the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
In England this style is called Geometric Decorated Gothic.
It can be seen at many English and French Cathedrals, for example Lincoln cathedral in England and Notre Dame in Paris.
Flamboyant arch
Some Gothic windows have designs in the tracery, or even in the top of the window itself, that rises up like a flame.
This is called Flamboyant Gothic.
Tracery like this makes a very rich and lively effect.
Some of the most beautiful and famous windows of Europe have this type of tracery.
It can be seen at St Stephen's Vienna, Sainte Chapelle in Paris, at the Cathedrals of Limoges and Rouen in France, and at Milan Cathedral in Italy.
In England the most famous windows like this are the West Window of York Minster with its design based on the Sacred Heart, the East Window at Carlisle Cathedral and the East window of Selby Abbey.
Architectural Historians sometimes argue about which of these is the most beautiful.
Flame-shaped arches are not as strong as ordinary pointed arches.
It is never used for making a vaulted roof.
If this shape is used to make a doorway, there is generally another stronger arch around it.
Another way is to make a square topped door that has Flamboyant decoration over the top.
In France there are many doorways, both in churches and in houses, that are like this.
They are rare in England but there is one at Rochester Cathedral.
In England the Flamboyant style was used wall arcading and niches.
The most famous examples in are in the Lady Chapel at Ely, the Screen at Lincoln and the facade of Exeter Cathedral.
In German and Spanish Gothic architecture the Flamboyant style is often used for opnwork stone screens.
The famous "pulpit" in Vienna Cathedral is made like this.
Depressed arch
The Depressed arch is wide and looks as if it has been pushed almost flat.
When arches like this are used to make great big windows they need to be supported by many tall thin vertical shafts and horizontal transoms, so that the window looks as if it has been divided up into a grid (lots of rectangles).
This sort of decoration is used on walls as well.
In England the style is called Perpendicular Gothic style.
At Gloucester Cathedral the Perpendicular East Window is said to be as large as a tennis court.
There are three very famous large chapels in this style- King's College Chapel, Cambridge; St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle; Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey.
The other famous example is Bath Abbey.
A Gothic cathedral was designed to be like a model of the universe.
Everything about the building was designed to tell a message about God.
Above the main door is often a sculpture of Jesus on a throne, judging the people of the Earth.
Many pictures and sculptures are there to remind people to live good lives because they never know what will happen next.
Many churches were very richly decorated, both inside and out.
the statues were often painted in bright colours but nowadays only tiny bits remain at Chartres cathedral and some other places.
Wooden ceilings were usually brightly coloured.
Sometimes the stone columns were painted as well.
Regional differences
Different building materials were found in different parts of Europe.
This is one of the differences in the architecture between different places.
In France, there was limestone.
It was good for building because it was soft to cut, but got much harder when the air and rain got on it.
It was usually a pale grey colour.
France also had beautiful white limestone from Caen which was perfect for making very fine carvings.
In Northern Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Baltic countries and northern Poland there was no good building stone, but there was clay for making bricks and tiles.
So many of these countries have Brick Gothic churches and even Brick Gothic castles.
In Italy, limestone was used for city walls and castles, but brick was used for other buildings.
Because Italy had lots of beautiful marble in many different colours, many buildings have fronts or "facades" decorated in coloured marble.
Some churches have very rough brick facades because the marble was never put on.
Florence Cathedral, for example, did not get its marble facade until the 1800s.
In some parts of Europe, there were many tall straight trees that were good for making very large roofs.
But in England, by the 1400s, the long straight trees were running out.
Many of the trees were used for building ships.
The architects had to think of a new way to make a wide roof from short pieces of timber.
That is how they invented the hammer-beam roofs which are one of the beautiful features seen in many old English churches.
French cathedrals, and those in Germany and Belgium are often very high, both inside and outside.
The transepts do not stick out far.
The facades in France nearly always have three doors, a rose window and two towers.
There are often facades with doors on the transepts as well as the front.
The thing that makes English cathedrals different from the others is that they are long, and  look horizontal, like big ocean liners.
English cathedrals nearly all took hundreds of years to build, and every part is in a style that is quite different to the next part. (
Only Salisbury Cathedral was not built in lots of styles.)
The West window is very large and is never a rose window.
There is nearly always a tower at the middle of the building, which may have a big spire.
Germany and the Holy Roman Empire
In Germany the towers and spires are often enormously large.
Sometimes they are so big that it was impossible to finish them until modern times.
The spires are quite different to English spires because they are made of lacy "openwork".
There are also many hallenkirke (or hall-churches) which have no clerestorey windows.
The nave and the aisles are about the same height.
Spain and Portugal
Like an English Cathedral, a Spanish or Portuguese Gothic Cathedral is often built in many different styles.
They are often wide.
Spanish cathedrals often have chapels all around them.
The roof often has many different types of towers and spires.
Often the central towers are polygonal.
Italian Gothic cathedrals use lots of colour, both outside and inside.
On the outside, the facade is often decorated with marble.
On the inside, the walls are often painted plaster.
The columns and arches are often decorated with bright coloured paint.
There are also mosaics with gold backgrounds and beautifully tiled floors is geometric patterns.
