The buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, such as pardons or benefices.
Simony
Fact of the Day
It is rumoured that the Queen Mother once went to Westminster Abbey after hours only to find them rehearsing her funeral.
Quote of the Day
"Were this the skeleton of the oldest man, then the oldest man was a freak
"
~ Mayer on the Neanderthal, 1864.
On This Day
43 BCE The assassination of Cicero, requested by Marc Antony. When his head was delivered to Anthony, his wife, Fulvia, spat on it and jabbed hairpins into his tongue.
1732 The Theatre Royal, now known as the Covent Garden Opera House, opened with a performance of the Beggar's Opera.
1787 Delaware became the first state of the modern United States.
1817 Rear-Admiral William Bligh died. He had been captain of HMS Bounty during the mutiny.
1941 The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American naval base a Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, killing 2,403.
1982 Charles Brooks Jr became the first person to be executed by lethal injection, with a huge dose of 'truth serum'
