Teresa Sampsonia (1589–1668) was a noblewoman of the Safavid Empire of Iran. She was born into a noble Orthodox Christian Circassian family and grew up in Isfahan in the Iranian royal court. In 1608 she married the Elizabethan English adventurer Robert Shirley, who attended the Safavid court in an effort to forge an alliance against the neighbouring Ottoman Empire. She accompanied him on the Persian embassy to Europe (1609–15), where he represented the Safavid king Abbas the Great. She was received by many of the royal houses of Europe, including the English prince Henry Frederick and Queen Anne, who were her son's godparents. The historian Thomas Herbert considered Robert Shirley "the greatest Traveller of his time", but admired the "undaunted Lady Teresa" even more. Following the death of her husband from dysentery in 1628, she left Iran and lived in a convent in Rome for the rest of her life.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1522:

Italian War of 1521–26: The combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeated a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bicocca

1810:

Ludwig van Beethoven composed his "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor", better known as "Für Elise" (audio featured), one of his most popular compositions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BCr_Elise

1865:

An explosion destroyed the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River, killing an estimated 1,700 of the 2,400 passengers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_%28steamboat%29

1949:

In response to the treatment of Lorenzo Gamboa under the White Australia policy, the Philippine House of Representatives passed a bill banning Australians from the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Gamboa

2012:

Unknown perpetrators committed a series of four bombings in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Dnipropetrovsk_explosions

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

recrudescence: 1. The condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression. 2. (medicine, by extension) The acute recurrence of a disease, or its symptoms, after a period of improvement. 3. (botany) The production of a fresh shoot from a ripened spike. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/recrudescence

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Tempt me no more, for I Have known the lightning's hour, The poet's inward pride, The certainty of power.   --Cecil Day Lewis https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cecil_Day_Lewis