/year

May 4 in history

193 sourced entries recorded on May 4, from 360 CE to 2023 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 374Spearthrower Owl ascends to the throne and becomes ruler of Teotihuacan (Mexico).source
  • 1024May 4 (20 Safar 415) – The Ambassador from Khorasan to Egypt is received at Cairo by the Caliph al-Zahir.source
  • 1041Battle of Montemaggiore: Lombard-Norman rebel forces, led by William, are again victorious, and defeat a Byzantine army (18,000 men) on the hill of Montemaggiore, near the River Ofanto.source
  • 1212The Treaty of Lambeth (also called Treaty of Kingston) is signed by King John of England and several French counts, including Renaud I of Dammartin and Boulogne and Ferdinand of Flanders.source
  • 1256Pope Alexander IV issues the papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae, constituting the Order of Saint Augustine at Lecceto Monastery.source
  • 1312Edward II and Piers Gaveston are at Newcastle upon Tyne when they are alerted to the news of an English force under Henry Percy and Robert Clifford is heading for them. They manage to escape to Scarborough Castle.source
  • 1321The German play Ludus de decem virginibus, a dramatization of the New Testament Parable of the Ten Virgins, is first performed.source
  • 1326King Christopher II of Denmark, forced to flee during an uprising, promises to give the Danish Principality of Rügen to John III of Werle and Henry II, Lord of Mecklenburg, leading to the First War of the Rügen Succession.source
  • 1346the above castles "broken" by the above on this date [4].source
  • 1375Simon Sudbury, the Catholic Bishop of London becomes the new Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in the Kingdom of England, upon his appointment by Pope Gregory XI following the death almost a year earlier of the Archbishop William Whittlesey. Sudbury will preside for six years until his assassination in 1381.source
  • 1407Ming–Việt War: A Vietnamese force of 70,000 troops attempts to stop the advance of the Chinese at the Hong River at the Ham Tu pass in what is now Vietnam's Hưng Yên province. With superior firepower, the Chinese kill over 10,000 Viet troops and capture hundreds of warships.source
  • 1415The Council of Constance declares that the late English theologian John Wycliffe (1328-1384) was a heretic and bans his writings, as well as directing that his work be burned, and that Wycliffe's remains be removed from their burial site on consecrated church ground. The order will be carried out 13 years later in 1428.source
  • 1471At the Battle of Tewkesbury, King Edward defeats a Lancastrian army led by Queen Margaret and her son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Edward is killed in the battle.source
  • 1493In the papal bull Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI decrees that all lands discovered 100 leagues (or further west) of the Azores are Spanish.source
  • 1519Giulio de' Medici, who will later become Pope Clement VII becomes the Duke of the Florentine Republic upon the death of his father, Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino.source
  • 1557The Stationers' Company, officially the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, is granted a royal charter and a monopoly on the English publishing industry. For the next 150 years, the Stationers will regulate and censor the printing industry until the passage of the Copyright Act 1710 on April 10, 1710.source
  • 1626Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherland, for the Dutch West India Company.source
  • 1630In an invasion of Persia, Ottoman Empire Grand Vizier Gazi Hüsrev Pasha routs the Persians in a battle at Mahidasht near Kermanshah.source
  • 1640Oliver St John calls on Parliament to outlaw ship money.source
  • 1670The funeral of Frederick III of Denmark takes place at Roskilde Cathedral.source
  • 1686The Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.source
  • 1688King James II of England orders his Declaration of Indulgence, suspending penal laws against Catholics, to be read from every Anglican pulpit in England. The Church of England and its staunchest supporters, the peers and gentry, are outraged; on June 8 the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, is imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to proclaim it.source
  • 1688Declaration of Indulgence (reissued on 25 April) ordered to be read aloud in all churches on two consecutive Sundays. Following this, the Friends meeting house at Jordans, Buckinghamshire, is built.source
  • 1695Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan, is appointed Lord High Treasurer of Ireland, in succession to Lord Burlington, his grandfather, Lord Treasurer of Ireland since 1660.source
  • 1698At the imperial capital at Inwa, Sanay Min of the Toungoo dynasty becomes the new King of Burma upon the death of his father, Minye Kyawhtin.source
  • 1699the Parliament of England enacts legislation providing for the appointment of a commission of inquiry into the administration of forfeited estates in Ireland.source
