Browse Historical Events by Month:
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 on May 23, 1568 with the Battle of Heiligerlee where Dutch rebels, led by Louis of Nassau, defeated the Spanish forces, marking 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 Spanish Armada commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on May 28, 1588 with the aim of invading England during the Anglo-Spanish War. The armada consisted of a fleet of roughly 130 ships and 30,000 men.
Playwright Christopher Marlowe was killed on May 30, 1593, in a dispute with Ingram Frizer. possibly over a bill, at a tavern in Deptford, London, The coroner's inquest declared it self-defense by Frizer. The fight is often considered an assassination or political cover-up.
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The London based "Virginia Company," established the first permanent English settlement in America on May 14, 1607, as "James Fort" at now Jamestown, with 104 men arriving aboard three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.
The Virginia company held a royal charter granted by King James in 1606 for the colonial pursuit. 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
The English colonists at Jamestown, Virginia, faced immediate hostility after arriving, as the Powhatan warriors (specifically the Paspahegh) launched a significant attack on May 26, 1607. The attack wounded several colonists and killed at least one, prompting the urgent construction of a wooden fort and setting the stage for the beginning of the First Anglo-Powhatan War.
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Henry IV King of France and King of Navarre is assassinated, on May 14, 1610, in Paris by François Ravaillac, a Catholic fanatic. Henry was traveling in an open carriage on the Rue de la Ferronnerie. Ravaillac stabbed the king three times, with a fatal wound to the aorta. Ravaillac was immediately apprehended and executed.
Henry IV, 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 succeeded by his son Louis XIII. More
The first King James Bible is published in London on May 2, 1611. It was authorized by King James I and translated by scholars between 1604–1608 and printed by Robert Barker. It is known as "The Authorized Version" and designed for the Church of England.
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 on May 23, 1618, 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)
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) on May 4, 1626, aboard the ship Sea-gull, to serve as the Director-General for the Dutch West India Company. and to establish the colony of New Amsterdam.
The Dutch led by Peter Minuit, buy Manhattan Island, on May 24,1626, from Native Americans for trinkets and tools, valued at 60 guilders (around $24 in modern terms) 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 city of Montreal is founded by French colonists on May 17, 1642, under the direction of Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Sieur de Maisonneuve, and Jeanne Mance. It was initially called Ville-Marie and it was a missionary center before it became a key fur-trading post.
The Battle of Dover (also known as the Battle of Goodwin Sands) takes place on May 29, 1652, during the First Anglo-Dutch War between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
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. The Dutch eventually expelled the Portuguese entirely by 1658, ending Portuguese rule in the region.
The Treaty of Copenhagen is signed, on May 27, 1660, ending the Second Northern War between the Swedish Empire and the alliance of Denmark-Norway and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, establishing the modern borders between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. More
King Charles II of England is restored to the throne on May 29, 1660, after eleven years of Commonwealth Republican rule and a military dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector folowing the English Civil War. More
England King Charles II, issues a proclamation, on May 11, 1666 for prevention of the spreading of the infection of the plague. The proclamation ("The "Plague Orders") was entitled, "Rules and orders to be observed by all justices of peace, mayors, bailiffs, and other officers". It followed initial actions taken in early June 1665 which were implemented rapidly through the summer.
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
The Treaty of Middle Plantation, (also known as the Treaty of 1677), guaranteeing peace between the Virginia colonists and Native American tribes. is signed on May 29, 1677, and ratified by King Charles II.
