/year

December 13 in history

173 sourced entries recorded on December 13, from 552 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 1076Norman conquest of southern Italy: Italo-Norman forces under Robert Guiscard de Hauteville and Richard I of Capua, conquer the fortress city of Salerno after a short siege.source
  • 1266Siege of Kenilworth: English forces under Henry III capture Kenilworth Castle from remaining rebels in the Second Barons' War after a 6-month siege. During the siege Archbishop William Freney tries to negotiate with the garrison but is refused entry.source
  • 1312John Hotham is appointed as the new Chancellor of the Exchequer in England by King Edward and serves for three and a half years.source
  • 1315Gaston II of Foix-Béarn becomes the new French representative to rule the Co-principality of Andorra after the death of his father, Gaston I.source
  • 1315(3 Jumada II 715 AH) Rumaythah ibn Abi Numayy arrives at Mecca with an Egyptian Army, led by the emirs Najm al-Din Damurkhan ibn Qaraman and Sayf al-Din Taydamur al-Jamadar, then spends two weeks in making plans to drive out the Emir Humaydah ibn Abi Numayy. They loot Humaydah's castle at al-Khalf wal-Khulayf, plunder the wealth inside and capture his 12-year-old son, but Humaydah himself escapes to Iraq.source
  • 1408The Order of the Dragon is founded under King Sigismund of Hungary.source
  • 1431Vlad, future Prince of Wallachia as Vlad II Dracul, is made a member of the Order of the Dragon. Because of this, his son Vlad the Impaler will inspire the literary figure named Dracula.source
  • 1438The siege of Brescia in Italy, started on September 25 by troops of the Duchy of Milan under condottieri Niccolò Piccinino to liberate the city from its control by the Republic of Venice, is raised after the arrival of Scaramuccia da Forlì. According to tradition, two Brescian martyrs from the second century, Saints Faustinus and Jovita, appear on the top of the city walls and repel the cannonballs fired at the city, and the Milanese abandon the siege.source
  • 1442King Władysław III of Poland, who had been elected as King of Hungary in 1440, and Elisabeth of Luxembourg, widow of King Albert of Hungary and mother of Ladislaus the Posthumous, whom she arranged to be crowned king, reach an agreement in the Hungaryian city of Győr, brokered by Cardinal Julian Cesarini. Elizabeth dies at the age of 33, six days after the meeting, leading to rumors that she had been poisoned by King Wladyslaw.source
  • 1545The Council of Trent officially opens in northern Italy (it closes in 1563).source
  • 1559Wedding between Princess Catherine and Edzard II, Count of East Frisia. A great scandal takes place when Princess Cecilia of Sweden and Johan II of East Frisia is discovered to have an illegal sexual relationship, known as Vadstena Rumble.source
  • 1569An English counterattack against the Northern rebels begins as Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, marches from York with 10,000 men against the rebels' 6,000. The rebels disperse and flee northward back to Scotland, ending the Rising of the North.source
  • 1570The Treaty of Stettin ends the Northern Seven Years' War.source
  • 1570The Treaty of Stettin officially ended the Northern Seven Years' War. Although the treaty restored peace between Sweden and Denmark: Norway, many territorial disputes remained unresolved.source
  • 1577Francis Drake leaves Plymouth, England, aboard the Pelican, with four other ships and 164 men, on an expedition against the Spanish, along the Pacific coast of the Americas, which will become his circumnavigation.source
  • 1595The last remaining Catholic convent in Sweden, Vadstena Abbey, is officially dissolved by order of Duke Charles. The remaining nuns, including abbess Karin Johansdotter, leave the abbey and flee to Poland.source
  • 1608At the Morača monastery in Kolašin, in what is now the nation of Montenegro, Patriarch Jovan Kantul assembles the rebel leaders of Montenegro and Herzegovina. The group agrees with a representative of the Duchy of Savoy to deliver Duke Charles Emmanuel I a monarchy within the Balkans, in return for special privileges to the Serbian Orthodox Church.source
  • 1642Abel Tasman and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to sight New Zealand, arriving at its South Island. In a battle between the Europeans and the Island's Maori inhabitants, four crew members are killed.source
  • 1643First English Civil War: At the Battle of Alton in Hampshire, the Parliamentarians defeat the Royalists.source
  • 1654Jean de Wachtendonck consecrated as bishop of Namursource
  • 1669Jean Racine's five-act tragic play Britannicus is performed for the first time, premiering at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. The play continues to be performed more than 350 years later, including a 2011 version translated by Dr. Howard Rubenstein.source
  • 1688"Irish Fright": false rumours of James II's disbanded Irish soldiers preparing to carry out massacres of English towns begin to spread.source
  • 1690The planet Uranus is first sighted and recorded, by England's first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed, who mistakenly catalogs it as a star 34 Tauri.source
  • 1705In the Battle of Saint Gotthard, the Hungarian army is victorious.source
  • 1711Wall Street in New York City becomes the city's first official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans and Indians.source
  • 1716John Ker, 1st Duke of Roxburghe, is appointed Secretary of State for Scotland.source
