Matthias von Habsburgs army reaches Lieben, at Prague
• 1635
-
France declares war on Spain
• 1643
-
Battle at Rocroi/Allersheim: French army destroys Spanish army
-
Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form United Colonies of New England
• 1652
-
Spanish troops occupy Grevelingen
• 1662
-
Uniformity Act of England goes into effect
• 1715
-
The colony of New York passes a law making it illegal to "gather, rake, take up, or bring to the market, any oysters whatsoever" between the months of May and September.
Dutch prince Henry marries princess Amalia of Saxony-Weimar
• 1856
-
Senator Charles Sumner, Massachusetts, speaks out against slavery
• 1857
-
William Francis Channing and Moses G Farmer patents electric fire alarm
Latest Broadsheets -- Daily news from around the world about the Early Modern Era Older articles can be found in the Broadsheet Archive
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/09/2013 Study debunks lead poisoning theory in Franklin mystery May 08, 2013, The Canadian Press by Staff A long-standing Arctic mystery has become even more baffling with research that appears to debunk a common theory about the demise of the Franklin expedition.
Chemists at the University of Western Ontario used an array of the latest analytic techniques to conclude that poorly made cans of food were not responsible for the lead that poisoned the officers and crew of the doomed 19th-century voyage to explore the Arctic.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/09/2013 US returns stolen Virgin Mary tapestry to Spain April 17, 2013, AFP by Staff A 16th century religious tapestry stolen from a Spanish cathedral in 1979 and sold at auction three years ago for $369,000 was returned to Spain on Wednesday by the US customs service.
In a statement, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said special agents from its Homeland Security Investigations unit seized the artifact last November from the unidentified Texas business that had bought it.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/08/2013 Ancient DNA Solves 320-Year-Old Mystery: Origins of Now Extinct Falkland Islands Wolf May 05, 2013, ScienceDaily by Staff University of Adelaide researchers have found the answer to one of natural history's most intriguing puzzles -- the origins of the now extinct Falkland Islands wolf and how it came to be the only land-based mammal on the isolated islands -- 460km from the nearest land, Argentina.
The 320-year-old mystery was first recorded by early British explorers in 1690 and raised again by Charles Darwin following his encounter with the famously tame species on his Beagle voyage in 1834.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/08/2013 The Court-Martial of Paul Revere April 18, 2013, History.com by Christopher Klein Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago, Paul Revere played a starring role in the opening act of the American Revolution when he made his famous midnight ride on April 18, 1775. His patriotic service did not end there, however. Revere also served as a Massachusetts militia officer in the Revolutionary War. But following the disastrous Penobscot Expedition in 1779, one of America’s most famous patriots found himself under arrest for insubordination and fighting to clear his name.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/07/2013 Vatican Uncovers First Known European Depiction Of Native Americans May 02, 2013, The Huffington Post by Alessandro Speciale reservationists working on a Renaissance fresco in the Vatican have uncovered what experts believe is the first European representation of Native Americans, from 1494.
Writing on April 27 in the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, the director of the Vatican Museum, Antonio Paolucci, said the previously unnoticed detail was discovered in a Resurrection scene painted by the Renaissance master Pinturicchio.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/07/2013 Skeleton of teenage girl confirms cannibalism at Jamestown colony May 01, 2013, The Washington Post by David Brown The first chops, to the forehead, did not go through the bone and are perhaps evidence of hesitancy about the task. The next set, after the body was rolled over, was more effective. One cut split the skull all the way to the base.
“The person is truly figuring it out as they go,” said Douglas Owsley, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/06/2013 After 155 Years, It’s the End of an Era at Cooper Union April 24, 2013, History.com by Barbara Maranzani On Tuesday, trustees for New York City’s Cooper Union, one of the nation’s most distinguished institutions of higher learning, announced that beginning with the incoming class of 2014, they would no longer be providing four years of free tuition for undergraduate students. The move, intended to shore of the school’s somewhat shaky finances, has trigged protests from students, alumni and faculty alike, who argue that in charging tuition the trustees have turned their back on the principles established by the school’s founder, Peter Cooper, more than 150 years ago.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/06/2013 Va. Group Looks to Preserve Monticello’s View April 15, 2013, The Associated Press by Staff The foundation that owns Thomas Jefferson’s estate hopes to take efforts to preserve Monticello’s spectacular mountain views a step further, an idea that worries some developers.
A request the group filed with the Albemarle County Planning Commission calls for nearly quadrupling the size of what’s known as the Monticello viewshed and expanding voluntary guidelines for developers in the region.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/05/2013 8 Things You May Not Know About the Louisiana Purchase April 30, 2013, History.com by Jesse Greenspan On April 30, 1803, U.S. representatives in Paris agreed to pay $15 million for about 828,000 square miles of land that stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. This deal, known as the Louisiana Purchase, nearly doubled the size of the United States. President Thomas Jefferson called it “an ample provision for our posterity and a widespread field for the blessings of freedom.” Yet it also had detractors on both the French and American sides. Two hundred ten years later, explore eight facts about the wars, negotiating tactics and lucky coincidences that made the Louisiana Purchase possible.
posted on Colonial Sense: 05/05/2013 America's founding fathers were Essex boys, according to claims April 30, 2013, The Telegraph (UK) by Melanie Hall A rival claim to the Mayflower by the port town of Harwich states that the ship's crew were from Essex and only set foot briefly in the West Country before starting their transatlantic voyage.
The claim has taken on extra significance as the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's voyage in 2020 nears - Plymouth has already sent an invitation to whoever is the President of the United States in seven years' time.