  • 1699the beginning of Gulliver's Travels (1726).source
  • 1725Ann Thomas (the "Maid of Cefn Ydfa") marries Anthony Maddocks.source
  • 1738The Imperial Theatrical School, in modern times known as Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, is founded under the reign of Empress Anna. It is the first ballet school in Russia and second in the world.source
  • 1741Vitus Bering sets out from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to map the coasts of Siberia and Alaska.source
  • 1761The first multiple death tornado in the 13 American colonies strikes Charleston, South Carolina, killing eight people and sinking five ships in harbor.source
  • 1776Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.source
  • 1780The first Epsom Derby horse race is run on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England. The victor is Diomed.source
  • 1780the first Epsom Derby horse race is run on Epsom Downs, Surrey. The victor is Diomed.source
  • 1791April 29–May 8 – The first American ships reach Japan, brigantine Lady Washington captained by John Kendrick of Boston, and the brig Grace.source
  • 1794Dublin Society of United Irishmen suppressed.source
  • 1799Battle of Seringapatam: Tipu Sultan is defeated and killed by the British, ending the captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam ends and concluding the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.source
  • 1799Battle of Seringapatam: British forces defeat the Sultan of Mysore; his kingdom is divided between the Honourable East India Company and Hyderabad.source
  • 1802The Golden Horns of Gallehus are stolen.source
  • 1807Treaty of Finckenstein was signed between Iran and France.source
  • 1811May 3–5 – Peninsular War – Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro: An Anglo-Portuguese Army under General Arthur Wellington defeats the French forces under Marshal André Masséna.source
  • 1813May 1–9 – War of 1812: Fort Meigs is first besieged, by British allied forces under General Henry Proctor and Chief Tecumseh.source
  • 1813May 1–9 – War of 1812: First Siege of Fort Meigs: British allied forces, under General Henry Proctor and Chief Tecumseh, lay siege to the fort but do not capture it.source
  • 1814Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolute monarchy.source
  • 1828The 40-ton schooner Enterprise, the second sailing ship built in New Zealand, is wrecked in a storm north of the Hokianga, with the loss of all hands.source
  • 1836The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization, is founded in New York City.source
  • 1839William Wakefield of the New Zealand Company leaves from London for New Zealand on the Torysource
  • 1843Natal is proclaimed a British colony.source
  • 1855Kyrkoplikt as well as all remaining forms of Public humiliation and Corporal punishments are abolished.source
  • 1859The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge, linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.source
  • 1863May 1–4 – American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville – General Robert E. Lee defeats Union forces with 13,000 Confederate casualties, among them Stonewall Jackson (fatally wounded by friendly fire), and 17,500 Union casualties.source
  • 1864Société Générale, a major financial group in France, is founded.source
  • 1864Société Générale bank established in Paris.source
  • 1864The first trout hatchery in the southern hemisphere is established at Plenty, Tasmania.source
  • 1865American Civil War: Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, commanding all Confederate forces in Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana, surrenders his forces to Union General Edward Canby at Citronelle, Alabama, effectively ending all Confederate resistance east of the Mississippi River.source
  • 1869Liberian term of office referendum, 1869source
  • 1869May 4–10 – Naval Battle of Hakodate: The Imperial Japanese Navy defeats adherents of the Tokugawa shogunate.source
  • 1871The first supposedly Major League Baseball game is played in America.source
  • 1872The magazine Popular Science is first published in the United States.source
  • 1873the Roman Catholic St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry, is dedicated.source
  • 1880Edward Blake becomes the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.source
  • 1884The Panic of 1884 creates a credit shortage that accelerates the current United States economic recession into the Depression of 1882–1885.source
  • 1886Emile Berliner starts work that leads to the invention of the gramophone.source
  • 1897Bazar de la Charité Fire.source
  • 1899Cape Town based food packaging company Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company is founded in London.source
  • 1899German inventor John Matthias Stroh applies for the patent for his new invention, the "Stroh violin". A British patent is granted on March 24, 1900.source
