December 13
Overview
Holidays & Observances
Christianfeast day:
St Antiochus of Sulcis, St JudocakaSt Joyce, St Lucy, St Odile of Alsace
A Christian feast day honoring several saints including St. Antiochus of Sulcis, St. Judoc (St. Joyce), St. Lucy, and St. Odile of Alsace.
Acadian Remembrance Day(Acadians)
An annual day of remembrance for the Acadian people expelled from their homeland in 1755.
National Day (Saint Lucia)
Martial Law Victims Remembrance Day(Poland)
A solemn day remembering those who suffered and died during the martial law period in Poland, 1981–1983.
Nanking Massacre Memorial Day(China)
A day of national mourning in China remembering the victims of the 1937 Nanking Massacre.
Nusantara Day(Indonesia)
Republic Day(Malta)
Malta's Republic Day celebrates the country's transition to a republic in 1974.
Sailor's Day(Brazil)
Sailor’s Day in Brazil honors the nation’s naval personnel and maritime heritage.
Saint Lucia Day(mainly inScandinavia)
Saint Lucia Day is a festival of lights celebrated in Scandinavia in honor of St. Lucy.
Events
Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
Pope Celestine V abdicates after just five months to return to a life of solitude.
The Council of Trent begins as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.
The Catholic Church convenes the Council of Trent, launching the Counter-Reformation to address Protestant challenges.
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
English privateer Sir Francis Drake departs Plymouth on the expedition that will make him the second person to circumnavigate the globe.
The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies.
The Plymouth Colony introduces the first 12-man jury trial system in North America.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians, a date now considered the founding of the National Guard of the United States.
Massachusetts Bay Colony forms militia regiments to defend against the Pequot, marking the National Guard's founding.
Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman becomes the first European to sight the islands now known as New Zealand.
English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
A Royalist victory at the Battle of Alton marks an early clash in the English Civil War.
The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people.
The Duke William transport ship sinks in the North Atlantic, resulting in over 360 fatalities.
Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth.
Dartmouth College is established by Eleazar Wheelock under a charter from King George III.
Births
King of Sicily from 1296 to 1337, also known as Frederick the Simple.
Jean Gerson
French theologian, scholar, and chancellor of the University of Paris during the early 15th century.
Lucy Brocadelli
Italian Dominican tertiary and mystic celebrated for experiencing the stigmata.
Paul Speratus
One of the earliest Lutheran reformers and hymn writers in 16th-century Germany.
Martín de Azpilcueta
Spanish theologian and early economist known as Doctor Navarrus.
Justus Menius
German Lutheran pastor and theologian active in the Protestant Reformation.
Pope from 1585 to 1590 who implemented sweeping administrative and urban reforms in Rome.
King of Sweden from 1560 until his deposition in 1568, known for his intelligence and troubled reign.
First Bourbon King of France who issued the Edict of Nantes promoting religious tolerance.
Deaths
Childebert I
Childebert I was a Frankish king who ruled Paris and expanded his realm through military campaigns and patronage of the Church.
Du Hongjian
Du Hongjian was a Chinese politician and chancellor of the Tang dynasty known for his administrative reforms and devotion to Buddhism.
Pepin I of Aquitaine was a Carolingian king and son of Emperor Louis the Pious who ruled southwestern Frankish territories amid dynastic strife.
Angilbert II
Angilbert II was Archbishop of Milan in the mid-9th century who oversaw ecclesiastical affairs and participated in Carolingian church reforms.
Pope Callixtus II was head of the Catholic Church from 1119 to 1124 who secured the Concordat of Worms to resolve the Investiture Controversy.
Henry IX
Henry IX, known as Henry the Black, was Duke of Bavaria and a key figure of the Welf dynasty in early 12th-century Germany.
Maimonides
Maimonides was a medieval Jewish rabbi, philosopher, and physician who codified Jewish law and authored the Guide for the Perplexed.
Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor known as 'Stupor Mundi', was a patron of arts and science and a key medieval ruler of Sicily and Germany.
Bertold of Regensburg
Bertold of Regensburg was a renowned Dominican preacher whose fiery sermons attracted audiences across 13th-century Germany.