/year

May 5 in history

219 sourced entries recorded on May 5, from 311 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 546First Tikal-Calakmul War: After a victory by Calakmul, Aj Wosal Chan K'inich is installed as the new ruler of the Mayan city state of Naranjo in Guatemala, and reigns until his death in 615.source
  • 553The Fifth Ecumenical Council is held in Constantinople. In an edict, Emperor Justinian I condemns the Three Chapters, causing further schisms and heresies of monoenergism and monothelitism.source
  • 1045Pope Gregory VI becomes the 148th pope, following the resignation of Pope Benedict IX in exchange for money. There are growing allegations that simony is taking place during Gregory VI's reign.source
  • 1102The short-lived principality created by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar ends: Valencia is captured by Almoravid forces under Sultan Yusuf ibn Tashfin. It is later recaptured, evacuated and burned by King Alfonso VI.source
  • 1110Lunar eclipse, in which the moon becomes totally dark (according to the Peterborough Chronicle), due to an earlier volcanic eruption putting aerosols into the upper atmosphere of the earth, thus cutting off the earthlight.source
  • 1190Siege of Acre: A Crusader force under King Guy of Lusignan attacks the city with three siege engines, but all are destroyed by the Muslim defenders with Greek fire, a highly flammable liquid. An Egyptian flotilla is able to avoid the Pisan fleet (some 50 ships) and resupply the city with new provisions. Saladin launches a massive eight-day attack on the Crusaders two weeks later. Meanwhile, in the Crusader camp the conditions are deteriorating by disease and famine, among the soldiers.source
  • 1215Robert Fitzwalter is elected by the Barons as their general, with the title of "Marshal of the Army of God and Holy Church". He solemnly renounces his homage to John of England and begins to siege Northampton Castle. While this fails, Robert consolidates his forces. He turns to Prince Louis of France, son and heir apparent of King Philip II for support.source
  • 1224King Louis VIII (the Lion) declares war on King Henry III of England. He allies himself with Hugh X of Lusignan and invades first Poitou and then Northern Gascony. The English forces in Poitou are under-strength and lack support from the Poitevin nobles; as a result, the province quickly falls into French hands by the end of June.source
  • 1260Kublai Khan becomes a claimant to the Mongol Empire, after the death of Möngke Khan.source
  • 1306Charles the Lame, King of Naples, accuses Philip I of Piedmont and Isabella of Villehardouin of disloyalty, and deprives them of the right to rule the Principality of Achaea (located in southern Greece on the Peloponnese peninsula). King Charles awards Achaea to his son, Philip I, Prince of Taranto.source
  • 1309Robert the Wise becomes the new King of Naples upon the death of his father, Charles the Lame.source
  • 1313Seventeen years after his death in prison in Ferentino, the later Pope Celestine V is canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.source
  • 1321Wars of the Rügen Succession: Dukes Otto I of Pomerania, Vartislav IV of Pomerania-Wolgast and Barnim III of Pomerania-Stettin reach a mutual inheritance contract with Vitslav III of Rügen.source
  • 1325The Istrian Demarcation, setting out the boundaries of disputed Italian territories in the Adriatic Sea peninsula of Istria (part of the modern-day Republic of Croatia), and confirms the agreement between the independent Italian states of Aquileia, Gorizia, and the Venetian Republic. The document is published in three languages (Latin, German and Croatian).source
  • 1341Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter of William Donn, 4th Earl of Ulster, is betrothed to Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (see 9 September).source
  • 1346"The one eyed Diarmaid Mac Giollaphádraig ... aided by the Uí Céarbhail ... burned the town of Aghaboe and the cemetery and church and cruelly forsaking St. Canice, abbot, patron of the neighbourhood and found of the place, he, like a degenerate son to his father, burnt and completely destroyed with the crullest fire, the saint's shrine with his bones and relics." [5].source
  • 1383(3rd waxing of Nayon 745 ME) In what is now Myanmar, Prince Binnya Nwe begins a rebellion against his aunt, the regent Maha Dewi of Hanthawaddy, as he and 30 of his men seize the governor's residence at Dagon, near Yangon.source
  • 1405At the Battle of Pwll Melyn, fought in Wales, Baron Grey of Codnor routs the Welsh rebels commanded by two sons and the brother of the rebel leader Owain Glyndwr. Owain's eldest son, Gruffud, is taken as a prisoner of war by the English, while the brother, Tudur ap Gruffudd, is killed in action.source
  • 1494Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica.source
