Alexander of Lincoln was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln, a member
of an important administrative and ecclesiastical family. He was the
nephew of Roger of Salisbury, a Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of
England under King Henry I, and he was also related to Nigel, Bishop of
Ely. Unlike his relatives, he held no office in the government before
his appointment as Bishop of Lincoln in 1123. Alexander became a
frequent visitor to King Henry's court after his elevation to the
episcopate, often witnessing royal documents, and he served as a royal
justice in Lincolnshire. Although Alexander was known for his
ostentatious and luxurious lifestyle, he founded a number of religious
houses in his diocese and was an active builder and literary patron. He
also attended church councils and reorganized his diocese by increasing
the number of archdeaconries and setting up prebends to support his
cathedral clergy. Under Henry's successor, King Stephen, Alexander was
caught up in the fall from favour of his family, and was imprisoned
together with his uncle Roger in 1139. He subsequently briefly
supported Stephen's rival, Matilda, but by the late 1140s Alexander was
once again working with Stephen. He spent much of the late 1140s at the
papal court in Rome, but died in England in early 1148. Alexander was
the patron of medieval chroniclers Henry of Huntingdon and Geoffrey of
Monmouth, and also served as an ecclesiastical patron of the medieval
hermit Christina of Markyate and Gilbert of Sempringham, founder of the
Gilbertines.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Lincoln>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1559:
During a jousting match, Gabriel Montgomery of the Garde Écossaise
mortally wounded King Henry II of France , piercing him in the eye with
his lance.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_France>
1860:
Seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of
Species, several prominent British scientists and philosophers
participated in an evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum in
Oxford, England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Oxford_evolution_debate>
1971:
The Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft suffered an uncontrolled decompression
during reentry, killing cosmonauts Vladislav Volkov, Georgiy
Dobrovolskiy and Viktor Patsayev—the only human deaths to occur in
space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_11>
1987:
The Royal Canadian Mint introduced the Canadian one-dollar coin,
commonly known as the Loonie.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonie>
2007:
In an attempted terrorist attack, a car loaded with propane canisters
was driven into the terminal of Scotland's Glasgow International
Airport and set ablaze.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Glasgow_International_Airport_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
aggiornamento (n):
A bringing up to date, modernisation; specifically, that carried out on
the Roman Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aggiornamento>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before the five senses were opened, and earlier than any beginning
They waited, ready, for all those who would call themselves mortals,
So that they might praise, as I do, life, that is, happiness.
--Czesław Miłosz
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz>