One of the bestselling books of the fifteenth century was an erotic novel entitled The Tale of Two Lovers. Who was its unlikely author?
Answer: Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II.
Source: Cassell Dictionary of Italian Literature by Peter Bondanella and Julia Conway Bondanella
1338 – The Battle of Arnemuiden, in which a French force defeats the English, is the first naval engagement of the Hundred Years’ War and the first battle at sea where gunpowder artillery is deployed.
1641 – The Merchant Royal, carrying over 100,000 pounds of gold, worth over £1 billion today, is lost at sea off Land’s End.
1642 – The first commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
1806 – Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after three years exploring the United States’ Pacific Northwest.
1846 – Astronomers Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle jointly discover Neptune.
1899 – The American Asiatic Squadron destroys a Filipino battery at the Battle of Olongapo.
1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the “Karlstad treaty”, peacefully dissolving the Union which had existed between the two countries.
1913 – French aviator Roland Garros becomes the first to fly an airplane across the Mediterranean, from St. Raphael in France to Bizerte, Tunisia.
1943 – During World War Two the Nazi puppet state known as the Italian Social Republic is established.
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A short, sharp hit of history in video format. Acclaimed Irish playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde was the toast of London society in the 1890s until things came decidedly unstuck through an association with a young British aristocrat, Lord Alfred Douglas, known as ‘Bosie’.
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Last week’s answer:
Augustus (63 BCE – 14 CE)
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“There is dignity in serenity, there is dignity in clenched teeth and flashing eyes.”
Yukio Mishima, Japanese poet, author and nationalist.
German composer. His music is some of the most performed of the classical music repertoire. Remarkably, he continued to compose music despite his gradual loss of hearing.
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