What happened on May 6 ?

680 - Muawiyah I, caliph (b. 602)

1502 - James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower (executed)

1596 - Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)

1620 - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b. 1543)

1631 - Robert Bruce Cotton, English poltician

1638 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)

1708 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)

1757 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)

1757 - Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (b. 1683)

1757 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)

1859 - Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1769)

1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b. 1817)

1877 - Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet (b. 1804)

1902 - Bret Harte, American author (b. 1836)

1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)

1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856)

1939 - Konstantin Somov, Russian writer (b. 1869)

1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)

1952 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)

1961 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)

1963 - Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1881)

1970 - Aleksandr Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1879)

1987 - William Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1913)

1990 - Charles Farrell, American actor (b. 1901)

1992 - Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)

1995 - Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1956)

1995 - Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Braganca (b. 1907)

2002 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)

2004 - Philip Kapleau, American Zen teacher (b. 1912)

2006 - Lillian Asplund, last American RMS Titanic survivor.

2006 - Lorne Saxberg, Canadian television journalist (b. 1958)

2006 - Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist.

2006 - Grant McLennan, co-founder of Australian band The Go-Betweens. (b. 1958)