Insurrection? HA! Isn't that supposed to be the violent overthrow of a government? I suggest the next insurrectionists try taking a weapon along with them, as the last lot appeared to forget

7 January 1558 - The French captured Calais.

The closest port in France to the English coast Calais was taken by the English in 1347 in the early stages of the Hundred Years War. It was successfully defended for over two hundred years even after all other English possessions in France had been lost. Ruinously expensive to defend and maintain it was nevertheless seen as vital for control of the Channel, for trade with Europe and as a convenient landing point for troops should they be required in war with France.

By the mid 16th century if encompassed about 120 sq miles taking in a number of inland villages, but it had been neglected for decades with the outer ring of fortifications crumbling and too few men to defend it. On 1 January 1558 a French army of 30,000 under the Duke of Guise attacked the territory, within a week he had overrun most of the outer defences, bypassing the two forts at Hames and Guînes, and stood at the gates of Calais. Alarmed at the rapid French advance and the failure of reinforcements from England the Commander Thomas, Baron Wentworth surrendered on 7 January. Guise then turned his attention to Hames and Guînes which surrendered a few days later.

Queen Mary I made the famous lament upon the loss that "When I am dead and cut open they will find Calais inscribed on my heart".

7 January 1558 - The French captured Calais.

The closest port in France to the English coast Calais was taken by the English in 1347 in the early stages of the Hundred Years War. It was successfully defended for over two hundred years even after all other English possessions in France had been lost. Ruinously expensive to defend and maintain it was nevertheless seen as vital for control of the Channel, for trade with Europe and as a convenient landing point for troops should they be required in war with France.

By the mid 16th century if encompassed about 120 sq miles taking in a number of inland villages, but it had been neglected for decades with the outer ring of fortifications crumbling and too few men to defend it. On 1 January 1558 a French army of 30,000 under the Duke of Guise attacked the territory, within a week he had overrun most of the outer defences, bypassing the two forts at Hames and Guînes, and stood at the gates of Calais. Alarmed at the rapid French advance and the failure of reinforcements from England the Commander Thomas, Baron Wentworth surrendered on 7 January. Guise then turned his attention to Hames and Guînes which surrendered a few days later.

Queen Mary I made the famous lament upon the loss that "When I am dead and cut open they will find Calais inscribed on my heart".

And used as a ruse to fool the Nazis into thinking this was the landing spot of Allied troops instead of Normandy. 

Insurrection? HA! Isn't that supposed to be the violent overthrow of a government? I suggest the next insurrectionists try taking a weapon along with them, as the last lot appeared to forget

Riot? Insurrection? Whatever it was it was not a good thing. 

Well Major I don't see the comparison here. I see it as a riot by numb nuts that got way out of control & led to numerous police officers injured & lots of damage to public property. Many think these feeble-minded were inspired by what they thought were instructions from Donald Trump with his incendiary verbiage. This caused them to don Bison horns & march over the cliff like lemmings. See Proud Boys & Oath Keepers who are the modern-day versions of the John Birch Society.

Yes, the current saga is nothing new, but carried out as it is in the full glare of publicity means it's given endless coverage and will be for many months yet. 

The Press are in a large part guilty too for going on about it page after page. I read the Daily Telegraph and was dismayed to find eight pages devoted to the debacle last week, reduced to a mere six the next day. 

8 January 1815 - The Battle of New Orleans.

Nothing new I can say here, you'll know more than I do, except perhaps that the British commander who was killed, Maj-Gen Sir Edward Pakenham, was brother-in-law to GB's greatest soldier of the age, the Duke of Wellington.

8 January 1815 - The Battle of New Orleans.

Nothing new I can say here, you'll know more than I do, except perhaps that the British commander who was killed, Maj-Gen Sir Edward Pakenham, was brother-in-law to GB's greatest soldier of the age, the Duke of Wellington.

