On This Day
236 – Pope Fabian succeeds Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome.[4]
Pope Fabian (Latin: Fabianus) was the bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250,[4] succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit’s unexpected choice to become the next pope.[5] He was succeeded by Cornelius.
Most of his papacy was characterized by amicable relations with the imperial government, and the schism between the Roman congregations of Pontian and Hippolytus was ended. He divided Rome into diaconates and appointed secretaries to collect the records of the martyrs. He sent out seven “apostles to the Gauls” as missionaries, but probably did not baptize Emperor Philip the Arab as is alleged. He died a martyr at the beginning of the Decian persecution and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.[4][5]
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220 – Emperor Xian of Han is forced to abdicate the throne by Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi, ending the Han dynasty.[1]
Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220.[5][6]
Liu Xie was a son of Liu Hong (Emperor Ling) and was a younger half-brother of his predecessor, Liu Bian (Emperor Shao). In 189, at the age of eight, he became emperor after the warlord Dong Zhuo, who had seized control of the Han central government, deposed Emperor Shao and replaced him with Liu Xie. The newly enthroned Liu Xie, historically known as Emperor Xian, was in fact a puppet ruler under Dong Zhuo’s control. In 190, when a coalition of regional warlords launched a punitive campaign against Dong Zhuo in the name of freeing Emperor Xian, Dong Zhuo ordered the destruction of the imperial capital, Luoyang, and forcefully relocated the imperial capital along with its residents to Chang’an. After Dong Zhuo’s assassination in 192, Emperor Xian fell under the control of Li Jue and Guo Si, two former subordinates of Dong Zhuo. The various regional warlords formally acknowledged Emperor Xian’s legitimacy but never took action to save him from being held hostage.
In 195, Emperor Xian managed to escape from Chang’an and return to the ruins of Luoyang during a feud between Li Jue and Guo Si, where he soon became stranded. A year later, the warlord Cao Cao led his forces into Luoyang, received Emperor Xian, took him under his protection, and escorted him to Xu, where the new imperial capital was established. Although Cao Cao paid nominal allegiance to Emperor Xian, he was actually the de facto head of the central government. He skillfully used Emperor Xian as a “trump card” to bolster his legitimacy when he attacked and eliminated rival warlords in his quest to reunify the Han Empire under the central government’s rule. Cao Cao’s success seemed inevitable until the winter of 208–209, when he lost the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs against the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei. The battle paved the way for the subsequent emergence of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu.
In late 220, some months after Cao Cao’s death, Cao Cao’s successor, Cao Pi, forced Emperor Xian to abdicate the throne to him. He then established the state of Cao Wei with himself as the new emperor – an event marking the formal end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in China. The dethroned Emperor Xian received the noble title Duke of Shanyang (Chinese: 山陽公) from Cao Pi and spent the rest of his life in comfort and enjoyed preferential treatment. He died on 21 April 234, about 14 years after the fall of the Han dynasty.
Born On This Day
626 – Husayn ibn Ali the third Shia Imam (d. 680)[34]
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (Arabic: أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad’s daughter Fatima, as well as a younger brother of Hasan ibn Ali.[8] He is claimed to be the third Imam of Shia Islam after his brother, Hasan, and before his son, Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin. Being a grandson of the prophet, he is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt. He is also considered to be a member of the Ahl al-Kisa, and a participant in the event of Mubahala. Muhammad described him and his brother, Hasan, as “the leaders of the youth of Paradise.”[9][10]
During the caliphate of Ali, Husayn accompanied him in wars. After the assassination of Ali, he obeyed his brother in recognizing Hasan–Muawiya treaty, in spite of being suggested to do otherwise. In the nine-year period between Hasan’s abdication in AH 41 (660 CE) and his death in AH 49 (669 CE), Hasan and Husayn retreated to Medina, trying to keep aloof from political involvement for or against Mu’awiya.[11][12] After the death of Hasan, when Iraqis turned to Husayn, concerning an uprising, Husayn instructed them to wait as long as Mu’awiya was alive due to Hasan’s peace treaty with him.[11] Prior to his death, Mu’awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan–Muawiya treaty.[10] When Mu’awiya died in 680, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to do so. As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60 (679 CE).[10][13] There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, invited him to Kufa and asked him to be their Imam and pledged their allegiance to him.[10] On Husayn’s way to Kufa with a retinue of about 70 men, his caravan was intercepted by a 1,000-strong army of the caliph at some distance from Kufa. He was forced to head north and encamp in the plain of Karbala on 2 October, where a larger Umayyad army of 4,000[a] arrived soon afterwards. Negotiations failed after the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad refused Husayn safe passage without submitting to his authority, a condition declined by Husayn. Battle ensued on 10 October during which Husayn was killed along with most of his relatives and companions, while his surviving family members were taken prisoner. The battle was followed by the Second Fitna, during which the Iraqis organized two separate campaigns to avenge the death of Husayn; the first one by the Tawwabin and the other one by Mukhtar al-Thaqafi and his supporters.
