Christmas Every Day

877 Louis the Stammerer is crowned King of the West Franks

Louis the Stammerer was the son of Charles the Bald, the brother of Louis the Child, the father of Charles the Simple. In the Middle Ages before kings got publicity agents and all ended up with nicknames like “the Great” or “the Just”, royal labels were colourful and, presumably, accurate. Take, for example, Constantine V of the Byzantine Emperor who crapped in the baptismal font as a baby. He was henceforth dubbed “Copronymus” or “the Poop-Named”.

Let us take this opportunity, therefore, to salute those in history who ended up saddled with less-than-attractive sobriquets. Hats off to

Wilfred the Hairy of Barcelona,  Alfonso the Slobberer of Leon,   Arnulf the Unlucky of Flanders,  Harald Blue-Tooth of Norway

Charles the Fat, Holy Roman Emperor,   Sigurd the Slimy of Norway,    Sviatopolk the Accursed of Kiev,  Catherine the Sad of Bosnia

Gleb the Damned of Riazan,  Gothelo the Sluggard of Lorraine, Guy de Beauchamp the Black Cur of Arden,   Maria Isabel the Ugly of Aragon

What recent leader has had more ill nicknames than Margaret Thatcher? Attila the Hen, She Who Must be Obeyed, TBW (That Bloody Woman), the Great She-Elephant, the Iron Lady, the Iron Maiden, the la Passionara of Privilege, the Milk Snatcher.

Lately, Justin Trudeau has been termed the “Prime Minstrel” after his habit of blacking-up, also Mr Dress-Up, Prime Minister Zoolander, and (in China) Little Potato.

December 7 is the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as well as on British and American installations in Asia.  For the Japanese, across the International Date Line, it was December 8 as the English-language Tokyo paper above shows.

Here is the imperial rescript (decree) which is printed in that paper giving the Japanese reasons for war:

We, by grace of heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the Throne of a line unbroken for ages eternal, enjoin upon ye, Our loyal and brave subjects:

We hereby declare War on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our Army and Navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war. Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in the attainment of Our war aims.

To insure the stability of East Asia and to contribute to world peace is the far-sighted policy which was formulated by Our Great Illustrious Imperial Grandsire [Meiji emperor] and Our Great Imperial Sire succeeding Him, and which We lay constantly to heart. To cultivate friendship among nations and to enjoy prosperity in common with all nations, has always been the guiding principle of Our Empire’s foreign policy. It has been truly unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has been brought to cross swords with America and Britain. More than four years have passed since China, failing to comprehend the true intentions of Our Empire, and recklessly courting trouble, disturbed the peace of East Asia and compelled Our Empire to take up arms. Although there has been reestablished the National Government of China, with which Japan had effected neighborly intercourse and cooperation, the regime which has survived in Chungking, relying upon American and British protection, still continues its fratricidal opposition. Eager for the realization of their inordinate ambition to dominate the Orient, both America and Britain, giving support to the Chungking regime, have aggravated the disturbances in East Asia. Moreover these two Powers, inducing other countries to follow suit, increased military preparations on all sides of Our Empire to challenge Us. They have obstructed by every means Our peaceful commerce and finally resorted to a direct severance of economic relations, menacing gravely the existence of Our Empire. Patiently have We waited and long have We endured, in the hope that Our government might retrieve the situation in peace. But Our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation, have unduly delayed a settlement; and in the meantime they have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel thereby Our Empire to submission. This trend of affairs, would, if left unchecked, not only nullify Our Empire’s efforts of many years for the sake of the stabilization of East Asia, but also endanger the very existence of Our nation. The situation being such as it is, Our Empire, for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path.

The hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors guarding Us from above, We rely upon the loyalty and courage of Our subjects in Our confident expectation that the task bequeathed by Our forefathers will be carried forward and that the sources of evil will be speedily eradicated and an enduring peace immutably established in East Asia, preserving thereby the glory of Our Empire.

 

1917 The Halifax Explosion

In the midst of World War I, Halifax harbour was an important shipping point for materiel headed to the Western Front. On December 6, 1917 two ships collided in that harbour, setting off the largest man-made explosion in history before the advent of the atomic bomb.