  • 1500Representatives of the English and Spanish royal families sign a treaty at Canterbury for the marriage of 13-year-old Arthur, Prince of Wales (son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York) to 14-year-old Princess Catherine of Aragon. Arthur's marriage to Catherine takes place the next year, but Arthur dies five months later; she marries Arthur's younger brother Henry VIII in 1509.source
  • 1523An assassination attempt is made against King Sigismund of Poland, who is shot at while walking outside his residence at Wawel Castle overlooking Kraków.source
  • 1539The English House of Lords creates a committee, balanced between religious reformers and religious conservatives, to examine and determine doctrine, eventually forming the "Six Articles".source
  • 1543Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of Archduke Ferdinand I, marries Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland. Her coronation as Queen consort of Poland takes place three days later at Kraków Cathedral as the Archbishop of Gniezno, Piotr Gamrat, places the crown of Hedwig of Kalisz upon her head.source
  • 1562Prince Abdullah of Morocco withdraws his troops after seeing no way to overcome Portuguese defenses at Marzagan.source
  • 1563May 5 (3rd day of 4th month, Eiroku 6) – The Battle of Yudokoru takes place in Japan at the Inaba Province (now the eastern Tottori Prefecture), as Takanobu Takeda defeats the shogun Toyokazu Yamana.source
  • 1593"Dutch church libel" bills posted in London threaten Protestant refugees from France and the Netherlands, alluding to Christopher Marlowe's plays.source
  • 1601Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen, leading three ships of the Compagnie van De Moucheron, departs on his first expedition to Asia, departing from Veere with the ships Ram, Schaap, and Lam (Ram, Sheep and Lamb). After establishing trade in Sri Lanka, Spilbergen and his crew return to the Dutch Republic in 1604.source
  • 1623Raja Gaj Singh of Marwar, along with Mahabat Khan and Parviz Mirza, is deputized by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in India to hunt down Jahangir's rebel son, Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram. The search fails, and Khurram will become the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after Jahangir's death in 1627.source
  • 1628Catholic League Field Marshal Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, succeeds in taking control of the German city of Stade after a long siege. Tilly allows the remaining 3,500 Danish and English defenders safe passage out of Germany, and captures most of the Duchy of Bremen except for the city of Bremen itself, which he turns to next.source
  • 1634King Charles I of England and Scotland first refers to the banner of the British Isles as the "Union Flag" in a proclamation that the flag shall not be used on any ships other than those "in our immediate Service and Pay, and none other." The term evolves into the description of the British flag as the "Union Jack".source
  • 1634A royal proclamation confines flying of the Union Flag (the first recorded reference to it by this name) to the king's ships; English merchant vessels are to fly the flag of England.source
  • 1640The Short Parliament is dissolved without agreeing to the King's demands.source
  • 1640the King dismisses the Short Parliament and prepares to attack Scotland.source
  • 1646King Charles I of England surrenders his forces to a Scottish army at Southwell, Nottinghamshire.source
  • 1646King Charles I surrenders his forces to a Scottish army at Southwell, Nottinghamshire.source
  • 1654Cromwell's Act of Grace, officially the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, is proclaimed at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh.source
  • 1659first British colonists, from the East India Company, land on Saint Helena.source
  • 1674The Hospital and Free School of King Charles II opens in Dublin.source
  • 1692Queen Mary orders the imprisonment of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough for alleged treasonous support of the Jacobites.source
  • 1700Within a few days of poet John Dryden's death in London (May 1 O.S.), his last written work (The Secular Masque) is performed as part of Vanbrugh's version of The Pilgrim.source
  • 1702Following a suspension of nearly a year, Edward Jones, Bishop of St Asaph, is allowed to return to his see.source
  • 1702Globular cluster Messier 5 (M5, NGC 5904) is discovered by Gottfried Kirch and his wife Maria Margarethe.source
  • 1705Joseph I succeeds his father Leopold I as Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • 1722Pennsylvania colony enacts a statute, requiring all persons importing any person previously convicted of sodomy, to pay £5 for each such incoming person.source
  • 1762May 5 (April 24 O.S.) – The Treaty of Saint Petersburg ends the war between Russia and Prussia, and returns all of Russia's territorial conquests to the Prussians.source
