› added 6 years ago

631

TIL William the Conqueror (aka William The Bastard) was denied a marriage proposal by Matilda of Flanders who felt marrying a bastard was below her. He won her heart by reading the response and immediately riding 250+ miles from Normandy to Bruges to grab her by the hair and throw her in the mud.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

VMk1B TIL all the "ancient" crystal skulls of Central America were actually created in Europe during the 19th century. The Brazilian quartz deposit the skulls are made of was unknown during ancient times and likely crafted in a 19th century German workshop renowned for crafting objects of Brazilian quartz
loDKA TIL The Roman legion of the "Legio IX Hispana", stationed in Britannia, mysteriously disappeared from surviving Roman records after around AD 120. There are no accounts on the disapperance, nor there has been any clear consensus on the matter.
e0yB5 TIL King Norodom is credited for saving Cambodia from disappearing altogether. In 1863, to prevent the two powerful neighbours, Vietnam and Siam from swallowing Cambodia altogether, he was invited by France to make Cambodia its protectorate
Raxl TIL Without notice or warning to Boeing executives, pilot Tex Johnson did a barrel roll with his Boeing 707 over Lake Washington in Seattle. Asked by his boss “What the hell were you doing?” Johnson responded “Selling airplanes.” He was not terminated.
QJglk TIL of Oskar Gröning, a German soldier who worked at Auschwitz but was able to hide it for 40 years. However, he decided to publish his story after meeting a Holocaust denier, even though he was incriminating himself by doing so.