13 December in history

5 events that happened on 13 December, from 1294 to 1939.

  1. 1294 CE 732 years ago

    Pope Celestine V resigns after five months

    The hermit-pope Celestine V renounced the papacy, overwhelmed by its politics. Dante appears to condemn him for 'the great refusal', but the church later canonised him.

  2. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    1545 CE 481 years ago

    The Council of Trent opens

    The Catholic Church's council opened at Trent in northern Italy and met, with long breaks, until 1563. It reaffirmed Catholic doctrine against Protestant teaching and reformed clerical discipline.

  3. 1642 CE 384 years ago

    Abel Tasman sights New Zealand

    Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sighted the west coast of New Zealand's South Island, the first recorded European sighting. A violent encounter with Māori in Golden Bay days later meant his crew never landed.

    New Zealand

  4. 1937 CE 89 years ago

    Japanese troops capture Nanjing

    Japanese forces took China's capital, Nanjing, and began weeks of mass killing, rape and looting. Estimates of the dead range from tens of thousands to over 300,000, and the massacre remains bitterly contested.

  5. 1939 CE 87 years ago

    British cruisers fight the Graf Spee at the River Plate

    Three British cruisers engaged the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee off the River Plate estuary. Damaged, she took refuge in Montevideo, and four days later her captain scuttled her.

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