Kansas Bear

On this day...
707 John VII ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1016 Danes defeat Saxons at Battle of Assandun (Ashingdon)
1648 1st US labor organization forms (Boston Shoemakers)
1685 Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes, outlaws Protestantism
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ends War of Austrian Succession
1767 Boundary between Md & Pa, the Mason Dixon line, agreed upon
1776 Col John Glover & Marblehead regiment meet British Forces in Bronx
1776 In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, customer orders "**** tail"
1862 Morgan's raiders capture the federal garrison at Lexington, KY
1867 US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia ($7.2 million)
1873 Columbia Princeton Rutgers & Yale set rules for collegiate football
1887 Start of the Sherlock Holmes adventure "A Case of Identity" (BG)
1889 1st all NYC world series NY Giants (NL) play Brooklyn (AA) (World Series #86)
1890 John Owen is 1st man to run 100 yd dash in under 10 seconds
1891 1st international 6-day bicycle race in US (MSG, NYC) begins
1892 1st commercial long-distance phone line opens (Chicago-NY)
1898 American flag raised in Puerto Rico
1908 Belgium annexes Congo Free State
1909 Comte de Lambert of France sets airplane altitude record of 300 m
1912 Beginning of the 1st Balkan War
1912 Italo-Turkish war ends
1918 NHL's Qu‚bec Bulldogs sold to a Toronto businessman P J Quinn
1922 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) established
1924 Harold "Red" Grange, finest collegiate football game (4 long TD runs)
1924 Notre Dame beats Army 13-7, NY Herald Tribune dubs them (4 Horsemen)
1930 Joseph Sylvester becomes 1st jockey to win 7 races in 1 day
1944 Soviet troops invade Czechoslovakia during WW II
1950 Connie Mack retires as manager of the A's after 50 years
1953 Willie Thrower becomes 1st black NFL quarterback in modern times
1954 Hurricane Hazel (3rd of 1954) becomes most severe to hit US
1955 Track & Field names Jesse Owens all-time track athlete
1960 Casey Stengel retired by NY Yankees (won 10 pennants in 12 years)
1960 In Britain, the News Chronicle & Daily Mail merge, & The London Evening Star merges with the Evening News
1962 Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers record "Let's Dance"
1962 US launches Ranger 5 for lunar impact; misses Moon
1962 Dr Watson (US) & Drs Crick & Wilkins (Britain) win Nobel Prize for Medicine for work in determining structure of DNA
1963 IOC votes Mexico City to host 1968 Olympics
1967 Soviet Venera 4 becomes the 1st probe to send data back from Venus
1967 Walt Disney's "Jungle Book" is released
1967 AL votes to allow Athletics to move from KC to Oakland & expand the league to 12 teams in 1971 with KC & Seattle teams
1968 Bob Beamon of USA sets the long jump record (29"2«") in Mexico City
1968 Circus Circus opens in Las Vegas
1968 John Lennon & Yoko One fined œ150 for marijuana possession
1968 Lee Evans sets world record of 43.8 seconds in 400 meter dash
1968 Police find 219 grains of cannabis resin in John & Yoko's apt
1968 US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith & John Carlos for giving "black power" salute as a protest during victory ceremony
1969 Federal govt bans use of cyclamates artificial sweeteners
1969 Soyuz 8 returns to Earth
1973 Congress authorizes bi-centennial quarter, half-dollar & dollar coin
1974 Wings (Country Hams) release "Walking in the Park with Eloise"
1974 Chicago Bull Nate Thurmond becomes 1st in NBA to complete a quadruple double-22 pts, 14 rebounds, 13 assists & 12 blocks
1977 1st Islander 0-0 tie-Kings at Nassau-25th time shutout-Resch's 15th
1977 Reggie Jackson hits 3 consecutive homers tying Ruth's series record
1977 Yanks beat Dodgers 8-4 for 21st world championship, 1st in 15 years
1978 1st daughter Susan Ford announces engagement to Charles F Vance
1978 NY Islanders 1st scoreless tie, vs LA Kings
1979 "Beatlemania" opens in London
1980 Detroit blocks 21 Atlanta shots setting NBA record (double
1981 NY Giant Joe Danelo ties NFL record of 6 field goals in a game
1984 Discovery moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 51A mission
1988 Israel's supreme court uphold's ban on Kahane`s Kach Party as racist
1989 US 62nd manned space mission STS 34 (Atlantis 5) launches into orbit

Kansas Bear

On this day...
2137 -BC- 1st recorded total eclipse of the sun China
310 St Eusebius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
686 Conon begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1520 Magellan entered the strait which bears his name
1553 Volumes of the Talmud are burned
1797 US Navy frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston
1805 Battle of Trafalgar, Adm Nelson defeats French & Spanish fleet & dies
1861 Battle of Balls Bluff, Va
1868 Severe earthquake at 7:53 AM, centered in Hayward, Calif
1869 1st shipment of fresh oysters comes overland from Baltimore
1871 1st US amateur outdoor athletic games (NY)
1879 Thomas Edison perfects the carbonized cotton filament light bulb
1897 Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago is dedicated
1905 England Pilgrim Assn beats All NY 11, 7-1 in soccer at Polo Grounds
1915 1st transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris
1917 1st Americans to see action on the front lines of WW I
1918 Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for 1 min
1923 Deutsches Museum, M�nchen, 1st Walther Bauersfeld Zeiss Planetarium
1935 Hank Greenberg selected AL MVP unanimously
1944 During WWII, US troops capture Aachen, 1st large German city to fall
1945 Women in France allowed to vote for 1st time
1948 Facsimile high-speed radio transmission demonstrated (Washington DC)
1950 Chinese forces occupy Tibet
1950 Tom Powers of Duke scores 6 touchdowns
1959 Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens (NYC)
1960 JFK & Nixon clashed in 4th & final presidential debate (NYC)
1966 144 die as a coal waste landslide engulfs a school in S Wales
1967 Thousands opposing Vietnam War try to storm the Pentagon
1969 Bloodless coup in Somalia (National Day)
1970 777 Unification church couples wed in Korea
1970 Caledonian Airways takes over British United Airways
1971 Nixon nominates Lewis F Powell & William H Rehnquist to US Supreme Court, following resignations of Justices Hugo Black & John Harlan
1973 A's manager Dick Williams quits after A's beat Mets in 70th World Series
1974 1st Islander shut-out opponent-Billy Smith 5-0 vs Caps
1975 Mexico City's 1st major subway accident takes 26 lives
1975 Red Sox Carlton Fisk's 12th inning HR beats Reds 7-6 in game 6 of WS
1975 Venera 9, first craft to orbit the planet Venus launched
1976 American Saul Bellow wins Nobel Prize for Literature
1976 Cin Reds sweep NY Yankees, in 73rd World Series
1976 NY Knicks retire 1st number, # 19, Willis Reed
1977 US recalls William Bowdler, ambassador to South Africa
1979 Greta Waitz wins woman participation in NYC marathon (02:27:33)
1980 1st (& only) time Phillies win the World Series (in 98 years) (World Series #77)
1984 Steve Jones runs Chicago Marathon in world record 2:08:05
1987 Senate debate begins rejecting Robert Bork's Supreme Ct nomination
1988 Boston Celtics beat Yugoslavia 113-85 in Madrid
1988 Ferdinand & Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges
1989 Buck Helm found alive after being buried 4 days, in SF earthquake
1989 Houston becomes 1st major college team to gain 1000 yards in a game
1989 1st black owners (Betram Lee & Peter Bynoe) to own a major sports team, purchasing Denver Nuggets for $65m
1991 24 die in a fire in Oakland Calif