As always there are differences of opinion on this & other famous events throughout history. It was taught that Pakenham was killed by cannon shot, but some accounts reflect that he was wounded by that & was actually felled by a sniper who was a freed Negro. Go figure? This event made more famous with songs by Johnny Horton (Battle of New Orleans) & Johnny Cash (Ragged Ol Flag).

The press here do the same thing; they pick a target and go on and on and on with it.  Usually Donald Trump is the easiest pick.  Our own Andrew Jackson is a colo(u)rful character in U.S. history.  The press must have had a ball with him.

There's an hour long interview with Prince Harry on TV literally at this moment, but I'm here not watching it. The book is out on Tuesday so that'll keep the media busy for a week or two, although some of the sting has been taken away by the early release of the Spanish language version last week.  

9 January 1514 - Anne, Duchess of Brittany 1488-1514 and twice Queen Consort of France, died.

Her life is one of the most remarkable examples of the difficulties faced by a female ruler in a man's world.

Born in 1477 she was just 11 when she inherited the Throne of Brittany, her Duchy was the last in northern France to hold out against the expansion of the French Crown. Sensing an opportunity with a child ruler and an ineffectual Regent a French army invaded in 1489. In a desperate situation Anne called upon the Holy Roman Emperor for protection. That protection came in the form of a proxy marriage to Maximilian, the heir to Emperor Friedrich. 

However the union failed to secure troops for the defence of Brittany and in 1491 the Bretons were defeated. Anne was forced renounce her marriage to Maximilian and in December she married the French King Charles VIII. This new union was intended to bring Brittany under the French Crown, one of the clauses of the marriage contract was that if Charles predeceased her without a son Anne would marry whomsoever was Charles' heir, thus Brittany would remain under French control. And that is precisely what happened, Charles died in 1498 with any surviving children and the Crown passed to a distant cousin who became King Louis XII. A year later he and Anne were married. 

Anne, by now a grown woman, was able to assert some influence over events, it was stipulated that upon her death the Breton Crown would not pass to Louis' heir but to their second son or failing that their eldest daughter. This was a move by Anne to prevent the union of France and Brittany in the body of a single person.    

Her third marriage was more fruitful than her first two, she produced two surviving daughters, but no sons, so upon her death aged just 36 in 1514 the Breton Crown passed to her elder daughter Claude. Unfortunately Claude was unable to assert her authority as her mother had done. Within months King Louis married her off to his cousin and heir Francis. Eight months later King Louis died and Francis became King of France and in effect ruler by marriage of Brittany.  

There's an hour long interview with Prince Harry on TV literally at this moment, but I'm here not watching it. The book is out on Tuesday so that'll keep the media busy for a week or two, although some of the sting has been taken away by the early release of the Spanish language version last week.  

I've managed to get an early copy and it's riveting stuff. Harry said he had an argument with his brother who pushed him over some dog, probably Megan. He once broke a nail too. More sensational news to come.

There's an hour long interview with Prince Harry on TV literally at this moment, but I'm here not watching it. The book is out on Tuesday so that'll keep the media busy for a week or two, although some of the sting has been taken away by the early release of the Spanish language version last week.  

I've managed to get an early copy and it's riveting stuff. Harry said he had an argument with his brother who pushed him over some dog, probably Megan. He once broke a nail too. More sensational news to come.

Wow Major that is funny stuff. You should be on T.V. describing how older brothers bully their younger siblings. 

9 January 1514 - Anne, Duchess of Brittany 1488-1514 and twice Queen Consort of France, died.

Her life is one of the most remarkable examples of the difficulties faced by a female ruler in a man's world.

Born in 1477 she was just 11 when she inherited the Throne of Brittany, her Duchy was the last in northern France to hold out against the expansion of the French Crown. Sensing an opportunity with a child ruler and an ineffectual Regent a French army invaded in 1489. In a desperate situation Anne called upon the Holy Roman Emperor for protection. That protection came in the form of a proxy marriage to Maximilian, the heir to Emperor Friedrich. 