The facades often have an open porch with a wheel windows above it.
There is often a dome at the centre of the building.
The bell tower is hardly ever attached to the building, because Italy has quite a few earthquakes.
The windows are not as large as in northern Europe and, although stained glass windows are often found, the favorite way of decorating the churches is fresco (wall painting).
, from Project Gutenberg
GothicMed.
A virtual museum of Mediterranean Gothic architecture
Photographs of 1,700 gothic and romanesque churches
de:Gotik#Baukunst
A cathedral is a Christian church that is the seat of a Bishop.
As cathedrals are the seat of a bishop, they are central church of a diocese.
Only those Christian denominations that have bishops have cathedrals.
Cathedrals can be found in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican as well as some Lutheran churches.
In the Greek Orthodox Church, the terms "kathedrikos naos" (literally: "cathedral shrine") and "metropolis" (literally "mother city") are both used to describe the same thing. "
Metropolis" is more common, but both terms are officially used.
There are variations on the use of the term "cathedral"; for example, some pre-Reformation cathedrals in Scotland now within the Church of Scotland still retain the term cathedral, despite the Church's Presbyterian polity which does not have bishops.
As cathedrals are often particularly impressive buildings, the term is often used incorrectly to refer to any large important church.
Some diocese, however, have other churches that are bigger than the cathedral.
Several cathedrals in Europe, such as Strasbourg, and in England at York, Lincoln and Southwell, are referred to as Minster (German: Münster) churches, from Latin monasterium, because the establishments were served by canons living in community or may have been an abbey, prior to the Reformation.
The other kind of great church in Western Europe is the abbey.
The word cathedral is derived from the Latin noun "cathedra" (seat or chair), and refers to the presence of the bishop's or archbishop's chair or throne.
In the ancient world, the chair was the symbol of a teacher and thus of the bishop's role as teacher, and also of an official presiding as a magistrate and thus of the bishop's role in governing a diocese.
The word cathedral, though now grammatically used as a noun, is originally the adjective in the phrase "cathedral church", from the Latin "ecclesia cathedralis".
The seat marks the place set aside in the prominent church of the diocese for the head of that diocese and is therefore a major symbol of authority.
Cathedrals which are not the seat of a bishop
Some churches are called cathedral, but they are not the seat of a bishop.
This  may be because the way the church is organised changed over time.
This is the case for Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Poprad, in Slovakia, for example.
In Slovak language, this church is called cathedral.
It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spiš.
This diocese was re-organised several times.
Currently, the cathedral of the diocese is St. Martin's Cathedral (Spišská Kapitula).
Churches that formerly were a diocesan seat may be called concathedral, co-cathedral, or pro-cathedral.
A patron saint is someone who has devoted their whole life to something greater than themselves.
They are someone who worked hard to make the world a better place.
Catholics traditionally take a name of a patron saint to help them throughout their life.
Saint Andrew (Scotland, Russia)
Catherine of Siena Italy and Europe
Saint David (Wales)
Saint Denis (France)
Saint George (Canada, England, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, Ethiopia, Aragon, Catalonia, Moscow)
Francis of Assisi Italy
Saint Patrick (Ireland)
Saint Piran (Cornwall)
Saint James (Spain)
Saint David (c. 512 - 587) is the patron saint of Wales.
He was a Welsh bishop in the 6th century.
He is usually represented standing on a little hill, with a dove on his shoulder.
He is commemorated on 1 March.
The earliest mention of St. David is found in a tenth-century manuscript Of the "Annales Cambriae", which assigns his death to A.D. 601.
Catholic Online
512 births
587 deaths
British priests
Roman Catholic bishops
Roman Catholic priests
Welsh Christians
Saint George (c. 275/280 – April 23, 303) is the patron saint of England and some other countries.
There is no reliable history about St. George yet.
On St George's day some people in England wear a red rose, or put an English flag in their window.
The Saint George's Cross is the flag of England: white with a red cross.
A legend
A city called Silene had a large lake, where a plague-bearing dragon who breathed fire and disease lived.
The dragon poisoned all the countryside.
To please the dragon, the people of Silene gave it a sheep every day, for food, and when there were no more sheep, they gave their children to the dragon.
The children were chosen by a lottery.
One year the lottery chose the King's daughter.
The King, sad and desperate, asked the people to take all his gold and silver, and half of his empire - but only if his daughter could be saved.
The people refused.
The daughter was sent out to the lake, dressed in white as a bride, to be a fine meal for the dragon.
Not knowing this, Saint George was riding past the lake on the same day.
The princess, terrified and trembling, tried to send him away, but George said he would stay and protect her.
The dragon came suddenly out of the lake while they were speaking.
George made the Sign of the Cross gesture, jumped on his horse and advanced toward the dragon.
He used his long spear to hurt the dragon badly.
Then he asked the princess to throw her long pretty belt to him.
He put the silk belt around the dragon's neck.
The Princess and Saint George took the dragon back to the city of Silene, where the people were terrified to see the dragon enter.
But Saint George told them not to be scared.
He said that if the people became Christians and went to Church to be baptized, he would kill the dragon immediately.
On the site where the dragon died, the king built a Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George.
From the altar in the church came a fountain of holy water.
The water cured any disease.
The story of Saint George and the Dragon symbolizes good winning over evil.
Compare Book of Revelation chapters 12-13.
It is the subject of a lot of art through many centuries.
In Sweden, the Princess symbolizes the nation of Sweden, and the dragon represents a foreign army of enemies.
The story was passed from parent to child through songs in Russia.
It was also made into the story 'The Reluctant Dragon' by Ken Ransom, which was made into a Disney film.
Patron Saint
St. George's Day is also England's National Day, April 23, but this is not a holiday in the UK.
He is the patron saint of many other countries, too - including Greece, Palestine, Georgia, Portugal and Russia.
Moscow has 41 Churches with the name of Saint George, and the Moscow city Coat of Arms, or symbol, is of Saint George on a horse killing the dragon.
Saint George is the patron saint of the Boy Scouts of America.
3rd-century births
303 deaths
Saint Andrew is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and the patron saint of Scotland, Romania, Ukraine and several other countries.
He was crucified on a cross that was turned sideways to look like an "X".
The Saint Andrew's flag is the official flag of Scotland.
Early Christian saints
1st-century births
1st-century deaths
Saint Patrick (about 402 - March 17, probably 491 or 493) is the patron saint of Ireland.
He was born in a village in Roman Britain.
Saint Patrick came from a Christian family.
He was the son of Calpornius, who was a deacon.
According to the autobiographical Confessio of Patrick, when he was about sixteen years old, he was captured by Irish pirates.
They took him from his home in Britain and sold him as a slave in Ireland.
His work was to take care of animals.
He lived there for six years and learned the local language.
He then escaped and returned to his family.
After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland as a missionary.
Because he knew the language he could preach to the people.
He also married couples when the king prohibited it.
He brought Christianity to Ireland.
He converted many pagans to Christianity.
He also challenged many of their leaders and druids such as Aodhan the Brave also known as Chief Aodhan.
St.Patrick eventually converted Chief Aodhan and they worked together to convert many other pagans.
Saint Patrick's Bell
There is a bell in the National Museum of Ireland that was made around the time of Saint Patrick's life.
There is no evidence that Saint Patrick owned the bell but the Irish have believed for 1400 years that the bell belonged to Saint Patrick.
One of the kings of Ulster who was the high king of Ireland at the time had a beautiful cover made out of gold and gems to preserve the bell.
The names of the bishops of Ireland were engraved on the cover.
The style of the letters on the cover were used to make the first typewriters.
It is believed that the bell was rung by Saint Patrick to let people know it was time for church.
Saint Patrick and the snakes
There are no snakes in Ireland but there is a legend that at the time of Saint Patrick there were lots of snakes and he chased them all into the Irish Sea.
Some say that this legend came to be because pagans had tattoos of snakes and Saint Patrick got rid of the pagans by teaching Christianity and therefore drove out the snakes from Ireland.
Holy Trinity and the Shamrock
St. Patrick is credited with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
He used a three-leafed shamrock as an illustration of "three-in-one".
For this reason, shamrocks are a central symbol for St. Patrick’s Day.
Some facts about Saint Patrick
The history of ringing Saint Patrick's bell in modern times
A list of catholic patron saints
402 births
490s deaths
March 17 – Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland (possibly died this year, could also have died in the year 493)
45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
180 - Marcus Aurelius dies, leaving Commodus as sole Emperor of the Roman Empire.
624 - Led by the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeat the Quraysh of Mecca in the Battle of Badr.
1328 - Isabella of France, on behalf of her 15-year-old son, Edward III of England, recognizes the independence of Scotland, ending the first of the Scottish Wars of Independence.
1337 - Edward, the Black Prince becomes Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
1452 - The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia, resulting in a Christian victory.
1667 - Siege of Valenciennes: During the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France's taking over of the city.
1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
1780 - American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday on St. Patrick's Day, in solidarity with the Irish people.
1800 - British ship HMS Queen Charlotte sinks after a fire on board off Livorno, Tuscany, Italy, killing 673 people.
1805 – Italy becomes a Kingdom for the first time, with Napoleon Bonaparte becoming King.
1842 - The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed.
1860 - The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase in the New Zealand Land Wars.
1861 – The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed, making Italy a united nation.
It lasts until 1946, when a majority of voters supports becoming a Republic.
1891 – The USS Utopia collides with the HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar, and sinks, killing 562 people.
1899 - William Henry Pickering discovers Saturn's moon Phoebe.
1921 - The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
1939 - Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Nanchang between the Republic of China's Kuomintang and Japan begins.
1941 – In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is opened.
1945 – World War II: The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, shortly after its capture.
1948 - The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels.
1950 - Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name Californium.
1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines, kills 25 people, including President Ramon Magsaysay.
1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, escapes Tibet to India.
1960 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs invasion.
1963 – The Gunung Agung volcano on Bali, Indonesia, erupts, killing around 1,300 people.
1966 - A missing American hydrogen bomb is found off the Mediterranean Sea coast of Spain.
1968 - As a result of nerve gas testing in Skull Valley, Utah, US, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
1969 – Golda Meir becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
1988 - Avianca Flight 410, a Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, crashes into a mountainside in Eastern Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, killing 143 people.
1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
1991 - Diego Maradona is found to have taken cocaine and is banned from football for 15 months.
1992 – A referendum in South Africa approves the end of Apartheid.
1992 - A suicide car bombing at Israel's Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 29 people.
2000 - More than 800 members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in what is considered to be a mass murder and suicide, orchestrated by the leaders of the cult.
2003 – Robin Cook resigns from the British cabinet over plans to go to war in Iraq.
2004 - Unrest occurs in Kosovo.
22 people are killed, and 220 injured, as 35 Serbian Orthodox Shrines in Kosovo and 2 mosques in Belgrade and Nis, Serbia, are destroyed.
2008 – New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns over a prostitution scandal.
David Paterson replaces him.
2009 – Marc Ravalomanana resigns as President of Madagascar, as Andry Rajoelina takes over, following weeks of unrest.
2011 - 2011 Libyan civil war: The United Nations Security Council authorizes military intervention to protect civilians in Libya, as well as a no-fly zone over Libya.
2013 - A meteorite hits the Moon.
2018 - Russia expels 23 British diplomats (after the UK did the same with 23 Russian diplomats on March 14) and also decides to close the British Consulate in Saint Petersburg and end the work of the British Council in Russia.
This is because of an ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.
765 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid Caliph (d. 809) (N.S March 27 on Gregorian calendar)
1231 - Emperor Shijo of Japan (d. 1242)
1473 – King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
1537 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese general and politician (d. 1598)
1628 - François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
1665 - Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French musician, harpsichordist and composer  (d. 1829)
1676 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
1686 - Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter, engraver and tapestry designer (d. 1755)
1725 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American military and political leader
1777 - Patrick Bronte, father of the Brontë sisters (d. 1861)
1777 - Roger Brooke Taney, 5th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1864)
1780 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish theologian, religious reformer and writer (d. 1847)
1794 - Gabriel Antonio Pereira, President of Uruguay (d. 1861)
1804 - Jim Bridger, American explorer (d. 1881)
1813 – King Kamehameha III of Hawaii (d. 1854) (March 17 was official birthday)
1822 – Sa'id, Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt (d. 1854)
1832 - Walter Q. Gresham, United States Secretary of State (d. 1895)
1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and inventor (d. 1900)
1846 - Kate Greenaway, English writer and illustrator (d. 1901)
1849 - Charles F. Brush, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1929)
1856 - Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
1858 - Policarpo Bonilla, President of Honduras (d. 1926)
1862 - Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (d. 1930)
1865 – Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland (d. 1922)
1868 - Nathan E. Kendall, 23rd Governor of Iowa (d. 1936)
1872 - Konstantinos Skarlatos, Greek shooter (d. 1969)
1876 - Frederick Ayres, American composer (d. 1926)
1877 - Otto Gross, Austrian psychoanalyst (d. 1920)
1879 - Jim Nance McCord, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1968)
1880 – Lawrence Oates, English Antarctic explorer (d. 1912)
1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist (d. 1973)
1883 - Urmuz, Romanian writer (d. 1923)
1884 – Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1934)
1885 - Ralph Rose, American athlete (d. 1913)
1886 - Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)
1888 - Paul Ramadier, French politician (d. 1961)
1889 - Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator (d. 1931)
1892 - Sayed Darwish, Egyptian singer and composer (d. 1923)
1900 – Alfred Neumann, American movie composer (d. 1970)
1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
1906 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
1907 – Miki Takeo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1988)
1907 - Jean Van Houtte, Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1991)
1907 - John O. Pastore, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 2000)
1911 - Vello Kaaristo, Estonian cross-country skier (d. 1965)
1912 - Bayard Rustin, American Civil rights activist (d. 1987)
1914 - Juan Ongania, Argentine military officer and politician (d. 1995)
1915 - Ray Ellington, British singer (d. 1985)
1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
1920 - Jose Tomas Sanchez, Filipino cardinal (d. 2012)
1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli politician and general (d. 2009)
1922 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bengali founder (d. 1975)
1925 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (d. 2015)
1926 - Siegfried Lenz, German writer (d. 2014)
1927 - Francisco Gonzalez Ledesma, Spanish writer (d. 2015)
1927 - Patrick Allen, British actor (d. 2006)
1929 - Peter L. Berger, Austrian philosopher (d. 2017)
1930 – James Irwin, American astronaut (d. 1991)
1933 – Penelope Lively, British writer
1933 - Heather Armitage, British athlete
1935 - Oscar Panno, Argentine chess player
1936 - Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot and astronaut
1937 - Adam Wade, American singer, drummer and actor
1937 - Galina Samsova, Russian ballet dancer
1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
1938 – Keith O'Brien, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and cardinal (d. 2018)
1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
