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1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.

1483 - Coronation of Charles VIII of France ("Charles l'Affable").

1509 - Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Venetians.

1607 - Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.

1608 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen.

1643 - Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

1747 - A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.

1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to meet to write a new Constitution for the United States.

1796 - Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.

1804 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.

1811 - Paraguay gains independence from Spain.

1861 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain.

1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Jackson (MS).

1868 - Japanese Boshin War: End of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō.

1870 - The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.

1889 - The children's charity the NSPCC is launched in London.

1900 - The 1900 Summer Olympics open in Paris.

1913 - New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.

1927 - Cap Arcona is launched at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg.

1929 - Wilfred Rhodes takes his 4000th first-class wicket during a performance of 9 for 39 at Leyton.

1931 - Ådalen shootings, five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union manifestation.

1935 - The Filipinos ratify an independence agreement.

1935 - Northamptonshire Cricket Club gains (over Somerset at Taunton by 48 runs) what proved to be their last victory for 99 matches, easily a record in the County Championship. Their next Championship win was not until 29 May, 1939.

1939 - Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

1940 - World War II: Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

1940 - World War II: The Netherlands surrender to Germany.

1943 - Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine.

1948 - Israel declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel was attacked by the neighboring Arab states.

1955 - Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.

1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.

1970 - The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.

1973 - Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched. It is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket.

1977 - In Milan, Italy, during a demonstration of the far-left, some hooded extremist shoot at the police, killing a policeman, Antonino Custrà. The scene is photographed and the picture * of the hooded man shooting in the middle of the street will appear in many magazines around the world.

1978 - First round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta.

1986 - Formula One Italian driver Elio De Angelis has a terrible crash with his Brabham at the Paul Ricard circuit in France during a test session. He will die the day later at the Marseille hospital.

1988 - Carrollton bus disaster - A drunk driver going the wrong way on a Kentucky highway hits a bus carrying a church youth group, causing the deaths of 27 people in the resulting fire.

1995 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, proclaims six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.

1998 - The finale of Seinfeld airs on NBC, with 76 million viewers tuning in.

2002 - Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.

2004 - The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.

2004 - The marriage of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark and Mary Donaldson takes place in Copenhagen.

2005 - Pope Benedict XVI observes his first beatification, elevating Blessed Marianne of Molokai on the road to canonization into sainthood.

2006 - Massachusetts and New Hampshire declare a state of emergency as a result of massive flooding from the strongest rains to hit the region in a decade.

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1316 - Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1378)

1553 - Margaret of Valois, wife of Henry IV of France (d. 1615)

1666 - Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)

1679 - Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer (d. 1764)

1699 - Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian field marshal (d. 1786)

1701 - William Emerson, English mathematician (d. 1782)

1703 - David Brearly, delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (d. 1785)

1710 - King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (d. 1771)

1727 - Thomas Gainsborough, English artist (d. 1788)

1771 - Robert Owen, Welsh social reformer (d. 1858)

1832 - Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician (d. 1903)

1867 - Kurt Eisner, German politician and publicist (d. 1919)

1880 - Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)

1885 - Otto Klemperer, German-born conductor (d. 1973)

1897 - Sidney Bechet, American musician (d. 1959)

1899 - Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist (d. 1993)

1904 - Hans Albert Einstein, American professor (d. 1973)

1904 - Marcel Junod, Swiss physician (d. 1961)

1907 - Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1974)

1916 - Del Moore, American comedian (d. 1970)

1917 - Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)

1921 - Richard Deacon, American actor (d. 1984)

1922 - Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (d. 1999)

1926 - Eric Morecambe, British comedian (d. 1984)

1929 - Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player

1931 - Alvin Lucier, American composer

1934 - Siân Phillips, Welsh actress

1936 - Bobby Darin, American singer (d. 1973)

1936 - Charlie Gracie, American singer

1940 - Troy Shondell, American singer

1942 - Byron Dorgan, U.S. Senator

1942 - Tony Pérez, Cuban baseball player

1942 - Valeriy Brumel, Soviet athlete (d. 2003)

1943 - Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland

1943 - Jack Bruce, Scottish bassist (Cream)

1943 - Derek Leckenby, Lead guitar (Herman's Hermits) (d. 1994)

1944 - George Lucas, American film director

1946 - Eric Peterson, Canadian actor

1947 - Tamara Dobson, American actress (d. 2006)

1948 - Bob Woolmer, Indian-born cricket coach

1952 - David Byrne, Scottish-American musician (Talking Heads)

1952 - Robert Zemeckis, American film director

1952 - Scott Irwin, wrestler

1953 - Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia

1953 - Tom Cochrane, Canadian musician(Red Rider)

