Bonfire of the Vanities(Italian:Falò delle vanità) refers to the burning of objects that are deemed to be occasions ofsin. The most infamous one took place on 7 February 1497, when supporters of theDominicanpriestGirolamo Savonarolacollected and publicly burned thousands of objects likecosmetics,art, andbooksinFlorence,Italy, on theMardi Grasfestival.Such bonfires were not invented by Savonarola, however. They were a common accompaniment to the outdoor sermons ofSan Bernardino di Sienain the first half of the century.
The focus of this destruction was nominally on objects that might tempt one to sin, including vanity items such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, paintings, playing cards, and even musical instruments. Other targets included books that were deemed to be "immoral," such as works by Boccaccio, and manuscripts of secular songs, as well as artworks, including paintings and sculpture.
Although it is widely reported that the Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli burned several of his paintings based on classical mythology in the great Florentine bonfire of 1497, the historical record on this is not clear. The art historian Giorgio Vasari said that Botticelli was a partisan of Savonarola: "he was so ardent a partisan that he was thereby induced to desert his painting, and, having no income to live on, fell into very great distress." Writing several centuries later, Orestes Brownson, an apologistfor Savonarola, mentions artwork only by Fra Bartolomeo, Lorenzo di Credi, and "many other painters," along with "several antique statues." Art historian Rab Hatfield argues that one of Botticelli's paintings, The Mystical Nativity, is based on the sermon Savonarola delivered at Christmas Eve 1493........
Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and mathematician is born.
1710
Louis XV, King of France is born.
1798
The first serious fist fight occurs in Congress.
1804
New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery.
1820
Susan B. Anthony, suffragette and political activist is born.
1862
Union General Ulysses S. Grant launches a major assault on Fort Donelson, Tenn.
1869
Charges of treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.
1898
The U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana Harbor, killing 268 sailors and bringing hordes of Western cowboys and gunfighters rushing to enlist in the Spanish-American.
1900
The British threaten to use natives in the Boer War fight.
1925
The London Zoo announces it will install lights to cheer up fogged-in animals.
1934
U.S. Congress passes the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act, allotting new funds for Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
1940
Hitler orders that all British merchant ships will be considered warships.
1942
British forces in Singapore surrender to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
1943
The Germans break the American Army's lines at the Fanid-Sened Sector in Tunisia, North Africa.
1944
American bombers attack the Abbey of Monte Cassino in an effort to neutralize it as a German observation post in central Italy.
The U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana Harbor, killing 268 sailors and bringing hordes of Western cowboys and gunfighters rushing to enlist in the Spanish-American.
And subsequently sets the stage... for the former weakling, rich, kid later to be famous as a gun toting, North Dakota rancher, by way of New York, adventurer-environmentalist, politician, civil servant and US Army officer. Who... consequently proves to be an excellent combat leader. And... who eventually, among many other things, to include being a excellent writer and poet, a politician extraordinaire, Nobel Peace Price winner and President of the United States....an all around gawdamn legend.
Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 15-Feb-2012 at 10:08
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
S. T. Friedman
Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true'
The Jesuit poet Robert Southwell is hanged for "treason" being a Catholic.
1631
Michael Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected Russian Tsar.
1744
The British blockade of Toulon is broken by 27 French and Spanish warships attacking 29 British ships.
1775
As troubles with Great Britain increase, colonists in Massachusetts vote to buy military equipment for 15,000 men.
1794
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican Revolutionary is born.
1797
Trinidad, West Indies surrenders to the British.
1828
The first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is printed, both in English and in the newly invented Cherokee alphabet.
1849
In the Second Sikh War, Sir Hugh Gough's well placed guns win a victory over a Sikh force twice the size of his at Gujerat on the Chenab River, assuring British control of the Punjab for years to come.
1862
The Texas Rangers win a Confederate victory in the Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico.
1878
The world's first telephone book is issued by the New Haven Connecticut Telephone Company containing the names of its 50 subscribers.
1885
The Washington Monument is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1905
The Mukden campaign of the Russo-Japanese War, begins.
1916
The battle of Verdun begins with an unprecedented German artillery barrage of the French lines.
1925
The first issue of New Yorker magazine hits the newsstands.
1940
The Germans begin construction of a concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1944
Hideki Tojo becomes chief of staff of the Japanese army.
1949
Nicaragua and Costa Rica sign a friendship treaty ending hostilities over their borders.
Theodosius effectively founds a university in Constantinople.
1531
German Protestants form the League of Schmalkalden to resist the power of the emperor.
1700
The Pacific Island of New Britain is discovered.