However the union failed to secure troops for the defence of Brittany and in 1491 the Bretons were defeated. Anne was forced renounce her marriage to Maximilian and in December she married the French King Charles VIII. This new union was intended to bring Brittany under the French Crown, one of the clauses of the marriage contract was that if Charles predeceased her without a son Anne would marry whomsoever was Charles' heir, thus Brittany would remain under French control. And that is precisely what happened, Charles died in 1498 with any surviving children and the Crown passed to a distant cousin who became King Louis XII. A year later he and Anne were married. 

Anne, by now a grown woman, was able to assert some influence over events, it was stipulated that upon her death the Breton Crown would not pass to Louis' heir but to their second son or failing that their eldest daughter. This was a move by Anne to prevent the union of France and Brittany in the body of a single person.    

Her third marriage was more fruitful than her first two, she produced two surviving daughters, but no sons, so upon her death aged just 36 in 1514 the Breton Crown passed to her elder daughter Claude. Unfortunately Claude was unable to assert her authority as her mother had done. Within months King Louis married her off to his cousin and heir Francis. Eight months later King Louis died and Francis became King of France and in effect ruler by marriage of Brittany.  

A proxy marriage? Marrying a cousin? Renounce a marriage? Ruler by marriage? And these people are held in high esteem? To quote Eleanor Roosevelt........."Some people leave a mark on life, some leave a stain." Does this all go back to the Holy Roman Emperor or the church?

"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there". 

That kind of thing went on back then in all the Royal Houses of Europe, we have instances in our own.  

William broke Harry's necklace in that fight.  If those two only had one physical fight in their lives, they are more civilized than most people I know.

Quite right. I grew up with a twin brother and there wasn't a day went by when we didn't have a fight. Not the hair pulling and eye scratching Harry went in for either, I'm talking black eyes and bloody noses. We didn't feck about. I only had to look at him to want to knock the b'stard out and growing up on a Manchester corporation estate I only had so much time to fit him in between fighting a dozen others.

Duchess Anne certainly had her fair share of personal tragedy, with eleven pregnancies and only two surviving children, but it doesn't seem she let that get in the way of her royal duties.  One may wonder if she had lived longer, would she have been able to retain independent rule of Brittany.  She certainly was not inclined to give up.

She was said to be dwarfish and lame, which makes her achievements all the more remarkable. No hindrance to the marriage altar either, but the politics of the day outweighed everything. 

10 January 1645 - William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury 1633-45, executed.

Successively Bishop of St David's 1621, Bath and Wells 1626 and London 1628 before being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. 

He was High Church and began immediate reforms thus alienating much of the more Puritanical public. He had the full support of King Charles and thus emboldened he attempted to extend his reforms to Scotland in 1637. This led to revolt north of the border and war with England in 1639. Having governed without calling a Parliament since 1629 King Charles had run out of money to finance the war and was therefore compelled to reinstate Parliament in 1640. 

Once in power Parliament began a purge of the King's supporters beginning with Archbishop Laud who was arrested on a charge of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. However the specific charges levelled against him were vague and contradictory and it was not until March 1644 that his trial began. It lasted until the autumn when it became apparent that a guilty verdict would be difficult to obtain. 

Parliament however was determined to get rid of Laud, so a Bill of Attainder was introduced into Parliament which was passed in October and Laud was sentenced to death. He was beheaded on Tower Hill aged 71.

Laud is considered one of the three main figures who created the conditions for Civil War - King Charles overseeing everything while the Earl of Strafford handled political matters and Laud the religious.  

A Bill of Attainder is an Act of Parliament designed to convict someone of serious crimes without a trial. It was usually used against prominent figures who, if put on trial, might disclose compromising information. It was last used in GB in 1798 against the Irish rebels, but the process was not formally abolished until 1870.