/year

May 31 in history

226 sourced entries recorded on May 31, from 455 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 455Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. A widespread panic occurs when many citizens hear the news that the Vandals are plundering the Italian mainland.source
  • 693Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Chaak is installed as the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala at the age of 5-years-old, under the regency of his mother, Wak Chanil Ajaw (Lady Six Sky) of Dos Pilas, and reigns until his death in 720.source
  • 1223Battle of the Kalka River: The Russian cavalry successfully attacks the Mongol vanguard and crosses the Kalka River in what is now Ukraine. The Polovtsian and Volhynian cavalry led by Daniel of Galicia form the Russian vanguard. Meanwhile, the army of Kiev waits on the western side of the Kalka River. The Russians fail to co-ordinate their attacks, they advance in separate formations and become divided by the Kalka River. In the afternoon, the Russian army collapses under continuous Mongol attacks.source
  • 1293The forces of Raden Wijaya win a major victory in the Mongol invasion of Java, which is considered to be the founding date of the city of Surabaya.source
  • 1303Pope Boniface VIII orders the nullification of the election of Wenceslaus as King of Hungary, and declares that Károly Róbert, son of the late Hungarian king Charles Martel of Anjou, is the rightful claimant to the throne. The Pope also threatens Wenceslaus with excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church if Wenceslaus continues to style himself "King of Hungary". The decision causes a breakdown of Hungary between supporters of Wenceslaus and supporters of Károly.source
  • 1367King Robert III of Scotland names his son Prince James of Stewart as the Earl of Atholl, a title traditionally given to the heir of the Scottish throne.source
  • 1380Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila signs the secret Treaty of Dovydiškės, with the Teutonic Knights. This sparks a civil war with his uncle Kęstutis.source
  • 1401Laurence Allerthorp becomes the new Lord High Treasurer of England, succeeding Sir John Norbury.source
  • 1413At Srinagar, Ali Shah Miri becomes the new Sultan of Kashmir in modern-day India, succeeding upon the death of his father, the Sultan Sikandar Shah Miri.source
  • 1433Sigismund is crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. The Imperial throne has been vacant for more than 52 years since the death of Sigismund's father, Charles IV, in 1378.source
  • 1451King Henry VI of England gives royal assent to the Attainder of John Cade Act 1450, confiscating the lands of Jack Cade, who had led a rebellion against the King in 1450. Cade is posthumously convicted of treason so that his estate will go directly to the King.source
  • 1472The Treaty of Prenzlau is signed between Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg, and the two Dukes of Pomerania, Eric II and Wartislaw X, surrendering the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin to Albert's control and ending the eight-year-long War of the Succession of Stettin.source
  • 1486The French delegation from King Charles arrives in Rome to discuss the assistance request from Pope Innocent, but negotiations fail because of Cardinal Borgia's support of the Spanish King of Naples.source
  • 1492Pope Innocent VIII and members of the College of Cardinals meet at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome with diplomatic envoys sent by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II. The envoys present the Pope a gift, said to be the Holy Lance, from the Sultan, along with the Sultan's proposal, payment of 120,000 crowns of gold and an annual subsidy of 45,000 ducats in return for the continued imprisonment of Cem Sultan, a half-brother of Bayezid and a rival claimant to the throne.source
  • 1494First Battle of Acentejo: Natives of the island of Tenerife, known as Guanches, defeat the invading Spanish forces.source
  • 1520Gustav Vasa return to Sweden at Kalmar.source
  • 1523Following the Battle of Sincouwaan at sea between the ships of the Chinese Empire and the Kingdom of Portugal, the Malay ambassador to China reluctantly departs from Guangzhou to present letters to the Portuguese governors of the occupied Malacca Sultanate, demanding the restoration of the deposed Sultan. Though fearing execution by the Portuguese, the messengers are allowed to leave. They return in September with a plea for help from the Malay Sultan, whose territory is under attack from the Europeans.source
