/year

May 23 in history

230 sourced entries recorded on May 23, from 230 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 1040Battle of Dandanaqan: The Turkmen Seljuqs defeat the Ghaznavid forces (50,000 men) led by Sultan Masʽud I at Dandanaqan, a fortress city in the desert near Merv. Ghaznavid commanders Ali Daya and Begtoghdi are blamed for the defeat and executed.source
  • 1096May 18–26 – The Worms massacre: Members of the People's Crusade under Emicho besiege Worms in the Rhineland before killing at least 800 Jews, despite the intervention of Bishop Adalbert II. He tries to hide some of them in the bishop's palace, others chose to remain outside its walls. One of the victims is Minna of Worms, an influential Jew among the Christian nobility.source
  • 1308Battle of Inverurie: Scottish forces led by King Robert the Bruce defeat the rival Scots under John Comyn at Oldmeldrum. During the battle, Robert repulses a surprise attack on his camp, and counter-attacks the Scots of Clan Comyn. John flees to seek refuge at the English court and is well received by Edward II, who appoints him as Lord Warden of the Marches. Meanwhile, Robert orders his forces to burn the farms, houses and strongholds associated with Clan Cumming in north-east Scotland. The Earldom of Buchan will never again rise for Clan Cumming.source
  • 1350May 23 (possible date) – Hook and Cod wars in the County of Holland: A number of nobles and progressive cities supporting William V, Count of Holland, in his power struggle with his mother Margaret I, Countess of Holland, found the Cod League and perhaps sign the Cod Alliance Treaty.source
  • 1412An-Nasir Faraj, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt and Syria, is stabbed to death in Damascus after surrendering to the Emirs of Syria. Nawruz al-Hafizi becomes ruler of the Syrian provinces and Faraj's son Al-Musta'in is confirmed as ruler of the Egyptian territory.source
  • 1420Albert V, Duke of Austria, issues the Vienna Gesera, a campaign of expulsion or extermination of the 1,500 Jewish residents of Vienna. Those who are not imprisoned are executed 10 months later, and similar persecutions are carried out in other cities in Austria.source
  • 1423The Sultan of Gujarat, Ahmad Shah I is finally able to return home to reassume the throne.source
  • 1430Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundian troops, led by John II, Count of Ligny, while leading an army to relieve Compiègne. After her surrender to Lyonnel de Wandomme, she is turned over to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and incarcerated at the castle of Beaulieu-les-Fontaines.source
  • 1430Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians, while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.source
  • 1461King Edward IV summons the English Parliament for the first time, directing the members of the House of Lords and House of Commons to assemble at Westminster on November 4.source
  • 1462Catalan Civil War: In the Principality of Catalonia in Spain, the Siege of Hostalric, controlled by forces loyal to John II of Aragon, is started by Catalan General Pere de Bell-lloc and the Hostalric castle surrenders six days later.source
  • 1476(1st waxing of Waso 838 ME) In what is now Myanmar, the Thet minority rebels against King Ba Saw Phyu of Arakan but the rebellion is quickly put down.source
  • 1480The Siege of Rhodes begins as the Ottoman Turk invading force begins its invasion, introducing the psychological warfare of coming ashore with "loud martial music" and the shrieking cries of dervishes.source
  • 1493The Treaty of Senlis is signed in France at the city of Senlis (in the modern Oise département) between King Charles VIII of France and Maximilian I, King of the Romans, ending the War of the Burgundian Succession between France and the Holy Roman Empire and dividing the Burgundian lands.source
  • 1493Treaty of Senlis is signed between France and Maximilian of Austria.source
  • 1511French troops capture the Italian city of Bologna after a two-day battle.source
  • 1524Tahmasp I becomes the ruler of the Safavid Empire, following the death of his father, Shah Ismail I.source
  • 1526A transit of Venus occurs, the last before optical filters allow astronomers to observe them.source
  • 1533King Henry VIII of England's marriage with Catherine of Aragon is declared annulled by Archbishop Cranmer. Since Pope Clement VII had rejected Henry's petition for annulment in 1530, Catherine continues to believe herself Henry's wife until her death.source
  • 1536The Inquisition is implemented in Portugal.source
  • 1541Jacques Cartier departs from Saint-Malo, France on his third voyage.source
  • 1541Jacques Cartier departed from Saint-Malo on his third voyage.source