The two ships were the Norwegian merchant vessel Imo, en route to New York to pick up relief supplies for war-torn Belgium, and the other was the French ship Mont-Blanc, filled with tons of benzol, picric acid, TNT and gun cotton, set to join a convoy across the Atlantic. The Imo, steaming on the wrong side of the channel struck the Mont-Blanc, setting it ablaze. The French vessel’s crew abandoned ship leaving Mont-Blanc to drift closer to the populated shore. At 9:05 in the morning it exploded, destroying much of Halifax and damaging buildings 100 km away.

In her  Curse of the Narrows Laura MacDonald describes the effect of the explosion:

The air blast blew through the narrow streets, toppling buildings and crashing through windows, doors, walls, and chimneys until it slowed to 756 miles an hour, five miles below the speed of sound. The blast crushed internal organs, exploding lungs and eardrums of those standing closest to the ship, most of whom died instantly. It picked up others, only to thrash them against trees, walls, and lamp posts with enough force to kill them. Roofs and ceilings collapsed on top of their owners. Floors dropped into the basement and trapped families under timber, beams and furniture. This was particularly dangerous for those close to the harbour because a fireball, which was invisible in the daylight, shot out over a 1–4 mile area surrounding the Mont-Blanc. Richmond houses caught fire like so much kindling. In houses able to withstand the blast, windows stretched inward until the glass shattered around its weakest point, sending out a shower of arrow-shaped slivers that cut their way through curtains, wallpaper and walls. The glass spared no one. Some people were beheaded where they stood; others were saved by a falling bed or bookshelf. . . . Many others who had watched the fire seconds before awoke to find themselves unable to see.

The north end of the city was wiped out by the blast and subsequent tsunami. Nearly 2,000 people died, another 9,000 were maimed or blinded, and more than 25,000 were left homeless. An international rescue effort was put in place, one which is still recognized by Haligonians who every year send a giant Christmas tree to Boston to acknowledge the aid that city sent.

1942 The premiere of the world’s greatest movie

The movie Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Humphrey Bogart, opens in New York. Released to take advantage of the invasion of North Africa and buoyed by the Casablanca Conference of 1943, the film did well at the box office but it was not a smashing success. Only after the Second World War did it become a cult hit and viewed as a critical triumph.

The film, based on the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick’s, charts the dilemma of night-club owner Rick Blaine in French Morocco; he claims to stick his neck out for no one but will his good instincts and chivalry trump his love for another man’s wife?

The cast was superb. Everyone remembers the luminous Ingrid Bergman but there were two other radiant beauties involved with Rick: the lovely Yvonne (played by 19-year old French refugee Madeleine Lebeau who in real life was married to the actor who played he roulette croupier) and Annina, the Bulgarian newlywed (Joy Page). Claude Rains was never better than as corrupt Captain Louis Renault; Peter Lorre oiled his way on screen as the odious Ugarte (“You despise me, don’t you Rick?”); and Conrad Veidt (the highest-paid member of the cast) sneered as German Major Heinrich Strasser. Only Paul Henried underperformed as the wooden resistance leader Victor Lazlo. Dooley Wilson enchanted as the piano player Sam, singing “As Time Goes By” and “Knock on Wood”.

Consider these great lines:

Rick: Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.

Yvonne: Where were you last night?  Rick: That’s so long ago, I don’t remember.  Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?  Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

Strasser: You give him credit for too much cleverness. My impression was that he’s just another blundering American. Renault: We musn’t underestimate “American blundering”. I was with them when they “blundered” into Berlin in 1918.

Renault: I’ve often speculated why you don’t return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Did you run off with a Senator’s wife? I like to think that you killed a man. It’s the romantic in me.
Rick: It’s a combination of all three.
Renault: And what in Heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.

Roger Ebert claimed Casablanca was “probably on more lists of the greatest films of all time than any other single title, including Citizen Kane“. Leonard Maltin said it was the best loved of all Hollywood films. But clever people who talk loudly in restaurants had other ideas. Pauline Kael thought it was far from great, Umberto Eco thought it was mediocre, a “a comic strip, a hotch-potch, low on psychological credibility, and with little continuity in its dramatic effects” while the New Yorker deemed the film “pretty tolerable”.  Ha!

