What Happened in May?

King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, captures the port city of Acre from the Fatimids on May 25, 1104 with support from a Genoese fleet after a 20-day siege, solidifying control over he Kingdom of Jerusalem. Expand +

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany, dies in Utrecht on May 23, 1125 without an heir, marking the end of the Salian dynasty. He was succeeded by Lothair of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony. Expand +

Alfonso VII of Spain is crowned Emperor of Spain at the Cathedral of Leon on May 26, 1135. When he died in 1157, the Kingdom of Leon was inherited by his son Fernando II of León and the Kingdom of Castille was inherited by his oldest son Sancho III de Castilla. Expand +

Henry Plantagenet, (later King Henry II of England) marries Eleanor of Aquitaine on May 18, 1152 in Poitiers, France, just weeks after her marriage annulment from Louis VII of France. Expand +

Pope Alexander III issues a papal bull recognizing Portugal as an independent kingdom. While Afonso Henriques had been using the title of king since 1139 and Portugal's independence had been recognized by León in the 1143 Treaty of Zamora, the papal bull was vital in medieval Europe, for a new kingdom to be fully accepted as a sovereign entity. The bull also gave papal blessing to Portugal's conquests of land from the Moors during the Reconquista.

Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg for the Third Crusade which is also known as the Kings's Crusade. It was an attempt led by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. 

John, also called John Lackland, becomes King of England after the death of his brother Richard II (The Lionheart). King John's coronation took place on May 27, 1199 at Westminster Abbey. He was King of England until his death in 1216.

King Philip II of France and King John of England sign the Treaty of Le Goulet, on May 22, 1200 ending a succession conflict between John and his nephew Arthur of Brittany after Richard I's death.  Expand +

Baldwin I of Flanders is crowned the first Latin Emperor of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.

King John surrenders the kingdom of England and Ireland to Pope Innocent III, on May 15, 1213 and receives them back as a papal fief; becoming a vassal of the Pope. Expand +

King Louis IX of France begins to rule independently at age 20 on May 27, 1234. He also married Margaret of Provence on the same date. He had been crowned at age 12 in 1226 and had been under his mother Blanche of Castile's regency since then. Blanche continued to be a trusted counsel until her death in 1252.

Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull "Ad Extirpanda," on May 15, 1252 authorizing the use of torture during the Inquisition under specific conditions to extract confessions from suspected heretics. It represented a significant shift in papal policy.

Alfonso X inherits the throne and becomes King of Castile, León, and Galicia upon the death of his father, Ferdinand III. His coronation may have taken place around in June 1252.  His reign, from 1252 to 1284, was marked by a focus on culture, law, and science.

William of Rubruck, a Flemish Franciscan friar, departs from Constantinople on May 7, 1253, on a diplomatic and missionary mission to the Mongol Empire on behalf of King Louis IX of France. He reached the court of Möngke Khan at Karakorum in January 1254. Expand +

The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae More

The Second Council of Lyon convened by Pope Gregory X, on March 31, 1272 opens on May 7, 1274; focusing on reunification of the Eastern and Western Churches and crusade plans for the Holy Land.

French King Philip VI's Great Council in Paris formally confiscates the Duchy of Aquitaine (Gascony) on May 24, 1337, taking away King Edward III lands in France. Expand +

Siege of Calais begins: King Edward III of England surrounds the city of Calais during the Hundred Years' War, leading to a prolonged siege lasting over a year.

The Jacquerie peasant revolt begins in northeastern France with the massacre of nine noblemen in a village north of Paris and quickly spreads, leading peasants to attack castles and kill noblemen, fueled by resentment over heavy taxes, food shortages, and the abuses of the nobility during the Hundred Years' War.  Expand +

The Treaty of Brétigny was drafted on May 8, 1360 and ratified on October 24, 1360, between Kings John II of France and Edward III of England. it is seen now as marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453).