On This Day
836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.
The Pactum Sicardi was a treaty signed on 4 July 836 between the Greek Duchy of Naples, including its satellite city-states of Sorrento and Amalfi, represented by Bishop John IV and Duke Andrew II, and the Lombard Prince of Benevento, Sicard. The treaty was an armistice ending a war between the Greek states and Benevento, during which the Byzantine Empire had not intervened on behalf of its subjects. It was supposed to last five years between the Lombard prince and the Neapolitans.[1] It was a temporary armistice and was distinguished from other treaties such as Pactum Warmundi, which established temporary alliances.[2]
The political situation in the Campania region during the ninth- and tenth-century was described as unstable and typified by constant tensions between and within the neighbouring polities.[1] The Pactum Sicardi assumed the form of a multi-clause treaty that probably aimed to address all possible causes of conflict between the two signatories.[3]
By the treaty Prince Sicard recognised the rights of merchants from the three cities to travel through his domains. He made navigation up the rivers Patria, Volturno, and Minturno open to merchants, responsales (envoys), and milities (soldiers). Sicard did not give up his powers of enforcement over either the illegal slave trade (in Lombards) or the trafficking in stolen merchandise. He did abolish the lex naufragii (law of shipwreck) by which the landowner on whose shores a wrecked ship or its cargo washed up was the possessor of that wealth: “If a ship is wrecked because of the fault [of the men aboard] the goods found in it are to be returned to the one to whome they belonged and still belong.” This measure, protecting the property rights of shipping companies and merchants, was “far in advance of these times”.[4]
Despite these efforts, a war began again in 837, when Duke Andrew of Naples called in Saracens as allies against Benevento. In 838 Sicard captured Amalfi by sea. The Pactum Sicardi has indicated the interest of the parties on this territory, particularly with the fragmentary reference of the treaty, which detailed an interest on both sides to control the activities of the Amalfitans.[1]
1852 – Frederick Douglass delivers his “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech in Rochester, New York.[1]
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”[1][2] was a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society.[3] The speech is perhaps the most widely known of all of Douglass’s writings save his autobiographies. Many copies of one section of it, beginning in paragraph 32, have been circulated online.[4] Due to this and the variant titles given to it in various places, and the fact that it is called a July Fourth Oration but was actually delivered on July 5, some confusion has arisen about the date and contents of the speech. The speech has since been published under the above title in The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One, Vol. 2. (1982).[5]
While referring to the celebrations of Independence Day in the United States the day before, the speech uses biting irony and bitter rhetoric, and acute textual analysis of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Christian Bible, to advance a values-based argument against the continued existence of slavery in the United States.[6] Douglass orates that positive statements about American values, such as liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because of their lack of liberty, citizenship, and freedom. As well, Douglass referred not only to the captivity of enslaved people, but to the merciless exploitation and the cruelty and torture that slaves were subjected to in the United States.[7] Rhetoricians R. L. Heath and D. Waymer called this topic the “paradox of the positive” because it highlights how something positive and meant to be positive can also exclude individuals.[7]
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1560 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
The Treaty of Edinburgh (also known as the Treaty of Leith) was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I of England with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, and the French representatives of King Francis II of France (husband of Mary Queen of Scots) to formally conclude the siege of Leith and replace the Auld Alliance with France with a new Anglo-Scottish accord, while maintaining the peace between England and France agreed by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis.
Born On This Day
1656 – John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720)
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Leake (4 July 1656 – 21 August 1720)[1] was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Texel during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. He then distinguished himself when he led the convoy that broke the barricading boom at Culmore Fort thereby lifting the siege of Derry during the Williamite War in Ireland. As a captain he saw action in some of the heaviest fighting (70 of his men were killed) at the Battle of Barfleur and was also involved in a successful attack on the French ships at the Battle of La Hogue during the Nine Years’ War.
Leake went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Newfoundland and then, as a flag officer, served as Second-in-Command to Admiral George Rooke at the Capture of Gibraltar and he commanded the vanguard in the Battle of Málaga during the War of the Spanish Succession. He later returned to Gibraltar with a combined English, Dutch and Portuguese force of 35 ships and defeated Baron de Pointis at the Battle of Cabrita Point.
Leake also served under Sir Cloudesley Shovell and the Earl of Peterborough at the siege of Barcelona and was present at the capitulation of the city by French and Spanish forces. A further siege took place between when a Franco-Spanish army led by Philip V of Spain laid siege to Barcelona in an attempt to recapture it. The Franco-Spanish army abandoned the siege when Leake arrived. Leake later captured Sardinia and landed the Earl of Stanhope with forces that took the well-fortified harbour of Port Mahon on Minorca.
