Tidbits

Historical Tidbits

Fairchild Surname: The name Fairchild means "friendly one" or "filled with beauty". It can also be translated as "pretty child". The surname was recorded in Oxfordshire, England. Vairshield became Fairchild. Vair is a heraldic tincture. In High Laver, Essex in England, Thomas Fairchild (a merchant) was born in 1610. His parents were William and Susan Fairchild.

Sometimes French idiomatic compounds were literally translated into Saxon, which resulted in terms that had totally different meanings. The name Beaufiz met with Fairchild. In 1485, there was a John Beaufitz who was Sheriff of Warwick.

Elisabeth: The name Elisabeth means "my God is an oath". In the Old Testament of the Bible, the Hebrew form of this name appears when referring to Aaron's wife. In the New Testament, this is the name of John the Baptist's mother. In 12th century Europe, this name became more common due to King Andrew II's daughter, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who was a Franciscan nun and lived in poverty. Other historical figures with this first name include Elizabeth of York (mother to England's King Henry VII), England's Queen Elizabeth I, and Elizabeth Bathory (Transylvanian countess and murderess).

Lynnaea: Lynna is Teutonic for "a cascade". Lynna is also a form of the Welsh name, Lynn, which means "lake". About the eighteenth century, Lynnaea was used in French novels.

Historical Tidbits:

-- In October of 1066, Duke William of Normandy (William the Bastard) defeated and killed King Harold of England. King Harold was the last Anglo-Saxon king.

-- The Domesday Book was created by Duke William. It was the first time that people were taxed on what they owned, and it also stated what you were worth.

-- Normans brought feudalism to England. Feudalism has caste, property, and military systems. It's based on the church's hierarchy.

-- Magna Carta of 1215 weakened political power in Church.

-- The Bubonic Plague, also known as "Black Death", swept through in 1348. It ended up killing off 1/3 of England's population. Afterwards, there were labor shortages, serfs' freedom, and the end to feudalism.

-- The One Hundred Years War between France and England lasted from 1337 until 1453. The yeomen were the nucleus of the English armies. The yeomen had yard-long arrows which flew over castle walls and murdered the French knights.

-- In December of 1170, four knights killed Thomas a Becket, who was archbishop of Canterbury. He was later named a saint.

-- The Middle Ages ended around the time that King Richard III's naked body (dressed up like a turkey) was thrown into an unmarked grave in 1485.

-- The new energy, referred to as the Renaissance, was first started in Italy between 14-16th centuries.

-- In Germany, Gutenburg created the printing press in 1455. William Caxton used it in England.

-- In 1516, Thomas More wrote the book Utopia.

-- Reformation: The authority of Pope and Italian churchmen rejected. By the 1530's, there is an open break between the Roman Catholic Church and England. Then, new religious ideas developed. A monk by the name of Martin Luther based his teachings on the Bible. King Henry VIII dismissed the Catholic faith and created the Church of England in 1533. The Pope had not granted Henry his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. Henry was desperate for a male heir and married Anne Boleyn. T. More had remained loyal to the Pope and was soon beheaded. Puritans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Dissenters, and Nonconformists were created.

-- King Henry VIII was known as the "Renaissance man". He created the Royal Navy. He also wrote poetry, played instruments, was an athlete and hunter, and patronized humanistic learning.

-- King Henry VIII is known for having six wives: Catherine of Aragon (divorced), Anne Boleyn (beheaded), Jane Seymour (died), Anne of Cleves (divorced), Catherine Howard (beheaded), and Catherine Parr (survived).

-- King Henry VIII had three children: Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. Edward died of tuberculosis while still a teenager. Mary took the thrown in 1553 and murdered 300 of her subjects. Mary died about five years later in 1558, without producing an heir. Then, the last of his legitimate children was renowned as the "Virgin Queen". Elizabeth restored the Church of England, and then the Pope excommunicated her. She was nicknamed the "Virgin Queen" because she refused to marry and produce an heir. She had seen and heard about her parent's marriage, among other reasons. Mary Stuart, "Queen of Scots", was Elizabeth's cousin. While in exile from her homeland of Scotland, Mary had made plots to take Elizabeth's life, or at least her thrown. Mary was then placed under house arrest for twenty years and then beheaded, under Elizabeth's orders.

Did You Know?

The words "In God We Trust" were not consistently used on all United States currency until 1956, during the McCarthy era.

The Treaty of Tripoli, passed by the U.S. Senate in 1797, read in part: "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was written during the Washington administration, and sent to the Senate during the Adams administration.

In sixteenth century France, the start of the new year was observed on April first. Then, in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar which had the new year beginning on January first. There were some people who had not heard or did not believe the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April first. Other people played pranks and tricks on those people. They soon became known as "April Fools".