David (born 630) was one of three co-emperors of the Byzantine Empire
for a few months in late 641. David was the son of Emperor Heraclius and
his wife and niece Empress Martina. His name was an attempt to link the
family with the Biblical David. After the death of Heraclius in February
641 a power struggle ensued. In a compromise, 10-year-old David was
raised to co-emperor, alongside his brother Heraclonas and their nephew
Constans II. At the time the Byzantine state faced the ongoing Muslim
conquest of Egypt and continuing religious strife over monothelitism and
other Christological doctrines. All three emperors were children and the
Empress Dowager Martina acted as regent. Martina was deeply unpopular
due to her incestuous relationship with Heraclius and her unconventional
habits. Her regime was deposed, probably by January 642. She and her
sons were exiled to Rhodes and, in an early example of Byzantine
political mutilation, Martina's tongue was cut out and her sons' noses
were cut off.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28son_of_Heraclius%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1678:
Trunajaya rebellion: After a series of difficult marches,
allied Mataram and Dutch troops successfully assaulted the rebel
stronghold of Kediri in eastern Java.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1678_Kediri_campaign>
1936:
Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern
Pact, agreeing that, if the Soviet Union attacked one of them, they
would consult each other on what measures to take to "safeguard their
common interests".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Comintern_Pact>
1975:
Upon Suriname's independence from the Netherlands, Johan
Ferrier became its first president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Ferrier>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
disanthropy:
(literary criticism) A misanthropic desire for a world without human
life, expressed in literature.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disanthropy>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to
any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can
get. Most of all, we need to preserve the absolute unpredictability and
total improbability of our connected minds. That way we can keep open
all the options, as we have in the past.
--Lewis Thomas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Thomas>