Events

Up to 1900 
 70 - Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the second wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreat to the first wall.
 1381 - Beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England.
 1431 - In Rouen, Normandy, France, Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
 1510 - During the reign of Zhengde Emperor in China, Ming Dynasty leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Anhua rebellion.
 1536 - Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour.
 1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
 1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
 1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
 1635 - The Peace of Prague is signed during the Thirty Years' War.
 1806 – Andrew Jackson kills a man in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
 1814 – The First Treaty of Paris is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I of France is exiled to Elba on the same day.
 1815 - The East Indiaman ship Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, present-day South Africa.
 1832 - The Rideau Canal in Eastern Ontario, Canada, is opened.
 1842 - John Francis attempts to kill Queen Victoria in London.
 1854 – The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
 1868 – Memorial Day (then known as "Decoration Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John Logan).
 1871 - The Paris Commune falls.
 1876 – Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
 1879 – New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
 1883 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
 1898 - William Ramsay and Morris Williams Travers discover Krypton.
 1899 - Pearl Hart, a female outlaw in the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.

1901  2000 
 1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
 1913 – First Balkan War: A peace treaty is signed in London ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
 1914 - Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania leaves Liverpool, England, on its first voyage, to New York City.
 1917 - Alexander I of Greece becomes King.
 1922 – In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
 1925 - May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.
 1935 – Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves.
 1937 - Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.
 1941 – World War II: Germany captures Crete.
 1942 – World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
 1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
 1958 – The bodies of several unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
 1959 - Auckland Harbor Bridge in New Zealand is opened.
 1961 – Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo is assassinated.
 1962 - The 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile begins.
 1966 - NASA launches Surveyor 1 - the first US aircraft to land on a surface other than the Earth.
 1967 – At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
 1967 – The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes, sparking a civil war.
 1971 – Mariner programme: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
 1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
 1972 – Members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
 1974 - The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.
 1975 - The European Space Agency is founded.
 1981 – Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated.
 1982 – Spain becomes the 16th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
 1982 - Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr. plays the first of 2,632 consecutive games. His streak will end on September 20, 1998.
 1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
 1992 - ARTE, a joint German and French television channel, is broadcast for the first time.
 1995 - Bulgaria agrees a deal with the International Monetary Fund to avoid bankruptcy.
 1998 - Pakistan conducts an underground nuclear test in the Kharan Desert.
 1998 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.

From 2001 
 2003 – The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
 2003 - The movie Finding Nemo is released in American cinemas.
 2005 - The Allianz Arena in Munich opens.
 2005 - Angela Merkel is nominated by the CDU/CSU as a candidate for Chancellor of Germany.
 2012 - Former President of Liberia Charles Taylor is sentenced to prison for his role in crimes committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
 2016 - A court in Senegal sentences former President of Chad Hissène Habré to life in prison for crimes against humanity, committed during his time in office from 1982 to 1990. It is the first time an African Union-backed court convicts a former ruler of another country within its jurisdiction.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1010 – Emperor Renzong of China (d. 1063)
 1220 - Alexander Nevsky, Russian saint (d. 1263)
 1423 - Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1461)
 1623 – John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (d. 1686)
 1653 - Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1676)
 1672 – Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (d. 1725) (June 9 in Gregorian calendar)
 1757 - Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1844)
 1778 - Richard Skinner, American politician, 9th Governor of Vermont (d. 1833)
 1814 – Mikhail Bakunin, Russian anarchist (d. 1876)
 1814 - Pierre Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician (d. 1894)
 1820 - Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, 1st Premier of Quebec (d. 1890)
 1845 – Amadeo I of Spain (d. 1890)
 1846 – Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian goldsmith and jeweller (d. 1920)
 1859 - Pierre Janet, French psychologist and neurologist (d. 1947)
 1862 - Mirza Abakbar Sabir, Azerbaijani philosopher and poet (d. 1811)
 1875 - Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher (d. 1944)
 1878 - Raymond Smith Dugan, American astronomer (d. 1940)
 1878 - Mike Donlin, American baseball player and actor (d. 1933)
 1879 - Vanessa Bell, English painter and interior designer (d. 1961)
 1879 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (d. 1917)
 1882 - Wyndham Halswelle, British runner (d. 1915)
 1886 - Randolph Bourne, American theorist (d. 1918)
 1887 - Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian sculptor (d. 1964)
 1890 - Roger Salengro, French politician (d. 1936)
 1894 - Hubertus van Mook, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1965)
 1895 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (d. 1956)
 1896 – Howard Hawks, American movie director (d. 1977)
 1897 - Frank Wise, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1986)
 1899 – Irving Thalberg, American movie producer (d. 1936)

