/year

December

twelfth month in the Julian and Gregorian calendars

111 dated entries naming December, drawn from 108 separate years between 220 CE and 2012 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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3rd century

  • 220December – Cheng Yu, Chinese official serving under the Eastern Han dynasty warlord Cao Cao (b. 141)source
  • 297December: Domitianus dies, but his corrector Aurelius Achilleus takes over as the leader of the rebellion.source

4th century

  • 307December: Constantine marries Maximian's daughter Fausta, and is promoted to Augustus by Maximian.source
  • 316December – Battle of Mardia: Constantine I defeats his rival Licinius and senior officer Valerius Valens, near the town of Harmanli (Bulgaria).source

5th century

  • 456December - Rechiar, first Germanic king to convert to Nicene Christianity, is captured at Oporto and executed.source
  • 476December – Aryabhata, Indian mathematician and astronomer (d. 550)source

6th century

  • 536December – Vitiges deposes his rival Theodahad at Ravenna, and marries Mataswintha (daughter of queen Amalasuintha). He becomes king of the Ostrogoths and assembles an army to fight against Belisarius.source
  • 537December – Belisarius sends John "the Sanguinary" with a force of 2,000 men towards Picenum, to plunder the east coast of Italy. He arrives at Ariminum (Rimini), where he is welcomed by the local population.source

7th century

  • 632December – Battle of Aqraba: The Muslim forces of Abu Bakr defeat the Apostate rebels (40,000 men) under Musaylimah, on the plain of Aqraba.source

8th century

  • 711December – Upon hearing the news of Justinian's death, Anastasia, Justinian's mother, escapes with Justinian's 6-year-old son Tiberius to the sanctuary at the St. Mary's Church (Constantinople). She is pursued by Philippicus' henchmen, who drag the child from the altar and murder him outside the church. It is unknown what became of Justinian's wife, Theodora.source
  • 740December – King Liutprand of the Lombards attempts to counter the growing independence of the Lombard duchies in southern Italy.source

9th century

  • 803November - December: Caliph Harun al-Rashid marries Umm Muhammad, the daughter of Abbasid prince Salih al-Miskin and Umm Abdullah, the daughter of Isa ibn Ali, in Al-raqqah. She had formerly been married to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who had repudiated her.source
  • 880December – Treaty of Ribemont: Louis the Younger and the kings of the West Frankish Kingdom sign a treaty. The young Frankish monarch, Louis III, is reduced to merely Neustria.source
  • 882December – Ishaq ibn Kundaj, a Turkic military leader, arrests the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tamid, when the latter (and his followers) try to flee into Tulunid territory.source
  • 886December – Emperor Leo VI dismisses Patriarch Photius I, who has been his tutor, and replaces him with his own brother Stephen I.source
  • 894December – Guy III dies after a 4-year reign, and is succeeded by his 14-year-old son Lambert, already associated as co-emperor since 892. At the pleading of Archbishop Fulk of Reims, Pope Formosus reconciles with the young emperor. Lambert proceeds from Spoleto to Pavia, where he is acclaimed and crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.source
  • 895December – Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy, at the head of an East Frankish expeditionary army. He arrives in Pavia and reorganizes the Lombard state. Arnulf partitions the northern part of the kingdom: the western half (March of Lombardy) and the eastern half (March of Verona).source
  • 897December – Romanus is deposed and succeeded by Theodore II as the 115th pope of Rome, who dies twenty days later.source

10th century

  • 962December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine expeditionary force under General Nikephoros Phokas invades northern Syria, and sacks Aleppo, capital of the Hamdanid emir Sayf al-Dawla. In late December Aleppo is taken by storm, with the population killed or enslaved; the city is razed. The Byzantine army takes possession of 390,000 silver dinars, 2,000 camels and 1,400 mules.source
  • 963December – King Berengar II (the father of Adalbert II) surrenders at the fortress of Montefeltro to German forces. He and his wife Willa are taken prisoner and dispatched to Bamberg.source
  • 987December – The 15-year-old Robert (the son of Hugh Capet) is crowned co-ruler of France around Christmas at Orléans.source
  • 999December – Empress Teishi gives birth to Prince Atsuyasu (who becomes the imperial heir), but on the next day, her rival, Fujiwara no Shoshi, is promoted to Consort.source