  • 1544The Treaty of Speyer is signed between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark (which includes Norway). Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor agrees to recognize Christian III as the ruler of Denmark and Norway, and abandons further attempts to restore King Christian II to the throne. In return, Denmark and Norway agree to support the Habsburg monarchy in the Empire.source
  • 1544The allied French and Ottoman navies depart from the French port of Marseille and travel to Constantinople, the Ottoman capital. The French fleet is commanded by Antoine Escalin des Aimars, known as Captain Polin, French ambassador to the Ottomans, while the Turks are led by Hayreddin Barbarossa.source
  • 1547The Protestant Schmalkaldic League defeats the Catholic Army of the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Drakenburg. Of 6,000 Imperial troops, 2,500 are killed and another 2,500 are taken prisoner by the Protestants.source
  • 1555Giovanni Pietro Carafa, Cardinal of Naples, is elected as the new Pope after Giacomo del Pozzo fails to obtain the necessary two-thirds approval. Carafa, the 223rd Pope, takes the name Pope Paul IV.source
  • 1555Election of Paul IV (Gian Pietro Carafa), 223rd Pope of the Catholic Church (end of the pontificate in 1559). He succeeds Pope Marcellus II, dead after 22 days of reign. He reforms the Dataria and the Inquisition. Coming from an ancient Neapolitan family, traditionally hostile to the Aragonese, he makes an alliance with the King of France to expel the Habsburgs from Naples.source
  • 1557The Shwezigon Pagoda Bell, weighing 7,560 lb, is dedicated. The Bell, commissioned by King Bayinnaung and located in the Myanmar city of Bagan, bears a detailed inscription of the 16th century Burmese conquest of the Shan States.source
  • 1568Battle of Heiligerlee: Troops under Louis of Nassau, brother of William the Silent, defeat a smaller loyalist force under Jean de Ligne, in an attempt to invade the Northern Netherlands. This effectively begins the Eighty Years' War.source
  • 1609The Second Virginia Charter is officially ratified; it is intended to replace the council with a governor, who has absolute control in the colony.source
  • 1610Jamestown, Virginia: Acting as temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, along with John Rolfe, Captain Ralph Hamor, Sir George Somers, and other survivors from the Sea Venture (wrecked at Bermuda) arrive at Jamestown; they find that 60 have survived the "starving time" (winter), the fort palisades and gates have been torn down, and empty houses have been used for firewood, in fear of attacks by natives outside the fort area.source
  • 1613War of the Montferrat Succession: The defenders of the Italian city of Nizza Monferrato successfully resist a nine-day siege by the troops of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy.source
  • 1618The Second Defenestration of Prague – Protestant noblemen hold a mock trial, and throw two direct representatives of Ferdinand II of Germany (Imperial Governors) and their scribe out of a window into a pile of manure, exacerbating a low-key rebellion into the Bohemian Revolt (1618–1621), precipitating the Thirty Years' War into armed conflict, and further polarizing Europe on religious grounds.source
  • 1622Nathaniel Butter begins publication in London of Newes from Most Parts of Christendom or Weekly News from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Bohemia, the Palatinate, France and the Low Countries, one of the first regular English language newspapers.source
  • 1627Ngarolamo becomes the new Sultan of Tidore in the Maluku Islands in modern-day Indonesia.source
  • 1627the office of Second Serjeant-at-law at the Irish Bar is created, the first holder being Nathaniel Catelyn.source
  • 1629May 14–28 – Huguenot rebellions: After a 15-day siege, Louis XIII of France captures Privas.source
  • 1631Procession in Nice seeking relief from plague.source
  • 1634Gaspard Nemius appointed bishop of Antwerp.source
  • 1638The Kandyan Treaty is signed between Singhala King Rajasimha II and the Dutch, to rid Ceylon of the Portuguese.source
  • 1645May 20–30 - Yangzhou massacre, one of the most destructive massacres in historysource
  • 1660With the way cleared for his return to England, King Charles II ends his exile at the Hague in the Netherlands and departs from Scheveningen harbor on the English ship Naseby, renamed for the occasion HMS Royal Charles , as part of a fleet of English warships brought by Admiral Edward Montagu. On commemorative memorabilia in the Netherlands, the date of Charles's departure is listed as June 2, 1660, the date on the Gregorian calendar used in continental Europe but not in England.source
  • 166023 May (2 June N.S.) – Charles II embarks from Scheveningen on HMS Royal Charles, captained by Edward Montagu (created Earl of Sandwich two months later).source
  • 1670Cosimo III de' Medici becomes the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at the time an independent nation in Italy, upon the death of his father Ferdinando de' Medici.source
