| 26 May 946 | England [political events] | When King Edmund of England is murdered at a feast, his brother, Eadred, succeeds to the throne. |
| 26 May 1135 | Castile, León, Spain [administration] | King Alfonso VII of Castile and León is acclaimed as emperor of Spain. |
| 26 May 1521 | Holy Roman Empire [political events] | The Edict of Worms outlaws the German church reformer Martin Luther by imposing on him the Ban of the (Holy Roman) Empire. He takes refuge with Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, in his castle of Wartburg. |
| 26 May 1650 | England [births and deaths] | John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, English general famed for his victories over the French at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Oudenaarde (1708), born in Ashe, Devonshire, England (–1722). |
| 26 May 1733 | England [technology] | English inventor John Kay patents his flying shuttle, a loom shuttle carrying the weft thread through the weave. Previously the shuttle was thrown from side to side by hand, which required two people for broad cloth. |
| 26 May 1865 | USA, Confederate States of America [American Civil War (1861–65)] | The surrender of the last Confederate army at Shreveport, near New Orleans, Louisiana, ends the American Civil War. |
| 26 May 1886 | Russia, USA [births and deaths] | Al Jolson (stage name of Asa Yoelson), US popular singer and comedian, star of The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature film with synchronized speech and music, born in Srednike, Russia (–1950). |
| 26 May 1907 | [births and deaths] | John Wayne, US film actor who usually starred in westerns and war films, born in Winterset, Iowa (–1979). |
| 26 May 1918 | Georgia, Russia [political events] | Georgia proclaims independence from Russia. |
| 26 May 1919 | Sweden [suffrage] | Women's suffrage is granted in Sweden. |
| 26 May 1923 | Transjordan [political events] | Emir Abdullah ibn Hussein (second son of King Hussein of the Hejaz) is proclaimed ruler of Transjordan (modern Jordan), which becomes an autonomous state under a British mandate. |
| 26 May 1926 | Morocco, France, Spain [political events] | The Riff revolt against the French and Spanish invaders in Morocco ends with the Berber leader Abd-al-Karim's surrender to France. |
| 26 May–4 June 1940 | Germany, France, UK, Belgium [World War II (1939–45)] | Over 338,000 British, French, and Belgian troops are evacuated from Dunkirk, France to England by an unprecedented armada of small British boats, following the German encirclement of Allied forces in northeastern France. |
| 26 May 1944 | Syria [women's rights] | There are street riots in Damascus after the Syrian government permits women to remove their veils in public. |
| 26 May 1966 | British Guiana, Guyana [decolonization] | The colony of British Guiana gains independence as Guyana. |
| 26 May 1995 | Bosnia-Herzegovina [Balkan conflicts (c. 1991–2000)] | Bosnian Serbs begin seizure of United Nations (UN) troops as hostages, in response to the threat of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) air strikes; by June over 377 troops have been taken (they are released 2–18 June). |
