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On This Day
1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford’s Tower, York.
York Castle in the city of York, England, is a fortified complex comprising, over the last nine centuries, a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings on the south side of the River Foss. The now-ruinous keep of the medieval Norman castle is commonly referred to as Clifford’s Tower. Built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of York, the castle suffered a tumultuous early history before developing into a major fortification with extensive water defences. After a major explosion in 1684 rendered the remaining military defences uninhabitable, York Castle continued to be used as a jail and prison until 1929.
The first motte and bailey castle on the site was built in 1068 following the Norman conquest of York. After the destruction of the castle by rebels and a Viking army in 1069, York Castle was rebuilt and reinforced with extensive water defences, including a moat and an artificial lake. York Castle formed an important royal fortification in the north of England.
In 1190, 150 local Jews were killed in a pogrom in the castle keep; most of them committed suicide in order not to fall into the hands of the mob. Henry III rebuilt the castle in stone in the middle of the 13th century, creating a keep with a unique quatrefoil design, supported by an outer bailey wall and a substantial gatehouse. During the Scottish wars between 1298 and 1338, York Castle was frequently used as the centre of royal administration across England, as well as an important military base of operations.
York Castle fell into disrepair by the 15th and 16th centuries, becoming used increasingly as a jail for both local felons and political prisoners. By the time of Elizabeth I the castle was estimated to have lost all of its military value but was maintained as a centre of royal authority in York. The outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 saw York Castle being repaired and refortified, playing a part in the Royalist defence of York in 1644 against Parliamentary forces. York Castle continued to be garrisoned until 1684, when an explosion destroyed the interior of Clifford’s Tower. The castle bailey was redeveloped in a neoclassical style in the 18th century as a centre for county administration in Yorkshire, and was used as a jail and debtors’ prison. Prison reform in the 19th century led to the creation of a new prison built in a Tudor Gothic style on the castle site in 1825; used first as a county and then as a military prison, this facility was demolished in 1935. By the 20th century the ruin of Clifford’s Tower had become a well-known tourist destination and national monument; today the site is owned by English Heritage and open to the public. The other remaining buildings serve as the York Castle Museum and the Crown Court.
Born On This Day
1799 – Anna Atkins, English botanist and photographer (d. 1871)
Anna Atkins (née Children; 16 March 1799 – 9 June 1871[1]) was an English botanist and photographer. She is often considered the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images.[2][3][4] Some sources claim that she was the first woman to create a photograph.[3][4][5][6]
Early life
Atkins was born in Tunbridge, Kent, England in 1799.[1] Her mother Hester Anne Children “didn’t recover from the effects of childbirth” and died in 1800.[5] Anna became close to her father John George Children.[7] Anna “received an unusually scientific education for a woman of her time.”[8] Her detailed engravings of shells were used to illustrate her father’s translation of Lamarck’s Genera of Shells.[8][9]
In 1825 she married John Pelly Atkins, a London West India merchant, and they moved to Halstead Place, the Atkins family home in Sevenoaks, Kent.[8] They had no children.[10] Atkins pursued her interests in botany, for example by collecting dried plants. These were probably used as photograms later.[8] She was elected a member of the London Botanical Society in 1839.[11]
Photography
John George Children and John Pelly Atkins were friends of William Henry Fox Talbot.[8] Anna Atkins learned directly from Talbot about two of his inventions related to photography: the “photogenic drawing” technique (in which an object is placed on light-sensitized paper which is exposed to the sun to produce an image) and calotypes.[12][13]
Atkins was known to have had access to a camera by 1841.[8] Some sources claim that Atkins was the first female photographer.[3][4][5][6][14] Other sources name Constance Fox Talbot as the first female photographer.[15][16][17] As no camera-based photographs by Anna Atkins[8] nor any photographs by Constance Talbot[16] survive, the issue may never be resolved.
FYI
By Associated Press: Veteran Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter Dies
Dorothy Louise McIntosh Slaughter (August 14, 1929 – March 16, 2018) was an American politician who served as a United States representative from New York from 1987 to 2018.
Slaughter was born in Lynch, Kentucky, and studied microbiology and public health at the University of Kentucky. After becoming involved in politics as a member of the Democratic Party, she was elected to a seat in the New York State Assembly in 1982, and Congress in 1986. Slaughter’s district was based in Rochester and included most of surrounding Monroe County; it was numbered as the 30th District from 1987 to 1993, the 28th District from 1993 to 2013, and the 25th district from 2013 to 2018.
She was the Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee from 2007 until 2011, and served as ranking minority member of the Committee from 2005 to 2007, and from 2011 until her death.[1] While in Congress, she supported legislation including the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. At the time of her death in March 2018, Slaughter was the oldest Member of the House of Representatives.[2]
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wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for November 22 November 22, 2024Picture of the day Sanderling (Calidris alba) looking for food on the beach of Westkapelle, Netherlands
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for November 21 November 21, 2024Picture of the day This technical illustration shows early hot air balloon designs. The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on this day in 1783.
Recipes
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