May 17 

Events

• 1590 - Anne of Denmark is crowned queen of Scotland.
• 1642 - Sieur de Maisonneuve[?] founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
• 1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette[?] begin exploring the Mississippi River.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
• 1792 - The New York Stock Exchange is formed.
• 1809 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French empire.
• 1814 - Norway gets its own constitution
• 1814 - Occupation of Monaco changes from the hands of the French to Austrian
• 1846 - The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax
• 1875 - Aristides[?] wins the first Kentucky Derby
• 1900 - Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
• 1902 - Archaeologist Spyridon Stais[?] finds the Antikythera mechanism
• 1919 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike[?]
• 1915 - The last British Liberal Party government (Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.
• 1933 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort[?] form Nasjonal Samling - the national-socialist party of Norway.
• 1940 - World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium
• 1943 - World War II: Surviving RAF Dam Busters return.
• 1943 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
• 1944 - Type IX U-boat: U-884[?] is launched
• 1954 - The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
• 1967 - Six-Day War: President Abdul Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Israel.
• 1969 - Venera program: Soviet Venera 6[?] begins to descend into Venus', atmosphere sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
• 1970 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II[?] to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1973 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.
• 1974 - Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall
• 1974 - Thirty-three people die from bombings in Dublin and Monaghan[?], Ireland.
• 1983 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1987 - Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by a missile from an Iraqi Mirage fighter killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
• 1995 - Jacques Chirac assumes the presidency of France
• 1999 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.

Births

• 1749 - Edward Jenner, inventor of the vaccine (+ 1823)
• 1768 - Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales (+ 1821)
• 1794 - Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (+ 1860)
• 1821 - Sebastian Kneipp[?], naturopathist[?] (+ 1897)
• 1842 - August Thyssen[?], industrialist (+ 1926)
• 1844 - Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (+ 1918)
• 1866 - Erik Satie, French composer (+ 1925)
• 1873 - Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (+ 1935)
• 1873 - Dorothy Richardson[?], writer (+ 1957)
• 1879 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (+ 1926)
• 1886 - Alfonso XIII of Spain (+ 1941)
• 1898 - Alfred Joseph Casson[?] painter (+ 1992)
• 1900 - Ruhollah Khomeini, (+ 1981)
• 1901 - Werner Egk[?], composer (+ 1983)
• 1904 - Jean Gabin[?], actor (+ 1976)
• 1911 - Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (+ 1998)
• 1922 - Dennis Brain, French horn player (+ 1957)
• 1922 - Antje Weisgerber[?], actress
• 1924 - Hannes Messemer[?], actor (+ 1991)
• 1935 - Dennis Potter, writer
• 1936 - Dennis Hopper, actor, director
• 1937 - Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy
• 1942 - Taj Mahal[?], singer, guitarist
• 1946 - Udo Lindenberg[?], musician
• 1950 - Janez Drnovsek, Slovene politician
• 1955 - Bill Paxton[?], actor
• 1956 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
• 1956 - Bob Saget[?], actor
• 1961 - Enya, singer, songwriter
• 1965 - Trent Reznor, singer, songwriter ("Nine Inch Nails")
• 1971 - Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, wife of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

Deaths

• 1510 - Sandro Botticelli, painter of The birth of Venus
• 1575 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1727 - Catherine I of Russia
• 1729 - Samuel Clarke, English philosopher
• 1765 - Alexis Claude Clairault, French mathematician
• 1829 - John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States
• 1838 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat
• 1839 - Archibald Alison, Scottish author
• 1875 - John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States
• 1917 - Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak
• 1935 - Paul Dukas, composer
• 1947 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1956 - Austin Osman Spare, magician
• 1985 - Abe Burrows[?], songwriter, composer, writer
• 1992 - Lawrence Welk, musician
• 2002 - Dave Berg, cartoonist for Mad magazine

Holidays and Observances

• National holiday of Norway (Constitution Day)
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Azaamat (Grandeur) - First day of the forth month of the Bahá'í Calendar

May 16 - May 18 - April 17 - June 17 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

explained by Tremellius as "we think, therefore." CHAPTER XV. Endnote 25. (1) "That simple obedience is the path of salvation." (2) embrace the Divine decrees as laws or commands; there is no need to conceive as appears from the demonstrations given in Chapter IV. End of Part III .

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