Blackleaf

On this day (28th October) in 1216 - King Henry III is crowned King of England - aged just 9 years old. He was the first English monarch to be crowned as a child since the Norman Invasion of 1066. He was the youngest son of King John, the monarch who signed Magna Carta.


King Henry III of England reigned 18-19 October 1216 - 16 November 1272. He was crowned on 28th October 1216 in Gloucester.



Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) was the son and successor of John "Lackland" (King John) as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. Medieval English monarchs did not use numbers after their names, and his contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the Norman Conquest. Despite his long reign, his personal accomplishments were slim and he was a political and military failure. England, however, prospered during his century and his greatest monument is Westminster, which he made the seat of his government and where he expanded the abbey as a shrine to Edward the Confessor.

He assumed the crown under the regency of the popular William Marshal, but the England he inherited had undergone several drastic changes in the reign of his father. He spent much of his reign fighting the barons over the Magna Carta[citation needed] and the royal rights, and was eventually forced to call the first "parliament" in 1264. He was also unsuccessful on the Continent, where he endeavoured to re-establish English control over Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine.

Henry III was born in 1207 at Winchester Castle. He was the son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême.

After his father John’s death in 1216, Henry, who was nine at the time, was hastily crowned in Gloucester Cathedral; he was the first child monarch since the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Under John's rule, the barons were supporting an invasion by Prince Louis of France because they disliked the way that John had ruled the country. However, they quickly saw that the young prince was a safer option. Henry's regents immediately declared their intention to rule by Magna Carta, which they proceeded to do during Henry’s minority. Magna Carta was reissued in 1217 as a sign of goodwill to the barons and the country was ruled by regents until 1227.
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Also on this day in 1664: King Charles II of England approves plans for a foot regiment to serve on ships. They became the world's first marines.

Blackleaf

On this day (1st November) in 1210: King John of England begins imprisoning the country's Jews. This follows years of anti-Jewish feelings in England and throughout Europe.


King John of England, reigned 1199-1216.

John (24 December 1166 – 18/19 October 1216) reigned as King of England from 6 April 1199, until his death. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I (known in later times as "Richard the Lionheart"). John acquired the nicknames of "Lackland" (Sans Terre in French) for his lack of an inheritance as the youngest son and for his loss of territory to France, and of "Soft-sword" for his alleged military ineptitude. He was a Plantagenet or Angevin king.
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In 1144, Jews in the English town of Norwich, Norfolk, are accused of ritual murder after a boy (William of Norwich) is found dead with stab wounds.

William of Norwich (1132? – March 1144) was an English boy whose death was blamed on the Jewish community of Norwich in the first medieval example of blood libel against Jews. He was an apprentice tanner who regularly came into contact with Jews and visited their homes as part of his trade. Immediately after his death he was venerated as a martyr and was soon regarded as a local saint in Norwich after miracles were attributed to him.

A Jewish community is thought to have been established in Norwich by 1135, although a man called 'Isaac' is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Most lived in a Jewish quarter or Jewry, located in what is now the Haymarket and White Lion Street. This is very close to Norwich Castle, a pattern seen in other towns which may have been for reasons of security. The Norwich community subsequently became one of the most important in England.

Anti-Jewish sentiment erupted in 1144, with William's death. His body was found upon Mousehold Heath, an extensive woodland to the North-East of Norwich that still exists. It has been speculated he may in fact have died either from ingestion of poisonous fungi or died of some sort of fit, however the local people, with leadership of the clergy, accused the Jews of torturing and murdering him, in one of the earliest examples of the blood libel. Only the intervention of the local sheriff, representing the king, saved the Jews from the mob. A long aftermath of accusations continued, reinforcing anti-Jewish stereotypes.

In 1189, a Jewish deputation attending the coronation of King Richard the Lionheart (Richard I) of England is attacked by the crowd. Pogroms in London follow and spread around England.

On 6th February 1190 all the Norwich Jews found in their houses were slaughtered, except few who found refuge in the castle.

In 1190, the 150 Jews of the city of York in northern England took refuge in York castle from an angry mob. Nearly all of the 150 Jews were killed.....

In 1190 the wooden tower of York Castle was the last refuge of the 150 Jewish residents in York. Richard de Malbis (Richard Malebisse) was a debtor of Aaron of Lincoln, an influential Jewish banker of the late 12th century.


