AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
If you’re just joining us, Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday morning that he will resign as Pope.
Sounds like someone was having a rough Monday morning at the office.
If you’re not Catholic, this news probably means very little to you. However, with this being the first resignation from the position since 1415, this is pretty big news. Any time something happens for the first time in 600 years, it’s a story.
(More: A very strange stretch)
So what exactly was going on in the world in 1415?
I’ve compiled a list of things that were happening 598 years ago to give us a little perspective on how long it’s been since the last resignation, and it’s pretty incredible.
Events from the year 1415
July 6: Jan Hus, a Czech religious thinker and philosopher who was seen as a threat to the Roman Catholic religion, is burned at the stake in Konstanz, Germany. This occurred just two days after Pope Gregory VII officially resigned.
August 14: The Spanish city of Ceuta is conquered by Portugal from the Moors, ending Muslim rule in the city. It also began a period of Portugese Empire expansion.
October 25: The Battle of Agincourt was fought, a major battle in the Hundred Years’ War between England and France. The French outnumbered the English 4-3, but the English won the battle. At least 7,000 French soldiers were killed, but estimates run as high as 10,000 of the 12,000 men who took to the battlefield for France. Another 1,500 French were taken as prisoners. The British only lost a few hundred soldiers.
Columbus’ discovery of North America was still 77 years away.
And of course, with the news of the Pope’s resignation, the Twittersphere lit up on Monday morning:
Pope joins Twitter and loses all interest in his real job. I hear you mate, I hear you.
— °Ryan° (@Ryan_Alba) February 11, 2013
Your Papal account has been suspended.
— Simon Feilder (@simonfeilder) February 11, 2013
Ah no I get it, he’s giving up being pope for lent.
— David Kenny (@Garathon66) February 11, 2013
@maureenjohnson It’s a tough week when you find your king under a parking lot and then the Pope resigns.
— Sean Gibson (@TunafishTiger) February 11, 2013
He’s just going to take a year off and then pope at Ohio State.
— sir broosk (@celebrityhottub) February 11, 2013
POPED A MOLLY I’M SWEATIN
— sir broosk (@celebrityhottub) February 11, 2013
Reblogged this on shaynroby and commented:
Fellow Southerner Sean Breslin gives an interesting perspective on the Papal resignation. In response to one of the Twitter tweets that he re-posted: Move over Urban Meyer.