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Events which occured at some point during the month of May:
1094
El Cid captures Valencia from the Moors, carving out his own kingdom along the Mediterranean that is only nominally subservient to Alfonso VI of Castile. Valencia would be both Christian and Muslim, with adherents of both religions serving in his army.
1097
With the arrival of Duke Robert of Normandy, all of the major participants of the Crusades are together and the large force crosses into Asia Minor. Peter the Hermit and his few remaining followers join them. How many were there? Estimates vary wildly: 600,000 according to Fulcher of Chartres, 300,000 according to Ekkehard, and 100,000 according to Raymond of Aguilers. Modern scholars place their numbers at around 7,000 knights and 60,000 infantry.
1101
An Egyptian army marches towards Ascalon in order to drive out the Crusading invaders from the Holy Land.
1102
Ships bearing English and German Crusaders arrive at Jaffa. With these additional forces, Baldwin I is once again able to mount effective cavalry charges against the Muslims who had been besieging the city and, once again, drove the Egyptians back as far as Ascalon.
1110
The Franks overrun Muslim defenses in Beirut.
1123
A Venetian fleet defeats an Egyptian fleet at Ascalon.
1129
Fulk V, Count of Anjou, marries Melisende, daughter and heir of Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem.
1164
Shawar is reinstated as Vizier of Cairo with the help of Nur ad-Din Mahmud bin Zengi.
1193
Henry, king of Jerusalem, discovers that Pisan leaders had been conspiring with Guy of Cyprus to take over the city of Tyre. Henry arrests those responsible, but Pisan ships begin raiding the coast in retaliation, forcing Henry to get expel the Pisan merchants altogether.
1194
Death of Guy of Cyprus, originally Guy of Lusignan and once king of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Amalric of Lusignan, Guy's brother, is named his successor. Henry, king of Jerusalem, is able to make a treaty with Amalric. Three of Amalric's sons are married to three daughters of Isabella, two of which were also Henry's daughters.
1207
Raymond VI of Toulouse (descendant of Raymond IV or Toulouse, a leader of the First Crusade) refuses to assist in the suppression of the Cathars in southern France and is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III.
1211
Crusaders capture the castle of Aimery de Montréal, hanging several knights and burning several hundred Cathars who had fought there.
1215
French prince Louis, the future Louis VIII and son of king Philippe II, accompanies Simon de Montfort's crusading in southern France.
1216
Young Raymond VII of Toulouse launches a siege of Beaucaire. The garrison would surrender three months later, Simon de Montfort's first major loss in the Cathar Crusade.
1229
Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen returns home and regains control of his lands around Naples from Pope Gregory IX.
1250
Turanshah, the last Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt in a dynasty founded by Saladin, is murdered and replaced by his Mamluk slave-general Aibek, founder the Mamluk Dynasty. King Louis IX would actually form an alliance with the Mamluks shortly after this. The word "Mamluk" literally means "one who is owned," or "slave," a reference to the fact that the Mamluks started out as slaves.
1517
The Holy League is created. A union of several European powers, it is a Christian fighting force designed to combat the growing threat of Turkish expansion.
1570
Hernando al-Habaqui, commander of the garrison of Tijola, surrenders to Don Juan of Austria.
1869
Friedrich Nietzsche met for the first time with Richard Wagner at Tribschen, Germany. Nietzsche also spent his first weekend and Christmas at Tribschen later this year.
1873
Friedrich Nietzsche begins to experience eye problems and so gives his lectures without notes.
1888
Friedrich Nietzsche begins work on his book The Case of Wagner.
1963
The federal government indicted magazine publisher Paul Ginzburg for distributing obscene literature through the mail. In June he would be convicted and his magazine "Eros," along with some other publications of his, were declared obscene.
1964
The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) is created for the purpose of destroying Israel.
1979
Jerry Falwell is recruited by far-right activists Howard Phillips, Ed McAteer, and Paul Weyrich to form and lead the Moral Majority. Their goal is to bring fundamentalist Protestants to the Republican Party in the hopes of defeating Jimmy Carter in the presidential elections the following year.
1985
Jerry Falwell apologized to a Jewish group for seeking a "Christian" America. From now on, he promised, he would use the term "Judeo-Christian" America.
1988
The United Methodist Church formally rejected the notion or value of pluralism when, during the General Conference in St. Louis, Bishop Jack Tuell declared "The time has come to say the last rites over the notion that the defining characteristic of United Methodist theology is pluralism." This was just one of many examples of Protestant groups in America turning towards more conservative theological, social, and political stances.
1994
President Bill Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. This new law made the blocking of reproductive health care providers a federal crime.
1997
The Georgian Orthodox Church leaves the World Council of Churches because, according to them, the WCC failed to take Orthodox interests into consideration.
1999
Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, the first time that a pope has visited a predominantly Orthodox nation since the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054.
2001
The Taliban ordered all religious minorities in Afghanistan to wear tags identifying them as non-Muslims. In addition, all Hindu women were required to veil themselves like Muslim Afghan women.
2003
Scientists in Italy announce the recovery of DNA from early Homo sapiens who lived approximately 24,000 years ago. By comparing this DNA with sample from modern humans and from Neanderthals, scientists are able to determine that the Neanderthals were not in fact related to Homo sapiens.
2004
After seven years of legal maneuvers, delaying tactics, and other attempts to prevent the case from getting to court, the Church of Scientology finally decided to reach a settlement with estate of Lisa McPherson. The terms are kept confidential.
Do you have any suggestions for additions to this date? If so, you are encouraged to write and say so - the more information that can be added, the more complete and informative the calendar will be.
