On this day: May 12

Events on May 12

• 254 Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I, becoming the 23rd pope of the Catholic Church, and immediately takes a stand against Novatianism. Wikipedia
• 1191 Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus; she is crowned Queen consort of England the same day. Wikipedia
• 1328 Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice. Wikipedia
• 1364 Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, is founded in Kraków. Wikipedia
• 1551 National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru. Wikipedia
• 1797 War of the First Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte conquers Venice. Wikipedia
• 1821 The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi. Wikipedia
• 1846 The Donner Party of pioneers departs Independence, Missouri for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Union Army troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: Two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: The Confederates were routed in the Battle of Raymond, a small battle that had an inordinately large impact on the Vicksburg campaign. Wikipedia
• 1870 The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15. Wikipedia
• 1926 The crew of the airship Norge, led by Roald Amundsen, became the first people to make a verified trip to the North Pole. Wikipedia
• 1926 The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricts agricultural production through government purchase of livestock for slaughter and paying subsidies to farmers when they remove land from planting, is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Wikipedia
• 1941 German engineer Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the first working programmable and fully automatic computer, to an audience of scientists in Berlin. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The U.S. tanker SS Virginia is torpedoed in the mouth of the Mississippi River by the German submarine U-507. Wikipedia
• 1949 Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin. Wikipedia
• 1965 The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon. Wikipedia
• 1968 Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the war for the Australian Army. Wikipedia
• 1982 Juan María Fernández y Krohn attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II with a bayonet in Fátima, Portugal. Wikipedia
• 1982 During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Wikipedia
• 1998 Four students were shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers at Trisakti University in Jakarta, which led to widespread riots and the resignation of President Suharto nine days later. Wikipedia
• 2002 Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since the Cuban Revolution. Wikipedia
• 2006 Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo (Brazil), leaving at least 150 dead. Wikipedia

Born on May 12

• 1496 Gustav I of Sweden (died 1560) Wikipedia
• 1670 Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (died 1733) Wikipedia
• 1803 Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (died 1873) Wikipedia
• 1812 Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (died 1888) Wikipedia
• 1820 Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse, social reformer, and statistician (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1828 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (died 1882) Wikipedia
• 1842 Jules Massenet, French composer (died 1912) Wikipedia
• 1845 Gabriel Fauré, French pianist, composer, and educator (died 1924) Wikipedia
• 1889 Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman and Holocaust survivor; father of diarist Anne Frank (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1895 Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian-American philosopher and author (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1895 William Giauque, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1907 Katharine Hepburn, American actress (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1910 Dorothy Hodgkin, English biochemist, crystallographer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1921 Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and illustrator (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1929 Sam Nujoma, Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1937 George Carlin, American comedian, actor, and author (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1962 Emilio Estevez, American actor Wikipedia
• 1977 Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1980 Rishi Sunak, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Wikipedia
• 1981 Rami Malek, American actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Marcelo, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1997 Frenkie de Jong, Dutch footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 12

• 1003 Sylvester II, pope of the Catholic Church (born 946) Wikipedia
• 1012 Sergius IV, pope of the Catholic Church (born 970) Wikipedia
• 1700 John Dryden, English poet, playwright, and critic (born 1631) Wikipedia
• 1860 Charles Barry, English architect, designed Upper Brook Street Chapel and the Palace of Westminster (born 1795) Wikipedia
• 1884 Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer and educator (born 1824) Wikipedia
• 1935 Józef Piłsudski, Polish field marshal and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Poland (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1966 Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1970 Nelly Sachs, German poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1985 Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1994 John Smith, Scottish-English lawyer and politician, Labour Party leader, Leader of the Opposition (born 1938) Wikipedia
• 1994 Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 2001 Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2008 Irena Sendler, Polish nurse and humanitarian (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 2017 Mauno Koivisto, Finnish banker and politician, ninth President of Finland (born 1923) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Blessed Joan of Portugal Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Crispoldus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dominic de la Calzada Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Epiphanius of Salamis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gregory Dix (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Imelda Lambertini Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Modoald Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople (Catholic and Eastern Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philip of Agira Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rictrude Wikipedia
• International ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia Awareness Day Wikipedia
• International Nurses Day Wikipedia
• J. V. Snellman Day or the Finnish Heritage Day (Finland) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 12” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.