  • 1529July – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, opens a legatine court at Blackfriars, London, to rule on the legality of King Henry VIII of England's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The court lasts until July 16.source
  • 1545During the Italian War, a French expeditionary force under the direction of Claude d'Annebault begins an invasion of Britain by landing in Scotland.source
  • 1564The Swedish warship Mars, flagship of the Swedish Navy, catches fire while fighting against the navy of Denmark in the battle of Öland off of the coast of the island of the same name in the Baltic Sea, and sinks along with its crew of 350 sailors and 450 soldiers it had been transporting. The wreckage of the ship will go undiscovered for 447 years until being found on August 19, 2011.source
  • 1569Kasim Pasha of the Ottoman Empire begins the Ottoman attempt to conquer Astrakhan with tens of thousands of troops and a plan to build a canal between the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea to send Ottoman ships on the conquest. The attempt to build a canal proves to be unfeasible.source
  • 1578Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich in England with 15 ships to North America, where he will arrive at Frobisher Bay in July on his third expedition.source
  • 1628Mehmed III Giray, the Khan of Crimea, is forced to leave after an invasion of 4,000 Cossacks and a four week siege of the capital Bakhchysarai. The attack is led by Mykhailo Doroshenko, who is killed in the battle.source
  • 1636proclamation regulating the production of linen yarn.source
  • 1653Pope Innocent X's bull Cum occasione published in the Spanish Netherlandssource
  • 1653Ferdinand IV, already the King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, is elected King of the Romans by his fellow German monarchs, making him eligible to succeed his father Ferdinand III as Holy Roman Emperor. Ferdinand IV will not live to become Holy Roman Emperor, instead dying from smallpox 14 months after his designation.source
  • 1669Samuel Pepys stops writing his diary.source
  • 1669Samuel Pepys records the last entry in his diary, citing poor eyesight.source
  • 1676The Massachusetts Council finally decides to move the Christian Indians from Deer Island to Cambridge, Massachusetts (approximate date).source
  • 1677Scanian War: Battle of Møn – Danish ships clash with a Swedish fleet under Niels Juel, between Fehmarn and Warnemünde; the Danish defeat the Swedish and capture a number of ships.source
  • 167731 May–1 June – the naval Battle of Møn results in Danish-Norwegian victory.source
  • 1677May 31 – June 1 - Battle of Møn.source
  • 1678the Godiva Procession, a commemoration held in honour of Lady Godiva's legendary 11th century naked horseback ride through the streets of Coventry in protest against her husband's treatment of the citizens, begins.source
  • 1689Leisler's Rebellion: Calvinist Jacob Leisler deposes lieutenant governor Francis Nicholson and assumes control of the Province of New York.source
  • 1696John Salomonsz is elected chief of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands.source
  • 1727The Royal Bank of Scotland is founded by Royal Charter in Edinburgh.source
  • 1727the Royal Bank of Scotland is founded by Royal Charter in Edinburgh. Co-founder Lord Ilay is its first governor.source
  • 1727the Royal Bank of Scotland is founded by Royal Charter in Edinburgh.source
  • 1728The Royal Bank of Scotland extends the first overdraft (to Edinburgh merchant William Hogg for £1,000).source
  • 1728The Royal Bank of Scotland invents the overdraft, allowing Edinburgh merchant William Hogg cash credit (in the amount of £1,000) for his creditors to be paid by the bank until Hogg receives expected revenue to repay the amount owed, plus interest.source
  • 17402 June: bread riots in Dublin.source
  • 1740Frederick II becomes King in Prussia upon the death of his father, Frederick William I.source
  • 1762Marco Foscarini becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Venice after the death of Francesco Loredan, who had administered the Republic for 10 years.source
  • 1767The Genoese island of Capraia is conquered by the Corsican Army after a ten-week campaign.source
  • 1780James Watt patents a copying machine.source
  • 1787The original Lord's Cricket Ground in London holds its first cricket match; Marylebone Cricket Club founded.source
