30 May in History

70 A.D.--Roman Legions under Titus breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem and the defenders retreat behind the First Wall.

1416--The Council of Constance.  Called by Emperor Sigismund IV, a supporter of anti-Pope Joh XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague at the stake for heresy.

1431--Hundred Years War.  Joan of Arc is burned at the stake at Rouen, France, after being convicted of heresy by the English.

1536--King Henry VIII Tudor marries Jane Seymour.

1539--Hernando De Soto, lands at Tampa, Florida with 600 men in search of gold.

1574--Henry III becomes King of France.

1814--Napoleonic Wars.  France's borders are returned to their 1793 limits per the Treaty of Paris.

1854--The Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed, organizing the two new territories.

1859--Big Ben, in the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London is rung for the first time.

1868--Decoration Day, which will be re-named Memorial Day is observed per the orders of General Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.

1922--The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1942--1000 British bombers conduct a night bombing raid of Cologne, Germany.

1958--The remains of two unknown soldiers from World War II and the Korean War are laid to rest at the Romb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery.

1971--Mariner 9, on a mission which will map 70% of the surface of Mars, is launched.