Historical Fun Facts for October 17th

Fun History Facts for October 17th

 

On This Day In History in 1346, King David II of Scotland is captured by the English during the Battle of Neville's Cross.

 

Neville wasn't just cross, he was utterly fuming when he found out. It royally peeved King David as well. Even more so when the English dogs imprisoned him in the Tower of London for the next eleven years.

 

King David-The-Second-Haggis-Almost-Killed-Me was the oldest son of the infamous Robert the Bruce. He was also the only one of Robert's children to survive. And Robert had eleven of them. Although only three were actually legitimate.

 

Fun Fact: Robert The Bruce had the stamina of a Scot who ate nothing but haggis and deep fried mars bars.

 

King David-The-Second-Wife-Will-Be-The-One became King of Scotland on the 7th of June, 1329, at the age of five-years-old, upon the death of his father, Robert-Not-The-First-To-Hate-The-English.

 

David was crowned two years later at the age of seven, at Scone, on the 24th of November 1331, along with his wife, Joan of the Tower.

 

Yes, King David II was already married when he became King of Scotland at the young age of five-years-old.

 

On the 17th of July, 1328, because of the terms set down in the Treaty of Northampton, David was forced to marry Joan of the Tower, the daughter of King Edward II of England.

 

On This Day in History in 1610, King Louis XIII of France is crowned King of France at Reims Cathedral in France, which is where he was King. Of France.

 

King Louis XIII was part of the House of Bourbon, where all those lovely chocolate crème biscuits come from. He became King of France at the age of eight after his father, King Henry IV of France was assassinated.

 

Louis XIII couldn't rule the kingdom as a kid, because think of the havoc. And all the chocolate biscuits. However, as much chaos as a kid could cause as a King, his mother, Marie De' Medici, caused more.

 

So much so, that the young King wrestled power from his mother, who was acting as Regent for her son, in 1617, and exiled her. For good measure and to teach her a lesson, he executed all of her followers.

 

There were many rumours about Louis XIII during his reign regarding his sexuality. However, there is no evidence he was playing hide the sausage with his favourite courtier, Carles d'Albert, or in fact Henri Coiffier de Ruze, the Marquis of Cinq-Mars. And no evidence he was tickling the fancy with Francois de Baradas either. Or any of the others.

 

On This Day in History in 1662, King Charles II of England was short of a few bob, so sold Dunkirk to France for £40,000.

 

On This Day in 1956, Queen Elizabeth II opened Sellafield in Cumbria, England, the first commercial power station.

 

A few years later, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward are born. So, that explains them.