  • 1787the original Lord's Cricket Ground holds its first cricket match; Marylebone Cricket Club founded.source
  • 1793French Revolution: Regular troops under François Hanriot demand that the Girondins be expelled from the National Convention.source
  • 1794May 28–June 1 – The Glorious First of June (Battle of Ushant): The British win a crushing tactical victory over the French fleet, but the merchant convoy escorted by the French fleet arrives safely in France.source
  • 1794May 30–June 4 – Battle of Port-Républicain: British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti from the French.source
  • 1795French Revolution: Revolutionary Tribunal suppressed.source
  • 1805May 31–June 2 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Diamond Rock – A Franco-Spanish fleet captures the strategic island of Diamond Rock off Martinique in the West Indies, from the British.source
  • 1807Primitive Methodism originates in an All Day of Prayer at Mow Cop, in the north midlands of England.source
  • 1807Primitive Methodism originates in an All Day of Prayer at Mow Cop in north Staffordshire.source
  • 1809Mauritius campaign of 1809–11 – Action of 31 May 1809 in the Bay of Bengal: The French frigate Caroline, operating from Isle de France (Mauritius), captures most of a British East India Company fleetsource
  • 1813Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland marking the end of the first successful expedition across the Blue Mountains.source
  • 1831Auxiliary paddle steamer Sophia Jane arrives at Sydney from London, becoming the first steamboat to operate in the coastal waters of New South Wales.source
  • 1839Important British constitutional case of Stockdale v Hansard is launched when publisher John Joseph Stockdale sues for libel after John Roberton's pseudo-medical work On Diseases of the Generative System (1811) is declared in a parliamentary report to be indecent.source
  • 1847Second Treaty of Erzurum: the Ottoman Empire cedes Abadan Island to the Persian Empire.source
  • 1859Big Ben, the Great Clock at the Palace of Westminster, London, is started.source
  • 1861The Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship is signed between Bahrain and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1863The first Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race is held.source
  • 186531 May – 14 June – It is possible for the public to see Constantin Hansen's monumental painting of The Danish Constituent Assembly in Alfred Hage's home in the Harsdorff House on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The entrance fee goes to veterans of the Second Schleswig War.source
  • 1868Thomas Spence declares himself president of the Republic of Manitobah in Canada; he soon alienates the locals.source
  • 1868The first popular bicycle race is held at Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris.source
  • 1869Horse-drawn omnibuses introduced in Brussels.source
  • 1873Priam's Treasure was discovered by classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.source
  • 1878the Imperial German Navy ironclad turret ship SMS Grosser Kurfürst is accidentally rammed and sunk by SMS König Wilhelm on manoeuvres off Folkestone with the loss of more than 275 crew (an event witnessed by Arthur Sullivan).source
  • 1879German inventor Werner von Siemens demonstrates the first electric locomotive using an external power source at Berlin.source
  • 1882The steamer Pretty Jane is wrecked on the Ninety Mile Beach, 30 km west of Lakes Entrance. There were no deaths.source
  • 1883Otto von Bismarck pushes the first social security law through the Reichstag. It establishes a system of Publicly funded health care, one of the first worldwide. It is signed into law on June 15.source
  • 1889The Naval Defence Act dictates that the fleet strength of the British Royal Navy must be equal to that of at least any two other countries.source
  • 1889Johnstown Flood: The South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1890The Ulm Minister opens in Ulm, Germany as the world's tallest cathedral.source
  • 1890The Ulm Minster is completed as the world's tallest cathedral.source
  • 1890The first Australian Championships in Athletics are held under the name Inter Colonial Meet. The men's competition is staged at the Moore Park in Sydney.source
  • 1890The Teatro Massimo Bellini opera house in Catania, Sicily, named after the local-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, is inaugurated with a performance of the composer's masterwork, Norma.source
