[Although hostilities in the English Civil War wouldn't begin in earnest for another two months - at the Battle of Edgehill on October 23rd - both sides had been massing their forces for months when the King's provocative actions on this day in 1642 would prove the last straw for Parliament... In addition to the conflict itself (which was devastating enough) the Civil War had at least one consequence which still resonates today; after His Majesty stormed out of the House of Commons chamber for the last time following a set-to with Speaker William Lenthall in January 1642 no sovereign has ever entered it again!]
392 CE - Arbogast had Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor.
476 CE - Odoacer was proclaimed King of Italy by his troops after riding into Rome on his way to depose the Western Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, who was then in residence at Ravenna; many historians feel that Odoacer's election marks the end of the Roman Empire in Europe, as well as the beginning of the Middle Ages or medieval period, although in reality the Roman Empire had either been falling for some time and/or wouldn't fall for another fifteen centuries...
565 CE - St. Columba reported the first sighting of a monster in the River Ness - which itself flows into the more famous Loch Ness which gives the monster its moniker.
851 CE - Erispoe defeated Charles the Bald at the Battle of Jengland, near the Breton town of Jengland.
1138 - At the Battle of the Standard near the Yorkshire village of Northallerton the Scottish forces of King David I were repelled by English commander William of Aumale, whose smaller force decimated their opposition... The Scottish King had invaded England to support his niece Matilda's claim to the throne (as the only surviving direct descendant of William the Conqueror in the paternal line) over that of King Stephen, during a period of English history known as The Anarchy.
1639 - The Indian city of Madras (now called Chennai) was founded by the British East India Company after it bought a sliver of land on India's east coast from local Nayak rulers.
1642 - Still outraged by the Long Parliament's Grand Remonstrance of December 1641 and a threat by the House of Commons to impeach Queen Henrietta Maria, after England's King Charles I proclaimed Parliamentary forces to be traitors as he raised his standard outside Nottingham Castle, and the first English Civil War began...
1654 - Jacob Barsimson arrived in New Amsterdam (later New York City), making him among the first Jewish settlers in America.
1770 - Captain James Cook's expedition landed on Possession Island, off the coast of New South Wales, Australia; it was here that Cook formally claimed the coastlines of Queensland and New South Wales for Great Britain.
1791 - A slave rebellion began in the town of Saint-Domingue which would eventually lead to the creation of Haiti as the world's first black republic under Toussaint Louverture.
1827 - José de La Mar became President of Peru for the second time.
1851 - The first America's Cup was won by the yacht America.
1864 - Following the signing of the first Geneva Convention, the Red Cross was created. The Geneva Convention was most recently in the news in January 2002 when White House Counsel (and future US Attorney-General) Alberto Gonzales mocked it as 'quaint'.
1901 - The Cadillac Motor Company was founded.
1922 - Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot and killed during an ambush in Ireland's County Cork.
1926 - Gold was discovered near Johannesburg.
1932 - The BBC began conducting experiments with television broadcasting.
1950 - Althea Gibson broke the colour barrier in tennis, competing with whites at the US Open.
1973 - Henry Kissinger was named Secretary of State by US President Richard Nixon.
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