In October 1572, the Spanish-held city of Goes was under siege during the Eighty Years’ War by a much larger Dutch and allied force that included English troops. Enemy ships prevented Spanish reinforcements from reaching the city by sea, leaving Goes increasingly isolated and threatening Spain’s remaining position in Zeeland.

Cristóbal de Mondragón adopted an extraordinary alternative. Guided across the tidal landscape by Captain Plomaert and local men who knew the terrain, roughly 3,000 Spanish, Walloon and German soldiers crossed about fifteen miles of channels and mudflats overnight, sometimes through chest-deep water, while holding their gunpowder and provisions above the surface. According to the account, only nine men drowned during the crossing.

Many of the hats I wear for History Happens come from my own vintage collection, and a number of them eventually find their way into my Etsy shop, Detailed Pieces. The shop also includes other authentic vintage pieces and wearable history, so even if the particular hat featured with an episode has already sold, there may be another piece from the past that belongs in your collection.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DetailedPieces

On October 18, AD 33, Agrippina the Elder died in exile on Pandateria after one of the most brutal reversals of fortune in Rome’s imperial family. She was Augustus’s granddaughter and the widow of the enormously popular Germanicus, whose ashes she had personally carried home after his mysterious death in AD 19. Once surrounded by crowds of supporters, Agrippina eventually found herself declared an enemy of the state and banished to a tiny island.

Her sons Nero and Drusus had once stood among the possible successors to Tiberius, but imperial politics destroyed them. Nero died in exile, while Drusus was imprisoned on the Palatine and reportedly starved until he was reduced to chewing the stuffing of his bed. Agrippina followed them in AD 33, traditionally said to have starved herself, although Tacitus claimed food was deliberately withheld so her death would appear to be suicide. The precise truth of her final days remains impossible to establish.

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Many of the hats I wear in the podcast come from my own collection, and quite a few eventually make their way into my Etsy shop, Detailed Pieces, along with other authentic vintage pieces and wearable history. The particular hat you see may still be available, or you may find something completely different with a history of its own.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DetailedPieces

In October 1660, England was confronting the consequences of something almost unimaginable. Eleven years earlier, Charles I had been tried and executed, but now his son Charles II occupied the restored throne, and surviving men responsible for the king's death were being prosecuted for high treason.

Charles I's death warrant carried 59 signatures, leaving the restored government an unusually direct record of who had formally authorized the execution. Ten men connected directly with the trial and death were ultimately executed in October 1660, although they were killed across several days and not all of them had actually signed the warrant.

Special note: If you're watching the video version and wondering about the vintage hat I'm wearing, many of the hats featured on History Happens eventually make their way into my Etsy shop. The exact one in this episode may still be available, or it may already have found a new home, but there are usually other true-vintage pieces waiting there. Take a look at the shop and see what's currently available:

Detailed Pieces on Etsy

The Etsy shop link is https://www.etsy.com/shop/

On October 16, 1817, Giovanni Battista Belzoni uncovered KV17 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the enormous and extraordinarily decorated tomb of Pharaoh Seti I. Its corridors and chambers contained brilliantly preserved reliefs, religious texts and deep blue ceilings covered with golden stars, while an additional mysterious tunnel continued far beneath the original position of the king's sarcophagus.

Belzoni was hardly the archaeologist modern audiences might picture. The six-foot-seven Italian had previously performed as a circus strongman in Britain and originally traveled to Egypt to demonstrate a hydraulic machine, only to become one of the most prolific early explorers of Egyptian antiquities after that project failed.

A little vintage-history bonus: the hats featured in my podcast images often come from my own collection, and many are eventually offered for sale in my Etsy shop, Detailed Pieces. If the hat pictured with this episode has already found a new home, take a look anyway. There may be another piece of wearable history waiting for yours.

Etsy shop: Detailed Pieces on Etsy

n October 15, 1910, Walter Wellman's hydrogen-filled airship America departed Atlantic City in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by powered aircraft. Originally built for Wellman's unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, the enormous airship had been enlarged and equipped with engines, a suspended lifeboat and an experimental radio.

The expedition also carried Kiddo, a cat who was so unhappy about flying that engineer Melvin Vaniman used their pioneering radio equipment to ask someone to come get the 'damn' thing.

On October 14, 1888, Louis Le Prince filmed four people moving through the garden at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds. The surviving twenty frames of Roundhay Garden Scene are believed to form the oldest surviving motion-picture film, created with the single-lens camera Le Prince had developed in his Leeds workshop.

One of those people was Sarah Whitley, Le Prince's mother-in-law, who died only ten days after the filming. But the biggest shock was yet to come.

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Special note: At the time of scheduling this episode, the hat you see here was listed for sale on Etsy at the following link. It might still be there if you act fast enough, or you might find another you like even more. The Etsy shop link is https://www.etsy.com/shop/

At dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of members of the Knights Templar, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay. The Templars had grown from a tiny group protecting pilgrims into a wealthy international religious and military organization with castles, businesses, land and a sophisticated financial network across medieval Europe.

The accusations against them were extraordinary, but there was a devastating problem with the apparent evidence: many Templars confessed under torture.