1955 - Dennis Martinez, Nicaraguan baseball player

1957 - Leon White, American professional wrestler

1959 - Patrick Bruel, French singer

1959 - Steve Hogarth, British singer (Marillion)

1959 - Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player

1960 - Steve Williams, American wrestler

1961 - Tim Roth, English actor

1962 - Ian Astbury, English singer (The Cult)

1963 - Pat Borders, American baseball player

1965 - Eoin Colfer, Irish writer

1966 - Raphael Saadiq, American music artist

1967 - Tony Siragusa, American football player

1969 - Cate Blanchett, Australian actress

1971 - Sofia Coppola, American director

1976 - Martine McCutcheon, British actress

1976 - Hunter Burgan, AFI Bassist

1976 - Brian Lawrence, American baseball player

1977 - Ada Nicodemou, Australian actress

1978 - Andre Macanga, Angolan footballer

1979 - Clinton Morrison, England-born Irish footballer

1979 - Carlos Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer

1981 - Sarbel, Greek-born singer

1983 - Amber Tamblyn, American actress

1983 - Tom Welham, British guitarist (Thirteen Senses)

1993 - Miranda Cosgrove, American actress

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964 - Pope John XII

1470 - Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409

1608 - Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)

1610 - Henry IV of France (b. 1553)

1643 - Louis XIII of France (b. 1601)

1649 - Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (b. 1600)

1669 - Georges de Scudéry, French writer (b. 1601)

1688 - Antoine Furetière, French writer (b. 1619)

1754 - Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French writer (b. 1692)

1761 - Thomas Simpson, British mathematician (b. 1710)

1818 - Matthew Gregory Lewis, English novelist (b. 1775)

1847 - Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (b. 1805)

1860 - Ludwig Bechstein, German writer (b. 1801)

1873 - Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and writer (b. 1797)

1887 - Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)

1889 - Volney E. Howard, American politician (b. 1809)

1893 - Ernst Kummer, German mathematician (b. 1810)

1906 - Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and statesman (b. 1829)

1912 - Frederick VIII of Denmark (b. 1843)

1912 - August Strindberg, Swedish author (b. 1849)

1918 - James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American newspaper publisher (b. 1841)

1919 - Henry John Heinz, founder of the H. J. Heinz Company (b. 1844)

1923 - Charles de Freycinet, French prime minister (b. 1828)

1925 - H. Rider Haggard, English author (b. 1856)

1931 - David Belasco, American theatrical producer (b. 1853)

1931 - Denys Finch Hatton, English big-game hunter (b. 1887)

1934 - Lou Criger, baseball player (b. 1872)

1936 - Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, British general (b. 1861)

1940 - Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-born anarchist (b. 1869)

1943 - Henri La Fontaine, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1854)

1945 - Heber J. Grant, president of the LDS (b. 1856)

1954 - Heinz Guderian, German General (b. 1888)

1957 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (b. 1884)

1959 - Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)

1968 - Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)

1969 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888)

1970 - Billie Burke, American actress (b. 1884)

1973 - Jean Gebser, German-born author, linguist, and poet (b. 1905)

1976 - Keith Relf, British singer and musician (The Yardbirds) (b. 1943)

1978 - Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)

1982 - Hugh Beaumont, American actor (b. 1909)

1983 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (b. 1900)

1987 - Rita Hayworth, American actress (b. 1918)

1988 - Willem Drees, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1886)

1991 - Jiang Qing, Madame Mao (b. 1914)

1992 - Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (b. 1899)

1993 - Patrick Haemers, Belgian criminal (b. 1953)

1993 - William Randolph Hearst Jr., American newspaper magnate (b. 1908)

1995 - Christian B. Anfinsen, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)

1997 - Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician (b. 1934)

1998 - Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (b. 1915)

1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist (b. 1890)

2000 - Obuchi Keizo, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)

2003 - Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player (b. 1940)

2003 - Wendy Hiller, British actress (b. 1912)

2003 - Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)

2004 - Anna Lee, British actress (b. 1913)

2006 - Lew Anderson, American actor and bandleader (b. 1922)

2006 - Stanley Kunitz, American poet (b. 1905)

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Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:

St. Matthias (Apostle)

St. Michael Garicoits

St. Boniface of Tarsus

St. Victor and Corona

St. Vincent of Lerins

St. Carthach the Younger

St. Engelmer

St. Engelmund

St. Just

St. Maria Dominic Mazzarello

Paraguay - Flag Day.

Israel - Yom Ha'atzma'ut, or Israeli Independence Day. The observed date of this national holiday is determined by the Jewish Calendar.

Mother's Day in various countries (second Sunday of May in 2006).

DubsDay in Dublin Ireland (14th of May in 2006).