On this day in ...... 1302, Blanche d'Artois (left), the woman who'd been Regent Dowager Queen of Navarre following the death of her husband in 1274, died at age 54. Blanche had ruled on behalf of her only daughter, Joan I of Navarre, now part of northern Spain, until 1284. "[V]arious powers, both foreign and from Navarra, sought to take advantage of the minority of the heiress and the weakness of the female regent." Blanche, who married an Englishman and had 4 more children while she was regent, was succeeded by Philip IV when he married Joan.
... 1933 (75 years ago today), Scotland's Inverness Courier reported that the co-manager of a local
hotel, Mrs. Aldie Mackay, had seen "a hump like that of a whale in the narrows at Aldourie Castle" beside Loch Ness. She called to her husband to stop the car, but by the time he had stopped the 'beast' had submerged." London newspapers picked up the story, thus beginning the "Legend of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster" (right). (photo credit)
