Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semi.
January 5, 1932
94 years ago
What Else Happened on January 5
Edward the Confessor died January 5, 1066 without an heir. Three men claimed the throne within months: Harold Godwinson, Harald Hardrada of Norway, William of N…
Charles the Bold spent his reign building Burgundy into something between a kingdom and an empire — richer than France, more powerful than most actual monarchie…
Charles the Bold fell at the Battle of Nancy and Burgundy fell with him. His body was found frozen in a pond, face down, three days after the battle. Without an…
Ludovico Sforza had been ruling Milan as regent when he invited the French king Charles VIII into Italy in 1494 — hoping French muscle would protect him from ri…
Felix Manz helped found the Anabaptist movement in Zurich — one of the earliest groups to insist on adult baptism and the separation of church and state. The ci…
A great fire swept through Eindhoven in January 1554, destroying most of the small Dutch market town. It was one of several catastrophic fires that struck Eindh…
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