Calendar date · May

What happened on May 20

On May 20, 325: The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.

Events

64

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Taurus

Featured moment · 325

The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.

The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I, also known as the First Ecumenical Council. It met from May until the end of July 325.

People

Born on May 20

Doug the Pug 2012– American celebrity dog (born 2012)
Jamie Chadwick 1998– British racing driver (born 1998)
Nam Nguyen 1998– Canadian figure skater (born 1998)
Kaoru Mitoma 1997– Japanese footballer (born 1997)
Brian Kelly 1996– Australian rugby league footballer (born 1996)
Ramy Rabia 1993– Egyptian footballer (born 1993)
Caroline Zhang 1993– American figure skater
Cate Campbell 1992– Australian competitive swimmer (born 1992)
Jack Gleeson 1992– Irish actor (born 1992)
Show 9 more — notable births on May 20
Enes Kanter 1992– American basketball player (born 1992)
Fanny Smith 1992– Swiss freestyle skier (born 1992)
Bastian Baker 1991– Swiss musician
Emre Çolak 1991– Turkish footballer
Josh O'Connor 1990– English actor (born 1990)
Siosia Vave 1989– Tonga international rugby league footballer
Joel Moon 1988– Australian rugby league footballer
Mike Havenaar 1987– Japanese footballer (born 1987)
Julian Wright 1987– American basketball player (born 1987)

People

Died on May 20

George Wendt American actor (1948–2025)
Ivan Boesky American stock trader (1937–2024)
Roger Angell American writer (1920–2022)
Susan Roces Filipino actress (1941–2022)
Gary Wilson American writer (1956–2021)
Niki Lauda Austrian racing driver (1949–2019)
Kho Jabing Convicted murderer executed in Singapore
Bob Belden American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader
Femi Robinson Nigerian actor (1940–2015)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on May 20
Sandra Bem American psychologist
Ross Brown Rugby player
Robyn Denny British artist (1930–2014)
Arthur Gelb American journalist and editor
Prince Rupert Loewenstein Spanish-born German-Bavarian aristocrat (1933–2014)
Barbara Murray British screen actress (1929–2014)
Flavio Costantini Italian artist (1926–2013)
Billie Dawe Canadian ice hockey player
Anders Eliasson Swedish composer (1947–2013)

Timeline

Every May 20 on record

  1. 325 The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.

    Council of Christian bishops in Nicaea, 325

    The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I, also known as the First Ecumenical Council. It met from May until the end of July 325.

  2. 491 Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.

    Eastern Roman empress from 474 to 515

    Aelia Ariadne was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Zeno and Anastasius I. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with her feast day falling on August 22.

  3. 685 The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.

    685 battle between Picts and Northumbrians

    The Battle of Dun Nechtain or Battle of Nechtansmere was fought between the Picts, led by King Bridei Mac Bili, and the Northumbrians, led by King Ecgfrith, on 20 May 685.

  4. 794 While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded.

    Early English kingdom (527–918)

    Mercia was an early medieval English kingdom, one of the seven kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon period. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlands of England.

  5. 921 Christopher Lekapenos is crowned Byzantine co-emperor by his father, emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, on the feast of Whitsun.

    Byzantine emperor from 921 to 931

    Christopher Lekapenos or Lecapenus was the eldest son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos and co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 921 until his death in 931. Christopher was given the position of megas hetaireiarches in spring 919, after Romanos assumed guardianship of the underage Emperor Constantine VII. Romanos, who made himself co-emperor in 920, raised Christopher to co-emperor on 21 May 921 to give his family precedence over Constantine VII's Macedonian line.

  6. 942 A Magyar raiding army defeats forces of the Muslim frontier state of Fraxinetum.
  7. 1202 A major earthquake hits Syria, widely felt between Sicily and Iraq.
  8. 1217 The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
  9. 1293 King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
  10. 1426 King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava.
  11. 1449 The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
  12. 1497 John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
  13. 1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
  14. 1520 Hernan Cortés defeats Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination.
  15. 1521 Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
Show 15 earlier entries from May 20
  1. 1570 Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
  2. 1609 Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
  3. 1631 The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
  4. 1645 Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of the residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
  5. 1714 Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar.
  6. 1741 The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
  7. 1775 The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  8. 1802 By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
  9. 1813 Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
  10. 1861 American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
  11. 1861 American Civil War: The State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
  12. 1862 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers.
  13. 1864 American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
  14. 1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
  15. 1875 Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.

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