Historical Events
- May 8 Lady Blanche Arundell, surrenders Wardour Castle, which she had led the defense of against siege by Parliamentarian forces [1]
- May 10 Essex County, Massachusetts is founded, which contains the town of Salem in which the notorious witch-trials will occur in 1692
- May 13 Battle of Grantham: English parliamentary armies beat royalists
- May 13 Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago, Chile; kills a third of the population
- May 19 Battle at Rocroi/Allersheim: French forces destroy a Spanish army
- May 19 Dutch expedition to southern Chile led by Hendrik Brouwer captures Spanish-held islands of Chiloë and massacres its garrison [1]
- May 19 Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England
Famous Birthdays
- May 7 Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician, 17th Mayor of New York City (1686-88), born in New Amsterdam (now NYC) (d. 1700)
