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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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