  • 1675Sujinphaa becomes the new figurehead monarch of the Ahom kingdom in northeastern India, enthroned at the capital at Garhgaon (now in the Indian state of Assam), after Gobar Roja is deposed and executed by order of the nobles who control the nation.source
  • 1701Scottish-born Captain William Kidd, having been imprisoned in Boston Gaol (Massachusetts) and Newgate Prison (London) and convicted by the High Court of Admiralty of piracy and the murder of one of his crew, is hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping (London). His body suffers gibbeting over the River Thames at Tilbury Point; ballads are already spreading the legend that he has left buried treasure in the Americas.source
  • 1701Scottish-born Captain William Kidd, having been imprisoned in Boston Gaol (Massachusetts) and Newgate Prison (London) and convicted by the High Court of Admiralty of piracy and the murder of one of his crew, is hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping. His body suffers gibbeting over the River Thames at Tilbury Point; ballads are already spreading the legend that he has left buried treasure in the Americas.source
  • 1704May 19–23 – Vigorous Strombolian activity from Mount Vesuvius, Italy is recorded.source
  • 1706War of the Spanish Succession – Battle of Ramillies: English, Dutch, German, Swiss and Scottish troops led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeat Franco-Bavarian forces in the Low Countries.source
  • 1706War of the Spanish Succession: English troops led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough together with Dutch and German troops defeat the French at the Battle of Ramillies.source
  • 1707The volcanic eruption in the Santorini caldera begins.source
  • 1711Robert Harley made Earl of Oxford.source
  • 1719Mississippi Company becomes the Compagnie Perpétuelle des Indessource
  • 1744the Hospital for Incurables is opened in Dublin as a charitable institution.source
  • 1771Battle of Lanckorona: A force of 4,000 Russians under Alexander Suvorov defeat a Polish formation of 1,300 men.source
  • 1776May 15–26 – American Revolution: Battle of the Cedars – British forces skirmish with the American Continental Army around Les Cèdres, Quebec.source
  • 1776The Criminal Law Act introduces hard labour as a punishment since penal transportation to British North America has been made impossible due to the American Revolution (initially intended as a temporary measure). The first prison hulk to accommodate such prisoners comes into use on 15 July on the River Thames.source
  • 1785Benjamin Franklin receives a patent for bifocals.source
  • 1788South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution, and becomes the eighth U.S. state.source
  • 1810May 18–25 – May Revolution: Armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy and establish a provincial government for Argentina (the Primera Junta). Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros is removed.source
  • 1814The Active departs Hobart.source
  • 1815John Luxmoore replaces William Cleaver as Bishop of St Asaph.source
  • 1822HMS Comet launched at Deptford Dockyard, the first steamboat commissioned by the Royal Navy.source
  • 1823The rebel Spanish government withdraws from Madrid to Seville following the French advance.source
  • 1832The Festiniog Railway Company is set up by an act of Parliament, making it, as of the 21st century, the world's oldest surviving statutory public railway company.source
  • 1835The Mexican State of Aguascalientes is formed, by decree of President Antonio López de Santa Anna.source
  • 1835President Santa Anna separates by decree the State of Aguascalientes from the State of Zacatecas.source
  • 1835Viscount of Torre de Moncorvo, a title created by Queen Maria II as a barony by decreesource
  • 1839Turkish troops cross the Euphrates River and invade Syria, but are defeated in battle in June.source
  • 1843Chile takes possession of the Strait of Magellan.source
  • 1844Persian prophet The Báb privately announces his revelation to Mullá Husayn, just after sunset, founding the Bábí faith (later evolving into the Baháʼí Faith as the Báb intended) in Shiraz, Persia (modern-day Iran). Contemporaneously, on this day in nearby Tehran, is the birth of `Abdu'l-Bahá; the eldest Son of Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb's mission is to proclaim He whom God shall make manifest. `Abdu'l-Bahá Himself is later proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh to be His own successor, thus being the third "central figure" of the Baháʼí Faith.source
  • 1845New York City Police Department (NYPD) is formed, replacing an old night watch system.source
  • 1850The USS Advance puts to sea from New York to search for Franklin's lost expedition in the Arctic.source
  • 1850The USS Advance puts to sea from New York City to search for Franklin's lost expedition in the Arctic.source