York Castle, where 150 Jews took refuge from an angry mob in 1190


When a fire broke out in the city of York, de Malbis used the opportunity to incite a mob to attack the home of a recently deceased agent of Aaron of Lincoln named Benedict of York, killing his widow and children and burning the house. Joce (Joseph), the leader of the Jewish community of York, obtained the permission of the warden of York Castle to remove his wife and children and the rest of the Jews into the castle, where they probably took refuge in a tower that stood where Clifford's Tower now stands. The mob surrounded the castle, and when the warden left the castle the Jews, fearing the entry of the mob, would not readmit him. The warden appealed to the sheriff, who called out the county militia. The militia lay siege to the tower for several days till on 16 March 1190 the tower caught fire. Many Jews either perished in the flames or took their own lives rather give themselves up to the mob; those who did surrender were killed. In all around 150 Jews died.


A plaque on the hill on which the tower stands reads:

“ On the night of Friday 16 March 1190 some 150 Jewish people of York, having sought protection in the Royal Castle on this site from a mob incited by Richard Malebisse and others, chose to die at each other's hands rather than renounce their faith. „


The walls of the stone tower still stand, but the roof and central pillar are gone.The king's Chancellor dismissed the sheriff and constable for failing to prevent the massacre and imposed a heavy fine on York's citizens. However, the ringleaders had fled and could not be brought to justice.

ALSO ON THIS DAY IN:

1604 - William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.

1611 - William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.

1683 - The British colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.

Blackleaf

On this day (11th November) in 1724, the British highwayman Joseph "Blueskin" Blake was hanged at Tyburn, in London. He was hanged for attacking the Thief-Taker (a forerunner to the police) Jonathan Wild by slashing his throat with a pocket-knife. But Wild was not only a Thief-Taker - but also a thief himself (very much a bent cop, but that was common in 18th Century Britain)! Blueskin was hanged five days before Jack Sheppard, the highwayman who was renowned throughout England for finding it annoyingly easy to escape from prison (he escaped fron Newgate four times)


Britain in the 1700s was notorious for its highwaymen - and also for its cruel and barbaric punishments. Even children could be hanged, and it was a capital offence to steal mundane items such as a loaf of bread, a hat or even lace. Even wandering the streets at night with your face painted black was a capital offence.

Tyburn was Britain's most notorious place of execution. It consisted of a tripod-shaped gallows with THREE horizontal beams to execute many felons at once. Around the gallows were stadium-like grandstands - as executions were a great family day out in those days. People had to pay to use the grandstands. Felons would spend the night in the notorious Newgate Gaol, and in the morning would be taken in the back of a horse-drawn cart (alongside their coffins) the three miles to Tyburn. People would line the streets shouting abuse at the felon (or praise if they saw him as a hero) and throwing rotten cabbages and dead cats at him. The cart would even stop at several pubs along the route to give the condemned a final drink of beer!

Anyway, the highwayman Blake was drawn to Tyburn along the traditional route, stopping at the Griffin tavern on Holborn for a stiff drink. In his drunkenness, he slurred his speech from the scaffold before he was hanged.

His body was laid out for a few days, and he was buried in the churchyard at St Andrew, Holborn. Sheppard was hanged 5 days after Blake, on Monday 16 November.
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Joseph "Blueskin" Blake (baptised 31 October 1700 - 11 November 1724) was an 18th century English highwayman and felon.

Blake was the son of Nathaniel and Jane Blake. He was baptised at All-Hallows-the-Great in London. His parents had the means to send him to the parish school of St Giles-without-Cripplegate for about six years.

A school friend, William Blewitt, introduced him to the self-styled "Thief-Taker General" (and thief) Jonathan Wild in around 1714. He left school and became a professional thief. By the age of 17, he was earning his living as a pickpocket, working with Edward Pollitt (or Pawlett or Pollard), and had been nicknamed "Blueskin". The origin of his soubriquet is uncertain: it is probably due to his swarthy complexion, but possibly due to excessive facial hair or a port-wine birthmark, or perhaps a punning reference to his friend Blewitt.

By 1719, Blake was working with Irish highwayman James Carrick, and, by 1722, he was a member of a gang of street robbers led by Robert Wilkinson. Several of his colleagues were arrested that summer, and three were hanged in September. Blake escaped this time, perhaps due to influence deployed on his behalf by Wild, but he received a sabre cut to the head as he resisted his arrest by Wild in December 1722. He turned King's evidence against several former associates, including Blewitt. Three accomplices (John Levee, Richard Oakey and Matthew Flood) were hanged on the strength of Blake's testimony in February 1723. Blueskin expected to be released and to receive some of the reward money for securing the convictions, but he was confined in Wood Street Compter instead, under threat of transportation.

Eventually, Blake found sureties for his good behaviour, and was released in June 1724. He quickly joined forces with notorious thief and gaol-breaker Jack Sheppard. They burgled the house of William Kneebone (Sheppard's former apprentice master) on Sunday 12 July, stealing a quantity of cloth and some other trinkets, but this burglary was to prove their undoing. Having stored the goods near the horse ferry at Westminster, they approached one of Wild's fences, William Field, to sell the stolen goods. Word of the crime soon reached Wild, who was determined to punish Sheppard because he had refused to work for Wild. After a brief interlude as highwaymen on the Hampstead Road on Sunday 19 July and Monday 20 July, Sheppard was arrested at Blueskin's mother's brandy shop in Rosemary Lane (later renamed Royal Mint Street), east of the Tower of London, on 23 July by Wild's henchman, Quilt Arnold. He was detained in Newgate Prison pending trial, accused of the Kneebone robbery. Kneebone, Wild and Field gave evidence against Sheppard, and he was convicted of the burglary on 12 August.


Arrest

Meanwhile, Wild took against Blake, his former underling, probably due to his recent association with Sheppard. Blake was arrested by Wild, Arnold and Abraham Mendez Ceixes at his lodgings in St Giles on Friday 2 October 1724. Blueskin was tried on Thursday 15 October, with Field and Wild again due to give evidence. Outside the courtroom, Blake tried to persuade Wild to put in a good word for him, but Wild refused. Blake attacked Wild, slashing his throat with a pocket-knife. Wild was quickly attended by passing surgeons, and taken away. Blake's attack caused an uproar which spread to the adjacent prison, and the disturbance continued into the evening. Sheppard, having escaped from Newgate on 4 September and been recaptured five days later, used the distraction inside the prison to cover his fourth, and most audacious, escape.