  • 1747The ordeal of the Maryland freighter sloop Endeavour begins when the ship departs Annapolis for the West Indies and encounters a hurricane. With its masts and rigging torn away, the ship drifts for six months before finally ending up at the island of Tiree off the coast of Scotlandsource
  • 1754Osman III succeeds his brother Mahmud I as Ottoman Emperor; he will rule until his death in 1757.source
  • 1758The ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, with the loss of over 360 lives, while deporting Acadians from Prince Edward Island to France.source
  • 1769Dartmouth College is established in Hanover, New Hampshire, as John Wentworth, the Royal Governor, conveys a charter from King George III of Great Britain.source
  • 1779Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais marries Joséphine Tascher.source
  • 1795Wold Cottage meteorite: A meteorite falls at Wold Newton, a hamlet in Yorkshire in England. This meteorite fall is subsequently used as a literary premise by science fiction writer Philip José Farmer, as the basis for the Wold Newton family.source
  • 1813Siege of Hamburg begins; the French garrison left the city on May 12, 1814source
  • 1813Swedish East India Company is dissolved.source
  • 1815The County of Hardenberg Reventlow is established by Christian Henrik August Hardenberg-Reventlow from the manors of af Hardenberg (Krenkerup), Christiansdal, Nielstrup, Rosenlund, Nørregård and Sæbyholm.source
  • 1816December 9–21 – The American Colonization Society is established, to support the emigration of free African Americans to Africa.source
  • 1838The beginning of the Balaiada; a rebellion that took place in Maranhão.source
  • 1838Sir John Colborne, Governor General, Messrs. Moffat, Stuart and Badgley go to England, to represent British Canadian views.source
  • 1843Basutoland becomes a British protectorate.source
  • 1844Hungarian becomes the official language of Hungary.source
  • 1847Mor och döttrar eller Namnförvexlingen by Jeanette Stjernström in Mindre teatern in Stockholm.source
  • 1848Otago News begins publication. The newspaper publishes fortnightly until closing in 1850.source
  • 1862Battle of Fredericksburg – The Union Army suffers massive casualties and abandons its attempts to capture the Confederate capital city of Richmond, Virginia.source
  • 1864Paraguayan War: Paraguay declares war on Brazil; war with Argentina follows three months later.source
  • 1867The Clerkenwell explosion, the most infamous action carried out by the Fenians in Britain in the 19th century.source
  • 1876New Constitution of the Ottoman Empire signed, ending Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1877Serbia restates its previous declaration of war against Turkey.source
  • 1888Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciencessource
  • 1895The Chamber declines to indict former Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, who had asked to be brought for the Senate, as part of the Banca Romana scandal.source
  • 1895The first complete performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 is given, with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra conducted by the composer.source
  • 1905December 7–18 – Moscow Uprising: A Bolshevik-led revolt is suppressed by the army.source
  • 1906The United Kingdom, France and Italy sign an agreement to preserve, in Ethiopia, the integrity of the ancient empire of Abyssinia.source
  • 1906Trade Disputes Act legalises picketing.source
  • 1906Workmen's Compensation Act entitles workers to compensation for industrial injuries or disease.source
  • 1915December 4–18 – The 'Peace Ship' Oscar II chartered by industrialist Henry Ford sails from Hoboken, New Jersey to Oslo on an independent and eventually unsuccessful mission to broker a peace conference.source
  • 1915December 9–14 – Sankebetsu brown bear incident: was the worst bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.source
  • 1918The Canadian Corps parades across bridges over the Rhine, the 1st Division at South Bridge (Cologne) and the 2nd Division at Bonn. The Canadians participate in the Occupation of the Rhineland until gradually withdrawn starting in January 1919.source
  • 1920Confectionery company Haribo is founded in Bonn, Germany.source
  • 1921In the Four-Power Treaty on Insular Possessions, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.source
  • 1921100 people die when a building is bombed in Bolhrad.source
  • 1926Miina Sillanpää becomes Finland's first female government minister.source
  • 1931Wakatsuki Reijirō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan.source
  • 1937Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Nanjing ends with the Japanese occupying the city. In the Nanjing Massacre which follows, Japanese soldiers kill over 200,000 Chinese in 3 months. A few days previously, the Nationalist government of China had moved its capital to the southwestern city Chongqing.source
  • 1938The Neuengamme concentration camp opens near Hamburg.source
  • 1939WWII – Battle of the River Plate: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee is trapped by cruisers HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles, and HMS Exeter after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew off Montevideo Harbor, on December 17.source
  • 1941Sweden's low temperature record of −53 °C is set in a village within the Vilhelmina Municipality.source
  • 1951A water storage tank collapses in Tucumcari, New Mexico, United States, resulting in 4 deaths and 200 buildings destroyed.source
