This discussion has been closed.
Posted by History Host (U14671356) on Friday, 4th November 2011
Hello everyone,
Here's today's poser (well, I'm hoping it's a poser!)
Who was the last man to be knighted on the battlefield and why?
Good luck!
Katy
Not sure of dates - 174?, a trooper was knighted for retaking the Standard in a battle against the French. Hope someone else knows more.
If you mean 1743, you'd be right Silver Jenny...
Yorkshireman Tom Brown was knighted for re-taking his regiment's standard from the French at the Battle of Dettingen. He was knighted by George II...
I鈥檓 thinking that might be one of my trickiest questions yet !
Over to you if you fancy setting the next question...
Katy
I'll give it a try, Katy.
Where did a community cease to allow anyone to leave their village or to allow any visitors and why. What year did this happen.
Jenny,
That would be Eyam in Yorkshire in 1665. They imposed a quarantine on themselves to prevent the spread of the plague.
Correct, Harpo. The quarantine lasted for 14 months until the end of 1666.
Over to you.
In keeping with the plague theme: -
Which city, onetime seat of parliament, is associated with a chronicler who died of the plague and who presaged his own death in his last written entry?
The city is also associated with a kind of marble that is not marble; a witch; and a beer.
, in reply to message 7.
Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Friday, 4th November 2011
Is this Scotland, England or another country?
If Scotland - then I'll guess at Aberdeen.
Hi Vizzer,
Another country,
Harpo
, in reply to message 9.
Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Friday, 4th November 2011
Tricky!
I'm thinking maybe Bavaria or Bohemia or some such - but which city?
Pilsen?
Vizzer,
Focus more on western Europe. Think of William Congreve the English playwright,
Harpo
, in reply to message 11.
Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Friday, 4th November 2011
That's completely thrown me. Now I'm desperately thrashing around the Low Countries. Belgium?
Liege?
I'm thinking Ireland.
Kilkenny? It's called "the Marble City" but it's really limestone and I think there's a big Guiness brewery there. But a witch, a chronicler and a parliament? Umm
Meles
Apparently David Beatty (1st Sea Lord at the Battle of Jutland in 1916) was educated for a time in a school there.
Correct, Meles.
Congreve and Beatty were partly eductated at Kilkenny School or College.
Friar John Clyn of the Friars Minor in Kilkenny was the chronicler and author of the 鈥楢nnals of Ireland鈥. His most famous entry can be read at: . Scroll down to the heading: 鈥楾he spread of the Plague to Ireland鈥.
Here I give a fuller extract of his entry for the fateful year of 1348:-
鈥楾hat pestilence 鈥 was so contagious that whosoever touched the sick or the dead was immediately infected 鈥 many died of boils and abscesses, and pustules on their shins or under their armpits ; others died frantic with the pain in their head, and others spitting blood; that year was beyond measure wonderful, unusual, and in many things prodigious, yet it was sufficiently abundant and fruitful, however sickly and deadly; 鈥 The pestilence was rife in Kilkenny in Lent, for, from Christmas Day to the 6th day of March eight friars preachers died of it. Scarcely one alone ever died in a house. Commonly husband, wife, children, and servants, went the one way, the way of death.鈥
鈥楢nd I, Friar John Clyn, of the Order of Friars Minor, and of the convent of Kilkenny, wrote in this book those notable things, which happened in my time, which I saw with my eyes, or which I learned from persons worthy of credit ; and lest things worthy of remembrance should perish with time, and fall away from the memory of those who are to come after us, I, seeing these many evils, and the whole world lying, as it were, in the grip of evil, among the dead, waiting for death to come, as I have truly heard and examined, so have I reduced these things to writing ; and lest the writing should perish with the writer, and the work fail together with the workman, I leave parchment for continuing the work, if haply any man survive, and any of the race of Adam escape this pestilence and continue the work which I have commenced.鈥
Then follows one paragraph for 1349, containing the death and eulogy of Sir Fulco de la Frene, and then the copyist's brief entry: 鈥淗ere it seems the author died.鈥
Kilkenny is also associated with
Kilkenny beer [,
Kilkenny Marble [
and the witch, Dame Alice Kyteler [ ].
Oh, and there鈥檚 the Kilkenny Cats [.
, in reply to message 15.
Posted by Meles meles (U14993979) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
That wasn鈥檛 a very impressive win, I only got two out of the five clues and neither of those were the history ones, but OK then, try this:
What fruit might link a roman city, a certain waistcoated gentleman of very small stature, and a self-proclaimed whore?
