100px|Portrait of Alboin from the Nuremberg Chronicle
Alboin (530s–572) was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572.
During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in
Italy. He had a lasting impact on Italy and the Pannonian Basin. The
period of Alboin's reign as king in Pannonia following the death of his
father, Audoin, was one of confrontation and conflict between the
Lombards and their main neighbors, the Gepids. The Gepids initially
gained the upper hand, but in 567, thanks to his alliance with the
Avars, Alboin inflicted a decisive defeat on his enemies, whose lands
the Avars subsequently occupied. The increasing power of his new
neighbours caused Alboin some unease however, and he therefore decided
to leave Pannonia for Italy, hoping to take advantage of the Byzantine
Empire's reduced ability to defend its territory in the wake of the
Gothic War. After succeeding in gathering together a large coalition of
peoples, Alboin began his trek in 568. After crossing the Julian Alps
he entered an almost undefended Italy, and rapidly took control of most
of Venetia and Liguria. In 569, unopposed, he took northern Italy's
main city, Milan. Pavia offered stiff resistance however, and was only
taken after a siege lasting three years. During that time Alboin turned
his attention to Tuscany, but signs of factionalism among his
supporters and Alboin's diminishing control over his army increasingly
began to manifest themselves. Alboin was assassinated on June 28, 572,
in a coup d'état instigated by the Byzantines. (more...)
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1909:
The first films made with Kinemacolor, the earliest successful colour
motion picture process, were shown to the British general public.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinemacolor>
1917:
New Orleans' Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded "Livery Stable
Blues", the first jazz single ever released.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_Stable_Blues>
1946:
Finnish observers reported the first sightings of unidentified flying
objects known as "ghost rockets", which have not yet been positively
identified.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ghost_rockets>
1952:
Vincent Massey was sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General
of Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Massey>
1991:
British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee introduced WorldWideWeb,
the world's first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldWideWeb>
1995:
Barings Bank, the oldest merchant bank in London, collapsed after its
head derivatives trader in Singapore, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million
while making unauthorized speculative trades on futures contracts.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
apologia (n):
A written defense of a position or belief
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apologia>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
God manifests himself to us in the first degree through the life of the
universe, and in the second degree through the thought of man. The
second manifestation is not less holy than the first. The first is
named Nature, the second is named Art.
--Victor Hugo
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo>
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