May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 233 days remaining until the end of the year. [edit] Events - 1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre who is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.
- 1264 – The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.
- 1328 – Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
- 1364 – Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków, Poland.
- 1551 – National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.
- 1588 – French Wars of Religion: 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.
- 1743 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned King of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
- 1797 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
- 1821 – The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.
- 1862 – U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
- 1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
- 1865 – American Civil War: the Battle of Palmito Ranch: the first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.
- 1870 – The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.
- 1873 – Oscar II is crowned King of Sweden.
- 1881 – In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
- 1885 – North-West Rebellion: the four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
- 1890 – The first-ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beats Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.
- 1926 – UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day general strike by trade unions ends.
- 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 Lindberghs' home.
- 1937 – George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- 1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.
- 1942 – World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov – in the eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.
- 1942 – Holocaust: 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
- 1949 – The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.
- 1949 – The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state – the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1952 – Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.
- 1955 – The last section of the IRT Third Avenue Elevated in Manhattan closes.
- 1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
- 1962 – Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory speech at the United States Military Academy.
- 1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
- 1965 – West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
- 1967 – At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.
- 1975 – Mayagüez incident: the Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- 1978 – In Zaïre, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba. The local government asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
- 1981 – Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in a republican campaign for political status to be granted to Provisional IRA prisoners.
- 1982 – During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, believed that the Pope had to be killed for being an "agent of Moscow".
- 1987 – Eddie Fenech Adami is sworn in as Malta's Prime Minister.
- 1999 – David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
- 2002 – Former US 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.
- 2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.
- 2003 – Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.
- 2006 – Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo, Brazil, leaving at least 150 dead.
- 2007 – Karachi riots , which killed over 50 people in Karachi and above 100 injured, on the arrival of Chief Justice of Pakistan; Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Karachi city.
- 2008 – Wenchuan earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
[edit] Births - 1401 – Emperor Shōkō (d. 1428)
- 1496 – Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)
- 1590 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)
- 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor General of New France (d. 1698)
- 1626 – Louis Hennepin, Flemish missionary (d. 1705)
- 1670 – Frederick Augustus I of Poland (d. 1733)
- 1700 – Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect (d. 1773)
- 1725 – Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1785)
- 1767 – Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (d. 1851)
- 1803 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)
- 1804 – Robert Baldwin, Canadian politician (d. 1858)
- 1806 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (d. 1881)
- 1812 – Edward Lear, British author and poet (d. 1888)
- 1820 – Florence Nightingale, British nurse (d. 1910)
- 1828 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, British painter (d. 1882)
- 1829 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (d. 1896)
- 1842 – Jules Massenet, French composer (d. 1912)
- 1845 – Gabriel Fauré, French composer (d. 1924)
- 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (d. 1924)
- 1867 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
- 1874 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (d. 1929)
- 1880 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American scientist (d. 1951)
- 1889 – Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)
- 1892 – Fritz Kortner, Austrian-born director (d. 1970)
- 1895 – William Giauque, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
- 1895 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (d. 1986)
- 1899 – Indra Devi, Latvian Yoga Instructor (d. 2002)
- 1900 – Helene Weigel, German actress (d. 1971)
