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May 4

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{{This date in recent years}}

{{Day}}

Events

=Pre-1600=

  • 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.{{cite book|last=Flannery|first=John M.|title=The Mission of the Portuguese Augustinians to Persia and Beyond (1602-1747)|location=Lieden|publisher=Brill|date=2013|isbn=9789004243828|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR0zAQAAQBAJ|page=40}}
  • 1415 – Religious reformer John Wycliffe is condemned as a heretic at the Council of Constance.{{cite book|last=Bray|first=Gerald|chapter=On the Truth of Holy Scripture (1377-1378) John Wycliffe (c. 1328-1384)|editor-last1=Kapic|editor-first1=Kelly M.|editor-last2=Madueme|editor-first2=Hans|title=Reading Christian Theology in the Protestant Tradition|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury T&T Clark|date=2018|isbn=9780567566768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jb1KDwAAQBAJ|page=290|postscript=none}}; {{cite book|last=Christianson|first=Gerald|chapter=Wycliff's Ghost: The Politics of Reunion at the Council of Basel|title=Reform, Representation and Theology in Nicholas of Cusa and His Age|location=New York|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=2012|isbn=9781003420835|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mB22EAAAQBAJ|page=91|postscript=none}}; {{cite book|last=Fastiggi|first=Robert L.|title=The Sacrament of Reconciliation: An Anthropological and Scriptural Understanding|location=Chicago|publisher=Hillenbrand Books|date=2017|isbn=9781595250438|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pdqaDgAAQBAJ|page=96, fn. 17}}
  • 1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson (27 April O.S.).{{cite book|last=Riis|first=Thomas|chapter=The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390-c. 1536|title=The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume VII: c.1415-c. 1500|editor-last=Allmand|editor-first=Christopher|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2015|isbn=9781107568914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qzc8OeuSXFMC|page=682|postscript=none}}; {{cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Dick|title=Murder and Execution within the Political Sphere in Fifteenth-century Scandinavia|journal=Scandia|volume=63|issue=2|date=1997|url=https://journals.lub.lu.se/scandia/article/download/1134/919/2085&ved=2ahUKEwjf-Iro2_aFAxWJ5ckDHX3KBwIQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1ZmuCwzOyw7Vc3AJLaipDf|page=261}}
  • 1471 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.{{cite book|last=Panton|first=Kenneth J.|title=Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy|location=Lanham, Md.|publisher=Scarecrow Press|date=2011|isbn=9780810857797|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeDwEAAAQBAJ|pages=159, 167}}
  • 1493 – In the papal bull Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.{{cite book|last=Hébié|first=Mamadou|chapter=The Acquisition of Original Titles of Territorial Sovereignty in the Law and Practice of European Colonial Expansion|title=Research Handbook on Territorial Disputes in International Law|editor-last1=Kohen|editor-first1=Marcelo G.|editor-last2=Hébié|editor-first2=Mamadou|location=Cheltenham, UK|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|date=2018|isbn=9781782546863|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaFyDwAAQBAJ|pages=48–50}}

