/year

May 8 in history

228 sourced entries recorded on May 8, from 453 BCE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 453 BCEThe Chinese city of Jinyang is severely flooded in the Battle of Jinyang, where the elite families of Jin, Zhao, Zhi, Wei and Han fight. The Wei and the Han swap allegiances to side with Zhao and eliminate the Zhi house, ending the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history.source
  • 413Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.source
  • 663Battle of Forino: The Byzantine army, led by Constans II, is defeated by the Lombards under Romuald I. He seizes Taranto and Brindisi, receiving military aid from the Bulgar Alcek horde, who are settled in the area of Ravenna.source
  • 675Tenmu issues a decree to distribute the tax-rice for peasants in poverty, as well as a decree regulating fishing and hunting, and ordering a halt to eating the flesh of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys and barn-yard fowl, a prohibition which lasts until 1872.source
  • 1063Battle of Graus: Allied Muslim and Christian troops, under King Sancho II (the Strong) and Emir Ahmad al-Muqtadir (maybe led by El Cid), defeat the Aragonese army. King Ramiro I is killed and succeeded by his son Sancho V, as ruler of Aragon.source
  • 1096French members of the People's Crusade led by Walter Sans Avoir enter Hungary, without incident they arrive at Semlin, and cross the Sava into Byzantine territory at Belgrade. Meanwhile, Walter demands food but he is refused entry, and the crusaders are forced to pillage the countryside. Eventually Walter is allowed to carry on to Niš, where he is provided with food.source
  • 1191Richard I and his main fleet arrive in the Byzantine port of Limassol on Cyprus. He orders Isaac Komnenos to release the prisoners and his treasure. Isaac refuses, Richard embarks his forces, and takes Limassol. The Byzantine population and also the Latin merchants in their dislike of Isaac, show themselves friendly to the English invaders. Various leading Crusaders of the Holy Land arrive in Limassol, on May 11. Among them are King Guy of Lusignan of Jerusalem, Bohemond III of Antioch, Humphrey IV of Toron, and Leo I of Armenia. They declare their support for Richard in return that he supports them against their rival, Conrad of Montferrat.source
  • 1300Franco-Flemish War: In Flanders (part of modern-day Belgium), the city of Ghent surrenders. By the time that Ypres surrenders on May 21, all of Flanders has been conquered. By the end of the month, all of Flanders is under French control, and several Flemish nobles (like Guy of Namur) are taken into captivity in France.source
  • 1321In Egypt's Mamluk Sultanate, a campaign by Muslims starts against the Christian settlements of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Over 60 churches and monasteries are burned.source
  • 1407The Earl of Somerset resigns as Admiral of the North and West of the English Navy. The office will remain vacant until assumed by Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter on September 21, 1408.*source
  • 1429The English, weakened by disease and lack of supplies, depart Orléans.source
  • 1429The English army abandons the siege of Orléans.source
  • 1435The German city of Speyer sets a six-month deadline for its Jewish community to leave, as the council passes a decree declaring that "The council is compelled to banish the Jews, but it has no designs upon their lives or their property. It only revokes their rights of citizenship and of settlement. Until November 11 they are at liberty to go whither they please with all their property, and in the meantime they may make final disposition of their business affairs."source
  • 1441The Siege of Creil is Started on orders of King Charles VII of France against the English held town and council. William Peyto surrenders on May 25.source
  • 1442In Germany, the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania enter into an alliance against the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Stargard.source
  • 1450Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI of England.source
  • 1454Catalan Grimaldi becomes the new Lord of Monaco upon the death of his father, Jean I Grimaldi.source
  • 1467Henry IV, Duke of Mecklenburg and Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, send a warning to the various dukes of Pomerania to abide by the 1466 Treaty of Soldin, or face an economic boycott by both nations. The Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin refuses to swear allegiance to Brandenburg, which begins a war with Stettin a year later.source
  • 1491A solar eclipse observed in Metz.source