  • 1891May 31 N.S. (May 19 O.S.) – In the Kuperovskaya district of Vladivostok, a grand ceremonial inauguration of construction work on the Trans-Siberian Railway is carried out by the Tsesarevich Nikolay Alexandrovich, and a religious service held.source
  • 1897On Decoration Day (later Memorial Day) the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial is dedicated in Boston. The bronze bas relief by Augustus St. Gaudens depicts the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of black Civil War soldiers.source
  • 1898A/S Holmenkolbanen open the Holmenkollen Line to Besserudsource
  • 1899The Bloemfontein Conference commences between Paul Kruger and Sir Alfred Milner in the Orange Free State, but ends in failure after six days.source
  • 1899The Harriman Alaska Expedition is launched.source
  • 1900Boxer Rebellion: Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China, where they eventually unite with Japanese forces.source
  • 1902The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Second Boer War, providing for the Transvaal Colony and Orange Free State to transition to self-governing British colonies.source
  • 1902The Second Boer War, in which Australia is involved, ends.source
  • 1902The Second Boer War endssource
  • 1903Law no. 254 is passed on aimed at improving living conditions for workers and to control housing speculation, with the establishment of a Public Housing Institute (Istituto per la Case Popolari). The law was also known as the Luzzatti law, since it was introduced by the deputy Luigi Luzzatti, a member of the opposition at that time.source
  • 1906Morral affair: The attempted regicide of Spanish King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie on their wedding day instead kills 24 bystanders.source
  • 1910The Union of South Africa is created.source
  • 1911The hull of the RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast, on the same day RMS Olympic starts her sea trials.source
  • 1911launching of the ocean liner RMS Titanic in Belfast. Her sister RMS Olympic sails for Liverpool the same day to take up transatlantic service.source
  • 1915Free State – Fauresmith to Koffiefontein, 32 mi 71 ch.source
  • 1916May 31–June 1 – WWI: Battle of Jutland, between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, the war's only large-scale clash of battleships. The result is tactically inconclusive, but British dominance of the North Sea is maintainedsource
  • 1919George Bolt flies from Auckland to Russell in a Boeing and Westervelt floatplane. The distance of 233 km is a record for a flight in New Zealand.source
  • 1920The Rome–Tokyo Raid, a cross-Eurasian flight from Rome to Tokyo organized by Harukichi Shimoi and Gabrielle D'Annunzio ends with Arturo Ferrarin arriving in Tokyo.source
  • 1921May 31–June 1 – Tulsa Race Massacre (Greenwood Massacre): Mobs of white residents attack black residents and businesses in Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 36, but later investigations suggest an actual figure between 100 and 300. 1,250 homes are destroyed and roughly 6,000 African Americans imprisoned in one of the worst incidents of mass racial violence in the United States.source
  • 1928The Legislative Council of Nova Scotia is abolishedsource
  • 1928South Africa adopts a new national flag, based upon the Van Riebeeck flag or Prinsevlag (originally the Dutch flag), to replace the Red Ensign. It later became infamously known as the "apartheid flag" for being the flag of South Africa under Apartheid from 1948 to 1994.source
  • 1929The United Kingdom general election again returns a hung parliament; the Liberals in Parliament determine which party will govern.source
  • 1931The Second Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet ends in the defeat of the Kuomintang.source
  • 1933Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast, opened by the Governor of Northern Ireland, James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn.source
  • 1934The Barmen Declaration, largely drafted by Karl Barth, is signed by Christians in Nazi Germany who are opposed to the pro-Nazi German Christian movement.source
  • 1935Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film Corporation merge to form Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.source
  • 19351935 Quetta earthquake: A 7.1 magnitude earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan, killing 40,000.source