The Battle of Karbala galvanized the development of the pro-Alid[b] party (Shi’at Ali) into a unique religious sect with its own rituals and collective memory. It has a central place in the Shi’a history, tradition, and theology, and has frequently been recounted in Shi’a literature. For the Shi’a, Husayn’s suffering and death became a symbol of sacrifice in the struggle for right against wrong, and for justice and truth against injustice and falsehood. It also provides the members of the Shi’a faith with a catalog of heroic norms. The battle is commemorated during an annual ten-day period during the Islamic month of Muharram by many Muslims especially Shi’a, culminating on tenth day of the month, known as the Day of Ashura. On this day, Shi’a Muslims mourn, hold public processions, organize religious gathering, beat their chests and in some cases self-flagellate. Sunni Muslims likewise regard the incident as a historical tragedy; Husayn and his companions are widely regarded as martyrs by both Sunni and Shi’a Muslims.
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1475 – Pope Leo X (d. 1521)[17]
Pope Leo X (Italian: Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici, 11 December 1475 – 1 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.[1]
Born into the prominent political and banking Medici family of Florence, Giovanni was the second son of Lorenzo de’ Medici, ruler of the Florentine Republic, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1489. Following the death of Pope Julius II, Giovanni was elected pope after securing the backing of the younger members of the Sacred College. Early on in his rule he oversaw the closing sessions of the Fifth Council of the Lateran, but struggled to implement the reforms agreed. In 1517 he led a costly war that succeeded in securing his nephew Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici as Duke of Urbino, but reduced papal finances.
In Protestant circles, Leo is associated with granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter’s Basilica, a practice that was soon challenged by Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. Leo rejected the Protestant Reformation, and his Papal bull of 1520, Exsurge Domine, condemned Luther’s condemnatory stance, rendering ongoing communication difficult.
He borrowed and spent money without circumspection and was a significant patron of the arts. Under his reign, progress was made on the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica and artists such as Raphael decorated the Vatican rooms. Leo also reorganised the Roman University, and promoted the study of literature, poetry and antiquities. He died in 1521 and is buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. He was the last pope not to have been in priestly orders at the time of his election to the papacy.
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FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
This Day in Tech History
Interesting Facts
By Angela Haupt, Time: The Daily Habits of Happiness Experts
By Julie Bjelland, LMFT, Tiny Buddha: 10 Highly Sensitive People Share What Helps Them Take the Sting Out of Criticism
So the next time you receive criticism, I want you to remember this example and know that criticism has nothing to do with us personally and usually comes from a painful place inside another. People are going to have many different types of opinions. What’s important is that we don’t soak them in.
Julie Bjelland, LMFT
Good grief! “Buns of Stihl”~
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The History Guy: Ford’s Disaster: The Pinto
Recipes
By Ronna Farley: Sharp Cheddar Knot Rolls
Homemade on a Weeknight: Loose Meat Sandwiches
By Trisha Yearwood, Food Network: Cheesy Beef and Potato Hash
Homemade on a Weeknight: 15 One-Pot Weeknight Recipes
Just the Recipe: Paste the URL to any recipe, click submit, and it’ll return literally JUST the recipe- no ads, no life story of the writer, no nothing EXCEPT the recipe.
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Beef June 16, 2026Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Beef is what you make when you want a big batch of crowd-pleasing food with relatively little effort. The succulent pulled beef is smothered in an incredible homemade barbecue sauce, and there’s so many ways to serve it – pile into sliders, heap onto plates or stuff into baked potatoes! Easy... […]Nagi
- Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel June 12, 2026Firstly, thank you for the Jaffle love. 🥰 Hit the Jaffle button above to see what he got up to today! Secondly – cake. Specifically, Coffee Cake! A classic crumb cake with a jammy cinnamon ribbon, loaded with lots and lots of nubbly, extra crunchy cinnamon streusel. Outrageously good. Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel This... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 18 June 18, 2026Picture of the day Red-headed weaver (Anaplectes rubriceps leuconotus) male building nest in the Soysambu Conservancy, Kenya.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 17 June 17, 2026Picture of the day Lt. Col. Nick Rutgers preparing his F-15 Eagle for flight
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Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember. In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
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