March 14th - 20th
“Beware the Ides of March (middle of March) a warning foretold to Julius Caesar by a seer, but also an omen that should have been heeded by the other five rulers who all died this week...”
On 14th March…
Albert Einstein
1879 - Albert Einstein, the scientist, was born. He is best known for his ‘Theory of Relativity’ and the concept of mass energy equivalence which is expressed by the famous equation E=mc².
If you can understand what all that means, can you please explain it in simple terms to me because I have no idea.
2018 - Stephen Hawking the famous scientist who was left paralysed in a wheelchair because of Motor Neurone Disease died. He was diagnosed with the disease in his early twenties and was not given long to live; he was 76 years old when he died. Hawking is famous for his work on black holes; his most famous book was called ‘A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes’.
On 15th March…
Julius Caesar
44BCE - Julius Caesar, one of the most famous of all Roman Generals, was stabbed to death by the Roman Senate who had become wary of his powers and his desires to become King. He had been warned of his death in the middle of March by a seer who told him to ‘beware the Ides of March’. For Romans ‘the Ides’ meant the middle of the month therefore ‘the Ides of March’ is about the 15th day of March.
On 16th March…
455 - Roman Emperor of the West, Valentinian III, was assassinated by the Roman Senate. He was succeeded by Petronius Maximus. Two Roman leaders assassinated in the middle of March? I guess the ‘Beware the Ides of March’ prophecy was relevant to more than one ruler.
On 17th March…
461CE - Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland died. He is celebrated the world over on this day. There is a legend that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and into the sea where they drowned. This could explain why there are no snakes in Ireland today.
Harold Harefoot
1040 - King Harold I (Harold Harefoot) died. Harold seized the throne when his father King Cnut (Canute) died in 1035. His dad had left the crown to Harold’s half-brother Hardicanute, but because Hardicanute was busy fighting a war in Denmark with the king of Norway, Harold claimed the throne without any protest.
1473 – King James IV of Scotland was born in Northumberland, England. He became king when he was only 15 years old. Did you know that he was married to King Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret Tudor which made him a brother-in-law to King Henry VIII?
On 18th March…
Edward the Martyr
978 – King Edward the Martyr was murdered in Corfe Castle whilst visiting his stepmother and half-brother Ethelred. He was stabbed whilst still sitting on his horse waiting to be let into the castle grounds. With his foot held tightly in the stirrup, his dying body was dragged along the ground when his horse bolted in fright. Edward was only 15 years old. There are rumours that his stepmother had a hand in his murder so that Ethelred could become king, what do you think?
Alexei Leonov
1965 - Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave a space capsule and ‘space-walk’. The Russian cosmonaut was outside of the spaceship for just over 12 minutes but had difficulty getting back inside because his spacesuit had ballooned so much from the different atmospheric pressure. Alexei said afterwards that he had perspired so much that the sweat sloshed around inside his suit. Imagine how much he must have sweated for it to slosh about! Yuk!
On 19th March…
1286 - King Alexander III of Scotland died after falling from a horse. He became king at the age of 8 years and is one of Scotland’s greatest rulers. Did you know that he defeated Norway to gain control of the Western Isles? These islands are still a part of Scotland today.
On 20th March…
King Henry IV
1413 - King Henry IV died leaving his son Henry to take the throne and become King Henry V.
King Henry IV was said to have a head full of lice, spotty itchy skin and sore red eyes. People said he was being punished for overthrowing the previous king and executing an Archbishop. What do you think may have been causing his bad health?
Sir Walter Raleigh
1616 - Sir Walter Raleigh was released from the Tower of London by King James I, where he had been imprisoned and sentenced to death for plotting against the King. James wanted Raleigh to go on an expedition in search of gold. On his return to England Raleigh was thrown back into the Tower of London and then executed two and a half years later.