American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

King Henry VII Patent to John Cabot (March 5, 1496): <Henry, by the Grace of God, king of England...Greeting. Be it known that we have given...our well beloved John Cabot citizen of Venice...authority...to sail to all parts, country, and seas of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners...to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever isles, countries, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels whatsoever they be, and in what part of the world soever they be, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians.> 1496KH001 -- American Quotations by William J. Federer,...

Leif Eirkson (c.970-c.1020) voyaged around 1000 AD in the first attempt of Europeans to settle the coast of "Vineland," generally accepted to be Newfoundland in North America. Sailing Viking longboats, Leif, and later his brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and sister Freydis, all children of Eric the Red, explored and built a temporary settlement there, which included a church, but conflict with natives led to its abandonment, Thorvald being killed by an arrow. The Saga of Erik the Red contains the account of Norse exploration of North America. Thought to have been written in the 13th century, the Saga is preserved...

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483-February 18, 1546) was the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and was renowned for his enduring literary contribution of translating the Bible into the German language. He became an Augustinian friar and in 1507 was ordained. In 1510 he visited Rome, where he was shocked by the worldliness. He received his doctorate of divinity and in 1512 was appointed professor of philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, where he was promoted to the position of district vicar. In 1452, Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople, cutting off Europe's land routes east to India and China. This...

Thomas Cranmer (July 2, 1489-March 21, 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England. He wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church, from which the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican statement of faith were derived. Thomas Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy under Mary I, imprisoned for over two years, then executed. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of...

Hernando Cortez (1485-December 2, 1547) was the Spanish explorer who conquered Mexico. In 1504, at the age of nineteen, Cortez came to the island of Hispaniola and was given a land grant by Governor Diego Columbus, Christopher Columbus' son. After establishing himself as a wealthy hidalgo, Cortez joined Diego Velasquez in the conquest of Cuba in 1511. There he became a gentleman farmer and alcalde (town mayor). In 1518, Governor Velasquez commissioned Cortez to lead an expedition to the Yucatan in Mexico, along with Captain Pedro de Alvarado. On February 10, 1519, before embarking for Mexico, Cortez addressed his force...