  • 1500The first guide to distilling of liquor is published, Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus by Hieronymus Brunschwig.source
  • 1508Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni of Florence signs a contract with the Vatican to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in return for a promised fee of 3,000 gold ducats (equivalent in 2023 to more than U.S. $600,000).source
  • 1541Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, naming it the Rio de Espiritu Santo ("River of the Holy Spirit").source
  • 1559Queen Elizabeth I of England gives royal assent to the Act of Supremacy 1558 (requiring any person taking public or church office in England to swear allegiance to the English monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England) and to the Act of Uniformity 1558 (requiring all persons in England to attend Anglican services on penalty of a fine for noncompliance).source
  • 1561Madrid is declared the capital of Spain, by Philip II.source
  • 1567Battle of Farsetmore is fought near Letterkenny in Donegal. Shane O'Neill, chief of the O’Neills of Tír Eoghain, is defeated by the MacDonnells led by Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill who thus free themselves from O’Neill overlordship.source
  • 1569King Bayinnaung of Burma puts down the revolt by Setthathirath of Lan Xang (modern Laos), and ending Lan Xang's attempt to rescue Thailand's Ayutthaya Kingdom from conquest.source
  • 1574Brian O'Neill of Clandeboye, having submitted to the Earl of Essex, begs Elizabeth I of England for mercy.source
  • 1587The second expedition to establish an English colony at Roanoke Island in North America departs from England with two ships, supplies, and 121 people under the command of John White.source
  • 1603Mozes Székely is installed as the Prince of Transylvania by the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed III. Székely is killed in battle on July 17.source
  • 1605A group of 59 Roman Catholic cardinals assemble at Rome for another papal conclave to elect a successor to Pope Leo XI. During the meeting, a fistfight breaks out among the cardinals over the two rival candidates, Antonio Sauli and Domenico Toschi, neither of whom receive the necessary 40 votes for a two-thirds election. In the fight, Cardinal Alfonso Visconti sustains several fractures.source
  • 1608A newly nationalized silver mine in Scotland at Hilderston, West Lothian is re-opened by Bevis Bulmer.source
  • 1608Works by Bevis Bulmer commence at a newly nationalized silver mine at Hilderston, West Lothian.source
  • 1617title of Baron Hamilton of Strabane in the County of Tyrone created in the Peerage of Ireland for the 13-year-old James Hamilton, Master of Abercorn.source
  • 1619The Synod of Dort has its final meeting.source
  • 1623A Dutch East India Company party, led by explorer Jan Carstenszoon, fights a skirmish with 200 indigenous Australian Wik peoples.source
  • 1624Capture of Bahia: A Dutch West India Company fleet captures the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia from the Portuguese Empire (at this time in the Iberian Union).source
  • 1654Otto von Guericke demonstrates the power of atmospheric pressure and the effectiveness of his vacuum pump, using the Magdeburg hemispheres, before Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Imperial Diet in Regensburg.source
  • 1657Lord Protector Cromwell confirms his refusal of the crown of England, preferring the title "Lord Protector".source
  • 1657Cromwell formally rejects the offer to become King.source
  • 1660In exile in the Netherlands, Prince Charles Stuart receives word that the Parliament of England has declared his elevation to the throne as King Charles II of England.source
  • 1660Parliament declares that Charles has been lawful King of England since 1649 and invites him to return.source
  • 1661The "Cavalier Parliament", the longest serving Parliament in British history, is opened following the first parliamentary elections since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The first session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords lasts until June 30 and then reopens on November 20. The Cavalier Parliament continues meeting, without new elections, until being dissolved on January 24, 1679.source
  • 1676Dutchman Cornelis Tromp becomes Admiral-General in the Royal Danish Navy and knight in the Order of the Elephant.source
  • 1707The siege of Játiva within the Spanish kingdom of Valencia begins as 9,000 Castilian and French troops, at the direction of King Philip V attack Játiva, defended by troops of the Kingdom of Aragon. Játiva (modern Xàtiva) falls on June 6.source
