Where land, titles and wealth were inherited by the oldest son.
Primogeniture
Fact of the Day
In 1794, women in a village on the Loire responded to a revolutionary talk on divinity by giving the speaker a mass moonie.
Quote of the Day
"I have offended God and mankind in not having laboured at my art as I ought to have done
"
~ Leonardo da Vinci, speaking during his final illness to Francis I
On This Day
1297 Scottish hero William Wallace defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
1649 Cromwell's siege of the Irish town of Drogheda ended with the massacre of about 2,800 soldiers and at least 700 civilians.
1878 268 miners were killed in an explosion at the Prince of Wales Colliery in Abercarn, Wales.
1929 The state of Georgia executed Homer Simpson.
1978 Medical photographer Janet Parker became the last person in the world to die from smallpox after accidental exposure in a lab.
2001 The world stood still as it witnessed attacks on, and the destruction of, the World Trade Center. The attacks resulted in 2,996 immediate deaths.