What Happened in December?

Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, is proclaimed Grand Prince of Moscow on December 4, 1533, at the age of three after the death of his father, Grand Prince Vasily III. He ruled under the regency of his mother, Yelena Glinskaya, until her death in 1538. Expand +

King James V of Scotland dies on December 14, 1542, leaving his infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, as his heir. He died just six days after Mary was born, following a military defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss.

The Council of Trent concludes its discussions on the Catholic Church Counter-Reformation on December 4, 1563. The decrees of the council were later confirmed by Pope Pius IV in the bull Benedictus Deus on January 26, 1564. Expand +

The first observation of Neptune is recorded by Galileo with his small telescope. 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 Pilgrims arrive at modern-day Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts after spending a month in Cape hook, known today as Provincetown Harbor. While there, several small scouting groups were sent ashore to collect firewood and scout for a good place to build their settlement. They decided to proceed to get ready to establish their Colony on a site chosen for its defensive location, cleared land, and access to fresh water; which they decided to call Plymouth. 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 With these two colonies, English settlement in North America were born. More

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  Expand +

King Charles I and the Scots reached a secret agreement in December 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.  Expand +

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, the French minister of finance, creates the Académie Royale d'Architecture. in 1671, under the authority of King Louis XIV. The academy's purpose was to formalize architectural practice, promote classical design, and provide expert advice on royal building projects.

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.  Expand +

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". Expand +

The Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice, initiating the Seventh Ottoman-Venetian War. The war concluded two years later in 1718 with the Treaty of Passarowitz, resulting in an Ottoman victory and Venice ceding 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

The Encyclopedia Britannica is first published and advertised for sale in Edinburgh, Scotland. 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. More

Thomas Paine’s publishes "The American Crisis" a new pamphlet that appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal that inspired a huge American military victory. Paine had written the words during the army’s retreat from New York: “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” More

General George Washington and 2,400 Continental soldiers cross the Delaware River in a treacherous storm for a surprise attack against Hessian mercenary forces at Trenton, New Jersey. More

The British suffer heavy losses in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War.

Delaware ratifies the Articles of Confederation becoming the first State.

Pennsylvania ratifies the Articles of Confederation becoming the second State.