Browse Historical Events by Month: What Happened in May?

The Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus leaves on his fourth and final voyage from Cádiz, Spain, hoping to find a passage to Asia. Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451 and died on May 20, 1506 at age 54 in in Valladolid, Spain

The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is laid by Pope Julius II.

The Sack of Rome - Spanish and German Imperial troops, led by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, sacked Rome, marking the end of the Italian High Renaissance. This event, involved a mutinous army, including Landsknecht soldiers (German mercenaries) and other foreign troops, who looted and plundered the city, forcing the Pope to flee and causing widespread destruction. More

The Sack of Rome takes place, as troops of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, led by Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, pillage and destroy the city.

Henry VIII has his second wife, Anne Boleyn, arrested and sent to the Tower of London. She was charged with adultery, incest, and treason. After a sham trial filled with Anne’s enemies, she was found guilty, on charges of adultery, incest, conspiracy and high treason against the king. She was convicted on May 15 and beheaded four days later. More

Anne Boleyn, the infamous second wife of King Henry VIII, is executed after a sham trial filled with Anne’s enemies found her guilty, on charges of adultery, incest, conspiracy and high treason against the king. She was beheaded in the Tower of London and buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower. Henry married Jane Seymour just 11 days after Anne's execution. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation. More

Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernando De Soto reaches the Mississippi River at a point below Natchez. De Soto was the first European documented to have seen the river. From there, they traveled through Arkansas and Louisiana, still with few material gains to show for their efforts. Turning back to the Mississippi, de Soto died of a fever on its banks on May 21, 1542.

Nicolaus Copernicus publishes his book "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" which formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. In all likelihood, Copernicus developed his model independently of Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier.

The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis is signed, ending the Italian Wars and establishing peace between France and Spain.

A legal process by which the Protestant Church of England was restored becomes official as Queen Elizabeth gives the Royal assent to the Revised Act of Supremacy of 1558, which re-established the Church of England’s independence from Rome. and the the Act of Uniformity of 1559 which outlined what form the English Church should take.

The Eighty Years' War, also known as the Dutch Revolt, officially begins with the Battle of Heiligerlee where Dutch rebels, led by Louis of Nassau, defeat the Spanish forces .It was the first Dutch victory in the conflict. The Dutch rebellion against Spanish rule ended in 1648 with the Treaty of Münster ending the war and formalizing the independence of the Dutch Republic. More

The Siege of Famagusta begins during the Ottoman-Venetian War, with the city of Famagusta in Cyprus being besieged by the Ottoman Empire.

The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, with the aim of invading England during the Anglo-Spanish War.

Playwright Christopher Marlowe is killed in a dispute, possibly over a bill, at a tavern in Deptford, London.

The first permanent English settlement in America was established at Jamestown, Virginia. More

French King Henry IV is assassinated by François Ravaillac in Paris.

The Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Version) was first published, and became the standard English language Bible.

German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of his three laws of planetary motion, often referred to as the "harmonic law". This law establishes a relationship between a planet's orbital period and its average distance from the Sun, specifically that the square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the average distance. Kepler's Third Law implies that the period for a planet to orbit the Sun increases rapidly with the radius of its orbit. More

Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present-day Manhattan) and establishes the colony of New Amsterdam.

The Fundamental Orders, often considered the first written constitution in North America, are adopted by the Connecticut Colony.