Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 January 7
From today's featured article
Charles I of Anjou (1226/1227–1285) was the youngest son of Louis VIII of France. He acquired vast territories and many titles by a variety of means and founded the Second House of Anjou. He accompanied Louis during the Seventh Crusade to Egypt. In 1263 he agreed with the Holy See to seize the Kingdom of Sicily, which included southern Italy to well north of Naples. Pope Urban IV declared a crusade against the incumbent Manfred, and Charles occupied the kingdom with little resistance. In 1270 he took part in the Eighth Crusade and forced the caliph of Tunis to pay him a yearly tribute. The popes tried to channel his ambitions away from Italy and assisted him in acquiring claims to Achaea and Jerusalem. In 1281 Charles was authorised to launch a crusade against the Byzantine Empire. A riot, known as the Sicilian Vespers, broke out in March 1282 that put an end to his rule on the island of Sicily. He was able to defend the mainland territories with the support of France and the Holy See. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that the opening of the first bud of a horse chestnut tree in Geneva (pictured), as recorded by the secretary of the Parliament, announces the beginning of spring?
- ... that people are prone to such a strong distaste for uncertainty that they might value a $50 gift card more than a lottery ticket that yields a $50 or $100 gift card with equal probability?
- ... that although the First World War ended with the armistice of 11 November 1918, twenty-one generals are recognised as having died for France after this date, some as late as 1923?
- ... that Concentricities, a 2019 clarinet–cello–piano trio by Graham Waterhouse, musically depicts a theme of circular, spiraling, or oscillating concentric phenomena in nature and human structures?
- ... that Wan Abubakar submitted his resignation to run for reelection, but retracted it when his candidacy failed?
- ... that a kickoff temperature of 13 °F (−11 °C) at the 2022 Armed Forces Bowl nearly made it the coldest bowl game ever?
- ... that Debbie Friedman and Drorah Setel's Mi Shebeirach for healing, written by the couple amidst the AIDS crisis, has become "the emotional highlight of synagogue services" for many Jews?
- ... that American Elmer Carlson brought a roller-skating mule to the 1964 Democratic National Convention?
In the news
- Michael Smith (pictured) wins the PDC World Darts Championship.
- Croatia adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Area.
- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at the age of 95.
- Brazilian footballer Pelé dies at the age of 82.
- A winter storm causes record-breaking low temperatures and leaves more than 100 people dead across North America.
On this day
January 7: Christmas (Eastern Christianity); Victory over Genocide Day in Cambodia (1979); Tricolour Day in Italy (1797)
- 1610 – Through his telescope, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made the first observation of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, although he was not able to distinguish the first two until the following night.
- 1782 – The Bank of North America (pictured) opened in Philadelphia as the de facto first central bank of the United States.
- 1989 – Representatives of Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an alternative to communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
- 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana was inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings, the country's former military ruler, as president.
- 2012 – A hot air balloon flight from Carterton, New Zealand, collided with a power line while landing, causing it to crash and killing all eleven people on board.
- Nicholas Hilliard (d. 1619)
- E. Louisa Mather (b. 1815)
- Juan Gabriel (b. 1950)
Today's featured picture
Helena Hill Weed (1875–1958) was an American suffragist, and a member of the National Woman's Party. The daughter of Connecticut congressman Ebenezer Hill, she studied geology at Vassar College and the Montana School of Mines before joining the suffragist movement. In 1917, she became one of the first women to be arrested for picketing the White House, having carried a banner stating "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed". She served three days in prison for this, and was apprehended again in January 1918 for applauding in court, for which she served a day in jail. In August of that year she was arrested for participating in the pro-suffrage Lafayette Square meeting at which her sister Elsie Hill spoke, for which Helena served fifteen days. Photograph credit: Harris & Ewing; restored by Adam Cuerden
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