One of most powerful political organisations in the late Middle Ages. Their ranks were filled by the richest aristocratic families of Europe. Formed in Jerusalem in the 11th Century to provide hospital care and protection for Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. Still exist today though split into many Orders.
Knights Hospitallers
Fact of the Day
According to FIFA, football was played in Han-dynasty China (206 BCE - 220 CE): players kicked a leather ball filled with feathers into a net supported by bamboo rods.
Quote of the Day
"If your estate be not sufficient for you; be sufficient for your estate.
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~ Henry Slingsby's advice to his second son while awaiting his execution,1652
On This Day
1701 The deposed James II (or VII of Scotland) died in exile from a brain haemorrhage. He was the last Catholic king of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1982 The massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children began in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon. It continued for two days.
1992 The British government was forced to withdraw the pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) on what became known as 'Black Wednesday'.
1994 The BBC lifted a ban on the voices of Sinn Fein and other Irish republican and loyalist representatives being broadcast.