11th century

  • 1013December – Fujiwara no Masanobu, an officer of the guard of empress consort Kenshi of Japan, is killed by Fujiwara no Korekane and Michinaga orders the assassin imprisoned.source
  • 1023December – Abbad I declares the Taifa of Seville independent from Córdoban rule. Abd ar-Rahman V is proclaimed Caliph at Córdoba.source
  • 1024December – Sultan al-Dawla, Emir of Fars, dies and is succeeded by Abu Kalijar.source
  • 1053December – Conrad I, duke of Bavaria, is summoned to a Christmas court at Merseburg, and deposed by Emperor Henry III. He flees to King Andrew I in Hungary, and joins a coalition with the rebellious Welf III, duke of Carinthia. Henry's 4-year-old son Henry becomes the new duke of Bavaria.source
  • 1066December – William the Conqueror moves along the south coast to Dover, and builds fortifications in the existing castle at the top of the cliffs. He moves to Canterbury and finally enters London. Archbishop Stigand and other English leaders submit to William's rule. On December 25, he is crowned as King William I of England in Westminster Abbey over Edward the Confessor's grave.source

12th century

  • 1110December – Tancred, Italo-Norman prince of Galilee, brings the Crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers in Syria under his control. He remains regent of the Principality of Antioch in the name of his cousin Bohemond II.source
  • 1110October–December – Crusaders under Baldwin I (supported by King Sigurd I of Norway) besiege Sidon. Norwegian ships blockade the harbour, but are nearly dispersed by a powerful Fatimid flotilla from Tyre. They are saved by the arrival of a Venetian squadron under Doge Ordelafo Faliero. On December 4, the city capitulates (under notable terms) to Baldwin.source
  • 1196December – Emperor Alexios III Angelos is threatened by Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demands 5,000 pounds of gold or the Byzantines will face an invasion, this due to a convoluted system of dynastic claims of Henry gaining control of Alexios' daughter Irene Doukaina. The amount is negotiated down to 1,600 pounds of gold – with Alexios plundering the imperial tombs within the Church of the Holy Apostles – as well as levying a heavy and unpopular tax, known as the Alamanikon (or German Tax).source

13th century

  • 1217December – King John I of Jerusalem leads an expedition into Lebanon. On December 3, he undertakes fruitless assaults on Muslim fortresses and on Mount Tabor. Meanwhile, the Crusader army under Andrew II wanders across the Jordan Valley and up the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. During the occupation, Andrew spends his time collecting alleged relics. By the end of December, supplies run out, and the crusaders retreat to Acre.source
  • 1224December – Theodore Komnenos (Doukas), ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, captures Thessaloniki – beginning the de facto Byzantine Empire of Thessalonica. Later, Theodore Komnenos was crowned Byzantine emperor but is not recognized as such by the rest of the Greek or Latin population.source
  • 1233December – Siege of Caizhou: The Mongols under Ögedei Khan besiege Caizhou and ally themselves with the Chinese Song dynasty to eliminate the Jin Dynasty.source
  • 1241December – Siege of Lahore (1241): The Mongols under Tair Bahadur besiege and sack the city of Lahore in the Delhi Sultanate.source
  • 1244December – King Louis IX (the Saint) falls desperately ill of a severe malarian infection. Near-death, he vows that if he recovers he will set out for a crusade. Louis' life is spared and as soon as his health permits him, he takes the cross and immediately begins preparations for the Seventh Crusade.source
  • 1270December – Crucial aspects of the philosophy of Averroism (itself based on Aristotle's works) are banned by the Roman Catholic Church, in a condemnation enacted by papal authority at the University of Paris.source
  • 1273December – Followers of Persian poet and mystic Rumi establish the Mevlevi Order ("whirling dervishes") in the city of Konya (approximate date).source
  • 1291November–December – The kings Sancho IV of Castile ("the Brave") and James II of Aragon ("the Just") agree to join the war against the Marinids and conclude a treaty of friendship. Muhammad II, Nasrid ruler of Granada, gives his support to Sancho to take Tarifa from the Marinids. In the agreement, Castile and Aragon will respect their own boundaries.source
  • 1292December – John Balliol is summoned by Edward I to Westminster to answer an appeal by Macduff of Fife against a judgment imposed on him by the Scottish Parliament. John refuses to answer Macduff's appeal, 'without consulting the people of his realm'. Edward asks for compensation for the violation of English law and demands to hand him over three Scottish castles as repayment for the crime committed.source
  • 1292December – Muhammad II sends ambassadors to the Castilian court to ask Sancho IV to surrender Tarifa. Sancho refuses to yield the city to Granada and Muhammad, feeling betrayed, switches sides to form an alliance with the Marinids.source
  • 1293December – Mamluk sultan of Egypt Khalil is assassinated by his regent Baydara, who briefly claims the sultanate, before being assassinated himself by a rival political faction.source
  • 1296December – Marjorie Bruce, Scottish princess, only daughter of Robert I of Scotland (d. 1316)source