  • 1853The first plat for Seattle, Washington, is laid out.source
  • 1861American Civil War: The state of Virginia's ordinance of secession from the United States is ratified in a referendum.source
  • 1863Ferdinand Lassalle founds the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein (General German Workers' Association, ADAV), the first socialist workers party in Germany.source
  • 1865Grand Review of the Armies: Union Army troops parade down Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.) to celebrate the end of the American Civil War.source
  • 1873The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police (which is renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).source
  • 1873North-West Mounted Police are founded to police the Northwest Territories, which then included the region today of Alberta and Saskatchewan.source
  • 1873The Preakness Stakes horse race is run for the first time in Baltimore.source
  • 1874Passenger ship British Admiral, on a voyage from Liverpool (England) to Melbourne (Australia), sinks after hitting rocks off King Island (Tasmania); only nine of the 88 passengers and crew are rescued.source
  • 1878chartering of Bank of the City of Buenos Aires as the Monte de Piedad in a measure against the prevalence of usury in Buenos Aires (mostly targeting the growing wave of immigration in Argentina)source
  • 1883Robert Louis Stevenson's children's pirate adventure novel Treasure Island is first published in book format, in London.source
  • 1886First round of the 1886 Italian general election with a second round of voting on 30 May. The "ministerial" Historical Left led by Prime Minister Depretis emerged as the largest in Parliament, winning 292 of the 508 seats.source
  • 1886Romania introduces a tariff on imported goods to protect local industry, which leads to Austria-Hungary introducing new custom duties on imports and the Romanian-Austro-Hungarian customs war. It lasts until December 1893.source
  • 1887Slagelse B&I is founded in Slagelse.source
  • 1892Frederick Deeming hanged at Melbourne Gaol having been unsuccessfully defended by the lawyer Alfred Deakin. Deeming was accused of committing a series of crimes on three continents – theft, perjury, fraud, bigamy and murder; he used at least 20 aliases.source
  • 1893Mahatma Gandhi arrives in Durban.source
  • 1893Gandhi arrives in South Africa, where he will live until 1914, lead non-violent protests on behalf of Indian immigrants in the South African Republic (Transvaal), and develop a deeper experience of such activities.source
  • 1912The Hamburg America Line's SS Imperator is launched in Hamburg and is the world's largest ship.source
  • 1914The Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamship which sailed from Japan to British Columbia carrying 376 passengers, is turned back from Canada under authority of exclusion laws prohibiting Asian immigrants. Most of the passengers returned to India.source
  • 1914376 British subjects (340 Sikhs, 12 Hindus and 24 Muslims) of Indian origin arrived at Burrard Inlet, Vancouver on May 23, 1914, from the Indian sub-continent on the ship Komagata Maru (Guru Nanak Jahaz), seeking to enter Canada. Due to the racist immigration policy of the Dominion of Canada, 352 of the passengers were denied entry and forced to depart on July 23, 1914.source
  • 1915WWI: Italy joins the Allies after declaring war on Austria-Hungary.source
  • 1917WWI: During the Stalemate in Southern Palestine, the Raid on the Beersheba to Hafir el Auja railway by the British Desert Column takes place: large sections of the railway line linking Beersheba to the main Ottoman desert base are destroyed.source
  • 1918May 21–29 - The Ottoman World War I defeat at the Battle of Sardarabad is seen as saving the Armenian nation from destruction.source
  • 1918First victims of the "axeman of New Orleans" in a 17-month series of brutal murders mainly directed at Italian American shopkeepers and their families; the serial killer is never identified.source
  • 1919The University of California opens its second campus in Los Angeles. Initially called Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC), it is eventually renamed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).source
  • 1923Stanley Baldwin is appointed British Prime Minister.source
  • 1923Belgium's Sabena Airlines is created.source
  • 1923Sabena is founded at Brussels Airportsource
  • 1923May 21–25 – 1923 Far Eastern Games held in Osaka.source
  • 19251925 Kita Tajima earthquakesource
  • 1927Nearly 600 members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers view a live demonstration of television at the Bell Telephone Building in New York City, just over a year after John Logie Baird of Scotland had first demonstrated an electromechanical system to members of the Royal Society in London.source