=1601–1900=

  • 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.{{cite book|last=Kroessler|first=Jeffrey A.|title=New York Year By Year: A Chronology of the Great Metropolis|location=New York|publisher=New York University Press|date=2002|isbn=9780814747513|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjWhBwAAQBAJ|page=9}}
  • 1738 – The Imperial Theatrical School, the first ballet school in Russia, is founded.{{cite book|last=Snodgrass|first=Mary Ellen|title=The Encyclopedia of World Ballet|location=Lanham, Md.|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2015|isbn=9781442245259|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DNvaCQAAQBAJ|page=175}}
  • 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.{{cite book|last=Lippitt|first=Charles Warren|title=The Rhode Island Declaration of Independence, May 4 1776|location=Providence, R.I|publisher=Rhode Island Citizens Historical Association|date=1906|oclc=1599182|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsJOAQAAIAAJ|page=30}}
  • 1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.{{cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Chaim M.|title=Losing America, Conquering India: Lord Cornwallis and the Remaking of the British Empire|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland & Company|date=2017|isbn=9781476668123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W34yDwAAQBAJ|page=130}}
  • 1814 – Emperor Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.{{cite book|last=Maclachlan|first=Archibald Neil Campbell|title=Napoleon at Fontainebleau and Elba: Being a Journal of Occurrences in 1814-1815|location=London|publisher=J. Murray|date=1869|oclc=2580699|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D978YQmcB3gC|pages=214–216}}
  • 1814 – King Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.{{cite book|last=Piqueras|first=José Antonio|chapter=The End of the Legal Slave Trade in Cuba and the Second Slavery|title=Atlantic Transformations: Empire, Politics, and Slavery During the Nineteenth Century|editor-last=Tomich|editor-first=Dale W.|location=Albany, N.Y.|publisher=State University of New York Press|date=2020|isbn=9781438477855|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9u7cDwAAQBAJ|page=83}}
  • 1836 – Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians.{{cite book|last1=Watson|first1=William E.|last2=Halus|first2=Eugene J.|title=Irish Americans: The History and Culture of a People|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2015|isbn=9781610694667|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swPHEAAAQBAJ|page=171}}
  • 1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.{{cite journal|last=Campbell|first=J.M.|title=Some New Brunel Letters|journal=The Journal of Transport History|date=November 1958|issue=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6UJ6L326s0C&q=%22Cornwall+Railway%22+%22Royal+Albert+Bridge%22+%224+May%22+1859|page=201|doi=10.1177/002252665800300403 |url-access=subscription}}
  • 1869 – The four-day Naval Battle of Hakodate begins. The newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy defeats the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy in the Sea of Japan off the city of Hakodate, leading to the surrender of the Ezo Republic on May 17.{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Spencer C.|title=The Roots and Consequences of Civil Wars and Revolutions: Conflicts That Changed World History|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|publisher=ABC=CLIO|date=2017|isbn=9781440842931|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zBjHEAAAQBAJ|pages=269–270}}
  • 1871 – The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.{{cite book|last=Thorn|first=John|title=Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2012|isbn=9780743294041|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqF84JTKCNoC|page=151}}
  • 1886 – Haymarket affair: In Chicago, United States, a homemade bomb is thrown at police officers trying to break up a labor rally, killing one officer. Ensuing gunfire leads to the deaths of a further seven officers and four civilians.{{cite book|last=Green|first=James R.|title=Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America|location=New York|publisher=Pantheon Books|date=2006|isbn=9780375422379|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi74wSzZhk8C|pages=5–8}}

=1901–present=

Births

=Pre-1600=

=1601–1900=

=1901–present=

Deaths

=Pre-1600=

  • 408 – Venerius, archbishop of Milan
  • 784 – Arbeo, bishop of Freising
  • 1003 – Herman II, duke of Swabia
  • 1038 – Gotthard of Hildesheim, German bishop (born 960)
  • 1406 – Coluccio Salutati, chancellor of Florence (born 1331)
  • 1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish rebel leader (27 April O.S.).{{cite book|last=Riis|first=Thomas|chapter=The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390-c. 1536|title=The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume VII: c.1415-c. 1500|editor-last=Allmand|editor-first=Christopher|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2015|isbn=9781107568914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qzc8OeuSXFMC|page=682|postscript=none}}; {{cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Dick|title=Murder and Execution within the Political Sphere in Fifteenth-century Scandinavia|journal=Scandia|volume=63|issue=2|date=1997|url=https://journals.lub.lu.se/scandia/article/download/1134/919/2085&ved=2ahUKEwjf-Iro2_aFAxWJ5ckDHX3KBwIQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1ZmuCwzOyw7Vc3AJLaipDf|page=261}}
  • 1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, son and heir of Henry VI of England (born 1453)
  • 1483 – George Neville, Duke of Bedford (born 1457)
  • 1506 – Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (born 1438)
  • 1519 – Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino (born 1492){{cite web |title=Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici, duca di Urbino {{!}} Italian ruler |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lorenzo-di-Piero-de-Medici-duca-di-Urbino |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=18 January 2021 |language=en}}
  • 1535 – John Houghton, Carthusian monk and saint
  • 1562 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (born 1525)
  • 1566 – Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (born 1490)
  • 1571 – Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian and reformer (born 1511)

