• 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
• 1431 - Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
• 1434 - Hussite Wars (Bohemian Wars): Battle of Lipany - Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilated Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.
• 1536 - King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
• 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 - Thirty Years' War: Peace of Prague (1635) signed.
• 1642 - from this date all honours granted by Charles I are retrospectively annulled by Parliament
• 1806 - Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
• 1814 - Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition - Treaty of Paris (1814) signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent.
• 1832 - The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is first opened.
• 1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
• 1868 - Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).
• 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 Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
• 1879 - An F4 tornado strikes Irving, Kansas, killing 18 and injuring 60.
• 1883 - In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
• 1911 - At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race in his Marmon Wasp.
• 1913 - First Balkan War: Treaty of London, 1913 signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
• 1914 - New & then largest Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
• 1917 - Alexander I becomes king of Greece.
• 1922 - In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
• 1925 - In China, protests erupt against the Great Powers infringing on Chinese sovereignty.
• 1941 - World War II: Germany captures Crete.
• 1941 - World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb on the athenian Acropolis, tear down the nazi swastika and replace it with the Greek flag.
• 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.
• 1953 - The Auckland Harbour Bridge was officially opened today in Auckland, New Zealand.
• 1958 - Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1966 - Former Congolese Prime Minister Evariste Kimba and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.
• 1967 - At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
• 1967 - The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.
• 1969 - Riots on the Caribbean island of Curaçao
• 1971 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 launched to Map 70% of the surface and study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface of Mars.
• 1972 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
• 1972 - In Tel Aviv, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
• 1982 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
• 1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
• 1998 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.

Births