1807
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born.
1814
Napoleon's Marshal Nicholas Oudinot is pushed back at Barsur-Aube by the Emperor's allied enemies shortly before his abdication.
1827
The first Mardi-Gras celebration is held in New Orleans. 1836-Mexican General Jose Urrea attacks and defeats a small band of Texans as the Battle of San Patricio.
1864
The first Union prisoners arrive at Andersonville Prison in Georgia.
1865
Confederate raider William Quantrill and his bushwackers attack Hickman, Kentucky, shooting women and children.
1897
Marian Anderson, US singer, is born.
1902
John Steinbeck, American novelist, is born.
1905
The Japanese push Russians back in Manchuria and cross the Sha River.
1908
The forty-sixth star is added to the U.S. flag, signifying Oklahoma's admission to statehood.
1917
John Connally, Texas Governor, is born.
1920
The United States rejects a Soviet peace offer as propaganda.
1925
Glacier Bay National Monument is dedicated in Alaska.
1933
The burning down of the Reichstag building in Berlin gives the Nazis the opportunity to suspend personal liberty with increased power.
The first Leap Day is recognized by proclamation of Julius Caesar. Under the old Roman calendar, the last day of February was the last day of the year.
1692
Sarah Goode and Tituba are accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, sparking the hysteria that started the Salem Witch Trials.
1712
Marquis Louis Joseph de Montcalm is born.
1736
Anna Lee, founder of the Shaker movement in America is born.
1784
The Marquis de Sade is transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.
1856
Hostilities in Russo-Turkish war cease.
1864
Union Grig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick splits his forces at the Rapidan River ordering Col. Ulric Dahlgren to lead 500 men his men to Goochland Court House, while the remainder followed Kilpatrick in his raid on Richmond.
1864
Lt. William B. Cushing leads a landing party from the USS Monticello to Smithville, NC, in an attempt to capture Confederate Brig. Gen. Louis Hebert, only to discover that Hebert and his men had already moved on Wilmington.
1868
British Prime Minister Benjamin Disreali forms his first cabinet.
1940
Hattie McDaniel is first African American to win an Academy Award–best supporting actress–for her performance in Gone With The Wind.
1944
US forces catch Japanese troops off-guard and easily take control of the Admiralty Islands in Papua New Guinea.
1944
Dorothy Vredenburgh accepts an appointment by the Democratic National Committee becoming the first woman secretary of a national political party in the U.S.
1952
The first pedestrian "Walk/Don't Walk" signs are installed at 44th Street and Broadway at Times Square.
Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston.
1781
Maryland ratifies the Articles of Confederation. She is the last state to sign.
1793
Sam Houston, president of Texas, later Texas senator and governor is born.
1797
The Directory of Great Britain authorizes vessels of war to board and seize neutral vessels, particularly if the ships are American.
1815
To put an end to robberies by the Barbary pirates, the United States declares war on Algiers.
1836
Texas declares independence from Mexico on Sam Houston's 43rd birthday.
1853
The Territory of Washington is organized.
1865
President Abraham Lincoln rejects Confederate General Robert E. Lee's plea for peace talks, demanding unconditional surrender.
1867
The first Reconstruction Act is passed by Congress.
1877
Rutherford B. Hayes is declared president by one vote the day before the inauguration.
1889
Congress passes the Indian Appropriations Bill, proclaiming unassigned lands in the public domain; the first step toward the famous Oklahoma Land Rush.
1896
Bone Mizell, the famed cowboy of Florida, is sentenced to two years of hard labor in the state pen for cattle rustling. He would only serve a small portion of the sentence.
1901
Congress passes the Platt amendment, which limits Cuban autonomy as a condition for withdrawal of U.S. troops.
1908
An international conference on arms reduction opens in London.
1908
Gabriel Lippman introduces the new three-dimensional color photography at the Academy of Sciences.
1917
Congress passes the Jones Act making Puerto Rico a territory of the United States and makes the inhabitants U.S. citizens.
1923
In Italy, Mussolini admits that women have a right to vote, but declares that the time is not right.
1930
Novelist D.H. Lawrence dies of tuberculosis in a sanitarium in Vence, France, at the age of 45.
1931
Mikhail Gorbachev, Secretary General of the Soviet Union is born.
1943
The center of Berlin is bombed by the RAF. Some 900 tons of bombs are dropped in a half hour.
1945
MacArthur raises the U.S. flag on Corregidor in the Philippines.