  • 1928A bomb attack against the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 22 and injures 43.source
  • 1928The Italian consulate in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is bombed. The explosion kills 22 people and injures 43.source
  • 1929The religious Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva is founded in Jerusalem.source
  • 1934American outlaws Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed and killed by police in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.source
  • 1938No evidence of German troop movements against Czechoslovakia is found, and the May Crisis subsides. Germany is, nevertheless, perceived to have backed down in the face of Czechoslovak mobilization and international diplomatic unity, but the issue of the future of the Sudetenland is far from resolved.source
  • 1939The White Paper of 1939 is ratified by the British government, acting as the governing policy for Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948.source
  • 1943WWII: The battleship USS New Jersey is commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1945The Flensburg Government is dissolved by the Allies, and German president Karl Dönitz and German chancellor Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by British RAF Regiment personnel at Flensburg. They are respectively the last German head of state and head of government until 1949.source
  • 1945President of Germany Karl Dönitz and Chancellor of Germany Count Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk are arrested by British forces at Flensburg. They are respectively the last German Head of state and Head of government until 1949.source
  • 1946May 23–24 – A two-day violent tornado outbreak occurs across the Central United States, with at least 15 significant tornadoes killing four people and injuring 42 others.source
  • 1949The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) is officially established (until 1990).source
  • 1951The Tibetan government signs the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China.source
  • 1956French minister Pierre Mendès France resigns, due to his government's policy on Algeria.source
  • 1958Chairman Mao Zedong started his "Great Leap Forward" movement in the People's Republic of China.source
  • 1959In Laos the Laotian Civil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and communist rebels, the Pathet Lao.source
  • 1959Pope John XXIII creates the dioceses of Tlaxcala and San Andrés Tuxtla.source
  • 1962Ruben Jaramillo, Mexican peasant leader, and his wife and children, are gunned down by the Mexican army and federal police in Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico.source
  • 1962Raoul Salan, founder of the French terrorist Organisation armée secrète, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France.source
  • 1963Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union.source
  • 1964Madeline Dassault, 63, wife of a French plane manufacturer and politician, is kidnapped while leaving her car in front of her Paris home; she is found unharmed the next day in a farmhouse 27 mi from Paris.source
  • 1967A significant worldwide geomagnetic flare unfolded. Radio emissions coming from the Sun jammed military surveillance radars.source
  • 1967Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, blockading Israel's southern port of Eilat, and Israel's entire Red Sea coastline.source
  • 1967President Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, blockading Israel's southern port of Eilat, and Israel's entire Red Sea coastline.source
  • 1968Singapore Pools is formed as a state-owned lottery firm to combat triads and illegal syndicates.source
  • 1970Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Cancún-Chetumal established.source
  • 1971Aviogenex Flight 130 crashes at Rijeka Airport, Yugoslavia, killing 78 people, mostly British tourists.source
  • 1972The Tamil United Front (later known as Tamil United Liberation Front), a pro-Tamil organization, is founded in Sri Lanka.source
  • 1976May 21–23 – Six terrorists hijack a Philippine Airlines plane, which lands later on the Zamboanga Airport; hostage crisis ends on May 23 as they explode a plane and a shootout followed, killing 3 of them as well as 10 passengers.source
  • 1976May 20–24 – Flooding in the wake of a typhoon kills 215 persons and left 60,000 homeless in Luzon Island.source
  • 1977Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the Bovensmilde–Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. The children are released on May 26. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train, and six terrorists and two hostages are killed.source
  • 1977Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin via gene splicing.source
  • 1978American basketball player center Bill Walton of the Portland Trail Blazers was named the National Basketball Association regular season MVP.source