Meles
, in reply to message 16.
Posted by hotmousemat (U2388917) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Is the Roman city Orange in Provence? It is the Orange in the title of Orange-Nassau, a prince of that house becoming our King William III.
William III was killed from the effects of being thrown from his horse when the horse stumbled on a molehill; moleskin being a traditional material for waistcoats...?
I am more confident that the self-proclaimed (Protestant) whore is Nell Gwyne who supposedly sold oranges before she got onto the celebrity circuit.
, in reply to message 17.
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Oh well done, hotmousemat, I'm sure you're right. I was also defeated by the little gentleman in black velvet! Cheers.
, in reply to message 17.
Posted by Meles meles (U14993979) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Well done hothousemat - dead right on all three counts..
Orange - the modern name of the Roman city of Arausio in Provence.
William of Orange died of pneumonia following a fall from his horse which had stumbled in a mole鈥檚 burrow, the said creature then becoming the subject of a Jacobite toast as: 鈥渢he little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat鈥.
Nell Gwynn worked as an orange-girl selling oranges to theatre audiences before becoming an actress and ultimately mistress to Charles II. One day when she was passing through the streets in her coach, the mob, mistaking her for her rival, the (catholic) Duchess of Portsmouth, started hurling abuse. Putting her head out of the coach window she said, smiling, 鈥淕ood people, you are mistaken - I am the Protestant whore.鈥
Over to you then
, in reply to message 19.
Posted by hotmousemat (U2388917) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Not difficult, but in honour of today's date:
Which Stuart king survived a gunpowder plot...briefly?
, in reply to message 20.
Posted by Temperance (U14455940) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, KIng Consort of Scotland?
Darnley managed to get out of the Old Provost's House at KIrk o' Fields just before a massive explosion reduced the place to a heap of rubble. But he ran straight into a bunch of determined assassins in the grounds - his "kinsmen" - who strangled him (and his valet).
, in reply to message 21.
Posted by hotmousemat (U2388917) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
That's the one. You do wonder if when King James learnt about the Gunpowder Plot he thought of his dad...
Your go.
, in reply to message 22.
Posted by Meles meles (U14993979) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Hi hothousemat,
Even before the true plot had been uncovered and the barrels of gunpowder had been found Lord Monteagle had received an anonymous letter warning him not to go to the opening of Parliament. The letter was deliberately vague and gave no details at all but when it was shown to James, the king said that he felt that it hinted at "some strategem of fire and powder". So I think he very much had his father鈥檚 death in mind.
Meles
, in reply to message 23.
Posted by Temperance (U14455940) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
OK.
5th November 1605 was the crucial date, but what warnings had been given on 19th September and on October 2nd that upsets or unpleasant events could be expected soon?
For a bonus point which Shakespeare play contains lines which (probably) refer to these dates?
, in reply to message 24.
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Are we talking heavenly portents here, comets and eclipses etc.? If we are, then the play must be Julius Caesar.
, in reply to message 25.
Posted by Temperance (U14455940) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
We are indeed talking heavenly portents, ferval, but not comets. Can you be a little more specific?
The play was not "Julius Caesar" (1599).
, in reply to message 26.
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
No, not without googling. I was sure it must have been Calpurnia's speech so worked backwards from there, should have known better.
Back to the drawing board!
, in reply to message 27.
Posted by Temperance (U14455940) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
It's Saturday, ferval, so you are officially allowed to google (research).
, in reply to message 27.
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
What a pity you have specified dates, there was an eclipse in the October of that year but, apparently, on the 12th not the 2nd and and then King Lear could have worked as being the play given the discussion therein.
I can't think of any other heavenly events right now.
, in reply to message 29.
Posted by Meles meles (U14993979) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
I know it鈥檚 probably considered 鈥榖ad form鈥 to come back to The Quiz having already posed a question but I can鈥檛 resist. Is it Henry IV? 鈥 The Percy family (much implicated in the gunpowder plot) appear a lot in Henry IV. No idea though for the signs and portents bit.
You'll have gathered that i'm slobbing in front of the PC today
Meles
, in reply to message 29.
Posted by Temperance (U14455940) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
That's it, ferval - well done!
According to Antonia Fraser ("The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605"), there was a double eclipse in the early autumn of 1605 - a lunar eclipse on 19th September, followed by a solar eclipse on October 2nd (her dates!).