March 3rd - historical happenings between 78-1900 AD. 78 - Origin of Saka Era (India) 468 - St Simplicius elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius 493 - Ostrogoten King Theodorik the Great beats Odoaker 1284 - Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England 1409 - Austrian civil war ends 1431 - Bishop Gabriele Condulmer elected as Pope Eugene IV 1575 - Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi. 1585 - The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza. 1627 - Piet Heyn conquerors 22 ships in Bay of Salvador Brazil 1634 - 1st tavern in Boston opens (Samuel Cole) 1638 - Duke Bernard van Saksen-Weimar occupies Rheinfelden 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Castle of Inverness 1776 - US commodore Esek Hopkins occupies Nassau Bahamas 1791 - 1st internal revenue act (taxing distilled spirits & carriages) 1791 - Congress establishes US Mint 1794 - 1st performance of Joseph Haydn's 101st Symphony in D 1794 - Richard Allen founded AME Church 1801 - 1st US Jewish governor, David Emanuel, takes office in Georgia 1803 - 1st impeachment trial of a federal judge, John Pickering, begins 1803 - Colégio Militar is founded in Portugal by Colonel Teixeira Rebello. 1805 - Louisiana-Missouri Territory forms 1812 - US passes 1st foreign aid bill (aids Venezuela earthquake vicitims) 1813 - Office of surgeon general of the US army forms 1815 - US declares war on Algiers for taking US prisoners & demanding tribute 1817 - Mississippi Territory is divided into Alabama Territory & Mississippi 1820 - Missouri Compromise passes, allowing slavery in Missouri 1835 - Congress authorizes a US mint at New Orleans Louisiana 1837 - Congress increases Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9 1837 - US president Andrew Jackson & Congress recognizes Republic of Texas 1838 - Rebellion at Pelee Island, Ontario Canada 1842 - 1st US child labor law regulating working hours passed (Mass) 1842 - 1st performance of Felix Mendelssohn's 3rd "Scottish" Symphony 1843 - Congress appropriates $30,000 "to test the practicability of establishing a system of electro-magnetic telegraphs" by the US 1845 - 1st time, US Senate overrides presidential (Tyler) veto 1845 - Congress authorizes ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery 1845 - Florida becomes 27th state 1847 - Post Office Department authorized to issue postage stamps 1849 - Gold Coinage Act authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin 1849 - Home Dept (Interior Dept), forms 1849 - Minnesota Territory is organizes 1849 - Territory of Minnesota organizes 1849 - US Department of the Interior established by Congress 1851 - Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin (3 cent piece) 1853 - Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized by Congress 1853 - US Assay Office in NYC authorized 1855 - Congress approves $30,000 to test camels for military use 1855 - Congress authorizes registered mail 1857 - Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China. 1861 - Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom [OS=Feb 19] 1861 - Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs. 1862 - Battle of New Madrid MO-captured by Union forces 1862 - General Pope lays siege in front of New Madrid 1863 - 1st US wartime military conscription bill enacted US President Abraham Lincoln1863 - Abraham Lincoln approves charter for National Academy of Sciences 1863 - Congress authorizes a US mint at Carson City, Nevada 1863 - Federal ironclad ships bomb Fort McAllister Georgia 1863 - Free city delivery replaces zone postage; 449 letter carriers hired 1863 - Gold certificates (currency) authorized by Congress 1863 - Idaho Territory forms 1863 - Lincoln approves charter for National Academy of Sciences 1865 - Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands established 1865 - Freedmen's Bureau is created to help destitute free blacks 1865 - Opening of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group. 1869 - University of South Carolina opens to all races 1871 - Congress changes Indian tribes status from independent to dependent 1871 - Congress establishes the civil service system 1873 - Congress authorizes federal departmental postage stamps 1873 - US Congress & government raise own salary, retroactively 1873 - Censorship: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law,
making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books
through the mail. 1875 - 1st recorded hockey game (Montreal) 1875 - Congress authorizes 20 cent coin, lasts only 3 years 1875 - Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" premieres (Paris) 1877 - Rutherford B Hayes is sworn in as the 19th president 1879 - US Geological Survey director authorized in Dept of the Interior 1882 - NY Steam Corp begins distributing steam to Manhattan buildings 1883 - Congress authorizes the 1st steel vessels in US navy 1885 - 1st US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission 1885 - American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates 1885 - Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians wards of fed government) 1885 - US Post Office offers special delivery for 1st-class mail 1887 - American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton Iowa 1887 - Anne Sullivan begins teaching 6 year old blind-deaf Helen Keller 1891 - Congress creates US Courts of Appeal 1891 - Congress creates Office of Supt of Immigration (Treasury Dept) 1891 - Office of Superintendent of Immigration (Treasury Dept) created 1891 - The Penalty Spot Kick rule in Association Football is conceived, but does not come into effect until the next season. 1892 - 1st cattle tuberculosis test in US made, Villa Nova, Penn 1893 - Congress authorizes 1st federal road agency, in Dept of Agriculture http://www.historyorb.com/events/march/3
