On this date in 1497, the Polish Duke Nicholas II of Niemodlin was executed in Nysa.
During a summit to dispel tensions with Casimir II, Duke of Cieszyn, our Nicholas tried to murder both Casimir and a mediator bishop.
After a failed attempt to claim sanctuary, the grandees in attendance decided to have him speedily beheaded rather than accept his large gold bribe in settlement.
This very nearly triggered a wider war when Nicholas’s brother, also a duke, began preparing for a retaliatory military expedition; deft diplomacy by the king of Bohemia defused the crisis.
On this day..
- 1558: Toqui Caupolicán
- 1766: Don Francis de Sallesar y Corvetto
- 1733: Champion and Valentine, slaves
- 1844: Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, lynched
- 1948: Tessie Hutchinson, Lottery winner
- 1622: Samuel Korecki, defeated magnate
- 1794: Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet, who defended Nero
- 1740: Artemy Volynsky
- 1845: Not William Weaver, defended by Abraham Lincoln
- 1497: Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank, leaders of the Cornish Rebellion
- 1777: William Dodd, mind wonderfully concentrated
- 1950: Milada Horáková, democrat and feminist