  • 1935The 7.7 Mw Quetta earthquake shook British India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 30,000–60,000.source
  • 1942May 30–31 – WWII: Bombing of Cologne – British RAF Bomber Command's "Operation Millennium", its first "1,000 bomber raid", with associated fires make 13,000 families homeless and kills around 475 people, mostly civilians; 3,330 non-residential buildings are destroyed.source
  • 1944WWII: American destroyer escort USS England sinks the sixth Japanese submarine in two weeks. This anti-submarine warfare performance remains unmatched through the 20th century.source
  • 1946All Japanese-Canadians ordered deported to Japan.source
  • 19461946 Varto–Hınıs earthquakesource
  • 1947Alcide de Gasperi forms a new government in Italy, the first postwar Italian government not to include members of the Italian Communist Party.source
  • 1948Tea rationing, introduced in June 1942, is abolished.source
  • 1949The first trial of Alger Hiss for perjury begins in New York City, with Whittaker Chambers as principal witness for the prosecution.source
  • 1950Vic Toweel defeats World Bantamweight Champion Manuel Ortiz on points over 15 rounds at Wembley Stadium and becomes the first South African world boxing champion.source
  • 1954Arne Larsen Økland, retired footballersource
  • 1960Malayan Banking Berhad was incorporated.source
  • 1961Benfica beats FC Barcelona 3–2 at Wankdorf Stadium, Bern and wins the 1960–61 European Cup in association football.source
  • 1962The British West Indies Federation is officially wound up (under terms of the U.K. West Indies Act of 18 April) due to internal dissention.source
  • 1962Adolf Eichmann (born 1906), German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, executed in prison at Ramla, Israelsource
  • 1964General elections are held. President Paz Estenssoro is reelected two a second consecutive and third overall term.source
  • 1965Scottish racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, later this year winning the Formula One world driving championship.source
  • 1969May 26–June 2 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct their second bed-in. The follow-up to the Amsterdam event is held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Lennon composes and records the song "Give Peace a Chance" during the event.source
  • 1970The 1970 FIFA World Cup in association football is inaugurated in Mexico. Tactical substitutes are first permitted.source
  • 1970The 7.9 Mw Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 are killed and 50,000 injured.source
  • 1974Former Portuguese Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano is granted political asylum by President Ernesto Geisel in Brazil. Caetano fled after Portugal's Carnation Revolution, which ended 41 years of the Estado Novo dictatorship.source
  • 1976Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which it has previously supported.source
  • 1976Roar Ljøkelsøy, ski jumper.source
  • 1981Burning of Jaffna library, one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the century.source
  • 198131 May–1 June – Burning of Jaffna Public Library: A mob of Sinhalese civilians riot and set fire to the Jaffna Public Library in an arson attack. It was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm in the 20th century.source
  • 198231 May–1 June – Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom embraces Edinburgh and Glasgow.source
  • 1982Skirmish at Top Malo Housesource
  • 1985Forty-four tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, including a rare and powerful F5. In total, the event kills 90 people.source
  • 1988May 29–June 3 – The Moscow Summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev takes place, where the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was finalized.source
  • 1990May 30–31 – 1990 Vrancea earthquakessource
  • 1997The 13-kilometer Confederation Bridge, the world's longest bridge spanning ice-covered waters, opens between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada.source
  • 20002000 Bulgarian Cup Finalsource
  • 2001Faisal Husseini, 60, Iraqi-born Palestinian politician and senior member of PLO.source
  • 2001Lithuania joins the World Trade Organization.source
  • 2001Research into Crohn's disease confirms that it is identified with mutation of the NOD2 gene.source
  • 2002The 2002 FIFA World Cup begins, taking place in South Korea and Japan.source
  • 200318 Tibetan asylum-seekers are forcibly returned to China despite international appeals.source
