Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

In 1066 just before the arrival of William the Conqueror an observer at the southern coastal city of Pevensy, England said “Look at all those freaking ships flying Norman flags, I wonder what's up with that.” Just joking...but William really did bring 8,000 cavalrymen, horses included plus infantry.

Keep in mind that the northern half of England was under Danish rule. The Danes had arrived in Viking ships and were about to overpower the whole of England but Alfred, King of Wessex, later known as Alfred the Great, had fought the Vikings to a standstill and negotiated the division of England to prevent any further bloodshed. Not only did the Vikings have a presence in England, so did the Saxons, or tribes from Germany. The very first king to rule over a united England was a Danish Viking name Canute who became king through conquest in the year of 995AD. Through the years that followed four separate kingdoms evolved in England...then here comes William...the Duke of Normandy of Viking ancestry. William said that he had been promised the throne by English King Edward the Confessor. When Edward was on his death bed he named Harold Godwinson as his heir to the throne. When Edward died, Harold Godwinson became King of England. William called baloney on that and began assembling an army to take the crown by force. He had to wait for favorable winds to cross the unpredictable English Channel but cross he did and arrived at Pevensy on England's south coast. William moved his army to the small town of Hastings where Harold's army awaited. A ferocious battle ensued with William attacking with archers, cavalry and infantry. Harold was struck in the eye by and arrow about the same time a mounted Norman knight broke through Harold's defense, swept by Harold and beheaded him with one swipe of his sword. When seeing the death of Harold the English defense crumbled and William and company were the victors. This was know as the Battle of Hastings. A short distance from Hastings is the actual battlefield where a small village named “Battle” exists to this day. William build an abbey over the spot where Harold was struck down and the high altar is over the very spot where Harold fell. William also was able to unite England by kicking out all the Anglo-Saxon aristocrats and installing Normans in their castles and lands...he did the same with the clergy. William had an answer for any subversion or revolt...he would simply destroy their crops and wait on them to starve to death. He also initiated the process of feudalism which made the poor farmers just short of slaves. There were many that did not believe that story about Edward the Confessor promising William the crown, but it didn't matter...his army did. After the dispersal of the English army William went through the countryside securing his authority and was crowned King of England on Christmas day in Winchester Abbey. Williams wife was Mathida of Flanders. She was just five feet tall and very petite with William being over six feel tall and eventually became obese but he and she had issue of 10 children. See, any and all problems can be overcome. William died in 1087 at the age of 59. By the way, Windsor Castle, the ancestral home of the present day Queen of England was built by William the Conqueror.

This Date in History November 28

1862 Earlier US General John Blunt and his army had driven the CSA army commanded by General John Marmaduke into the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas. On this date CSA General George Hindman and his army arrived from across the Boston Mountains to try and kick Blount and his Yankee army out of Arkansas. Hindman and his army joined in battle with Blount’s army at a place called Cane Hill. Hindman was unsuccessful and Blount and his army stayed in Arkansas. The Battle of Cane Hill was short and sweet with the Yankees suffering less than 50 casualties and the Rebs less than 40.

1987 On this date the New York City Police found a 16 year old black girl covered in feces and wrapped in plastic garbage bags near a dumpster. She was alive and kicking but had parts of her hair cut off and a few small cuts on her arms and legs. Her name was Tawanda Bailey. Tawanda told the police that she had been kidnapped by four white men, with one of them was wearing a badge. She said that she had been repeatedly tortured and raped over a four day period. The rabble-rousers came out of the woodwork in the form of C, Vernon Mason, Alton Maddox and the ever present Rev. Al Sharpton. They began raising hell claiming that there was a conspiracy against the black community by the NYPD. They even had the nerve to accuse the Solicitor Stephan Pagones of not only turning his head at this crime but that he was present and participated in the kidnapping and rape of Tawanda. The police could get no cooperation from Tawanda’s family but the family had no problem with accepting contributions. It was finally determined that Tawanda’s parents knew that Tawanda was lying but saw it as an opportunity to get some easy money. The police increased their investigation and put the pressure on Tawanda and she finally cracked and admitted that she had hatched the plan to fake the kidnapping to cover her attending an overnight party and not attending school then next day and cut her self and cut her hair as part of the plan. Well, there stood Mason, Maddox and Sharpton with egg on their respective faces knowing that Solicitor Pagones would come after them with slander charges galore and come he did and filed a defamation charge against the trio. Before the ink had dried, the trio offered Pagones a settlement that was never made public. Pagones took the offer and resigned his position and disappeared from the public arena. We still have Mason, Maddox and that bane of justice, Al Sharpton who are still with us, however.

1582 On this day playwright/actor William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in the town of Avon, England. Five months later the blissful couple is delivered of a daughter. Evidently the Bard of Avon had been doing more than just writing and acting.

1520 Earlier the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan had been tasked with finding a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific by sailing west rather than south and east around Africa. He sailed across the Atlantic to a point near Venezuela and began sailing south exploring the rivers coming out of South America for a passage to the Pacific. He was not successful until he reached the Patagonia region of Argentina and he found a passage that appeared to be the one they were looking for. They sailed southwest and then northwest through a narrow passage for several weeks and on this date they sailed out onto the broad Pacific. This route is known to this date as the Straits of Magellan. Even with this passage shortening the trip around Cape Horn (The southern tip of South America) by several hundred miles, the trip through the Straights was a formidable one, especially in the winter which was May to September. During this time severe storms prevailed and is was a dangerous passage for any ship regardless of size. The Panama Canal ended that danger.

1979 On this date an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 souls aboard. Air New Zealand had been flying tourist flights over Antarctica for several years. The vast wasteland was a sight to see and was relatively close. On this trip an inexperienced crew was making their first trip there. The airline forbade their pilots to descend below 6,000 feet while over the Antarctic continent but on this day there was cloud cover and the pilots took the plane down to 1,500 feet to get under it. Suddenly the12,600 foot extinct volcano Mount Erebus appeared straight ahead and the plane crashed into the side of it. It took the rescue teams many days to get to the crash site. There were no survivors.

Births and deaths:

1757 English writer William Blake is born. He said “He who thinks and acts not, breeds pestilence.”

1820 German philosopher Frederick Engels is born. He said “Some laws of state aimed at reducing crime are even more criminal.”

1908 French writer Claude Levi-Strauss is born. He said “A wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”

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