- 1903 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor (d. 1991)
- 1907 – Leslie Charteris, British author and screenwriter (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1910 – Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (d. 1996)
- 1910 – Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, British biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General (d. 2004)
- 1914 – Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet (d. 1993)
- 1914 – Howard K. Smith, American journalist (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Albert Murray, American writer
- 1917 – Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
- 1918 – Julius Rosenberg, Soviet spy (d. 1953)
- 1921 – Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- 1921 – Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
- 1922 – Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (d. 1998)
- 1924 – Alexander Esenin-Volpin, Russian mathematician
- 1924 – Tony Hancock, British comedian (d. 1968)
- 1924 – Maxine Cooper Gomberg, American actress (d. 2009)
- 1925 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player
- 1928 – Burt Bacharach, American composer
- 1928 – Henry Cosby, African-American songwriter (d. 2002)
- 1929 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1929 – Sam Nujoma, first President of Namibia
- 1930 – Jesús Franco, Spanish film director
- 1933 – Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet
- 1935 – Felipe Alou, Dominican baseball player and manager
- 1935 – Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1936 – Guillermo Endara, President of Panama (d. 2009)
- 1936 – Tom Snyder, American television personality (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Frank Stella, American painter
- 1937 – Beryl Burton, British cyclist (d. 1996)
- 1937 – George Carlin, American comedian (d. 2008)
- 1937 – Susan Hampshire, British actress
- 1938 – Millie Perkins, American film actress
- 1939 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek politician
- 1939 – Reg Gasnier, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1939 – Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
- 1939 – Jalal Dabagh, Kurdish politician
- 1942 – Ian Dury, British musician (d. 2000)
- 1942 – Michel Fugain, French singer and songwriter
- 1942 – Billy Swan, American songwriter and singer
- 1945 – Alan Ball, Jr., English footballer (d. 2007)
- 1945 – Nicky Henson, British actor
- 1945 – Ian McLagan, British keyboardist (Small Faces)
- 1945 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman
- 1946 – L. Neil Smith, American science fiction author
- 1946 – Daniel Libeskind, American architect
- 1947 – Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician
- 1947 – Micheline Lanctôt, American film actor, director and screenwriter
- 1947 – catherine yronwode, American writer and editor
- 1948 – David Heineman, American politician, current governor of Nebraska
- 1948 – Joe Tasker, British mountaineer (d. 1982)
- 1948 – Steve Winwood, British musician (The Spencer Davis Group; Traffic)
- 1950 – Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
- 1950 – Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
- 1950 – Billy Squier, American singer
- 1951 – George Karl, American basketball player and head coach
- 1953 – Kevin Grevey, American basketball player
- 1956 – Bernie Federko, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1956 – Glenn Robbins, Australian comedian
- 1956 – Asad Rauf, Pakistan Cricket Umpire
- 1957 – Lou Whitaker, American baseball player
- 1958 – Andreas Petroulakis, Greek political caricaturist
- 1958 – Eric Singer, American drummer
- 1959 – Ving Rhames, American actor
- 1960 – Paul Arcand, Quebec radio host, journalist and film director
- 1960 – Ian Khan, British racing driver
- 1961 – Paul Begala, American political commentator
- 1961 – Billy Duffy, British guitarist (The Cult)
- 1961 – Thomas Dooley, German-American Soccer Player
- 1961 – Lar Park Lincoln, American actress
- 1961 – Bruce McCulloch, Canadian actor
- 1962 – Emilio Estevez, American actor
- 1962 – Brett Gurewitz, American songwriter and record producer (Bad Religion) (Epitaph)
- 1963 – Panagiotis Fasoulas, Greek basketball player, Mayor of Piraeus
- 1963 – Gavin Hood, South African film director
- 1963 – Stefano Modena, Italian racing driver
- 1963 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer (Charles and Eddie) (d. 2001)
- 1963 – Jerry Trimble, American actor
- 1963 – Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress
- 1963 – Vanessa A. Williams, American actress
- 1966 – Stephen Baldwin, American actor
- 1966 – Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian singer
- 1967 – Paul D'Amour, American bass guitarist (ex-Tool)
- 1967 – Joe McKinney, Irish actor
- 1968 – Mark Clark, American baseball player
- 1968 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
- 1968 – Scott Schwartz, American actor
- 1968 – Catherine Tate, British comedian
- 1969 – Kim Fields, American actress
- 1969 – Kevin Nalty, American YouTuber
- 1970 – Jim Furyk, American golfer
- 1970 – Samantha Mathis, American actress
- 1970 – Steve Palframan, South African cricketer
- 1970 – Mike Weir, Canadian golfer
- 1971 – Doug Basham, American professional wrestler
- 1973 – Kendra Kassebaum, American stage actress
- 1973 – Travis Lutter, American Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
- 1975 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby union footballer
- 1975 – Lawrence Phillips, American football player
- 1977 – Graeme Dott, British snooker player
- 1977 – Rebecca Herbst, American actress
- 1978 – Jason Biggs, American actor
- 1978 – Malin Akerman, Swedish-Canadian actress and model
- 1978 – Wilfred Le Bouthillier, Canadian singer