  • 1789In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time in 175 years, taken as the start of the French Revolution (1789–1799).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
  • 1795a tax on hair-powder under the Duty on Hair Powder Act 1795 comes into effect, helping to end the fashion for powdering hair and wigs.source
  • 1809The Swiss canton of Aargau declares Jews citizens.source
  • 1809Mary Kies is the first American woman to be awarded a patent (for a technique of weaving straw hats with silk and thread).source
  • 1809Mary Dixon Kies becomes the first recipient of a patent granted to a woman by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She invented a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.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
  • 1819Samuel Leigh arrives on the Active to recuperate from ill-health at Samuel Marsden's invitation.source
  • 1821The first edition of the Manchester Guardian newspaper (from 1959 simply The Guardian) is published in England.source
  • 1823Emperor Pedro I of Brazil inaugurates Brazil's first Assembleia Geral, with 50 Senators and 102 Deputies.source
  • 1826The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke, destined to open as the world's first purpose-built passenger railway operated by steam locomotives in 1830, receives authorisation by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.source
  • 1826The Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke, which in 1830 is to become the world's first purpose-built passenger railway operated by steam locomotives to be opened, is authorised by Parliament.source
  • 1835Braulio Carrillo is sworn in as Head of State of Costa Rica.source
  • 1835The first railway in continental Europe is opened between Brussels and Mechelen in Belgium.source
  • 1840Thomas Carlyle gives the first lecture in the series On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History.source
  • 1842May 5–8 – The Great fire of Hamburg in Germany destroys around one-third of the city centre and kills 51.source
  • 1850National Bank of Belgium foundedsource
  • 1853Perpetual Maritime Truce comes into force between the United Kingdom and the rulers of the Sheikhdoms of the Lower Gulf, later known as the Trucial States.source
  • 1853Perpetual Maritime Truce comes into force between the United Kingdom and the rulers of the Sheikhdoms of the Lower Gulf, later known as the Trucial States.source
  • 1853The Shiraz earthquake shook the region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 13,000 dead.source
  • 1854May 5–15 – Hokkien–Teochew Riots in Singapore.source
  • 1857October 17 – The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition is held in Manchester, one of the largest such displays of all time.source
  • 18575 May–17 October – The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition is held in Manchester, one of the largest such displays of all time.source
  • 1859Border Treaty between Brazil and Venezuela: The two countries agree their borders should be traced at the water divide, between the Amazon and the Orinoco basins.source
  • 1862Second French intervention in Mexico: Battle of Puebla – Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza defeats the French Army; commemorated each year as Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for Fifth of May).source
  • 1864American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.source
  • 1865Jefferson Davis meets with his Confederate Cabinet (14 officials) for the last time, in Washington, Georgia, and the Confederate Government is officially dissolved.source
  • 1865In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the country takes place.source
  • 1865Bushranger Ben Hall is shot dead by police at Goobang Creek in New South Wales.source
  • 1869May 4–10 – Naval Battle of Hakodate: The Imperial Japanese Navy defeats adherents of the Tokugawa shogunate.source
  • 1871The Prince Alfred Hospital opens in Melbourne.source
  • 1873Third Carlist War in Spain: Battle of Eraul – Carlists under General Dorregaray defeat Republicans at Eraul, near Estella.source
  • 1873The Scandinavian Monetary Union, a monetary union with Sweden, is formed, pegging the countries' currencies to each other.source
  • 1873The Scandinavian Monetary Union is founded. Swedish krona becomes the currency, replacing the riksdaler, in the effort to create a central, trans-national currency in Scandinavia.source
  • 1877Great Sioux War of 1876: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada, to avoid harassment by the U.S. Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.source
  • 1877Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.source
  • 1883Cape Western – Muizenberg to Kalkbaai, 1 mi 45 ch.source
  • 1885Liberian general election, 1885source
  • 1887Ricardo Palma founds the Peruvian Academy of Language.source
