On 24th February…

616 - King Aethelbert, the Anglo-Saxon king of Kent, died. He is thought to have been the first Anglo-Saxon king to welcome Christianity. Before then, most Anglo-Saxons believed in similar gods to the Vikings: Woden, Thunor, Frige and Tiw. Some of our days of the week have been named after these gods, can you work out which days they are? (Woden’s day = Wednesday / Thunor’s day = Thursday / Frige’s day = Friday / Tiw’s day = Tuesday)

1303 - The Battle of Roslin took place in Scotland between English and Scottish troops. The Scottish forces, who by most accounts were outnumbered by 30,000 to 8,000 defeated the English and sent them packing in a series of three bloody battles. This was a major victory for the Scots who were led by John Comyn and Simon Fraser; Scotland had not beaten England in battle since the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. With only around 2,000 English soldiers still alive at the end, it showed King Edward I of England that Scotland was still a force to be reckoned with.

On 25th February…

On 26th February…

1797 - The Bank of England issued the very first £1 note. The very last English £1 note was printed by the Bank of England on 31st December 1984 and was withdrawn from circulation in 1988 in favour of the £1 coin. (Scotland continues to issue £1 notes which can be used anywhere in the U.K.)

On 27th February…

On 28th February…

364 - Valentinian I became Roman Emperor. In 399, he managed to restore order to Roman rule in Britain after the native tribes had rebelled and managed to overthrow the Romans.. Valentinian had to send a large army, headed by General Theodosius, which used soldiers from all over the Roman Empire, in order to try and gain control once more. The local Celts had overthrown the Romans and had been running the country for nearly two years. Less than fifty years later all the Romans left Britain to tackle other problems on the European continent.

On 1st March…

On 2nd March…

1316 - King Robert II of Scotland was born. He was the son of Walter the Steward and became the hereditary Steward of Scotland at the age of 10 years. He was heir to the Scottish throne through his mother who was the daughter of King Robert the Bruce. Robert II became king when he was nearly 55 years old, he was the first of the Stewart (or Stuart) kings who eventually went on to rule England as well as Scotland.