1901  1950 
 1901 – Cornelia Otis Skinner, Broadway producer, writer, director, and actress (d. 1979)
 1902 – Stepin Fetchit, American dancer and actor (d. 1985)
 1907 – Elly Beinhorn, German pilot (d. 2007)
 1907 - Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist (d. 2008)
 1907 - Sao San Tun, Burmese martyr (d. 1947)
 1908 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1995)
 1908 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
 1909 – Benny Goodman, American clarinet player and bandleader (d. 1986)
 1910 – Inge Meysel, German actress (b. 2004)
 1910 – Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete and politician (d. 1978)
 1912 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist (d. 2004)
 1912 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)
 1912 – Erich Bagge, German physicist
 1914 - Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese-American director and producer (d. 1979)
 1919 – René Barrientos, President of Bolivia (d. 1969)
 1920 – Franklin Schaffner, American movie director (d. 1989)
 1920 – Godfrey Binaisa, 5th President of Uganda (d. 2010)
 1922 – Hal Clement, American science fiction writer (d. 2003)
 1923 - Anna Proclemer, Italian actress (d. 2013)
 1924 - Armando Peraza, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2014)
 1925 - John Cocke, American computer scientist (d. 2002)
 1926 - Johnny Gimble, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2015)
 1926 – Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual activist (d. 1989)
 1927 - Clint Walker, American actor (d. 2018)
 1928 – Pro Hart, Australian artist (d. 2006)
 1928 - Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch musicologist and conductor (d. 2012)
 1928 - Agnes Varda, Belgian-French director, producer and screenwriter
 1930 - Dave McKenna, American jazz pianist (d. 2008)
 1932 - Ivor Richard, Baron Richard, Welsh politician and diplomat, former UK Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2018)
 1932 - Solomon W. Golomb, American mathematician (d. 2016)
 1934 – Alexey Leonov, Soviet cosmonaut and first person to walk in space
 1937 - Deanna Lund, American actress (d. 2018)
 1937 - Armando Valladares, Cuban-American writer
 1939 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor
 1939 - Tim Waterstone, British bookseller and businessman (Waterstones)
 1940 - Gilles Villemure, Canadian ice hockey player
 1942 - Carole Stone, British radio producer, journalist and businesswoman
 1943 – James Chaney, American civil rights activist (d. 1964)
 1943 – Gale Sayers, American football player
 1944 - Lenny Davidson, British guitarist
 1947 - Erik Spiekermann, German typographer and designer 
 1949 - P. J. Carlesimo, American basketball player and coach
 1949 - Bob Willis, English cricketer
 1950 - Bertrand Delanoe, French politician, former Mayor of Paris

1951  1975 
 1951 – Fernando Lugo, former President of Paraguay
 1953 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
 1955 – Topper Headon, British musician, drummer with The Clash
 1955 - Colm Toibin, Irish writer
 1955 - Brian Kobilka, American biochemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner
 1958 - Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (Roxette)
 1958 - Michael Lopez Alegria, Spanish-American captain, pilot and astronaut
 1958 - Ted McGinley, American actor
 1959 - Phil Brown, English footballer and coach
 1960 - Stephen Duffy, English singer
 1961 - Harry Enfield, English actor, screenwriter and director
 1962 - Kevin Eastman, American author and illustrator, co-created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 1963 - Tracey Childs, British actress
 1963 - Helen Sharman, British chemist and astronaut
 1963 - Shauna Grant, American pornographic actress and model (d. 1984)
 1964 – Wynonna Judd, American country music singer
 1964 - Tom Morello, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
 1964 - Mark Sheppard, British actor
 1964 - Sally Dynevor, British actress
 1965 - Billy Donovan, American basketball player and coach
 1966 - Thomas Haessler, German footballer
 1966 - Stephen Malkmus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1967 - Tim Burgess, English singer-songwriter (The Charlatans and The Chavs)
 1968 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French terrorist
 1969 - Naomi Kawase, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter
 1969 - Ryuhei Kitamura, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter
 1971 - Paul Grayson, English rugby player
 1971 - Duncan Jones, English movie director
 1971 - Idina Menzel, American singer-songwriter and actress
 1972 – Manny Ramirez, Dominican Boston Red Sox baseball player
 1973 – Keith Lemon, British comedian and actor
 1974 – CeeLo Green, American musician
 1974 - Big L, American rapper (d. 1999)
 1974 - Kostas Chalkias, Greek footballer
 1974 - David Wilkie, American ice hockey player and coach
 1975 - Andy Farrell, English rugby player and coach

