1501

• January 22nd - The scientist Argo Fairweather passed away. His final monograph, “On the Species And Habits of Moon-Rabbits” was finished and published by his daughter. The home where he was kept under house arrest by the Lobster Pope for many years has been turned into a museum. It is open between the hours of noon and four, or by appointment.
• March 28th - The Madonna of Leaves was seen. She appeared in the garden of a small monastery, saying nothing, and looked upon the gardener there. He bowed his head, and when he looked up again, she had vanished. Where she stood, he found a patch of feverfew that had not been there before. Feverfew is an herb that repels fleas, and it is fleas that carry certain types of plague. The gardener, whose name is not recorded, nursed the plants through the summer and scattered the leaves around the beds of his brother monks. When the plague came that fall, the monastery was spared. Because of this, they were able to bring the harvest in, for both the monastery and nearby farms, and the survivors of the plague had food to survive the winter.
• July 14th - The Red Lane Shipping Company was founded by the privateer Todd “Fig” Mahoney. Fig said that he had been engaging in legal piracy for years, but he was getting too old for the sea. “Besides,” he wrote, “the greatest pirates are all behind desks.” The Red Lane Shipping Company has changed names multiple times, been responsible for an uncounted number of deaths and an extraordinary degree of human suffering. They also sponsor the annual Ship Shape Brownie Baking Contest. So there’s that.