Events
1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
1514 - Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.
1525 - The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
1567 - Mary Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
1618 - Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
1701 - The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
1756 - The Seven Years' War begins when England declares war on France.
1776 - American Revolution: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
1791 - Maximilien Robespierre proposes the self-denying ordinance.
1792 - War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
1793 - Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights.
1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
1800 - George III survives two assassination attempts in one day.
1811 - Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
1817 - Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
1849 - Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.
1851 - Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
1858 - Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. it is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1869 - Woman's suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association.
1891 - Rerum Novarum, the first document of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, is published by Pope Leo XIII.
1897 - The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.
1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1910 - The last time a major earthquake happened on the Elsinore Fault Zone.
1911 - The United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1911 - The Georgios Averof cruiser is bought by Greece.
1914 - Bolivia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1918 - The Finnish Civil War ends.
1919 - The Winnipeg General Strike begins. By 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job.
1919 - Greek invasion of İzmir. During the invasion, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks. The responsible are punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. Hasan Tahsin fires the first shot of the Turkish War of Independence.
1920 - Council of Lithuania adjourns as the newly elected Constituent Assembly of Lithuania meets for the first time in Kaunas.
1929 - A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
1932 - The May 15 Incident: in an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
1934 - Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
1935 - The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
1936 - Amy Johnson arrives back in England after a record-breaking return flight to Capetown
1940 - World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
1940 - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1941 - Baseball player Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
1942 - World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1943 - Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
1945 - World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1948 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1951 - The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asks the French government for political asylum.
1955 - The Austrian Independence Treaty is signed.
1955 - The first ascent of Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain.
1957 - At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.
1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
1963 - Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
1970 - President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
1970 - Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1972 - The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
1972 - In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President.
1974 – Ma'alot massacre: A total of 31 people, including hostage takers, are killed.
1987 - The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
1991 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
1997 - The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
Births
1976 - Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer
1976 - Torraye Braggs, American basketball player
1976 - Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
1976 - Ryan Leaf, American football player
1976 - Tyler Walker, baseball player
1978 - Amy Chow, American gymnast
1978 - Dwayne DeRosario, Canadian footballer
1978 - Caroline Dhavernas, Canadian actress
1978 - Edu, Brazilian footballer
1978 - David Krumholtz, American actor
1978 - Krissy Taylor, American model (d. 1995)
1980 - Josh Beckett, American baseball player
1980 - Rocky Marquette, American actor
1981 - Patrice Evra, French-Senegalese footballer
1981 - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
1981 - Zara Phillips, British royal and eventer
1981 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
1982 - Alex Breckenridge, American actress
1982 - Veronica Campbell, Jamaican athlete
1982 - Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
1982 - Tatsuya Fujiwara, Japanese actor
1982 - Jessica Sutta, American dancer, singer and actress (The Pussycat Dolls)
1983 - Devin Bronson, American guitarist (Avril Lavigne)
1984 - Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian racing driver
1985 - Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
1986 - Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
1986 - Adam Moffat, Scottish soccer player
1987 - Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
1987 - Jennylyn Mercado, Filipina Actress and Singer
1987 - Andrew "Andy" Murray, Scottish tennis player
Deaths
1971 - Tyrone Guthrie, English director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
1978 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1982 - Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (b. 1946)
1984 - Francis Schaeffer, American theologian, philosopher, and pastor (b. 1912)
1986 - Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
1986 - Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
1989 - Johnny Green, American songwriter (b. 1908)
1991 - Andreas Floer, German mathematician (b. 1956)
1991 - Ronald Lacey, English actor (b. 1935)
1992 - Jovy Marcelo, Filipino race car driver (b. 1965)
1993 - Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
1994 - Gilbert Roland, Mexican actor (b. 1905)
1995 - Eric Porter, British actor (b. 1928)
1996 - Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
1998 - Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
2003 - June Carter Cash, American musician and singer (b. 1929)
2003 - George Francis, British gangster (b. 1940)
2005 - Alan B. Gold, Quebec Chief Justice (b. 1917)
2007 - Jerry Falwell, American evangelist (b. 1933)
2007 - Yolanda King, American actress and activist, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1955)
2008 - Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer (b. 1956)
1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
1514 - Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.
1525 - The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
1567 - Mary Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
1618 - Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
1701 - The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
1756 - The Seven Years' War begins when England declares war on France.
