Events on May 4

• 1303Flemings conquers Middelburg
• 1471Battle of Tewkesbury - King Edward IV vs. Ex-queen Margaretha
• 1493Spanish Pope Alexander VI divides America between Spain and Portugal
• 1494Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica
• 1540Venice and Turkey sign Treaty of Constantinople
• 1572Veere sides with Geuzen
• 1626Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons
• 1626Peter Minuit becomes Director-General of New Netherlands
• 1634Johan van Walbeecks fleet departs to West-Indies
• 1652Battle at Etampes: French army under Turenne beats Fronde rebels
• 1715French manufacturer debuts 1st folding umbrella (Paris)
• 1747Willem IV appointed Viceroy of Overijssel
• 1776Rhode Island declares independence from England
• 1780American Academy of Arts and Science founded
• 1780Charles Bunbury on Diomed wins 1st Epsom Derby
• 1783Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus
• 1805Henry C Overing buys 80 acres of Throggs Neck in Bronx
• 1814Bourbon reign restored in France
• 1818Netherlands and England sign treaty against illegal slave handling
• 1839The Cunard Steamship Company Ltd forms San Bonifacio
• 1843Great-Britain annexes Natal
• 1846US state Michigan ends death penalty
• 1847New York State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration
• 18511st major SF fire
• 1861At Gretna LA, one of 1st guns of Rebel navy is cast
• 1862Yorktown, VA - McClellan halted his troop before town as it is full of armed torpedoes left by CS Brigadier General Gabrial Rains
• 1863Battle of Chancellorsville-action at Salem Church
• 1863End of Chancellorsville - Beaten Union army withdraws
• 1864Ulysses S Grant crosses Rapidan and begins his duel with Robert E Lee
• 1865Battle of Citronville, AL; Richard Taylor surrenders

Born on May 4

• 1006Abd-Allah Ansari: Persian mystic / poet (Monadjat)
• 1611Carlo Rainaldi: Composer
• 1631Mary I Henriette Stuart: Daughter of Charles I / Queen of England
• 1635Willem van Outhoorn: Dutch Governor-General (Dutch East Indies)
• 1655Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori: Italy -- Piano builder
• 1738Josef Kohaut: Composer
• 1744Marianne von Martinez: Composer
• 1763Franz Stanislaus Spindler: Composer
• 1769Charles Hague: Composer
• 1776Johann Friedrich Herbart: Germany -- Philosopher / psychologist
• 1777Charles-Louis-Joseph Hanssens: Composer
• 1796Horace Mann: United States -- Educator / author / editor (pioneered public schools)
• 1796Joseph Pannell Taylor: Brigadier General (Union Army), died in 1864
• 1820Julia Gardiner Tyler: 2nd Wife of President John Tyler (1841-45)
• 1825Thomas Henry Huxley: Scientist / humanist / Darwinist
• 1826Frederick Church: US romantic landscape painter (Hudson River Sch)
• 1835Edmund Hart Turpin: Composer
• 1860Emil Nikolaus Von Reznicek: Vienna, Austria -- Composer (Donna Diana)
• 1867Dynam-Victor Fumet: Composer
• 1871Mynona: Writer
• 1875Ramiro de Maeztu y Whitney: Spanish writer (Don Quixote & Celestine)
• 1877Arthur Lang: United States -- Boxer / businessman (Died August 8, 1992 at 115)
• 1881Aleksandr F Kerenski: Russian Premier (1917-Prelude to Bolshevism)
• 1882Wilhelm Lehmann: Writer
• 1889Francis J Spellman: US Cardinal
• 1891Frederick Jacobi: Composer
• 1891Johan W F Werumeus Buning: Dutch poet (Daily Bread)
• 1893Edgar Dearing: Ceres, California -- Actor (Abraham Lincoln, Free & Easy)
• 1893Royal Butler [Edwin Richey]: Atlanta, Georgia -- Actor
• 1902Cola [Nicolas] Debrot: Bonaire Governor (Netherlands Antilles) / author