March 4, Historical event from 51 -1900 AD 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth). 852 -
Croatian Duke Trpimir I issued a statute, a document with the first
known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources. 932 - Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs. 1152 - Frederik I Barbarossa elected Roman-German king 1215 - King John of England makes an oath to the Pope as a crusader to gain the support of Innocent III. 1238 -
The Battle of the Sit River was fought in the northern part of the
present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol Hordes of Batu
Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the
Mongol invasion of Russia. 1386 - Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) was crowned King of Poland. 1461 - Battle at Towton: Duke Edward of York beats English queen Margaretha Edward IV recognized as king of England 1492 - King James IV of Scotland concludes an alliance with France against England. 1570 - King Philip II bans foreign Dutch students 1590 - Mauritius of Nassau's ship reaches Breda 1611 - George Abbot appointed archbishop of Canterbury 1665 - English king Charles II declares war on Netherlands 1681 - King Charles II grants William Penn royal charter for Penn 1699 - Jews are expelled from Lubeck Germany 1774 - 1st sighting of Orion nebula (William Herschel) 1790 -
France is divided into 83 départements, which cut across the former
provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on noble
ownership of land. 1792 - Oranges introduced to Hawaii 1793 - French troops conquer Geertruidenberg Neth 1824 -
The "National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck"
was founded in the United Kingdom, later to be renamed The Royal
National Lifeboat Institution in 1858. 1835 - HMS Beagle moves into Bay of Concepcion 1837 - City of Chicago incorporates 1837 - Weekly Advocate changes its name to the Colored American 1848 - Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia 1853 - Pope Pius IX recovers Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands 1881 - South African president Kruger accepts ceasefire 1882 - Britain's first electric trams run in East London. 1883 - John Gordon Cashmans begins "Vicksburg Evening Post" in Mississippi 1885 - Grover Cleveland inaugrated as 1st Democratic pres since Civil War 1889 - Benjamin Harrison inaugurated as 23rd president 1890 -
The longest bridge in the Great Britain, the Forth Bridge (railway)
(1,710 ft) in Scotland is opened by the Prince of Wales, who later
became King Edward VII. 1893 - Francis Dhanis' army attacksthe Lualaba, occupies Nyangwe 1894 - Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed 1899 - Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 m wave that reaches up to 5 km inland - over 300 dead. http://www.historyorb.com/events/march/4
March 5th 363 -
Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack
the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own
death. 1046 - Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama. 1179 - 3rd Lateran Council (11th ecumenical council) opens in Rome 1461 - Henry VI was deposed by Duke of York during War of the Roses 1496 - English king Henry VII hires John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) to explore 1528 - Utrecht governor Maarten van Rossum plunders The Hague 1558 - Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes 1579 - Betuwe joins Union of Utrecht 1651 - South Sea dike in Amsterdam breaks after storm 1684 - Emperor Leopold I, Poland & Venice sign Heilig Covenant of Linz 1746 - Jakobijnse troops leave Aberdeen 1766 - Don Antonio de Ulloa takes possession of Louisiana Terr from French 1783 - King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski grants rights to Jews of Kovno 1784 - Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney is named President of the Board of Trade. 1793 - French troops are defeated by Austrian forces and Liège is recaptured. 1795 - Amsterdam celebrates Revolution on the Dam; Square of Revolution 1795 - Treaty of Basel-Prussia ends war with France 1820 - Dutch city of Leeuwarden forbids Jews to go to synagogues on Sundays 1824 - First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma. 1842 - Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande. 1845 - Congress appropriates $30,000 to ship camels to western US 1850 - The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened. 1860 - Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia. 1862 - Union troops under brig-gen Wright occupy Fernandina Florida 1864 - 1st track meet between Oxford & Cambridge 1868 - Stapler patented in England by C H Gould 1872 - George Westinghouse Jr patents triple air brake for trains 1894 - Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery becomes First Lord of the Treasury. 1896 - Italians governor of Eritrea, Gen Baldissera, reaches Massawa http://www.historyorb.com/events/march/5
1946 - Churchill gave his famous Iron Curtain Speech to a graduating class in Missouri concerning the Soviet Union and the Cold War. 1953 - Joseph Stalin dies
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Topic: Historical Events on this Day in History
