Calendar date · December

What happened on December 13

On December 13, 1076: The city of Salerno surrenders to Robert Guiscard. Duke Gisulf continues his resistance in the citadel until May of the following year.

Events

38

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Sagittarius

Featured moment · 1076

The city of Salerno surrenders to Robert Guiscard. Duke Gisulf continues his resistance in the citadel until May of the following year.

Salerno is an ancient city and comune in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

People

Born on December 13

Maddox Batson 2009– American singer and songwriter
Brock Bowers 2002– American football player (born 2002)
Jayden Goodwin 2001– Australian cricketer (born 2001)
Simona Waltert 2000– Swiss tennis player (born 2000)
Marina Bassols Ribera 1999– Spanish tennis player (born 1999)
Gleyber Torres 1996– Venezuelan baseball player (born 1996)
Emma Corrin 1995– English actor (born 1995)
Danielle Collins 1993– American tennis player (born 1993)
Jamal Fogarty 1993– Australian rugby league footballer
Show 9 more — notable births on December 13
Dave Leduc 1991– Canadian-Burmese Lethwei fighter (born 1991)
Vladimir Tarasenko 1991– Russian ice hockey player (born 1991)
Fletcher Cox 1990– American football player (born 1990)
Joseph Garrett 1990– English YouTuber (born 1990)
Arantxa Rus 1990– Dutch tennis player (born 1990)
Hellen Obiri 1989– Kenyan middle- and long- distance runner
Katherine Schwarzenegger 1989– American writer (born 1989)
Taylor Swift 1989– American singer-songwriter (born 1989)
Rickie Fowler 1988– American professional golfer (born 1988)

People

Died on December 13

Juan José Zerboni Mexican actor (1953–2025)
Lorraine O'Grady American artist (1934–2024)
Stephen "tWitch" Boss American dancer and TV producer (1982–2022)
Noah Klieger Israeli journalist and sports administrator
Alan Thicke Canadian actor, songwriter, and television host (1947–2016)
Lamar Hunt American businessman (1932–2006)
Alan Shields American artist
David Wheeler British computer scientist (1927–2004)
Zal Yanovsky Canadian folk-rock guitarist (1944–2002)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on December 13
Lew Grade British media proprietor (1906–1998)
Richard Thomas Royal Navy Admiral and former Black Rod (1932–1998)
Wade Watts American preacher & activist (1919–1998)
Don E. Fehrenbacher American historian
Edward Blishen English author and broadcaster (1920–1996)
Ann Nolan Clark American writer (1896–1995)
Vanessa Duriès French novelist
K. C. Irving Canadian businessman (1899–1992)
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney American businessman

Timeline

Every December 13 on record

  1. 1076 The city of Salerno surrenders to Robert Guiscard. Duke Gisulf continues his resistance in the citadel until May of the following year.

    City in Campania, Italy

    Salerno is an ancient city and comune in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

  2. 1294 Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.

    Head of the Catholic Church in 1294

    Pope Celestine V, born Pietro Angelerio, also known as Pietro da Morrone, Peter of Morrone, and Peter Celestine, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States for five months from 5 July to 13 December 1294, when he abdicated. He was also a monk and hermit who founded the order of the Celestines as a branch of the Benedictine order.

  3. 1545 The Council of Trent begins as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.

    Roman Catholic Church ecumenical council 1545–1563

    The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent, in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. " It was the last time a Catholic ecumenical council was organized outside the city of Rome, and the second time a council was convened in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire.

  4. 1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

    English sailor and privateer (c. 1540 – 1596)

    Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer best known for making the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice admiral.

  5. 1623 The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies.

    English colonial venture in America (1620–1691)

    Plymouth Colony was the first permanent English colony in New England, founded in 1620, and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

  6. 1636 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.
  7. 1642 Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.
  8. 1643 English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
  9. 1758 The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people.
  10. 1769 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.
  11. 1818 Cyril VI of Constantinople resigns from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch under pressure from the Ottoman Empire.
  12. 1862 American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee repulses attacks by Union Major General Ambrose Burnside on Marye's Heights, inflicting heavy casualties.
  13. 1864 American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: The Second Battle of Fort McAllister ends with the fort being seized by Union forces under General William B. Hazen, threatening the city of Savannah with investment.
  14. 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: The city of Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians.
  15. 1938 The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
Show 15 earlier entries from December 13
  1. 1939 The Battle of the River Plate is fought off the coast of Uruguay; the first naval battle of World War II. The Kriegsmarine's Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with three Royal Navy cruisers: HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles and HMS Exeter.
  2. 1943 World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
  3. 1949 The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
  4. 1957 The Mw  6.5 Farsinaj earthquake strikes Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing at least 1,119 deaths and damaging over 5,000 homes.
  5. 1959 Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.
  6. 1960 While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.
  7. 1962 NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
  8. 1967 Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels.
  9. 1968 Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5), enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.
  10. 1972 Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
  11. 1974 Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
  12. 1974 In the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese forces launch their 1975 Spring Offensive (to 30 April 1975), which results in the final capitulation of South Vietnam.
  13. 1977 Air Indiana Flight 216 crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff, and boosters of the team.
  14. 1981 General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.
  15. 1982 The 6.0 Ms  North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800, and injuring 1,500.

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