrologia Latinae) during his remaining 39 years.
1795 John Pendleton Kennedy, author. J P KENNEDY ONLINE: Rob of the Bowl: A Legend of St. Inigoe's
1759 Baron Grenville (Whig) British PM (1806-07)
1692 Isabel de Farnesio, Reina de España.

Holidays Taiwan : Restoration Day (1945) / Virgin Islands : Thanksgiving Day

Religious Observances Ang : St Crispin (Ang) — Saints Crépin et Crépinien sont des cordonniers légendaires d'origine romaine. Ils se seraient établis à Soissons, où ils auraient converti les païens sans manquer de chausser gratuitement les pauvres. Brûlés à la poix puis décapités par l'empereur Maximien, sont devenus les patrons des cordonniers. / Christian : St Gaudentius, bishop of Brescia / Christ : SS Chrysanthus & Daria, martyrs (3rd cen) / Santos Frutos, Crispín, Crisanto, Jenaro, Lucio y Teodosio.

PERGUNTA:
Por que a palavra "grande" é menor do que a palavra "pequeno" ?

Thoughts for the day: “You can't dance at two weddings at the same time.” — quoted as a Yiddish proverb by Paul Wellstone [21 July 1944 – 25 October 2002] in a Senate speech.
“You can dance at any number of weddings at the same time, if they are celebrated jointly.”
“Every anarchist is a baffled dictator.”
“Every dictator is baffled by anarchists.”
“The greatest value of knowing the answers is to tackle the questions yet unanswered, and to formulate the questions yet unasked.”
“This sentence is the answer to the top question left unasked.”
“The greatest value of knowing the answers is to formulate the questions which they answer.”
“Knowing the answers is of no value if you don't know the questions.”
“One man's meat is another man's poison.”
“One man's meet is another man's pointless gathering.”
“One man's meat is a cannibal's feast.”
“A mad cow's meat is everyone's poison.”
“One man's poison can terrorize a whole country.”
“One person's music is another person's noise pollution.”
“One person's anarchist is another person's freedom fighter.”
“One person's fragrance is another person's allergy.”
“One person's thoughfulness is another person's indecisiveness.”
“One person's faith is another person's bigotry.”
“One person's guru is another person's wacko.”
“One person's uprising is another person's rebellion.”
“One person's discipline is another person's subservience.”
“One person's common sense is another person's nonsense.”
“One person's admirer is another person's stalker.”
“One person's police officer is another person's pig.”
“One person's leisure is another person's idleness.”
“One person's wit is another person's boorishness.”
“One person's thrift is another person's avarice.”
“One person's enthusiasm is another person's fanaticism.”
“One person's compromise is another person's treason.”
“One person's joke is another person's harassment.”
“One person's rights is another person's wrongs.”
“One person's whistle blower is another person's malcontent.”
“One person's final solution is another person's holocaust.”
“One person's incentive is another person's bribe.”
“One person's manifest destiny is another person's imperialism.”
“One person's preparedness is another person's warmongering.”
“One person's social justice is another person's class warfare.”
“One person's collateral damage is another person's massacre.”
“One person's prudence is another person's cowardice.”
“One person's mountain is another person's molehill.”
“One person's challenge is another person's obstacle.”
“One person's soil is another person's dirt.”
“One person's menace is another person's Dennis.”
“One person's fertilizer is another person's dung.”
“One person's superiority is another person's arrogance.”
“One person's pet is another person's pest.”
“Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.” — Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman (1804-1881) [Did Disraeli blunder when he struggled to reach this regrettable opinion?]

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