Despite the altercation outside the court, Blake's trial went ahead in Wild's absence. Field's evidence was enough to ensure that Blake was convicted, although his account was not consistent with the evidence that he gave at Sheppard's trial. Blake was sentenced to be hanged, but showed no remorse for his crimes. He tried to escape from Newgate without success.

Meanwhile, Sheppard was recaptured for a final time on 1 November. On Wednesday 11 November 1724, the day after Sheppard's death sentence was confirmed, Blake was drawn to Tyburn along the traditional route, stopping at the Griffin tavern on Holborn for a stiff drink. In his drunkenness, he slurred his speech from the scaffold before he was hanged. His body was laid out for a few days, and he was buried in the churchyard at St Andrew, Holborn. Sheppard was hanged 5 days after Blake, on Monday 16 November.


This engraving gives you an idea of what the tripod-shaped Tyburn gallows looked like.

There are no contemporary pictures of Blake but he is featured in the second image of "The Last Scene" engraved by George Cruikshank in 1839 to illustrate William Harrison Ainsworth's serialised novel, Jack Sheppard. The caption reads: "Blueskin cutting down Jack Sheppard". In reality Blueskin was already dead by the time of Sheppard's execution.


wikipedia.org

Blackleaf

On this day (15th November) in 655, King Penda of the kingdom of Mercia is defeated by King Oswiu of the kingdom of Bernicia in the Battle of Winwaed.

At the time, what is now England was actually several, independent Germanic kingdoms, each with their own king or queen and royal family, and these kingdoms often waged war with each other. Bernicia was where England's northeast is now, and Mercia covered a huge chunk of what is now central England. The most powerful was the kingdom of Wessex, in what is now southwest England.

Sometime in the 800s these Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were unified together by King Alfred (king of Wessex) who became the first king of all England and is known today by the English as the Father of England.

BATTLE OF WINWAED, 655AD


Stained glass window from the cloister of Worcester Cathedral showing the death of Penda of Mercia.


Although said to be the most important battle between the northern and southern divisions of the Anglo-Saxons in early Britain, few details are available. For instance, the two armies met on the banks of a river named the Winwaed, but this river has never been identified. Possibly it was a tributary of the Humber. There is good reason to believe it may have been the river now known as Co ck Beck in the ancient kingdom of Elmet, which winds its way through Pendas Fields, Leeds, before joining the River Wharfe (which eventually feeds into the Humber). Another possibility is the River Went (a tributary of the River Don, situated to the north of modern-day Doncaster).

The roots of the battle lay in Penda's success in dominating England through a number of military victories, most significantly over the previously dominant Northumbrians. In alliance with Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd he had defeated and killed Edwin of Northumbria at Hatfield Chase in 633, and subsequently he defeated and killed Oswald of Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield in 642. Maserfield effectively marked the overthrow of Northumbrian supremacy, and in the years that followed the Mercians apparently campaigned into Bernicia, besieging Bamburgh at one point; the Northumbrian sub-kingdom of Deira supported Penda during his 655 invasion.

Battle

Penda, after gathering allies from East Anglia and Wales, marched with a force "thirty legions strong". Oswiu, who was Oswald's brother but had only succeeded him in Bernicia, the northern part of Northumbria, was besieged by them at a place called Iudeu (identified with Stirling) in the north of his kingdom by Penda. Apparently Oswiu was desperate enough to offer a great deal of treasure to Penda in exchange for peace. Although the sources are unclear, it is likely that some sort of agreement was reached at Iudeu: although Bede says that Oswiu's offers of treasure were rejected by Penda, who Bede says was determined to destroy Oswiu's people "from the highest to the lowest", he does mention that Oswiu's young son Ecgfrith was being held hostage by the Mercians, perhaps as part of a deal. The Historia Brittonum contradicts Bede regarding the treasure, saying that Penda distributed it among his British allies, which would presumably mean that he accepted it. The recorded events may be interpreted to mean that Penda and his army then began marching home, but for some reason the two armies met and fought at a place called the River Winwaed, which may be identified with the River Went (a tributary of the River Don, situated to the north of modern-day Doncaster) — this could mean that Oswiu pursued the Mercians and their allies and took advantage of a vulnerability on Penda's part; Breeze (2004) argues that Penda and his army were in a difficult strategic location along the Went during their withdrawal, giving Oswiu a good opportunity to attack. It is almost certain that the Northumbrians were considerably outnumbered by the Mercians and their allies. According to Bede, before the battle Oswiu prayed to God and promised to make his daughter a nun and grant twelve estates for the construction of monasteries if he was victorious.

Penda's army was apparently weakened by desertions. According to the Historia Brittonum, Penda's ally Cadafael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd (thereafter remembered as "Cadomedd" (="battle-shirker") abandoned him, along with his army, and Bede says that Aethelwald of Deira withdrew from the battle to await the outcome from a place of safety. Penda was soundly defeated, and both he and the East Anglian King Aethelhere were killed. The battle was fought by the river in the midst of heavy rains, and Bede says that "many more were drowned in the flight than destroyed by the sword". Bede mentions that Penda's head was cut off. Writing in the 12th century, Henry of Huntingdon emphasized that Penda, in dying violently on the battlefield, was suffering the same fate he had inflicted on others during his aggressive reign.


Aftermath

The battle had a substantial effect on the relative positions of Northumbria and Mercia. Mercia's position of dominance, established after the battle of Maserfield, was destroyed, and Northumbrian dominance was restored; Mercia itself was divided, with the northern part being taken by Oswiu outright and the southern part going to Penda's Christian son Peada, who had married into the Bernician royal line (although Peada survived only until his murder in 656). Northumbrian authority over Mercia was overthrown within a few years, however.

