So, the Vandals sacked Rome, the city, on June 2, 455. They were led by a dude named Genseric, or Gaiseric, or something like that depending upon what you last read. This was obviously a big deal to the citizens and other inhabitants of Rome, the city, but maybe not so much The Roman Empire. For starts, by this time there was a Western Roman Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire, each with their own government and ruler. Allegedly still one big sloppy empire, it was beginning to teeter a bit, especially the Western branch, if it were not already doddering. Rome, the city, was, of course, in the Western chunk of the realm. Rome, the city, was at this time, not only not the capitol of the Empire, it wasn't even really the capitol of the Western Empire. The capitol had been moved to Ravenna in 402 and the administrative center stayed there, though some sources say that "the court", whatever that was, returned to Rome in 450 for a while.

This was not a first,. Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome, the city, in August of 410. This second sacking was something of a punishmenet raid for a treaty violation. The Western Roman Empire had entered into a multifaceted treaty with the Vandals which included a marriage alliance whereby the emperor's daughter was to marry a Vandal named Huneric. However, a Roman usurper snuffed the emperor and, in an effort to legitimize his takeover, married the late emperor's widow and married off said late emperor's daughter to his own son. This pissed off the aforementioned widow sufficiently that she conspired with the Vandals to treat the marriage of the daughter to the usurper's kid instead of to Huneric as a treaty violation, which it clearly was. Genseric accordingly took up the cudgel gathered a large force and sailed from Carthage, of all places, to sack Rome, the city and return to Carthage with loot and slaves. The usurper tried to escape but was snuffed by his own people who caught him trying to run away. ROME, The Western Roman Empire, only lasted about another 21 years, however the allure of the name lasted far longer, in the form of The Holy Roman Empire, initially a bunch of Franks somehow using authority delegated from Byzantium and which evolved into an empire that was neither holy nor Roman.

For the Record, Carthage, the city, as in Carthago delenda est was destroyed in 146 BCE at the end of the Third Punic War. After a 3 year siege the Romans broke through the defenses, destroyed the town, killed all the inhabitants except 50,000 who they took back to Rome to be slaves, and salted the earth so that nothing could ever grow there again. That's what they thought.

On this day in 1692, one Bridget Bishop was tried for witchcraft in Salem. She was the first victim of Salem's irrational witch mania. The trial, called an "Examination", consisted of people making unsubstantiated and generally unverifiable accusations against and irrational assertions about her. In those days, as so often today, that was enough to establish something as true and she was therefore convicted and hanged. As we slide deeper and deeper into the swamp of an evidence free society we should think back upon those times and try, for once, to learn something from history.
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On this day in 1924, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States. That was certainly a kind and generous act on his part. /S (sad to think that some sort of snark tag is needed these days)

On this day in history:

455 – Vandals entered Rome and plundered the city for two weeks. **

1608 – The Colony of Virginia received a charter extending its borders from "sea to sea"

1692 – Bridget Bishop was tried for and convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; the first of many

1763 – Chippewas captured Fort Michilimackinac by drawing the garrison's attention to a game of lacrosse and then chasing a ball into the fort.

1774 – The Quartering Act of 1774 was enacted, allowing governors in colonial America to house British soldiers

1793 – François Hanriot arrested 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.

1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applied for a patent for his wireless telegraph.

1910 – Charles Rolls, became the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.

1919 – Anarchists set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities, triggering the first "Red Scare" because Anarchists = Communists = Socialists. Hello?
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1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.

1946 – In a referendum, Italians voted to turn Italy from a monarchy into a republic.

1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey was the first British coronation to be televised.

1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed.

1966 – Surveyor 1 landed in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.

1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawned 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio
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2003 – Europe launched its first voyage to another planet, Mars, from Kazakhstan. Central Asia = Europe? Who Knew?

** They did not, however, take any pump handles

Some people who were born on this day:

If any of you happens to see an injustice, you are no longer a spectator, you are a participant, and you have an obligation to do something.

~~ June Callwood

1644 – William Salmon, medical writer
1740 – Marquis de Sade, philosopher, author and politician (of course)
1743 – Alessandro Cagliostro, occultist and explorer
1840 – Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet
1840 – Émile Munier, artist
1857 – Edward Elgar, composer and educator
1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, author and poet
1863 – Felix Weingartner, pianist, composer, and conductor
1865 – Adelaide Casely-Hayford, advocate and activist for cultural nationalism
1878 – Wallace Hartley, violinist and bandleader, played nearer my god to thee at midnight on the sea
1907 – Dorothy West, journalist and author
1907 – John Lehmann, poet and publisher
1913 – Barbara Pym, author
1921 – Ernie Royal, trumpet player
1923 – Lloyd Shapley, mathematician and economist
1924 – June Callwood, journalist, author, and activist
1934 – Johnny Carter, singer
1935 – Carol Shields, novelist and short story writer
1937 – Jimmy Jones, singer and songwriter
1939 – Charles Miller, musician
1941 – Irène Schweizer, jazz pianist
1941 – Charlie Watts, drummer, songwriter, and producer
1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, composer and conductor
1949 – Heather Couper, astronomer and physicist
1951 – Gilbert Baker, artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag
1953 – Vidar Johansen, saxophonist
1953 – Cornel West, philosopher, author, and academic
1955 – Michael Steele, singer, songwriter, and bass player
1959 – Lydia Lunch, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1960 – Tony Hadley, singer, songwriter, and actor
1961 – Dez Cadena, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1966 – Candace Gingrich, activist
1966 – Pedro Guerra, singer and songwriter
1968 – Merril Bainbridge, singer and songwriter
1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley, singer, songwriter, and keyboard player
1979 – Butterfly Boucher, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, drummer
1980 – Tomasz Wróblewski, bass player, and songwriter
1987 – Matthew Koma, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1996 – Morissette, Filipina singer and songwriter

Some people who died on this day:

The priest is the personification of falsehood.

~~ Giuseppe Garibaldi

1701 – Madeleine de Scudéry, author
1785 – Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, mathematician and academic
1882 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, general and politician
1937 – Louis Vierne, organist and composer
1942 – Bunny Berigan, singer and trumpet player
1962 – Vita Sackville-West, author and poet
1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, student and activist, also martyr
1968 – André Mathieu, pianist and composer
1970 – Lucía Sánchez Saornil, anarchist feminist
1983 – Stan Rogers, Canadian, singer and songwriter
1987 – Sammy Kaye, bandleader and songwriter
1987 – Andrés Segovia, guitarist
1997 – Doc Cheatham, trumpet player, singer, and bandleader
1999 – Junior Braithwaite, singer
2000 – Gerald James Whitrow, mathematician, cosmologist, and historian
2008 – Bo Diddley, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
2013 – Mandawuy Yunupingu, singer, songwriter, and guitarist

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

American Indian Citizenship Day
National Rotisserie Chicken Day
International Sex Workers Day

Today's Tunes

The (Second) Sack of Rome (the city)

Bridgit Bishop

Edward Elgar

Ernie Royal

Johnny Carter

Jimmy Jones

Charles Miller

Charlie Watts

Marvin Hamlisch

Michael Steele

Pedro Guerra

Bunny Berigan

André Mathieu

Sammy Kaye

Andrés Segovia

Doc Cheatham

Junior Braithwaite

Bo Diddley

Mandawuy Yunupingu

Some bonus dancing music:

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. What's on your mind?

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

open thread. The Vandals, Sack of Rome, Bridget Bishop, Thomas Hardy, Charlie Watts, Andrés Segovia, Bo Diddley