May 14

Events

• 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
• 1509 - Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat Venitians.
• 1643 - Four year-old Louix XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
• 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to meet to write a new Constitution for the United States.
• 1796 - Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination.
• 1804 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
• 1811 - Paraguay gains independence from Spain.
• 1900 - The 1900 Summer Olympics open in Paris, France
• 1913 - New York Governor William Sulzer[?] approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation which begins operations with a $100,000,000 donation from John D. Rockefeller.
• 1935 - Filipinos ratify an independence agreement.
• 1940 - World War II: The Dutch city of Rotterdam is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.
• 1940 - World War II: The Netherlands surrender to Germany.
• 1948 - Israel declares itself to be an independent state and a provisional government is established.
• 1948 - The murder of a three-year-old girl in Blackburn[?], England leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.
• 1955 - Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries including the Soviet Union sign a mutual-defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
• 1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders[?] bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.
• 1973 - Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
• 1995 - The Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima[?] as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama[?].
• 1998 - After nine years on the air, the series finale of the television sitcom Seinfeld aires on NBC.

Births

• 1316 - Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (+ 1378)
• 1727 - Thomas Gainsborough, artist (+ 1788)
• 1867 - Kurt Eisner[?], politician and publicist (+ 1919)
• 1869 - Friedrich Karl Kleine[?], physician (+ 1951)
• 1884 - Claude Dornier[?], aircraft designer (+ 1969)
• 1885 - Otto Klemperer, conductor (+ 1973)
• 1912 - Ben Hogan, golfer (+ 1997)
• 1917 - Lou Harrison, composer (+ 2003)
• 1922 - Franjo Tudjman, president of Croatia (+ 1999)
• 1929 - Gump Worsley[?], Hockey Hall of Famer
• 1934 - Siân Phillips, actress
• 1936 - Bobby Darin, singer (+ 1973)
• 1943 - Jack Bruce, bass guitarist
• 1944 - George Lucas, film director and producer
• 1952 - David Byrne, singer, songwriter, guitarist
• 1952 - Robert Zemeckis, director
• 1961 - Tim Roth[?], actor

Deaths

• 1610 - King Henry IV of France
• 1847 - Fanny Mendelssohn, composer and pianist
• 1912 - August Strindberg, author
• 1925 - H. Rider Haggard, author
• 1931 - David Belasco[?], writer
• 1957 - Marie Vassilieff, artist
• 1987 - Rita Hayworth[?], actress
• 1997 - Harry Blackstone Jr.[?], magician
• 1998 - Frank Sinatra, singer, actor
• 2003 - Dave DeBusschere, NBA basketball player
• 2003 - Robert Stack, actor

Holidays and observances

• Paraguay - National Day[?]

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