What happened on May 12 ?

1003 - Pope Silvester II

1012 - Pope Sergius IV

1382 - Queen Joan I of Naples (b. 1327)

1399 - Demetrius I Starshiy (killed in battle) (b. 1327)

1465 - Thomas Palaeologus, Despot of the Despotate of Morea

1634 - George Chapman, English writer

1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)

1684 - Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest

1699 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626)

1700 - John Dryden, English writer (b. 1631)

1708 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)

1748 - Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer (b. 1692)

1759 - Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)

1784 - Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)

1792 - Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)

1796 - Johann Peter Uz, German poet (b. 1720)

1801 - Nicholas Repnin, Russian statesman (b. 1734)

1845 - János Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)

1859 - Sergei Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1791)

1860 - Charles Barry, English architect (b. 1795)

1864 - J. E. B. Stuart, American soldier from Virginia and a Confederate Army general (b. 1833)

1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist (b. 1795)

1871 - Anselme Payen, French physicist (b. 1795)

1876 - Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary, brutally killed by the Turks (b. 1843)

1884 - Bed?ich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)

1889 - John Cadbury, English chocolate entrepreneur (b. 1801)

1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)

1925 - Amy Lowell, American poet (b. 1874)

1931 - Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (b. 1858)

1935 - Józef Pi?sudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)

1944 - Max Brand, American author (b. 1892)

1944 - Q, British writer (b. 1863)

1956 - Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)

1957 - Erich von Stroheim, film director and actor (b. 1885)

1963 - Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)

1967 - John Masefield, British writer (b. 1878)

1970 - Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

1971 - Heinie Manush, baseball player (b. 1901)

1985 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter (b. 1901)

1986 - Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)

1990 - Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (b. 1912)

1992 - Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)

1994 - Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst (b. 1902)

1994 - John Smith, British politician (b. 1938)

1995 - Mia Martini, Italian singer (b. 1947)

1999 - Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (b. 1914)

2000 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)

2001 - Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)

2002 - Erich Kulas, ECW Wrestler (Mass Transit)

2003 - Prince Sadruddhin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)

2005 - Martin Lings, English Islamic scholar (b. 1909)

2005 - Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1937)

2006 - Gillespie V. Montgomery, former U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)