Significantly, the battle marked the effective demise of Anglo-Saxon Paganism. Penda had continued in his Paganism despite the widespread conversions of Anglo-Saxon monarchs to Christianity, and a number of Christian kings had suffered death in defeat against him; after Penda's death, Mercia was converted, and all the kings who ruled thereafter (including Penda's sons Peada, Wulfhere and Æthelred) were Christian.

wikipedia.org

Blackleaf

On this day (22nd November) in 1718, British pirate Blackbeard (real name Edward Teach), was killed off the coast of North Carolina, then a British colony, during an engagement with the Royal Navy who often patrolled the area on the lookout for pirates. Most pirates in the world in the eighteenth century were British. This was probably due to the fact that Britain probably had more ships than any other nation (in both the Royal Navy and merchant navy) and that the captains, and many of the crew, of British merchant ships and Royal Navy ships were notoriously harsh, violent madmen and combined with the awful conditions on board many British ships they eventially became pirates. As Simon Newman of Glasgow University has said:

"it seems likely that the huge size and terrible working conditions of Britain's merchant and royal navies meant that those who served on British ships were not only more numerous but also far more likely to experience the harsh discipline of the world's largest and most efficient system for the transportation of raw materials and manufactured goods. It is more than coincidence that the most advanced mercantile capitalist nation on earth (Britain) produced the majority of early-eighteenth-century pirates, and that most pirates who renounced nationality were rejecting Britain."

Anyway, Edward Teach was certainly a terrifying sight to behold. During battle, he often tried to frighten the enemy by lighting matches that were woven into his beard. Many people the world over actually thought he was the Devil.

Teach was also incredibly tough. On the day of his death, 22nd November 1718, whilst fighting the Royal Navy, Teach was reportedly shot five times and stabbed more than twenty times before he eventually died and was decapitated.

Legends about his death immediately sprang up, including the oft-repeated claim that Teach's headless body, after being thrown overboard, swam between 2 and 7 times around the Adventure before sinking.

His severed head was attached to the bowsprit of the British warship by Captain Maynard. This was a trophy so that Maynard could collect his prize money once he returned to Britain. After the sheer terror of the battle with the pirates, and the wounds that the crew received, Maynard still only acquired his meager prize of £100 from Spotswood. Later, Teach's head hung from a pike in Bath in south western England.
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Edward Teach (c. 1680 – November 22, 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious British pirate in the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic during the early 18th century, a period referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy. His best known vessel was the Queen Anne's Revenge, which is believed to have run aground near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina in 1718.

Blackbeard often fought, or simply showed himself, wearing a big feathered tricorn, and having multiple swords, knives, and pistols at his disposal. It was reported in the General History of the Pirates that he had hemp and lighted matches woven into his enormous black beard during battle. Accounts of people who saw him fighting say that they thought he "looked like the devil" with his fearsome face and the smoke cloud around his head. This image, which he cultivated, has made him the premier image of the seafaring pirate.

Blackbeard's real name is thought to be Edward Teach. Nevertheless, he is referred to in some documents as Edward Thatch or even Edward Drummond.

He is thought to have been born in Bristol. Teach went to sea at an early age. He served on a British ship in the War of the Spanish Succession, privateering in the Spanish West Indies and along the Spanish Main. After Britain withdrew from the war in 1713, Teach, like many other British privateers, turned to piracy.

According to Charles Johnson, Blackbeard fought a running duel with the British thirty-gun man-of-war HMS Scarborough, which added to his notoriety. However, historian David Cordingly has noted that the Scarborough's log has no mention of any such battle.

Blackbeard would plunder merchant ships, forcing them to allow his crew to board their ship. The pirates would seize all of the valuables, food, liquor, and weapons. Ironically, despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of him actually killing anyone. He generally prevailed by fear alone.

However, colourful legends and vivid contemporary newspaper portrayals had him committing acts of cruelty and terror. One tale claims he shot his own first mate, saying "if he didn’t shoot one or two [crewmen] now and then, they’d forget who he was." Another legend is that having had too much to drink, he said to his crew, "Come, let us make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it."

Going into the ship's hold, they closed the hatches, filled several pots with brimstone and set it on fire. Soon the men were coughing and gasping for air from the sulphurous fumes. All except Blackbeard scrambled out for fresh air. When Blackbeard emerged, he snarled, "Damn ye, ye yellow-bellied sapsuckers! I'm a better man than all ye milksops put together!"

According to Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates:

Blackbeard's death


Blackbeard's severed head hanging from Maynard's bowsprit



Blackbeard operated in coastal waters; it was difficult for ships of the line to engage him in battle. As such, two smaller hired sloops were therefore put under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard, with instructions from Spotswood to hunt down and destroy Blackbeard, offering a reward of £100, and smaller sums for the lesser crew members. Maynard sailed from James River on November 11, 1718, in command of thirty men from HMS Pearl, and twenty-five men and a midshipman of HMS Lyme, and in command of the hired sloops, the Ranger and Jane (temporarily commissioned as His Majesty's Ships to avoid accusations of piracy themselves). Maynard found the pirates anchored in a North Carolina inlet on the inner side of Ocracoke Island, on the evening of November 21. Maynard and his men decided to wait until the following morning because the tide would be more favourable. Blackbeard's Adventure had a crew of only nineteen, "Thirteen white and six Negroes", as reported to the Admiralty. A small boat was sent ahead at daybreak, was fired upon, and quickly retreated. Blackbeard's superior knowledge of the inlet was of much help, although he and his crew had been drinking in his cabin the night prior. Throughout the night Blackbeard waited for Maynard to make his move. Blackbeard cut his anchor cable and quickly attempted to move towards a narrow channel. Maynard made chase; however his sloops ran aground, and there was a shouted exchange between captains. Maynard's account says, "At our first salutation, he drank Damnation to me and my Men, whom he stil'd Cowardly Puppies, saying, He would neither give nor take Quarter", although many different versions of the dialogue exist. Eventually, Maynard's sloops were able to float freely again, and he began to row towards Blackbeard, since the wind was not strong enough at the time for setting sail. When they came upon Blackbeard's Adventure, they were hit with a devastating broadside attack. Midshipman Hyde, captain of the smaller HMS Jane, was killed along with six other men. Ten men were also wounded in the surprise attack. The sloop fell astern and was little help in the following action. Maynard continued his pursuit in HMS Ranger, managing to blast the Adventure's rigging, forcing it ashore. Maynard ordered many of his crew into the holds and readied to be boarded. As his ship approached, Blackbeard saw the mostly empty decks, assumed it was safe to board, and did so with ten men.