  • 1891The Music Hall in New York (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.source
  • 1892A fire ravages the Tiambeng family home in Orion, Bataan, destroying many of Francisco Balagtas' original manuscripts.source
  • 1892A first issue of Chugoku Shinbun Newspaper published in Hiroshima Prefecture.source
  • 1893Panic of 1893: A crash on the New York Stock Exchange starts a depression.source
  • 1894Exposition Internationale d'Anvers opens (to 5 November)source
  • 1895Prime Minister of Japan Ito Hirobumi announces withdrawal of Japanese troops from Liaodong Peninsulasource
  • 1897Port Elizabeth is flooded.source
  • 1901The Caste War of Yucatán in Mexico officially ends, although Mayan skirmishers continue sporadic fighting for another decade.source
  • 1904British expedition to Tibet: Hundreds of Tibetans attack the British camp at Changlo, and hold the advantage for a while, before being defeated by superior weapons, and losing at least 200 men.source
  • 1904Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.source
  • 1906The first electric trams begin running in Melbourne from St Kilda to Brighton.source
  • 1910In Milan, the General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confederazione generale dell'industria italiana), commonly known as Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation and national chamber of commerce is founded.source
  • 1912Maksimir stadium opened.source
  • 1912The 1912 Summer Olympics open in Stockholm, Sweden. Modern Pentathlon is contested for the first time in these games.source
  • 1912July 22 – Japan competes at the Summer Olympic Games for the first time at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.source
  • 1914October 11 – The Jubilee Exhibition (Jubilæumsutstillingen) is held at Kristiania, Norway, to mark the centennial of the country's constitution.source
  • 1915WWI: Gallipoli Campaign – Forces of the Ottoman Empire begin shelling ANZAC Cove from a new position behind their lines.source
  • 1921May 1–7 – Jaffa riots: Riots at Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine result in 47 Jewish and 48 Arab deaths.source
  • 1921Avshalom Gissin (born 1896), Zionist activist and Ottoman Army veteran killed defending Petah Tikva during the 1921 Palestine riotssource
  • 1921London Schedule of Payments sets out the World War I reparations payable by the German Weimar Republic and other countries considered successors to the Central Powers – 132 billion gold marks ($33 billion), in annual installments of 2.5 billion.source
  • 1921Chanel No. 5 perfume launched by Coco Chanel.source
  • 1921Only 13 paying spectators attend the football match between Leicester City and Stockport County F.C. in England, the lowest attendance in The Football League's history.source
  • 1925The General Election Law is passed in Japan, extending suffrage to all males aged 25 and over.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
  • 1932in Ferrara, 2. Conference of unionist and corporatist studies; in the debate, socialist idea emerges, as the “owner corporations” proposed by Ugo Spirito.source
  • 1933The detection by Karl Jansky of radio waves from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is reported in The New York Times. The discovery leads to the birth of radio astronomy.source
  • 1936March of the Iron Will: Italian forces occupy Addis Ababa unopposed.source
  • 1938General Ludwig Beck, Chief of the German Army's General Staff, submits a memorandum to Hitler opposing Fall Grün (Case Green), the plan for a war with Czechoslovakia, under the grounds that Germany is ill-prepared for the world war likely to result from such an attack.source
  • 1941Belfast suffers its third bombing raid during World War II. The Dublin government authorises its emergency services to assist again.source
  • 1941Flemish collaborationist organisations Vlaams Nationaal Verbond and Verdinaso, and the Flemish section of the Rexist Party, sign an agreement to merge.source
  • 1942WWII: Battle of Madagascar (Operation Ironclad) begins when British forces land on the Vichy French colony of Madagascar. On May 7 the northern city of Diego Suarez surrenders.source
  • 1945A Japanese fire balloon kills six people, Elsie Mitchell and five children, near Bly, Oregon, when it explodes as they drag it from the woods. These are the only people killed by an enemy attack on the American mainland during WWII.source
  • 1947A train derails in the Camp Mountain rail accident in Queensland, killing 16 people.source
  • 1950Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), king of Thailand since 1946, is crowned, at The Grand Palace in Bangkok.source
  • 1953Aldous Huxley first tries the psychedelic hallucinogen mescaline, inspiring his book The Doors of Perception.source
  • 1960Demonstrations in Ankara (known as 555K)source