14th century

  • 1304December – Roger de Flor, Italian nobleman and adventurer, settles with the Catalan Company in Gallipoli and other towns in the southern part of Thrace and visits Constantinople to demand payment for his forces. He lives at the expense of the local population and uses the city as a base for his marauding raids in the surrounding area.source
  • 1308December – King Władysław I Łokietek of Poland imprisons Jan Muskata, Bishop of Kraków. In response, Polish and German citizens revolt against his rule in Kraków (as in all Poland's cities at this time). Władysław in a delicate position responds with force and arrests the revolt's leaders. He ties them to horses and drags them through the city streets.source
  • 1345December – The English take Aiguillon in Gascony.source
  • 1347December – Plague hits the island of Mallorca.source
  • 1369December – Financed by Charles V of France, Welshman Owain Lawgoch launches an invasion fleet against the English, in an attempt to claim the throne of Wales.A storm causes Owain to abandon the invasion.source
  • 1391December – At Suceava, Roman I succeeds Petru Mușat, as Prince of Moldavia (now Moldova and northeastern Romania).source

15th century

  • 1407December – The Yongle Encyclopedia, until the 21st century the largest encyclopedia of history, is completed in China after four years of work by 2,169 scholars at the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial University.source
  • 1408December – Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas meet with Polish King Wladyslaw Jagiello in Navahrudak Castle, where they agree to support the Samogitians uprising to provoke the Teutonic Knights into declaring war against Poland.source
  • 1412December – Battle of Chalagan: The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans defeat the Georgians under Constantine I of Georgia, and their ally Ibrahim I of Shirvan.source
  • 1426December – Pippo Spano, Hungarian military leader (b. 1369)source
  • 1431November or December – Vlad the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia (d. 1476)source
  • 1454December – King Henry VI of England having regained his sanity dismisses the Duke of York as Protector.source
  • 1462December – After Radu III the Fair takes over the throne in Wallachia, Vlad III Dracula seeks help in Transylvania, where he is captured by Mathias Corvinus, and imprisoned for the next 12 years, over false charges of treason.source
  • 1475December – The Principality of Theodoro falls to the Ottoman Empire, arguably taking with it the final territorial remnant of the successor to the Roman Kingdom after nearly 2,228 years of Roman civilization since the legendary Founding of Rome in 753 BC.source
  • 1484December – Premislav of Tost, Silesian ruler (b. 1425)source

16th century

  • 1507December – Ingeborg Tott, influential Swedish noblewoman, spouse of Swedish regent Sten Sture the eldersource
  • 1508December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).source
  • 1513December – Louis attempts to make peace with Spain by offering King Ferdinand the hand of his daughter Renée for one of his grandsons along with renouncing his claims on Naples. The proposal is never accepted.source
  • 1518December – Moxammat Amin of Kazan, khan of Kazan (b. c. 1469)source
  • 1530December – Martim Afonso de Sousa's expedition sets out for Brazil from Portugal.source
  • 1531December – Hendrick van Brederode, Dutch noble (d. 1568)source
  • 1535December – Manco Inca Yupanqui, nominally Sapa Inca, is imprisoned by the Spanish Conquistadors of Peru.source
  • 1548December – Siam attacks Tavoy, beginning the Burmese–Siamese War of 1548.source
  • 1554December – John Taylor, Bishop of Lincoln (b. 1503)source
  • 1565December – The Mariovo and Prilep rebellion occurs, the very first recorded rebellion by the Macedonian hajduks or voivode against the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1576December – James Burbage opens the first permanent public playhouse in Britain, The Theatre.source
  • 1578December – Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1501)source
  • 1600December – Marie de Rohan, French courtier and political activist (d. 1679)source

17th century

  • 1608December – Jamestown supply missions: Christopher Newport returns to England from Jamestown carrying cargo with "tryals of Pitch, Tarre, Glasse, Frankincense, Sope Ashes ..."source
  • 1609December – Barnabe Barnes, English poet (b. c. 1571)source
  • 1611December – Leonora Baroni, Italian singer (d. 1670)source
  • 1616December – In the Middle East, traveller Pietro Della Valle marries Jowaya, daughter of a Nestorian Christian father and an Armenian mother, in Baghdad. The couple then sets off (1617) to find the Shah in Isfahan.source
  • 1621December – The Dutch mathematician and astronomer, Willebrord Snel van Royen (1580–1626), reveals he has rediscovered the law of refraction, also known as Snellius' law.source
  • 1627December – Madame Ke, influential nanny of the Tianqi Emperor of China (b. c. 1588)source
  • 1644December – Bubonic plague breaks out in Edinburgh (Scotland).source
  • 1683December – The River Thames in England freezes, allowing a frost fair to be held.source

