Siward was an earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse
nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus ("the stout") are given
to him by near-contemporary texts. Siward was probably of Scandinavian
origin, perhaps a relative of Earl Ulf, and emerged as a powerful
regional strongman in England during the reign of Cnut the Great
(1016–1035). Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered England in
the 1010s, and Siward was one of the many Scandinavians who came to
England in the aftermath of that conquest. Siward rose to become a sub-
ruler of most of northern England. In the early 1050s he turned against
the Scottish ruler Mac Bethad mac Findlaích. Despite the death of his
son Osbjorn, Siward defeated Mac Bethad in battle in 1054. More than
half a millennium later the Scotland adventure earned him a place in
William Shakespeare's Macbeth. St Olave's church in York and nearby
Heslington Hill are associated with Siward.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siward,_Earl_of_Northumbria>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
328:
Athanasius became the Patriarch of Alexandria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_of_Alexandria>
1877:
Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu made a
speech in Parliament that declared Romania was discarding Ottoman
suzerainty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihail_Kog%C4%83lniceanu>
1901:
The first Parliament of Australia opened in the Royal
Exhibition Building in Melbourne, exactly 26 years before it moved to
Canberra's Provisional Parliament House, and exactly 87 years before it
moved into the Parliament House in Canberra.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Australia>
1918:
First World War: Germany repelled Britain's second attempt to
blockade the Belgian port of Ostend.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Ostend_Raid>
2012:
Pilots of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 ignored alerts from the terrain
warning system and crashed into Mount Salak in Indonesia, resulting in
the deaths of all 45 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Mount_Salak_Sukhoi_Superjet_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
acrimonious:
1. (archaic) Harsh and sharp, or bitter and not to the taste; acrid,
pungent.
2. (figuratively) Angry, acid, and sharp in delivering argumentative
replies: bitter, mean-spirited, sharp in language or tone.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acrimonious>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nationalism is always an effort in a direction opposite to that
of the principle which creates nations. The former is exclusive in
tendency, the latter inclusive. In periods of consolidation, nationalism
has a positive value, and is a lofty standard. But in Europe everything
is more than consolidated, and nationalism is nothing but a mania, a
pretext to escape from the necessity of inventing something new, some
great enterprise.
--José Ortega y Gasset
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ortega_y_Gasset>
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