[Currently housed in the cathedral at Monza, the Iron Crown of Lombardy was already ancient when it was used in the coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas Day 800 CE; not merely regalia but a reliquary as well, it is reputed to have been fashioned in part out of one of the nails from the cross upon which Christ was crucified.]
451 CE - The
Battle of Avarayr took place near
Vaspurakan between Armenian rebels led by
Vartan Mamikonian against their overlords the
Sassanid Empire of
Yazdegerd II; while the Armenians were defeated militarily they were subsequently guaranteed the freedom to openly practice Christianity.
1637 - During the
Pequot War a combined force of English colonists and
Mohegan led by German Captain
John Mason attacked the
Pequot village of
Misistuck in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Native Americans.
1647 -
Alse Young became the first person executed as a witch in the American colonies when she was hanged in Hartford, Connecticut.
1736 - At the
Battle of Ackia British and
Chickasaw soldiers repelled a French and
Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi; the French, under Louisiana governor
Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had been seeking to link Louisiana with
Acadia and the other northern colonies of
New France.
1805 - Napoléon I assumed the title of King of Italy and was crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Duomo di Milano.
1828 - Mysterious
feral child Kaspar Hauser was discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.
1857 -
Dred Scott was emancipated by his owners, the Blow family.
1868 - The impeachment trial of President
Andrew Johnson ended, with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote.
1879 - Russia and the United Kingdom signed the
Treaty of Gandamak, establishing an
Afghan state.
1896 -
James Dunham murdered six people in
Campbell, California; following the slayings of his wife, her family and their servants Dunham disappeared, and was never seen again. Only his infant son and a farmhand survived the massacre.
1906 - London's
Vauxhall Bridge was opened by
The Prince of Wales, the future George V.
1913 - Emily Duncan
became Britain's first woman magistrate.
1917 - A powerful F4 tornado blew through
Mattoon, Illinois, killing 101 people and injuring 689; for the record books, it was the world's longest tornado, lasting for over 7 hours and traveling 293 miles, spreading death and destruction along its path.
1927 - The
Ford Motor Company ceased manufacturing the
Ford Model T and began to retool their plants to increase production of the
Ford Model A.
1966 -
British Guiana gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming
Guyana; representing
The Queen (who had
visited the country the previous February aboard the
HMY Britannia) at the ceremony were the
Duke and
Duchess of Kent.
1972 - Australia's
Willandra National Park was established.
1977 -
George Willig climbed the South Tower of New York City's
World Trade Center.
1992 -
Charles Geschke, co-founder of
Adobe Systems, Inc., was kidnapped at gunpoint from the company's parking lot in Mountain View, California, and held hostage for $650,000 at a rented house in
Hollister, an hour's drive away; the FBI rescued him four days later.
2004 - US Army veteran
Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the
Oklahoma City bombing.
*
This is where I am thwarted; the eldest son and heir of Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her consort Prince Henrik is a conscientious, shy man without so much as a speeding ticket to his name, at least as far as my research can uncover. I actually typed 'Crown Prince Frederik scandal' into Google while conducting my research into this piece and it laughed at me; if you've never been laughed at by Google, let me tell you it's a humiliating experience. Just to see what it's like try typing in 'michael sean morris dating' and wait for hilarity to ensue!