14 May History
- 1264 - King Henry III is captured by his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, at the Battle of Lewes.
- 1509 - At the Battle of Agnadello, the French defeat the Venitians in Northern Italy.
- 1610 - French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) is assassinated by François Ravillac, a fanatical monk.
- 1796 - English physician Edward Jenner gives the first successful smallpox vaccination.
- 1804 - Explorer William Clark sets off from St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1853 - Gail Borden applies for a patent for condensed milk.
- 1863 - Union General Nathanial Banks heads towards Port Hudson along the Mississippi River.
- 1897 - Guglielmo Marconi sends first communication by wireless telegraph.
- 1897 - "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa is performed for the first time in Philadelphia.
- 1935 - A plebiscite in the Philippines ratifies an independence agreement.
- 1940 - Holland surrenders to Germany.
- 1942 - The British Army, in retreat from Burma, reach India.
- 1948 - Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion establishes the State of Israel.
- 1961 - A bus carrying black and white civil rights activists is bombed and burned in Alabama.
- 1969 - Three companies of the 101st Airborne Division fail to push North Vietnamese forces off Hill 937 in South Vietnam.
- 1973 - The U.S. space station Skylab is launched.
- 1991 - In South Africa, Winnie Mandela is sentenced to six years in prison for her part in the kidnapping and beating of three black youths and the death of a fourth.
14 May Birthdays
- 1533 - Margaret of Valois, queen consort of Navarre.
- 1686 - Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist, instrument maker, inventor of the thermometer.
- 1727 - Thomas Gainsborough, painter ("Blue Boy").
- 1771 - Thomas Wedgwood, English physicist, photography pioneer.
- 1897 - Sidney Bechet, jazz clarinetist and soprano saxaphone player.
- 1933 - Richard P. Brickner, novelist (The Broken Year).
- 1944 - George Lucas, film director and producer (Star Wars).
- 1946 - Robert Jarvik, American physician.