Established 1207 Terra Mariana was the formal name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia. It was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade, and its territories were composed of present-day Estonia and Latvia. It was established on 2 February 1207, as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire, and lost this status in 1215 when Pope Innocent III proclaimed it as directly subject to the Holy See.
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The Battle of Mortimer's Cross took place on 2nd February 1461, during the War of the Roses (1455 - 1485). During the Wars of the Roses, Wales was generally a Lancastrian stronghold, while the Welsh Marches, particularly the Mortimer lordships, were Yorkists. In around 1450 King Henry VI of England began suffering from crippling bouts of insanity which led to the formation of a Council of Regency headed by Richard, Duke of York who was named Lord Protector.
Recovering in late 1454, Henry resumed the throne and efforts commenced to reduce York's power. In retaliation York and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick marched on London with the goal of removing the king's councillors. They won a victory at St Albans in May 1455 capturing Henry VI and York resumed his post as Lord Protector.
The following year Henry VI returned to health and regained the throne but in 1459 York, Warwick and Warwick's father, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, renewed military action against the king, and there followed a number of battles, culminating in the battle of Northampton in 1460 where Henry VI was again captured and York announced his claim to the throne. However, a compromise was reached through the Act of Accord which stated that York would be Henry VI's successor.
Unwilling to see her son, Edward of Westminster (son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou) disinherited, Queen Margaret raised an army and defeated the Yorkist forces at Wakefield, killing York and Salisbury. Sir Owen Tudor and his son, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke's Welsh armies marched east, seeking to unite with Margaret's main Lancastrian army but York’s son (the future Edward IV), who was in the Welsh Marches, raised an army and assumed a position near Mortimer's Cross (near Wigmore, Herefordshire) in an effort to prevent the Lancastrian armies uniting.
On February 2, 1461, Edward engaged the Welsh armies in battle who although gaining the early advantage, were defeated. Retreating from the defeat, Pembroke and the Earl of Wiltshire succeeded in escaping the Yorkist pursuit, but less fortunate was Sir Owen Tudor who was captured at Hereford and executed two days later.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, despite suffering a reverse at the Second Battle of St Albans, Edward was proclaimed king on March 4 and defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towtown, which led to a long lull in the fighting. Although the Wars of the Roses would continue until Sir Owen Tudor's grandson Henry Tudor (Henry VII) defeated Edward IV's brother, Richard III at The Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and married Elizabeth of York, thereby uniting the two warring houses.
As a matter of interest, on the morning of the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, Edward IV observed a rare meteorological event known as a parhelion, when it appears that there are three suns in the sky, which he took to be a good omen. [media=https://youtu.be/TwkdthzcBzk]
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1665 British forces captured New Amsterdam, the centre of the Dutch colony in North America. The trading settlement on the island of Manhattan was renamed New York in honour of the Duke of York, its new governor. …….. 1709: Marooned Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued from the desert island Más a Tierra, 670 km (420 mi) off the coast of Chile, after four years and four months alone. His ordeal was the likely inspiration for Daniel Defoe's book Robinson Crusoe. …..
London opened the world’s first public flushing toilets.
The toilet was located at 95 Fleet Street. …
1914: Making a Living, Charlie Chaplin's first film is premiered. In the Mack Sennett comedy Chaplin plays a moustachioed swindler and not the "tramp" character he would forever be associated with. ……
On 2nd February 1963, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) held its first protest, in the form of a sit-down at Trefechan Bridge, Aberystwyth. History of Wales
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1973: Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer escapes with minor injuries to his hands when a piano rigged to explode as a stunt, detonates prematurely during a concert in San Francisco.
And History of Wales
Candlemas is celebrated on 2nd February.
This Christian festival is thought to originate from Imbolc, the Celtic festival celebrating the arrival of Spring. It is known in Wales as Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau ('Mary's Festival of the Candles') and was derived from the ceremony of blessing the candles that were to be carried in processions, by mothers of babies born during the previous year.
Other Candlemas traditions in Wales;
* In Carmarthenshire, it was customary for kitchen windows to be illuminated with candles.
* It was another custom at the onset of the dark autumn and winter evenings, for the mistress of the farm to ceremoniously give 'y forwyn fawr', the head maid, a candle for her to use in the out building during a period called 'amser gwylad'.
The candle was then handed back on February 2nd when the light had increased enough for the candles to be dispensed with.
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