Under Friday, February 17, the book of history records, among other things:
1448: Emperor Frederick III. Seals the Imperial Concordat (“Vienna Concordat”) in Vienna with the envoys of Pope Nicholas V, which regulates relations between the Empire and the Curia. It remains in force until the empire is dissolved by Emperor Franz II in 1806.
1568: Emperor Maximilian II and the Turkish Sultan Selim II conclude the Peace of Adrianople, which ends a war that lasted one and a half years.
1848: The King of Sardinia-Piedmont, Charles Albert I, granted the Waldensians religious freedom and civil equality with the Catholic majority of the population.
1863: The so-called Committee of Five, which later became the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), met for the first time in Geneva.
1913: The Armory Show (International Exhibition of Modern Art) opens in New York, the first exhibition of modern art in the United States.
1933: The first edition of the news magazine “Newsweek” is published in the USA.
1933: The US Senate passes the “Blaine Act”, which ends alcohol prohibition in the USA. Three days later, the 21st Amendment is also passed, repealing the 18th Amendment that introduced Prohibition in 1920.
1938: According to the Berchtesgaden Agreement, National Socialists in Austria may legally operate within the Fatherland Front, the mass organization of the corporative state.
1938: Otto Habsburg, the eldest son of the last Emperor Karl I, who died in exile, demands that Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg transfer government power to him in view of the Nazi German threat.
1938: Germany establishes diplomatic relations with Japan’s puppet regime in Manchukuo under the nominal rule of the last Chinese Emperor, Pu Yi.
1948: In Yemen, King Yahia, who as a Zaidi imam is also the religious leader, and two of his 17 sons are murdered in an attempted coup. The uprising is bloodily crushed by the eldest son of the monarch, Ahmed. Hundreds of people are publicly beheaded in Sana’a.
1958: St. Clare of Assisi, influenced by Francis of Assisi as the founder of the Poor Clares, is supported by Pope Pius XII. proclaimed the patron saint of television.
1968: The Socialist German Student Union (SDS) organizes the two-day International Vietnam Congress, which ends with the largest European protest meeting against the US-led Vietnam War to date.
1978: Three years after the end of Franco’s dictatorship, the Spanish Basque Country is granted limited autonomy. Ramón Rubial becomes the first head of the regional government.
1983: Completion of the revision of the 1981 census: Vienna regains 15,700 citizens initially counted as Lower Austria.
1993: Environmental Councilor Michael Häupl takes over the provincial presidency of the Vienna SPÖ from Hans Mayr.
1993: The world premiere of Peter Turrini’s “Alpenglühen” takes place at the Burgtheater, directed by Claus Peymann.
2003: Central London will be subject to tolls. The so-called “congestion charge” is intended to prevent a traffic gridlock in the city.
2003: A fire at a Chicago nightclub kills 21 people.
2008: The southern Serbian province of Kosovo, inhabited by a majority of Albanians, declares its independence. Belgrade rejects the unilateral move as illegal and void, citing Security Council Resolution 1244.
birthdays: Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (1653-1713); Jaroslav Vrchlický (actually Emil Frida), Czech poet (1853-1912); Paul Häberlin, Swiss philosopher (1878-1960); Otto Stern, US physicist German Herk.; Nobel Prize 1943 (1888-1969); René Leibowitz, French composer (1913-1972); Boniface “Buddy” DeFranco, US jazz musician (1923-2014); Alden Winship Clausen, US bank manager (1923-2013); Michael Jordan, US basketball legend (1963); Natascha Kampusch, Austria Kidnapping Victim (1988); Marc Márquez, Spanish motorcycle racer (1993).
days of death: Molière (actually Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), French poet (1622-1673); Louis Prince Rohan, French Cardinal (1734-1803); Ignaz Freiherr von Plener, Austria. politician (1810-1908); Yahia Mohammed Hamid ed-Din, Yemeni. King (1869-1948); Ernst Jiinger, German writer (1895-1998); Wilhelm Loth, German sculptor (1920-1993).
name days: Konstantina, Alexius, Mazelin, Evermod, Silvinus, Volrad, Bonosus.