Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 December 19

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Robert de Chesney was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln. Educated at Oxford or Paris, Chesney was Archdeacon of Leicester before his election as bishop in December 1148. He served as a royal justice in Lincolnshire, and was an early patron of Thomas Becket. Although shown favour by King Stephen of England, including the right to a mint, Chesney was present at the coronation of King Henry II of England in 1154 and went on to serve Henry as a royal justice. In about 1160 Chesney became embroiled in a dispute with St Albans Abbey that was eventually settled when the abbey granted him land in return for his relinquishing any right to oversee the abbey. He was active in his diocese; more than 240 documents relating to his episcopal career survive. They show him mediating disputes between religious houses and granting exemptions and rights in his diocese. Chesney bought a house in London to serve as an episcopal residence, constructed an episcopal palace in Lincoln, and founded a religious house outside the city. He died in December 1166 and was buried in Lincoln Cathedral. (Full article...)

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The Monument of the Four Moors

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In the news

Soyuz TMA-19M

Soyuz TMA-19M (spacecraft pictured) is launched to the International Space Station.
In mixed martial arts, Conor McGregor ends UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo's ten-year winning streak at UFC 194.
At COP 21, parties to the UNFCCC adopt an agreement to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above pre-industrial levels.
Saudi Arabia holds its first municipal elections open to women, and 20 female candidates are elected.
At least 87 people are killed amidst ongoing political unrest in Burundi.
American chemical companies DuPont and Dow agree to an estimated $130 billion merger.

Ongoing events:
- Syrian Civil War
- European migrant crisis
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On this day...

December 19: Liberation Day in Goa (1961)

Charles Dickens

1154 – Henry II was crowned King of England in London's Westminster Abbey.
1828 – Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest to protest the Tariff of 1828.
1843 – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (pictured), a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published.
1932 – The BBC launched its World Service, now the world's largest international broadcaster, as BBC Empire Service.
1985 – Yakutsk United Air Group Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and landed in China, where he was apprehended, while the passengers returned home with Chinese gifts.

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SMS Odin was the lead ship of her class of coastal defense ships built for the German Imperial Navy. Named for the Norse god, Odin was built by the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig shipyard between 1893 and 1896, and was armed with a main battery of three 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns. She served in the German fleet throughout the 1890s and was rebuilt in 1901–1903. She served in the VI Battle Squadron after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but saw no action. Odin was demobilized in 1915 and used as a tender thereafter. After the war, she was rebuilt as a merchant ship and served in this capacity until 1935, when she was broken up for scrap.

Lithograph: Hugo Graf; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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