Pope Paul IIIi's Legate, Cardinal Giovanni del Monte, opens the first session of the Council of Trent (Trento) on December 13, 1545, marking the beginning of a long-term effort to clarify Catholic doctrines such as the seven sacraments challenged by Protestant The council, originally called in 1537 was delayed for eight years due to political disputes.
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What Happened in December?
Victories, births, and treaties. Explore the significant historical events and milestones that occurred in December. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Council of Trent concludes its discussions on the Catholic Church Counter-Reformation on December 4, 1563 after 18 years of intermittent sessions. from its start on December 13, 1545. The decrees of the council were later confirmed by Pope Pius IV in the bull Benedictus Deus on January 26, 1564.
The Council of Trent, reaffirmed Catholic doctrines on salvation, sacraments, and the biblical canon, while also standardizing the mass, implementing disciplinary reforms and the establishment of seminaries for the proper training of priests and requiring bishops to reside in their dioceses.
c. 1600, December 26
Boxing Day, also known as St Stephen's Day. or Offering Day, is celebrated on December 26th in the UK and Commonwealth nations. It originated as a day for the wealthy to give "Christmas boxes" with gifts, money, or leftovers to servants and the poor after they worked on Christmas day, as thanks for year-round service and also give a day off and for churches to distribute alms.
Now, it's a popular holiday known for huge post-Christmas sales, major sporting events (soccer, horse racing), and relaxing family time with Christmas leftovers, evolving from a charitable tradition to a mix of shopping, sports, and rest.
The first observation of Neptune is recorded by Galileo with his small telescope on December 28, 1612. He believed it to be a fixed star rather than a planet. More than 200 years later, on September 23 1846, the ice giant Neptune became the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. More
The Mayflower arrive and anchors at modern-day Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts on December 1, 1620, after spending some time in Cape hook (known today as Provincetown Harbor). Several small scouting groups were sent ashore to collect firewood and scout for a good place to build their settlement. (All dates shown per the Gregorian calendar. The old style calenda dates are 10 days earlier e.g. December 1 was November 11 in the Old Style calendar)
The Pilgrims had their first encounter with Native Americans on December 18, 1620. The shallop lands at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620. This date is now celebrated as "Forefathers Day". They went on to establish their Colony on a site chosen for its defensive location and access to fresh water and decided to call it Plymouth. The Pilgrims began building their settlement on January 4, 1621. Thirteen years before in 1607, 104 settlers aboard three ships had landed in Virginia at a place they named Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World. More
A major eruption of Mount Vesuvius takes place on December 16, 1631 killing an estimated 3,000 to 6000 people, burying villages on its slopes. The event marked a shift from long quiescent periods to more frequent activity.
The first documented recorded observation of a transit of Venus across the Sun is made by the English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks from his home at Carr House in Much Hoole, near Preston in England on December 4, 1639
His meticulous calculations of the timing of the transit and those of his friend William Crabtree, who made his own observation from Broughton were the first to be recorded, and Horrocks' work helped to correct earlier astronomical tables and helped to refine the understanding of the solar parallax and the distance between the Earth and the Sun. His work was later published by Johannes Hevelius in the treatise Venus in sole visa.
The first observed transit of Venus, where the planet crosses the Sun's face as a small black dot, takes place and is observed by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree on December 4, 1639.
A transit of Venus, is a rare event occurring in pairs eight years apart every century or more. It was observed by a small group of astronomers in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882, 2004, and 2012. these observations historically determined the Sun's distance and solar system scale. The next transits of Venus will occur in December 2117 and December 2125.
King Charles I and the Scots reached a secret agreement in December 26, 1647, known as the Engagement, where by the Scots promised to support his restoration in exchange for him accepting Presbyterianism in Scotland and imposing it in England for three years.
This pact led to the Second English Civil War in 1648. However, the Scottish army under the Earl of Hamilton was defeated by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Preston. The loss ultimately contributed to Charles I's execution on January 30, 1649 by beheading, after being found guilty of treason.
Oliver Cromwell dissolves the English Barebones Parliament and introduces the Instrument of Government on December 12 1653, which established Cromwell as Lord Protector on December 16, 1653.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, under the authority of King Louis XIV creates the Frea\nch Académie Royale d'Architecture, on December 30, 1671, and names François Blondel as the first director. The academy's purpose was part of a broader, organized effort by Colbert to advance arts, sciences, and literature in France by centralizing decision making and control
The Battle of Lund, the deadliest battle of the Scanian war between Sweden, led by King Charles XI (Karl XI) and Denmark led by King Christian V takes place on December 4, 1676.
The battle resulted in a decisive victory by Sweden securing their control over Scania and forcing the Danish army to retreat. Swedish casualties were between 2,300 and 3,000, and Danish casualties between 6,000 and 9,000.
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Isaac Newton's manuscript "On the motion of bodies in an orbit"; (De Motu) which he had sent to Edmond Halley, is read to the Royal Society. The manuscript gave important mathematical derivations relating to the three relations now known as "Kepler's laws of planetary motion".
Before Newton's work, those derivations had not been generally regarded as scientific laws. After further encouragement from Halley, Newton went on to develop and write his book "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (Principia) which includes nearly all of the manuscript content. More
The Duke of Marlborough is dismissed from his command by Queen Anne during the War of the Spanish Succession.
The Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice, initiating the Seventh Ottoman-Venetian War. The war concluded two years later in 1718 with an Ottoman victory and the Treaty of Passarowitz.
Venice ceded its major possession, the Peloponnese, in the Greek peninsula, to the Ottomans. Venice was saved from a more significant defeat by the intervention of the Austrian Empire in 1716.
Benjamin Franklin publishes his Poor Richard's Almanack, a periodical, containing affordable information, humor, ideas, advice and the proverbial wisdom, etc. for the populace. More
Benjamin Franklin's account of his kite experiment is read to the Royal Society on December 21, 1752, it was published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1753 (Volume 47, for the years 1751–1752). The account was from a letter, addressed to Peter Collinson. It confirmed the electrical nature of lightning.
The Encyclopedia Britannica is first published and advertised for sale in Edinburgh, Scotland on December 10, 1768. It is the oldest continuously published and revised work in the English language. More
"The Boston Tea Party" - Defiant colonists dump crates of tea into Boston Harbor. This was the culmination of a series of events which led the thirteen American colonies closer to independence. American Independence - Historical Timeline
General George Washington’s 2,400 strong army crosses the Delaware on the night of December 25-26, 1776, during a treacherous storm and surprises the garrison of Hessian mercenaries at Trenton (Battle of Trenton) capturing more than 1000 of them at a cost of four American lives.
The Trenton victory was followed by the major success at Princeton a week later on January 3, 1777 boosted the morale and the momentum of the American troops. More