14th May is the 134th day of the year (135th in leap years). 231 days remain until the end of the year. Take a look at some of the events that occurred on this day, 14th May, in history.

 

Historical events

649 — Theodore I ends his reign as Catholic Pope.

964 — Pope John XII dies – some say he was murdered on this day. The pope allegedly lived a life of sin, corruption and murder. But is his reputation as the worst pope who turned the Vatican into a whorehouse deserved?

1483 — Coronation of Charles VIII of France (“Charles l’Affable”).

1607 — English colonists establish the 1st permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown. Unknown to them they have landed amidst the worst drought in 800 years.

1608 — The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.

1610 — Assassination of Henry IV of France, brings 9-year old Louis XIII to the throne.

1643 — Louis XIV becomes King of France aged 4.

1702 — England and The Netherlands declare war on France and Spain.

1796 — English country doctor Edward Jenner successfully administers the first inoculation against smallpox, using cowpox pus, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.

1842 — Illustrated London News; the world’s first illustrated weekly newspaper, begins publication.

1853 — Gail Borden, land surveyor, newspaper publisher and inventor, patents his process for condensed milk.

1861 — The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite, strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain.

1862 — Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents chronograph.

1878 — Vaseline is granted a patent (U.S. Patent 127,568).

1897 — Guglielmo Marconi sends the first communication by wireless telegraph.

 

May 14th in the 19th Century

1908 — First passenger flight in an airplane.

1910 — Canada authorises the issuing of silver dollar coins.

1913 — Frans Hals museum opens in Haarlem, Netherlands.

1919 — Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical In Hac tanta.

1921 — Florence Allen is the first woman judge to sentence a man to death in Ohio.

1925 — Author Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs Dalloway” is published by The Hogarth Press.

1932 — “We Want Beer!” parade in New York.

1938 — “The Adventures of Robin Hood”, directed by Michael Curtiz, William Keighley and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland releases.

1939 — Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

1944 — General Erwin Rommel, Speidel and von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler.

1945 — Physician Joseph G. Hamilton injects misdiagnosed cancer patient Albert Stevens (CAL-1) with 131 kBq (3.55 µCi) of plutonium without his knowledge. Stevens lives another 20 years, surviving the highest known accumulated radiation dose in any human.

1948 — Israel declares independence from British administration

1955 — The US performs a nuclear test at the Pacific Ocean.

1961 — Bus with the first group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama.

1969 — Abortion and contraception legalised in Canada.

1981 — NASA launches space vehicle S-192.

1982 — Guinea adopts its constitution.

1986 — The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation publishes Jewish victim and diarist of the Holocaust Anne Frank’s complete diary.

1991 — World’s Largest Burrito created at 1,126 lbs.

1991 — Anti-apartheid activist and politician Winnie Mandela sentenced to 6 years for complicity in kidnapping and beating of four youths, one of whom died. She is freed pending appeal.

 

May 14th in the 21st Century

2005 — 265th Pope Benedict XVI observes his first beatification, elevating Blessed Marianne of Molokai on the road to canonisation into sainthood.

2011 — Leah Sharibu, a schoolgirl abducted by a faction of Boko Haram at Dapchi village, Yobe, is born.

2012 — Stanford University scientists develop prototype bionic eye.

2013 — Brazil becomes the 15th country to legalize same-s*x marriage.

2013 — Dan Brown releases fourth novel starring Robert Langdon (The Da Vinci Code), titled “Inferno”. It instantly becomes a bestseller.

2013 — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie publishes the novel, “Americanah”.

2018 — Indian politician Shashi Tharoor is charged by police with driving his wife to commit suicide.

2018 — Chinese mountain climber and double amputee Xia Boyu reaches the summit of Mt Everest. It is Earth’s highest mountain above sea level.

2018 — Boulder City Council in Colorado votes to ban assault weapons.

2018 — Arsenal finish EPL season in 6th place on 63 points. The club fails to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1997.

2018 — US Supreme Court strikes down a federal law banning sports gambling in most states.