=1601–1900=

=1901–present=

  • 1901 – John Jones Ross, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (born 1831)
  • 1903 – Gotse Delchev, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary IMRO (born 1872)
  • 1912 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist credited with discovering sex chromosomes (born 1861){{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nettie-Stevens|title=Nettie Stevens {{!}} American biologist and geneticist|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-08-12}}
  • 1916 – Ned Daly, Irish rebel commander (Easter Rising) (born 1891)
  • 1916 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (born 1851)
  • 1916 – Willie Pearse, Irish rebel (born 1881)
  • 1916 – Joseph Plunkett, Irish rebel and writer (born 1887)
  • 1919 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak general and politician (born 1880)
  • 1922 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (born 1888)
  • 1923 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (born 1877)
  • 1924 – E. Nesbit, English author and poet (born 1858)
  • 1937 – Gina Oselio, Norwegian opera singer (born 1858).{{cite encyclopedia|title=Gina Oselio |encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|first=Inger Elisabeth|last=Haavet|date=25 November 2024 |editor-last=Helle|editor-first=Knut|editor-link=Knut Helle|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=https://nbl.snl.no/Gina_Oselio|language=no |accessdate=2 April 2025}}
  • 1938 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese founder of judo (born 1860)
  • 1938 – Carl von Ossietzky, German journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1889)
  • 1941 – Chris McKivat, Australian rugby player and coach (born 1880)
  • 1945 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (born 1880)
  • 1953 – Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (born 1876){{cite book |last1=Mallon |first1=Bill |title=The 1900 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary |date=11 July 2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8952-7 |page=276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHYwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA276 |language=en}}
  • 1955 – George Enescu, Romanian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1881)
  • 1964 – Karl Robert Pusta, Estonian politician, 4th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1883)
  • 1969 – Osbert Sitwell, English-Italian author and poet (born 1892)
  • 1971 – William Brown Meloney, writer and theatrical producer (born 1902){{Cite news|date=1971-05-06|title=William Brown Meloney Dead; Author and Stage Producer, 69|language=en-US|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/06/archives/william-brown-meoney-dead-author-and-stageproducer-69.html|access-date=2021-02-06|issn=0362-4331}}
  • 1972 – Father Chrysanthus, Dutch arachnologist (born 1905){{cite journal|last=v[an] H[elsdingen] |first=P[eter] J. |date=1973 |title=Father Chrysanthus O.F.M. Cap.: 1 September 1905 – 4 May 1972 |journal=Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society |volume=2 |issue=7 |page=148 |url=https://britishspiders.org.uk/node/2313}}
  • 1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1886)
  • 1973 – Jane Bowles, American author and playwright (born 1917)
  • 1975 – Moe Howard, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (born 1897)
  • 1976 – Frank Strahan, Australian public servant (born 1886)
  • 1980 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (born 1892)
  • 1980 – Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Scottish pianist and composer (born 1920){{Cite web |title=Joe "Mr. Piano" Henderson Songs, Albums, Revie... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/joe-mr-piano-henderson-mn0000900270 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}
  • 1981 – C. Loganathan, Sri Lankan banker (born 1913)
  • 1983 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (born 1911)
  • 1984 – Diana Dors, English actress (born 1931)
  • 1985 – Fikri Sönmez, Turkish tailor and politician (born 1938)
  • 1985 – Clarence Wiseman, English-Canadian 10th General of The Salvation Army (born 1907)
  • 1987 – Paul Butterfield, American singer and harmonica player (born 1942){{cite news| author=| title = Musician's Death Laid to Overdose| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-13-mn-6920-story.html| work = Los Angeles Times| date = June 13, 1987| access-date = December 27, 2020}}
  • 1987 – Cathryn Damon, American actress (born 1930)
  • 1988 – Lillian Estelle Fisher, American historian of Spanish America (born 1891)
  • 1990 – Emily Remler, American guitarist (born 1957)
  • 1991 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter and mandolin player (born 1902)
  • 1992 – Gregor Mackenzie, Scottish politician (born 1927)
  • 1993 – France Štiglic, Slovenian film director and screenwriter (born 1919)
  • 1995 – Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (born 1922){{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=David L. |title=Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-29884-4 |page=1709 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wD4mDsrHLS8C&pg=PA1709 |language=en}}