Blackbeard and Royal Navy captain Maynard do battle


Maynard's men emerged, and the battle began. The most complete account of the following events comes from the Boston News-Letter

Despite the best efforts of the pirates (including a desperate plan to blow up the Adventure), Teach was killed, and the battle ended. Teach was reportedly shot five times and stabbed more than twenty times before he died and was decapitated. Legends about his death immediately sprang up, including the oft-repeated claim that Teach's headless body, after being thrown overboard, swam between 2 and 7 times around the Adventure before sinking. Teach's head was placed as a trophy on the bowsprit of the ship (it was also required by Maynard to claim his prize when he returned home). After the sheer terror of the battle with the pirates, and the wounds that the crew received, Maynard still only acquired his meager prize of £100 from Spotswood. Later, Teach's head hung from a pike in Bath.

wikipedia.org


Also on this day in:


1830: Charles Grey (2nd Earl Grey) becomes British Prime Minister. Earl Grey Tea is named after him.

1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invaded Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.

1880 - Vaudeville actress Lillian Russell made her debut at Tony Pastor's Theatre in New York City.

1917 - In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association broke up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).

Blackleaf

On this day (25th November) in 1120, the White Ship sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast, killing William Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England. This disaster led to a period of Civil War in England known as The Anarchy.


The White Ship sinking, 1120

The White Ship, a twelfth-century vessel, sank in the English Channel near the Normandy coast off Barfleur, on November 25, 1120. Those drowned included William Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England.

William of Malmesbury (a 12th Century English historian) wrote:

"Here also perished with William, Richard, another of the King's [Henry I] sons, whom a woman of no rank had borne him, before his accession, a brave youth, and dear to his father from his obedience; Richard d'Avranches, second Earl of Chester, and his brother Otheur; Geoffrey Ridel; Walter of Everci; Geoffrey, archdeacon of Hereford; [Matilda] the Countess of Perche, the king's daughter; the Countess of Chester; the king's niece Lucia-Mahaut of Blois; and many others..." Only one of those aboard survived. "No ship ever brought so much misery to England," wrote William of Malmesbury.

Shipwreck


The son of England's King Henry I (reigned 1100-1135) died in the sinking

The White Ship was a new ship owned by Thomas FitzStephen, whose father Stephen had been sea captain for William the Conqueror when he invaded England in 1066. He offered to let Henry I of England use it to return to England from Barfleur. Henry had already made travelling arrangements, but suggested that his son William Adelin travel on it instead.

But when the White Ship set off in the dark, its port side struck a submerged rock (this rock can still be seen from the cliffs of Barfleur), and the ship quickly capsized. The only survivor was a butcher from Rouen. He was wearing thick ramskins that saved him from exposure, and was picked up by fishermen the next morning.

In his account of the disaster, chronicler Orderic Vitalis claimed that when Thomas FitzStephen came to the surface after the sinking and learned that William Adelin had not survived, he let himself drown rather than face the King. The accuracy of this account is debatable — it describes a full moon, but sky tables show that the moon was actually new that night, although this issue is further complicated by the need to convert modern sky tables based upon the Gregorian Calendar to the Julian Calendar in use during the twelfth Century.

The cause of the shipwreck remains unclear. Various stories surrounding its loss feature a drinking binge by the crew and passengers (it is also suggested that the captain was dared to try and overtake the King's ship ahead of them), and mention that priests were not allowed on board to bless the ship in the customary manner. However, the Channel has often proven a notoriously treacherous stretch of water.


Repercussions

Stephen of Blois, King Henry I's nephew by his sister Adela, had allegedly disembarked just before the ship sailed. Orderic Vitalis attributes this to a sudden bout of diarrhoea. If true, it is a cruel twist of fate, since, as a direct result of William's death, Stephen later usurped the English throne, resulting in the period of Civil War in England known as the Anarchy.

The death of William Adelin in this shipwreck led to the chaos following the death of King Henry I. The English Barons were reluctant to accept Matilda as Queen Regnant, leading Stephen to usurp the throne. Even in the sixteenth century, the example of that time contributed to Henry VIII's many marriages in the search for a male heir.

"The White Ship was the Titanic of the Middle Ages, a much-vaunted high-tech vessel on its maiden voyage, wrecked against a foreseeable natural obstacle in the reckless pursuit of speed," Robert Lacey has observed.


ALSO ON THIS DAY:

1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scotland, dies (the Scottish and English/Welsh Crowns didn't unify until 1603). Donnchad, the son of his second daughter Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne.

1177 - Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.

1491 - The siege of Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins.

1542 - Battle of Solway Moss. The English army defeats the Scots.

1667 - A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha, Caucasia, killing 80,000 people.

1703 - The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest storm ever recorded in Britain, reaches its peak intensity and maintains it through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people perish in the mighty gale.

1758 - French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. The British rename the town after new British Prime Minister William Pitt: Pittsburgh

wikipedia.org

Blackleaf

On this day (16th December) in 1653, Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord High Protector of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The years 1649-1660 were an unusual period in British history - England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were republics, after King Charles I was beheaded in 1649 follwing the Roundheads' (Parliament's) victory over the cavaliers (Royalists) in the English Civil War. When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658, his son Richard became Lord Protector, but his reign lasted until 1660 when the Monarchy was restored and Charles II became King. The British Republic was a dictatorship in all but name, with theatres, football, gambling and working on Sundays banned under the Puritan regime. Even Christmas and Easter were banned.

So when the Monarchy was brought back in 1660, there was much rejoicing and Charles II was a hero.

To get his revenge on the killers of his father, Charles II ordered Oliver Cromwell's decomposed corpse to be dug up and beheaded as part of a posthumous execution.

Britain has been a Monarchy ever since, thankfully. With such bad memories of the time when England was a Republic, it's no wonder that the British are overwhemingly Royalist today.


