On May 23rd...

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1052 King Philippe I of France was born.

1059 Henri I crowned his son King Philip I of France.

1430 Joan of Arc was captured at Compiegne and sold to the English.

1493 Kings Charles VIII of France and Maximilian I of Austria signed the Peace of Senlis.

1524 Ismail I, Shah of Persia, died.

1536 Pope Paul III installed the Portuguese Inquisition.

1544 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V recognized King Christian III of Denmark.

1555 Giampietro Caraffa was elected Pope Paul IV.

1568 The Netherlands declared its independence from Spain.

1576 Tycho Brahe was given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg Observatory.

1611 Matthias von Habsburg was chosen King of Bohemia.

1660 King Charles II returned to England from exile.

1667 King Alfonso VI of Portugal fled.

1701 Pirate Captain William Kidd was executed.

1707 Botanist Carolus Linnaeus was born.

1734 Franz Anton Mesmer, pioneer in the field of hypnotism, was born.

1754 Architect John Wood died.

1760 Baal Shem-Tov, founder of Hasidism, died.

1788 South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the Constitution.

1792 British Admiral George Brydges Rodney died.

1813 Simón Bolivar entered Mérida, Venezuela, and was proclaimed "The Liberator."

1824 Ambrose E. Burnside, Union general, was born.

1825 Author Mason Locke Weems died.

1848 Aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal was born.

1853 Buenos Aires gained independence from Argentina.

1861 Virginia citizens voted 3-to-1 in favor of secession from the Union.

1863 The Seventh-Day Adventist Church was organized in Battle Creek, Michigan.

1868 Christopher "Kit" Carson, fur trapper, scout, soldier, and Indian fighter, died.

1873 The first Preakness Stakes race was run.
1873 Canada formed the North West Mounted Police Force.
1873 Aviation pioneer Jacob M. Moellendick was born.

1883 William Donohue rode Leonatus to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1883 Actor Douglas Fairbanks was born.

1887 The first transcontinental train arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

1900 William Harvey Carney became the first black American soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Civil War at the Battle of Fort Wagner.

1901 U. S. troops captured Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo.

1903 The first automobile trip across the United States, from San Francisco, California, to New York City, New York, began.
1903 The first direct primary election law in the United States was adopted by Wisconsin.

1906 Playwright Henrik Ibsen died.

1910 Jazz musician Scatman Crothers was born.
1910 Big band leader Artie Shaw was born.

1915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.

1922 Walt Disney incorporated Laugh-O-Gram Films.

1923 Belgium's SABENA airline began operation with a flight from Brussels to Lympne, England.

1926 Hack Wilson became the first to hit a home run off the Wrigley Field scoreboard.

1928 A bomb attack on the Italian embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 22 persons.
1928 Singer Rosemary Clooney was born.

1931 Actress Barbara Barrie was born.

1933 Actress Joan Collins was born.

1934 Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot and killed by police near Sailes, Louisiana.
1934 Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesizer, was born.

1937 Industrialist John D. Rockefeller, died.

1939 The U. S. submarine Squalus sank in the Gulf of Maine, killing 26 of its 59 crewmen.

1941 Joe Louis successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Buddy Baer.
1940 Automobile manufacturer Lord Herbert Austin died.

1944 Tennis player Thomas Newcombe was born.

1945 Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler's second in command, committed suicide.

1949 The Federal Republic of Germany was proclaimed.

1951 The Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, establishing Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, was signed in Beijing, China.

1952 Composer George Alfred Schumann died.

1954 Boxer Marvin Hagler was born.

1958 Explorer I, the first artificial satellite to be launched by the United States, transmitted its last "message."
1958 At least 18 persons were killed when the village of Shahkoubeh, Iran, was flooded.
1958 Iroquis Lock was opened on the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1958 Comic actor Drew Carey was born.
1958 Country singer Shelly West was born.

1960 Israel announced the capture by Israeli agents of Adolf Eichmann, alleged leader of the Nazi program for extermination of Jews.

1965 A ferry boat capsized on the Shire River at Liwone, Malawi, drowning 150 persons.

1966 The Beatles released "Paperback Writer."

1969 The Who released the rock opera Tommy.

1971 The rock group Iron Butterfly officially disbanded.

1974 Singer Jewel was born.

1975 Comedian Jackie "Moms" Mabley died.

1977 Moluccan extremists hijacked a train in Netherlands and took 105 schoolchildren and 50 other persons hostage.

1979 El Salvador's Minister of Education was assassinated.

1980 Neil Burton won the ABC Masters Bowling Tournament.

1981 Entertainer George Jessel died.

1989 Angela Visser (Miss Holland) was crowned Miss Universe.

1991 The last Cuban troops left Angola.

1994 A stampede during the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, resulted in the deaths of 270 pilgrims.

1995 Football player Dan Fortmann died.

1998 The Good Friday Agreement was accepted by 75% of voters in a referendum in Northern Ireland.

1999 Wrestler Owen Hart died.

2002 Golfer Sam Snead died.

2004 Part of Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E (Paris, France) collapsed, killing four persons and injuring three others.

2006 Lloyd Bentsen, Jr., U. S. Senator and Secretary of the Treasury, died.

2014 Russia and China vetoed a U. N. Security Council resolution to establish an International Criminal Court for war crimes in Syria.

2015 Actor John Carter died.
2015 Actress Anne Meara died.

2017 Actor Roger Moore died.

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This page was last updated on May 22, 2018.