1776 - American Revolution: the Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
1791 - Maximilien Robespierre proposes the self-denying ordinance.
1792 - War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
1793 - Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights.
1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
1800 - George III survives two assassination attempts in one day.
1811 - Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
1817 - Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.
1849 - Troops of the Two Sicilies take Palermo and crush the republican government of Sicily.
1851 - Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
1858 - Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. it is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1869 - Woman's suffrage: in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association.
1891 - Rerum Novarum, the first document of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, is published by Pope Leo XIII.
1897 - The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in the Greco-Turkish War.
1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded when 110 acres (0.4 km²), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
1910 - The last time a major earthquake happened on the Elsinore Fault Zone.
1911 - The United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
1911 - The Georgios Averof cruiser is bought by Greece.
1914 - Bolivia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1918 - The Finnish Civil War ends.
1919 - The Winnipeg General Strike begins. By 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job.
1919 - Greek invasion of İzmir. During the invasion, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks. The responsible are punished by the Greek Commander Aristides Stergiades. Hasan Tahsin fires the first shot of the Turkish War of Independence.
1920 - Council of Lithuania adjourns as the newly elected Constituent Assembly of Lithuania meets for the first time in Kaunas.
1929 - A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
1932 - The May 15 Incident: in an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
1934 - Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
1935 - The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
1936 - Amy Johnson arrives back in England after a record-breaking return flight to Capetown
1940 - World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
1940 - McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1941 - Baseball player Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees starts his record-breaking 56-game hitting streak.
1942 - World War II: in the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
1943 - Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
1945 - World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
1948 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1951 - The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asks the French government for political asylum.
1955 - The Austrian Independence Treaty is signed.
1955 - The first ascent of Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain.
1957 - At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.
1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
1960 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
1963 - Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut L. Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space.
1970 - President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
1970 - Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
1972 - The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
1972 - In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President.
1974 – Ma'alot massacre: A total of 31 people, including hostage takers, are killed.
1987 - The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
1991 - Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
1997 - The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
Births
1976 - Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer
1976 - Torraye Braggs, American basketball player
1976 - Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
1976 - Ryan Leaf, American football player
1976 - Tyler Walker, baseball player
1978 - Amy Chow, American gymnast
1978 - Dwayne DeRosario, Canadian footballer
1978 - Caroline Dhavernas, Canadian actress
1978 - Edu, Brazilian footballer
1978 - David Krumholtz, American actor
1978 - Krissy Taylor, American model (d. 1995)
1980 - Josh Beckett, American baseball player
1980 - Rocky Marquette, American actor
1981 - Patrice Evra, French-Senegalese footballer
1981 - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
1981 - Zara Phillips, British royal and eventer
1981 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
1982 - Alex Breckenridge, American actress
1982 - Veronica Campbell, Jamaican athlete
1982 - Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
1982 - Tatsuya Fujiwara, Japanese actor
1982 - Jessica Sutta, American dancer, singer and actress (The Pussycat Dolls)
1983 - Devin Bronson, American guitarist (Avril Lavigne)
1984 - Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian racing driver
1985 - Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
1986 - Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
1986 - Adam Moffat, Scottish soccer player
1987 - Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
1987 - Jennylyn Mercado, Filipina Actress and Singer
1987 - Andrew "Andy" Murray, Scottish tennis player
Deaths
1971 - Tyrone Guthrie, English director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
1978 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1982 - Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (b. 1946)
1984 - Francis Schaeffer, American theologian, philosopher, and pastor (b. 1912)
1986 - Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
1986 - Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
1989 - Johnny Green, American songwriter (b. 1908)
1991 - Andreas Floer, German mathematician (b. 1956)
1991 - Ronald Lacey, English actor (b. 1935)
1992 - Jovy Marcelo, Filipino race car driver (b. 1965)
1993 - Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
1994 - Gilbert Roland, Mexican actor (b. 1905)
1995 - Eric Porter, British actor (b. 1928)
1996 - Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (b. 1910)
1998 - Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
2003 - June Carter Cash, American musician and singer (b. 1929)
2003 - George Francis, British gangster (b. 1940)
2005 - Alan B. Gold, Quebec Chief Justice (b. 1917)
2007 - Jerry Falwell, American evangelist (b. 1933)
2007 - Yolanda King, American actress and activist, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1955)
2008 - Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer (b. 1956)