Died on May 4

• 1594Paul Buys: Grand Pensionary of Holland, dies at 62
• 1605Ulisse Aldrovandi: Italian biologist / medical, dies at 82
• 1752Pieter Snyers: Flemish Painter / engraver, dies at 71
• 1770Christian Gottfried Krause: Composer, dies at 51
• 1832Jan van Speyck: Dutch Admiral, buried in New Church
• 1855Camille Pleyel: Austria piano builder / composer, dies at 66
• 1879William Froude: British Civil Engineer / shipbuilder (F Integer), dies at 68
• 1885Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic: Monarch of Serbia (1842-58), dies at 78
• 1891Sherlock Holmes: "dies" at Reichenbach Falls
• 1893George Washington Hewitt: Composer, dies at 82
• 1928Barry E Odell Pain: English writer (Punch), dies at 63
• 1929Henry Morton Dunham: Composer, dies at 75
• 1938Carl von Ossietzky: German pacifist / writer (Nobel 1935), dies at 48
• 1953Edward B B Shanks: British Poet / critic, dies at 60
• 1953Thomas Tertius Noble: Composer, dies at 85
• 1955Georges Enescu: Romanian / French violist / Composer (Oedipe), dies at 73
• 1955Louis Breguet: French aviation pioneer, dies at 75
• 1961Anita Stewart: Dies of heart attack at 66
• 1965Norman Brokenshire: TV moderator (Four Square Court), dies at 66
• 1966Juan Maria Thomas Sabater: Composer, dies at 69
• 1967Bengt Axel von Torne: Composer, dies at 75
• 1969F Osbert S Sitwell: English Poet (Who Killed Cock Robin?), dies at 76
• 19704 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
• 1971Donald Dexter Van Slyke: US chemist (Cyanosis), dies at 88
• 1971Joseph Csaky: Hungarian / French sculptor, dies at 83
• 1971Louis de Bree [Louis C Davids]: Dutch actor (Bluejackets), dies at 87
• 1973Jane Bowles: Writer, dies at 56
• 1974Israel Citkowitz: Composer, dies at 65
• 1974John Wengraf: Actor (Pride & Passion, 12 to the Moon), dies at 77
• 1975Moe Howard [Moses Horowitz]: Comedian (3 Stooges), dies at 77

Historical events on May 5

• 05532nd Council of Constantinople (5th ecumenical council) opens
• 1382Battle of Beverhoutsveld - population beats drunken army
• 1430Jews are expelled from Speyer Germany
• 1494On 2nd voyage to New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica
• 1640English Short Parliament unites
• 1646King Charles I surrenders at Scotland
• 1665Nicolaas Witsen visits patriarch Nikon in Moscow
• 1764Smolny-institution forms in St. Petersburg for noble girls
• 17802nd oldest learned society in US (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) forms (Boston)
• 1789French States-General for It first since 1614 together
• 1809Citizenship is denied to Jews of Canton of Aargau Switzerland
• 1809Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a US patent (weaving straw)
• 1814British attack Ft Ontario, Oswego, New York
• 1816American Bible Society organized (NY)
• 1835King Leopold opens Brussels-Mechelen railway
• 1842City-wide fire burns for over 100 hours (Hamburg Germany)
• 1847American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
• 1854English pirate Plumridge robs along pro-English Finnish coast
• 1855New York City regains Castle Clinton, to be used for immigration
• 1861Alexandria, VA - CS troops abandon city
• 1862French army intervenes in Puebla, Mexico: Cinco de Mayo
• 1862Peninsular Campaign-Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia
• 1863Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi
• 1863Joe Coburn KOs Mike McCoole for US boxing title in 63rd round
• 1864Atlanta Campaign-5 days fighting begins at Rocky Face Ridge
• 1864Battle between Confederate and Union ships at mouth of Roanoke
• 1864Battle of Wilderness, VA (Germanna Ford, Wilderness Tavern)
• 1864Campaign in Northern Georgia - Chattanooga to Atlanta
• 18651st US train robbery (North Bend Ohio)
• 1874Dutch 2nd Chamber passes child labor law

Born on May 5

• 1352Ruprecht: Roman Catholic German King
• 1557Emmanuel-Philibert van Lalaing: Baron of Montigny / Marquis of Renty
• 1657Jacques Danican Philidor: Composer
• 1680Giuseppe Porsile: Composer
• 1715Daniel Dal Barba: Composer
• 1749Jean-Frederic Edelmann: Composer
• 1800Louis Hachette: French publisher (Librairie Hachette)
• 1804Jacob Kats: Flemish writer (Earthly Paradise)
• 1817George Washington Julian: MC (Union), died in 1899
• 1819Stanislaw Moniuszko: Polish composer
• 1823James Allen Hardie: Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1876
• 1832H H Bancroft: Historian, publisher (History of Pacific States)
• 1833Ferdinand von Richthofen: German geographer / explorer
• 1842Johann Nepomuk Fuchs: Composer
• 1846Federico Chueca: Composer
• 1846Henryk Sienkiewicz: Poland -- Author (Quo Vadis, Nobel 1905)
• 1848Adalbert von Goldschmidt: Composer
• 1849Hambletonian: Chester, New York -- Greatest standardbred horse
• 1854Antonio Smareglia: Composer
• 1862Max Elskamp: Belgian author / poet (Lesson Joies Blondes, Maya)
• 1863Frederik A Stoett: Linguist (Dutch Proverbs)
• 1865Felicjan Szopski: Composer
• 1867Nellie Bly [Elizabeth Cochran Seaman]: Journalist
• 1867Thomas Tertius Noble: Composer
• 1871Alberto Cametti: Composer
• 1879Symon Petlyura: Leader Ukraine (pogroms)
• 1883Leopold Samuel: Composer
• 1883Petar Konjovic: Composer
• 1884Wang Tjing-Wei: Premier China (1932-35)
• 1885Henri Velge: 1st Chairman (Belgian Council of State)