  • 1998 – Christine Kurzhals, German politician (born 1950){{Cite web |title=Biographie des MdB Christine Kurzhals, SPD |trans-title=Biography of MP Christine Kurzhals, SPD |url=https://webarchiv.bundestag.de/archive/2007/0206/mdb/mdb13/bio/K/kurzhch0.html |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=Bundestag |language=de}}
  • 2000 – Hendrik Casimir, Dutch physicist and academic (born 1909)
  • 2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley, American model, wife of Robert Blake (born 1956)
  • 2004 – David Reimer, Canadian man, born male but reassigned female and raised as a girl after a botched circumcision (born 1965){{cite web|url=https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/david-reimer-and-john-money-gender-reassignment-controversy-johnjoan-case|title=David Reimer and John Money Gender Reassignment Controversy: The John/Joan Case – The Embryo Project Encyclopedia|website=embryo.asu.edu}}
  • 2005 – David Hackworth, American colonel and journalist (born 1930)
  • 2008 – Fred Baur, American chemist and founder of Pringles (born 1918){{Cite web|date=2020-09-04|title=He was buried in a can of Pringles|url=https://asillypoint.com/he-was-buried-in-a-can-of-pringles/|access-date=2020-09-06|website=A Silly Point|language=en-US}}
  • 2009 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, director, and producer (born 1933)
  • 2011 – Sammy McCrory, Northern Irish footballer (born 1924)
  • 2012 – Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1923)
  • 2012 – Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (born 1920)
  • 2012 – Adam Yauch, American rapper and director (born 1964)
  • 2012 – Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (born 1963)
  • 2013 – Otis Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (born 1918)
  • 2013 – Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)
  • 2013 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (born 1948)
  • 2013 – Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (born 1935)
  • 2013 – Morgan Morgan-Giles, English admiral and politician (born 1914)
  • 2013 – César Portillo de la Luz, Cuban guitarist and composer (born 1922)
  • 2014 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (born 1924)
  • 2014 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (born 1983)
  • 2014 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (born 1923)
  • 2014 – Helga Königsdorf, German physicist and author (born 1938)
  • 2014 – Ross Lonsberry, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1947)
  • 2014 – Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Central African politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1948)
  • 2015 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (born 1931)
  • 2015 – Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (born 1913)
  • 2015 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (born 1946){{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|date=2015-05-06|title=Marv Hubbard, Three-Time Pro Bowl Fullback for Raiders, Dies at 68|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/sports/marv-hubbard-three-time-pro-bowl-fullback-dies-at-68.html|access-date=2020-09-06|issn=0362-4331}}
  • 2016 – Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundian politician (born 1946)
  • 2020 – Don Shula, American football player and coach (born 1930){{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29132028/dolphins-hall-fame-coach-don-shula-dies-90 |title=Dolphins Hall of Fame coach Don Shula dies at 90 |work=ESPN |date=5 May 2020 |access-date=15 October 2021}}
  • 2020 – Greg Zanis, American carpenter and activist (born 1950){{cite news |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Eliott C. |title=Greg Zanis, known the nation over as 'The Cross Man,' dies at 69 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/us/greg-zanis-obit-cross-man/index.html |access-date=May 4, 2020 |work=CNN |date=May 4, 2020}}
  • 2021 – Nick Kamen, English model, songwriter (born 1962){{Cite news|date=2021-05-06|title=Nick Kamen: a life in pictures|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2021/may/06/nick-kamen-a-life-in-pictures|access-date=2021-05-08|issn=0261-3077}}
  • 2024 – Ron Kavana, Irish singer, songwriter, guitarist and band leader (born 1950){{Cite web |title=Death Notice of Ronnie (Ron) Kavanagh (Fermoy, Cork) {{!}} rip.ie |url=https://rip.ie/death-notice/ronnie-ron-kavanagh-cork-fermoy-555418 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=rip.ie |language=en}}
  • 2024 – Frank Stella, American painter (born 1936){{Cite news |last1=Mazariegos |first1=Miranda |last2=Veltman |first2=Chloe |date=May 4, 2024 |title=Renowned painter and pioneer of minimalism Frank Stella dies at 87 |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/05/04/1112027057/frank-stella-dead-art-minimalist |access-date=May 4, 2024 |work=NPR}}

Holidays and observances

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons}}

  • [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4 BBC: On This Day]
  • {{NYT On this day|month=5|day=4}}
  • [https://www.onthisday.com/events/may/4 Historical Events on May 4]

{{months}}

Category:Days of May