12 May in history
6 events that happened on 12 May, from 1191 to 1949.
1191 CE 835 years ago
Richard the Lionheart marries Berengaria in Cyprus
During his conquest of Byzantine-ruled Cyprus on the way to the Third Crusade, Richard I married Berengaria of Navarre at Limassol. The island became a long-lasting crusader kingdom.
1364 CE 662 years ago
Casimir the Great founds a university in Kraków
King Casimir III founded the Kraków Academy, now the Jagiellonian University. It is the oldest university in Poland, where Nicolaus Copernicus later studied.
1820 CE 206 years ago
Florence Nightingale is born in Florence
Florence Nightingale, named after her birthplace, was born to a wealthy English family. Her work in the Crimean War and her use of statistics reshaped nursing and hospital care.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1926 CE 100 years ago
Airship Norge crosses the North Pole
Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile and Lincoln Ellsworth flew over the Pole in the airship Norge on a flight from Svalbard to Alaska. It is the first undisputed arrival at the North Pole.
1949 CE 77 years ago
Soviet Union lifts the Berlin Blockade
After almost eleven months, Soviet authorities reopened road and rail routes into West Berlin. The Allied airlift that had supplied the city became a defining episode of the early Cold War.
