Gabriel Pleydell was an English landowner and politician. Born before
1519 into a large, affluent family, he became a Member of Parliament for
Wootton Bassett in 1553, close to his family estate at Midgehall in
Wiltshire. His election to the Marlborough constituency two years later
may have been made possible by his father's influential connections. He
returned to the Wootton Bassett seat in 1563 at the request of Sir John
Thynne, whom he had supported in a dispute over the Knighthood of the
Shire in 1559. He was alleged to be one of the ringleaders of a plot to
exile Queen Mary I of England, and made a contentious claim of
parliamentary privilege after he was found guilty of this offence in
1555, an action which caused serious disagreement between the House of
Commons and the House of Lords. Legal accusations for most of his
political career and imprisonment in Fleet Prison and the Tower of
London helped "confirm for Gabriel Pleydell a niche in parliamentary
history", according to a modern historian. He died in 1590 or 1591.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Pleydell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1348:
Charles, King of Bohemia, issued a Golden Bull to establish
Charles University in Prague, the first university in Central Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_University>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces defeated Confederates at the
Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle in U.S. history at the time, in
Hardin County, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiloh>
1947:
The Arab Ba'ath Party was founded in Damascus, Syria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba%27ath_Party>
1969:
The Internet was symbolically born with publication of RFC 1.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_Comments>
2009:
Mass protests began across Moldova under the belief that
results from the parliamentary election were fraudulent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2009_Moldovan_parliamentary_election_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bedside manner:
The ability of a doctor, medic, nurse, or other healthcare professional,
to interact with his or her patients.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bedside_manner>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced.
… It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be
cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which
is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it's a healthy
feeling. It's a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.
--J.K. Rowling
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J.K._Rowling>