◆ On this day

May 23

4 sourced moments from May 23 in history: Joan of Arc was captured at Compiègne on 23 May 1430; Pirate Captain Kidd is hanged in London (1701); Carl Linnaeus, father of modern taxonomy, is born (1707), plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on May 23

newest first ↓

1934 Society & Economy · Crime

Bonnie and Clyde are killed in a Louisiana ambush

After a two-year crime spree, the Depression-era robbers were cut down in a hail of gunfire on a rural Louisiana road.

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1707 Nature & Animals · Evolution

Carl Linnaeus, father of modern taxonomy, is born

The Swedish botanist who gave every living thing a tidy two-word Latin name was born on this day in 1707.

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1701 Society & Economy · Crime

Pirate Captain Kidd is hanged in London

The privateer-turned-pirate was sent to the gallows at Execution Dock in 1701 — and the rope broke on the first try.

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1430 History · Medieval

Joan of Arc was captured at Compiègne on 23 May 1430

Pulled from her horse outside Compiègne, Joan fell into the diocese of the bishop who would try her — and was sold for 10,000 écus.

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