May 12

Events

• 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.
• 1264 - The Battle of Lewes begins.
• 1328 - Nicholas V is consecrated at St Peter's Basilica in Rome by the bishop of Venice.
• 1588 - Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city.
• 1689 - King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
• 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
• 1797 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: The "Bloody Angle" - thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
• 1870 - Manitoba becomes a province of Canada.
• 1881 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
• 1885 - The four day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
• 1926 - UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a general strike by trade unions ends (the strike began on May 3).
• 1932 - Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindbergh's home.
• 1937 - Coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey.
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates its first major offensive of the war. During the battle the Soviets will take the city of Kharkov back from the German Army.
• 1949 - The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
• 1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• 1967 - At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first ever quadraphonic rock concert.
• 1975 - Mayaguez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
• 1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
• 2000 - The Tate Modern opens in London
• 2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

Births

• 1496 - Gustav I of Sweden († 1560)
• 1670 - King Frederick Augustus I of Poland († 1733)
• 1803 - Justus von Liebig, chemist († 1873)
• 1820 - Florence Nightingale, nurse († 1910)
• 1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet, painter († 1882)
• 1845 - Gabriel Fauré, composer († 1924)
• 1850 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman († 1924)
• 1889 - Otto Frank, writer, father of Anne Frank († 1980)
• 1892 - Fritz Kortner, director († 1970)
• 1899 - Indra Devi, yogi († 2002)
• 1900 - Helene Weigel, actress († 1971)
• 1907 - Katharine Hepburn, actress († 2003)
• 1910 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, chemist († 1994)
• 1912 - Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General and Watergate special prosecutor
• 1914 - Howard K. Smith, journalist († 2002)
• 1918 - Julius Rosenberg, spy († 1953)
• 1921 - Joseph Beuys, artist († 1986)
• 1921 - Farley Mowat, writer, naturalist
• 1924 - Tony Hancock, comedian († 1968)
• 1925 - Yogi Berra, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1928 - Burt Bacharach, composer
• 1935 - Felipe Alou, Major League Baseball manager
• 1936 - Frank Stella, painter
• 1937 - George Carlin, comedian
• 1942 - Ian Dury, rock star († 2000)
• 1948 - Steve Winwood, singer ("Blind Faith", "Traffic")
• 1955 - Brett Gurewitz, guitarist for Bad Religion and NOFX
• 1962 - Emilio Estevez, actor
• 1966 - Stephen Baldwin, actor
• 1968 - Tony Hawk, skateboarding legend
• 1970 - Mike Weir, Canadian golfer, 2003 Masters champion
• 1975 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player

Deaths

• 1357 - Alphonso IV of Portugal
• 1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
• 1845 - Janos Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet
• 1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist
• 1884 - Bedrich Smetana, Czech composer
• 1889 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist
• 1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author
• 1925 - Amy Lowell, poet
• 1935 - Jozef Pilsudski, father of modern Poland
• 1944 - Max Brand, author
• 1944 - Q, British writer
• 1956 - Louis Calhern, silent film actor
• 1985 - Jean Dubuffet, painter
• 1986 - Elisabeth Bergner, actress
• 1988 - Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter
• 1992 - Robert Reed, actor
• 2001 - Perry Como, singer

Holidays and Observances

Events

• Alpha Bootids meteor shower ends

May 11 - May 13 - April 12 - June 12 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By