February 17th - 23rd
On 17th February…
1461 - The second Battle of St Albans during the Wars of the Roses took place in and around St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. The Wars of the Roses were battles between cousin’s fighting over who should be king of England. At the time it was called the Cousin’s War but has since been renamed the Wars of the Roses after the emblems of the two Houses that were fighting. The House of Lancaster had a red rose for its emblem and was originally led by King Henry VI and later Henry Tudor who became King Henry VII whilst the House of York was represented by a white rose and led by King Edward IV and later his brother, King Richard III.
On 18th February…
1478 - George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was executed in the Tower of London for plotting against his brother, King Edward IV. There are rumours that he was drowned in a barrel of wine.
Birth of Bloody Mary
1516 - Queen Mary I, the daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was born. She became the first ruling queen of England.
Did you know that she was given the nickname Bloody Queen Mary for her persecution and execution of Protestants by burning about 300 of them at the stake?
On 19th February…
1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland. He introduced the idea that the earth revolves around the sun.
The phonograph was patented
1878 - Thomas Edison patented the phonograph - the first device to record and play sound.
Can you believe that the way we listen to podcasts and music today derived from this machine?
On 20th February…
1986 - Britain and France announced that they would build the Channel Tunnel. Work didn’t begin until 1988 and it finally opened in 1994. At its lowest point the tunnel is 75m below the seabed, it is nearly 38 kilometres long and cost £9 billion to build. Did you know that it is the longest undersea tunnel in the world? Did you also know that the Victorians began to excavate a tunnel between England and France? Parts of that tunnel still exist today.
On 21st February…
The first railway journey ever took place in Wales
1804 - The first ever railway journey was made in South Wales by Richard Trevithick on his steam locomotive between the ironworks at Penydarren and the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal, a journey of 9 miles.
On 22nd February…
1371 - Following the death of King David II, son of Robert the Bruce, King Robert II became King of Scotland starting the Stuart (or Stewart) Dynasty. Initially they were only rulers of Scotland, but in 1603 upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I, King James VI of Scotland (Elizabeth’s cousin) also became king of England. From then the Stuart Dynasty ruled over both England and Scotland.
French invaders rounded up by a brave Welsh woman called Jemima Nicholas
1797 - The last invasion of Britain took place at Fishguard in Wales. The French troops who tried to invade were not as successful as their ancestors, the Normans, had been over 700 years before. These invading soldiers became distracted by the rich food and wine that they looted from the locals who, in turn, had recently looted it from a grounded Portuguese ship nearby. Whilst the soldiers were enjoying themselveson all the goodies, a brave lady by the name of Jemima Nicholas marched out to Llanwnda where they had landed, and with a pitchfork in her hand, rounded up 12 of the French soldiers and promptly locked them in a church before going off in search of more. By 25th February the invading troops had all surrendered to a local militia group.
I doubt the French soldiers ever thought that they’d be beaten by a Welsh woman waving a pitchfork, but I bet they never wanted to see her again.
On 23rd February…
Samuel Pepys was born in London
1633 - Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, was born near Fleet Street in London. In his diary, he recorded events such as the Great Fire of London and the Plague.
Do you keep a diary? Did you write about the recent COVID pandemic? What do you think people would say if they found your diary 500 years from now?