MAY 1.
305. Diocletian, the Roman emperor, abdicated the throne in the presence of the soldiery and a multitude of people, at Nicomedia, in the 21st year of his reign. When afterwards solicited by a friend to resume the purple, he calmly replied, that if he could show the cabbages which he had planted at Salona with his own hands, he should no longer be urged to relinquish the enjoyment of happiness for the pursuit of power.
475. Henghist, the Saxon, caused 300 English noblemen to be murdered.
1119. Henry I of England obtained a great victory over the Normans at Brenville.
1291. All the Italian merchants in the realm of France, called money lenders, seized by order of Philip the fair, for their ransoms.
1308. Albert I, emperor of Germany, assassinated by his nephew, John, duke of Swabia. The Swiss were led by his oppressions to assert their liberty.
1515. Henry VIII and queen attended by nobles went a maying and were entertained by the noted forester Robin Hood.
1517. A riot among the London apprentices, against foreign artisans, which resulted in the death and mutilation of many of the latter, principally Frenchmen. It commenced at 9 o'clock in the evening, and continued till 3 in the morning. The exertions of the city authorities, who had notice of the meditated riot, were unable to prevent or quell it. The next morning, several hundred youths, from 13 years upwards, were arrested, and ten gallows, constructed to move from street to street, prepared for their execution. The ring leaders were drawn, hanged and quartered; when an order came from the king to suspend the execution, and the remainder were pardoned.
1557. England made her first commercial treaty with Russia.
1607. Henry Hudson sailed from Gravesend on his first voyage for the discovery of a northwest passage to India. In this voyage he discovered the island of Spitzbergen.
1619. The famous Calvinistic convocation, the synod of Dort, caused their decrees to be publicly read, and dissolved the council. (May 9? 29?)
1637. A court was summoned at Hartford, Conn., to take measures to secure the colony against the depredations of the Pequot Indians. They determined that an offensive war should be carried on against them, and voted to raise 90 men! The Pequots then numbered 5000 fighting men.
1660. The convention parliament having heard Charles's letters read by sir John Granville, voted that the government of England should be by king, lords, and commons.
1683. Robert Fitzgerald received a patent in England for making salt water fresh.
1701. John Dryden, an illustrious English poet, died. "What he has done in any one species or distinct kind of writing would have been sufficient to have acquired him a great name."
1703. Battle of Pultusk, in Poland, in which the Swedes under Charles XII defeated 10,000 Poles.
1707. Union of England and Scotland consummated.
1708. Claude de Vert died; he devoted much attention to the ceremonies of the church of Rome, of which he wrote a history.
1727. Francis Paris, a French ecclesiastic, died. He retired from office, bestowing his property upon his brother, in order to devote himself to the austerities of a religious life. After his death crowds flocked to his grave to touch his holy monument, till the authorities caused the church yard to be shut.
1737. John Alphonsus Turretini died; professor of ecclesiastical history at Geneva, distinguished for his learning.
1755. John Baptist Oudri died; an admired French painter.
1760. William Duncan died; an ingenious Scottish critic, professor of philosophy at Aberdeen, and translator of Cæsar's Commentaries.
1771. Louis Petit de Bachaumon died; a native of Paris, known as the author of several literary works.
1772. Gottfried Achenwall, an eminent German lecturer on statistics, history and the laws of nature, died at Göttingen.
1774. William Hewson died; an eminent English anatomist, and medical author.
1775. Israel Lyons died; a celebrated English mathematician.
1776. Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at Ingolstadt, founded the secret society of the illuminati.
1785. Miles Cooper died; a learned English divine and poet.
1786. Gibbon concluded the fourth volume of his History, immortal as its subject.
1789. The states general of France met at Paris, convened by the king to calm the troubles of the state, which he had not power to quell, and which had now assumed a menacing appearance towards royalty itself.
1790. Indian war commenced between the British and Tippo Saib, sultan of Mysore.
1807. Slave trade in the West Indies proscribed in the British parliament.
1808. A volcano broke out in the island of St. George, one of the Azores. A crater was formed in the centre of the island, amidst fertile pastures, 3,500 feet in height, and this beautiful island, before rich in cattle, corn and wine, became a scene of ruin and devastation.
1809. Gottlieb Conrad Pfeffel, one of the best poets of Germany, died. He became blind at the age of 21, a misfortune which he bore more than 80 years, and rendered himself a useful citizen by conducting a school where many excellent scholars were educated.
1813. British and Indians opened their fire upon fort Meigs, from a 24, a 12 and a 6 pounder, and a howitzer. They fired 260 shot, and wounded 8 men, 1 mortally.
1813. John Baptist Bessiers, duke of Istria, killed. He distinguished himself under Napoleon, by whom he was greatly lamented. He was killed in the combat that preceded the battle of Lutzen.
1813. James Delille, one of the most celebrated of modern French poets, died.
1814. Pierre Van Cortlandt, a distinguished revolutionary patriot, died at his seat at Croton river, aged 94. He was a member of the first provincial congress, and eighteen years lieutenant governor of the state of New York.
1823. The skeleton, entire, of a mammoth, was discovered at Ilford, in Essex, England.
1830. The Comet started on her first trip up the Arkansas, being the first steam boat that ascended that river.
1837. An official return stated that there were 70,000 English residents in France, and over 24,000 in Paris alone.
1838. Battle of Rio Pardo, in Rio Grande, between the troops of the emperor of Brazil, about 1,800 in number, and the republican forces; the former were completely routed.
1839. Herbert Marsh, professor of divinity in the university of Cambridge, England, died. He was the author of many learned theological works and controversial publications.
1848. Insurrectionary movements at Rome in consequence of the pope's refusal to declare war against Austria.
1854. Great flood in the Connecticut valley; the water was 29½ feet above low water mark, and 2½ feet higher than during the great flood of 1801. Hundreds of persons were driven from their dwellings and drowned.
1855. The French under Gen. Pelissier carried the Russian works at Sebastopol, in front of the central bastion, and held them against vigorous sorties, taking eight small mortars, and 200 prisoners.
1855. An extraordinary eruption of mount Vesuvius commenced, which in ten days had advanced ten miles from its original source.
1856. Ogden Hoffman, a distinguished member of the New York bar, died, aged 62. He served as a midshipman in the last war with Great Britain, after which he studied law, and took the front rank in his profession, and showed an eminent fitness for the public offices which he filled.
1856. George James Guthrie, an eminent British surgeon, died in London, aged 71. He published several valuable works on surgery.