A few interesting tidbits
concerning the eighteenth day of the eighth month.
A.D. 1227—death of Genghis Khan,
one of the great warriors of history. He and his Mongol hordes conquered and ruled
most of Asia during his lifetime.
1572—Marriage of Henry (III) of
Navarre to Margaret of Valois in Paris, an event that helped lead to the St. Bartholomew’s
Day Massacre. Henry, although only nineteen, was a leading figure among the
Protestant movement of France during the Wars of Religion and a close relative
of the French king Henry II. The marriage to his cousin Margaret, Henry II’s
daughter, was intended to cement an alliance between the Huguenots and
Catholics during a period of peace. Many Huguenots came to Paris for the
nuptials, creating a powder-keg situation in the vehemently Catholic city. It
would erupt a week later on the 24th in massacre. Henry would
survive, fight a few more wars, convert to Catholicism, and eventually succeed
to the throne as Henry IV, founder of the House of Bourbon.
1587—Birth of the first known baby
of English descent in America, Virginia Dare, in Roanoke Colony.
1774—Birth of Meriwether Lewis, co-leader
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
1936—Birth of the actor Robert Redford.
And oddly, the date of the death
of no less than four different popes, including Alexander VI in 1503, one of
the most notably worldly popes of the Renaissance period. He had somewhere
around ten (illegitimate, of course) children, most of whom he managed to put
in positions of power through his influence, and thus founded the infamous
Borgia family. Machiavelli cited him favorably as a model ruler in The Prince--not exactly a compliment for a pope.