  • 1714Adam Ottley, Bishop of St David's, complains that Griffith Jones (Llanddowror) has been "going about preaching on week days in Churches, Churchyards, and sometimes on the mountains, to hundreds of auditors".source
  • 1721Pope Innocent XIII succeeds Pope Clement XI, as the 244th pope.source
  • 1729A fire breaks out inside the fully walled town of Haiger within the Holy Roman Empire (in the modern-day state of Hesse in Germany) and destroys all the buildings.source
  • 1736Frederick, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.source
  • 1736marriage of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.source
  • 1747Veteran sails from Liverpool with 149 Jacobite prisoners (including 15 women) on board to be settled as indentured slaves in the West Indies. On 28 June, the French privateer Diamant captures the ship and frees the slaves.source
  • 1769Battle of Ponte Novu begins between royal French forces and the native Corsicans.source
  • 1772The Watauga Association Compact is signed in what is now East Tennessee by a group of white settlers led by William Bean, creating the first non-colonial government body in British North America.source
  • 1773In Egypt, Ottoman rebels revolt, killing Ali Bey, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.source
  • 1777Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners, The School for Scandal, is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.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
  • 1794Robert Burns' song Scots Wha Hae published in The Morning Chronicle.source
  • 1794Reign of Terror: chemist Antoine Lavoisier is tried, convicted and executed in Paris with 27 co-defendants also associated with the former ferme générale.source
  • 1804Lieutenant-Governor Collins establishes the settlement at Sullivan's Cove on the River Derwent.source
  • 1809Lachlan Macquarie is officially appointed Governor of New South Wales, caretaker William Patterson governs until his appointment begins on 1 January 1810.source
  • 1812Hail to the Chief is published.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
  • 1816Divorce is abolished in France by the Chambre introuvable, after having been permitted following the French Revolution.source
  • 1821Greek War of Independence: At the Battle of Gravia Inn, a 120-man Greek force led by Odysseas Androutsos repulses an Ottoman army of 8,000.source
  • 1835Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. is first published.source
  • 1837The steamboat Ben Sherod catches fire and explodes on the Mississippi River, killing approximately 175 people.source
  • 1839May 7–11 – The Bedchamber Crisis in the United Kingdom: Following the announcement by Prime Minister Lord Melbourne that he intends to resign, Robert Peel asks (for political reasons) that Queen Victoria dismiss some of her personal attendants, Ladies of the Bedchamber, as a condition for his forming a government. Victoria refuses to accept the condition and Melbourne is persuaded to stay on as Prime Minister.source
  • 1842May 5–8 – The Great fire of Hamburg in Germany destroys around one-third of the city centre and kills 51.source
  • 1842Versailles rail accident: A train traveling between Versailles and Paris, France derails, due to a broken locomotive axle, and catches fire, killing at least 55 passengers in the locked carriages.source
  • 1842Versailles train crash at Meudon, results in the deaths of at least 55 passengers.source
  • 1846Mexican–American War – Battle of Palo Alto: Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.source
  • 1847Bahrain's ruler, Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, signs a treaty with the British to prevent and combat the slave trade in the Arabian Gulf.source
  • 1847The Nagano earthquake leaves more than 8,600 people dead in Japan.source
  • 1850Hans Christian Andersen's Danmark, mit fædreland is first time performed publicly as a song by a men's choir to a melody by Henrik Rung at a concert arranged by the Scandinavian Society in the Casino Theatre in Copenhagen to raise money for a monument commemorating the Danish victory in the Battle of Fredericia.source
  • 1851Convention with The Netherlands abolishing tolls on the Meuse signed in Brussels.source
  • 1852Prussia signs the 1852 London Protocol, a treaty ending the First Schleswig War by nominally returning Schleswig and Holstein to Denmark, while effectively guaranteeing their independencesource
  • 1854May 5–15 – Hokkien–Teochew Riots in Singapore.source
  • 1860Roman Catholic Diocese of Chatham (later renamed Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst (Canada)) erected.source