1120 The loss of the White Ship

Henry I of England was a philoprogenitive individual: he produced children in great numbers. Henry sired at least 26 offspring by his wives and various mistresses, but of these only one legitimate son survived to maturity. This was Prince William, a 17-year old who died when the drunken crew of the “White Ship” which was taking him to England wrecked the vessel on a rock off the coast of Normandy. The prince had been safely put into a small boat which was rowing to shore when he demanded it turn back to rescue his sister. As others tried to clamber aboard, the boat capsized and all were drowned.

William’s death caused a succession crisis. Royal fashion was turning against illegitimate heirs, though a number of previous kings (including the lad’s grandfather) had been bastards, so Henry attempted to make his barons swear allegiance to his daughter Matilda (aka Maud). After Henry’s death many of the barons went back on their oaths and supported a male claimant, Stephen of Blois. The result was a generation of civil war and anarchy.

A 19th century poem by Felicia Dorothea Hemans portrays Henry’s grief.

The bark that held the prince went down,
The sweeping waves rolled on;
And what was England’s glorious crown
To him that wept a son?
He lived, for life may long be borne
Ere sorrow breaks its chain:
Why comes not death to those who mourn?
He never smiled again.

There stood proud forms before his throne,
The stately and the brave;
But who could fill the place of one,–
That one beneath the wave?
Before him passed the young and fair,
In pleasure’s reckless train;
But seas dashed o’er his son’s bright hair–
He never smiled again.

He sat where festal bowls went round;
He heard the minstrel sing;
He saw the tour-ney’s victor crowned
Amid the knightly ring.
A murmur of the restless deep
Was blent with every strain,
A voice of winds that would not sleep–
He never smiled again.

Hearts, in that time, closed o’er the trace
Of vows once fondly poured,
And strangers took the kins-man’s place
At many a joyous board;
Graves which true love had bathed with tears
Were left to heaven’s bright rain;
Fresh hopes were born for other years–
He never smiled again.

1859 Darwin publishes The Origin of Species

In 1831 Charles Darwin boarded the survey vessel HMS Beagle for a trip to chart the coast of South America. A well-to-do young layabout with a passion for collecting bugs, Darwin joined the ship as a companion to the captain Robert Fitzroy. In the end the voyage of  the Beagle lasted five years taking him around the world, during which time he amassed a collection of specimens and fossils and a trove of observational data. The fruit of his labour was, first, The Voyage of the Beagle, and a series of books and papers on coral reefs, fossils and barnacles. His growing belief in biological and geological evolution over time did not see book form until he was jarred by similar findings by Alfred Russell Wallace. On this date in 1859 he published his masterwork On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Darwin’s work revolutionized science, and though many of his findings are now considered obsolete or incomplete, Darwin maintains an honoured place in the history of intellectual life.

 

534 BC The first actor in a written play

Say kids, ever wondered why actors are called “thespians”? Sure you did. It’s because the earliest known person to appear on a stage speaking lines written for him in the character of another was Thespis of Icaria. By stepping out from the traditional chorus and as a soloist and wearing masks that allowed him to portray different characters, Thespis essentially invented Greek drama at the Athenian festival to Dionysos in 534 BC. He also invented the theatrical tour, taking his show on the road with his props and costumes in a wagon.

Other notable thespians associated with November 23 are

Boris Karloff, né William Henry Pratt, and best known as the original film Frankenstein, was born on this day in 1887 in London. He began his theatrical career in Canada before achieving fame in Hollywood.

The next year saw the birth of  Adolph Marx, better known as Harpo, the silent Marx Brother.

To the list we can add Victor Joy (b. 1902), Susan Anspach (b. 1942), Diana Quick (b. 1946), and Namthip Jongrachatawiboon (b. 1982)

Departing this vale of tears on November 23 was the  unspeakably lovely Merle Oberon (d. 1979).

1922 Death of Marcel Proust

Any list of famous but essentially unread novels must include À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust. Translated variously as In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past, it emerged in seven volumes between 1913 and 1927. It has been called the greatest novel ever to be written and is reputed to be highly influential among 20th-century writers. Try to find someone who can truthfully say he has read all of it.