Died on May 5

• 0311Gaius VM Galerius: Emperor of Rome, dies at about 50
• 1194Kazimierz II [the Justified]: Grand Duke of Poland (1177-94)
• 1309Charles II [the Lame]: King of Naples (1285-1309)
• 1504Anton of Burgundy [the Great Bastard]: Knight, dies at about 82
• 1525Frederik III [the Wise]: Ruler of Saxon (1486-1525), dies at 62
• 1582Charlotte de Bourbon: Princess of Orange
• 1613Johann Steuerlein: Composer, dies at 66
• 1678Anna M van Schurman: Dutch Poet / spoke 10 languages, dies at about 70
• 1702Jacob Hintze: Composer, dies at 79
• 1705Leopold I von Hapsburg: Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, dies at 64
• 1786Pedro III: King of Portugal
• 1801Philippe-Lambert-Joseph Spruyt: Flemish Painter / engraver, dies at 74
• 1821Napoleon I Bonaparte: Emperor France (1799-1815), dies in St Helena
• 1827Frederik Augustus I: Justified, King of Saxon (1806-27), dies at 76
• 1831Friedrich Ludwig Seidel: Composer, dies at 65
• 1837Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli: Italian Composer / bandmaster, dies at 85
• 1840Gottlob Benedikt Bierey: Composer, dies at 67
• 1840Matthaus Fischer: Composer, dies at 76
• 1859Peter G L Dirichlet: German mathematician, dies at 53
• 1864Alexander Hays: US Union General Major, dies in battle at 44
• 1864John Marshall Jones: Confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at 43
• 1864Leroy A Stafford: US Confederate Brigadier General, dies in battle at 42
• 1875Jan A C A van Nispen tot Sevenaer: Dutch MP (1848-75), dies at 71
• 1885Lauro Rossi: Composer, dies at 73
• 1886Joseph Albert: German photographer (Albertotype), dies at 61
• 1892Jan Nepomuk Skroup: Composer, dies at 80
• 1902Bret Harte: Writer, dies at 65
• 1909Pauline Staegeman: German feminist
• 1921Alfred H Fried: Austrian / German pacifist (Nobel 1911)
• 1927Charles Boissevain: Editor in chief (General Trade 1885-1908)

Events on May 6

• 1312Pope Clement V closes Council of Vienna
• 1476Emperor Frederik III of Habsburg and Duke Charles the Stout arrange marriage of their children
• 1527Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome; ending Renaissance
• 1529Battle at Gogra: Mogol Emperor Babur beats Afghans and Bengals
• 1536King Henry VIII, orders bible be placed in every church
• 1598Archduke Albrecht and Isabella become Monarch of Southern Netherlands
• 1626Dutch colonist Paul Minuit buys Manhattan for $24 in trinkets
• 1642Ville Marie (Montreal) forms
• 1644Johan Mauritius resigns as Governor of Brazil
• 1672Brandenburgs monarch Frederik Willem signs treaty with Netherlands
• 17331st international boxing match: Bob Whittaker beats Tito di Carni
• 1753French King Louis XV observes transit of Mercury at Mendon Castle
• 1757Battle at Prague: Frederik II of Prussia beats Emperor army
• 17871st Black Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston
• 1804Suriname sold to English (until Feb, 1816)
• 1833John Deere makes 1st steel plow
• 18351st edition of New York Herald (price 1 cent)
• 18401st postage stamps (Penny Black) issued (Great Britain)
• 1844Johan Thorbecke argue general right to vote
• 1848Otto Tank ends slavery in Suriname colony
• 1851Dr John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine"
• 1851Linus Yale patents Yale-lock
• 1851New slave regulations go into effect in Suriname
• 1851San Francisco Chamber of Commerce starts
• 18531st major US rail disaster kills 46 (Norwalk, Connecticut)
• 1860San Francisco Olympic Club, 1st US athletic club forms
• 1861Arkansas and Tennessee becomes 9th and 10th state to secede from US
• 1861Jefferson Davis approves a bill declaring War between US and Confederacy
• 1864Battle of Wilderness - General Longstreet seriously injured
• 1864General Sherman begins advance to Atlanta, Georgia