"King Lear" is the play - thought to have been written during the first ten months of 1606. In Act 1 scene ii Gloucester says:
"These late eclipses of the sun and moon portend no good to us: though the wisdom of Nature can reason it thus and thus, yet Nature finds itself scourg'd by the sequent effects. Love cools, friendships fall off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason..."
Your go.
, in reply to message 31.
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
Let鈥檚 stick with things astronomical, portentous and eminently 'researchable' then.
Who is said to have tried to atone for a comet with 鈥楢ristocratic blood鈥?
Who thought that a comet was not a threat to him because, as he said, "I am bald"?
Who said a comet and 鈥榓 star like a sword鈥 foretold 鈥楩uture desolation鈥?
Here's hoping someone answers this quickly, I'm so happy to pass on the hot potato and get something new to puzzle over.
, in reply to message 5.
Posted by Small Town Girl (U1483784) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
> That would be Eyam in Yorkshire.
[Pedant Alert !]
Eyam is in Derbyshire.
STG
One - Nero
Three - Josephus?
Two - could be Julius Caesar, or could be Vespasian - incline towards Vespasian because Julius was supposedly very sensitive about his hair loss.
, in reply to message 34.
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Saturday, 5th November 2011
I knew I could rely on someone. Vespasian Ur-l, the comet had a long 'hairy' tail so he decided that it was the, presumably hisute, King of the Parthians who was the intended target.
Take it away sir.
"Fancy - twice a knight, and at your age"
Signal from / to whom, and referring to what?
STG
Eyam is in Derbyshire聽
Duly acknowledged and admonished.
My history may be sound but my geography has been known to be suspect at times!
Harpo
PS - Eyam enjoying the quiz questions. Like Meles Eyam slobbing in front of the PC today too!
C'mon folks - this is as easy as ABC, and requires only a little cunning, ham, and a touch of sight - Hynd, I hope.
Oh dear here I am yet again鈥.
Very addictive this quiz 鈥 especially when you鈥檙e supposed to be doing lots of emails and paperwork 鈥 but really just don鈥檛 want to do 鈥榚m! And its pouring with rain here, the garden is flooded, and the dog is asleep in a huge wet, shaggy pile on my feet so I can鈥檛 move.
鈥淔ancy - twice a knight, and at your age鈥
To get the ball rolling, I鈥檓 thinking obviously it鈥檚 a Sir something that gets a second knighthood, such as the Order of the Garter etc. Probably said (signalled you put 鈥 very significant methinks) to or from a 鈥渘aval man鈥 by the style and humour.
The style sounds a bit like Attlee who could be quite a wit. So as a complete guess how about Attlee in 1945, as new PM, sending a congratulatory message to Admiral Cunningham, who had been made knight of the Order of Bath in 1939 at outbreak of war, and was now retiring and being given Knight of the Thistle?
I鈥檒l admit I had to Wiki to find Cunningham鈥檚 honours.
Anywhere vaguely near the mark?
Meles
Honest I was just about to post 鈥 I鈥檇 worked out Cunningham all by myself (with only a little bit of Wiki help)
Right chuffed I am!
A B C - Andrew Browne Cunningham, Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, was involved - but as the sender rather than the recipient
Not so chuffed after all
Hey ho back to the drawing board.... still it's more fun than doing my paperwork and I always have trouble thinking up questions anyway.
Just another guess but it wasn't sent to Churchill by any chance when he got Order of the Garter.
Oh for goodness' sake - everyone knows the signal was sent to Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville by his chum Cunningham.
Or was it the other way round?
I think Meles Meles should get the next go.
Who were the admirals who used to send signals to one another in *Latin*, delighting all and sundry with their absolutely dreadful puns?
Sorry - that sounds like a question - it is merely a query.
Looks like you should be posing the question without googling or wiki I'd have never got Seymore.
Dunno about admirals but in the same vein who supposedly sent this (military) message:
Peccavi
I have sinned.
And I ment Sommerville not Seymore there..... deffinitely not with it this evening!
Sir Charles Napier.
Napier indeed having captured Sindh in 1843, as printed in Punch, so he may not actually have said it.
Over to you Temperance
Another form of signalese shorthand (which didn't work well with US Navy ships) was the biblical reference - a ship doing something rather badly might receive "John 11:35". IIRC Michael Hordern was in a Landing Ship convoy, and on two successive days, was way out of station, and received "Hebrews 13:8".
I'm sure this erudite company won't need the references explaining ....
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