1928 The birthday of Mickey Mouse

The addition of sound to motion pictures was a novelty when Walt Disney decided to make “Steamboat Willie”, a short black-and-white cartoon. The combination of synchronized sound effects and music was a big hit when it was premiered in New York. The film propelled Disney to prominence and led to a host of imitators. Though this was the third appearance of the cartoon rodent, the Disney Corporation considers this film to be Mickey’s birthday.

1558 Death of Bloody Mary and Accession of Elizabeth I

Mary Tudor was born in 1516, the only child of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon to survive. She was considered a princess and heir to the throne until her father divorced her mother (essentially for failure to provide a male heir) and married Anne Boleyn. Mary was stripped of her title, deemed legally a bastard, and was forced to wait upon her half-brother Edward, the product of her father’s third marriage.

Mary clung fiercely to her Roman Catholic faith through her father’s renunciation of the pope and her brother’s Protestant era. She refused to marry a Protestant and her father and brother refused her permission to become the bride of a foreign Catholic prince so she remained single. When Edward died in 1553, Mary survived a palace coup that put Lady Jane Grey on the throne for nine days and was proclaimed Queen of England. She was now 37. In 1554 she persuaded Parliament to allow her to marry Prince Philip of Spain, but the notion of a foreign Catholic prince produced a series of short-lived rebellions. Her groom, eleven years younger than she, was more enamoured of the throne than of his bride who was besotted with him.

Mary was determined to return England to the Catholic fold but had to wait on Parliamentary approval which she obtained late in 1554. The next year her government embarked on the extermination of the Protestant religious leadership of the country; those who did not flee to Europe were arrested and burnt at the stake. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, and bishops Latimer, Ridley, Hooper all went to the fire but so did over 200 ordinary English men and women: bricklayers, weavers, farmers, maids and widows. This policy, which was disliked by her husband’s Spanish advisers, earned her the nickname Bloody Mary.

Despite two episodes in which she appeared to be pregnant Mary remained childless. Philip stayed out of the country as much as he could except when he needed English support for a European war. She grew increasingly ill, perhaps from uterine cancer, and died in November 1558. She begged her half-sister Elizabeth (with whom she was never on good terms) to bury her next to her mother, to keep the country in the Catholic faith, to pay her debts, and provide marriage portions for her maids. Elizabeth, who was not at all a nice person, honoured none of her wishes. The two queens are, ironically, buried in the same Westminster Abbey tomb.

It is this tomb that contains a fictional manuscript on which my novel Neddy and the Virgins is based. Look for it after I find a publisher.

565

The death of Byzantine ruler Justinian I. The last of the Eastern Roman emperors to speak Latin as his native tongue, Justinian was born in 482 in what is now Macedonia and moved to the capital Constantinople after his adoption by his uncle Justin, a prominent general. When at the age of 70 in 518, Justin became emperor, Justinian grew to be a power behind the throne and an important army commander. On his uncle’s death in 527 he was crowned emperor. His reign, though not always successful, was one of the most significant in Byzantine history.

Justinian believed in religious unity, which to him meant persecution of pagans, Jews, and Christian dissidents. His wife, Theodora, who had risen to become imperial consort from low beginnings as an actress/prostitute (in the 6th century these were much the same thing), supported Monophysitism but Justinian clung to the orthodox Chalcedonian position. He closed the Academy in Athens, founded by Plato in the 4th century BC, causing the philosophers there to scatter to exile in Persia. When the Nike riots of 525 destroyed much of Constantinople, Justinian rebuilt splendidly, particularly Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom which for 1,000 years was the greatest edifice in Christendom.

His most influential decree was the recodification of Roman law, which was still a mishmash of ancient mandates from the days of the kings, the laws of the Republic, and the pagan Empire as well as the legislation of Christian emperors since Constantine. The result was a unified and rational body of law which forms the basis of many of the world’s legal systems today.

His ambition to drive back the western barbarians and reclaim the lost western empire outstripped his treasury and the talent of his generals. Though early success won North Africa, Italy and parts of Spain, continuous resistance from the Ostrogoths, new invasions of Lombards, and pressure from the Persian front drained the public purse and swamped much of the reconquered territories. A catastrophic plague in 541-42 depopulated the empire and gutted the army so that at his death Justinian left behind a weakened and bankrupt state.