  • 1860In New Granada (modern-day Colombia) the southern state of Cauca secedes from the central government, in protest at the suggestion of increase of presidential powers; Magdalena and Bolívar join it; civil war erupts.source
  • 1863The Granadine Confederation becomes the United States of Colombia, under President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.source
  • 1869May 4–10 – Naval Battle of Hakodate: The Imperial Japanese Navy defeats adherents of the Tokugawa shogunate.source
  • 1869The bushranger Captain Moonlite holds up a bank in Mount Egerton, Victoria.source
  • 1871The first Major League Baseball home run is hit by Ezra Sutton, of the Cleveland Forest Citys.source
  • 1877May 8–11 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is held.source
  • 1886American pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola'.source
  • 1886Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that will be named 'Coca-Cola'.source
  • 1888The International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow opens (continues to November).source
  • 1896Cricket: Against Warwickshire, Yorkshire sets a still-standing County Championship record in England, when they accumulate an innings total of 887.source
  • 1898The first games of the Italian Football Federation are played, in which Genoa play against Torino.source
  • 1898Genoa C.F.C. wins the first FIGC endorsed Italian Football Championship at the Velodromo Umberto I in Turin against Internazionale F.C. Torino.source
  • 1899In the French West African colony of Niger, Paul Voulet massacres the Hausa inhabitants of the village of Birni-N'Konni in retaliation for the continued resistance of Queen Sarraounia.source
  • 1900Sankt Lukas Stiftelsen is founded by Isabelle Brockenhuus-Løwenhielm and pastor Vilhelm Kold from Indre Mission.source
  • 1902Mount Pelée in Martinique erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000.source
  • 19021902 eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique.source
  • 1911the government of Great Qing withdrew the military department and re-established the cabinet. Yikuang is the prime minister of the cabinet. The members are mainly Manchu, they are known as the Royal Cabinet.source
  • 1911Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa launches an attack against government troops in Ciudad Juárez without Madero's permission; the government troops surrender on May 10.source
  • 1914The 4.9 Ms Sicily earthquake shakes Catania with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme) causing severe damage and 120 deaths.source
  • 1914The Con Con National football club is founded.source
  • 1917May 8–12 – 1917 Far Eastern Games held in Tokyo.source
  • 1918First Muslim-Christian Association meets in Jaffa.source
  • 1919May 8–27 – United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4, commanded by Albert Cushing Read, makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland (departs May 16) and the Azores (arrives May 17). (On May 30–31 it flies on to Plymouth in England.)source
  • 1921At the congress of the Socialist Party of Romania (Partidul Socialist din România), the pro-Bolshevik faction affirms control of the party, which consequently joins Communist International and is renamed the Romanian Communist Party (Partidul Comunist Român).source
  • 1922In Moscow, eight priests, two laymen and one woman are sentenced to death for opposition to the Soviet government's confiscation of church property.source
  • 1924Lithuania signs the Klaipėda Convention with the nations of the Conference of Ambassadors, taking the Klaipėda Region from East Prussia and making it into an autonomous region.source
  • 1925The final attack in the Rif War is launched by France and Spain, who between them field 123,000 men, supported by 150 aircraft, against 12,000 Rifians.source
  • 1925African-American Tom Lee rescues 32 people from the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman on the Mississippi River.source
  • 1925African American Tom Lee rescues 32 people from the M.E. Norman, a steamboat sinking in the Mississippi.source
  • 1929Norway annexed the volcanic island Jan Mayen located in the Arctic Ocean.source
  • 1931Prosecution of Adolf Hitler by Hans Litten for complicity in manslaughter committed by members of the Sturmabteilung at the Tanzpalast Eden ("Eden Dance Palace") in Berlin in 1930 is dismissed.source
  • 1933Mohandas Gandhi begins a 3-week hunger strike because of the mistreatment of the lower castes in India.source
  • 1933Mohandas Gandhi begins a 3-week hunger strike because of the mistreatment of the lower castes.source
