May 7 is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 238 days remain until the end of the year.
351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.
558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, 20 years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.
1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens; it ratified a decree to regulate the election of the Pope.
1342 – In Avignon, France, Cardinal Pierre Roger is elected Pope and takes the name Clement VI.
1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
1544 – The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing.
1625 – State funeral of James VI and I (1566– 1625) is held at Westminster Abbey.
1664 – Inaugural celebrations begin at Louis XIV of France's new Palace of Versailles.
1685 – Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces.
1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace.
1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.
1763 – Pontiac's War begins with Pontiac's attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British.
1765 – HMS Victory is launched at Chatham Dockyard, Kent. She is not commissioned until 1778.
1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.
1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: A French force attempting to dislodge a small British garrison on the Îles Saint-Marcouf is repulsed with heavy losses.
1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.
1832 – Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.
1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America's oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southward.
1864 – The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,199 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
1915 – The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan's control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Kyiv offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz- Śmigły
and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kyiv only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
1930 – The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to 3,000 people were killed.
1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.
1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact.