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The attack on Joseph Priestley's home, Fairhill

The Priestley Riots took place from 14 July to 17 July 1791 in Birmingham, England; the rioters' main targets were religious Dissenters, most notably the religious and political controversialist, Joseph Priestley. The riots started with an attack on a hotel that was the site of a banquet organized in sympathy with the French Revolution. Then, beginning with Priestley's church and home, the rioters attacked or burned four Dissenting chapels, twenty-seven houses, and several businesses. Many of them became intoxicated by liquor that they found while looting, or with which they were bribed to stop burning homes. A small core could not be bribed, however, and remained sober. They burned not only the homes and chapels of Dissenters, but also the homes of people they associated with Dissenters, such as members of the scientific Lunar Society. While the riots were not initiated by Prime Minister William Pitt's administration, the national government was slow to respond to the Dissenters' pleas for help. Local Birmingham officials seem to have been involved in the planning of the riots, and they were later reluctant to prosecute any ringleaders. Those who had been attacked gradually left, leaving Birmingham a more conservative city than it had been throughout the eighteenth century. (more...)

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On this day...

June 13:

1525 – Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora (pictured), against the celibacy discipline decreed by the Roman Catholic Church on priests.
1886 – King Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead in Lake Starnberg near Munich under mysterious circumstances.
1898 – The Yukon Territory was formed in Canada, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
1966 – The Miranda v. Arizona landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court established the Miranda warning, requiring law enforcement officials to advise a suspect in custody of his rights to remain silent and to obtain an attorney.
1971 – The New York Times began to publish the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page top-secret United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in the Vietnam War.

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