July 11

in History

An Emperor Becomes a Monk — Trading the purple for a humble robe

Constantinople, Byzantine EmpireMedieval

813

An Emperor Becomes a Monk

Trading the purple for a humble robe

Faced with conspiracies closing in around him, Byzantine Emperor Michael I Rangabe made a decision rare in imperial history. Rather than fight or flee, he abdicated the throne in favor of his general Leo the Armenian and withdrew into monastic life. The former emperor exchanged his crown for a monk's robe, seeking peace in prayer that the treacherous halls of Constantinople could never provide.

813 AD

Master Spy Rudolf Abel — Born English, lived Russian, caught American

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EnglandEarly 20th Century

1903

Master Spy Rudolf Abel

Born English, lived Russian, caught American

William August Fisher was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, to Russian parents. Under the alias Rudolf Abel, he would become one of the Soviet Union's most effective intelligence officers, operating deep undercover in the United States for nearly a decade. His 1957 arrest by the FBI and subsequent exchange for U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers became one of the Cold War's most dramatic episodes.

1903 AD

Late 20th Century

1960

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee featuring themes of racial injustice and the loss of innocence in the.

To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee featuring themes of racial injustice and the loss of innocence in the Deep South of America, was published.

1960 AD