  • 1904United States Army engineers begin work on the Panama Canal.source
  • 1904Charles Rolls and Henry Royce meet for the first time, in Manchester England to agree production of Rolls-Royce motor cars; the first produced under their joint names are launched in December.source
  • 1904German Association football club FC Schalke 04 is established.source
  • 1905The first world championship of professional wrestling takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City.source
  • 1919May Fourth Movement, student protests over government's failure in Paris Peace Conference.source
  • 1919The May Fourth Movement erupts in China as a result of the decision at the Paris Peace Conference to transfer former German concessions in Jiaozhou Bay to Japan rather than return sovereign authority to China.source
  • 1919The League of Red Cross Societies is formed in Paris.source
  • 1921May 1–7 – Jaffa riots: Riots at Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine result in 47 Jewish and 48 Arab deaths.source
  • 1924The 1924 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies are held in Paris, France.source
  • 1924Among competitors at the Summer Olympics are eight Brazilian athletes, two rowers and a sport shooter. The country does not win any medals.source
  • 1926The United Kingdom general strike begins at midnight, in support of a strike by coal miners.source
  • 1927April 22–May 5 – The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 strikes 700,000 people, in the greatest natural disaster in American history through this time.source
  • 1931Kemal Atatürk is re-elected president of Turkey.source
  • 1943A general election and constitutional referendum were held. William Tubman was elected president and Charles L. Simpson was elected vice-president.source
  • 1945German auxiliary cruiser Orion is sunk on her way to Copenhagen carrying refugees, with a loss of over 3,800 lives.source
  • 1945The Holy Crown of Hungary is found in Mattsee, Austria, by the United States Army 86th Infantry Division. The U.S. government keeps the crown in Fort Knox for safekeeping from the Soviets until it is returned to Hungary on January 6, 1978.source
  • 1947Acre Prison break: Irgun forces break through the walls of the Acre prison and free 28 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi activists. 214 Arab prisoners also escaped.source
  • 1947The Natal Indian Organisation is formed.source
  • 1949Leslie Frost becomes premier of Ontario, replacing Thomas Kennedysource
  • 1949Superga air disaster: A Fiat G.212 airliner of Avio Linee Italiane, carrying the entire Torino F.C. football team, crashes into the back wall of the Basilica of Superga, killing all 31 on board.source
  • 1954General Alfredo Stroessner deposes Federico Chaves in a coup d'état in Paraguay; from August 15 he will hold the office of President until 1989.source
  • 19581958 Laotian parliamentary electionsource
  • 1960West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is dismissed because of his Nazi past.source
  • 1961U.S. Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides, to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision.source
  • 1963The Le Monde Theater fire in Dioirbel, Senegal, kills 64 people.source
  • 1966Fiat signs a contract with the Soviet government to build a car factory in the Soviet Union.source
  • 1966SS Al-Abbas, the first ocean-going vessel constructed by the Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works is launched.source
  • 1966May 1966 lunar eclipse: A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place, the 64th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 111.source
  • 1967Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport was foundedsource
  • 1967Lunar Orbiter 4 is launched by the United States.source
  • 1974The Expo '74 world's fair opens in Spokane, Washington.source
  • 1974An all-female Japanese team summits Manaslu in Nepal, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000 m peak.source
  • 1976The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.source
  • 1976A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.source
  • 1977The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rule that divorced Catholics, including those who remarried outside the Church, are no longer automatically excommunicated and can still attend Mass but if they remarry without obtaining a Church annulment, cannot receive Holy Communion and confession.source
  • 1978South African Border War: The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola.source
  • 1981The European Law Students' Association (ELSA) is founded in Vienna by law students from Austria, West Germany, Poland and Hungary.source
  • 1983Doğu Perinçek is sentenced to 12 years in prison.source
  • 1985The 30th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden and is won by the Bobbysocks! song La det swinge for Norway.source