Leake served as Member of Parliament for Rochester from 1708 to 1715 and as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1710 to 1712.
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1857 – Clara Zetkin, German theorist and activist (d. 1933)
Clara Zetkin (/ˈzɛtkɪn/; German: [ˈtsɛtkiːn]; née Eißner [ˈaɪsnɐ]; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women’s rights.[1]
Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany.[2] She then joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and its far-left wing, the Spartacist League. This later became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which she represented in the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1933.[3]
1701 – Mary, Countess of Harold, English aristocrat and philanthropist (d. 1785)[14]
Lady Mary Tufton (6 July 1701 – 19 February 1785)[1] was an English aristocrat and philanthropist.
She was the youngest child of Thomas Tufton, 6th Earl of Thanet, a politician, who was himself noted for his charitable giving.[2] She was named in her father’s will as an executor and administrator of the trust he established to provide for charities,[3][4] including a school for poor children.[5]
She married Anthony Grey, Earl of Harold, on 17 February 1718.[6] Grey died at the age of 27 by choking on an ear of barley, on 21 July 1723.[7][8]
She was one of the group of aristocratic women who signed Thomas Coram’s petition to King George II to establish the Foundling Hospital, a place of safety for babies and children at risk of abandonment.[8][9][10] She signed on 6 November 1733.[2][9] She the group in supporting an increase in systematised social welfare initiatives. In an essay which celebrates the role of women in the history of the Foundling Hospital, Elizabeth Einberg states that the women not only lent it their social cachet, but could ‘highlight the Christian, virtuous and humanitarian aspects of such an endeavour’, making it ‘one of the most fashionable charities of the day’.[11]
Her father’s will had stipulated that, if she remarried, she would cease being an executor of his trust and charities. However, at the time of her marriage to John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower on 16 May 1736, she was the only surviving executor. She petitioned for, and was granted, letters of administration that enabled her to continue in that role. She provided financial support to other charities, including almshouses in Vauxhall for seven poor widows, which she had repaired and for which she purchased shares to provide them with an ongoing income, and a school for poor children in Brighton, Sussex (or Brighthelmston, as it was known in 1771). One hundred and forty years after her death, these charities were still known as ‘the Countess of Gower’s Charity’.[3][12][13][14] She also provided additional income for clergy livings at several churches in Lancashire and Cumbria,[15][16] for which she was remembered as “that great friend of poor livings”.[17]
At the news of her marriage to Leveson-Gower, a contemporary commented ‘everybody thinks him a lucky man to get a woman of her understanding and fortune […] but love removes great obstacles.'[18] At the time her jointure from her first marriage was £2000, a significant fortune.[19]
FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
Red Skelton’s Pledge of Allegiance
Voices of History: G U N S — Protecting Our 2nd Amendment, (must see video). PLEASE SHARE with a friend and loved one.
The History Guy: July 4, 1826
Just do not let them get ahold of you or your dog~
By Benji Jones, Vox: Otters are thriving in … Iowa? My home state seemed far from a natural paradise. Then I found an otter.
By Jason Braverman, 11Alive: Georgia Guidestones damaged by explosive device, GBI says The Georgia Guidestones are inscribed with ten guiding principles, each etched in stone using languages from around the world.
Mr. Max T.V.: Happy Independence Day
MsMojo: Top 10 Songs You Didn’t Know Were Written By Dolly Parton
Verne Pomraning: Washington to Alaska via the Inside Passage Trip
Recipes
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- Creamy Goat Cheese & Roasted Red Pepper Risoni (orzo) January 15, 2025The name’s a tongue twister, but this dish is a breeze to make! Goat cheese and roasted red peppers are the shortcuts for this creamy, smoky risoni recipe. Under $20 for 4 servings, ready in 20 minutes. Serve as a meal or side — it’s like a Mediterranean risotto! Goat Cheese & Roasted Red Pepper... […]Nagi
- Popcorn chicken January 10, 2025This is a KFC popcorn chicken copycat recipe. It’s downright addictive – I challenge you to stop at just one! Surprisingly quick, they take just 2 minutes to cook, and just shallow fried at that. Popcorn chicken Many people have tried this popcorn chicken now, including an entire crew of builders at my home which... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 16 January 16, 2025Picture of the day Focus stacked image (composed of 59 frames) of a trilobite of the species Austerops speculator found in Jebel Oufatene, Morocco. It lived in the early Devonian period and is approximately 400 million years old. The length of the fossil is about 3 centimetres (1.2 in).
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 15 January 15, 2025Picture of the day Cluster of Breath roots (pneumatophores) of a Taxodium distichum at the water's edge. Focus stack of 4 photos.
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