  • 1937Wydad Athletic Club (WAC)(Arabic: نادي الوداد الرياضي; Berber: Wydad Dar al-Beida; commonly: Wydad al ouma) is established in Casablanca, Morocco; it will be best known for its Casablanca Association football team.source
  • 1942The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula: The German 11th Army with Romanian forces launches Unternehmen Trappenjagd (Operation Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet Armies (44th, 47th, and 51st) defending the Kerch Peninsula in the eastern part of the Crimean Front. The battle ends in an Axis victory.source
  • 1943Hans Raastad, economist, and former leader of the Workers' Youth League.source
  • 1945The Eighth British Army, together with Slovene partisan troops and a motorized detachment of the Yugoslav 4th Army, arrives in Carinthia and Klagenfurt. The Croatian Armed Forces of the Independent State of Croatia are ordered by their commanders not to surrender to the Yugoslav Partisans, but to attempt to retreat to Austria and surrender to the British, part of the events leading to the Bleiburg repatriations.source
  • 1950The Tollund Man is discovered.source
  • 1950Tollund Man is unearthed in Denmark.source
  • 1951Operation Greenhouse: The first thermonuclear weapon is tested in the "George" test on Enewetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands by the United States.source
  • 1954The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is formed in Manila, Philippines.source
  • 1956The constitutional union between Indonesia and the Netherlands is dissolved.source
  • 1956Israel and Austria establish diplomatic relations.source
  • 1957South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.source
  • 1957Coca-Cola, full-scale sale start in Japan.source
  • 1958A collision between two electric trains occurs in Rio de Janeiro, leaving more than 300 dead.source
  • 1961British intelligence officer George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying, having been found guilty of being a double agent in the pay of the Soviet Union, the longest non-life sentence ever handed down by a British court.source
  • 1963Huế Phật Đản shootings: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam opens fire on Buddhists who defy a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha, killing 9. Earlier, President Ngô Đình Diệm allowed the flying of the Vatican flag in honour of his brother, Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục, triggering the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam.source
  • 1967The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.source
  • 1972Sabena Flight 571 hijacking: Four PLO terrorists hijack an airplane of Sabena Flight 572 carrying 99 passengers and ten crew members en route from Brussels to Tel Aviv. In a mission titled "Operation Isotope", 16 members of Sayeret Matkal pose as refueling and technical personnel and storm the plane, killing the terrorists and releasing the passengers.source
  • 1978Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) make the first ascent of Mount Everest, without supplemental oxygen.source
  • 1978Peter Habeler of Austria, along with Reinhold Messner (Italy), makes the first ascent of Mount Everest, without supplemental oxygen.source
  • 1978Norway opens a natural gas field, in the Polar Sea.source
  • 1979Ten shoppers die in a fire at the Woolworths department store in Manchester city centre in the UK.source
  • 1980Global eradication of smallpox certified by the World Health Organization.source
  • 1984The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.source
  • 1986Óscar Arias is inaugurated into his first term as President of Costa Rica.source
  • 1987Loughgall ambush: A 24-man unit of the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) ambushed eight members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) as they mounted an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) barracks. All IRA members were killed as well as one civilian.source
  • 1988François Mitterrand is re-elected as President of France for 7 years.source
  • 1992May 8-9 - The Armenian Armed Forces capture the city of Shushi, marking the first significant military victory by Armenians.source
  • 1997The Japanese Diet passes the Ainu Culture Law and repeals the Ainu Protection Act.source
  • 20082008 conflict in Lebanon: Fighting erupts after an 18 month political crisis between pro-government and opposition militias across in Beirut after the government shuts down Hezbollah's telecommunication network. Fighting soon spread to other areas of the country, including Tripoli and Aley.source
