13 May in history
8 events that happened on 13 May, from 1110 to 1981.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1110 CE 916 years ago
Baldwin I of Jerusalem captures Beirut from the Fatimids
After a siege begun in February, the forces of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem took the coastal city of Beirut from the Fatimid Caliphate, with the help of Bertrand of Toulouse and a Genoese fleet.
1344 CE 682 years ago
A Latin Christian league defeats a Turkish fleet at Pallene
During the Smyrniote crusades, the fleet of a Latin Christian league defeated Turkish raiders at the Pallene Peninsula in northern Greece. The crusades, sent by Pope Clement VI against the Beylik of Aydin, were mostly successful in restricting piracy.
1568 CE 458 years ago
Mary, Queen of Scots is defeated at Langside
Mary's forces were routed near Glasgow by the regent Moray. Three days later she fled to England, where Elizabeth I kept her captive for nineteen years before her execution.
1619 CE 407 years ago
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Land's Advocate of Holland and the leading statesman of the young Dutch Republic, was beheaded in The Hague after his conviction for treason. He had clashed with Stadtholder Maurice of Nassau amid the conflict between Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants.
1787 CE 239 years ago
The First Fleet sails from Portsmouth for Australia
Eleven ships under Captain Arthur Phillip left England carrying some 1,400 people, about half of them convicts. They reached Botany Bay in January 1788 and founded Sydney.
1846 CE 180 years ago
US Congress declares war on Mexico
Congress approved President Polk's request for war after clashes near the Rio Grande. By the 1848 peace, Mexico had ceded California and most of the present American Southwest.
1940 CE 86 years ago
Churchill offers 'blood, toil, tears and sweat'
In his first speech to the Commons as Prime Minister, Winston Churchill promised a long struggle and declared his aim to be 'victory at all costs'.
1981 CE 45 years ago
Pope John Paul II is shot in St Peter's Square
Mehmet Ali Ağca shot and seriously wounded the Pope as he greeted crowds in Rome. John Paul II recovered and later visited his attacker in prison to forgive him.
Born on 13 May 3
Died on 13 May 6
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.