  • 1980May 18–27 – Gwangju Uprising: Students in Gwangju, South Korea, begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.source
  • 1984Bachendri Pal becomes first Indian women to reach the summit of Mount Everest.source
  • 1984A methane gas explosion at Abbeystead water treatment works in Lancashire, UK, kills 16 people.source
  • 1986Somali President Siad Barre is injured in a car accident in Mogadishu and taken to Saudi Arabia for treatment. Somali opposition groups see this as an opportunity to try to remove Barre, beginning the Somali Civil War.source
  • 1986President Barre suffers life-threatening injuries in an automobile collision near Mogadishu, when the car that was transporting him smashed into the back of a bus during a heavy rainstorm. He was treated in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for head injuries, broken ribs and shock over a period of a month.source
  • 1986Meron Benvenisti's West Bank Data Base Project publishes a report warning that conditions in the Gaza Strip were significantly deteroriating.source
  • 1989May 12–25 – San Bernardino train disaster: Southern Pacific freight locomotive SP 7551 East derails in a residential area of San Bernardino, California, killing four and destroying seven houses. On May 25, as a direct result of the derailment, the Calnev Pipeline explodes, killing an additional two people and destroying eleven more houses and 21 cars.source
  • 1992Capaci bombing: A Mafia bomb on the autostrada in Sicily kills five people, including Italian anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone.source
  • 1993In record busts against drug smugglers in southeastern Balochistan, navy officers seize 132,000 lb of hashish and 440 lb of heroin.source
  • 1997Mohammad Khatami wins the 1997 Iranian presidential election and becomes the first Iranian Reformist president.source
  • 1997A riot in Banjarmasin, Indonesia breaks out, causing at least 137 deaths.source
  • 1997M. Magendran (11.55 am) and N. Mohanadas (12.10 pm) were the first Malaysians to reach the peak of Mount Everest.source
  • 1997Manusela National Park establishedsource
  • 1999A nationwide constitutional referendum; Local elections take place.source
  • 1999The WWF pay-per-view event Over the Edge takes place at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. The event is tragically remembered for the accidental death of wrestler Owen Hart during a stunt.source
  • 2003A Russian nuclear energy company founded a branch to promote its bid for Finland's new nuclear power plant. Competing bids have been submitted by French-German company Framatome and General Electric. Finnish power company TVO will make its selection in the autumn at the earliest, but by the end of the year at the latest.source
  • 2004The Comando Jaramillista Morelense 23 de Mayo bomb 3 banks in Cuernavaca, Morelos,source
  • 2004The Seattle Central Library opens in Seattle, Washington.source
  • 2008May 20–24 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 takes place in Belgrade, Serbia, and is won by Russian entrant Dima Bilan with the song "Believe".source
  • 2009May 11–24 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11, landing at Edwards Air Force Base May 24.source
  • 2010A general election held resulting in landslide victory of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).source
  • 2010The 2009–10 Azerbaijan Cup final between FK Baku and FK Khazar Lankaran took place in Baku.source
  • 2012May 22–26 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, and is won by Swedish entrant Loreen with the song "Euphoria".source
  • 2015President Thein Sein signs the Population Control Health Care Bill requiring parents to space each child apart by three years.source
  • 2015May 19–23 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 is held in Vienna, Austria, and is won by Swedish entrant Måns Zelmerlöw with the song "Heroes".source
  • 20192019 Indian general election: Narendra Modi secures a landslide victory, with his party BJP alone gaining 303 of the 543 seats in parliament, and his political alliance NDA winning 353 seats of the 543.source
  • 2021Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.source
  • 2025Latvia accedes to the Outer Space Treaty.source

Births

  • 1052Philip I ("the Amorous"), king of France (died 1108)source
  • 1100Qin Zong, Chinese emperor (died 1161)source
  • 1127Uijong, Korean ruler of Goryeo (died 1173)source
  • 1598Claude Mellan, French painter and engraver (died 1688)source
  • 1606Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer (died 1682)source
  • 1617Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (died 1692)source
  • 1654Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, architect (died 1728)source
  • 1699William Parks, 18th-century printer and journalist in England and Colonial America (died 1750)source
  • 1707Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (died 1778)source
