^B{^#!16!31 May^N! Feast day of St Petronilla, Saints Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianella, and Protus, and St Mechtildi of Edelstetten.
^B{1287^B} The Genoese defeated the Venetian fleet off Acre and blockaded the coast of Outremer. ^B{1902^B} The Peace of Vereeniging ended the Boer War, in which British casualties numbered 5,774 killed (and 16,000 deaths from disease) against 4,000 Boers killed in action. ^B{1916^B} The Battle of Jutland began, in which Royal Navy losses exceeded those of the German fleet. ^B{1942^B} Czech patriots assassinated Gestapo leader Heydrich. ^B{1952^B} In the USSR, the Volga-Don Canal was opened. ^B{1961^B} South Africa became an independent republic outside the Commonwealth, with C R Swart as president.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Margaret Beaufort, consort of Henry VII of England, ^B{1443^B}; Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, ^B{1443^B}; Rudolphus Agricola, Dutch humanist, ^B{1443^B}; Guilio Alberoni, Italian cardinal and politician, ^B{1664^B}; Karl August von Hardenberg, Prussian politician, ^B{1750^B}; Walt Whitman, US poet, ^B{1819^B}; Francis Younghusband, English explorer, ^B{1863^B}; William Heath Robinson, English illustrator, ^B{1872^B}; Don Ameche, US film actor, ^B{1908^B}; Clint Eastwood, US film actor and director, ^B{1930^B}; Terry Waite, religious adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, ^B{1939^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}^>}Jacopo Tintoretto, Italian painter, ^B{1594^B}; Frederick William I of Prussia, ^B{1740^B}; Jean Cavalier, French Huguenot preacher and leader, ^B{1740^B}; Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer, ^B{1809^B}; Joseph Grimaldi, English clown, ^B{1837^B}; Walther Funk, German Nazi economist, ^B{1960^B}; Adolf Eichmann, Nazi leader, hanged as a war criminal, ^B{1962^B}.