Oliver Cromwell was the leader of the English Republic from 1653-1658. His son took over until 1660 when England became a Monarchy again


The Flag of the Republic

The English Interregnum (Republic) was the period of parliamentary and military rule in the land occupied by modern-day England and Wales after the English Civil War. It began with the regicide of Charles I in 1649 and ended with the restoration of Charles II in 1660.

This era in English history can be divided into four periods.

The first period of the Commonwealth of England from 1649 until 1653
The Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell from 1653 to 1658
The Protectorate under Richard Cromwell from 1658 to 1659
The second period of the Commonwealth of England from 1659 until 1660


Life during the Interregnum

After the Parliamentarian victory in the Civil War, the Puritan views of the majority of Parliament and its supporters began to be imposed on the rest of the country. The Puritans advocated an austere lifestyle and restricted what they saw as the excesses of the previous regime. Most prominently, holidays such as Christmas and Easter, which were thought to have pagan origins, were suppressed. Pastimes such as the theatre and gambling were also banned. However, some forms of art that were thought to be 'virtuous', such as opera, were encouraged. These changes are often blamed upon Oliver Cromwell, though they were originally introduced by the Commonwealth Parliament; and Cromwell, when he came to power, was a liberalising influence.

His son and successor, Richard Cromwell, gave up his position as Lord Protector with little hesitation, resigning or "abdicating" after a demand by the Rump Parliament. This was the beginning of a short period of restoration of the Commonwealth of England.


Jews in England

Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel met Oliver Cromwell concerning the admission of Jews into England in 1655.[2] Cromwell did not agree to all the rights that ben Israel requested, but the opening of Jewish synagogues and burial grounds was tolerated under Cromwell's Protectorate. The practice of the Jewish faith in England was still not done openly, since Cromwell's move had been controversial and many in England were still hostile toward the Jews. Life for the Jews in England improved in that they could no longer be prosecuted if caught worshipping, but discrimination continued.


Ireland

Life for both Irish and English Catholics in Ireland became increasingly difficult under Cromwell's rule, and Cromwell remains a despised figure in Ireland to this day.

Cromwell's sweeping campaign in Ireland began in August 1649. He left in May 1650, but the campaign continued until 1653. Its effects devastated Ireland's Catholic population, roughly one-third of whom were killed or exiled by the war. Famine and plague were the biggest killers, produced in large part from the scorched earth tactics used by Parliamentary forces. Some Irish prisoners of war were sold as indentured labourers in the West Indies. The Catholic landowning class was dispossessed en masse. Thousands of New Model Army soldiers and the Parliament's creditors were settled on confiscated Irish lands. Those Catholic landowners deemed innocent of rebellion against the Parliament but who had not shown "constant good affection" still had their land confiscated and were forced to re-locate to Connacht, where the soil was poorer. See also Plantations of Ireland and Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652.

The practice of Catholicism was banned and many of the soldier/settlers set up dissenting religious communities, such as Quakers or Baptists, under the protection of the Parliamentary forces. The Scottish Presbyterian community was also disadvantaged by the Interregnum regime, as most of them had taken the Solemn League and Covenant and had fought with the Scots against the Parliament in the Third English Civil War (1649-50). Charles Fleetwood the parliamentary commander in Ireland from 1652-1655 was viewed as being hostile to Catholics, Presbyterians, and the pre-war English Protestant settlers at the expense of the radical new settlers. Henry Cromwell, who replaced Fleetwood in 1655, was seen as a more conservative influence, conciliating the "Old Protestant" landed class and allowing the harshest legislation against Catholics (such as a ban on their living in towns) to lapse. Towards the end of the Interregnum, Parliamentarian generals Charles Coote and Richard Boyle (who were also pre-war English settlers) seized the strong points in Ireland in preparation for the Restoration of the monarchy.


ALSO ON THIS DAY:

1773 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party - Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.

wikipedia.org

Blackleaf

On this day (30th December) in 1460, the Battle of Wakefield, part of the Wars of the Roses, takes place. The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles - a civil war - that took place in England between the two main houses of the Plantagenet Royal Dynasty - the Lancastrians and the Yorkists.

The Battle of Wakefield, which took place in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was a decisive Lancastrian victory.

After the battle the heads of the Yorkist leaders in the battle - the Duke of York, Duke of Rutland and Duke of Salisbury - were stuck on poles and displayed in York at Micklegate Bar, the Duke wearing a paper crown and a sign saying "Let York overlook the town of York".


The children's nursery rhyme, "Grand Old Duke of York", may have been derived from this battle.


The Battle of Wakefield took place at Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, on December 30, 1460, and was one of the major actions of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing factions were a royal army, nominally commanded by Margaret of Anjou, and the supporters of Richard, Duke of York, rival claimant to the throne. York's forces were destroyed and he himself was killed in the battle.



Background to the Wars of the Roses


The Yorkist symbol was the White Rose, and the Lancastrian symbol was the Red Rose: Hence the name of the war - the Wars of the Roses

The House of Lancaster had established itself on the throne of England in 1399, when Henry Bolingbroke had deposed his cousin, the unpopular King Richard II. There had always been doubts over the legitimacy of their claim to rule. Bolingbroke's grandson, Henry VI of England, who became King as an infant, proved as he grew up to be an ineffective King, and prone to spells of mental illness. Many nobles rallied behind the Duke of York, who many felt had a better claim, and was respected as an administrator. But in 1460, when his supporters captured the feeble-witted Henry at the Battle of Northampton and he attempted to claim the throne, nobody was prepared to support such a drastic step.

Instead, York succeeded in obtaining a promise from Parliament that, on Henry's death, the crown would pass to him and his heirs (The Act of Accord). Henry's Queen Margaret was unwilling to accept this promise, which had been obtained by force, and was determined to protect the inheritance of her only son, Edward, Prince of Wales, then aged about six. She began gathering a large force in the north, obviously preparing to challenge York openly.


