May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (135th in
leap years). There are 231 days remaining.
- 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.
- 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 - Siān 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
- 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
See Also:
May 13 - May 15 - April 14 - June 14 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December