From 1976 
 1976 - Leonel Grave de Peralta, Cuban-American activist
 1976 - Margaret Okayo, Kenyan runner
 1977 - Akwa, Angolan footballer
 1977 - Marc Dos Santos, Canadian soccer player and coach
 1977 - Nathan Robertson, English badminton player
 1977 – Rachael Stirling, British actress
 1977 - Federico Vilar, Argentine-Italian footballer
 1979 - Rie Kugimiya, Japanese voice actress and singer
 1980 – Steven Gerrard, English footballer
 1981 - Hisanori Takada, Japanese footballer
 1982 - Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (d. 2007)
 1982 - James Simpson-Daniel, English rugby player
 1983 - Jennifer Ellison, English actress
 1984 - Alexander Sulzer, German ice hockey player
 1985 - Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (d. 2013)
 1985 - Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player
 1985 - Jennifer Winget, Indian actress
 1988 - Kelvin Etuhu, Nigerian-English footballer
 1988 - Stephanie Beckert, German speed skater
 1989 - Ailee, American-South Korean actress, singer and dancer
 1989 - Hyomin, South Korean actress and singer
 1990 – Im Yoona, South Korean singer
 1990 - Dean Collins, American actor
 1990 - Andrei Laktionov, Russian ice hockey player
 1992 - Harrison Barnes, American basketball player
 1992 - Jeremy Lamb, American basketball player
 1994 - Madeon, French DJ and producer
 1997 - Jake Short, American actor
 2000 - Jared S. Gilmore, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1950 
 1252 - Ferdinand III of Castile (b. 1199)
 1416 – Jerome of Prague, religious reformer (b. 1379) (burned as a heretic by the Catholic Church)
 1431 – Joan of Arc, French heroine (b. 1412) (burned at the stake)
 1434 - Prokop the Great, Czech general (b. 1380)
 1574 – King Charles IX of France (b. 1550)
 1593 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (b. 1564)
 1640 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (b. 1577)
 1712 - Andrea Lanzani, Italian painter (b. 1645)
 1730 - Arabella Churchill, English mistress to James II of England (b. 1648)
 1744 – Alexander Pope, English writer (b. 1688)
 1778 – Voltaire, French philosopher (b. 1694)
 1832 - James Mackintosh, Scottish jurist, politician and historian (b. 1765)
 1901 - Victor D'Hondt, Belgian lawyer, jurist and mathematician (b. 1841)
 1911 - Milton Bradley, American businessman (b. 1836)
 1912 – Wilbur Wright of the Wright brothers, American aviator (b. 1867)
 1918 - Georgi Plekhanov, Russian philosopher (b. 1856)
 1926 - Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1864)
 1927 - Vincenzo Cerulli, Italian astronomer (b. 1859)
 1941 – Prajadhipok, King of Siam (now Thailand) (b. 1893)
 1947 - Georg Johannes von Trapp, Croatian-Austrian captain (b. 1880)

1951  2000 
 1957 - Piero Carini, Italian racing driver (b. 1921)
 1960 – Boris Pasternak, Russian writer (b. 1890)
 1961 – Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
 1964 – Leó Szilárd, Hungarian nuclear physicist (b. 1898)
 1967 - Claude Rains, English-American actor (b. 1889)
 1967 - Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Austrian director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1885)
 1971 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (b. 1886)
 1975 - Steve Prefontaine, American runner (b. 1951)
 1975 - Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist (b. 1908)
 1975 - Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (b. 1895)
 1978 - Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1909)
 1980 - Carl Radle, American bass guitarist (b. 1942)
 1981 – Ziaur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (b. 1936)
 1981 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
 1986 - James Rainwater, American physicist (b. 1917)
 1989 - Claude Pepper, American politician (b. 1899)
 1993 – Sun Ra, American musician (b. 1914)
 1994 - Ezra Taft Benson, American Mormon Church leader (b. 1899)
 1994 - Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (b. 1955)
 2000 - Tex Beneke, American saxophonist, singer and bandleader (b. 1914)

From 2001 
 2006 - Shohei Amamura, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1926)
 2007 - Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (b. 1933)
 2009 – Luis Cabral, 1st President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1931)
 2009 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli scientist and politician, President of Israel (b. 1916)
 2009 – Gaafar Nimeiry, President of Sudan (b. 1930)
 2010 - Peter Orlovsky, American author and actor (b. 1933)
 2010 - Dufferin Roblin, Canadian politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1917)
 2011 – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist (b. 1921)
 2012 - Andrew Huxley, English physiologist and biophysicist (b. 1917)
 2012 - Jack Twyman, American basketball player (b. 1934)
 2013 - Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, journalist and novelist (b. 1928)
 2013 - Dean Brooks, American physician and actor (b. 1916)
 2014 - Hanna Maron, German-Israeli actress (b. 1923)
 2014 - Hienadz Buraukin, Belarussian poet, journalist and diplomat (b. 1936)
 2014 - Henning Carlsen, Danish director (b. 1927)
 2014 - Joan Lorring, American actress (b. 1926)
 2015 - Beau Biden, American politician (b. 1969)
 2015 - Lennie Merullo, American baseball player (b. 1917)
 2015 - L. Tom Perry, American apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1922)
 2015 - Julie Harris, English costume designer (b. 1921)
 2015 - Tony McNamara, English footballer (b. 1929)
 2016 - Kenne Fant, Swedish actor (b. 1923)
 2016 - Tom Lysiak, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1953)
 2016 - Rick MacLeish, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1950)
 2017 - Molly Peters, British actress and model (b. 1942)
 2017 - Dasari Narayana Rao, Indian film director and politician (b. 1942)
 2017 - Elena Verdugo, American actress (b. 1925)
 2017 - Gordon Brunton, British businessman (b. 1921)
 2018 - Madiha Yousri, Egyptian actress (b. 1921)
 2020 - Michael Angelis, English actor (b. 1952)

Observances 
 Anguilla Day
 Canary Islands Day
 Mother's Day (Nicaragua)
 Traditional date for Memorial Day (United States)

Days of the year