Henry III (1207–1272) was King of England from 1216 until his death.
The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry assumed the
throne when he was only nine in the middle of the First Barons' War. He
was known for his piety, holding lavish religious ceremonies, giving
generously to charities, and adopting Edward the Confessor as his patron
saint. In 1230 he attempted to reconquer the provinces of France that
had once belonged to his father, but the invasion was a debacle, and a
revolt broke out in 1232. He invaded Poitou in 1242, leading to the
disastrous Battle of Taillebourg. In 1258 a coalition of his barons
seized power in a coup. Henry and the baronial government enacted a
peace treaty with King Louis IX of France in 1259, under which Henry
gave up his other lands in France in return for recognition as the
rightful ruler of Gascony. In 1263 one of the more radical barons, Simon
de Montfort, seized power, resulting in the Second Barons' War. At the
Battle of Lewes in 1264, Henry was taken prisoner. His eldest son,
Edward, defeated de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham the following year
and freed his father.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_England>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
American Revolutionary War: British forces led by Lord
Cornwallis officially surrendered to Franco-American forces under George
Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau, ending the Siege of Yorktown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Yorktown>
1914:
First World War: Allied forces engaged German troops in the
First Battle of Ypres.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Ypres>
1944:
The Guatemalan Revolution began when a small group of army
officers led by Francisco Javier Arana and Jacobo Árbenz launched a
coup against the dictator Jorge Ubico.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_Revolution>
1987:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22.6% on Black Monday,
the largest one-day percentage decline in Dow Jones history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)>
2005:
Hurricane Wilma became the most intense Atlantic hurricane on
record with a minimum atmospheric pressure of 882 mbar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Wilma>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
discophilia:
The love of recorded music.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discophilia>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The same people who can deny others everything are famous for
refusing themselves nothing.
--Leigh Hunt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leigh_Hunt>