Empress Matilda (1102–1167) was the claimant to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany to marry the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. Her younger brother, William Adelin, died in 1120, leaving a succession crisis, and on Henry V's death in 1125, her father arranged for her to marry Geoffrey of Anjou in a strategic alliance. Henry I nominated Matilda as his heir before his death in 1135, but Matilda and Geoffrey faced opposition from the Norman barons and the throne was instead taken by her cousin Stephen of Blois. In 1139 Matilda crossed to England to take the kingdom by force. She captured Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, but London crowds blocked her attempt to be crowned and she was never formally declared Queen of England. Robert of Gloucester, her half-brother, was captured, and Matilda exchanged him for Stephen. A stalemate developed. Matilda returned to Normandy in 1148, leaving her eldest son (later Henry II) to continue the campaign. Thereafter she focused on the administration of Normandy, provided her son with political advice, and worked extensively with the Church.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Matilda

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

706:

In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang interred the final bodies in the Qianling Mausoleum, which remained unopened until the 1960s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianling_Mausoleum

1644:

The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters and the English Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor, one of the decisive encounters of the English Civil War, near York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor

1881:

U.S. President James A. Garfield was fatally shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington, D.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_James_A._Garfield

1964:

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law (pictured), outlawing segregation in schools, at the workplace, and other facilities that served the general public. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

2000:

In the Mexican general election, Vicente Fox was elected to be the first President of Mexico from an opposition party in 71 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_Fox

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

geodesy: Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional, time‐varying space. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

 Whether you and I and a few others will renew the world someday remains to be seen. But within ourselves we must renew it each day, otherwise we just aren't serious. Don't forget that!   --Hermann Hesse https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse