History of the Day: 10/19

In 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown while (allegedly) an English band played The World Turned Upside Down. You can hear this song, and other protest songs, on the truly fantastic album English Protest Songs by Chumbawamba.

Speaking of revolutionary moments in English history, King John (the villain of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe and signer of the Magna Carta) died on this day in 1216. Although he is considered one of the worst kings in English history, Winston Churchill had this to say about him:

When the long tally is added, it will be seen that the British nation and the English-speaking world owe far more to the vices of John than to the labours of virtuous sovereigns.

Taking this view, I wonder to which of our presidents do we owe the greatest debt? A.A. Milne (of Winnie the Pooh fame) wrote a somewhat sympathetic poem about him in which, as it turns out, all he wanted was a rubber ball.

Another poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay, died on this day in 1950. She is best known for this snippet, which describes the life of a teacher well:

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!

Johnathan Swift also died on this day in 1745. Although he is best known for Gulliver's Travels, he is a prolific writer of many poems, plays and even A Modest Proposal for population control. He once wrote:

I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.

Sometimes, reading Gulliver's Travels, I wonder if he was under the influence. Speaking of mind-altering substances, happy birthday to Patrick Simmons, one of the bajillion members of the Doobie Brothers, the band who sang such memorable hits as Jesus Is Just Allright.

Jesus was just all right with two other guys as well. Isaac Jogues was a Jesuit missionary to the Huron until a Mowhawk tribe captured and tortured him, cutting off several of his fingers. He lived as a slave among them, teaching them Christianity, until he was rescued by Dutch traders. But, once freed, he returned as a missionary to the Mowhawk. They blamed him when sickness and crop failure struck the tribe, clubbed him to death and beheaded him on this day in 1646.

That same year, another Jesuit missionary named Jean de Brébeuf was working as a missionary among the Huron in Canada as well. However, in 1649, an Iroquois tribe wiped out the Huron tribe he was with and took him prisoner. He was fastened to stakes and tortured to death by scalping, mock baptism using boiling water, fire, necklaces of red hot hatchets and mutilation. Brébeuf did not make a single outcry while he was being tortured and the astounded Iroquois later cut out his heart and ate it in hopes of gaining his courage. Brébeuf, in an attempt to translate the Nativity story to the Huron, wrote a Christmas hymn called The Huron Carol. Here it is in the original Huron, and the English lyrics.

Finally, today is the Hindu festival of Dasara, which commemorates the defeat of Ravana by Rama and his army of warrior monkeys. I've always thought that every religion should have more warrior monkeys.