The Battle of Calais took place in the early morning of 1 January 1350,
during the Hundred Years' War. English troops in the occupied French
city of Calais ambushed and defeated an unsuspecting French force which
was attempting to take the city. Despite a truce being in effect, the
French commander Geoffrey de Charny had planned to take the city by
subterfuge, and bribed Amerigo of Pavia, an Italian officer of the city
garrison, to open a gate for them. The English king, Edward III, became
aware of the plot and personally led his household knights and the
Calais garrison in a surprise counter-attack. The French were routed by
this smaller force, with significant losses and all of their leaders
captured or killed. Later that day, Edward dined with the highest-
ranking captives, treating them with royal courtesy except for Charny,
whom he taunted for having abandoned his chivalric principles by both
fighting during a truce and attempting to purchase his way into Calais
rather than fight.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Calais>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1808:
As a result of the lobbying efforts by the abolitionist
movement (emblem pictured), the importation of slaves into the United
States was officially banned, although slavery itself was not yet
abolished.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Prohibiting_Importation_of_Slaves>
1928:
Joseph Stalin's personal secretary, Boris Bazhanov, crossed the
Iranian border and defected from the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Bazhanov>
1965:
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which later
helped the country become a republic, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Democratic_Party_of_Afghanistan>
2009:
A nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand, killed 66 patrons
celebrating the New Year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santika_Club_fire>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
calends:
1. Often with initial capital: the first day of a month, particularly
(Ancient Rome, historical) the first day of a month of the Roman
calendar.
2. (by extension) A day for settling debts and other accounts.
3. (by extension, biblical, Judaism, obsolete) Synonym of Rosh Hodesh
(“the Jewish festival of the new moon, which begins the months of the
Hebrew calendar”)
4. (rare) Synonym of calendar; (figuratively) an account, a record.
5. (figuratively, obsolete) The first day of something; a beginning.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calends>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be
suspect and must be opposed. … Equality, rightly understood, as our
founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation
of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so
tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to
despotism.
--Barry Goldwater
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater>
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