Mary, Queen of Scots, arrives in England on May 16, 1568, seeking refuge but she is taken to Carlisle Castle where she remained under guard. She was imprisoned on orders from her cousin Elizabeth I of England. Mary remained in captivity in England for 19 years until her execution on February 8, 1587 at age 44 at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England, ordered by Elizabeth I.
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What Happened in May?
Battles, revolts, and explorations. Learn about the noteworthy events in May that have taken place throughout the ages. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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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
Battle of Heiligerlee - Ferdinand Ernst Lintz (1863). Museum Slag bij Heiligerlee
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.
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The London based "Virginia Company," holder of a royal charter granted in 1606 by King James for the colonial pursuit; establishes the first permanent English settlement in America as "James Fort" at now Jamestown, Virginia on May 14, 1607 (Gregorian Calendar) With 104 men arriving aboard the ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.
The settlement faced numerous hardships, including disease, starvation, and conflict with the Powhatan Confederacy, but ultimately became a vital part of the growing English presence in the New World. It is considered a permanent settlement although it had a brief abandonment in 1610. More
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Henry IV King of France and King of Navarre is assassinated. He was also known as Good King Henry (le Bon Roi Henri) or Henry the Great (Henri le Grand), He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France, as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in Paris by François Ravaillac, a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII. More
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
The Thirty Years' War is ignited in Prague when a confrontation between Bohemian Protestant Nobels and representatives of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor resulted in the representatives being thrown out a castle window (The Defenestration of Prague) on ay 23, 1618.
The event was a result of escalating religious and political tensions between Protestant and Catholic factions, triggering a rebellion and a devastating 30 year European war which ended with the treaty of Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The war is considered one of the most destructive conflicts in history before the 20th century, causing a major change of the political map of Europe.
Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present-day Manhattan) and establishes the colony of New Amsterdam.
The Dutch led by Peter Minuit, buy Manhattan Island from Native Americans for trinkets and tools, valued at 60 guilders (around $24 in modern terms) on May 24,1626 and go on to found New Amsterdam which later became New York.
Cardinal Richelieu lays the foundation stone for the the Sorbonne Chapel (Church of Sainte-Ursule de la Sorbonne) in Paris on May 1 1635. It served as the spiritual heart of the Sorbonne and eventually housed his tomb, Designed by Jacques Lemercier, it remains the only 17th-century structure from that era still standing.
The Fundamental Orders, often considered the first written constitution in North America, are adopted by the Connecticut Colony.
The city of Montreal is founded by French colonists under the direction of Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve.
The Battle of Dover (also known as the Battle of Goodwin Sands) takes place during the First Anglo-Dutch War between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. It proved to be an indecisive battle although opinions about the outcome of that battle vary among historians of that period. The flagships were commanded by Admirals Robert Blake and Maarten Tromp.
Note: The battle is sometimes listed as May 19, 1652 based in the Julian calendar which was still in use in England at the time. The Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582, corrected the Julian calendar which had accumulated a 10-day error over time.
The Dutch East India Company's forces defeat the Portuguese on a sustained conflict culminating in the capture of Colombo on May 12, 1656 in Sri Lanka.a sustained, The Dutch eventually expelled the Portuguese entirely by 1658, ending Portuguese rule in the region.
The Treaty of Copenhagen is signed, ending the Second Northern War between Denmark and Sweden and establishing the modern borders between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. More
King Charles II of England is restored to the throne after the period of Commonwealth following the English Civil War. More
King Charles II of England grants a permanent royal charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company on May 2, 1670. The company was composed of a group of French explorers and the charter gave it the right of "sole trade and commerce" control of today's Canada entire Hudson Bay drainage basin.
The royal charter and naming the territory Rupert's Land, after his cousin Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the company's first governor. The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), is the oldest continually operating company in the world. More
Rupert's Land © 2004 Matthew Trump, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
