HISTORICAL FUN FACTS NOVEMBER 20th.
On This Day In History in 1407, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans, agreed a truce.
Unfortunately, John the Fearless was also John the utter-git. He had Louis of Valois assassinated three days later. Yep, what-a-git.
The two Dukes were in a state of war with each other up until the truce was signed. Both were trying to fill a void left by the King of France, Charles VI of France, who was ever so slightly whacko-nutso-bonkers.
Louis of Valois, who was not only the Duke of Orleans, but also the younger brother of the King of France, was minding his own business in Paris when 15 assassins leapt on him as he was trying to mount his horse.
We are assuming he was trying get on the horse to ride it, rather than anything else. But, with Louis of Valois, you never know. He was a dirty little sicko, by all accounts. Or at least by the account of John the Fearless, who had ordered the assassination.
The fifteen masked men repeatedly stabbed Louis of Valois over and over in the chest, back, legs, and once up the butt. Whether that one was deliberate, or an accidental slip-up caused by all the chaos, no one is quite certain.
Thomas Walsingham recounts the tale and was sure Louis of Valois had got what was coming to him. Yeah, real good. Right up the butt.
Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans, had been, it seems, taking his pleasure with whores, harlots, and all manor of creatures, and that's not including the incest, or committing adultery with the wife of an unnamed knight.
Dirty boy.
On This Day in 1820, an 80-tonne sperm whale attacked a whaling ship from Nantucket called the Essex, 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America.
This story, in part, is what inspired Herman Melville to write his novel, Moby Dick, which was later published in 1851.
On This Day In History in 1947, Princess Elizabeth (later to be known as Queen Elizabeth II) married a dashing young Lieutenant from the Royal Navy, Philip Mountbatten. He is later known as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
On This Day In History in 1985, Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released. And it's still trying to load to this day.
Also On This Day In History
On this day in 869, Edmund the Martyr died.
Edmund was an English king of East Anglia who ruled between 855 and 869.
Not much is known about Edmund or his reign as King of East Anglia. Even his death is speculative.
The Vikings were to blame, as was normal back in the day. The Great Heathen Army invaded East Anglia, defeating the East Anglian army and killing King Edmund the Martyr.
The Danes captured King Edmund and demanded he renounce Christ.
Edmund refused, such was his love and commitment to Christ. He believed Christ would save him.
The Danes beat the living daylights out of Edmund, shot him with three dozen arrows, and to top it off, they chopped off his head.
One legend has it, Edmund's head was taken into the forest by Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubba, not by another mother. They threw it as far as they could and it bounced several miles until coming to a stop where no one would find it.
However, it was actually found by men loyal to Edmund after cries from a wolf. It called, "Hic, Hic, Hic," or "Here, Here, Here."
As a besides: Very similar deaths were apparently bestowed on St Sebastian, St Denis and St Mary of Egypt.
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