On this day: May 27

Events on May 27

• 1096 The largest of the Rhineland massacres took place in Mainz, where at least 1,100 Jews were killed by the People's Crusade. Wikipedia
• 1153 Malcolm IV was crowned King of Scotland at the age of twelve. Wikipedia
• 1644 Manchu regent Dorgon defeated rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing. Wikipedia
• 1703 Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg. Wikipedia
• 1799 War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeated the French Army of the Danube, capturing the strategically important Swiss town of Winterthur. Wikipedia
• 1896 One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing more than 255 people and injuring at least 1,000 others. Wikipedia
• 1915 HMS Princess Irene promulgated the Pio-Benedictine Code, the first official comprehensive codification of Latin canon law. Wikipedia
• 1923 French drivers André Lagache and René Léonard completed the most laps during the first edition of the sports car race the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Wikipedia
• 1930 Standing at 1,047 ft (319 m), New York City's Chrysler Building opened as the world's tallest building before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building 11 months later. Wikipedia
• 1935 The United States Supreme Court ruled in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States that the National Industrial Recovery Act, a major component of the New Deal, was unconstitutional. Wikipedia
• 1937 The Golden Gate Bridge, at the time the world's longest suspension bridge by span, opened between San Francisco and Marin County, California. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Ninety-seven soldiers of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment were killed after surrendering to German forces. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: The German battleship Bismarck was sunk by gun and torpedo fire by the British battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V and supporting cruisers. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency". Wikipedia
• 1954 The security clearance of American nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, head of Project Y, was revoked. Wikipedia
• 1958 The F-4 Phantom II, the principal air superiority jet fighter for both the U.S. Navy and Air Force, made its first flight. Wikipedia
• 1962 A fire at a landfill in Centralia, Pennsylvania, spread to an abandoned coal mine, where it continues burning today. Wikipedia
• 1963 American singer Bob Dylan released The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, his first album to include a significant number of original songs. Wikipedia
• 1967 Australians voted overwhelmingly to include Indigenous Australians in population counts for constitutional purposes and to allow the federal government to make special laws affecting them in states. Wikipedia
• 1975 The deadliest road accident in England took place when the brakes on a coach failed and it crashed in North Yorkshire, killing 32 people. Wikipedia
• 1983 An explosion at an illegal fireworks factory near Benton, Tennessee, killed eleven people. Wikipedia
• 1995 American actor Christopher Reeve was thrown from his horse, leaving him quadriplegic; he later became an activist on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries. Wikipedia
• 1995 Bosnian War: Forces of the Army of Republika Srpska captured a United Nations post at Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo; six soldiers of both sides were killed when French forces retook the post later in the day. Wikipedia
• 1997 A destructive F5-rated tornado tracked through a subdivision of homes northwest of Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people. Wikipedia
• 2001 Twenty tourists were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in Palawan, Philippines, triggering a hostage crisis that lasted for more than a year. Wikipedia
• 2006 An earthquake registering 6.4 Mw struck near the city of Yogyakarta on the southern side of the Indonesian island of Java, killing more than 5,700 people. Wikipedia
• 2014 The football club Kerala Blasters FC and its first supporters' group Manjappada were formed. Wikipedia

Born on May 27

• 1332 Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian historian and theologian (died 1406) Wikipedia
• 1867 Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1884 Max Brod, Czech journalist, author, and composer (died 1968) Wikipedia
• 1894 Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (died 1961) Wikipedia
• 1894 Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (died 1961) Wikipedia
• 1897 John Cockcroft, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1907 Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1911 Hubert Humphrey, American journalist and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1911 Vincent Price, American actor (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1918 Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese commander and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Japan (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1922 Christopher Lee, English actor (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1923 Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1955 Richard Schiff, American actor, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1956 Giuseppe Tornatore, Italian director and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1967 Paul Gascoigne, English international footballer, coach, and manager Wikipedia
• 1971 Paul Bettany, English actor Wikipedia
• 1975 Jamie Oliver, English chef and author Wikipedia
• 1987 Gervinho, Ivorian footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Jonas Hector, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1994 João Cancelo, Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1994 Aymeric Laporte, French-Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1999 Lily-Rose Depp, French-American actress and model Wikipedia

Died on May 27

• 927 Simeon I of Bulgaria first Bulgarian Emperor (born 864) Wikipedia
• 1508 Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (born 1452) Wikipedia
• 1525 Thomas Müntzer, German mystic and theologian (born 1488) Wikipedia
• 1564 John Calvin, French pastor and theologian (born 1509) Wikipedia
• 1797 François-Noël Babeuf, French journalist (born 1760) Wikipedia
• 1840 Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (born 1782) Wikipedia
• 1910 Robert Koch, German physician and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1843) Wikipedia
• 1939 Joseph Roth, Austrian-French journalist and author (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1964 Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1986 Murder of the Faruqis: Wikipedia
• 1987 John Howard Northrop, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1988 Ernst Ruska, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 2003 Luciano Berio, Italian composer and educator (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2009 Clive Granger, Welsh-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1934) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Nicaragua) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Nigeria) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Augustine of Canterbury Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Lojze Grozde Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bruno of Würzburg Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eutropius of Orange Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hildebert Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Julius the Veteran Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Mother's Day (Bolivia) Wikipedia
• Navy Day (Japan) Wikipedia
• Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin) Wikipedia
• Start of National Reconciliation Week (Australia) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “May 27” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/May 27” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 27” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for May 27 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 27 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. The 1703 entry stays as well, and comes first in the one-line summary: we keep a short list, checked by hand, of widely known events that Wikipedia's editors leave out of their selection, usually because the article carries a maintenance notice. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.