  • 2014May 6–10 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is won by Austrian entrant Conchita Wurst with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix".source
  • 2015The 2015 Al Khalis prison break occurs in the Iraqi town of Al Khalis, resulting in over fifty escapees.source
  • 2018U.S. President Donald Trump announces his intention to withdraw the United States from the Iranian nuclear agreement.source
  • 2018Bosnian prosecutors appeal the acquittal of Naser Orić, former commander of the Bosnian Army in Srebrenica, who was accused of killing Serb prisoners.source
  • 2018May 8–12 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is held in Lisbon, Portugal, and is won by Israeli entrant Netta Barzilai with the song "Toy".source
  • 2019President João Lourenço dismisses Carlos Saturnino from his role as Chief Executive of the state oil company Sonangol after fuel shortages cause power cuts and long lines at petrol stations in the capital Luanda.source
  • 2019A British teenager, Isabelle Holdaway, 17, is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.source
  • 2020The Aurangabad railway accident occurred in India. 17 migrants were sleeping on the trains when a freight train collided and killed 16 people and injured 1.source
  • 2024In North Macedonian elections, the right-wing party VMRO-DPMNE wins in a landslide in the parliamentary elections, while its presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova is elected as the first female president of the country in the second round of the presidential election.source
  • 2024May 7–11 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is held in Malmö, Sweden. Swiss contestant Nemo wins with the song "The Code".source
  • 2025May 7–8 – 2025 conclave: 133 cardinal electors select Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Francis's successor, on the fourth ballot. He takes the name Leo XIV, and becomes the first pope from North America, the first with Peruvian or U.S. citizenship, and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine.source
  • 2025American Robert Francis Prevost is elected pope during the 2025 conclave, becoming the first North American to hold the position. He chooses the name Leo XIV.source

Births

  • 1046Constance of Burgundy, queen consort of Castile and León (died 1093)source
  • 1326Joan I, queen of France (House of Auvergne) (died 1360)source
  • 1427John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, Lord High Treasurer (died 1470)source
  • 1460Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (died 1536)source
  • 1467Adalbert of Saxony, Administrator of Mainz (1482–1484) (died 1484)source
  • 1492Andrea Alciato, Italian jurist and writer (died 1550)source
  • 1508Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (died 1562)source
  • 1521Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (died 1597)source
  • 1548Giacomo Boncompagni, illegitimate son of Pope Gregory XIII (died 1612)source
  • 1551Thomas Drury, English government informer and swindler (died 1603)source
  • 1629Niels Juel, admiral (died 1697).source
  • 1633Charles Eugene, 2nd Duke of Arenberg (died 1681)source
  • 1634Alexander Stuart, 5th Earl of Moray, Scottish nobleman (died 1701)source
  • 1639Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian artist working in the High Baroque and early Rococo periods (died 1709)source
  • 1641Nicolaes Witsen, Mayor of Amsterdam, Netherlands (died 1717)source
  • 1653Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Marshal of France (died 1734)source
  • 1668Alain-René Lesage, French writer (died 1747)source
  • 1670Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (died 1726)source
  • 1670Christian Frederik Bielke, army officer and landowner (died 1709)source
  • 1716James Wright, Governor of Georgia (died 1785)source
  • 1720William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1764)source
  • 1731Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London and abolitionist (died 1809)source
  • 1739Hannes Finnsson, bishopsource
  • 1826Miguel Ângelo Lupi, painter (died 1883)source
  • 1828Henry Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1910)source
  • 1884Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States (died 1972)source
  • 1899Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1992)source
  • 1926Sir David Attenborough, British broadcaster, naturalist, and producersource
  • 1932Sonny Liston, American boxer (died 1970)source
  • 1963Soulivong Savang, current Lao royal pretendersource

Deaths

  • 535Pope John II dies in Rome after a two-year reign, and is succeeded by Agapetus I as the 57th pope. Agapetus is sent by King Theodahad on an embassy to Constantinople.source
  • 550Desideratus, French saintsource
