1463: Francois Villon banished from Paris
Born into poverty, adopted by a kindly priest and given a fine
education at university, Villon
was an exceptionally gifted poet who was befriended by many people of
high repute. He was also a thief, a vagabond, and a member of the
Coquille who was in and out of trouble (and prison) for much of his
life. Sentenced to hang for a crime he evidently did not commit,
Villon was saved by the intercession of influential friends, and the
sentence was commuted to banishment from his beloved city for ten
years. Villon disappeared from Paris and was never heard from
again.
You can find a collection of Villon's work (most of it in French) at the Société François Villon.
WHO WAS BORN
1548: Francisco Suarez
A member of the Order of the Jesuits, Francisco
Suarez founded a school of Scholasticism and wrote many books on
theological and philosophical subjects. He was also a teacher and
founder of international law.
1592: Shah Jahan
It is one of the most romantic stories in history: how Shah
Jahan, Mughal emperor, so adored his wife, Mumtaz-I-Mahal, that when
she died he had a magnificent white marble monument built to hold her
for all eternity. The Taj
Mahal takes its name from Mumtaz, and was meant to have a
duplicate in black marble for Shah Jahan; but his son was not nearly
so romantic, and Jahan's mausoleum was never built.
WHO DIED
1066: Edward the Confessor
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