  • 1951A water storage tank collapses in Tucumcari, New Mexico, resulting in 4 deaths and 200 buildings destroyed.source
  • 1957The Mw 6.5 Farsinaj earthquake strikes Hamadan province, killing at least 1,130 people.source
  • 1959Two apartment houses in a suburb of Dortmund were levelled by an explosion at 3:12 a.m.. Of 34 people in the Aplerbeck buildings, 26 were killed.source
  • 1960The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua announce the formation of the Central American Common Market.source
  • 19601960 Ethiopian coup attempt: While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Kebur Zabagna (Imperial Bodyguard) leads a military coup against his rule, proclaiming that the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen Taffari, is the new emperor.source
  • 1960While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was visiting Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard staged a coup d'etat, taking many of the Imperial staff hostage, including Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, who was proclaimed as King (rather than Emperor). The coup failed within a few days, and Haile Selassie reigned as emperor until another coup in 1974.source
  • 1960The U.S. Navy's Commander Leroy Heath (pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (bombardier/navigator) establish a world flight-altitude record of 91,450 ft, with payload, in an A-5 Vigilante bomber carrying 1,000 kg, and better the previous world record by over 4 mi.source
  • 1974Malta becomes a republic.source
  • 19751975 Australian federal election: The Liberal/National Country Coalition led by Malcolm Fraser defeats the recently dismissed Labor government led by Gough Whitlam. The Fraser government achieves what is so far the largest parliamentary majority in federal Australian political history. Whitlam would subsequently survive a leadership challenge against him.source
  • 1975The United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961) comes into effect.source
  • 1977a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tennessee, crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Regional Airport; 29 people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.source
  • 1979The Canadian Progressive Conservative minority government of Prime Minister Joe Clark, falls in a non-confidence motion.source
  • 1981Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.source
  • 1982The 6.2 Mw North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800.source
  • 1983Turgut Özal, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (45th government); beginning a new civilian regime.source
  • 19901990 Carlentini earthquakesource
  • 1993Former Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell resigns as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and is succeeded as leader by Jean Charest.source
  • 1993The Majilis of Kazakhstan approves the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agrees to dismantle the more than 100 missiles left on its territory by the fall of the USSR.source
  • 1994The trial of former president Mengistu begins in Ethiopia.source
  • 1994Fred West, 53, a builder living in Gloucester, England, is remanded in custody, charged with murdering 12 people (including two of his own daughters) whose bodies are mostly found buried at his house in Cromwell Street. His wife Rosemary West, 41, is charged with 10 murders.source
  • 2001U.S. President George W. Bush announces the American withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.source
  • 2001Sirajuddin of Perlis becomes the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the constitutional monarch and head of state of Malaysia.source
  • 2003Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr by the U.S. Army.source
  • 2003December 5–13 – 2003 SEA Games was held. This was the first time Vietnam staged the SEA Games.source
  • 2006The High Court of Botswana rules that thousands of Bushmen should not have been evicted from their ancestral home which is now the Central Botswana Game Reserve.source
  • 2007The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by members states of European Union.source
  • 2009Rail service between Sarajevo and Belgrade resumes after an 18-year hiatus.source
  • 2009December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • 2012December 6–16 – The 2012 FIFA Club World Cup is held in Japan and won by Sport Club Corinthians Paulista.source
  • 2019December 2–13 – The 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference takes place in Madrid, Spain, after Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced in October that his country could not host the conference due to political unrest in the country.source
  • 2025The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 is held in Tbilisi, Georgia. French contestant Lou Deleuze wins with the song "Ce monde".source

Births

  • 1272Frederick III, king of Sicily (died 1337)source
  • 1363Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris (died 1429)source
  • 1476Lucy Brocadelli, Dominican tertiary and stigmatic (died 1544)source
  • 1484Paul Speratus, German Lutheran (died 1551)source
  • 1491Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (died 1586)source
  • 1499Justus Menius, German Lutheran pastor (died 1558)source
  • 1518Clara of Saxe-Lauenburg, Princess of Saxe-Lauenburg and Duchess of Brunswick-Gifhorn by marriage (died 1576)source
  • 1521Pope Sixtus V (died 1590)source
