December 4 – Adrian IV was elected pope and more

In our wildest aberrations, we dream of an equilibrium we have left behind and which we naively expect to find at the end of our errors. A childish presumption that justifies the fact that child-nations inherit our follies is now directing our history.

Let us read more about the events that happened on December 4 in history.

 

1154 – Adrian IV was elected pope and occupies the papal throne

On December 4, 1154, the officials elected Nicholas Breakspear as Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman to have served on the papal throne.

Nicholas Breakspear was born around 1100 in Bedmond, in the parish of Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire. Robert was an educated man but poor, deciding to enter the monastery, probably after his wife’s death. This left Nicholas in a perilous position; having to fend for himself and lack education, people rejected him subsequently from joining the monastery. However, his destiny would take him elsewhere, traveling to France, where he could successfully pursue his vocation.

 

1644 – First European peace congress opens in Munster

The Westphalia area of northwestern Germany gave its name to the treaty that ended the Thirty Years’ War. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in Europe’s history.

Marking the end of the war, the first European peace conference opened in Münster and Osnabrück on  December 4, 1644. It involved around 194 states, from the biggest to the smallest, and also, 179 plenipotentiaries represented them.

Thousands of ancillary diplomats and support staff were housing, fed, and watered. However, they did themselves well for close to four years, despite famine in the country around. Presiding over the conference were the Papal Nuncio, Fabio Chigi, and the Venetian ambassador.

 

1791 – Britain’s Observer, first published

On December 4, 1791, “The Observer” became the first newspaper to publish regularly on a Sunday. It struggled to make money and accepted government subsidies to take a generally pro-government line. Yet, in 1820 it defied a court order preventing reporting on the Cato Street Conspirators, alleged to have plotted to assassinate the Prime Minister and his cabinet.

While this did not prevent the conspirators’ hanging and conviction, it set an important precedent in the press’s freedom. In the 19th century, “The Observer” grew into a major newspaper, especially after the newspaper tax was scrapped in 1855.

 

1918 – Versailles Peace Conference held in France

On December 4, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson departed from Washington to undertake the first European trip by an American chief executive.

However, after nine days aboard the sea, S.S, George Washington, a German-built passenger liner, interned in New York during World War. However, Wilson arrived in Brest, France, and traveled to Paris.

At the Palace of Versailles, Wilson headed the American delegation at a peace conference charged with drafting a comprehensive treaty that would mark the war’s end.

 

1927 – Duke Ellington opens at the Cotton Club in Harlem

Ellington studied music during the ragtime era. Ragtime was popular American music comprising of off-beat dance rhythms. These dance rhythms began with the honky-tonk pianists along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. However, by the time he was 20, he and his friends formed a band that was the foundation for his life’s work.

From 1923 to 1927, he and his band lived in New York City and made about 60 songs. He and his band had their first big break came on December 4, 1927. It turned out to be an extended engagement at the Cotton Club in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood at the opening night.

The Ellington Orchestra often broadcast live on the Cotton Club’s radio. Hence, their unique style of jazz became familiar to people across the country.

 

Reference Source: onthisday.com