  • 2007May 31 to June 2 – launched by the Ministry of Defence Brunei Darussalam (MinDef), the Brunei Darussalam International Defence Exhibition (BRIDEX), a new military trade fair and exhibition was held at the International Convention Centre.source
  • 2009last flight of the Polish airline Centralwingssource
  • 2009First H1N1 case in Vietnamsource
  • 2013Social website Multiply, based at this time in Indonesia, ceases operations.source
  • 2013The largest tornado ever recorded hits El Reno, United States. This rain-wrapped, multiple-vortex tornado was the widest tornado ever recorded, and results in eight deaths, including four storm-chasers. Measurements from mobile weather radars revealed extreme winds up to 296 mph (476 km/h) within the vortex, among the highest observed wind speeds on Earth. As it crosses U.S. 81, the tornado grows to a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles (4.2 km).source
  • 2015May 30-31 - The 2015 South American Junior Championships in Athletics are held in Cuenca.source
  • 2017Inaugural Kenya Standard Gauge Railway passenger train, the Madaraka Express, begins travel from Mombasa to Nairobisource
  • 2018The U.S. announces that it will extend its tariffs on imported steel (25%) and aluminium (10%) to include the EU, Mexico and Canada, starting at midnight.source
  • 2018May 28–June 7 – The 2018 Stanley Cup Final are played between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights and won by the former.source
  • 2025Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat is sworn in as the new Episcopal Co-Prince of Andorra and Bishop of Urgell after the Vatican accepts the resignation of Joan Enric Vives i Sicília for age limitation reasons.source

Births

  • 1243James II, Aragonese ruler of Majorca (died 1311)source
  • 1443May 31 or 1441 – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, English noble, mother of King Henry VII, grandmother of King Henry VIII of England (died 1509)source
  • 1462Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1489–1503) (died 1504)source
  • 1467Sibylle of Brandenburg, Duchess of Jülich and Berg (died 1524)source
  • 1468Philip, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, German prince (died 1500)source
  • 1469King Manuel I of Portugal (died 1521)source
  • 1472Érard de La Marck, prince-bishop of Liège (died 1538)source
  • 1520Dorothea of Denmark, Electress Palatine, princess (died 1580)source
  • 1535Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (died 1607)source
  • 1537Shah Ismail II of Persia (died 1577)source
  • 1556Jerzy Radziwiłł, Polish Catholic cardinal (died 1600)source
  • 1557Tsar Feodor I of Russia (died 1598)source
  • 1577Nur Jahan, empress consort of the Mughal Empire (died 1645)source
  • 1590Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset (died 1632)source
  • 1597Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French writer and essayist (d.1654)source
  • 1640Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (died 1673)source
  • 1656Marin Marais, French composer and viol player (died 1728)source
  • 1684Timothy Cutler, American Episcopal clergyman, rector of Yale College (died 1765)source
  • 1700Stephen Bayard, 39th Mayor of New York City from 1744 to 1747 (died 1757)source
  • 1744Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish politician, writer and inventor (died 1817)source
  • 1750Karl August von Hardenberg, Prussian politician (died 1822)source
  • 1756Abbé Faria, Luso-Goan Catholic monk, student of hypnotism (died 1819)source
  • 1810Horatio Seymour, 18th Governor of New York, 1868 Democratic Party Presidential Nominee (died 1886)source
  • 1819Walt Whitman, American poet (died 1892)source
  • 1827Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, British general (died 1905)source
  • 1887Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, writer and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975)source
  • 1930Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, and producersource
  • 1930Uno Loop, Estonian singersource
  • 1962Dina Boluarte, Peruvian politician, 64th President of Perusource
  • 1963Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungarysource
  • 1978Sara Duterte, 15th Vice President of the Philippinessource
  • 1985Suhair al-Qaisi, Iraqi news anchor and media personality.source

Deaths

  • 455Petronius Maximus, emperor of the Western Roman Empiresource
