| 29 May 1123 | Egypt, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Fatimid Caliphate [Crusades (1095–1272)] | An invading Fatimid (Shiite Muslim) army flees back to Egypt when faced by the Frankish army of Jerusalem at Ibelin; the Venetians destroy the Fatimid fleet off Ascalon. |
| 29 May 1176 | Holy Roman Empire, Italy [wars] | After Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, refuses to send reinforcements, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa is decisively defeated by the Lombard League, at Legnano, Italy. |
| 29 May 1218 | Egypt, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, Flanders [Crusades (1095–1272)] | The main contingent of the Fifth Crusade lands outside Damietta at the mouth of the River Nile, Egypt. |
| 29 May 1413 | France [political events] | Despite the issue of the Ordonnance Cabochienne reforming the government, fresh riots break out in Paris, France, and the butchers establish a rule of terror, slaughtering supporters of the ‘Armagnacs’ (supporters of the late Louis, Duke of Orléans, rival of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy). |
| 29 May 1630 | England [births and deaths] | Charles II, King of Great Britain and Ireland 1660–85, who was restored to the throne after the Puritan Commonwealth, born in London, England (–1685). |
| 29 May 1724–21 February 1730 | Italy [elections] | Pietro Francesco Vincenzo Maria Orsini, eldest son of the Duke of Gravina, is elected Pope Benedict XIII, after the death on 7 March of Pope Innocent XIII. |
| 29 May 1807 | Ottoman Empire [political events] | The Ottoman sultan Selim III is deposed by janissaries (members of his bodyguard) opposed to his reforms and is replaced by Mustafa IV. |
| 29 May 1814 | France [births and deaths] | Joséphine de Beauharnais, empress of France 1804–10 and consort of Napoleon I, dies in Malmaison, France (50). |
| 29 May 1871 | UK [work and unemployment] | Bank holidays are introduced in England, Wales, and Ireland, with the first on Whit Monday (the first Monday after Pentecost). |
| 29 May 1917 | [births and deaths] | John F Kennedy, 35th president of the USA 1961–63, a Democrat, born in Brookline, Massachusetts (–1963). |
| 29 May 1919 | Africa [physics] | English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington and others observe the total eclipse of the Sun on Príncipe Island (West Africa), and discover that the Sun's gravity bends the light from the stars beyond the edge of the eclipsed sun, thus fulfilling predictions made according to Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. |
| 29–31 May 1941 | Greece, UK, Germany [World War II (1939–45)] | British and allied forces evacuate the port of Iráklion, Crete, and withdraw to Egypt, leaving the Greek island of Crete under German occupation. |
| 29 May 1953 | Nepal [mountaineering] | Edmund Hilary from New Zealand and Sherpa Norkey Tenzing from Nepal, as part of John Hunt's British expedition, complete the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain (8,848 m/29,028 ft) in the Himalayas, Nepal. |
| 29 May 1993 | Germany [political events] | Five Turkish women are killed in a neo-Nazi arson attack in Solingen, Germany (Turkish demonstrations and rioting throughout Germany in response to this attack continue until 1 June). |
| 29 May 1997 | Zaire [political events] | The antigovernment Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Kabila is sworn in as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). |
| 29 May 2000 | Fiji Islands [law and government] | The military declares martial law in Fiji, while nationalist gunmen continue to hold prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry hostage in parliament in the capital, Suva. |