  • 685Pope Benedict II dies at Rome after a reign of less than 11 months. He is succeeded by John V as the 82nd pope.source
  • 685Benedict II, pope of the Catholic Church (born 635)source
  • 997Emperor Tai Zong (Zhao Jiong) dies at Kaifeng after a 21-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Zhen Zong as the third ruler of the Song dynasty.source
  • 997Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (born 939)source
  • 1063Ramiro I, king of Aragon (House of Jiménez)source
  • 1076Nasr ibn Mahmud, Mirdasid emir of Alepposource
  • 1149Bernard du Bec, French Benedictine abbotsource
  • 1157Ahmed Sanjar, Great Seljuk Sultan (born 1084 or 1086)source
  • 1176David FitzGerald, bishop of St. Davids (born 1106)source
  • 1192Duke Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria (born 1163)source
  • 1220Rikissa of Denmark, queen of Sweden (born 1180)source
  • 1278The 7-year-old Emperor Emperor Duanzong (or Zhao Shi) dies of illness. He is succeeded by his brother Zhao Bing who becomes the last ruler of the Song dynasty. Meanwhile, Mongol forces under the control of Mongol leader Kublai Khan ("Great Khan") draw closer to the remnants of the Song imperial court.source
  • 1278Emperor Duanzong (or Zhao Shi), Chinese emperor (born 1270)source
  • 1292Amato Ronconi, Italian monk, hermit and saint (born 1226)source
  • 1319Haakon V Magnusson, king of Norway (born 1270)source
  • 1319King Haakon V Magnusson of Norway dies at the age of 49 with no sons, leaving the throne empty until the nobles can agree on his successor. Havtore Jonsson manages a guardianship government until the nobles choose Magnus VII Eriksson, son of Haakon's daughter Ingeborg.source
  • 1473John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (born 1420)source
  • 1516In what is now Vietnam, Le Tuong Duc, Emperor of Dai Viet, since 1509, is murdered at his palace at Thang Long (now in Hanoi) by his bodyguards. Le Tuong Duc's 12-year-old nephew, Le Chieu Tong, is installed as the new Emperor by the conspirators.source
  • 1551Barbara Radziwiłł, queen of Sigismund II of Poland (born 1523)source
  • 1655Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader (born 1596)source
  • 1667Prince Prithviraj Singh, eldest son of the Maharaja Jaswant Singh of the Kingdom of Marwar (within India's Mughal Empire, part of the modern-day Rajasthan state) dies painfully at the age of 14, supposedly after putting on a khalat (a ceremonial robe) given to him by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. According to the folklore of Marwar, the khalat was actually a garment infused with poison that penetrated the skin.source
  • 1668Catherine of St. Augustine, French nun and nurse of New France (born 1632)source
  • 1766Samuel Chandler, English non-conformist minister (born 1693)source
  • 1773Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (born 1728)source
  • 1778Lorenz Christoph Mizler, German music historian, polymath (born 1711)source
  • 1782Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese statesman (born 1699)source
  • 1785Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (born 1719)source
  • 1785Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (born 1701)source
  • 1794Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (born 1743)source
  • 1803John Joseph Merlin, Belgian-born British clock- and musical-instrument-maker and inventor (born 1735)source
  • 1819Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (born 1738)source
  • 1822John Stark, American Revolutionary War general (born 1728)source
  • 1828Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (born 1781)source
  • 1842Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (born 1790)source
  • 1876Truganini, supposed last Tasmanian Aboriginal woman (born c. 1812)source
  • 1880Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (born 1821)source
  • 1891Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born author, theosophist (born 1831)source
  • 1898May 7–9 – Bava Beccaris massacre: Hundreds of demonstrators are killed, when General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris orders troops to fire on a rally in Milan, Italy.source
  • 1903Paul Gauguin, French painter (born 1848)source
  • 1904Eadweard Muybridge, British photographer and motion picture pioneer (born 1830)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
  • 1982French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.source
  • 1988Robert A. Heinlein, 80, American science fiction author (Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress), emphysema and heart failure.source
  • 1995Teresa Teng, 42, Taiwanese singer, asthma.source