The Battle of Calais took place in the early morning of 1 January 1350, during the Hundred Years' War. English troops in the occupied French city of Calais ambushed and defeated an unsuspecting French force which was attempting to take the city. Despite a truce being in effect, the French commander Geoffrey de Charny had planned to take the city by subterfuge, and bribed Amerigo of Pavia, an Italian officer of the city garrison, to open a gate for them. The English king, Edward III, became aware of the plot and personally led his household knights and the Calais garrison in a surprise counter-attack. The French were routed by this smaller force, with significant losses and all of their leaders captured or killed. Later that day, Edward dined with the highest- ranking captives, treating them with royal courtesy except for Charny, whom he taunted for having abandoned his chivalric principles by both fighting during a truce and attempting to purchase his way into Calais rather than fight.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1808:

As a result of the lobbying efforts by the abolitionist movement (emblem pictured), the importation of slaves into the United States was officially banned, although slavery itself was not yet abolished. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Prohibiting_Importation_of_Slaves

1928:

Joseph Stalin's personal secretary, Boris Bazhanov, crossed the Iranian border and defected from the Soviet Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Bazhanov

1965:

The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which later helped the country become a republic, was founded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Democratic_Party_of_Afghanistan

2009:

A nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand, killed 66 patrons celebrating the New Year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santika_Club_fire

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

calends: 1. Often with initial capital: the first day of a month, particularly (Ancient Rome, historical) the first day of a month of the Roman calendar. 2. (by extension) A day for settling debts and other accounts. 3. (by extension, biblical, Judaism, obsolete) Synonym of Rosh Hodesh (“the Jewish festival of the new moon, which begins the months of the Hebrew calendar”) 4. (rare) Synonym of calendar; (figuratively) an account, a record. 5. (figuratively, obsolete) The first day of something; a beginning. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calends

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. … Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.   --Barry Goldwater https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater