May 13

Events

• 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
• 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
• 1607 - Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
• 1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason.
• 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the a part of its territory that was taken from them (the Inn District).
• 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
• 1830 - Ecuador gains its independence.
• 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
• 1848 - first performance of Finland's national anthem.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca - the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch - In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the civil war ends with a Union victory.
• 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
• 1888 - Brazil abolishes slavery.
• 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) in established.
• 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first person to pilot a four engine aircraft.
• 1917 - Three peasant children claim to see the Blessed Virgin Mary above a holmoak tree in Cova da Irianear near Fatima, Portugal.
• 1940 - World War II: Nazi Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, tears, toil and sweat" speech to the British House of Commons.
• 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
• 1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
• 1958 - Pierre Pflimlin becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1960 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, 7th highest mountain
• 1969 - Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the May 13 Incident
• 1981 - Mehemet Ali Agca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Square in Rome.
• 1985 - Philadelphia's mayor orders police to storm the radical group's MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents in the resulting fire.
• 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kills 600.
• 1998 - Following India's second round of nuclear tests the United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on the nation.

Births

• 1699 - Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese prime minister († 1782)
• 1717 - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria († 1780)
• 1830 - Zebulon Baird Vance, three-time governor of North Carolina
• 1840 - Alphonse Daudet, French novelist
• 1842 - Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan, composer († 1900)
• 1882 - Georges Braque, painter († 1963)
• 1894 - Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, 2nd president of Iceland
• 1907 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, author († 1989)
• 1913 - Gil Evans, jazz musician
• 1914 - Joe Louis, boxer († 1981)
• 1923 - Bea Arthur, actress
• 1927 - Herbert Ross, director († 2001)
• 1931 - Jim Jones, cult leader († 1978)
• 1934 - Adolf Muschg, author
• 1937 - Roger Zelazny, science fiction author († 1995)
• 1937 - Roch Carrier, Canadian novelist and National Librarian
• 1939 - Harvey Keitel, actor
• 1941 - Ritchie Valens, singer († 1959)
• 1941 - Senta Berger, actress
• 1944 - Armistead Maupin, author
• 1945 - Magic Dick, musician ("J. Geils Band")
• 1947 - Stephen R. Donaldson, author
• 1950 - Stevie Wonder, singer, pianist, bassist, drummer
• 1961 - Dennis Rodman, basketball player, actor
• 1966 - Darius Rucker, Hootie & The Blowfish frontman
• 1981 - Sunny Leone, Penthouse Magazine's pet of the Year, 2003

Deaths

• 1619 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman
• 1835 - John Nash (architect)
• 1884 - Cyrus McCormick, inventor
• 1916 - Sholom Aleichem, author
• 1930 - Fridtjof Nansen, explorer
• 1945 - Tubby Hall, jazz musician
• 1961 - Gary Cooper, actor
• 1972 - Dan Blocker, actor
• 1975 - Bob Wills, country musician
• 1988 - Willem Drees, Dutch prime-minister
• 1999 - Gene Sarazen, golfer

Holidays and Observances

• Roman Empire - Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae)

May 12 - May 14 - April 13 - June 13 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By