  • 1533King Eric XIV of Sweden (died 1577)source
  • 1533Eric XIV of Sweden, monarch (died 1577)source
  • 1538Sigrid Sture, noblewoman and county governor (died 1613)source
  • 1553King Henry IV of France (died 1610)source
  • 1553Henry IV of France (d.1610).source
  • 1560Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, 2nd Prime Minister of France (died 1641)source
  • 1560Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, French duke (died 1641)source
  • 1585William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (died 1649)source
  • 1585William Drummond of Hawthornden, poet (died 1649)source
  • 1616Edward Chamberlayne, English writer (died 1703)source
  • 1640Robert Plot, English naturalist (died 1696)source
  • 1654Robert Livingston the Elder, New York colonial official (died 1728)source
  • 1678Yongzheng Emperor of China (died 1735)source
  • 1683Bernardo de' Dominici, Italian art historian and minor painter (died 1759)source
  • 1719Thomas Gillespie, North Carolina planter (died 1797)source
  • 1785Anna Milder‑Hauptmann, Vienna opera singersource
  • 1797Heinrich Heine, German poet (died 1856)source
  • 1804Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (died 1873)source
  • 1816Werner von Siemens, German inventor, industrialist (died 1892)source
  • 1818Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (died 1882)source
  • 1862Soltan-Ali Vazir-e Afkham, Iranian politician.source
  • 1871Emily Carr, Canadian artist (died 1945)source
  • 1895Victorio Edades, Filipino painter (died 1985)source
  • 1971Sakis Arnaoutoglou, politiciansource

Deaths

  • 552Columba of Terryglass, Irish abbot and saintsource
  • 558King Chlothar I reunites the Frankish Kingdom after his brother Childebert I dies, becoming sole ruler of the Franks.source
  • 558Childebert I, king of the Frankssource
  • 769Du Hongjian, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (born 709)source
  • 787Agilfride, bishop of Liègesource
  • 838King Pepin I of Aquitaine dies after a 21-year reign. Emperor Louis the Pious appoints his youngest son Charles the Bald as his successor. The Aquitainian nobility, however, elects Pepin's son Pepin II as the new Frankish ruler.source
  • 838Pepin I of Aquitaine, king of Aquitaine (born 797)source
  • 859Angilbert II, archbishop of Milansource
  • 902Battle of the Holme: The Anglo-Saxon army is defeated by the Danish Vikings under Æthelwold (a son of Æthelred I) at Holme. Æthelwold is killed, ending his revolt against King Edward the Elder.source
  • 1075Xiao Guanyin, Chinese empress (born 1040)source
  • 1087Maria Dobroniega, duchess of Polandsource
  • 1121Ulrich of Eppenstein, German abbotsource
  • 1124Pope Callixtus II, Burgundian-born Catholic religious leader (born c. 1065)source
  • 1126Henry IX the Black, duke of Bavaria (born 1075)source
  • 1239Albert IV, Count of Habsburg ("the Wise"), German noblemansource
  • 1250Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1194)source
  • 1250Emperor Frederick II dies, beginning the 23-year-long "Great Interregnum". Frederick is the last Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; after the interregnum, the empire passes to the Habsburgs.source
  • 1262Giles of Bridport, English archdeacon and bishopsource
  • 1277John I, German nobleman (born 1242)source
  • 1315Gaston I, Occitan nobleman and knight (born 1287)source
  • 1404Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (born 1336)source
  • 1466Donatello, Italian artist (born 1386)source
  • 1512Emery d'Amboise, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (born 1434)source
  • 1516Johannes Trithemius, German scholar and cryptographer (born 1462)source
  • 1521King Manuel I of Portugal (born 1469)source
  • 1532Solomon Molcho, Portuguese mystic (born 1500)source
  • 1557Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician (born 1499)source
  • 1565Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (born 1516)source
  • 1599Enrico Caetani, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1550)source
  • 1621Katarina Stenbock, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (born 1535)source
  • 1621Catherine Stenbock, queen consort (born 1535)source
  • 1638Catherine of Sweden, Countess Palatine of Kleeburg (born 1584)source
  • 1677Thomas Howard, 5th Duke of Norfolk, English noble (born 1627)source
  • 1721Alexander Selkirk, Scottish-born sailor (original "Robinson Crusoe"), of yellow fever (born 1676)source
  • 1754Mahmud I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754 (born 1696)source
  • 1769Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (born 1715)source
  • 1784Samuel Johnson, English writer, lexicographer (born 1709)source
  • 1784Dr. Samuel Johnson dies in London. (b.1709)source
  • 1858Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher, German botanist (born 1799 )source
  • 1932Georgios Jakobides, painter (born 1853)source
  • 1990Murder charges against Dr. Jack Kevorkian are dismissed in Michigan, related to the April assisted-suicide death of an Alzheimer's patient, Janet Adkins. A state judge determined that Kevorkian only provided the means for Ms. Adkins to die. This is the first of numerous cases to be brought against Kevorkian over the next decade.source
  • 20012001 Indian Parliament attack: Nine people and five terrorists are killed in a terrorist attack in New Delhi, leading to the 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff.source
  • 2020Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, Prime Minister since 2018 dies from COVID-19 at the age of 52.source