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May 11
1310. 54 members of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, better known as the Order of the Temple, or the Knights Templar, are burned at the stake in Paris, France as heretics. The executions are done at the behest of King Louis IV, primarily to relieve himself of his heavy debt burden to the Knights. Within two years, under heavy pressure from the French King, Pope Clement V (who was based in France, not Rome), issues a Papal Bull dissolving the Order.
1647. Peter Stuyvesant arrives to take over as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement that will eventually become New York. Stuyvesant becomes a critical figure in early New York history, building the wall that marked the northern boundary of the settlement (to protect against Indians) that will ultimately lend its name to Wall Street, and the wide road that is the oldest North-South axis road in the city -- Broadway.
1924. Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merge their two companies, forming Mercedes-Benz.
1960. Four Israeli Mossad agents capture Adolf (not Adolph) Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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