  • 721Wak Chanil Ajaw (Lady Six Sky), who had been the regent for her son Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Chaak from 693 until his attainment of majority, becomes the new queen of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala when K'ak Tiliw dies from unknown causes. She reigns until her death in 741.source
  • 930Liu Hua, princess of Southern Han (born 896)source
  • 960Fujiwara no Morosuke, Japanese statesman (born 909)source
  • 1076Waltheof, earl of Northumbria (executed)source
  • 1076Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, a participant in the Revolt of the Earls against King William the Conqueror, is beheaded near Winchester.source
  • 1089Sigwin von Are, archbishop of Colognesource
  • 1160Mechtildis of Edelstetten, German abbesssource
  • 1162Géza II, king of Hungary and Croatia (born 1130)source
  • 1223Mstislav Svyatoslavich, Kievan prince (born 1168)source
  • 1237Kayqubad I, Seljuk ruler of the Sultanate of Rumsource
  • 1321Birger Magnusson, king of Sweden (House of Bjälbo)source
  • 1323Zhao Xian, who had been the Song dynasty Emperor of China from 1274 to 1276, commits suicide as an alternative to being executed, after being viewed as a threat by the Yuan dynasty Mongol Emperor Yingzong.source
  • 1326Maurice de Berkeley, English nobleman (born 1281)source
  • 1327In Milan, Louis IV ("Ludwig the Bavarian"), King of the Romans, becomes the first King of Italy since 1313, when Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor died. Louis is enthroned as King Ludovico IV, the third king with that name (Louis the Blind had ruled as Ludovico III from 900 to 905).source
  • 1329Albertino Mussato, Italian statesman and writer (born 1261)source
  • 1349Thomas Wake, English politician (born 1297)source
  • 1370St. Vitalis of Assisi, Italian hermit (born 1295)source
  • 1408Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shōgun (born 1358)source
  • 1410King Martin I of Aragon (who is also King Martin II of Sicily) dies at the age of 53, leaving a question of who his successor will be, and five contenders for the thrones of both nations argue until the crown is awarded to Martin's nephew, Ferdiand, in 1412.source
  • 1410Martin of Aragon (born 1356)source
  • 1417William II, Duke of Bavaria (born 1365)source
  • 1417William, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing and Count of Holland, dies from an infection after being bitten by a dog. His death causes a conflict between his daughter Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut and his brother John III, with Jacqueline receiving Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut, and John becoming the new Duke.source
  • 1495Cecily Neville, English duchess, mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III of England (born 1415)source
  • 1518Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, German margravine (born 1494)source
  • 1524Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian Roman Catholic nun and saint (born 1458)source
  • 1577García Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Marquis of Villafranca, Spanish noble and admiral (born 1514)source
  • 1580Dorothea of Denmark, Electress Palatine, Princess of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (born 1520)source
  • 1594Tintoretto, Italian painter (born 1518)source
  • 1596John Lesley, Scottish bishop (born 1527)source
  • 1654Hippolytus Guarinonius, Italian physician and polymath (born 1571)source
  • 1686Nicholas Barré, French Minim friar, priest and founder (born 1621)source
  • 1723William Baxter, classical scholar, 72source
  • 1740Frederick William I, King in Prussia (born 1688)source
  • 1809Joseph Haydn, Austrian classical composer (born 1732)source
  • 1809The famous composer Joseph Haydn dies in Vienna at age 77 following Napoleon's second siege of Viennasource
  • 1832Évariste Galois, French mathematician (born 1811)source
  • 1859Henry Clifford de Meillon, painter (born c. 1800)source
  • 1902Rufina, daughter of Eugenio Cambaceres (born 1883; possible victim of premature burial)source
  • 1910Elizabeth Blackwell, British-born American physician (born 1821)source
  • 1964Ong Seok Kim, entrepreneur and philanthropist (born 1884).source
  • 1983Jack Dempsey, 87, American boxer, world heavyweight champion from 1919 until 1926, heart failuresource
  • 1996Timothy Leary, 75, American psychologist and writer, prostate cancer.source
  • 2010Nine activists are killed in a clash with soldiers when Israeli Navy forces raid and capture a flotilla of ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade.source