1939 - Robin Knox-Johnston, British yachtsman
1939 - Bill Graham, Canadian politician
1940 - Mark White, 40th Governor of Texas (d. 2017)
1940 - Jim Telfer, Scottish rugby player
1941 - Paul Kantner, American musician (d. 2016)
1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994; executed by lethal injection)
1943 - Jim Weatherly, American singer-songwriter
1943 - Bakili Muluzi, former President of Malawi
1944 - John Sebastian, American singer, songwriter and guitarist
1944 - Juan Ramon Veron, Argentine footballer and coach
1944 - Cito Galston, American baseball player
1945 – Michael Hayden, General USAF, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
1945 - Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
1947 - Yury Chernavsky, Russian composer and producer
1948 - William Gibson, American writer
1949 – Patrick Duffy, American actor
1949 - Pat Rice, Irish footballer and coach
1949 - Hartmut Briesenick, East German athlete (d. 2013)
1949 - Stuart Rose, English businessman
1951 – Donald Findlay, Scottish lawyer
1951 - Sydne Rome, American actress
1951 - Kurt Russell, American actor
1954 - Lesley-Anne Down, English actress and singer
1955 – Cynthia McKinney, American politician
1955 – Gary Sinise, American actor
1955 - Mark Boone Junior, American actor
1956 - Rory McGrath, English comedian and writer
1957 - Michael Kelly, American journalist (d. 2003)
1958 - José-Manuel Abascal, Spanish middle-distance runner
1958 - Christian Clemenson, American actor
1960 - Ruth Langsford, English television presenter
1960 - Michael Whitaker, English equestrian
1961 - Sam Bowie, American basketball player
1961 - Casey Siemaszko, American actor
1961 - Dana Reeve, American actress and activist (d. 2006)
1962 – Clare Grogan, Scottish singer and actress
1962 - Rob Sitch, Australian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1962 - Kalpana Chawla, Indian astronaut (d. 2003)
1964 - Stefano Borgonovo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
1964 – Lee Dixon, English footballer and pundit
1964 – Rob Lowe, American actor
1964 – Jacques Songo'o, Cameroonian footballer
1966 - Espen Hammer, Norwegian philosopher
1966 - Andrew Rosindell, English politician
1967 - Billy Corgan, American musician
1969 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (d. 2010)
1969 - Bruce Parry, British former soldier, traveler and adventurer
1969 - Patricia Ford, American model
1969 - Edgar Gronspiron, French skier
1972 – Mia Hamm, American soccer player
1972 - Sean Price, American rapper an producer
1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish singer and musician
1974 – Mark Dolan, British television presenter
1975 – Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
1975 - Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer and producer
1975 - Gina Holden, Canadian actress
1975 - Andrew Martin, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2009)
1976 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer (Boyzone) (d. 2009)
1976 - Alvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
1976 - Brittany Daniel, American actress
1976 - Cynthia Daniel, American actress and photographer
1978 - Pilar Rubio, Spanish actress
1978 - Owen Thompson, Scottish politician
1979 - Sharman Joshi, Indian actor
1979 - Stephen Kramer Glickman, American actor and comedian
1979 - Million Wolde, Ethiopian runner
1979 - Stormy Daniels, American pornographic actress
1980 - Katie Morgan, American pornographic actress
1981 - Nicky Jam, American singer and songwriter
1981 - Servet Cetin, Turkish footballer
1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
1983 - Matteo Paro, Italian footballer
1984 - Ryan Rottman, American actor
1986 – Edin Dzeko, Bosnian footballer
1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
1987 - Rob Kardashian, American television personality
1987 - Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 - Federico Fazio, Argentine footballer
1988 - Fraser Forster, English footballer
1988 - Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
1988 - Grimes, Canadian singer and songwriter
1988 - Jack Monroe, English food writer, journalist and activist
1989 – Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
1989 - Mason Musso, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1990 - Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1990 - Jean Segura, Dominican baseball player
1991 - Thomas Robinson, American basketball player
1992 - Eliza Bennett, English actress and singer
1992 - John Boyega, English actor
1992 - Yeltsin Tejeda, Costa Rican footballer
1997 - Katie Ledecky, American swimmer
45 BC - Titus Labienus, Roman leader (b. 100 BC)
45 BC - Publius Attius Varus, Roman Governor of Africa
180 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (b. 121)
unknown year (probably 461 or 493) – Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
659 - Gertrude of Nivelles, Belgian abbess (b. 626)
1040 – Harold Harefoot, King of England
1058 - Lulach, King of the Scots
1199 - Jocelyn of Glasgow, Scottish monk and bishop (b. 1130)
1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
1425 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (b. 1407)
1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1479)
1620 - John Sarkander, Polish-Moravian priest and saint (b. 1576)
1680 - François de Rochefoucauld, French author (b. 1613)
1741 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (b. 1674)
1782 – Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician  (b. 1700)
1830 - Lauren de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French politician (b. 1764)
1846 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1764)
1849 – King William II of the Netherlands (b. 1792)
1853 – Christian Doppler, Austrian physician and mathematician (b. 1803)
1871 - Robert Chambers, Scottish geologist and publisher (b. 1802)
1875 - Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1832)
