Calendar date · May

What happened on May 18

On May 18, 332: Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.

Events

61

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Taurus

Featured moment · 332

Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.

Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, the Edict of Milan decriminalising Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution. This was a turning point in the Christianisation of the Roman Empire.

People

Born on May 18

Hala Finley 2009– American actress (born 2009)
Travis Hunter 2003– American football player (born 2003)
Alina Zagitova 2002– Russian figure skater (born 2002)
Emma Navarro 2001– American tennis player (born 2001)
Ryan Sessegnon 2000– English footballer (born 2000)
Steven Sessegnon 2000– English footballer (born 2000)
Laura Omloop 1999– Belgian pop singer (born 1999)
Polina Edmunds 1998– American figure skater (born 1998)
Stuart Percy 1993– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1993)
Show 9 more — notable births on May 18
Jessica Watson 1993– Australian sailor (born 1993)
Adwoa Aboah 1992– British fashion model
Dimitri Daeseleire 1990– Belgian footballer
Yuya Osako 1990– Japanese footballer (born 1990)
Josh Starling 1990– Australian rugby league footballer
Taeyang 1988– South Korean singer (born 1988)
Kevin Anderson 1986– South African tennis player
Oliver Sin 1985– Hungarian painter
Henrique Sereno 1985– Portuguese footballer (born 1985)

People

Died on May 18

Bruce Nordstrom American businessman (1933–2024)
Tony O'Reilly Irish businessman and rugby union player (1936–2024)
Alice Stewart American political commentator (1966–2024)
Jim Brown American football player and actor (1936–2023) Charles Grodin American actor (1935–2021)
Yolanda Tortolero Venezuelan politician (died 2021)
Ken Osmond American actor and police officer (1943–2020)
Austin Eubanks American shooting survivor and activist
Roger Ailes American TV executive and consultant (1940–2017)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on May 18
Chris Cornell American musician (1964–2017)
Jacque Fresco American futurist (1916–2017)
Halldór Ásgrímsson Icelandic politician
Raymond Gosling British physicist (1926–2015)
Jean-François Théodore French businessman and economist
Dobrica Ćosić Serbian writer and politician
Hans-Peter Dürr German physicist
Kaiketsu Masateru Japanese sumo wrestler
Chukwuedu Nwokolo Nigerian medical doctor

Timeline

Every May 18 on record

  1. 332 Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.

    Roman emperor from 306 to 337

    Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, the Edict of Milan decriminalising Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution. This was a turning point in the Christianisation of the Roman Empire.

  2. 872 Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.

    Ruler of the Carolingian Empire from 844 to 875

    Louis II, sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone.

  3. 1096 First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.

    1096–1099 Christian re-conquest of the Holy Land

    The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, which were initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Their aim was to return the Holy Land—which had been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century—to Christian rule. By the 11th century, although Jerusalem had then been ruled by Muslims for hundreds of years, the practices of the Seljuk rulers in the region began to threaten local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West and the Byzantine Empire itself.

  4. 1152 The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.

    King of England from 1154 to 1189

    Henry II was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England, substantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France, an area that was later called the Angevin Empire, and also held power over Scotland for a time and the Duchy of Brittany.

  5. 1268 The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.

    Crusader state in the Levant from 1098 to 1268

    The Principality of Antioch was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.

  6. 1291 Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
  7. 1302 Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
  8. 1388 During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Ming army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
  9. 1499 Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
  10. 1565 The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
  11. 1593 Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
  12. 1631 In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
  13. 1652 Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced.
  14. 1695 The 1695 Linfen earthquake in Shannxi, Qing dynasty causes extreme damage and kills at least 52,000 people.
  15. 1756 The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
Show 15 earlier entries from May 18
  1. 1783 First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
  2. 1794 Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
  3. 1803 Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
  4. 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
  5. 1811 Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
  6. 1812 John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
  7. 1843 The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
  8. 1848 Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
  9. 1860 United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
  10. 1863 American Civil War: Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant begin the Siege of Vicksburg during the Vicksburg campaign in order to take full control of the Mississippi River.
  11. 1896 The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
  12. 1896 Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
  13. 1900 The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
  14. 1912 The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
  15. 1917 World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.

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