1264: The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, was promulgated by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland.
1380: At the Battle of Kulikovo, Russian forces defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols, stopping their advance.
1504: Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.
1565: The Knights of Malta lift the Turkish siege of Malta which started on May 18.1664: The Dutch surrender New Amsterdam to the British who rename it New York after King Charles II's brother James, the Duke of York.
1810: The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men established fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
1828: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Civil War hero is born.
1863: At the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.1873: Alfred Jarry, auther of the surrealist play Ubi Roi is born.
1900: Galveston, TX is nearly destroyed by a powerful hurricane that kills nearly 8,000 people.
1915: Frank Cady is born. He played Sam Drucker, the storekeeper, on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction.
1922: Sid Caesar is born.1922: Lyndon LaRouche, perennial presidential candidate is born. He's run eight times for president, once or twice from behind bars.
1923: The Honda Point Disaster takes place as nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven ships are lost.1925: Peter Sellers is born.
1930: 3M begins making Scotch Tape.
1932: Patsy Cline is born.
1944: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
1954: The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established.1957: Heather Thomas is born. She is most famous for appearing in a bikini during the credits of The Fall Guy.
1966: Star Trek premieres on NBC.
1971: In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
1974: President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.