  • 1961Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space, aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.source
  • 1962Twelve East Germans escape to the West via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.source
  • 1966The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey.source
  • 1971FedEx, the logistics and delivery service, founded in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.source
  • 1971The U.S. dollar floods the European currency markets and especially threatens the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.source
  • 1972Viru Hotel was opened.source
  • 1972An Alitalia DC-8 crashes west of Palermo, Sicily; 115 die.source
  • 1973Shambu Tamang becomes the youngest person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.source
  • 1984The Itaipu Dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay after nine years of construction, begins generating power; it is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world at the time.source
  • 1984Dayabumi, the famous landmark in Kuala Lumpur was opened.source
  • 1984Over 7,000 people attend an Afrikaner Volkswag rally in Pretoria.source
  • 1984The Herreys' song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden in Luxembourg. It subsequently becomes a top-ten hit in five European countries.source
  • 1984Luxembourg City hosts the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 after Corinne Hermès's victory the previous year. Representing Luxembourg, Sophie Carle finishes tenth with the song 100% d'amour.source
  • 1985U.S. President Ronald Reagan joins West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany, which includes the graves of 59 elite S.S. troops from World War II.source
  • 19901990 Eurovision Song Contest hosted in Zagreb's Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall.source
  • 1994The Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan is signed in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, effectively freezing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.source
  • 1994Weightlifter Naim Süleymanoğlu gained the title European championsource
  • 1998Congolese leader, Denis Sassou Nguesso, visits Angola for the second time since he overthrew the former president with the help of Angolan troops.source
  • 1998May 5–6 - landslides in Campania, Italy kill 161source
  • 2000A rare conjunction of seven celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets Mercury–Saturn) occurs during the new moon.source
  • 2000After originating in the Philippines, the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads quickly throughout the world.source
  • 2002Burkinabe parliamentary election, 2002source
  • 2004Garçon à la pipe, painted by Pablo Picasso in 1905, is sold for $104.2 million. This was the highest price a work of art had ever been sold for at auction.source
  • 2005The 2005 United Kingdom general election is won by Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Labour Party for a third consecutive majority government.source
  • 20072006 Kite Awards was held in Hanoisource
  • 2007Kenya Airways Flight 507, on a scheduled passenger flight from Doula, Cameroon, to Nairobi, Kenya, crashes after takeoff, killing all 114 crew and passengers on board.source
  • 2014The World Health Organization identifies the spread of poliomyelitis in at least 10 countries as a major worldwide health emergency.source
  • 2014Boko Haram militants kill approximately 300 people in a night attack on Gamboru Ngala in Nigeria.source
  • 2014Alliance for Change and Transparency, a social democratic political party, received its permanent registration.source
  • 2017Same-sex marriage in Bermuda becomes legalsource
  • 2018In North Korea, clocks are adjusted to UTC+9 (GMT+09:00) to the same as South Koreasource
  • 2018NASA's space probe InSight is launched. It landed on Mars on November 26 and uses a drill to conduct geological science.source
  • 2019scheduled date for the 2019 Panamanian general electionsource
  • 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
  • 2019Aeroflot Flight 1492 crash-lands and bursts into flames at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, killing 41 of the 78 people on board.source
  • 2020The biggest television network in the Philippines, ABS-CBN, ceased operations for the first time in almost five decades because of the loss of its franchise.source
  • 2023The World Health Organization ends its declaration of COVID-19 being a global health emergency, but continues to refer to it as a pandemic.source
  • 20242024 Panamanian general election: José Raúl Mulino is elected president.source

Births

  • 1210Afonso III (the Boulonnais), king of Portugal (died 1279)source
  • 1282Juan Manuel, Spanish nobleman and prince (died 1348)source
  • 1352Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (died 1410)source
  • 1474Juan Diego, Roman Catholic Saint from Mexico (died 1548)source
