1855. The king of Hanover issued an ordinance annulling the constitution settled in 1848, and the provincial electoral law of 1850.
1856. James King, editor of the Evening Mirror, at San Francisco, California, died of a pistol wound inflicted in the street a few days before by Casey, editor of the Sunday Times. Casey was arrested and conveyed to jail under great popular excitement. Subsequently the vigilance committee, numbering 3000 men, proceeded to the jail, and took Casey and another murderer to the committee rooms, where they were tried, and soon after hung.
MAY 21.
216 B. C. Battle of Cannæ, in Italy, in which the Roman consuls were vanquished by Hannibal, with a loss of 40,000 men, including Paulus Æmylius, and 5,630 knights. The Carthaginians seemed not to know the use of victory.
987. Louis V (the lazy), king of France, poisoned by his wife, Blanche.
1342. John Cantacuzenus, the historian of his own times, and a defender of the faith, inaugurated emperor of Constantinople.
1420. Treaty of Troyes, by which Henry V of England was to marry Kate, daughter of Charles VII of France, and the two kingdoms to be united under Henry on the death of Charles.
1502. The island of St. Helena discovered.
1542. Ferdinand de Soto, a Spanish adventurer, died at the confluence of the Guacoya and Mississippi. He was a companion of Pizarro in his Peruvian expedition, and amassed great wealth; after which he became governor of Cuba. He fitted out an expedition to search Florida for more gold, and lost his life.
1643. Battle of Wakefield; the forces of Charles I defeated by the parliamentary troops.