Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 February 22

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From today's featured article

Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians (c. 870 – 918), ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. The oldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex, she married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, who ruled western Mercia when the eastern part was occupied by the Vikings. After her husband's death, she ruled Mercia and played a leading role in recovering southern England from the Vikings in cooperation with her brother, King Edward the Elder. She fortified many towns, sent an army to capture Derby, and secured the surrender of Leicester without a fight. The Viking leaders of York offered her their loyalty, but she died before she could take up the offer. Her daughter Ælfwynn briefly ruled Mercia, but was seized by Edward, who took her into Wessex and brought Mercia under his direct rule. Historians disagree whether Mercia was an independent kingdom under Æthelred and Æthelflæd, but they agree that Æthelflæd played an important part in ending Viking rule in England. As a rare English warrior queen, and a successful one, she has captivated Medieval and modern writers. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

General George Washington
Resigning His Commission

... that John Trumbull, the painter of General George Washington Resigning His Commission (pictured), considered Washington's resignation "one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world"?
... that in Sumerian mythology, a group of gods known as the Anunnaki put the goddess Inanna on trial for her attempt to conquer the Underworld?
... that Jean-Jack Queyranne proposed that the regional council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, like the European Parliament, hold alternating sessions in two cities?
... that in 1910, Monroe Morton constructed the Morton Theatre in the "Hot Corner", a center of African American business and culture in Athens, Georgia?
... that the proposed Major Road Network designation would comprise just 4 percent of England's road length but carry 43 percent of its traffic?
... that Indianapolis Colts defensive back D. J. White forced at least one fumble in each of his four years at Georgia Tech?
... that the Taiwan bush warbler was described in 1917, but was not named as a distinct species until 2000?

In the news

Billy Graham

American evangelical preacher Billy Graham (pictured) dies at the age of 99.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins five awards, including Best Film, at the British Academy Film Awards.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Zagros Mountains, killing all 65 people on board.
South African president Jacob Zuma resigns amid corruption claims, and is succeeded by Cyril Ramaphosa.
A gunman kills 17 people and injures 15 others at a school in Parkland, Florida, United States.

On this day...

February 22

Johns Hopkins Hospital

1316 – The forces of the infante Ferdinand of Majorca fought against those loyal to Princess Matilda of Hainaut in the Battle of Picotin on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece.
1876 – The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland (pictured), named after philanthropist Johns Hopkins, opened.
1921 – After White Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drove the Chinese out of Mongolia, the Bogd Khan was reinstalled as emperor.
1957 – The President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem survived a Viet Cong assassination attempt by a gunman in Buôn Ma Thuột.
2002 – Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Angolan anti-Communist rebel and political party UNITA, was killed in a battle with Angolan government troops.

Peder Syv (b. 1631) · Charles Blondin (d. 1897) · Elizabeth Keawepoʻoʻole Sumner (d. 1911)

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Today's featured picture

The Yellow House is an 1888 oil painting by the 19th-century Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. It depicts 2 Place Lamartine, Arles, France, where Van Gogh rented four rooms in 1888, as well as a restaurant where he had his meals. This painting is now part of the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Painting: Vincent van Gogh

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