  • 1479Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (died 1574)source
  • 1488Lê Uy Mục, 8th king of the later Lê dynasty of Vietnam (died 1509)source
  • 1504Stanislaus Hosius, Polish cardinal (died 1579)source
  • 1530Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, French nobleman (died 1574)source
  • 1542Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (died 1623)source
  • 1582John Frederick, Duke of Württemberg (1608–1628) (died 1628)source
  • 1644Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet, English landowner (died 1710)source
  • 1705John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, Scottish nobleman and army officer (died 1782)source
  • 1747Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1792)source
  • 1747Leopold II (Peter Leopold Josef Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard)source
  • 1764Robert Craufurd, Scottish general (k. 1812)source
  • 1801Pío Pico, last Governor of Alta California (died 1894)source
  • 1813Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (died 1855)source
  • 1818Karl Marx, German political philosopher, co-author of The Communist Manifesto (died 1883)source
  • 1818Karl Marx, German political philosopher, co-author of The Communist Manifesto (died 1883)source
  • 1831Gezina Susanna Fredricka Wilhelmina du Plessis, who later married South African Republic general and future politician Paul Kruger, and had seven daughters and nine sons with him, is born.source
  • 1846Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916)source
  • 1864Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet, British field marshal, politician (died 1922)source
  • 1865Cândido Rondon, military officer (died 1958)source
  • 1882Sir Douglas Mawson, Australian Antarctic explorer (died 1958)source
  • 1883Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, British field marshal (died 1950)source
  • 1988Adele, British singer-songwritersource
  • 1998Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis playersource

Deaths

  • 311Galerius dies at age 51 from a gruesome disease, possibly colorectal cancer or Fournier gangrene.source
  • 311Galerius, Roman emperor (born c.258)source
  • 311Wang Yan, Chinese official and politician (born 256)source
  • 465Gerontius, Archbishop of Milansource
  • 1061Humbert of Moyenmoutier, French cardinalsource
  • 1194Casimir II the Just, duke of Lesser Polandsource
  • 1220Angelus of Jerusalem, Jerusalemite priest (b.1185)source
  • 1237Fujiwara no Ietaka, Japanese waka poet (born 1158)source
  • 1257Haakon the Young, junior king of Norway (born 1232)source
  • 1292The College of Electors select Adolf, count of Nassau, as the new King of the Romans and successor of Habsburg Rudolf I who had died the previous year. Adolf is forced to make wide-ranging concessions to the Electors to get elected. He is crowned king on June 24 in Aachen by the Archbishop of Cologne.source
  • 1306Constantine Palaiologos, Byzantine prince and general (born 1261)source
  • 1316Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, English noblewoman (born 1282)source
  • 1338Prince Tsunenaga, son of the Japanese Emperor (born 1324)source
  • 1380Saint Philotheos, Coptic martyrsource
  • 1432With the Tommaso Mocenigo, Doge of Venice, no longer able to protect him, General Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola is beheaded in prison.source
  • 1432Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, Italian adventurer (executed)source
  • 1504Antoine de Bourgogne, bastard son of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b.1421)source
  • 1525Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (born 1463)source
  • 1565Queen Munjeong, Korean queen (born 1501)source
  • 1586Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland (born 1529)source
  • 1596Catherine de Montpensier, politically active French duchess (born 1552)source
  • 1667Georg Reichwein, Sr., military officer (born 1593),source
  • 1671Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, English politician (born 1602)source
  • 1705Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1640)source
  • 1714Charles, Duke of Berry, grandson of Louis XIV of France (born 1686)source
  • 1760Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English murderer (hanged) (born 1720)source
  • 1789Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, Italian literary critic (born 1719)source
  • 1821Napoleon Bonaparte, French Emperor and general (born 1769)source
  • 1821Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on Saint Helena of stomach cancer.source
  • 1827Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (born 1750)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
  • 1992Armand Césari Stadium disaster in Bastia on Corsica: 18 people are killed and 2,300 are injured when one of the terraces collapses before a football match between SC Bastia and Olympique de Marseille.source