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Coenwulf was King of Mercia, in Anglo-Saxon England, from December 796 until his death in 821. He ascended the throne five months after the death of Offa, one of the most powerful kings of early medieval England, when Offa's son, Ecgfrith, died after a brief reign. In the early years of Coenwulf's reign he had to deal with a revolt in Kent, which had been under Offa's control. After Eadberht Præn returned from exile in Francia to claim the Kentish throne, Coenwulf invaded and retook the kingdom. He probably lost control of the kingdom of East Anglia during the early part of his reign, as evidenced by an independent coinage appearing under King Eadwald, but Coenwulf's coinage reappeared in 805. Coenwulf was the last king of Mercia to exercise substantial dominance over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms; within a decade of his death, the rise of Wessex had begun under King Ecgberht, and Mercia never recovered its former position of power. (Full article...)

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In the news

Aftermath of the Jolo Cathedral bombings

A cold wave impacts North America, killing at least 21 people.
Two bombs at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (aftermath pictured) in Jolo, Philippines, kill at least 18 people and leave more than 80 others injured.
A mining dam collapses in Brumadinho, Brazil, leaving more than 110 people dead and hundreds of others missing.
More than 60 people are killed in flooding across South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

On this day

February 2: Groundhog Day in Canada and the United States

F-16 Fighting Falcon

506 – Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, promulgated a collection of Roman law that became known as the Breviary of Alaric.
1850 – Brigham Young announced his decision to go to war against Timpanogos who were hostile to the Mormon settlement at Fort Utah.
1920 – The signing of the Treaty of Tartu ended the Estonian War of Independence, with Russia agreeing to recognize the independence of Estonia and renounce in perpetuity all rights to that territory.
1974 – The F-16 Fighting Falcon (pictured), the most numerous fixed-wing aircraft in military service, made its first flight.
2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the top-ranked men's singles player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks.

Isaac Titsingh (d. 1812) · Frederick William Vanderbilt (b. 1856) · Mary Docherty (d. 2000)

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The Groundhog Day Blizzard was a powerful winter storm which affected parts of the United States and Canada between January 31 and February 2, 2011. The storm brought cold air, heavy snowfall, blowing snow, and mixed precipitation on a path from New Mexico and northern Texas to New England and Eastern Canada. The heaviest snowfall was in Antioch, Illinois, with 27.0 in (69 cm), while Cashtown, Pennsylvania had the largest ice accretion of 1.0 in (2.5 cm). The storm caused at least 36 deaths and damages of US$1.8 billion.

Video: NASA Earth Observatory

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