What is May 23?
{{calendar}} {{day}} == Events == === Up to 1900 === * [[1430]] &ndash; [[Joan of Arc]] is captured by the [[Burgundy|Burgundians]] while loading an army to relieve [[Compiegne]]. * [[1498]] &ndash; [[Girolamo Savonarola]] is burned at the stake in [[Florence]], [[Italy]]. * [[1533]] &ndash; The [[marriage]] between King [[Henry VIII of England]] and [[Catherine of Aragon]] is declared null and void. * [[1555]] &ndash; Giovanni Pietro Carafa becomes [[Pope Paul VI]]. * [[1568]] &ndash; The [[Netherlands]] declare their independence from [[Spain]]. * [[1568]] &ndash; Dutch rebels, lead by [[Louis of Nassau]], brother of [[William the Silent|William I of Orange]], defeat [[Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg]] and his loyalist troops in the [[Battle of Heiligerlee]], starting the [[Eighty Years' War]]. * [[1609]] &ndash; Official ratification of the Second [[Charter]] of [[Virginia]] takes place. * [[1618]] &ndash; The [[Second Defenestration of Prague]] leads to the start of the [[Thirty Years' War]]. * [[1701]] &ndash; After being convicted of [[piracy]] and of [[murder]]ing [[William Moore]], Captain [[William Kidd]] is executed by [[hanging]] in [[London]]. * [[1706]] &ndash; [[Battle of Ramillies]]: [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]] defeats a French [[army]] under Marshal [[Francois de Neufville, duc de Villeroi]]. * [[1788]] &ndash; [[South Carolina]] becomes the 8th State of the [[US]]. * [[1793]] &ndash; [[Battle of Famars]] during the [[Flanders Campaign]] of the [[War of the First Coalition]]. * [[1805]] &ndash; [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] is crowned [[King]] of [[Italy]] in [[Milan]] [[Cathedral]]. * [[1829]] &ndash; A [[patent]] for the [[accordion]] is granted to [[Cyrill Demian]] in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]]. * [[1844]] &ndash; [[Declaration]] of the [[Bab]]: A merchant from [[Shiraz]], [[Persia]], announces that he is a [[Prophet]] and founds a religious movement that is later crushed by the [[Persia]]n [[government]]. This movement is considered to be a forerunner of the [[Baha'i]] faith, in which t