This Day in History – August 4
August 4 is marked by all sorts of events, starting from the World’s first public smoking ban and the end of the Age of Chivalry in England, to the birth of ‘most dangerous woman in Europe’. If you want to learn what important things happened in the (Royal) History on August 4, read on.
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August 4, 1265 – The Battle of Evesham, one of the two most important Wars during the Second Barons’ War
The army of Prince Edward (future Edward I of England) defeated the army of rebellious Barons led by Simon de Monrfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. Outnumbered two to one, Monrfort had no illusions about the outcome of the battle: when he saw the advancing army of Prince Edward, he allegedly exclaimed “May the Lord have mercy upon our souls, as our bodies are theirs.”
The battle itself was over fairly quickly but the massacre continued for some time. The memory of the disastrous Battle of Lewes, fought in 1264, was still fresh in the memories of the Royalist forces: they showed no mercy or compassion and killed most of the rebels who wanted to surrender. According to the legend King Henry, who was in de Monrfort’s custody and was wearing his colours, barely escaped death himself: the enraged soldiers killed everyone who was in de Monfort’s colours and if he hadn’t been recognized by a former rebel, he would have been murdered as well. The massacre that followed the Battle of Evesham is referred to as an ‘episode of noble bloodletting unprecedented since the Conquest’. As most of the rebels were brutally murdered, rather than imprisoned, the Battle is often called “the end of the age of chivalry in England”.
August 4, 1521 – Birth of Pope Urban VII
Pope Urban’s papacy lasted only 12 days, thus making his reign the shortest in the history of Papacy. Despite this, he managed to introduce one memorable decree – world’s first known public smoking ban. Pope Urban threatened to excommunicate anyone who ‘took tobacco inside a church, whether it be by chewing, smoking or sniffing’.
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