#TodayInHistory – November 30

November 30 – Some important events on this day.

1016 👉🏼 Cnut the Great [Canute], King of Denmark, claims the English throne after the death of Edmund ‘Ironside’
1406 👉🏼 Angelo Correr elected Pope Gregory XII

1487 👉🏼 The first German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot), is promulgated in Munich by Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria stating beer should be brewed from only three ingredients – water, malt and hops.
From the “History of German Brewing” by Karl J. Eden: “We hereby proclaim and decree, by Authority of our Province, that henceforth in the Duchy of Bavaria, in the country as well as in the cities and marketplaces, the following rules apply to the sale of beer:
From Michaelmas to Georgi, the price for one Mass [Bavarian Liter 1,069] or one Kopf [bowl-shaped container for fluids, not quite one Mass], is not to exceed one Pfennig Munich value, and From Georgi to Michaelmas, the Mass shall not be sold for more than two Pfennig of the same value, the Kopf not more than three Heller [Heller usually one-half Pfennig].
If this not be adhered to, the punishment stated below shall be administered. Should any person brew, or otherwise have, other beer than March beer, it is not to be sold any higher than one Pfennig per Mass. Furthermore, we wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, markets and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water. Whosoever knowingly disregards or transgresses upon this ordinance, shall be punished by the Court authorities’ confiscating such barrels of beer, without fail. Should, however, an innkeeper in the country, city or markets buy two or three pails of beer (containing 60 Mass) and sell it again to the common peasantry, he alone shall be permitted to charge one Heller more for the Mass of the Kopf, than mentioned above. Furthermore, should there arise a scarcity and subsequent price increase of the barley (also considering that the times of harvest differ, due to location), WE, the Bavarian Duchy, shall have the right to order curtailments for the good of all concerned.”

1630 👉🏼 16,000 inhabitants of Venice died this month of plague
1648 👉🏼 English Parliamentary army captures King Charles I
1731 👉🏼 Beijing hit by an earthquake; about 100,000 die
1735 👉🏼 States of Holland forbid Free Masonry
1786 👉🏼 Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II promulgates a penal reform, making his the 1st state to abolish the death penalty. November 30 commemorated as Cities for Life Day.
1872 👉🏼 First international soccer game, Scotland draws with England (0-0) in Glasgow
1876 👉🏼 Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann finds the gold Mask of Agamemnon at Mycenae (modern Greece) “the Mona Lisa of prehistory”

1954 👉🏼 Ann Hodges is bruised by a meteor at Sylacauga, Alabama in first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human.
The first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human being occurs at Sylacauga, Alabama, when a meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and into a living room, bounces off a radio, and strikes a woman on the hip. The victim, Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges, was sleeping on a couch at the time of impact. Mrs. Hodges was not permanently injured but suffered a nasty bruise along her hip and leg.
Ancient Chinese records tell of people being injured or killed by falling meteorites, but the Sylacauga meteorite was the first modern record of this type of human injury. In 1911, a dog in Egypt was killed by the Nakhla meteorite.

1974 👉🏼 Most complete early human skeleton (Lucy, Australopithecus) discovered by Donald Johanson, Maurice Taieb, Yves Coppens and Tim White in the Middle Awash of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression
1979 👉🏼 Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” released, sells 6 million copies in 2 weeks
1982 👉🏼 “Thriller”, 6th studio album by Michael Jackson is released (Grammy Award Album of the Year 1984, best-selling album of all time, Billboard Album of the Year 1983)
1993 👉🏼 “Schindler’s List”, American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes, premieres in Washington, D.C. (Academy Awards Best Picture 1994)
2006 👉🏼 South Africa’s Civil Union Act of 2006 legalizes same-sex marriage, becomes fifth country in the world and first in Africa to do so
2016 👉🏼 UNESCO adds Belgian beer to its Cultural Heritage List
2017 👉🏼 World’s longest recorded rainbow – 8 hrs 58 min in Taipei’s Yangmingshan mountain range