Walter de Coutances was a medieval Anglo-Norman Bishop of Lincoln and
Archbishop of Rouen. He began his royal service in the government of
Henry II, serving as a vice-chancellor. He also accumulated a number of
ecclesiastical offices, becoming successively canon of Rouen Cathedral
(pictured), treasurer of Rouen, and Archdeacon of Oxford. King Henry
sent him on a number of diplomatic missions, and finally rewarded him
with the Bishopric of Lincoln in 1183. He did not remain there long, for
he was translated to the archbishopric of Rouen in late 1184. When
Richard I, King Henry's son, became king in 1189, Coutances absolved
Richard for his rebellion against his father and invested him as Duke of
Normandy. He then accompanied Richard to Sicily as the king began the
Third Crusade, but events in England prompted Richard to send the
archbishop back to England to mediate between William Longchamp, the
justiciar whom Richard had left in charge of the kingdom, and Prince
John, Richard's younger brother. Coutances succeeded in securing a peace
between Longchamp and John, but further actions by Longchamp led to the
justiciar's expulsion from England. Coutances died in November 1207 and
was buried in his cathedral.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_de_Coutances>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1491:
Several Jews and conversos were executed in Toledo, Spain, for
the alleged ritual murder of an infant, who was later revered as the
Holy Child of La Guardia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Child_of_La_Guardia>
1920:
Qantas, Australia's national airline, was founded as Queensland
and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Qantas>
1938:
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the psychedelic
drug LSD (3D representation of molecule pictured) at the Sandoz
Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann>
1973:
U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Authorization Act, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline
to transport oil from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Alaska.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System>
2002:
The first case of the respiratory disease Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was recorded in Guangdong, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_(SARS)>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
kraal:
1. In Central and Southern Africa, a rural village of huts surrounded by a
stockade.
2. An enclosure for livestock.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kraal>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Besides the conversation of women, it is dreams that keep the
world in orbit. But dreams also form a diadem of moons, therefore the
sky is that splendour inside a man's head, if his head is not, in fact,
his own unique sky.
--José Saramago
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago>