This Day in History
Today: December 10, 2025
1317
The "Nyköping Banquet": King Birger of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers Valdemar, Duke of Finland and Eric, Duke of Södermanland, who were subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle.[1]
1508
The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.[2]
1520
Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.[3]
1541
Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.[4]
1652
Defeat at the Battle of Dungeness causes the Commonwealth of England to reform its navy.
1665
The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter.
1684
Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley.
1768
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
1799
France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.
1817
Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
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