1527: German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.
1529: Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.
1576: The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.
1682: King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.
1835: James Gordon Bennett published the "New York Herald" for the first time.
1840: The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale in Great Britain.
1851: The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.
1851: Linus Yale patented the clock-type lock.
1861: Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.
1877: Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.
1882: The U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.
1889: The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.
1910: Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.
1915: Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.
1937: The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people (of the 97 on board) were killed.
1941: Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.
1941: Bob Hope gave his first USO show at California's March Field.
1942: During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.
1945: Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
1946: The New York Yankees became the first major league baseball team to travel by plane.
1954: British runner Roger Banister broke the four minute mile.
1957: U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Profiles in Courage".
1959: The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid (at the time) for a painting by a living artist.
1960: Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones. They were divorced in 1978.
1960: U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
1962: The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.
1981: A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin's entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1994: The Chunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.
1994: Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against U.S. President Clinton. The case alleged that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.
1997: Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
1997: Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978-1985.
1999: Britain's Labour Party won the largest number of seats in the first elections for Scotland's new Parliament and Wales' new Assembly.
1999: A parole board in New York voted to release Amy Fisher. She had been in jail for 7 years for shooting her lover's wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.
2001: Chandra Levy's parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy's body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.
