A Brief History On February 4, 1555, English clergyman John Rogers became the first martyr burned at the stake under the rule of Queen Mary I of England, known better as Bloody Mary. Digging Deeper Rogers was a Protestant cleric in an England that had turned away from the Catholic Church under King Henry VIII, but when Henry’s daughter, Mary, a Catholic, assumed the throne in 1553, she did all she could to reinstall the supremacy of the Catholic Church and reverse the Reformation in England. During Mary’s 5 year reign, at least 280 religious dissenters were burned at the…
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A Brief History On January 29, 2002, US President George W. Bush coined a new phrase in his State of the Union Address to Congress, labeling Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil.” Digging Deeper Bush accused these states of being “regimes that sponsor terror,” a highly charged topic in the US after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Bush apparently liked the sound of his new designation and used the phrase often in his remaining years in office. The allusion in the phrase to “Axis” would harken back to the “Axis Powers” of World War…
A Brief History On January 28, 1547, the 9-year-old son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward VI, became King of England. Not only did his ill-fated mother die shortly after his birth, Edward himself was fated to a reign of only 6 and half years, dying of an illness at the age of 15. Digging Deeper Edward VI is easily forgotten in the muddle of the successors that followed him, starting with his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, whom Edward had named his heir before he died. Seen by Catholics as an attempt to prevent the reestablishment of Catholicism in…
A Brief History On January 16, 1537, an armed insurrection took place in England, specifically in Cumberland and Westmorland, pitting unhappy Roman Catholics against the blasphemous King Henry VIII. Digging Deeper Known as “Bigod’s Rebellion,” this religious war sounds mighty close to “By God’s,” a somehow almost appropriate name. The name of the rebellion actually derived from Sir Francis Bigod, a leader of the revolt. King Henry VIII had infamously disbanded the Catholic Church in England and started his own brand of Christianity, later called The Church of England, in order to legitimize his marital wishes. The rebellion failed in…
A Brief History On January 6, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) delivered perhaps his greatest speech, known as the “Four Freedoms Speech.” FDR is but one of many famous orators that have delivered great speeches, and today we list a few of those famous talks, asking you to tell us which of these or others you believe is the greatest speech of all time. Digging Deeper Pericles, Funeral Oration, 431 BC Socrates, “Apology,” 399 BC Marc Antony, eulogy of Julius Caesar, 44 BC Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” 1775 Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863 Winston Churchill,…