1886 - Leopold Zunz, German Jewish scientist (b. 1794)
1893 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (b. 1832)
1917 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher (b. 1838)
1921 - Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky, Russian mathematician and engineer (b. 1847)
1926 - Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (b. 1853)
1937 – Austen Chamberlain, English statesman (b. 1863)
1941 - Marguerite Nichols, American actress (b. 1895)
1946 - Dai Li, Chinese spymaster (b. 1897)
1956 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist (b. 1897)
1956 - Fred Allen, American actor (b. 1894)
1957 – Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
1958 - John Pius Boland, Irish politician and tennis player (b. 1870)
1961 - Susanna M. Salter, American politician (b. 1860)
1962 - Pat Clayton, English soldier and surveyor (b. 1896)
1976 - Luchino Visconti, Italian director (b. 1906)
1980 - Boun Oum, Laotian politician (b. 1912)
1983 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist (b. 1903)
1986 - Heinz Nixdorf, German computer pioneer and entrepreneur (b. 1925)
1990 - Capucine, French actress (b. 1931)
1993 – Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (b. 1877)
1993 - Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
1994 - Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1925)
1995 - Sunnyland Slim, American blues musician (b. 1907)
1995 – Ronnie Kray, British gangster (b. 1933)
1996 - Rene Clement, French movie director and screenwriter (b. 1913)
1996 - Terry Stafford, American singer (b. 1941)
1999 - Jean Pierre-Bloch, French resistance activist and politician (b. 1905)
2002 - Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1917)
2003 - Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (b. 1902)
2005 - George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat (b. 1904)
2006 - Oleg Cassini, American fashion designer (b. 1913)
2006 - G. William Miller, American politician (b. 1925)
2007 - John Backus, American computer scientist (b. 1924)
2007 - Ernst Haefliger, Swiss tenor (b. 1919)
2009 – Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian politician and television host (b. 1937)
2010 – Alex Chilton, American musician (b. 1950)
2010 - Sid Fleischman, American writer (b. 1920)
2011 – Michael Gough, British actor (b. 1916)
2012 - John Demjanjuk, Ukrainian convicted Nazi war criminal (b. 1920)
2012 - Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, leader of the Egyptian Coptic Church (b. 1923)
2014 - Mareike Carrière, German actress (b. 1954)
2014 - L'Wren Scott, American fashion designer and model (b. 1964)
2014 - Oswald Morris, British cinematographer (b. 1915)
2014 - Antoni Opolski, Polish physicist (b. 1913)
2014 - Mercy Edirisinghe, Sri Lankan actress and singer (b. 1945)
2015 - Shaw Taylor, English television presenter and actor (b. 1924)
2015 - Ashley Adams, Australian Paralympic shooter (b. 1955)
2016 - Shozo Awazu, Japanese judoka (b. 1923)
2016 - Paul Daniels, English magician (b. 1938)
2016 - Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official (b. 1945)
2016 - Solomon Marcus, Romanian mathematician (b. 1925)
2016 - Larry Drake, American actor (b. 1950)
2016 - Marian Kociniak, Polish actor (b. 1935)
2017 - Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright (b. 1930)
2017 - Hugh Hardy, Spanish-American architect (b. 1932)
2017 - Lawrence Montaigne, American actor (b. 1931)
2017 - Auntie Fee, American YouTube personality (b. 1957)
2017 - Inomjon Usmonxo'jayev, Soviet-Uzbek politician (b. 1930)
2018 - Phan Van Khai, former Prime minister of Vietnam (b. 1933)
2018 - Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, Welsh politician (b. 1934)
2018 - Mike MacDonald, Canadian comedian (b. 1955)
2019 - Jorge Insunza Becker, Chilean engineer and politician (b. 1936)
2019 - Bill Burlison, American politician (b. 1931)
2019 - Manohar Parrikar, Indian politician (b. 1955)
2019 - Andre Williams, American R&B musician (b. 1936)
St. Patrick's Day - celebrating the patron saint of Ireland, celebrated in Ireland and in Irish communities worldwide
Children's Day (Bangladesh)
402 is a year in the Common Era.
It started on a Wednesday.
It was known as year 1155 in some places in the Ab urbe condita.
Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
The main town of Somerset was Somerton, but it is now Taunton.
There are two cities in Somerset.
They are Bath and Wells.
The name "Somerset" comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase Sumorsaete, which was used to describe people from Somerton.
In the past, the northern border of Somerset was the River Avon.
However, as the city of Bristol has grown, the border moved south.
In 1974 parts of north Somerset, the city of Bristol and parts of south Gloucestershire were joined into a new county.
This county was named Avon.
In 1996 Avon was split into 4 parts, which are now unitary authorities.
People usually say that 2 of these parts (named North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset) are part of Somerset, even though they have their own councils.
The oldest prison in England which is still used is in a town named Shepton Mallet in Somerset.
Somerset also has the world's oldest road which people built.
It is called the Sweet Track; it was built in about 3800 BC.
Tourism is an important industry in the county; in 2001 about 23,000 people worked in tourism.
Tourists like Somerset because it is very beautiful, with much countryside and few big towns.
Somerset has many places to visit:
Part of the Exmoor National Park is in Somerset.
Another popular place is Glastonbury, which has a popular music festival every year.
The Cheddar Gorge has caves which are popular with visitors, and locally made cheese.
Farming is an important industry in Somerset, but not as many people work in this industry today.
Somerset is famous for its cider (an alcoholic apple drink) and it has many apple orchards.
