19 May in history
9 events that happened on 19 May, from 639 to 1994.
639 CE 1,387 years ago
Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen attack Emperor Taizong
Ashina Jiesheshuai, a member of the Ashina clan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and a general of the Tang dynasty, led his tribesmen in an assault on Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace. He died the same day.
715 CE 1,311 years ago
Gregory II begins his pontificate
Gregory II began his pontificate as bishop of Rome. His defiance of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian in the iconoclastic controversy eventually led to the establishment of the popes' temporal power.
934 CE 1,092 years ago
John Kourkouas takes Melitene for the Byzantine Empire
Besieged by the Byzantine general John Kourkouas, Melitene (modern Malatya) surrendered, compelled by hunger after many inhabitants had abandoned it. Kourkouas let only Christians or converts remain, and the city was fully incorporated into the empire.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1051 CE 975 years ago
Henry I of France marries Anna of Kiev
King Henry I of France, seeking a third wife further afield, married Anna of Kiev, a daughter of Yaroslav the Wise of Kievan Rus'. She later ruled as regent for their son Philip I after Henry's death in 1060.
1536 CE 490 years ago
Anne Boleyn is beheaded at the Tower of London
Henry VIII's second queen, mother of the future Elizabeth I, was executed by a French swordsman on charges widely seen as fabricated. Henry was betrothed to Jane Seymour the next day.
1643 CE 383 years ago
French victory at Rocroi breaks Spain's military reputation
The young Duke of Enghien, later the Great Condé, defeated the Spanish army at Rocroi in northern France. The defeat of the famed tercios signalled the decline of Spanish power on land.
1649 CE 377 years ago
England is declared a Commonwealth
Four months after the execution of Charles I, the Rump Parliament declared England a 'Commonwealth and Free State' without king or House of Lords. It gave way to Cromwell's Protectorate in 1653.
1935 CE 91 years ago
T. E. Lawrence dies after a motorcycle crash
T. E. Lawrence, 'Lawrence of Arabia', died six days after crashing near his Dorset cottage. He had served with the Arab Revolt and wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
1994 CE 32 years ago
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies in New York
The former First Lady died aged 64. Her composure after her husband's assassination in 1963 made her an enduring public figure, and she later worked as a book editor.
Born on 19 May 3
Died on 19 May 9
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.