  • 1718William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (died 1783)source
  • 1734Franz Mesmer, Austrian physician (died 1815)source
  • 1735Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, (died 1814)source
  • 1741Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (died 1801)source
  • 1750Adamson Tannehill, American general and politician (died 1820)source
  • 1754William Drennan, Irish physician, poet and radical politician (died 1820)source
  • 1790Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (died 1842)source
  • 1795Charles Barry, English architect (died 1860)source
  • 1810Margaret Fuller, American journalist, literary critic and feminist (died 1850)source
  • 1824Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general, inventor, politician from Rhode Island (died 1881)source
  • 1835José Alves de Cerqueira César, politiciansource
  • 1844`Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian Baháʼí religious leader (died 1921)source
  • 1848Otto Lilienthal, German engineer, aviation pioneer (died 1896)source
  • 1908Annemarie Schwarzenbach, author and photographer (died 1942)source
  • 1933Joan Collins, English actresssource
  • 1972Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian racing driversource
  • 1990Raymond van Schoor, cricketer (died 2015)source

Deaths

  • 230Urban I, bishop of Rome (born 175)source
  • 922Li Sizhao, Chinese general and governorsource
  • 925At Luoyang, Zhao Guangyin, the Grand Chancellor (equivalent to a Prime Minister) of the Emperor Li Cunxu of Later Tang dynasty China, dies. Zhao's duties are assumed by Li Cunxu's son, Prince Li Siyuan.source
  • 925Zhao Guangyin, chancellor of Later Tangsource
  • 962Guibert, Frankish abbot (born 892)source
  • 1125Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1086)source
  • 1125Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, dies of cancer in Utrecht after leading an expedition against King Louis VI ("the Fat") of France and then against the citizens of Worms. Having no legitimate children, Henry leaves his possessions to his nephew, Frederick II ("the One-Eyed"), duke of Swabia. At the Hoftag diet in Regensburg, Lothair, duke of Saxony, is elected King of Germany and crowned at Aachen on September 13.source
  • 1144Petronilla of Lorraine, countess of Holland (born 1082)source
  • 1304Jehan de Lescurel, French composer-poet and writersource
  • 1338Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel, English noble (born 1287)source
  • 1370Emperor Huizong, who was the last Chinese ruler of the Yuan dynasty (from 1333 to 1368) and ruler of a portion of Inner Mongolia after his defeat in 1368, dies at the age of 49.source
  • 1423Antipope Benedict XIII (born 1328)source
  • 1482Mary of York, daughter of King Edward IV of England (born 1467)source
  • 1498Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.source
  • 1498Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (born 1452; executed)source
  • 1523Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shōgun (born 1466)source
  • 1524Ismail I, Safavid dynasty Shah of Persia (born 1487)source
  • 1600Niels Hemmingsen, theologian (born 1513)source
  • 1619Stephen Soame, Lord Mayor of London (born 1540)source
  • 1677John, Count of Nassau-Idstein (1629–1677) (born 1603)source
  • 1682Abraham Wuchters, painter and engraver (born 1608)source
  • 1701Captain William Kidd, Scottish privateer (born 1645)source
  • 1752William Bradford, British-born printer (born 1663)source
  • 1753Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa, Polish dramatist (born 1705)source
  • 1754John Wood, the Elder, English architect (born 1704)source
  • 1764William Grant, Lord Prestongrange, politician and judge (born 1701; died at Bath)source
  • 1783James Otis, American lawyer, patriot (born 1725)source
  • 1836Edward Livingston, American jurist, statesman (born 1764)source
  • 1841Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher, theologian (born 1765)source
  • 1857Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (born 1789)source
  • 1868Kit Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent (born 1809)source
  • 1886Leopold von Ranke, German historian (born 1795)source
  • 1906Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (born 1828)source
  • 1911John Douglas, English architect (born 1830)source
  • 1914William O'Connell Bradley, American politician from Kentucky (born 1847)source
  • 1934Clyde Barrow, American outlaw, member of Barrow Gang (born 1909)source
  • 1934Bonnie Parker, American outlaw, member of Barrow Gang (born 1910)source
  • 1937John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist, philanthropist (born 1839)source
  • 1980May 18–27 - Gwangju massacre: Up to 165 people are killed when a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju is crushed by the South Korean army.source
  • 1996Kapambwe Mulenga, footballer, 33source