Day Tripping: February 8
Old news and recurring themes
Welcome to my daily feature where each day on the calendar marks a part of our shared history.
No Love Lost
In 1587, the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots was carried out on the orders of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. Mary was beheaded after being convicted of plotting to assassinate her royal cousin. Even while being imprisoned for nineteen years by the Protestant Queen of England, the Scottish royal conspired with her fellow Catholics including the Pope and King Phillip II of Spain, to carry out a plan that would restore Catholicism throughout the realm.
Elizabeth’s spies uncovered the Babington Plot in a letter that was decoded, uncovering the treasonous conspiracy to overthrow the British monarch. Mary’s ultimate execution was the culmination of years of conflict between religious factions. For most of Elizabeth’s reign, non-Catholics were regarded as heretics within the Vatican and beyond.
Dubious Film Debut
Not only did The Birth of a Nation have the longest running time of any film produced in the early days of cinema, but it also remains to this day, one of film’s most controversial. Premiering in Los Angeles on this day in 1915, this original epic by D. W. Griffith cannot be denied as a landmark in…
