What Happened in May?

Anne Boleyn, the infamous second wife of King Henry VIII, is beheaded in the Tower of London and buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower ,after a sham trial filled with Anne’s enemies found her guilty, on charges of adultery, incest, conspiracy and high treason against the king.  Expand +

Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour his third wife, just 11 days after his second wife, Anne Boleyn's execution. She died at Hampton Court Palace,12 days after giving birth to Edward VI, her only son and only surviving legitimate son of Henry VIII. The cause of her death was likely an infection or pulmonary embolism.

The Siege of Buda, the historical capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, begins as Ottoman forces lay siege to the Hungarian city on May 4, 1541 and captured it on August 21, 1541, in a major victory for the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars (16th to 18th century). 

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.

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.

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 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.  Expand +

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.

 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

King Henry IV of France was 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.

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 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 May 23, 1618.  Expand +

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