The Battle of Neville's Cross took place on 17 October 1346 during the Second War of Scottish Independence, half a mile (800 m) to the west of Durham, England. During the Hundred Years' War, King Philip VI of France called on the Scots to fulfil their obligation under the terms of the Auld Alliance. King David II obliged and ravaged part of northern England. An English army of approximately 6,000–7,000 men led by Lord Ralph Neville took David by surprise on a hill marked by an Anglo-Saxon stone cross. David's army of 12,000 was defeated, he was captured, and most of his leadership was killed or captured. The English victory freed significant resources for their war against France, and the English border counties were able to guard against the remaining Scottish threat from their own resources. The eventual ransoming of the Scottish king resulted in a truce which brought peace to the border for forty years.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Neville%27s_Cross

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1777:

American Revolutionary War: General John Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign ended with his surrender to the Americans, which later convinced France to enter the war in alliance with the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saratoga_campaign

1814:

A wooden beer fermenting vat in London burst, destroying a second vat and causing a flood of at least 128,000 imperial gallons (580,000 l; 154,000 US gal) of porter that killed eight people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood

1969:

The Caravaggio painting Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence (shown) was stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo, Italy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_with_St._Francis_and_St._Lawrence

2000:

A rail accident at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, caused the collapse of British railway management group Railtrack and led to the introduction of widespread speed limit reductions throughout the rail network. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railtrack

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

thwart: 1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent. 2. (transitive, obsolete) To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise. 3. (transitive, also figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose. 4. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or counter to; to cross. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thwart

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is always and forever the same struggle: to perceive somehow our own complicity with evil is a horror not to be borne. … much more reassuring to see the world in terms of totally innocent victims and totally evil instigators of the monstrous violence we see all about us. At all costs, never disturb our innocence. But what is the most innocent place in any country? Is it not the insane asylum? These people drift through life truly innocent, unable to see into themselves at all. The perfection of innocence, indeed, is madness.   --Arthur Miller https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller