What happened on May 18 ?

1450 - Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1397)

1550 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (b. 1498)

1584 - Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559)

1675 - Stanis?aw Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (b. 1623)

1675 - Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (b. 1637)

1692 - Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (b. 1617)

1733 - Georg Böhm, German organist (b. 1761)

1780 - Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland

1781 - Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian Indian revolutionary, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, Túpac Amaru (b. 1742)

1799 - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (b. 1732)

1800 - Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)

1807 - John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (b. 1721)

1808 - Elijah Craig, American minister and inventor (b. 1738?)

1900 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)

1909 - George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)

1909 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)

1910 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer (b. 1821)

1911 - Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)

1922 - Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)

1941 - Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)

1955 - Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)

1956 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)

1973 - Jeannette Rankin, first U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1880)

1975 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)

1980 - Ian Curtis, British musician, singer and lyricist (Joy Division) (b. 1956)

1981 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)

1988 - Daws Butler, American voice actor (b. 1916)

1990 - Jill Ireland, British actress (b. 1936)

1992 - Marshall Thompson, American actor (b. 1925)

1995 - Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (b. 1903)

1995 - Alexander Godunov, Russian ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)

1995 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)

1999 - Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)

1999 - Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)

2000 - Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946)

2003 - Anna Santisteban, Puerto Rican beauty contest organizer (b. 1914)

2003 - Barb Tarbox, Canadian anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961)

2004 - Elvin Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1927)

2006 - Andrew Martinez, U.C. Berkeley's "Naked Guy". (b. 1973?)

Festival of the god Pan in Ancient Greece

Festival of Faunus in Ancient Rome

liturgical Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church: Saint Eric of Sweden

Saint Dioscorus

St. Felix of Cantalice

Pope John I

Saint Alexandra

BBC: On This Day

The New York Times: On This Day

On This Day in Canada