Born on May 6

• 0973Henry II: Roman Catholic German King / Emperor (1002 / 14-24)
• 1501Marcellus II [Marcello Cervini]: Italy -- Humanist / Pope (1555, 22 days)
• 1581Frans Francken [the Younger]: Painter
• 1606Lorenzo Lippi [Perlone Zipoli]: Poet / painter
• 1758Maximilien Robespierre: Arras, France -- French revolutionary / avocat (1781)
• 1759Francois GJS Andrieux: French writer / politician
• 1769Ferdinand III: Archduke of Austria / ruler of Toscane
• 1785Arvir A Afzelius: Swedish story teller
• 1790Vaclav Vilem Wurfel: Composer
• 1800Ferdinand Marcucci: Composer
• 1801George Sears Greene: Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1899
• 1802Friedrich Wilhelm Schirmer: Artist
• 1806Chapin Aaron Harris: United States -- Founder of the America Society of Dental Surgeons
• 1809William Walker: Composer
• 1812Marin R Delany: Charles Town, West Virginia -- 1st black major in US Medical Corp
• 1813Joseph Tarr Copeland: Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1893
• 1814Wilhelm Ernst: Violinist / composer
• 1825Joseph Bailey: Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
• 1829Phoebe Ann Coffin: 1st female ordained Minister in New England
• 1830Guido Gezelle: Flemish priest / poet
• 1838Alfred Humphreys Pease: Composer
• 1843Grove Karl Gilbert: Geologist, investigated Lake Bonneville, Utah
• 1849Wyatt Eaton: Artist
• 1858Georges Adolphe Hue: Composer
• 1859Willem J T Kloos: Dutch poet (Act of Simple Justice)
• 1861Radindranath Tagore: Hindu poet / mystic / composer (Nobel 1913)
• 1868Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont: Poland -- Novelist (Chiopi, Nobel-1924)
• 1869Joseph Cuvelier: Belgian historian / archivist
• 1870Amedos Peter Giannine: San Jose, California -- Founded Bank of America
• 1870John McClutcheon: Cartoonist (Pulitzer Prize-1931)

Died on May 6

• 0523Thrasamunde: King of Vandalen
• 0988Dirk II: West Frisian Count of Holland
• 1124Balak: Emir of Aleppo, murdered
• 1475Dieric Bouts: Dutch painter, dies at about 64
• 1527Karel van Bourbon: Military Governor (Lombardije), dies at 37
• 1540Jean Luis Vives: Spanish theory / humanist / reformer, dies at 48
• 1638Cornelius Jansen: Theologian (Jansenism)
• 1642Frans Francken [the Younger]: Flemish painter, dies on 61st birthday
• 1666Paul Siefert: Composer, dies at 79
• 1667Johann Jacob Froberger: German singer / Organist / composer, dies at 50
• 1678Joseph de La Barre: Composer, dies at 44
• 1727Catharina I: Latvia tsarina of Russia, dies at about 42
• 1739Bernardus Smijtegelt: Vicar (Gekrookte Reed), dies at 63
• 1794Jean-Jacques Beauvarget-Charpentier: Composer, dies at 59
• 1814George Joseph Vogler: Composer, dies at 64
• 1836Christian Ignatius Latrobe: Composer, dies at 78
• 1841John Thomson: Composer, dies at 35
• 1852Charles-Louis-Joseph Hanssens: Composer, dies at 75
• 1859Friedrich Heinrich Alexander: Explorer / scientist
• 1862Henry David Thoreau: US writer / pacifist (Walden Pond), dies at 44
• 1864Henry Livermore Abbott: US Union Brigadier General, dies in battle
• 1864Micah Jenkins: Confederate Brigadier General (friendly fire), dies at 28
• 1882Frederick Cavendish: Assassinated by Fenian Invincibles, in Dublin
• 1882Thomas Henry Burke: Assassinated by Fenian Invincibles, in Dublin
• 1890Hubert Leonard: Composer, dies at 71
• 1892Ernest Guiraud: Composer, dies at 54
• 1904Franz von Lenbach: German painter, dies at 67
• 1910Edward VII: King of England (1901-10), dies at 68
• 1916Dirk Bos: Dutch MP (Liberal), dies at 53
• 1916Earl Ross Drake: Composer, dies at 50