  • 1987The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte that local Rotary Clubs do not have a constitutional right to deny membership to women. Other clubs thereafter comply with the ruling: Lions International begins admitting women in June, and Kiwanis Club in July.source
  • 1988Josefa Edralin Marcos, mother of former Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, dies in Manila, aged 95. Her son's request to return to the Philippines for her funeral would be later denied twice.source
  • 1989Oliver North is convicted in the United States on charges related to the Iran–Contra affair. His conviction is vacated on appeal in 1991.source
  • 1990Singing Revolution: The Latvian SSR declares independence from the Soviet Union.source
  • 1990The combined Fraser and Neave and Asia Pacific Breweries factory opens in Tuas.source
  • 1991Filipina domestic worker Delia Maga and her 4-year-old charge, Nicholas Huang are found murdered in their flat. Flor Contemplacion was subsequently tried for the murders and found guilty.source
  • 1992April 29–May 4 – In Simi Valley, California, a jury acquits four LAPD police officers accused of excessive force in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King, causing the 1992 Los Angeles riots and leading to 53 deaths and $1 billion in damage.source
  • 1993UNOSOM II assumes the Somalian duties of the dissolved UNITAF.source
  • 2000The 7.6 Mw Central Sulawesi earthquake affects Banggai, Indonesia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), leaving 46 dead and 264 injured.source
  • 2002NASA launches the Aqua satellite as part of the Earth Observing System.source
  • 2007The 2007 Greensburg tornado moves through Kiowa County, Kansas, United States, striking the town of Greensburg and killing eleven residents. 95% of the town was destroyed, and the tornado was the first to be rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.source
  • 2010Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso sells in New York for US$106.5 million, setting another new world record for a work of art sold at auction.source
  • 2017After meeting Pope Francis, Suu Kyi establishes full relations between Myanmar and the Holy See.source
  • 2019May 3–6 – May 2019 Gaza–Israel clashes: The Gaza–Israel conflict escalates after the Israeli military launches airstrikes into Gaza killing more than 20 Palestinians including a pregnant woman and a toddler following the injury of two soldiers from Gazan sniper fire.source
  • 2020May 3–4 – Venezuelan dissidents and a North American-based private military company, Silvercorp USA, unsuccessfully attempt to infiltrate Venezuela and forcibly remove President Nicolás Maduro from office.source
  • 2020A team of British and Kenyan scientists announce the discovery of Microsporidia MB, a parasitic microbe in the Microsporidia fungi group that blocks mosquitos from carrying malaria, potentially paving the way for the control of malaria.source
  • 2023A series of floods and landslides strikes villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in over 400 deaths.source

Births

  • 1008Henry I, king of France (died 1060)source
  • 1198Kyaswa, ruler of the Pagan Empire (died 1251)source
  • 1254Benvenuta Bojani, Italian nun and mystic (died 1292)source
  • 1315John Segrave, English nobleman and landowner (died 1353)source
  • 1435Joan of France, Duchess of Bourbon, French princess (died 1482)source
  • 1435Joan of France, Duchess of Bourbon, princes (died 1482)source
  • 1559Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby, Baroness Ellesmere and Viscountess Brackley (died 1637)source
  • 1627Giuseppe Francesco Borri, Italian alchemist (died 1695)source
  • 1634Lady Katherine Ferrers, English aristocrat and heiress (died 1660)source
  • 1634Lady Katherine Ferrers, aristocrat and heiress (died 1660)source
  • 1649Chhatrasal, Maharaja of Madhya Pradesh (died 1731)source
  • 1654Kangxi Emperor of Qing China (died 1722)source
  • 1655Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments, invented the piano (died 1731)source
  • 1659John Dunton, English bookseller and author (died 1733)source
  • 1677Françoise Marie de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Louis XIV (died 1749)source
  • 1677Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, wife of Philippe d'Orléans, le Régent (d.1749)source
  • 1693Thomas Gent, Irish printer and writer (died 1778)source
  • 1715Richard Graves, English minister (died 1804)source
  • 1733Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (died 1799)source
  • 1767Tyagaraja, Indian Carnatic music composer (died 1847)source
  • 1776Johann Friedrich Herbart, German philosopher, psychologist (died 1841)source
  • 1796William H. Prescott, American historian and Hispanist (died 1859)source
  • 1796Horace Mann, American educator, abolitionist (died 1859)source
  • 1825Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist (died 1895)source
  • 1826Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (died 1900)source
  • 1928Hosni Mubarak, 4th President of Egypt (died 2020)source