Battle

To disperse this threat, York took his retainers north. He was accompanied by his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and his brother in law, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury. His army occupied Sandal Castle, near Wakefield. Margaret's army advanced to offer battle. It is very unlikely that Margaret was actually on the field of battle and she was more likely to have been in Scotland at the time. The Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Northumberland are much more likely to have led the Lancastrian forces. Lord Ros also probably led a contingent.

Many people are familiar with William Shakespeare's melodramatic version of events, notably the murder of York's second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland. In reality nothing can be quite certain of what transpired, although it is known that York accepted battle in the open, rather than remaining behind the walls of Sandal Castle. The actual date of the battle is not known for sure, nor is the exact location of the battlefield itself, although the most likely site is the area to the north of Sandal Castle known as Wakefield Green, now largely developed. The monument erected on the spot where the Duke of York perished is positioned slightly south of the more likely spot where an older monument once stood, but which was destroyed during the English Civil War.

In Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 3, Act 1, York's son Edmund is depicted as a small child, and following his unnecessary slaughter by Lord Clifford, Margaret torments his father, York, before murdering him also. In fact, the Duke of York was killed during the battle, and Rutland, at seventeen, was more than old enough to be an active participant in the fighting. Salisbury was also captured, and executed after the battle.

York's defeat was probably the result of his own over-confidence, as he apparently refused to wait for reinforcements to arrive before sallying from Sandal Castle to meet the Lancastrians, although it is also likely that the Duke was tricked by John Neville, 1st Baron Neville de Raby, riding under false colours, into thinking his own force was greater than it actually was.


Aftermath

After the battle the heads of the Duke of York, Rutland and Salisbury were stuck on poles and displayed in York at Micklegate Bar, the Duke wearing a paper crown and a sign saying "Let York overlook the town of York".

York's death left his eldest son, Edward, as the Yorkist claimant to the throne. Salisbury's son, the Earl of Warwick, Edward's close ally, also became the wealthiest and most influential landholder in England. Edward, though young, would prove an outstanding battle commander and a consummate politician, and would eventually reign as King Edward IV of England.

The battle is said by some to be the source for the mocking nursery rhyme, The Grand Old Duke of York, and the mnemonic for remembering the traditional colours of the rainbow, Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.

Blackleaf

On this day (17th January) in 1670, French-born British highwayman Claude Duval is found guilty, in London, of six robberies and sentenced to death. He was hanged at London's infamous "Triple Tree" gallows at Tyburn four days later after being imprisoned in the horrific Newgate Gaol.

As was custom at the time for Newgate's condemned, who had to ride in horse-drawn carts alongside their coffins through London's streets on the three mile journey to Tyburn, Duval was allowed to have a quick drink of ale at a pub on his journey to the gallows. This was the Swann Inn on Bayswater Road.

After his body was cut down from the gallows, it was gruesomely exhibited at the Tangier Inn where it drew large crowds, until it was taken to St Paul's churchyard, Covent Garden, where it was buried.

Duval's ghost is today supposed to haunt the very tavern in which he was arrested - the Hole-in-the-Wall, Chandos Street, London.


Claude Duval
(1643-1670)
Born: 1643 at Domfront,
Normandy, France
Highwayman
Died: 21st January 1670
at Tyburn, Middlesex

Claude Duval (or Du Vall) was born of poor parents at Domfront, Normandy, in 1643. A report which was current during his lifetime, that he was the son of a cook in Smock Alley, Without Bishopsgate, is sufficiently discredited. At the age of fourteen, he was sent to Paris, where he remained in service till the Restoration, when he came to England in attendance on the Duke of Richmond. He rented a house in Wokingham and it was not long before he joined the ranks of the highwaymen, in which capacity he became notorious throughout the land, his fame resting hardly less on his gallantry to ladies than on his daring robberies. It is related, for instance, among many similar exploits, that, on one occasion, he stopped a coach in which a gentleman and his wife were travelling with £400 in cash. The lady, with great presence of mind, began to play on a flageolet, whereupon she was asked, by Duval, to dance with him on the roadside turf. His request was granted and a coranto solemnly executed, the husband looking on. The latter was then asked to pay for his entertainment and Duval, taking £100 only, allowed the coach to proceed on its way. This episode is variously said to have occurred on Hounslow Heath (Middlesex) or Bagshot Heath at Swinley (Berkshire). His gallantry notwithstanding, the name of Duval soon became a terror to travellers and large rewards were offered for his capture. So hot was the pursuit that Duval was compelled to flee to France; but after a few months' time, he returned and, shortly afterwards, was taken, while drunk, from the Hole-in-the-Wall, Chandos Street (London). On 17th January 1670, he was arraigned at the Old Bailey and, being found guilty on six indictments out of a much greater number - which could have been proved if necessary, was condemned to death. Many great ladies are said to have interceded for his life, but the King, on Duval's capture, had expressly excluded him from all hope of pardon; and on the Friday following (21st January), he was executed at Tyburn. His body was cut down and laid in state at the Tangier Tavern, St. Giles' where it was visited by great crowds of all ranks, amid such unseemly demonstrations that the exhibition was stopped by a judge's order. Duval was buried in the centre aisle of Covent Garden Church, under a stone inscribed with an epitaph beginning:

Here lies DuVall: Reder, if male thou art,
Look to thy purse; if female, to thy heart.
Much havoc has he made of both; for all
Men he made to stand, and women he made to fall
The second Conqueror of the Norman race,
Knights to his arm did yield, and ladies to his face.
Old Tyburn’s glory; England’s illustrious Thief,
Du Vall, the ladies’ joy; Du Vall, the ladies’ grief


The three-beamed gallows at Tyburn hanged thousands of felons from the 12th century to 1783

The only full account of the life and adventures of Duval is the 'Memoirs of Du Vail: containing the History of his Life and Death', published immediately after his execution and ascribed to the pen of William Pope. This pamphlet was copied, almost literally, by Alexander Smith in his 'Lives of the Highwaymen' and is also reproduced in ' Celebrated Trials' (Volume 2); but some of the incidents narrated in it, especially those dealing with Duval's relations with ladies of rank, appear unworthy of credence - a view which is to some extent borne out by the author's declaration on the title-page, that his work was "intended as a severe reflection on the too great fondness of English ladies for French footmen; which at th