Birthday Meme...

Okay, here we go, November 10...

Four events...

1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw III of Poland) are crushed by the Turks under Sultan Murad II and Vladislaus is killed.

1619 - René Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy.

1995 - In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) are hanged by government forces.

2007 - ¿Por qué no te callas? incident between King Juan Carlos of Spain and Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez.

(A lot of bloodshed on this day... besides Varna and Nigeria, there were numerous battles and mass executions.)

Three birthdays...

745 - Musa al-Kazim, Shia Imam (d. 799)

1728 - Oliver Goldsmith, English playwright (d. 1774)

1973 - Patrik Berger, Czech footballer (Exact same day as me!)

Two deaths...

627 - Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury

2007 - Norman Mailer, American author (b. 1923)

...and one holiday.

Ancient Latvia - Martini