Interesting places in Somerset
Districts of Somerset
Taunton Deane
West Somerset
Sedgemoor
Mendip
Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)
North Somerset (Unitary)
Cities, towns, and villages
BBC Somerset
Somerset County Council
Bath and North East Somerset Council
North Somerset Council
Glastonbury is a town in Somerset, England.
It is well known for the Glastonbury Festival which happens every year in Glastonbury.
Glastonbury is also well-known because of Glastonbury Abbey.
This is because Glastonbury Abbey is said to be the place where King Arthur is buried, and it was burned down when King Henry the Eighth got angry at all Catholic monasteries in the country as the Pope would not grant him a divorce.
The abbot, Abbot Whiting, was killed on the Tor, a local landmark.
Towns in Somerset
Civil parishes in Somerset
Glastonbury Abbey is in Glastonbury, Somerset, England.
It was King Ine of Wessex who decided to build Glastonbury Abbey and out of stone.
King Edmund I of England was buried at the Abbey in 946 AD.
It is said to be the burial place of King Arthur.
Churches in England
Somerton is a town in Somerset.
In 2001 there were 4509 people living in Somerton.
It is between the towns of Yeovil and Street.
It is in the South Somerset District of Somerset.
Somerton was the capital of the Kingdom of Wessex from 871 to 901.
It also used to be Somerset's county town, but this is now Taunton.
Yeovil is a town in the county of Somerset.
It is in the South Somerset District.
Yeovil takes its name from the River Yeo.
Yeo Village became Yeovil over time.
The town has two railway stations.
They are called Yeovil Junction and Yeovil Pen Mill.
The town has many villages near by.
These are West Coker, East Chinnock, East Coker, Stoford, Evershot, Halstock and Yetminster.
Yeovil is where the council is based for the district of South Somerset.
The town's main employers are GKN Westlands Helicopters.
Yeovil is home to the giant killer football club Yeovil Town F.C..  The club played against Liverpool F.C in 2004.
Yeovil used to be famous for glove-making.
This is why the football team are nicknamed The Glovers.
County towns in England
Bridgwater is a town in the county of Somerset.
It is in the District of Sedgemoor.
See also Street (town)
A street is a piece of land, made flat and often with pavement, so that people can travel on it better. "
Street" and "road" may mean the same thing, but "street" is more often used only in a town.
Many streets are the center of local culture or of a specialized activity.
New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, for example, is famous for its active nightlife and also for its role as the center of the city’s French Quarter.
The Bowery in Manhattan was, at different times, a main highway, a center of underground punk culture, and a specialized shopping district for light fixtures.
Taunton is a town in the county of Somerset.
It is in the Taunton Deane District.
Taunton is the county town of Somerset.
Taunton is on the River Tone and takes its name from the river.
Tone town became Taunton.
Shepton Mallet is a town in the county of Somerset, England.
It is in the Mendip district.
Shepton Mallet is where the council is based for the Mendip district.
It is a pleasant place to go, and has a beautiful countryside.
sv:Simon Browne
Bath is a city in the county of Somerset in England.
It is  west of London, and  southeast of Bristol.
Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The city has preserved some of its Roman remains and its 18th century architecture.
The city gets its name from the famous Roman baths in the town.
The Romans built the baths as part of a spa, in the year 43 BC.
They called it Aquae Sulis, which means "The waters of Sulis".
Sulis was a local goddess.
Bath is where Roald Dahl's short story "The Landlady" takes place.
The city is also mentioned in many of Jane Austen's books, like Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice.
City of Bath website
Spa towns in the United Kingdom
Wells is a city in the county of Somerset.
It is in the district of Mendip.
The only other city in Somerset is Bath.
In 2001 there were 10,406 people living in Wells.
Wells Cathedral is in Wells.
The cathedral is very popular with visitors to Wells.
The cathedral has a school attached to it.
Timothy K. Murray, a composer, was a student there.
Cities in Somerset
East Coker is a village in Somerset.
East Coker is near the town of Yeovil.
St Michael's church contains the ashes of the poet T. S. Eliot.
One of his poems is called East Coker.
William Dampier, explorer and buccaneer was born in the village in 1651.
He circumnavigated the world four times and published a book about his experiences.
Dampier Island and Dampier Straits off Australia are named after him.
Along the approach to the church are 12 almshouses built in 1640 by Archdeacon Helyar, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth l.
One of East Coker's famous residents is Trevor Peacock.
Trevor Peacock played Jim in The Vicar of Dibley.
Coker, East
Tatworth is a village near Chard in the South Somerset District of Somerset, England.
It was settled in 1254, but traces of earlier settlers have been found, such as a Roman villa.
Villages in Somerset
Chard is a town in Somerset.
It is near the border of the county of Devon.
Chard is the birthplace of aviation.
It was in Chard, during 1848, that John Stringfellow (1799 - 1883), first demonstrated that powered flight was possible.
In 1685, Chard was one of the towns in which Judge Jefferies held some of the Bloody Assizes after the failure of the Monmouth Rebellion.
He stayed in The Choughs, a public house in Chard.
Crewkerne is a town in Somerset, England where about 6,700 people live.
The first time it is mentioned in history is 899, when king Alfred the Great left the manor to his son Ethelweard.
The name Crewkerne comes from the Saxon words Cruce (cross) and earne (cottage), because of the early church there.
