The Battle of Halmyros was fought on 15 March 1311 between the
Frankish Duchy of Athens and the Catalan Company (seal depicted). The
Catalans were mercenaries hired by the Byzantine emperor to combat the
increasing power of the Turks in Anatolia. After the Byzantines murdered
the Catalan leader, Roger de Flor, the company crossed the southern
Balkans and arrived in southern Greece in 1309. The new Duke of Athens,
Walter of Brienne, hired them to attack Thessaly. The Catalans conquered
much of the region, but Walter refused to pay them and prepared to
forcibly expel them. The two armies met at Halmyros in southern
Thessaly. The Catalans positioned themselves behind marshy terrain, but
the Franks, confident in the prowess of their heavy cavalry, charged
headlong against the Catalan line. The marsh impeded their attack, and
the Frankish army was routed. Walter and almost all of his knights fell
in the field, allowing the Catalans to take over the Duchy of Athens and
rule it until the 1380s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halmyros>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
George Washington delivered a speech to Continental Army
officers in Newburgh, New York, asking them to support the supremacy of
the Congress of the Confederation, defusing a potential coup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newburgh_Conspiracy>
1927:
In rowing, Oxford defeated Cambridge in the inaugural edition
of the Women's Boat Race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Boat_Race>
1951:
The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by
Mohammad Mosaddegh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalization_of_the_Iranian_oil_industry>
2019:
A lone gunman carried out two consecutive mass shootings during
Friday prayers at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, resulting in 51
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_mosque_shootings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
slugabed:
(archaic, now chiefly Canada, US) A lazy person who lies in bed after
the usual time for getting up; a sluggard.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slugabed>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that
will lead others to join you.
--Ruth Bader Ginsburg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg>
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