1198 3-year-old Frederick II was was crowned King of Sicily on May 17, 1198 following his father's death. His mother Constance of Sicily died later that year and she was by Pope Innocent III succeeded as Frederick's guardian. The Pope ignored the poor little orphan boy on the basis of power-politics and Frederick was bought up by the citizens of Palermo, Sicily. He roamed the city, mixing with the common people. He was King of Germany from 1212 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220.
1519 Sandro Botticelli, Renaissance painter, died on May 17, 1519, aged 65. In Botticelli's later years he was much influenced by the teaching of Girolamo Savonarola, who in 1497 organized a “bonfire of the vanities”, in which Florentine works of art were publicly burnt. Botticell himself destroyed some of his earlier mythological paintings, feeling that when they were painted, he was unduly influenced by the worldly spirit of the age.
1642 The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal founded a permanent mission known as Ville-Marie (or "City of Mary”) on May 17, 1642, which eventually grew into the city of Montreal. The name 'Montréal' comes from Mont Royal, which means 'Royal Mountain' in French. At the center of Montreal is a mountain called Mount Royal). Montreal was originally a fur trading outpost belonging to France. It grew to become the largest city in Canada. (Toronto surpassed it in the 1970s.)
1682 The most successful pirate captain of the Golden Age of Piracy, Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts was born on May 17, 1682. Roberts had very strict rules on his ship, prohibiting all lights and drinking after eight in the evening. There was also a complete ban on gambling. If a crew member got hurt, he received a pension proportionate to his injury.
1757 Proposals by Benjamin Franklin led to the establishment in 1751 of the Philadelphia Academy, the first American Academy. The curriculum Franklin suggested was a considerable departure from the program of classical studies then in vogue. English and modern foreign languages were to be emphasized as well as mathematics and science. Seven men graduated on May 17, 1757, at the first commencement of the Philadelphia Academy. It later became the University of Pennsylvania.
1792 The New York Stock Exchange was founded on May 17, 1792, by 24 stockbrokers under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street in New York City. The brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, which established the rules for trading securities. The NYSE is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization, and it is one of the most important financial institutions in the world.
1814 Before 1814, Norway had been in a union with Denmark. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania. May 17th is Norway’s National Day, celebrating the signing of Norway’s constitution on May 17, 1814. The constitution was based on American and French models. The union with Sweden lasted from 1814 until June 1905.
1864 May 17th is celebrated in Norway as Children's Day or "Barnas dag" in Norwegian. It has been a public holiday since 1864. On this day, children are at the center of attention, and various festivities take place to honor them. One of the traditions on Children's Day in Norway, is that children may eat as much ice cream as they want.
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| A statue of Frederick II from the Black Tower of Regensburg, c. 1280–1290. |
1220 Henry III became King of England in 1216 after the death of his father, King John, Henry III was unable to be crowned in London when he first came to the throne because the French prince Louis (later Louis VIII) had taken control of the city. The king was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral, but this coronation was deemed by the Pope to be improper, and a further coronation was held in the Abbey on May 17, 1220.
1642 The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal founded a permanent mission known as Ville-Marie (or "City of Mary”) on May 17, 1642, which eventually grew into the city of Montreal. The name 'Montréal' comes from Mont Royal, which means 'Royal Mountain' in French. At the center of Montreal is a mountain called Mount Royal). Montreal was originally a fur trading outpost belonging to France. It grew to become the largest city in Canada. (Toronto surpassed it in the 1970s.)
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| Depiction of the first church in Fort Ville-Marie in the 1640s. |
1682 The most successful pirate captain of the Golden Age of Piracy, Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts was born on May 17, 1682. Roberts had very strict rules on his ship, prohibiting all lights and drinking after eight in the evening. There was also a complete ban on gambling. If a crew member got hurt, he received a pension proportionate to his injury.
1757 Proposals by Benjamin Franklin led to the establishment in 1751 of the Philadelphia Academy, the first American Academy. The curriculum Franklin suggested was a considerable departure from the program of classical studies then in vogue. English and modern foreign languages were to be emphasized as well as mathematics and science. Seven men graduated on May 17, 1757, at the first commencement of the Philadelphia Academy. It later became the University of Pennsylvania.
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| Pennsylvania campus |
1792 The New York Stock Exchange was founded on May 17, 1792, by 24 stockbrokers under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street in New York City. The brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, which established the rules for trading securities. The NYSE is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization, and it is one of the most important financial institutions in the world.
1814 Before 1814, Norway had been in a union with Denmark. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden and Denmark–Norway signed the Treaty of Kiel, whereby Frederick VI of Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania. May 17th is Norway’s National Day, celebrating the signing of Norway’s constitution on May 17, 1814. The constitution was based on American and French models. The union with Sweden lasted from 1814 until June 1905.
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| The 1814 constitutional assembly, painted by Oscar Wergeland |
1864 May 17th is celebrated in Norway as Children's Day or "Barnas dag" in Norwegian. It has been a public holiday since 1864. On this day, children are at the center of attention, and various festivities take place to honor them. One of the traditions on Children's Day in Norway, is that children may eat as much ice cream as they want.
1875 The author and poet Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849 and was buried in the grounds of Baltimore's Westminster Church and Burying Ground after a small funeral with only a few people attending. On May 17, 1875, Poe was reburied at the front of the churchyard after a city-wide campaign to raise money to build a large monument. He is buried there alongside his wife Virginia, and his aunt Maria Clemm.
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| Edgar Allan Poe's grave |
1890 The first UK children’s comic, an eight page version called Comic Cuts was first published on May 17, 1890. Its debut issue was an assortment of reprints from American publications. Comic Cuts was published from 1890 to 1953, lasting 3,006 issues, and its success in its early days inspired other publishers to produce rival comics. It finally disappeared in September 1953 when it was merged with Knockout.
1900 Robert Baden Powell, the founder of the Scout movement first won fame during the Boer War as the defender of Mafeking. The siege of the British garrison at Mafeking by Boer forces lasted 217 days and was finally broken on May 17, 1900. Colonel Robert Baden Powell was the British garrison command.
1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an American children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum originally published on May 17, 1900. Baum chose "Oz" as the name of the fantasy land in his The Wizard of Oz stories while making up the stories for his children and their friends. He spotted a file cabinet marked O-Z, and impulsively named the magical land "Oz." The success of a 1902 Broadway musical adaptation led Baum to write thirteen additional Oz books.
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| Rev Shields |
1922 Britain’s first woman racing driver Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt died May 17, 1922. In 1909 she advised female drivers to use a hand mirror to see the road behind them — thus inventing the rear-view mirror — and also carry a handgun if they're travelling alone.
1932 The Spanish–American War ended in 1898 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Its clauses included Spain ceding Porto Rico to the United States. The country's name was changed from "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico" on May 17, 1932, when a bill was signed by President Hoover.
1939 The first televised sports event in the US took place on May 17, 1939. With a single camera near the third-base line, WXBS-TV in New York televised a collegiate baseball game between Columbia and Princeton at Columbia’s Baker Field in New York City. Bill Stern was the announcer. At the time there were only 400 TV sets in America.
1940 Brussels was occupied by the Germans from May 17, 1940 until September 3, 1944 during World War II. The Germans, on the eve of their retreat, set fire to the Palais de Justice, and the cupola, which dominated the whole city, was completely burnt out.
1943 Engineer Barnes Wallis developed the ‘bouncing bomb’ by skipping marbles across a water tub in his back garden. The bombs were used on May 16-17 1943 in the Dambusters Raid - a mission to destroy three dams that were vital to German industry.
1947 After renegotiating the contract with the makers of her signature Chanel No. 5 perfume, Coco Chanel received her share of wartime profits from its sale on May 17, 1947. The amount she received was equivalent to some $9 million in 21st century valuation. In addition her future share would be two percent of all Chanel No. 5 sales worldwide. Her earnings were projected at $25 million a year, making Chanel at the time one of the richest women in the world.
1954 Racial segregation in schools was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court, on May 17, 1954. Chief Justice Earl Warren said: "The doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
1972 10,000 London school pupils went on strike on May 17, 1972 to march against caning, detention, uniforms and "headmaster dictatorships." Abandoning lessons to march on County Hall, the government thought it so serious MI5 and the Special Branch were involved to spy on "school activists."
1983 The U.S. Department of Energy declassified documents on May 17, 1983 showed the world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. The report showed that significant amounts of mercury had been released from the Oak Ridge Reservation into the East Fork Poplar Creek between 1950 and 1977.
1984 Prince Charles called a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," on May 17, 1984. It sparked controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. As a result of the ferocity of his attack, the design for the extension was dumped.
1996 On May 17, 1996 New Hampshire became the first US state to install a green LED traffic light. New Hampshire was selected because it was the first state to install the red and yellow variety statewide. LED traffic lights offer several advantages over traditional incandescent lights, including energy efficiency and longer lifespan.
1997 The Republic of Zaire was the name of the state that existed between 1971 and 1997 in the present Democratic Republic of the Congo. On May 17, 1997, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a leader of Tutsi forces from the province of South Kivu, became President after Mobutu Sese Seko, fled to Morocco, reverting the country's name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2003 The world's largest biscuit was baked by the Immaculate Baking Company in Flat Rock, North Carolina, USA on May 17, 2003. A chocolate chip cookie, it weighed 18 tonnes (40,000 lb) and had a diameter of 30.7 m (101 ft). The biscuit was made to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary.
2004 Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage on May 17, 2004. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had ruled on November 18, 2003, in the case of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, that the state's constitution guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry. After the ruling, a six-month delay was put in place to allow the legislature time to respond. Gay and lesbian couples began filling out applications for marriages licenses from 12:01am on May 17, 2004.
2008 The largest egg on record from a living bird weighed 5 lb 11.36 oz (2.589 kg) and was laid by an ostrich at a farm owned by Kerstin and Gunnar Sahlin in Borlänge, Sweden, on May 17, 2008. The largest eggs ever laid were those of the elephant bird, a now-extinct bird that lived on the island of Madagascar. Elephant bird eggs could measure up to 40cm, hold up to 11 liters of liquid, and weigh up to 8kg.
2016 Generation Grundeinkommen (‘Generation Basic Income’) created the largest poster ever in Geneva, Switzerland on May 17, 2016. The campaigners were seeking support for the implication of a basic income for the country’s workers, ahead of a referendum on the issue. The poster measured 8,115.53 m² (87,354.84 ft²) and consisted of a series of huge truck tarpaulins which were attached together with the words "What would you do if your income was taken care of" in gold lettering.
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