18th century

  • 1729December – Doamna Marica Brâncoveanu, princess consort of Wallachia (b. 1661)source
  • 1740December – Elisabeth Olin, Swedish opera singer (d. 1828)source
  • 1756December – Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Militias of the Royal Colony of North Carolina build a fort on the province's western frontier to protect it against natives allied with the French. The fort is named Fort Dobbs in honor of North Carolina Governor Arthur Dobbs, who persuaded the North Carolina legislature to fund the construction a year earlier.source
  • 1781December – A school is founded in Washington County, Pennsylvania that will later be known as Washington & Jefferson College.source
  • 1784December – Immanuel Kant's essay "Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?" is published.source
  • 1788December – Robert Burns writes his version of the Scots poem Auld Lang Syne.source
  • 1796December – The British government begins work on a 40-acre (162,000 m²) site at Norman Cross, for the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp.source

19th century

  • 1809December – Boyd massacre: Whangaroa Māori people kill and eat 66 crew and passengers of the brigantine Boyd in New Zealand.source
  • 1825October–December – Dispute between the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the Empire of Brazil over the Banda Oriental region leads to the Cisplatine War.source
  • 1833December – The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded.source
  • 1838December – First Anglo-Afghan War: British and Presidency armies set out from Punjab in support of Shah Shujah Durrani's claim to the throne of Afghanistan.source
  • 1843December – The world's first Christmas cards, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London from the artist John Callcott Horsley, are sent.source
  • 1852December – The Western Railroad is chartered to build a railroad from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to the coal fields of Egypt, North Carolina.source
  • 1857December – The Reform War in Mexico begins.source
  • 1862December – Peruvian slave raiders land on Easter Island, beginning a decade of the destruction of the society and population on the island.source
  • 1869December – Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace is published in complete book form, in Russia.source
  • 1873December – Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and patents a racquet sport, which he calls sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as Stické and an ancestor of lawn tennis, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.source
  • 1882December – Zikhron Ya'akov is founded in northern Israel.source
  • 1891November 11 – Jindandao Incident: The Chinese Juu Uda League in Inner Mongolia massacres tens of thousands of Mongols, before being suppressed by government troops in late December.source
  • 1893November 26 – Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Adventure of the Final Problem", published in the December dated issue of The Strand Magazine and serialized in Sunday newspapers worldwide, surprises the reading public by revealing that his popular character Sherlock Holmes had apparently died at the Reichenbach Falls on May 4, 1891.source

20th century

  • 1902December–February 1903 – Venezuelan crisis: Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela, in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.source
  • 1905November–December – Russian Revolution of 1905: In the Baltic governorates, workers and peasants burn and loot hundreds of Baltic German manors. The Imperial Russian Army thereafter executes and deports thousands of looters.source
  • 1917December – Annie Besant becomes president of the Indian National Congress.source
  • 1922December – The year ends with hyperinflation showing no sign of slowing down in Germany, with 7,000 marks now needed to buy a single American dollar.source
  • 1922October 15 – T. S. Eliot establishes The Criterion magazine, containing the first publication of his poem The Waste Land. This first appears in the United States later this month in The Dial (dated November 1), and is first published complete with notes in book form, by Boni and Liveright in New York in December.source
  • 1927December – The Communist Party Congress condemns all deviation from the general party line in the USSR.source
  • 1930December – All adult Turkish women are given the right to vote in elections.source
  • 1937June 8 – The Dáil Éireann passes the Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937, which abolishes the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State, retrospectively dated to December 1936.source
  • 1938December – Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year", as the most influential person of the year.source
  • 1940December – Timely Comics' Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941), first appearance of Captain America and Bucky, hits newsstands in the United States.source
  • 1943March–December – History of computing hardware: British prototype Mark I Colossus computer is constructed (the world's first totally electronic programmable computing device) to assist in cryptanalysis of German signals at Bletchley Park.source

21st century

  • 2010December – Comet Hale Bopp was found again around 30.7 AU away from the Sun. The previous time the Comet was found was in April 1997.source
  • 2012December 4-6 – Egyptian protestors protest outside the presidential palace against the 2012 constitutional declaration which gave President Morsi influence over the judiciary and turns violent when Morsi supporters clashed with anti-Morsi protestors. It led to the intervention of security forces. The incident caused the deaths of at least 10, including anti-Morsi protestors and supporters of Morsi as well as hundreds of injuries.source

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