There was also a mint where coins were made between 978 and 1035.
In 1066, the manor belonged to Edith, mistress of Harold Godwinson.
After the Norman Conquest, it belonged directly to William the Conqueror.
Archaeology of Crewkerne  (.pdf file)
Stoford is a village in the county of Somerset, England.
The River Tone is a river in the county of Somerset.
It flows through the town of Taunton and joins the River Parrett.
Taunton takes its name from the River Tone.
Rivers of England
The River Yeo is a river in the county of Somerset in the United Kingdom.
It flows through the town of Yeovil and joins the River Parrett.
The River Adur is a river in the county of Sussex, in England.
It starts from South Downs, southern England and ends in the port town of Shoreham-by-Sea.
Adur Valley Guide
The River Aire is a river in England.
It runs through the counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire, although most of it is in West Yorkshire.
The River Aln is a river in the county of Northumberland.
It has served as a war zone between the English and the Scots.
The River Alt is a river in the county of Merseyside in England just north of Liverpool.
The river begins near Huyton and flows about 28 km northeast to empty into the Irish Sea at the town of Hightown.
Other towns along the river include Kirkby, Maghull and Formby.
There are 75 km of tributary feeding the river.
About 250,000 people live in the area around the river.
The northern part of the river forms the boundary between the counties of Merseyside and Lancashire.
The river starts south of Dereham in the county of Norfolk.
From there it flows to the east of the world.
The river flows along the southern edge of the city of Norwich.
The river continues past Norwich into the tidal lake of Breydon Water.
Here the Yare is joined by the Rivers Bure and Waveney.
It empties into North Sea at Gorleston, Great Yarmouth.
Small coastal boats can sail along the river from Norwich to the North Sea.
In the past, the river had a large number of boats carrying goods to Norwich.
Larger modern boats cannot get across Breydon Water because it is not deep enough.
Because of this, a canal was created at Reedham to provides a connection to the River Waveney.
The River Exe is a river in the county of Devon in England.
It usually flows directly south through the city of Exeter.
The island had many mills making paper and textiles, and also created valuable land by draining the marshlands.
The wide estuary of the River Exe is a ria (drowned river valley).
The Leats of Exeter - A Short History
Ilminster is a town in the county of Somerset.
Ilminster is on the River Ile and has a large church.
The church is known as the Minster.
It is from both of these things that Ilminster takes its name.
Ile and Minster became Ilminster.
It was dug in the early 1970s, and it showed many times that people lived there.
The first was in the early Neolithic (around 4000-3000 BC?)
when the hill seems to have been an important place for groups of early farmers who moved around.
Most things were found from when late Bronze Age people lived on the hill (around 1200 BC).
In the Iron Age the site changed, with many big walls.
There are signs that when the Romans came to Britain, they killed many people here.
Ruins of a feasting hall built after the Roman time were also found in the dig.
There are also legends connecting this place with King Arthur.
Archaeological sites in England
Watchet is a harbor town in the county of Somerset in England.
It gets its name either from the blue wacet dye found in the cliffs, or from British gwo coed or waeced, "under the wood".
It is first recorded in the 7th century, when Saint Decuman crossed over from South Wales on a raft with a cow to help the people there.
Legend says he was killed there by a violent man who cut off his head.
There is a spring of water dedicated to him there.
Coins were minted here for Ethelred II and five other Saxon kings.
They have been found as far away as Scandinavia, probably because they were part of the Danegeld - payments made to the Vikings, who attacked Watchet in 918, 977, 988, and destroyed part of it in 997.
Harold Godwinson's mother Eleanor fled through this port in 1066.
Watchet's rich heritage
Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey
Burnham-on-Sea is a small town in the county of Somerset in England on the mouth of the River Parrett at Bridgwater Bay.
Burnham was a small fishing village until the late-18th century when it became popular as a seaside resort.
This made the village grow larger into a town.
Cheddar is a type of hard cheese made from cow's milk.
It originally was produced in the English village of Cheddar, Somerset.
Romans may have brought the recipe to Britain from the Cantal region of France.
The first record of cheddar cheese dates back to the 12th century.
In 1170, King Henry II bought  at a farthing per pound.
Charles I (1600–1649) also bought cheese from Somerset.
Cheddar cheese traditionally had to be made within  of Wells Cathedral.
Cheddar cheese is different from other cheeses in how it is made.
After the curds are heated, they are cut and stacked.
The stacks are then turned periodically and re-stacked.
This process is called cheddaring.
Cheddar cheese is sometimes aged in caves for up to 30 months before it is ready to eat.
Cheddar cheese is the most popular cheese in the United Kingdom.
It accounts for 51 percent of the country's £1.9 billion annual cheese market.
It is the second most popular cheese in the United States, behind mozzarella, with an average annual consumption of  per person.
The United States produced 3,233,380,000 lbs in 2010, and the UK 258,000 tonnes in 2008.
The name "cheddar cheese" is widely used and has no protection within the European Union.
Only cheddar produced from local milk within four counties of South West England may use the name "West Country Farmhouse Cheddar."
Cheeses
Yatton is a large village with 9,000 people in the county of Somerset in England.