15 February 1113
On 18th February: Historical Significance Unveiled
Pope Paschal II sanctioned the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, establishing it as a religious order, later known as the Knights Hospitaller.
18 February 1268
At the Battle of Wesenberg in present-day Estonia, the Livonian Order and a Russian princes' alliance fought to a stalemate, leaving a trail of carnage.
18 February 1461
Harry Brearley, the pioneering metallurgist who propelled martensitic stainless steel into commercial prominence, was born in Sheffield.
18 February 1478: George, Duke of Clarence's Fateful End
Medieval England met the Duke of Clarence, Edward IV's canny, scheming brother, a grisly end.
Clarence, by medieval standards, had an unconventional death. "Plunge the custard with your sword's hilt," seethes one of his two executioners in Shakespeare's Richard III, "and then shove him into the malmsey-barrel in the next chamber."
So, for ages, the stage-Clarence was repeatedly stabbed ("Take that, and that") before being hauled off to the barrel of sweet wine. "I'll drown him in the malmsey-barrel within," snarls the First Executioner.
But who was Clarence really? Just his Yorkist-connected royal status doesn't encapsulate the full measure of this ambitious, shady character. During the 1460s, he was initially Edward's heir, but they had a falling-out. First, Clarence joined Warwick the Kingmaker's rebellion; then, he switched sides again and reappeared in Edward's court.
For the next six years or so, these two men found a way to coexist, albeit uneasily. However, by 1477, Edward's wife had birthed two sons, effectively eliminating Clarence's claim to the succession. He floated the idea of marrying the Duke of Burgundy's daughter, but Edward nixed it.
And then, that summer, their relationship disintegrated completely. Clarence was deposited in the Tower of London, accused of "unnatural, loathly treasons," and lingered there for months. On 18 February 1478, he was executed.
Was he actually drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine? Italian visitor Dominic Mancini reported it only five years later. Who would dream up such a strange tale?
18 February 1609
Edward Hyde, later First Earl of Clarendon, entered the world in Wiltshire. In the 1640s, he started as a moderate foe of King Charles I, but as Parliament's constitutional demands escalated, he leaned towards Royalism. He counseled the King during the Civil War and later became Charles II's lord chancellor before being banished to exile in 1667. While exiled, he completed his famous History of the Rebellion. His daughter, Anne, was the first spouse of the future James II and the mother of Queens Mary and Anne.
18 February 1612
Italian nobleman, banker, and conspirator Roberto di Ridolfi met his end in Florence. In 1570 he contrived a plot to eliminate Queen Elizabeth I and install Mary Queen of Scots in her place.
18 February 1797
Under Sir Ralph Abercromby's leadership, the British captured Trinidad.
18 February 1838
Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and inventor of the 'Mach number,' was born in Moravia.
18 February 1861
Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the first, and last, president of the Confederate States of America at the Alabama State Capitol building in Montgomery.
18 February 1913
Pedro Lascurain became the world's briefest-serving president when he relinquished the Mexican presidency after being in office for less than an hour.
18 February 1930
American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh uncovered Pluto, initially interpreted as the ninth planet in the Solar System. Later, due to the discovery of similar celestial bodies, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.
In the span of medieval England, George, Duke of Clarence, a shady and ambitious character known for his cunning and political scheming, met a grisly end that deviated from the norm. Contrastingly, in the modern political landscape, war and conflicts continue to be a prevalent theme, such as the ongoing debate over the status of Pluto, initially discovered on 18 February 1930 but later reclassified as a dwarf planet amidst general news about similar celestial bodies.
