Anne of Denmark (1574–1619) was queen consort of Scotland, England, and
Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I. The second daughter of King
Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of
fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including
the future Charles I. She demonstrated an independent streak and a
willingness to use factional Scottish politics in her conflicts with
James over the custody of Prince Henry and his treatment of her friend
Beatrix Ruthven. Anne appears to have loved James at first, but the
couple gradually drifted and eventually lived apart, though mutual
respect and a degree of affection survived. In England, Anne shifted
her energies from factional politics to patronage of the arts and
constructed a magnificent court of her own, hosting one of the richest
cultural salons in Europe. After 1612, she suffered sustained bouts of
ill health and gradually withdrew from the centre of court life. Though
she was reported to have died a Protestant, evidence suggests that she
may have converted to Catholicism at some stage in her life. Historians
have traditionally dismissed Anne as a lightweight queen, frivolous and
self-indulgent. However, recent reappraisals acknowledge Anne's
assertive independence and, in particular, her dynamic significance as
a patron of the arts during the Jacobean age.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Denmark>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1608:
French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City, considered to
be the first European-built city in non-Spanish North America.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_de_Champlain>
1778:
American Revolutionary War: Loyalists and Iroquois killed or tortured
over 300 Patriots at the Battle of Wyoming in Pennsylvania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wyoming>
1844:
The last known pair of Great Auks (illustration by John Gerrard
Keulemans shown), the only species in the genus Pinguinus, were killed
in Eldey off the coast of Iceland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Auk>
1863:
Pickett's Charge, a disastrous Confederate infantry assault against
Union Army positions, occurred during the final and bloodiest day of
fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the
American Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett%27s_Charge>
1988:
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655
over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
excoriate (v):
1. To wear off the skin of; to chafe or flay.
2. To strongly denounce or censure
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/excoriate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who
keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
--Franz Kafka
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka>