September 30 is day 287 of the Gregorian Calendar year,
Boomtime, Bureaucracy 68, 3185 YOLD (discordian),
And let us not forget 13.0.6.16.8 by the Mayan Long Count

On this day in history:

On October 14 1066, William The Bastard, aka William, Duke of Normandy, aka William The Conqueror, began his conquest of England with his victory over the forces of the Anglo-Saxon English King, Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. Much of what we know about the specifics of this event comes to us by way of the Bayeux Tapestry, which is unfortunate in that it was done in needle and thread in a style reminiscent of Grandma Moses crossed with Pablo Picasso. Godwinson kicked it and Willie took over.

This was more or less the last round in a quasi-legitimate multi party war of succession, so I'll try to toss out the general particulars in case there is a test or something later (hint). Please take notes, I will only cover this once.

Dramatis Personae, more or less:

Charles the Simple of the Carolingen Dynasty and King of West Francia (think France) let some Vikings under some guy named Rollo settle in Normandy (Hence Normans, as in Norman Conquest) if they would agree to stop all that damn raiding and raping and looting. Rollo's descendants became the House of Normandy, eventually leading to Robert I, Duke of Normandy, whose mistress, Herleva (Arlette), gave birth to the bastard William the Bastard. Robert's aunt, Emma of Normandy had married the English King Ethelred the Illiterate, traditionally Æthelred the Unready, from "unrede" (without letters). She gave birth to King Edward the Confessor, Alfred Ætheling, and King Harthacnut (aka King Canute III). (As Ælfgifu, Aethelred's spouse, Emma give birth to Edward the Confessor and Alfred Ætheling, (supra) and a daughter, Goda of England (or Godgifu). King Canute (Canute the Great), conquered England after Aethelred died, married Emma, and sired Harthacnut, (supra) who became a short lived king of England, Canute III, and a daughter, Gunhilda.. King Edward the Confessor (supra) died childless and left Merrie Engelonde with The Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson (supra) as presumptive heir for no particular reason, much to the dismay of Godwinson's brother Tostig, who had been outlawed and exiled upon the testimony of Harold and assorted thegns (heh). Godwinson was the richest and most powerful Noble in England, and his dad had contested for the throne quite vigorously. Tostig probably felt that if Harold was qualified to be king on that basis, then so was he. Whatever.
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So, Tostig Godwinson, lacking sufficient troops and stuff to invade England from exile teamed up with King Harald Sigurdsson (Hadrata) of Norway, who had a most interesting claim on the throne. Hadrata claimed that his predecessor as King of Norway, Magnus the Good, had cut a deal with Emma's son by King Canute III or Engelonde, King Harthacanute (CanuteIII), quasi hereditary King of England, to the effect that if either died without an heir, then the combined thrones of England and Norway would be ruled by the other. Canute III had died childless and Eddie the Confessor presumably grabbed the throne as heir to Aethelred (with Emma). If Hadrata's claim were true, Magnus should've followed Canute III as king of both England and Norway and England, and Hadrata, being King of Norway would have been king of both. Zo, Tostig and Hadrata teamed up and invaded England and got their asses totally handed to them by King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. (This battle is often seen as marking the end of the Viking Era, fwiw.) Whilst Godwinson was away up north, Willie the Bastard, whose claim to the English throne presumably somehow boils down to being to being Auntie Emma's grandnephew, had an easy time getting ashore and setting up an encampment. Alerted to these particulars, team Harold did a forced march down to Hastings whereupon he lost the battle, his life, and England itself.
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On October 14, 1656 Massachusetts enacted the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends

On October 14, 1888, Louis Le Prince filmed the first moving picture

On October 14, 1926, Winnie the Pooh was published

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became toe first person to exceed the speed of sound.

On October 14, 1962, The Cuban Missile Crises began.

National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was on October 14, 1979.

On October 14, 1982, Ronnie Raygun, announced the war on drugs

Born this day in:

1890 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, soldier and politician who gave us "Under God", "In God we Trust", Viet Nam and Consumerism.
1894 – E. E. Cummings, poet and playwright
1930 – Robert Parker, singer and saxophonist
1938 – Melba Montgomery, country singer
1940 – Cliff Richard, singer and songwriter
1945 – Colin Hodgkinson, bass player
1946 – Justin Hayward, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1947 – Norman Harris, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1948 – Marcia Barrett, singer. This woman is almost universally referred to as "Marcia Barrett of Boney M." Odd, that.
1958 – Thomas Dolby, singer, songwriter and producer

1965 – Karyn White, singer and songwriter
1968 – Johnny Goudie, singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1974 – Natalie Maines, singer and songwriter

Died this day in:

1831 – Jean-Louis Pons, astronomer and comet hunter
1977 – Bing Crosby, singer, songwriter, and actor
1984 – Martin Ryle, astronomer
1990 – Leonard Bernstein, pianist, composer, and conductor
1997 – Harold Robbins, author
1998 – Cleveland Amory, author and activist
1998 – Frankie Yankovic, accordionist
2006 – Freddy Fender, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2010 – Benoit Mandelbrot, mathematician and economist.

Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

World Standards Day (International)
(Cue Michael Buble', heh)

Music goes here, iirc, well, With apologies

Image is tuning forks

SNAP QUIZ: OK, why isn't Emma of Normandy, queen consort of England, Denmark, and Norway, and mother of 2 kings, and big Willie's claim to the English throne as great aunt, better known?.

It's an open thread, so do your thing