- 1978 – Aya Ishiguro, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 1978 – Josh Phelps, American baseball player
- 1978 – Hossein Reza Zadeh, Iranian weightlifter
- 1979 – Andre Carter, American football player
- 1979 – Robert Key, English Cricketer
- 1979 – Erdinç Saçan, Turkish-Dutch politician
- 1979 – Steve Smith, American football player
- 1979 – Callum Chambers, Australian rules footballer
- 1980 – Keith Bogans, American basketball player
- 1980 – Felipe Lopez, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1981 – Lorena Bernal, Argentine/Spanish model and actress
- 1981 – Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
- 1981 – Rami Malek, American actor
- 1981 – Dennis Trillo, Filipino actor and singer
- 1983 – Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer
- 1983 – Alina Kabayeva, Russian gymnast
- 1985 – Tally Hall, American footballer
- 1985 – Jeroen Simaeys, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
- 1988 – Marky Cielo, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 2008)
- 1988 – Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Matthew Hann, American basketball player
- 1990 – Jacory Harris, American football player
- 1992 – Malcolm David Kelley, American actor
- 1995 – Luke Benward, American actor
[edit] Deaths - 1003 – Pope Silvester II
- 1012 – Pope Sergius IV
- 1382 – Queen Joan I of Naples (b. 1327)
- 1465 – Thomas Palaeologus, Titular Byzantine emperor, Despot of the Morea (b. 1409)
- 1634 – George Chapman, English writer
- 1641 – Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)
- 1684 – Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest
- 1699 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626)
- 1700 – John Dryden, English writer (b. 1631)
- 1708 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)
- 1748 – Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer (b. 1692)
- 1759 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)
- 1784 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)
- 1792 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)
- 1796 – Johann Peter Uz, German poet (b. 1720)
- 1801 – Nicholas Repnin, Russian statesman (b. 1734)
- 1842 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter (b. 1799)
- 1845 – János Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)
- 1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)
- 1859 – Sergei Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1791)
- 1860 – Charles Barry, English architect (b. 1795)
- 1864 – J. E. B. Stuart, American soldier from Virginia and a Confederate Army general (b. 1833)
- 1867 – Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist (b. 1795)
- 1871 – Anselme Payen, French physicist (b. 1795)
- 1876 – Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary, brutally killed by the Turks (b. 1843)
- 1884 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)
- 1889 – John Cadbury, English chocolate entrepreneur (b. 1801)
- 1907 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)
- 1916 – James Connolly, Irish socialist (b. 1868)
- 1925 – Amy Lowell, American poet (b. 1874)
- 1931 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (b. 1858)
- 1935 – Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)
- 1944 – Max Brand, American author (b. 1892)
- 1944 – Arthur Quiller-Couch, English writer (b. 1863)
- 1956 – Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)
- 1957 – Alfonso de Portago, Spanish bobsledder and race car driver (b. 1928)
- 1957 – Erich von Stroheim, film director and actor (b. 1885)
- 1963 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)
- 1966 – Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German Heer and Waffen-SS officer (b. 1896)
- 1967 – John Masefield, British writer (b. 1878)
- 1970 – Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
- 1971 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player (b. 1901)
- 1973 – Art Pollard, American racecar driver (b. 1927)
- 1985 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter (b. 1901)
- 1986 – Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
- 1990 – Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (b. 1912)
- 1992 – Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)
- 1992 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and lyricist (b. 1911)
- 1992 – Lenny Montana, American actor (b. 1926)
- 1994 – Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst (b. 1902)
- 1994 – John Smith, British politician (b. 1938)
- 1995 – Mia Martini, real name: Domenica Bertè, Italian singer and song-writer (b. 1947)
- 1999 – Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia 1993-1999 (b. 1910)
- 1999 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (b. 1914)
- 2000 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)
- 2001 – Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)
- 2001 – Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)
- 2002 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
- 2003 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
- 2005 – Martin Lings, English Islamic scholar (b. 1909)
- 2005 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1937)
- 2006 – Hussein Maziq, former Libyan prime minister (b. 1918)
- 2006 – Gillespie V. Montgomery, former U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Taliban military leader
- 2007 – Teddy Infuhr, American former child actor (b. 1936)
- 2008 – Robert Rauschenberg, American artist (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Irena Sendler, Polish social worker, WWII heroine (b. 1910)
- 2009 – Antonio Vega, Spanish pop singer-songwriter (b. 1957)
[edit] Holidays and observances [edit] External links
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