  • 1929Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-born British actress and activist (died 1993)source
  • 1984Vasiliki Millousi, artistic gymnastsource
  • 2003Nguyễn Quốc Việt, footballersource

Deaths

  • 360Judas Cyriacus, Roman Catholic priest and saintsource
  • 408Venerius, bishop of Milan and Saintsource
  • 784Arbeo, bishop of Freisingsource
  • 838May 4 ? – Willerich, bishop of Bremensource
  • 1003Herman II, duke of Swabia (Germany)source
  • 1038Gotthard, bishop of Hildesheim (born 960)source
  • 1243Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, English Chief Justiciar (born 1170)source
  • 1343St. George's Night Uprising: The "Four Estonian kings" are murdered, at the negotiations with the Livonian Order.source
  • 1406Coluccio Salutati, Chancellor of Florence (born 1331)source
  • 1436Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish statesman and rebel leader (murdered) (born c. 1390)source
  • 1436Swedish leader Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson is assassinated by aristocrat Måns Bengtsson while he is on his way to Stockholm for negotiations. Karl Knutsson Bonde temporarily holds the position of leader of Sweden alone. The first meeting of the Riksdag of the Estates of Sweden takes place afterwards, in Uppsala.source
  • 1440Metrophanes II, Bishop of Cyzicus, is appointed by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos as the new Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, to succeed Joseph II, who had died in 1439.source
  • 1452Pope John XI of Alexandria, leader of the Coptic Christian church since 1427, dies, leaving a vacancy in the Coptic papacy.source
  • 1471Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (in battle) (born 1453)source
  • 1474Alain de Coëtivy, Catholic cardinal (born 1407)source
  • 1483George Neville, Duke of Bedford, English dispossessed nobleman (born 1465)source
  • 1502Berthold II of Landsberg, Bishop of Verden (1470–1502) and Hildesheim (1481–1502) (born 1464)source
  • 1506Badi' al-Zaman Mirza becomes the new Emir of the Timurid Empire (now part of Afghanistan) after the death of his father, Sultan Husayn Bayqara, who died after a reign of 37 years.source
  • 1506Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (born 1438)source
  • 1519Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (born 1492)source
  • 1535Saint Richard Reynolds, Bridgettine monk of Syon — executed by Henry VIII of Englandsource
  • 1535The first of the English Carthusian Martyrs of London, John Houghton of London, Robert Lawrence of Beauvale, and Augustine Webster of Axholme are executed at Tyburn after refusing to sign the English Oath of Supremacy. The three will be canonized 435 years later on October 25, 1970, as saints of the Roman Catholic Church, with a feast day of May 4.source
  • 1562Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (born 1525)source
  • 1589In Spain, María Pita leads the defense of La Coruña against the English Armada after her husband is killed by a crossbow."source
  • 1591Hugues Doneau, law professor (b.1527).source
  • 1677Isaac Barrow, English mathematician (born 1630)source
  • 1678May 4 or May 14 – Anna Maria van Schurman, Dutch poet and scholar (born 1607)source
  • 1684John Nevison, English highwayman (hanged) (born 1639)source
  • 1776Jacques Saly, French sculptor (born 1717)source
  • 1799Tipu Sultan, Indian warrior and ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, killed in battle (born 1750)source
  • 1826Thomas Jeffrey, English-born bushranger, serial killer and cannibal in Van Diemen's Land, hanged (born c.1791)source
  • 1826Bushranger Matthew Brady is hanged.source
  • 1872Manuel García Banqueda (born 1803)source
  • 1903Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Gotse Delchev is killed in a skirmish with the Ottoman army.source
  • 1903Gotse Delchev, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary (born 1872)source
  • 1916May 3–12 - 15 Irish rebel leaders who took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in April are executed. Among them were Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke and William Pearse, brother of Patrick Pearse who had served as a captain rather than a leader.source
  • 1922Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian Communist politician (born 1888; executed)source
  • 1970Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio, are killed and nine wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen at a protest against the U.S. incursion into Cambodia.source
  • 1980Josip Broz Tito, 87, Yugoslav politician, prime minister (1943–1963) and president (since 1953).source
  • 1982Falklands War: HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentine Exocet missile and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sinks on May 10.source
  • 1984Diana Dors, 52, English actress, ovarian cancersource
  • 1989Adnan Khayr Allah, Iraqi military officer and politician. (b.1940)source