22. März

A Franco-Scottish army under the Earl of Buchan beat an English force that Henry’s brother Thomas, Duke of Clarence, led in without waiting for his archers. Clarence was killed, the first English defeat in a pitched battle of the Lancastrian war.

“Begun in Florence, in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli, on 22 March 1508; and this will be a collection without order, taken from many papers which I have copied here.” He wrote the year from 1 January: by the Florentine count, 22 March was still 1507.

After beating the Mughal army at Karnal, the Persian ruler occupied Delhi. When some of his soldiers were killed he ordered a massacre; estimates of the dead in one day run from 20,000 to 30,000. He left with the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor.

Parliament taxed the colonies’ paper: newspapers, deeds, licences, even playing cards had to carry a stamp. It was meant to pay part of the cost of the 10,000 troops Britain kept in America after the Seven Years’ War.

Ten years of taxes, boycotts, riots and repeals. Nobody set out to leave the empire; the colonists claimed the rights of Englishmen, and Parliament insisted it could legislate for them “in all cases whatsoever”.

Lord Cornwallis fixed the land revenue of Bengal in perpetuity and made the zamindars who collected it owners of the land. The Company got a steady income; many old landed families, unable to pay on time, lost their estates at auction within a few years.

Lord Cornwallis fixed the land tax of Bengal in perpetuity and made the zamindars who collected it owners of the land. Estates that fell behind were auctioned.

The harvest failed and the government would not suspend the revenue. With a young lawyer, Vallabhbhai Patel, he urged the peasants to refuse to pay. A few months later he toured the same villages recruiting soldiers for the British army, with little success.

The first album, eight originals and six covers, reached number one in May and stayed there for 30 weeks, until the Beatles replaced it themselves.